Hard Rain Journal 2-1-07: Climate Crisis Update -- From California to Queensland, the "Inconvenient Truth" has Become Unavoidable

Image: Map of Arctic

People in the Australian state of Queensland will soon have to start drinking water containing recycled sewage, the state premier has warned. Premier Peter Beattie said he had scrapped a referendum on the issue, because there was no longer a choice. He also warned other Australian states might eventually have to do the same because of mounting water shortages. Water is already recycled in places like Singapore and the UK, but the idea is still unpopular in Australia...."These are ugly decisions, but you either drink water or you die. There's no choice. It's liquid gold, it's a matter of life and death," he said. BBC, 1-29-07

Global warming is the greatest environmental threat that humanity has ever faced....The potential consequences for California are dire. At current rates of warming, state researchers project that the sea level will rise as much as three feet by the end of the century, flooding many low-lying areas and tainting important sources of fresh water like the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta. Higher temperatures will drastically shrink the Sierra snowpack that stores much of our water. They will increase smog, boost the risk of wildfires and upset California's vital agricultural industries. San Jose Mercury News Editorial, 12-26-06

Hard Rain Journal 2-1-07: Climate Crisis Update -- From California to Queensland, the "Inconvenient Truth" has become Unavoidable

From California to Queensland, the reality of global warming looms ever larger and more immediate.

The planetary scope and profound impact of the climate crisis has evolved from an "inconvenient truth" to an unavoidable one.

And the despicable denial and arguably criminal suppression of this truth by the Bush-Cheney regime (and its enablers in the US mainstream news media and political establishment) are finally being investigated.

Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry, which gorges itself on the misery of human beings (e.g., Nigeria), sees this planetary emergency as an opportunity to get to the fossil fuels under the polar ice.

Here is an update on the greatest story of our time.

A UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report to be released on Friday in Paris "summarizes the scientific basis for climate change," and a subsequent IPCC report to be released in April, "details the consequences of global warming and options for adapting":

Rising temperatures will leave millions more people hungry by 2080 and cause critical water shortages in China and Australia, as well as parts of Europe and the United States, according to a new global climate report.
By the end of the century, climate change will bring water scarcity to between 1.1 and 3.2 billion people as temperatures rise by 2 to 3 Celsius (3.6 to 4.8 Fahrenheit)....an additional 200 million to 600 million people across the world would face food shortages in another 70 years, while coastal flooding would hit another 7 million homes... Reuters, 1-30-07

But according to some leading scientists, the upcoming IPCC report, as dire as it is, may be "the sugarcoated version":

Early and changeable drafts of their upcoming authoritative report on climate change foresee smaller sea level rises than were projected in 2001 in the last report. Many top U.S. scientists reject these rosier numbers. Those calculations don't include the recent, and dramatic, melt-off of big ice sheets in two crucial locations... Associated Press, 1-29-07

Now that the control of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has passed on to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the revolutionary nature of the 2006 US mid-term elections is beginning to be felt throughout Beltwayistan:

The new Democratic chairman of a House panel charged today that the Bush administration tried to mislead the public about climate change "by injecting doubt into the science of global warming and minimizing the potential dangers." Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said at the start of a hearing on global warming that he and the committee's ranking Republican, Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, had repeatedly asked the White House last year for documents to show that senior officials were suppressing scientific reports within the administration about the severity of the problem. Los Angeles Times, 1-30-07

A new report presented to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Government Accountability Project shows 435 instances in which the Bush administration interfered into the global warming work of government scientists over the past five years. Some other findings of the survey :
– 46 percent of government scientists “personally experienced pressure to eliminate the words ‘climate change,’ ‘global warming,’ or other similar terms from a variety of communications.”
– 46 percent “perceived or personally experienced new or unusual administrative requirements that impair climate-related work.”
– 38 percent “perceived or personally experienced the disappearance or unusual delay of websites, reports, or other science-based materials relating to climate.”
– 25 percent “perceived or personally experienced situations in which scientists have actively objected to, resigned from, or removed themselves from a project because of pressure to change scientific findings.” Think Progress, 1-30-07

Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) revealed the Bush administration has barred Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte from saying the phrase “global warming.” Cooper said he recently attended a dinner party at which Negroponte was speaking, and “word slipped through the crowd he was not allowed to utter the words ‘global warming,’ at least not in the same sentence. Apparently, he was allowed to say the word ‘global’ in a separate sentence, and ‘warming’ in a separate sentence, but not together.” Think Progress, 1-30-07

I have no doubt that the Neo-cons and their Corporatist sponsors have gamed out global warming and climate changes, and think in their delusion that they like what they see, depopulation in Asia and Africa, economic ruin in Europe, and oh yes, lots of oil and natural gas bubbling to the surface from under the floating carcasses of polar bears and the shattered remnants of indigenous cultures:

Global warming caused by fossil fuel emissions is rapidly melting the Arctic. Sea ice coverage this past March “was the lowest in winter since measurements by satellite began in the early 1970s,” and NASA-funded U.S. scientists believe in 30-50 years, “summer sea ice will have vanished from almost the entire Arctic region,” conditions not seen in the area in a million years.
For energy companies, this catastrophe means a “new era of oil and natural gas exploration in the region ,” Greenwire reports:
The Arctic region contains a quarter of the world’s remaining oil reserves, experts estimate. It also contains massive natural gas fields in the Barents Sea, including Russia’s huge Shtokman field. “By 2040 or 2050, the Arctic Ocean will be navigable and that will mean significant developments very soon,” said ArcticNet research group head Martin Fortier.
European Environment Agency head Jacqueline McGlade warned that “the region’s opening could lead to another rush like the Klondike gold rush, which ‘could potentially destabilize’ the area and its 10 million indigenous inhabitants.” Think Progress, 1-29-07

Want to participate in the effort to mitigate the impact of global warming? Download "Ten Things You Can Do"

There is a powerful magic in personal commitment.

FIVE MOST RECENT RELATED POSTS:

Hard Rain Journal 1-22-07: Climate Crisis Update -- At Five Minutes to Midnight, Europe at Risk

Hard Rain Journal 1-2-07: Climate Crisis Update -- Dire Warnings from the West's Experts and from Chinese Gov; Meanwhile, from the US Gov -- NOTHING

Hard Rain Journal 12-27-06: Climate Crisis Update -- Lohachara is Gone, the Bears in Spain are Not Hibernating, Wall Street Wonders What It All Means

Hard Rain Journal 12-14-06: Climate Crisis Update -- Three Damn Good Reasons for "Carbon Freeze" and Peace is One of Them

Hard Rain Journal 12-6-06: Climate Crisis Update -- Seven Stories To Keep You Awake At Night -- Severe Weather, Famine and the Worst-Case Scenario

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and Words of Power. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Global Warming, Energy Security, Environmental Security, Alternate Energy, Sustainability, Green Power, Renewable Resources, Climate Change, Weather, Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, IPCC, Crisis Management,Rep. Henry Waxman, Union of Concerned Scientists, Queensland, California, Chrysler, Australia, Arctic, UN, Richard Power, Words of Power


GS(3) Thunderbolt 1-29-07: Update on the Crisis in Darfur - What Must Be Done Isn't Getting Done

Image: Darfur (Glenn Middleton, BBC)

GS(3) Thunderbolt 1-29-07: Update on the Crisis in Darfur - What Must Be Done Isn't Getting Done

In January, at least 350 more people died, and tens of thousands of more people fled their homes.

No, it isn't getting any better in Darfur. Indeed, it is getting worse.

At least 500 humanitarian aid workers have been pulled out of the area, because they have become targets of violence. Rape, beatings and mock executions of aid workers have taken place.

Meanwhile, the great nations, in particular China and the USA, do as little as possible, and for the worst of reasons.

Lawrence Rossin of Save Darfur sheds some light on the Bush administration's hollow rhetoric:

The forced withdrawal of aid organisations from Darfur could leave more than two million civilians facing catastrophe, vulnerable to militia attacks, starvation and disease, a leading human rights activist has warned. Lawrence Rossin, a former US ambassador now acting as international coordinator of the Save Darfur Coalition, said that even after the deaths of an estimated 400,000 people in the region, most at the hands of the government-backed Janjaweed militia, the situation could still get worse....In his state of the union address on Tuesday, President George Bush said he would "continue to awaken the conscience of the world to save the people of Darfur". But, said Mr Rossin: "We've all raised consciousness about Darfur. That's not the president's job. It's the president's job to do things." Aid chief warns of Sudan catastrophe, Guardian, 1-26-07

And in an open letter to the Chinese government, Human Rights Watch has urged them to do more:

We write regarding your upcoming trip to Sudan. China recently took positive steps to encourage the Government of Sudan to accept a United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur. Yet consistent with China's international obligations, its aspirations to be seen as a responsible international power, and its claims to be a friend of the Sudanese people, there is a great deal more your government can do on Sudan....
We believe that there are four steps China can take to improve the situation in Sudan.
First, seriously consider the important step of supporting through the UN the imposition of targeted sanctions on key Sudanese officials responsible for Darfur policy....
Second, encourage the Government of Sudan to place a portion of its oil revenues in an internationally administered trust fund for the victims of atrocities...
Third, it is imperative that China establish new mechanisms to monitor the end-use of its weapons....
Fourth, China should examine the connection between Sudanese oil development and human rights abuses....
Finally, we encourage you to issue an overview or white paper on China's policies toward the Sudan over the past decade. Surely you will agree that there is much international confusion regarding China's own actions. It is in everyone's interests, including China's, to have a clear sense of what initiatives China has undertaken.
Undertaking these steps will help demonstrate that China's interest in Sudan is not merely about ensuring its access to oil supplies but also about the welfare of the Sudanese people so devastated by the ongoing conflict. Moreover, it will serve as an important signal to the international community that China takes seriously its obligations to uphold human rights. Letter to China On the Crisis in Darfur, Human Rights Watch, 1-29-07

What the USA and China have not done is worse than a failure of leadership, it is a failure of the inner moral compass upon which leadership is based.

The focus this week is on the African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says he will put pressure on Sudan to find a solution for the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region...Mr. Ban said the first phase of a three-phase plan was already nearly completed. Under the plan, several U.N. and African Union military and civilian staff would be sent to Darfur, preparing the ground for at least 10,000 peacekeepers.
UN Secretary General puts pressure on Sudan over Darfur, Malaysia Sun, 1-29-07

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has again been bypassed in his bid to become chairman of the African Union because of the conflict in Darfur.
Mr Bashir was due to take on the role but it has instead been given to Ghana's President John Kufuor. Chad had threatened to leave the AU if Mr Bashir became its leader, while Amnesty International warned that the body's credibility would be damaged....African snub to Sudan over Darfur, BBC, 1-29-07

Six humanitarian aid agencies, Action Against Hunger, CARE International, Oxfam International, Norwegian Refugee Council, World Vision and Save the Children, admonished the African Union to take responsibility in two decisive ways:

Aid agencies today warned the enormous humanitarian response in Darfur will soon be paralysed unless African and global leaders at the AU Summit take urgent action to end rising violence against civilians and aid workers....
The six agencies warn the Summit will fail unless:
1. African Heads of States led by Chairperson Denis Sassou Ng'uesso and new UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon greatly increase the pressure on all parties to the conflict to ensure attacks on civilians and aid workers end immediately, and ensure that perpetrators of violence are held to account.
2. The African Union Commission does more to end the growing violent attacks. The AU's credibility with the people of Darfur is at an all-time low. AU troops in Darfur must immediately try to regain the civilian population's confidence by implementing the following proactive protection measures: · Regular "firewood patrols" accompanying women who collect essential firewood and animal fodder outside the camps. Although previously in place these have now ceased in most locations in Darfur. · A 24/7 presence inside the main camps and towns to ensure safety of civilians · Making more effective use of the Ceasefire Commission to bring violators to account African leaders, Ban Ki-Moon must take action at AU Summit or it could be too late, Peace Journalism,

But, of course, even if the AU overcomes its own trepidation, who will fund all of this?

Again, the responsibility for what is not happening falls on the shirking shoulders of the great nations.

If you want to help save Darfur, here are some sites that offer suggestions on how to participate:

Save Darfur!
Genocide Intervention Network

Most Recent Related Posts:

Hard Rain Journal 12-10-06: Human Rights Update -- Annan Speaks Out on Darfur, Carter Speaks Out on Palestine -- Have You? Has Your Representative?

GS(3) Thunderbolt 11-27-06: Update on Darfur -- UN Reports Crisis Worsens, HRW Urges AU to Get Tough with Khartoum

GS(3) Thunderbolt 10-23-06: Update on the Crisis in Darfur

Hard Rain Journal 9-17-06: Global Day for Darfur

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and Words of Power. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Omar al-Bashir, China, Bush, USA, UN, AU, Sudan, Darfur, Lawrence Rossin, Ban Ki-moon, Humanitarian Crisis, Refugees, Human Rights

Hard Rain Journal 1-26-07: Should Cheney be the Direct Target of Congressional Investigation?

