Monthly Archives: February 2013

“Klaatu, Barada, Bar Code”: Bar Codes Visible from Outer Space

"What are these all about? We are told that they were camera calibrating devices. American spy planes in the 1950s and 1960s flew overhead, taking photos. But to take a good photo, a camera needs precise measurements for focusing. These bar codes provided the masters. Anyway, that’s the official line. In half a century, none of this leaked out. It makes you wonder. How many things have never leaked out? How many don’t leak out today, and won’t for 50 years?" Continue reading →

Continue Reading“Klaatu, Barada, Bar Code”: Bar Codes Visible from Outer Space

At least six tanks leaking at military nuclear waste dump in Washington state

"The Hanford nuclear site in the southwest of the US state was used to produce plutonium for the bomb that brought an end to World War II. Output grew after 1945 to meet the challenges of the Cold War, but the last reactor closed down in 1987. Its website says:'“Weapons production processes left solid and liquid wastes that posed a risk to the local environment.' The ecological threat extends to the Columbia River, it added, noting that in 1989 US federal and Washington state authorities agreed a deal to clean up the Hanford Site." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAt least six tanks leaking at military nuclear waste dump in Washington state

Activists launch campaign against ‘autonomous weapons’: Killer robots must be stopped

"A new global campaign to persuade nations to ban “killer robots” before they reach the production stage is to be launched in the UK by a group of academics, pressure groups and Nobel peace prize laureates. The Stop the Killer Robots campaign will be launched in April at the House of Commons and includes many of the groups that successfully campaigned to have international action taken against cluster bombs and landmines. They hope to get a similar global treaty against autonomous weapons." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingActivists launch campaign against ‘autonomous weapons’: Killer robots must be stopped

Washington Hypocrisy Skyrockets, Credibility Plummets

"Obama supports a UN treaty on what a US official terms 'illicit arms trafficking and proliferation'. At the same time, the US and ally Saudi Arabia are sending heavier arms into Syria. These shipments and their past interference in Syria violate the UN charter to which they solemnly pledged to adhere. The US is not alone in these and other violations in Syria and other countries. If Washington routinely violates its own Constitution, it is to be expected that it can and will violate any agreement it makes. Hypocrites cannot lead on any issues, not when they have no credibility. They can exercise power, but they cannot lead." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWashington Hypocrisy Skyrockets, Credibility Plummets

Defense industry consultants advise Arab nations on crowd control products

"Defence experts who say many lives could have been saved during Arab uprisings if states used proper crowd control measures sought to tap into a growing market at an Abu Dhabi arms fair. Anti-riot vehicles with sophisticated acoustic repellents have boldly taken their place alongside the likes of Eurofighter’s Typhoon warplane and the bristling firepower of rocket launchers at the arms industry’s biennial quest for petrodollars in the Gulf emirate." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDefense industry consultants advise Arab nations on crowd control products

Opponents vote to shoot Egypt’s president Morsi into space

"Opponents of Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi are voting to send him where no Islamist leader has gone before: outer space. Morsi on Saturday was leading the field in Egypt in an online contest sponsored by deodorant makers Axe to send a lucky few on a shuttle operated by space tourism company Space Expedition Corp. Egypt’s opposition movement April 6 entered Morsi into the competition. 'With God’s help, and under His care, Morsi will soon be launched to the moon,' the group said on its Facebook page, along with a picture of the president in a spacesuit." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOpponents vote to shoot Egypt’s president Morsi into space

Afghan president: U.S. special forces creating ‘insecurity and instability’

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded Sunday the withdrawal of US special forces from Wardak within two weeks, accusing them of fuelling 'insecurity and instability' in