Image: Sauron


Question: What is the connection between a possible American attack on Iran and the perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby?
Answer: Vice President Dick Cheney.
Wariness over a potential American attack on Iran has been on the rise for months...Though his policy initiatives are greeted with failure after failure, though the poll numbers continue to wither, Cheney and the remaining true-believers continue to slog onward, dragging all of us deeper into the morass. Should the trial of Libby present a definitive threat to the political standing and power of Dick Cheney, all bets may be off regarding Iran. We will be faced with the possibility that an attack may be ordered for no better reason than to redirect attention and change the subject. An attack on Iran would be calamitous on many levels....These days, all the thinking and management is being done by Dick Cheney, and if this Libby trial comes to pose a danger to his standing, all the sober analysis by policy experts may turn to dust. Nothing is more dangerous, after all, than a cornered animal. William Rivers Pitt, A Cornered Animal, Truthout, 1-26-07

Hard Rain Journal 1-26-07: Should Cheney be the Direct Target of Congressional Investigation?

By Richard Power

Like corpses freed from their cement shoes, new revelations about VICE _resident Cheney's abominable behaviour have begun to bob to the surface of the Potomac. (Well, the revelations are new to the US mainstream press, not to the blogosphere or progressive talk radio.)

Did you see Wolf Bluster (no, that's not a typo) interview VICE _resident Cheney?

Ever since I watched the meltdown courtesy of Crooks and Liars and You Tube (I don't own a TV), I have been hearing "All Along the Watchtower" in my head: "So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."

In Hard Rain Journal 1-19-07: The Hard Rain Falls Between PNAC and the PATRIOT Act, but the US News Media Sees, Hears, Speaks No Evil, I wrote you concerning Cheney's squashing of a diplomatic opening from the Iranians in 2003; and now, as Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) takes charge of the Senate Intelligence Committee and US DoJ prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald presses his attack in the Libby trial, I am compelled to write you again.

Did Cheney drive the White House conspiracy in the Plame affair and the subsequent coverup, thereby betraying the US government's sacred trust with its secret agents?

Did Cheney drive the White House effort to shutdown Phase II of the Senate Intelligence Committee's inquiry into the lies used to justify the invasion and occupation of Iraq?

The evidence already available as open source is damning.

How much more evidence of Cheney's wrong-doing waits in the secret "Energy Task Force" papers?

And remember, it was Cheney who was in charge on 9/11, while Bush stared off into space, clutching "My Pet Goat."

Remember, too, it was Cheney who threatened Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN).

And, of course, there is the Halliburton connection.

Should VICE _resident Cheney should be the direct target of Congressional investigation?

Consider four recent news items:

Vice President Dick Cheney exerted "constant" pressure on the Republican former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee to stall an investigation into the Bush administration's use of flawed intelligence on Iraq, the panel's Democratic chairman charged Thursday....Rockefeller said that it was "not hearsay" that Cheney, a leading proponent of invading Iraq, pushed Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., to drag out the probe of the administration's use of prewar intelligence.
"It was just constant," Rockefeller said of Cheney's alleged interference. He added that he knew that the vice president attended regular policy meetings in which he conveyed White House directions to Republican staffers.
Republicans "just had to go along with the administration," he said....
Rockefeller said it was important to complete the Phase II inquiry.
"The looking backward creates tension, but it's necessary tension because the administration needs to be held accountable and the country . . . needs to know," he said. McClatchy Newspapers, 1-12-07

Memo to Tim Russert: Dick Cheney thinks he controls you.
This delicious morsel about the "Meet the Press" host and the vice president was part of the extensive dish Cathie Martin served up yesterday when the former Cheney communications director took the stand in the perjury trial of former Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
Flashed on the courtroom computer screens were her notes from 2004 about how Cheney could respond to allegations that the Bush administration had played fast and loose with evidence of Iraq's nuclear ambitions. Option 1: "MTP-VP," she wrote, then listed the pros and cons of a vice presidential appearance on the Sunday show. Under "pro," she wrote: "control message."
"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used," Martin testified. "It's our best format."
Dana Millbank, Washington Post, 1-26-07

The motivations for an Iran strike were laid out as far back as 1992. In classified defense planning guidance – written for then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney by then-Pentagon staffers I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, World Bank Chief Paul Wolfowitz, and ambassador-nominee to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad – Cheney’s aides called for the United States to assume the position of lone superpower and act preemptively to prevent the emergence of even regional competitors. The draft document was leaked to the New York Times and the Washington Post and caused an uproar among Democrats and many in George H. W. Bush’s Administration.
In September 2000, the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) issued a report titled “Rebuilding America's Defenses,” which espoused similar positions to the 1992 draft and became the basis for the Bush-Cheney Administration's foreign policy. Libby and Wolfowitz were among the participants in this new report; Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other prominent figures in the Bush administration were PNAC members....
By setting up the Iranian Directorate within the Pentagon and running covert operations through the military rather than the CIA, the administration was able to avoid both Congressional oversight and interference from then-Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, who has been vocally skeptical about using force against Iran. The White House also successfully stalled the release of a fresh National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, which could reflect the CIA's conclusion that there is no evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program.Raw Story, 1-23-07

Vice President Dick Cheney has bullied federal agencies and given absurd advice about the nation's risk and Iraq, Walter Mondale said today, adding that never would have been tolerated when Mondale was vice president.
"I think that Cheney has stepped way over the line," Mondale said at the opening of a three-day conference about former President Jimmy Carter at the University of Georgia.
Mondale, who served under Carter, said Cheney and his assistants pressured federal agencies as they prepared information for President Bush.
"I think Cheney's been at the center of cooking up farcical estimates of national risks, weapons of mass destruction and the 9/11 connection to Iraq," he said.
That does not serve the president, because he needs facts, Mondale said.
"If I had done as vice president what this vice president has done, Carter would have thrown me out of there," Mondale said. "I don't think he could have tolerated a vice president over there pressuring and pushing other agencies, ordering up different 9 than they wanted to send us. I don't think he would have stood for it. (Associated Press, 1-19-07)

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Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Iraq, Iran, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Patrick Fitzgerald, Valerie Plame, Joseph Wilson,Walter Mondale, Phase II, Bush, Cheney, Tim Russert, Walter Mondale, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Richard Power, Words of Power


Human Rights and UN Millennium Goals Update -- The Real Poverty is on Easy Street

Image: UN Millennium Goals

Human Rights and UN Millennium Goals Update -- The Real Poverty is on Easy Street

By Richard Power

I will focus on only one of Bush's many disingenuous statements in the 2007 SOTU.

Think Progress provides both the utterance and its truthful context:

Bush said: “We hear the call to take on the challenges of hunger, poverty, and disease - and that is precisely what America is doing....I ask that you fund the Millennium Challenge Account, so that American aid reaches the people who need it, in nations where democracy is on the rise and corruption is in retreat.”
FACT — MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE PROGRAM WILL SOON BE BANKRUPT: “President Bush’s signature foreign-assistance program is likely to run out of money this year, leaving in the lurch several poor countries that have labored to meet its strict eligibility standards, according to aid officials. Mr. Bush introduced the Millennium Challenge program in 2002 as a new approach to fix the perceived failures of overseas-development assistance.” [Wall Street Journal, 1/22/07] Think Progress, 1-23-07

Just as the Bush-Cheney national insecurity team has ignored the planetary struggle to mitigate global warming, it has also ignored the planetary struggle to mitigate poverty, disease and oppression.

The world has lost six years it could not afford to lose.

Nevertheless, the UN Millennium Goals are both vital and achievable (even now).

But, as Jeffrey Sachs says, two elements are essential: "sustained partnerships between governments and civil society and sustained donor resource input," and although there has been "a scaling up of donor investment in the key areas of agriculture, education, the fight against HIV/AIDS and the provision of health services," the money is still moving to slowly into poor countries. Of the recently promised 240 billion dollars (US), only 140 billion has made it into the field.

This challenge demands values, perspective and personal commitment. It demands leadership.

"On New York’s Wall Street Christmas bonuses of 24 billion dollars were paid out in December 2006. Just think how far only a small part of this amount could have gone in projects to keep people alive in poor countries,’’ Sachs pointed out. Stephanie Nieuwoudt, It Is Possible to Meet MDGs: Sachs, One World, 1-23-07

How dire is the plight of women and children in the 21st Century?

Consider these recent news stories:

In Cartagena, Columbia, a community center, operated by the League of Displaced Women (Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas), was destroyed in an arson fire over the weekend. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has vowed to fund its reconstruction. The League of Displaced Women receives "frequent threats for its work on behalf of thousands of women and children displaced by violence in Colombia's Atlantic Coast region. The country has one of the largest populations of Internally Displaced People (IDP) in the world -- approximately three million people. (UNHCR, 1-23-07)

Human Rights Watch (HWR) has revealed the Sri Lankan government's "complicity or willful blindness" in the abduction and forced recruitment of hundreds of children in eastern Sri Lanka. According to HRW, Karuna, which split from the Tamil Tigers and cooperates with the Sri Lankan military, is "abducting children in broad daylight in areas firmly under government control."According to HRW, the government is "fully aware of the abductions but allows them to happen because it's eager for an ally against the Tamil Tigers."(Human Rights Watch, 1-24-07)

Married for 16 years to Qasim, Najma Bibi bore him eight children. Three of them died, the last from obstructed labour that called for surgical intervention to repair obstetric fistula. Najma cannot thank her doctors enough, for they saved her marriage....According to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), nearly two million women -- a vast majority in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia -- suffer from this devastating injury. A major challenge for health care professionals is that each year that number is increasing by over 50,000 to 100,000. Yet, true prevalence remains underreported and is a stark indication of the low priority given to women's health on national health agendas....
What is tragic, however, is that fistula can be avoided by stopping child marriages, delaying the age of first pregnancy, by cessation of harmful traditional practices, and by timely access to good emergency obstetric care (EmOC).
Zofeen Ebrahim, HEALTH-PAKISTAN: Obstetric Fistula - Grim Reminder of Unmet MDGs, Inter Press Service, 1-17-07

There is so much to be done, but it is do-able.

As Sachs remarked at recent a sustainable development summit in India, the Millennium Goals can sometimes be achieved with simple solutions:

India does not require miracle solutions for meeting its millennium development goals (MDG) of water, sanitation, education and health....the solutions don’t require long-term investment and are really as simple as providing a village with a clinic, a school and a borewell... Simple solutions for social goals: Sachs, Economic Times/India Times, 1-23-07

The Great Lakes Centre for Strategic Studies (GLCSS) report on Sachs' six strategies for the development of Millennium villages in rural Uganda enumerates some of the opportunties and challenges:

Millennium villages and millennium districts form part of an integrated rural investment strategy that Sachs believes can end extreme poverty….He outlined six strategies that have worked in Ruhira village – a pilot project in Mbarara district.
Grow more food: Fertilizers, High-yield seeds, Treadle pumps, Agricultural extension, Landscape management in low scale farms.
Control malaria: Bed nets, Anti-malaria medicines, Rapid diagnostic tests, Ensure clinical health services, Improve clinics (level three), Upgrade hospitals (level four) with improved staffing and salaries for health workers, Training of health outreach workers, Access to family planning services.
Provide safe water points: Boreholes, Protected springs, Rain water, Pumped water if available, and Sanitation.
Ensure schooling for all children: Classrooms, Books and supplies, Teacher training, Mid-day meals (Sachs urged the implementation of school feeding programmes and de-worming every four months and promised to help in accessing free medicine for Uganda.), Computers, Internet connectivity in some schools
Connectivity to break isolation: Cell phone coverage at clinics, schools, Truck transport, Broadband connectivity, Road grading....
It is also worth noting that Sachs’ prescription falls short of addressing corruption as a serious impediment to meeting the MDGs. The GLCSS maintains that MDGs will be met in a sustainable manner by addressing corruption….Ways of ensuring environmental sustainability – another crucial MDG – should equally be addressed....A fast-increasing population, unpredictable weather conditions and security problems in some parts of the country must also be tackled to ensure sustainable growth and development. James Karuhanga, Sachs’ Six Strategies for Uganda to meet MDGs, Great Lakes Centre for Strategic Studies, 1-22-07

The solutions exist. They are reflected in the enlightened minds of those engaged in this and other worthy struggles.

What is lacking is the collective will. Such will flows from awakened hearts.

The real poverty is on Easy Street.

Most Recent Related Posts

Hard Rain Journal 1-13-07: UN Millennium Goals and Sustainability Update -- Does Burkina-Faso Offer a Glimpse into Our Urban Future

Hard Rain Journal 1-8-07: Human Rights and Environmental Security Update from Burma, Cambodia and Mekong River

Hard Rain Journal 12-12-06: UN Millennium Goals Update -- Nobel Prize Winner Yunus Urges World to Fight Poverty to Win Security and Peace

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Uganda, India, Columbia, UNHCR, Bush, Cheney, Earth Institute Institute, Jeffrey Sachs, UN Millennium Goals, League of Displaced Women, Global Warming, Water, Poverty, Health, Environmental Security, Climate Change

Hard Rain Journal 1-22-07: Climate Crisis Update -- At Five Minutes to Midnight, Europe at Risk

Image: Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

Climate change stands alongside the use of nuclear weapons as one of the greatest threats posed to the future of the world, the Cambridge cosmologist Stephen Hawking has said.
Professor Hawking said that we stand on the precipice of a second nuclear age and a period of exceptional climate change, both of which could destroy the planet as we know it...
"As we stand at the brink of a second nuclear age and a period of unprecedented climate change, scientists have a special responsibility, once again, to inform the public and to advise leaders about the perils that humanity faces," Professor Hawking said. "As scientists, we understand the dangers of nuclear weapons and their devastating effects, and we are learning how human activities and technologies are affecting climate systems in ways that may forever change life on Earth.
Steve Connor, Hawking Warns: We Must Recognize the Catastrophic Dangers of Climate Change, Independent/UK, 1-18-07

For those last stubborn holdouts still skeptical about the existence of global warming--e.g., CNN's chief corporate fascism advocate Glenn Beck, who broadcast another of his denial tirades last week--and to those who exalt the warmer weather as preferable to a snowy winter, consider the impacts on our fellow creatures. Last April an early spring in Wyoming's Teton Range caused horseflies to arrive early. The young Redtail hawks, who were still unfeathered, were devoured in their nests by the voracious bloodsuckers. Not a single baby Redtail survived to fledge in the Jackson Hole valley….The recent disruptions to animal and plant behavior are evident to anyone except for ideologically blinded right-wing flat-earthers and Exxon/Mobil's political and media toadies like Michael Crichton, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., For the Last, Stubborn Holdouts on Global Warming, Huffington Post,

Hard Rain Journal 1-22-07: Climate Crisis Update -- At Five Minutes to Midnight on the "Doomsday Clock," Europe is at Risk

By Richard Power

According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' "Doomsday Clock," it is five minutes to Midnight:

The world is nudging closer to nuclear or environmental apocalypse, a group of prominent scientists warned Wednesday as it pushed the hand of its symbolic Doomsday Clock closer to midnight. 

The clock, which was set two minutes forward to 11:55, represents the likelihood of a global cataclysm. Its ticks have given the clock's keepers a chance to speak out on the dangers they see threatening Earth. 

It was the fourth time since the Soviet collapse in 1991 that the clock ticked forward amid fears over what the scientists describe as "a second nuclear age" prompted largely by standoffs with Iran and North Korea. But urgent warnings of climate change also played a role. 

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which sets the clock, was founded in 1945 as a newsletter distributed among nuclear physicists concerned about nuclear war, and midnight originally symbolized a widespread nuclear conflict. The bulletin has grown into an organization focused more generally on manmade threats to human civilization. 

"The dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those posed by nuclear weapons," said Kennette Benedict, director of the bulletin. RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Doomsday Clock Moves Closer to Midnight, Associated Press, 1-17-07

Hopefully, this adjustment of the "Doomsday Clock" cancels out the obscenely (and willfully) ignorant remarks of Chrysler "chief economist" Van Jolissaint:

Chrysler's chief economist Van Jolissaint has launched a fierce attack on "quasi-hysterical Europeans" and their "Chicken Little" attitudes to global warming....Mr Jolissaint was speaking at a private breakfast where the chief economists of the "Big Three" US car firms presented their forecasts for auto industry sales this year. Most of the audience - which was mainly made up of parts suppliers - seemed to nod in agreement with Mr Jolissaint. Neither Ford's chief economist Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, nor General Motors' chief economist Mustafa Mohatarem, who were on the panel with Mr Jolissaint, questioned his assertion.
Steve Schifferes, Chrysler questions climate change, BBC,

But the question remains, how can Jolissaint, and those like him, sleep at night?

This Climate Crisis Update is organized into two parts.

First, three stories that highlight Europe at risk; second, three stories on Big Picture Developments:

Europe at Risk

Will Europe be sundered into a Nordic paradise and a Mediterranean wasteland?

Although much well-deserved attention is given to global warming's direct, devastating and imminent impact on Africa, evidence of the danger to Europe is increasing.

The stakes are very high -- for all of us.

Europe is not only one of the world's economic engines, at this point in human history, flawed as it is, it is also the guardian of humanity's conscience.

Receding Alpine glaciers are appearing a sure telltale of global warming. In Switzerland, 84 out of 85 glaciers under observation became shorter in 2006.
The hot summers and the lack of precipitation in recent years will accelerate the melting process even more, scientists say….
Glacier retreat can lead to the formation of lakes, typically in the recently de-glaciated area in front of a glacier. Such lakes are often dammed by large moraines consisting of loose glacial sediments. The potential instability of moraine dams makes the lakes prone to water outbursts, with potentially devastating effects on the steep yet densely populated Alpine valleys.
Scientists of the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glacioloy of the ETH Zürich have compiled a list of 82 glaciers which in the past have inflicted damage on persons or property. Fifty-one of these are expected to cause new damage within the next 10 to 20 years....
Research using satellite images by the University of Zürich indicates that Switzerland's glaciers lost 18 percent of their surface between 1985 and 2000, at a rate seven times faster than between 1850 and 1973. Mattias Creffier, Alps Glaciers Melting Rapidly, Inter Press Service, 1-19-07

Sandwiched between temperate Europe and African heat, Italy is on the front line of climate change and is witnessing a rise in tropical diseases such as malaria and tick-borne encephalitis, a new report says.
Italy was declared free of malaria in 1970, but it is making a comeback, said the Italian environmental organisation Legambiente. Tick-borne encephalitis, a virus which attacks the nerve system, is also on the way back. While only 18 cases had been reported before 1993, 100 have been since, mostly around Venice.
"Illnesses are arriving from Africa, while tropical animals and plants are attacking our biodiversity, droughts and flooding are on the rise, and semi-desert areas are appearing," said Legambiente's director general, Francesco Ferrante. Tom Kington, Climate change brings malaria back to Italy, Guardian, 1-6-07

Chilly northern Europe could reap big benefits from global warming, while the Mediterranean faces crippling shortages of both water and tourists by the middle of the century, according to the first comprehensive study of its effects on the continent.
Fewer in the north would die of cold, crops there would boom and the North Sea coast could become the new Riviera, an analysis to be approved by the European Commission next week shows. But the annual migration of rich northern Europeans to the south could stop – with dramatic consequences for the economies of Spain, Greece and Italy.
A sixth of the world’s tourists – 100m people annually – head south within Europe for their holidays, spreading €100bn ($130bn) of largesse with them. “The more tourists stay home or go to other destinations, the larger the distributional impact in Europe will be,” says the paper, a copy of which has been obtained by the Financial Times.
While fewer people will perish of cold in the north, tens of thousands more will die of heat in the south. As many as 87,000 extra deaths a year would occur annually by 2071, assuming a three degree centigrade temperature rise. If efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions limit the rise to 2.2 degrees, additional mortalities would be 36,000 a year.
These numbers are dwarfed by predicted deaths and economic chaos in the developing world. Andrew Bounds, Europe to suffer as the world warms up, Financial Times, 1-5-07

Big Picture Developments

A major new United Nations report shows global scientists are more convinced than ever that human activity is causing climate change, the Toronto Star has learned.
The rate of warming between now and 2030 is likely to be twice that of the previous century, it says.
And it concludes that most of the global warming since the middle of the last century has been caused by man-made greenhouse gases.
The report, to be released in Paris Feb. 2, should all but end any debate on climate change and compel governments and industries to take urgent measures to deal with it, scientists say. Peter Gorrie, Landmark UN Study Backs Climate Theory, 2,000 scientists all but end the debate: Human activity causes global warming, Toronto Star, 1-19-07

Carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere much faster than scientists expected, raising fears that humankind may have less time to tackle climate change than previously thought.
New figures from dozens of measuring stations across the world reveal that concentrations of CO2, the main greenhouse gas, rose at record levels during 2006 - the fourth year in the last five to show a sharp increase. Experts are puzzled because the spike, which follows decades of more modest annual rises, does not appear to match the pattern of steady increases in human emissions.
At its most far reaching, the finding could indicate that global temperatures are making forests, soils and oceans less able to absorb carbon dioxide - a shift that would make it harder to tackle global warming. Such a shift would worsen even the gloomy predictions of the Stern Review which warned that we had little over a decade to tackle rising emissions to avoid the worst effects of climate change. David Adam, Surge in Carbon Levels Raises Fears of Runaway Warming, 1-19-07

They burn like fire hurricanes on fronts stretching sometimes thousands of kilometres and with a ferocity that explodes trees and makes them impossible to extinguish short of rain or divine intervention.
Bushfires like those that had raged through Australia's southeast for two months and struck Europe, Canada and the western US in 2003 were a new type of "megafire" not seen until recently, a top Australian fire expert said today….
"They basically burn until there is a substantial break in the weather, or they hit a coastline," Kevin O'Loughlin, chief executive of Australia's government-backed Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre, said.
"These fires can't be controlled by any suppression resources that we have available anywhere in the world." Rob Taylor, World Faces Megafire Threat – Expert, Reuters, 1-19-07

Want to participate in the effort to mitigate the impact of global warming? Download "Ten Things You Can Do"

There is a powerful magic in personal commitment.

FIVE MOST RECENT RELATED POSTS:

Hard Rain Journal 1-2-07: Climate Crisis Update -- Dire Warnings from the West's Experts and from Chinese Gov; Meanwhile, from the US Gov -- NOTHING

Hard Rain Journal 12-27-06: Climate Crisis Update -- Lohachara is Gone, the Bears in Spain are Not Hibernating, Wall Street Wonders What It All Means

Hard Rain Journal 12-14-06: Climate Crisis Update -- Three Damn Good Reasons for "Carbon Freeze" and Peace is One of Them

Hard Rain Journal 12-6-06: Climate Crisis Update -- Seven Stories To Keep You Awake At Night -- Severe Weather, Famine and the Worst-Case Scenario

Hard Rain Journal 11-26-06: Climate Crisis Update -- NSTA and State of Texas Exhibit Wanton Disregard for the Public Good

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Global Warming, Energy Security, Environmental Security, Alternate Energy, Sustainability, Green Power, Renewable Resources, Climate Change, Weather, Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, Doomsday Clock, Crisis Management,Stephen Hawkins, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Alps, Italy, Chrysler, Europe, Malaria, UN, Richard Power, Words of Power


Hard Rain Journal 1-19-07: The Hard Rain Falls Between PNAC and the PATRIOT Act, but the US News Media Sees, Hears, Speaks No Evil

Image: Z, Costa Gavras 1969

Hard Rain Journal 1-19-07: The Hard Rain Falls Between PNAC and the PATRIOT Act, but the US News Media Sees, Hears, Speaks No Evil

By Richard Power

There are significant stories related to Darfur, Global Warming, the UN Millennium Goals, etc. that cry out for coverage, and I will return to writing about these profound challenges next week, but first...

Like the three blind mice, ABC, CBS and NBC continue to look away from the truth. Four blind mice counting CNN, and arguably five counting PBS. (Of course, Faux News is not one of the mice. It is a big, vicious sewer rat.)

At the recent 2007 National Conference of Media Reform in Memphis, Bill Moyers, one of the heroes of this detour into national denial and despair, said: “It is clear what we have to do. We have to tell the story ourselves.”

Here is another compelling example of why.

Consider these three stories:

The Haaretz report of secret negotiations between Israel and Syria from 2004 to 2006.

The BBC report that according to another hero of this dark period, Lt. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson (US Army, retired), Vice-President Dick Cheney deep-sixed a potential peace agreement with the Iranians in 2003.

Paul Krugman's NYT op-ed piece on the Bush-Cheney regime's purge of US DoJ prosecutors.

Just prior to posting, I reviewed the CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN web sites, and none of these three stories were anywhere to be seen.

These three stories are developing, and in a healthy democratic society with an independent news media, they would be blockbuster stories:

Did the Bush-Cheney national insecurity team, and its neo-con allies in the Israeli right-wing, spurn regional peace for the sake of their PNAC wet dream of hegemony?

Is the Bush-Cheney regime's unprecedented purge of US DoJ prosecutors (enabled by an obscure provision in the so-called PATRIOT Act) the most ruthless, blatant and sweeping obstruction of justice in US history?

Here are brief excerpts with links to the full texts:

Iran offered the US a package of concessions in 2003, but it was rejected, a senior former US official has told the BBC's Newsnight programme.
Tehran proposed ending support for Lebanese and Palestinian militant groups and helping to stabilise Iraq following the US-led invasion.
Offers, including making its nuclear programme more transparent, were conditional on the US ending hostility.
But Vice-President Dick Cheney's office rejected the plan, the official said.
The offers came in a letter, seen by Newsnight, which was unsigned but which the US state department apparently believed to have been approved by the highest authorities.
In return for its concessions, Tehran asked Washington to end its hostility, to end sanctions, and to disband the Iranian rebel group the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq and repatriate its members....
One of the then Secretary of State Colin Powell's top aides told the BBC the state department was keen on the plan - but was over-ruled.
"We thought it was a very propitious moment to do that," Lawrence Wilkerson told Newsnight.
"But as soon as it got to the White House, and as soon as it got to the Vice-President's office, the old mantra of 'We don't talk to evil'... reasserted itself."
BBC, Washington 'snubbed Iran offer,' 1-18-07

In a series of secret meetings in Europe between September 2004 and July 2006, Syrians and Israelis formulated understandings for a peace agreement between Israel and Syria. 

The main points of the understandings are as follows: 

An agreement of principles will be signed between the two countries, and following the fulfillment of all commitments, a peace agreement will be signed. 

As part of the agreement on principles, Israel will withdraw from the Golan Heights to the lines of 4 June, 1967. The timetable for the withdrawal remained open: Syria demanded the pullout be carried out over a five-year period, while Israel asked for the withdrawal to be spread out over 15 years. 

At the buffer zone, along Lake Kinneret, a park will be set up for joint use by Israelis and Syrians. The park will cover a significant portion of the Golan Heights. Israelis will be free to access the park and their presence will not be dependent on Syrian approval. 

Israel will retain control over the use of the waters of the Jordan River and Lake Kinneret. 

The border area will be demilitarized along a 1:4 ratio (in terms of territory) in Israel's favor. 

According to the terms, Syria will also agree to end its support for Hezbollah and Hamas and will distance itself from Iran.
...Akiva Eldar, Israeli, Syrian representatives reach secret understandings, 1-16-07

In Senate testimony yesterday, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales refused to say how many other attorneys have been asked to resign, calling it a “personnel matter.”
In case you’re wondering, such a wholesale firing of prosecutors midway through an administration isn’t normal. U.S. attorneys, The Wall Street Journal recently pointed out, “typically are appointed at the beginning of a new president’s term, and serve throughout that term.” Why, then, are prosecutors that the Bush administration itself appointed suddenly being pushed out?
The likely answer is that for the first time the administration is really worried about where corruption investigations might lead....
Now, however, the investigations are closing in on the Oval Office. The latest news is that J. Steven Griles, the former deputy secretary of the Interior Department and the poster child for the administration’s systematic policy of putting foxes in charge of henhouses, is finally facing possible indictment.
And the purge of U.S. attorneys looks like a pre-emptive strike against the gathering forces of justice....
The broader context is this: defeat in the midterm elections hasn’t led the Bush administration to scale back its imperial view of presidential power.
On the contrary, now that President Bush can no longer count on Congress to do his bidding, he’s more determined than ever to claim essentially unlimited authority....
The next two years, in other words, are going to be a rolling constitutional crisis. PAUL KRUGMAN: Surging and Purging, New York Times, 1-19-07 via Pottersville

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Hard Rain Journal 1-17-07: They are Purging US DoJ, Privatizing US Intel, and Preparing for War with Iran -- Dreaming about 2008 is Irresponsible

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GS(3) Thunderbolt 1-11-07: Do You Understand What He Really Said Last Night? These People Opened the Gates of Hell, Now They Want to Drag Everyone In

Hard Rain Journal 1-4-06: Roll-Call for the Reality-Based Community

Words of Power #31: Ghosts of Christmas Past (Katrina) and Future (Iran)

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Iraq, Iran, Lawrence+Wilkerson, Paul Krugman, Syria, Bush, Cheney, Bill Moyers, US Constitution, Richard Power, Words of Power


Hard Rain Journal 1-17-07: They are Purging US DoJ, Privatizing US Intel, and Preparing for War with Iran -- Dreaming about 2008 is Irresponsible

Image: US Constitution


Hard Rain Journal 1-17-07: They are Purging US DoJ, Privatizing US Intel, and Preparing for War with Iran -- Dreaming about 2008 is Irresponsible

By Richard Power

Fellow citizens,

Obama cannot save you.

Even if he delivered on the greatest issues of our time (a big if), and survived the race (another big if) -- 2008 would be too late.

The struggle is here and now. The showdown is imminent.

Look around you.

The Bush-Cheney regime is purging US DoJ, privatizing (and militarizing) US intelligence, and preparing for war with Iran.

Meanwhile, misled and abused by a delusional "Commander-in-Chief," 1,000 men and women of the US military, including 50 officers, have submitted an "Appeal for Redress" to Congress.

Dreaming about 2008 is irresponsible. The challenge is to re-assert the checks and balances in the US system of federal government, and bring the Bush-Cheney national insecurity team to accountability for its wrong-doings.

The USA can't wait two years for a change (especially one that is predicated on false premises). The world can't wait.

The US body politic is heading for a Constitutional crisis of unprecedented scope. And that is the best case scenario -- if we find ourselves in such a predicament in the next few months, it will be because men and women of conscience and common sense, on both sides of the aisle, refused to shirk their responsibilities.

I hear that Obama is going to position himself as a Lincoln. We don't need a Lincoln, we need a Congress that will exercise the powers that the Founders imbued it with.

If the Bush-Cheney regime is not stopped in its tracks in the next few weeks, and compelled to submit to the US Constitution, you will not recognize your country by 2008.

Here is some background on the current situation.

US Justice Department prosecutors across the country are being purged, we are told that they "serve at the pleasure of the President," and being replaced with political operatives:

The head of the FBI's San Diego office and several former federal prosecutors are publicly questioning the politics behind the Bush administration's effort to force Carole Lam to resign as U.S. Attorney for San Diego.
Lam focused her office's efforts on public corruption, including the sprawling Duke Cunningham scandal. That investigation has touched several Republican lawmakers, leading some to speculate that Lam brought political heat down on herself with that probe, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The top FBI official for San Diego said that Lam's dismissal would jeopardize several ongoing investigations. "I guarantee politics is involved," special agent in charge Dan Dzwilewski told the paper. (TPM Muckraker, 1-13-07)

The administration is replacing U.S. Attorneys throughout the country. How'd they get that power?
It was an obscure provision in the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act, and it didn't take them very long to use it. The president signed it into law in March of last year -- by June, they were already moving to replace unwanted prosecutors.
Former Arkansas USA Bud Cummins told the Wall Street Journal that "a top Justice official asked for his resignation in June, saying the White House wanted to give another person the opportunity to serve." Cummins was finally forced out in December, replaced with Timothy Griffin, formerly the research director of the Republican National Committee. (TPM Muckraker, 1-16-07)

US intelligence services are being privatized and militarized, and a Booz Allen Hamilton executive is now in charge:

Mike McConnell, the man President Bush tapped to replace John Negroponte as National Intelligence Director, has been a leading figure in outsourcing U.S. intelligence operations to private industry. McConnell is a former director of the National Security Agency and the current director of defense programs at Booz Allen. We take a look at McConnell and the privatization of intelligence with journalist Tim Shorrock....
JUAN GONZALEZ: And what are the expectations, in terms of what McConnell will do in the position differently?
TIM SHORROCK: ...most of my sources are people inside the industry, inside the corporations -- and they basically tell me he's a Yes man. He’s somebody who’s -- they got him in because basically they want him to push their own programs.
But I think it's very important for your listeners to know and to understand that when talking about the intelligence office, 85% of the intelligence budget is controlled by the Pentagon. So we’re talking about a military program here. Everything -- the NSA is under the Pentagon. The National Geospacial-Intelligence Agency, which does mapping and imagery, they’re under the Pentagon. The National Reconnaissance Office, which launches satellites, they’re under the Pentagon. And when the budget -- when the Intelligence Reform Act passed, you might remember, there was a big fight. You know, the 9/11 Commission wanted to have these national agencies put under the DNI and taken out of the Pentagon, but there was a fight led by people in Congress, who basically represented the contractors, who didn't want to be taken out of the Pentagon. (Democracy Now, 1-12-07)

Misled and abused by a delusional "Commander-in-Chief," 1,000 men and women of the US military, including 50 officers, have submitted an "Appeal for Redress" to Congress:

A letter from about 1,000 active-duty, Guard and reserve members calling for Congress to end the war in Iraq was delivered to Capitol Hill...
The letter contains just three sentences: "As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home." (Army Times, 1-16-07)

A European bank has warned its investors of a possible attack on Iran, and the Kuwaiti press concurs:

Warning that investors might be "in for a shock," a major investment bank has told the financial community that a preemptive strike by Israel with American backing could hit Iran's nuclear program....The banking division of ING Group released a memo on Jan. 9 entitled "Attacking Iran: The market impact of a surprise Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities."(Raw Story, 1-15-07)

The Kuwaiti press says it will happen sometime before April: U.S. might launch a military strike on Iran before April 2007, Kuwait-based daily Arab Times released on Sunday said in a report. The report, written by Arab Times' Editor-in-chief Ahmed al-Jarallah citing a reliable source, said that the attack would be launched from the sea, while Patriot missiles would guard all Arab countries in the Gulf. (Xinhua, 1-14-07)

RECENT RELATED POSTS

Words of Power #32: MLK Day 2007 -- A Call to Conscience in the Corridors of State and Media Power

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Hard Rain Journal 1-4-06: Roll-Call for the Reality-Based Community

Words of Power #31: Ghosts of Christmas Past (Katrina) and Future (Iran)

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Iraq, Iran, TPM Muckraker, Tim Shorrock, Mike McConnel, Appeal for Redress, Carole Lam, Bush, Cheney, ING,Arab Times, Bud Cummins, Timothy Griffin, Barack Obama, US Constitution, Richard Power, Words of Power


Words of Power #32: MLK Day 2007 -- A Call to Conscience in the Corridors of State and Media Power

Image: The balcony of the Lorraine Motel (Memphis, TN), just moments after the assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (April 1968)


If Dr. King could speak today he would tell us to stop this madness and bring our troops home. He would say that war is an obsolete, ineffective tool of our foreign policy. He would say that we must struggle against injustice, we must stand up for what we believe, but if peace is our goal, then peaceful ends can only be secured by peaceful means. He would say as a nation and as a people we can do better; we must do better. We must find a way to live together as brothers and sisters or we will perish as fools. In Commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr., Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), Huffington Post, 1-14-07

Forty years ago, almost to the month, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood at this pulpit, in this house of God, and with the full force of his conscience, his principles and his love of peace, denounced the war in Vietnam, calling it a tragedy that threatened to drag our nation down to dust....If you’re in Congress and you know this war is going in the wrong direction, it is no longer enough to study your options and keep your own counsel. Silence is betrayal. Speak out, and stop this escalation now. You have the power to prohibit the president from spending any money to escalate the war – use it. And to all of you here today – and the millions like us around the country who know this escalation is wrong – your job is to reject the easy way of apathy and choose instead the hard course of action. Silence is betrayal. Speak out. Tell your elected leaders to block this misguided plan that is destined to cost more lives and further damage America’s ability to lead. And tell them also, that the reward of courage...is trust. Former Senator John Edwards (D-NC), "Realizing the Dream," Riverside Church, Harlem, January 14, 2007

When King began in 1967 to express outspoken opposition to the war in Vietnam....The Washington Post went so far as to declare that, with his opposition to the war, "King has diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people." Similarly, King's attempts to advance an economic justice agenda –- the work of his final days as he came to Memphis to march with striking garbage collectors –- was dismissed as a both futile and dangerous.
Things have only grown worse as media consolidation has led to a dumbing down of our mass communications....the relatively serious examinations of fundamental questions of war and peace that were seen during the Vietnam War have been replaced by the embedded – or, as Pultizer Prize winning author Studs Terkel refers to it: "in bed with the administration" -- coverage of the Iraq quagmire. John Nichols, Dr. King and the Media, The Nation

Words of Power #32: MLK Day 2007 -- A Call to Conscience in the Corridors of State and Media Power

By Richard Power

No public personality had a stronger influence on my life than the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. As a child, I clutched my portable, transistor radio, listening to his historic speeches (such speeches were broadcast then), and as I listened, I wept -- not out of sorrow, but out of joy, a profound spiritual joy for the truth and beauty that reverberated in his voice and were reflected in his vision.

MLK Jr.'s influence on the USA was a shamanic one, and those of us whose lives he truly touched, also exercise that shamanic power (and responsibility) -- even today.

It is poignant and encouraging that the 2007 Conference for Media Reform was held in Memphis over the weekend, and that Jesse Jackson (whose shirt was soaked in MLK's blood on the day of the assassination) and Bill Moyers (who rose to prominence in that era when the US mainstream media did, however haltingly, live up to its responsibilities) were among its leaders.

This year in particular, MLK Day has extraordinary and immediate meaning: the Democrats in the US Congress are close to achieving their bold agenda for their first 100 Hours in power. The Bush-Cheney national insecurity team's neo-con wet dream ("I Rock and I Ran Amok") has shoved the Middle East to the brink of regional chaos, and plunged the USA into a moral, economic and geopolitical abyss. Soon, congressional investigations will commence, which will in turn lead to a Constitutional Crisis of unprecedented scope and danger.

Over the next few weeks, as the nation hurtles towards the coming confrontation, there are two terrible mistakes that the Democratic leadership must not make:

First, they must not be anything less than fierce and relentless in their investigations of the Bush-Cheney regime. In regard to 9/11 and Katrina, the Bush-Cheney regime is likely guilty of criminal negligence (at best). In regard to Iraq, etc., the Bush-Cheney regime is likely guilty of crimes against humanity. They have violated federal law, in particular the US Constitution; they have violated international law, in particular the UN Charter and the Geneva Accords.

Second, the Democratic Party leadership must NOT look for objectivity or independence from the US mainstream news media. The corporatist overlords of the media monopolies have been worse than complicit, they have been full partners in the abomination of the last six years. And they are going to go down with the ship. The Democratic Party leadership should cultivate and protect the alternate media, i.e., progressive talk radio, the blogosphere, etc.

The mainstream news media's preparations for these looming showdowns in Beltwayistan and the Persian Gulf are epitomized by ABC's hiring of Glenn Beck (I posted several months ago about the outrage of CNN cutting him a paycheck, now he is getting one from ABC too):

...Glenn Beck will soon join Good Morning America as a "regular commentator." "Glenn is a leading cultural commentator with a distinct voice," GMA senior executive producer Jim Murphy told the AP. "At times, he is the perfect guest for many of the talk topics we cover on morning news programs." But as Media Matters for America has extensively documented, what often distinguishes Beck's "voice" are his inflammatory and controversial comments regarding Muslims, Arabs, Mexicans, and other minorities....Beck has not reserved his vitriol for Arabs and Muslims alone, however....
Beck referred to "those who were left in New Orleans [during Hurricane Katrina], or who decided to stay" as "scumbags."
Beck called antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan "a pretty big prostitute." He later described her as a "tragedy pimp."
...After airing a clip from the documentary film An Inconvenient Truth in which former Vice President Al Gore states that global warming could cause many highly populated coastal areas to be submerged by seawater -- including the entire city of Shanghai -- Beck responded: "This is what would happen to Shanghai. Does anybody really care? I mean, come on. Shanghai is under water. Oh, no! Who's gonna make those little umbrellas for those tropical drinks?" Good Morning America turns blind eye to Beck's smears, hires him as regular commentator, Media Matters

MLK Day 2007 is dominated by two overriding moral imperatives:

1) To develop a winning, real-world strategy for peace and stability in the Middle East (which includes ending the US occupation of Iraq)

2) To liberate the US tax-payers' air-waves from corporatist control

How to Develop a Winning Strategy for Peace and Stability in the Middle East

Although you wouldn't know it from the framing of the US mainstream news media, Democratic military strategists and geopolitical experts have aggressively analyzed and articulated the failures of the Bush-Cheney National Insecurity team, and they have also offered several viable alternative paths.

Notably, Brezinki, Murtha and Clark (none of them "doves") have made compelling statements in the last few days.

The speech reflects a profound misunderstanding of our era. America is acting like a colonial power in Iraq. But the age of colonialism is over. Waging a colonial war in the post-colonial age is self-defeating. That is the fatal flaw of Bush's policy. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Five Flaws in the President's Plan, Washington Post, 1-22-06

Five months ago, we put an additional 10,000 troops in Baghdad. Attacks increased and a record number of Americans and Iraqis were killed. I see no difference between this and the President's plan to "stay the course."...A year ago, I called for a redeployment of our forces and predicted that this "stay the course" policy would adversely affect our military readiness. The Defense Subcommittee will begin holding extensive hearings on January 17th to determine how we can best restore the readiness and strategic reserve of our military.
Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), A Surge in American Forces is Unacceptable, Huffington Post, 1-11-07

Gen. Wesley Clark caricaturizes the Bush Splurge as "Stay the course, more."

It is a tactical tweak but the strategy is wrong...The Neo-Con strategy failed. The Neo-Con strategy was hey let's go into Iraq, let's kick 'em in the teeth, let's get rid of Saddam, make it a democracy, and then we will move our divisions into Syria, get rid of that guy Assad and then that will give us control of Lebanon, and then we can sweep back around and put real pressure n Tehran, and try to get regime change there. It was a great vision, but it was a fantasy and it misunderstood how nations and societies are organized. Gen. Wesley Clark (US Army retired), former Supreme Allied Commander, Politically Direct, Air America Radio, 1-11-07

Emphasizing that Iraq is the fault line between the Sunni and the Shia, Clark stresses real-world diplomacy:

This is the absolute frontline of a 700 year struggle for power between two rival sects of Islam...If you go over to Iran and say "Look, I need your help." They would say "Just leave, leave right now." Diplomacy is about trying to create a different vision for the region. Do people in this region always have to fight? Does every issue have to be settled by force? Do people have to hate each other all their lives and pass that hate on to their children? Do people have to live in fear? There has to be a better way. That sounds idealistic, but it can be implemented step by step...Not that you can ask Iran for help, you can help Iran. We have things they want. They want to be admitted into the world community. They would like to have their assets unfrozen. They would like to get new technology for their oil fields. They would like to be recognized as an important power in the region....We are the key to unlocking all of these things for them. We could do that for them if they do what needs to be done for us."

How to Liberate US Tax-Payers' Air-Waves from Corporatist Control

Two rebel FCC commissioners exhorted the 3K plus crowd at the 2007 Conference for Media Reform in Memphis.

Here are brief excerpts from their remarks, with links to the full text and YouTube videos:

On Friday Night FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps challenged thousands of media reformers to set a bold new agenda for America’s media system and “get rid of the bad old rules that got us into this mess in the first place.”
Speaking at the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis, Commissioner Copps released the “New America Media Contract” to, as he put it, “guarantee that our airwaves serve their masters — we, the people.”
Copps then urged Free Press and the other activists and organizers present at the event to “shift from the defense to the offense” and mobilize millions of Americans to make corporate media sign on to the Contract:
“We, the American people have given broadcasters free use of the nation’s most valuable spectrum, and we expect something in return. We expect this.
First, a right to media that strengthens our democracy;
Second, a right to local stations that are actually local;
Third, a right to media that looks and sounds like America;
Fourth, a right to news that isn’t canned and radio playlists that aren’t for sale; and
Fifth, a right to programming that isn’t so damned bad so damned often”
Copps Unveils New America Media Contract, www.freepress.com

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein on Friday told thousands of people gathered at the National Conference for Media Reform to bury “six feet deep” any attempts by the FCC to roll back media ownership rules.
Adelstein called for a congressional veto procedure known as a “resolution of disapproval,” which was originally designed to allow a Republican Congress to quickly repeal regulations by then President Clinton.
“But the winds of change have now swept through Washington,” he said. “This time, in 2007, if the FCC passes an Order to increase media consolidation, there’s nothing to stop Congress from vetoing it. If it comes to a vote on the Hill, we’ll seeb ipartisan support that’s been bottled up come pouring out.”
Adelstein said:
“If a bad Order comes out of the FCC, let’s not just bury it. Let’s bury it six feet deep! When the FCC goes too far in rolling back media ownership limits, if you demand it, Congress can send it right to the dumpster of history where it belongs!
“Even better, let’s keep bad rules from coming out in the first place. We have a new Commission, one that has seen the damage you can do to policies that neglect the people we’re supposed to serve. You need to send the message loud and clear: if the FCC dramatically rolls back the media ownership protections, it will get vetoed by Congress. So don’t even bother trying.” Adelstein Calls on Congress to Deep Six Consolidation, www.freepress.com

There is no better example of the role of alternative media than Buzzflash, and so, in conclusion, here is an excerpt from a Buzzflash editorial posted from Memphis:

The mainstream media is part of the hierarchical public relations machine that sees news as being White House PR announcements about the news, not the news itself....
It is amazing that Americans have turned so hard against the Iraq War when they are being spoon-fed Politburo style lies and euphemistic propaganda slogans by the corporate press, when the actual context of news is denied the consumer and when writers are not allowed to stray far from the White House script.
The corporate media is guilty of malfeasance. It really isn’t in the business of news anymore; it is the business of entertainment and fattening its bottom line. It is in the business of siding with any politician that will give it tax breaks, regulatory favors, and contracts for companies owned by parent corporations.
If you harbor any doubts about this, two days at the Media Reform Conference would surely dispel them.
If you still are skeptical, let us ask a question BuzzFlash has asked before.
Would any of the major corporate media conglomerates – given his record as President – hire George W. Bush as the CEO of their companies?
Please raise your hand, if the answer is yes.
How come we don’t see any hands go up?
Now, do you understand what hypocrites the owners of the corporate media are?
It’s really quite simple to understand: they’ll inflict a malicious, psychiatrically-impaired, chronically failing frat boy on America and the world, as long as their bottom lines are protected.
Now, that’s a news story.
Corporate Media Malfeasance: A BuzzFlash Update from the Memphis Media Reform Conference -- Part II, Buzzflash, 1-14-07

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Iraq, Wesley Clark, Martin Luther King, Jr., Bill Moyers, Jesse Jackson, 2007 Conference for Media Reform, Bush, Cheney, Buzzflash,FCC, Glenn Beck, John Edwards, Rep. John Lewis, John Murtha, Zbigniew Brezinksi, Michael Copps, Jonathan Adelstein Richard Power, Words of Power


Hard Rain Journal 1-13-07: UN Millennium Goals and Sustainability Update -- Does Burkina-Faso Offer a Glimpse into Our Urban Future?

Image: Growth of Slums Worldwide, World Future Fund

Hard Rain Journal 1-13-07: UN Millennium Goals and Sustainability Update -- Does Burkina-Faso Offer a Glimpse into Our Urban Future?

By Richard Power

In the developed world, many economically elite urban dwellers take a lot for granted.

Where do you think the sewage goes?

Where do you think the water you drink comes from?

And did you know that, although the world’s cities only cover 0.4 of the planet’s surface, they generate most of the world’s greenhouse gas emission?

One billion humans live in slums today. Within the next few decades, another one billon or so more humans will live in slums. At the beginning of the 20th Century, ten percent of the world's population lived in cities. In the next twenty or thirty years, seventy percent of the world's population will live in cities.

Two recent stories, one on a Worldwatch Institute study on “Our Urban Future,” the other on the lack of sanitation and potable water in Burkina-Faso, highlight the urgent need to grasp the achievement of the UN Millennium Goals and the greening of our cities, our economies, etc. as two of the three most vital imperatives of our time (the third, of course, is non-proliferation of nuclear weapons).

Remember, urban poverty and environmental collapse are not just problems that tug at your conscience or offend your sensibilities; today's slums may well offer a glimpse into your future, or the future of your children.

Here are brief excerpts from these two stories, with links to the full texts:

Over half the 1.1 billion people projected to join the world's population over the next quarter century could live in under-served urban slums, warns a report..."The scale of urbanization is unprecedented," the Worldwatch Institute's Molly Sheehan told OneWorld as the group prepared to launch its flagship annual report "State of the World 2007: Our Urban Future."
"We've gone from approximately 10 percent of the world's people living in cities in 1900 to half today--and if we continue on this course we're expected to top 70 percent in the next 20 or 30 years."
The highest rates of urban growth are expected in Asia and Africa, the report notes. Unlike previous periods of urban growth, however, this one is not necessarily tied to improved conditions for the poor....
According to the report, 1 billion urbanites--or approximately one sixth of the world's total population--currently live in "slums," defined as areas where people cannot secure key necessities such as clean water, a nearby toilet, or durable housing. An estimated 1.6 million urbanites die each year due to the lack of clean water and sanitation, the report said.
Rapid urban growth also has implications for global warming, Worldwatch said. While cities cover only 0.4 percent of the Earth's surface, they generate the bulk of the world's carbon emissions.
Still, Worldwatch noted that many cities around the world are developing innovative solutions that, if replicated, could both fight poverty and save the environment. Aaron Glantz, Slum Hordes? World at Urban Crossroads, Warns Report, One World, 1-11-07

"The construction of toilets in disadvantaged suburbs does not respect standards," says Tidiane Zougouri, director of the National Environment Laboratory (Laboratoire national de l'environnement).
"What happens is that people convert old -- and very deep -- wells…and make toilets of them," he notes, adding that this takes place even as neighbours are permitted to dig new wells. According to preventive medicine officials in the health ministry, wells are often built with inappropriate walls that enable them to be penetrated by water contaminated with parasites and waste….
This causes people in most towns to become ill often from waterborne diseases such as diarrhea and dysentery….
Dams are also polluted by waste, as is the water table.
ONEA subsidises the construction of toilets, for which the minimum cost is about 200 dollars, according to the income of clients: households must pay 70 to 80 percent of the amount.
But, this is still beyond the reach of many. According to the Human Development Report, just over 27 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, on less than a dollar a day.
In light of this, ONEA hopes to bring the contribution by households down to 50 percent.
Authorities also want to ensure that sanitation is available to 70 percent of people living in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso, and 50 to 55 percent of residents in other towns, by 2015 -- and is holding talks with the African Development Bank for a project to help them attain this goal.
The eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals -- agreed on by world leaders in 2000 -- include halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.
Brahima Ouedraogo, HEALTH-BURKINA FASO: Wells and Toilets Make Bad Neighbours, Inter Press Service, 1-7-07

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Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Worldwatch Institute, Burkina Faso, UN Millennium Goals, Global Warming, Water, Poverty, Health, Environmental Security, Climate Change

GS(3) Thunderbolt 1-11-07: Do You Understand What He Really Said Last Night? These People Opened the Gates of Hell, Now They Want to Drag Everyone In

Image: US Fatalities in Iraq, as of January 1, 2007, by Home of Record, Source: Iraq Coalition Casuality Count

GS(3) Thunderbolt 1-11-07: Do You Understand What He Really Said Last Night? These People Opened the Gates of Hell, Now They Want to Drag Everyone In

By Richard Power

You do realize what W. Jong-il really said, don't you?

He confirmed that the Bush-Cheney national insecurity team -- with the assistance of its Renfields in the Senate (Lieberman and the shell-of-a-man-formerly-known-as-John McCain) -- are going to attempt to lead the USA into an attack on Iran; despite the results of the US mid-term elections, the unprecedented resistance of US military professionals, and the lack of support even within the right-wing of his own political party.

In the years leading up to 911, the champions of the PNAC agenda waxed poetically concerning their need for a new "Pearl Harbor."

They had to abort the 2000 election to force their way into power, and then they had to shut their eyes and stick their fingers in their ears, but they got it.

Now they need a new Gulf of Tonkin to turn the page and move on to the next chapter.

Here is a simple question that the US mainstream news media (MSM) will not ask:

Who is killing US military personnel in Iraq? Is it the Sunni or the Shia?

We know the Sunni are killing the Shia, and the Shia are killing the Sunni (that's the civil war), but who is killing the men and women of the US military?

My guess is that Sunni factions are responsible for most of the 3000+ US military deaths in Iraq.

Nor is it even the Al Qaeda faction among the Sunni insurgents, as Juan Cole observes: ...the main problem is not "al-Qaeda," which is small and probably not that important, and anyway is not really Bin Laden's al-Qaeda. They are just Salafi jihadis who appropriated the name. When their leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed, it didn't cause the insurgency to miss a beat. Conclusion: "al-Qaeda" is not central to the struggle. Izzat Ibrahim Duri and the Baath Party are probably the center of gravity of the resistance. (Juan Cole, Informed Comment, 1-11-07)

And yet, W. Jong-il didn't threaten Saudi Arabia, or the secular Baathists, in his speech announcing the Splurge, he threatened Iran and Syria.

It wasn't a Saudi consulate that was stormed at three a.m. this morning, it was an Iranian consulate (AP, 1-11-07); and it was Shiite militiamen that PM Maliki threatened with an all-out assault, if they do not disarm (AP, 1-11-07).

Why?

The Bush-Cheney national insecurity team is pursuing the PNAC agenda (one way to say it). It is doing the bidding of the Saudi royals and Israeli neo-cons like Netanyahu (another way to say it). And it is serving the corporatist interests of those behind it all, i.e., the Oiligarchy and the Military-Industrial-Entertainment Complex (the truth of it).

They want to provoke a regional war.

But war was not the solution for the problem of Iraq, and war is not the solution for the problem of Iran. (Steve Clemons offers some healthy perspective on how to deal effectively with Iran in his excellent blog, The Washington Note.)

Perhaps the bitterest irony in all of this folly is that they are withdrawing troops from Afghanistan for their Splurge in Iraq.

Bin Laden, Zawahiri and Mullah Omar are still at large.

The Taliban is resurgent.

Remember, remember, remember: the Iranians did not attack the USA on 911, nor did the Iraqis.

Here are two more questions that the US MSM won't ask:

1. Are Sens. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Arlen Spectre (R-PA) Gordon Smith (R-OR), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Olympia Snow and Susan Collins (R-ME) serious in their opposition to this escalation in the service of the PNAC agenda, or are they merely posturing for temporary relief until the PNAC narrative takes over again after a new "Gulf of Tonkin"?

2. Will the Democratic Party leadership have the courage to stand up to those who falsely claim to champion Israel's protection, when, in reality, they are actually advancing the aims of the Oiligarchy and the Military-Industrial-Entertainment Complex at the Israeli people's further peril?

According to Bob Geiger, a great blogger with a keen ear to Capitol Hill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says that the Democrats "will not be swift-boated on this issue."

Let us hope there is some gallantry in those who stand beside and behind her.

You may think that I am exaggerating by dubbing George W. Bush "W. Jong-il." But I do not use the term frivolously. If it were not for his father, Jong-il would not have assumed the role of maximum leader in Pyongyang. And if it did not serve the interests of some coalescence of powerful elites within the ruling circle, he would not still be playing the role of maximum leader in Pyongyang. Furtermore, a society run on thought control and scarcity is just the kind of the future that the Bush-Cheney regime -- with its economic war on the US middle class and its extralegal assault on the US Constitution -- has in mind for the "Homeland."

The situation is spiraling out of control. Our circumstances demand that you know more than the simple fact that Bush-Cheney regime has been a disaster. You must ask yourself how is it possible for them to still be powerful enough to lead this nation and the world into a self-fulfilling prophecy of apocalypse?

For your further study, here are some brief excerpts from to relevant stories, with links to the full texts:

Serious Israeli strategists know that the best way to hinder Iran is to (1) work to reduce the price of oil to undermine the economic basis of Iran's growing pretensions; (2) to work covertly to "stir up trouble" inside Iran among its own interest groups -- much like Iran is doing to the U.S. inside Iraq; and (3) to find ways to tacitly work with and recognize other power centers inside Iran rather than the relatively weak but hyperbolic President Ahmadinejad. Steve Clemons, The Washington Note, 1-8-07

As the surge an orchestrated distraction from the real war plan? A good case can be made that it is. The US Congress and media are focused on President Bush’s proposal for an increase of 20,000 US troops in Iraq, while Israel and its American neoconservative allies prepare an assault on Iran. Commentators have expressed puzzlement over President Bush’s appointment of a US Navy admiral as commander in charge of the ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The appointment makes sense only if the administration’s attention has shifted from the insurgencies to an attack on Iran. Paul Craig Roberts, Antiwar.com, 1-10-07

On Jan. 4, Bush ousted the top two commanders in the Middle East, Generals John Abizaid and George Casey, who had opposed a military escalation in Iraq, and removed Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, who had stood by intelligence estimates downplaying the near-term threat from Iran's nuclear program. Most Washington observers have treated Bush's shake-up as either routine or part of his desire for a new team to handle his planned "surge" of U.S. troops in Iraq. But intelligence sources say the personnel changes also fit with a scenario for attacking Iran's nuclear facilities and seeking violent regime change in Syria. Robert Parry, Consortium News, 1-8-07

If engagement with Iran and Syria was even remotely on the agenda, Abizaid is exactly the man you'd want on the job at Centcom overseeing US forces and strategy in the region. But if that's not on the agenda, if you're thinking instead of using force against Iran and/or Syria, then Admiral Fallon is exactly the man you'd want at Centcom. Michael Klare, Ominous Signs of a Wider War, The Nation, 1-8-07

"The trouble is that their love of Israel distorts their judgment and blinds them from seeing what's in front of them," argues Shulamit Aloni, a veteran of Israel's war of independence who went on to serve in the Knesset and as a minister in several Israeli cabinets. "Israel is an occupying power that for 40 years has been oppressing an indigenous people, which is entitled to a sovereign and independent existence while living in peace with us."
In a defense of Carter penned for the mass-circulation Israeli newspaper Yediot Acharonot, the woman who served as former Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin's education minister wrote that, "Indeed apartheid does exist here."
"The U.S. Jewish establishment's onslaught on former President Jimmy Carter is based on him daring to tell the truth which is known to all: through its army, the government of Israel practises a brutal form of Apartheid in the territory it occupies," explains Aloni. "Its army has turned every Palestinian village and town into a fenced-in, or blocked-in, detention camp. All this is done in order to keep an eye on the population's movements and to make its life difficult. Israel even imposes a total curfew whenever the settlers, who have illegally usurped the Palestinians' land, celebrate their holidays or conduct their parades."
Aloni should be reminded that the battering of Carter has as frequently come from non-Jews as Jews in the U.S. But, with that clarification, her message is one that merits serious attention from Americans who are frustrated by this country's inability to engage in a serious discussion about Middle East policy. John Nichols, An Israeli Defense of Jimmy Carter, 1-9-07

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Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to http://www.wordsofpower.net/

Iraq, John McCain, Joe Lieberman, John Abizaid, Gen. George Casey, Richard Lugar, PNAC, Bush, Cheney, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Shulamit Aloni, Jimmy Carter, Nancy Pelosi, Bob Geiger, , Juan Cole, Steve Clemons, Richard Power, Words of Power

Hard Rain Journal 1-8-07: Human Rights and Environmental Security Update from Burma, Cambodia and Mekong River

Image: Angkor Wat

Hard Rain Journal 1-8-07: Human Rights and Environmental Security Update from Burma, Cambodia and the Mekong River

By Richard Power

Energy security and environmental security are interdependent.

In the 21st Century, real energy security can only be achieved through the cultivation of green power and sustainability.

Human rights and environmental security are also interdependent.

In the 21st Century, the impact of the human footprint threatens the global environment upon which all life depends.

Two recent stories offer compelling examples:

In Burma, human rights activists known as the 88-Generation Students have launched a letter writing campaign called "Open Heart" to protest the oppressive regime. Many thousands of courageous Burmese have written letters and signed their names. (IPS, 1-8-07)

On the Mekong River, Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance (TERRA) and other environmental activist groups are struggling against turning the Mekong into an oil-shipping route for the Chinese. This plan is one of two Chinese energy projects that threaten the region. The other is a pipeline, which is going to cut through the heart of Burma. (IPS, 1-5-07)

An oil spill along the Mekong could bring devastation to many millions who live on its banks and rely on it for food and income.

Pumping natural gas from Burma to China will only strengthen the thugs who rule Rangoon.

Meanwhile, in Cambodia, thirty years after the killing of at least 1.7 million people, a tribunal to prosecute crimes against humanity is finally gettting underway. (Der Spiegal, 1-4-07)

What meaning does it have now?

There are some serious questions about whether or not justice will be well-served.

But at the very least, the proceedings will remind the human race, once again, of its failure to thwart even the most eggregious wrongs.

Here are brief excerpts with links to the full text of these three stories:

A letter-writing campaign, launched in the first week of the new year, saw tens of thousands of people in and around Rangoon seeking the special envelopes and sheets of paper meant for this drive, say the organisers, a highly respected group of former university students, known as the ‘88-Generation Students'....The month-long letter-writing drive, known as the ‘Open Heart' campaign, is the latest effort by the 88-Generation to ‘'raise the people's voices,'' Naing Aung explained in an interview. ‘'It is a peaceful way of expressing the public's views, because protests are banned, the media is censored, and there are no elections.'' Yet this effort, where the people are encouraged to directly address Burma's strongman, Than Shwe, with the problems they face, comes with a high personal risk, including a jail term, if it provokes the ire of the junta. The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the junta is officially known, currently holds over 1,100 people in jails for expressing their thoughts on a range of subjects. These political prisoners include opposition parliamentarians, Buddhist monks, journalists, writers, students and political activists. The 88-Generation, who derive their name from being the students who led a pro-democracy protest in 1988, which was brutally crushed by the military regime, mounted this effort on the success of three other campaigns conducted last year....BURMA: Marwaan Macan-Markar, Defiant Public Blitzes Junta with Letters, Inter Press Service, 1-8-07

As energy hungry China turns the ecologically fragile Mekong river into an oil-shipping route, green activists and environmentalists in South-east Asia worry that spillages could destroy the livelihoods of millions of people residing along the lower reaches of the region's largest waterway....‘'The whole deal was done in secrecy with no information released to the public or attempt to get the people's views, especially those living along the Mekong River,'' says Premrudee Daoroung, co-director of the Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance (TERRA) that is based in the Thai capital.... Fears of a possible oil spill have been fed by what environmentalists have noticed since ships began plying the Chiang Rai-Yunnan route....‘'A spill will destroy the river's eco-system.''
The 4,880 km-long Mekong River begins its journey in the Tibetan plateau, travelling through Yunnan, flows along the borders of Burma, Thailand and Laos before it snakes through Cambodia and Vietnam, where it flows out into the South China Sea. An estimated 60 million people who live along the Mekong's banks from Burma southwards depend on it for food, water and transport....China's oil route along the Mekong River is one of two plans it unveiled in this region in its bid to avoid the Malacca Straits. Last April, Beijing inked a deal with Rangoon to build an oil pipeline linking Burma's deep-water port of Sittwe to Kunming, Yunnan's capital.
The planned pipeline has alarmed Burmese human rights and environmental groups for multiple reasons: the financial windfall that will help to prop up Rangoon's oppressive military regime, the environmental damage the pipeline would cause and the human rights violations that it would leave in its wake.
‘'This pipeline will cut through the centre of Burma. There will be a lot of forced relocation and forced labour, because the route goes through heavily populated areas,'' says Wong Aung, spokesman for the Shwe Gas Movement, a group fighting for the rights of the Arakan community in Burma, the region where Sittwe is located.
Marwaan-Macan-Markar, ENVIRONMENT-ASIA: China Turns Mekong Into Oil-Shipping Route, Inter Press Service, 1-5-07

Finally, in early 2007, after years of difficult talks between the government of Hun Sen and the United Nations, the last survivors from the so-called "Democratic Kampuchea," the regime of the communist mass murderer Pol Pot, will stand before an international court in Phnom Penh. For a quarter century, state prosecutors have been sifting through trial documents, and now they want to take depositions from the first witnesses.
The crimes committed were monstrous. Almost half of Cambodia's population of 7 million died in Pol Pot's barbaric attempt to turn his country into the ultimate communist society, says Prime Minister Hun Sen....
The tribunal will begin its work at the start of this year. The trial is likely to take years, and it must be limited to handling human rights violations committed during the period of the Pol Pot dictatorship between April 17, 1975, and Jan. 6, 1979.
Most Khmer Rouge leaders have already been pardoned; others have reached high positions in Cambodia's current government. The contract between the UN and Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party determines who can be charged...
Claudia Fenz, 48, is one of 13 international judges and attorneys who will sit on the 30-member court. The Viennese attorney is no longer sure whether the case is more about justice or politics. Cambodian judges can overrule their UN colleagues at all levels of jurisdiction....
"This court will never bring justice," says Youk Chhang, 46. He's a kind of Cambodian Simon Wiesenthal. If he and his documentation center had not sought written documents on the mass murder, and if they hadn't preserved eyewitness testimony about the horrors, the tribunal would not have been established.
Pol Pot's minions murdered many members of Chhang's large extended family. They slit his older sister's belly open -- before her children's eyes -- after she was accused in the work camp of stealing rice....
Jürgen Kremb, THE GUARDIANS OF HELL: Cambodia Prepares for Khmer Rouge Tribunal, Der Spiegel, 1-4-07

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Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Mekong River, TERRA, 88 Generation, UN, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam, China, Environmental Security, Energy Security, Sustainability, Human Rights, Shwe Gas Movement

Hard Rain Journal 1-5-07: Global Free Press Update -- “2006 was the worst year on record — a year of targeting, brutality, continued impunity..."

Image: Pablo Picasso, Guernica




The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said today that 2006 was a year of tragedy for the world’s media as killings of reporters and media staff reached historic levels with at least 155 murders, assassinations and unexplained deaths.
“Media have become more powerful and journalism has become more dangerous,” said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. “2006 was the worst year on record – a year of targeting, brutality and continued impunity in the killing of journalists.”
During the year the numbers began to accumulate with civil strife and resistance to military occupation in Iraq. The IFJ says media became prime targets of terror attacks or victims of poor soldiering. By the year’s end, 68 media staff had been killed, bringing to 170 the number killed in the country since the invasion in April 2003.
Elsewhere, the IFJ says continuing violence in Latin America, particularly Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela, claimed the lives of 37 media staff while in Asia relentless attacks in the Philippines and Sri Lanka pushed the total of killings to 34.
Journalism Put to the Sword in 2006: IFJ Reports 155 Murders and Unexplained Killings in Year of Unprecedented Brutality, 12-31-06

Hard Rain Journal 1-5-07: Global Free Press Update -- “2006 was the worst year on record — a year of targeting, brutality, continued impunity..."

By Richard Power

No aspect of life is more vital to the establishment (or preservation) of a civil and open society than the cultivation of an independent news media. Rich in diverse views and empowered to challenge both government and business, independent news media is the life-blood of democratic political life. Without it, the populace is at the mercy of those who wield state power and corporate influence.

Here are four stories that underscore how bad conditions are for independent journalists in some of the world's most troubled regions:

According to IFJ General Secretary Aidan White: “2006 was the worst year on record — a year of targeting, brutality, and continued impunity in the killing of journalists.”
In the Philippines alone, IFJ said 13 journalists died last year, bringing to 49 the number of media practitioners murdered since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power in 2001. This number, IFJ reported, surpasses the numbers killed during the Marcos regime.
This also makes the country the most dangerous place in the world for journalists, second only to Iraq. In that war-torn country, 68 media staff had been killed, bringing to 170 the number killed since the invasion in April 2003. There is also continuing violence against journalists in countries like Mexico, Colombia, Sri Lanka, and other parts of Africa, IFJ said. 2006: The Worst Year for Journalists, Philippine Center for Independent Journalism (PCIJ), 1-5-07

The blurred line between media and politics in Lebanon all but disappeared following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on 14 February 2004....The assassination threw the nation into political turmoil, from which the media was in no way immune. Newspapers and radio and television stations either owned or supported by anti-Syrian groups devoted their columns and airwaves to what became known as the “Cedar Revolution." In the months that followed, many media outlets became major players in the nationwide revolts that led to Syria’s withdrawal of forces in April 2005. Journalists were to pay dearly for their role in expressing such criticism. 2005 saw a wave of appalling and deadly attacks on the press. The murders of An-Nahar publisher Gebran Tueni and leading columnist Samir Qassir, and the maiming of LBC TV journalist May Chidiac, all of them car bomb attacks, had a chilling effect on the nation’s media and created a climate of fear and insecurity....
In the summer of 2006, Lebanese journalists faced security risks from another direction as they reported on the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. On 14 July, Israel launched air and sea attacks on targets in Lebanon after Hezbollah conducted a raid into Israel, killing seven soldiers and capturing two others....The Israeli military targeted a number of transmission towers belonging to both private and state-run media outlets in the first two weeks of the conflict, injuring a number of media employees.
On 23 July, Layal Najib, a freelance photographer for the Lebanese magazine Al-Jaras and Agence France-Presse was killed when an Israeli missile exploded near her car as she was travelling in southern Lebanon. “Media in Lebanon: Reporting on a Nation Divided,” IPI, 12-06

The tightening grip on news media outlets has been an increasingly disturbing feature of the former Soviet Union’s authoritarian-minded regimes. This trend is noticeable in Azerbaijan, where recent government moves have weakened an already enfeebled independent media sector.
The reality on the ground in Azerbaijan belies official assertions that the government is interested in encouraging a free press. Measures introduced in late 2006 created the appearance of a design to close down the remaining few media outlets that provide independent information....
Analysis produced by the OECD identifies the lack of press freedom as one of the key factors enabling corruption in resource-based economies. Authorities’ recent ratcheting up of pressure on selected media outlets, therefore, raises concerns about Azerbaijan’s ability to take the steps needed to avoid the “resource curse.”
Freedom House findings identify a host of obstacles for independent media in Azerbaijan’s legal, political, and economic spheres. Freedom of the Press, Freedom House’s annual survey of global press freedom, places Azerbaijan in the “not free” category. Another annual Freedom House publication, Nations in Transit, reports that “Azerbaijan’s media sector encounters numerous obstacles to conducting its work and maintaining independence.” Among the issues highlighted in the report was the fact that media “continue to operate under governmental and legal pressure, with most opposition outlets facing substantial financial hardship in the face of unreasonably high libel penalties.” Christopher Walker, The Wider Implications of the Crackdown on Press Freedom, Freedom House, 1-3-06

When you step off the elevator at the Reuters news offices in Washington, D.C., you see a large book sitting on a wooden stand. Each entry describes a Reuters journalist killed in the line of duty. Such as Taras Protsyuk. The veteran Ukrainian cameraman was killed on April 8, 2003, the day before the U.S. seized Baghdad. Protsyuk was on the balcony of the Palestine Hotel when a U.S. tank positioned itself on the al-Jumhuriyah bridge and, as people watched in horror, unleashed a round into the side of the building. The hotel was known for housing hundreds of unembedded reporters. Protsyuk was killed instantly. Jose Couso, a cameraman for the Spanish network Telecinco, was filming from the balcony below. He was also killed.
The difference between the responses by the mainstream media in the United States versus Europe was stunning. While in this country there was hardly a peep of protest, Spanish journalists engaged in a one-day strike. From the elite journalists down to the technicians, they laid down their cables, cameras and pens. They refused to record the words of then-Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who joined British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush in supporting the war. When Aznar came into parliament, they piled their equipment at the front of the room and turned their backs on him. Photographers refused to take his picture and instead held up a photo of their slain colleague. At a news conference in Madrid with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Spanish reporters walked out in protest. Later, hundreds of journalists, camera people and technicians marched on the U.S. embassy in Madrid, chanting "Murderer, murderer."
The U.N. Security Council agrees. On Dec. 23, it passed a unanimous resolution insisting on the protection of journalists in conflict zones.
More than 120 reporters and other media workers have been killed in Iraq since the invasion....The Pentagon should adopt the U.N. standard and send a clear message to its ranks: Shooting the messenger is a war crime that will not be tolerated. Amy Goodman, Shooting the Messenger is a War Crime, Common Dreams, 12-28-06

Some Related Posts

Hard Rain Journal 10-10-06: Global Free Press Update -- Tales of Violence, Intimidation & Censorship Perpetrated By Both Governments & Corporations
Hard Rain Journal 9-7-06: While ABC Catapults the Propaganda, Bush’s “Key Ally” Makes Peace with Al Qaeda
Hard Rain Journal 8-12-06: News Media Control on the Poorest Continent & in the Richest Nation
Hard Rain Journal 8-7-06: Coked Out? ABC Ignores 3 Blockbusters on War & Treason to Suggest Lamont, Not Lieberman, Would Be A "Disaster"
Hard Rain Journal 7-22-06 Weekend Edition: Updates on US Election Fraud and the Dan Rather Watch
Hard Rain Journal 7-13-06: Dan Rather Not -- Will Former CBS Anchor Join Moyers & Cronkite in Wilderness, & Speak Truth to Abuse of Media Power?
Hard Rain Journal 7-5-06: Al Qaeda Endorsed Bush-Cheney in 2004, But US Mainstream News Media Chose to Ignore It
Hard Rain Journal 6-29-06: What are the Global Implications of Neo-Totalitarianism in both US and China? Will The New York Times Fight for Freedom?
Hard Rain Journal 6-19-06: Coulter, Beck and The Death of The News

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

News Media, Media Reform, Lebanon, Philippines, Azerbaijan, Open Society, Iraq, Taras Protsyuk, PCIJ, IPI, IFJ, Amy Goodman

Hard Rain Journal 1-4-7: Roll-Call for the Reality-Based Community

Image: Dixie Chicks

Hard Rain Journal 1-4-07: Roll-Call for the Reality-Based Community

By Richard Power

W. Jong-il is preparing to announce his faux "surge" (it is a splurge really, and a shameless political stunt for domestic consumption), which will only lead to more senseless deaths of US military personnel, more slaughtered Iraqis, greater regional chaos, greater isolation for the USA, more war crimes, more defilement of the US Constitution, and greater danger to the US populace.

His Renfields, the shell-of-a-man-formerly-known-as-John-McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) are out on the air waves shilling it.

How can the US mainstream news media continue to provide center stage to these deluded people?

The new Congress must act decisively to bring this tragedy to an end, and hold the Bush-Cheney national insecurity team accountable for their grevious wrong-doing.

I spoke out against the foolish military adventure in Iraq when it was still little more than a gleam in Dick Cheney's eyes. I said that it would be a Mega-Mogadishu. I said that it was worst than immoral or illegal, it was stupid. Although I am a Democrat (for better and worse), the analysis that led me to my conclusion was not based on politics or ideology, it was based on fundamental security principles and intelligence analysis.

Many brave, distinguished professionals who belong to the national security establishment have spoken out forcefully over the last six years: former Ambassador Joe Wilson, General William Odom (Ronald Reagan's NSA Director), Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (Colin Powell's Chief Aide), General Anthony Zinni (former head of CENTCOM), retired US Army Major General John Batiste, retired US Marine Corp Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, National Security Council officials Richard Clarke, Rand Beers and Roger Cressey, Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA), and numerous others.

Most of those listed here are (or were) Republicans.

Opposition to the invasion and occupation of Iraq has nothing to do with politics or ideology.

But now, a host of others -- some who were complicit for too long, some who were loyal for too long -- have spoken out in one way or another.

For the sake of the historical timeline and to deliver the context and continuity that the US mainstream news media refuse to provide, I have posted (in reverse chronological order) the views of Gen. George Casey, who leads US forces in Iraq, Senators Richard Lugar (R-OH) and Arlen Specter (R-OH), US Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, six thousand men and women of the US military as surveyed by the Military Times, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and the Iraq Study Group, which was ironically led by James Baker, who engineered the judicial coup that installed Bush, and included Sandra Day O'Connor, who voted on the side of shame in the split 5-4 Supreme Injustice decision in Bush v. Gore.

All are on the record at least against the splurge that Bush, Cheney, Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and the shell-of-a man-formerly-known-as-John-McCain (R-Z) are going to attempt to force down the throats of US military personnel and their families.

On Dec. 23, an anonymous Defense Department official told the Los Angeles Times that top American military commanders in Iraq, including Gen. George Casey, had “decided to recommend a ’surge’ of fresh American combat forces.”
But in an interview last Friday, Casey told reporters that he still has doubts about an President Bush’s troop escalation plan in Iraq. From today’s New York Times: The longer we in the U.S. forces continue to bear the main burden of Iraq’s security, it lengthens the time that the government of Iraq has to take the hard decisions about reconciliation and dealing with the militias. And the other thing is that they can continue to blame us for all of Iraq’s problems, which are at base their problems. … It’s always been my view that a heavy and sustained American military presence was not going to solve the problems in Iraq over the long term.
Additionally, according to Casey’s spokesman, the general, as of Dec. 23, had “not recommended more troops be sent here.” Contrary To Pentagon Claims, Gen. Casey Still Warning Against Troop Escalation In Iraq

WOLF BLITZER: Can you justify deploying more U.S. troops into what you believe is a civil war?
SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R-PA): On this day, for the record, Wolf, I would say no.
Specter can’t justify escalation, Think Progress, 12-31-06

Today on Fox News Sunday, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), the outgoing chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said President Bush should have congressional support before he announces any plan for escalation in Iraq. “[I]n the past, the administration has been inclined not to disregard Congress but to not take Congress very seriously. I think this time Congress has to be taken seriously.”
If Bush ignores Congress, Lugar said he should expect “a lot of hearings, a lot of study, a lot of criticism,” and “demands for subpoenas.” Fox host Chris Wallace said, “You’re saying this could get ugly.” Lugar: Bush Must Consult Congress Over Escalation Or It ‘Could Get Ugly,’ Think Progress, 12-31-06

It's often written or said in the media that, despite public opposition to the Iraq war here at home, military personnel strongly back President Bush's handling of the conflict. But a poll for the Military Times newspapers, released Friday, shows that more troops disapprove of the president’s handling of the war than approve of it.
It came on the day that at least four more Americans died in the war, pushing the monthly total to 107, the high point for the year -- and the total figure to 2,997, near the milestone of 3,000.
Barely one in three service members approve of the way the president is handling the war, according to the new poll for the four papers (Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Times). In another startling finding, only 41% now feel it was the right idea to go to war in Iraq in the first place...."The poll has come to be viewed by some as a barometer of the professional career military," the Military Times wrote on Friday. "It is the only independent poll done on an annual basis. The margin of error on this year’s poll is plus or minus 3 percentage points." Poll for Military Papers Finds Troops' Support for War Plunging, Editors and Publishers, 12-29-06

With President Bush leaning toward sending more soldiers to pacify Iraq, his defense secretary is privately opposing the buildup.
According to two administration officials who asked not to be named, Robert Gates expressed his skepticism about a troop surge in Iraq on his first day on the job, December 18, at a Pentagon meeting with civilians who oversee the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marines. ELI LAKE, Defense Secretary Is Wary of Adding More Iraq Troops, The New York Sun, 12-27-06

The Bush administration is split over the idea of a surge in troops to Iraq, with White House officials aggressively promoting the concept over the unanimous disagreement of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to U.S. officials familiar with the intense debate.
Sending 15,000 to 30,000 more troops for a mission of possibly six to eight months is one of the central proposals on the table of the White House policy review to reverse the steady deterioration in Iraq. The option is being discussed as an element in a range of bigger packages, the officials said.
But the Joint Chiefs think the White House, after a month of talks, still does not have a defined mission and is latching on to the surge idea in part because of limited alternatives, despite warnings about the potential disadvantages for the military, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the White House review is not public.
The chiefs have taken a firm stand, the sources say, because they believe the strategy review will be the most important decision on Iraq to be made since the March 2003 invasion. Robin Wright and Peter Baker, White House, Joint Chiefs At Odds on Adding Troops, Washington Post, 12-19-06

The United States is losing the war in Iraq but sending more troops to Baghdad is not the best way to change course, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Face The Nation.
Powell said he agreed with the assessment of the Iraq Study Group co-chairmen, Lee Hamilton and James Baker, that the situation in Iraq is "grave and deteriorating," and he also agreed with recently-confirmed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that the U.S. is not winning the war.
"So if it's grave and deteriorating and we're not winning, we are losing," Powell told Bob Schieffer in an exclusive interview. "We haven't lost. And this is the time, now, to start to put in place the kinds of strategies that will turn this situation around....It is the D.C. police force that guards Washington, D.C., not the troops that are stationed at Fort Myer," Powell said. "And in Baghdad, you need a police force to do that, and in the other cities, you need a police force to do that, and not the American troops." Powell: We Are Losing In Iraq, Exclusive: Former Secretary Of State Says More Troops Are Not The Answer, CBS, 12-17-06

Having read the national bestselling paperback The Iraq Study Group Report, I am not so convinced by much of what I am reading about it from writers on the left. Many progressives have interpreted the document's real message as a call for "Stay the Course Lite" or as a not-so-cloaked argument for privatizing Iraq's massive petroleum reserves. (Of course the centrality of oil in all of this should never be in doubt, but the situation in Iraq has spun out of control in ways that go far beyond privatization schemes. And of course the ISGR is predicated on salvaging US imperial power, redeploying it and rebuilding. Pointing out such things is like "discovering" that the sun again came up in the east.)
Nor are the pundits of the gray center getting it: They seem bogged down in the report's seventy-nine suggestions. Shift US troops to advisory roles? Will Iran come to the table in good faith?
In a strange inverted fashion, I am most compelled by the readings that have emerged from the far right. They understand the document for what it is: an abject admission of total failure. Rush Limbaugh summed it up best when he mocked the document as "The Iraq Surrender Group Report."
Limbaugh is totally correct. That's what it is: a plan for defeat with honor. To put the report in very simple terms, its message is: The United States got its ass kicked, time to go. Or, if you prefer a direct quote: "The ability of the United States to shape outcomes is diminishing. Time is running out." And later they ponder how to "avert catastrophe."
All of the report's suggestions flow from that basic understanding. And though it is written in polite, obfuscating Beltway vernacular, the report offers up a devastating critique of the Bush Administration's Middle East foreign policy. Most provocative, it correctly links Iraq's meltdown to a solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; these days that sort of suggestion is downright subversive. The right-wingers hate this report so passionately because they actually understand what it is saying.
CHRISTIAN PARENTI, ISG: Defeat With Honor, The Nation, 12-18-06

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Iraq, John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Colin Powell, James Baker, Richard Lugar, John Batiste, Bush, Cheney, Iraq Study Group, Lawrence Wilkerson Richard Power, Words of Power


Hard Rain Journal 1-2-07: Climate Crisis Update -- Dire Warnings from the West's Experts and from Chinese Gov; Meanwhile, from the US Gov -- NOTHING

Image: "An ancient ice shelf the size of 11,000 football fields that broke off Ellesmere Island could be dangerous when it starts to drift in the spring, a scientist says...", CBC, 12-28-06

Hard Rain Journal 1-2-07: Climate Crisis Update -- Dire Warnings from the West's Experts and from the Chinese Government; Meanwhile, from US Government -- NOTHING

By Richard Power

What happened in the Canadian Arctic over the last week of 2006 was a closing punctuation -- a planetary exclamation mark -- on what was hopefully the pivotal year in our collective understanding. And so, moving on...

In the West, four informed and dire warnings greet you in the Julian calendar New Year, while the world's most powerful economic and military power (oh yes, and the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases) does nothing.

Meanwhile, in the East, the Chinese government has issued its first official assessment of global climate change.

The irony is breathtaking.

The world's most totalitarian government is getting its mind around global warming and climate change.

The world's most powerful democracy (or at least the shell of it) won't even acknowledge it as the greatest challenge threatening us all. Incredible.

Here are excerpts from these two important stories, and links to the full texts:

A combination of global warming and the El Niño weather system is set to make 2007 the warmest year on record with far-reaching consequences for the planet, one of Britain's leading climate experts has warned.
As the new year was ushered in with stormy conditions across the UK, the forecast for the next 12 months is of extreme global weather patterns which could bring drought to Indonesia and leave California under a deluge.
The warning, from Professor Phil Jones, director of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, was one of four sobering predictions from senior scientists and forecasters that 2007 will be a crucial year for determining the response to global warming and its effect on humanity....
The warning of the escalating impact of global warming was echoed by Jim Hansen, the American scientist who, in 1988, was one of the first to warn of climate change.
In an interview with The Independent, Dr Hansen predicted that global warming would run out of control and change the planet for ever unless rapid action is taken to reverse the rise in carbon emissions....
His call for action is shared by Sir David King, the Government's chief scientific adviser, who said that 2006 had shown that the "discussion is now over" on whether climate change is happening. Writing in today's Independent, Sir David says progress has been made in the past year but it is "essential" that a global agreement on emissions is struck quickly....
The demands came as the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the United Nations agency that deals with climate prediction, issued a warning that El Niño is already established over the tropical Pacific basin. It is set to bring extreme weather across a swath of the planet from the Americas and south-east Asia to the Horn of Africa for at least the first four months of 2007. Cahal Milmo, World faces hottest year ever, as El Niño combines with global warming, Independent, 1-1-07

Temperatures in China will rise significantly in coming decades and water shortages will worsen, state media has reported, citing the government's first national assessment of global climate change.
"Greenhouse gases released due to human activity are leading to ever more serious problems in terms of climate change," the Ministry of Science and Technology said in a statement.
"Global climate change has an impact on the nation's ability to develop further," said the ministry, one of 12 government departments that prepared the report.
In just over a decade, global warming will start to be felt in the world's most populous country, and it will get warmer yet over the next two or three generations....
"The report will serve as the country's scientific and technical reference in policy making and international cooperation," said Li Xueyong, vice minister of the science ministry.
The report notes that China has already started seeing the effects of global warming, the China News Service said.
Glaciers in the nation's northwest have decreased by 21 percent since the 1950s, the report says, according to the news agency.
It also says all China's major rivers have shrunk over the past five decades, although it provides no figures for the actual dechttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifrease. Dire Warnings from China's First Climate Change Report, Agence France Presse, 12-27-06

Want to partichttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifipate in the effort to mitigate the impact of global warming? Download "Ten Things You Can Do"

There is a powerful magic in personal commitment.

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Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Global Warming, Energy Security, Environmental Security, Alternate Energy, Sustainability, Green Power, Renewable Resources, Climate Change, Weather, Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, El Nino, Crisis Management,Phil Jones, James Hansen, WMO, China, Sir David King, Richard Power, Words of Power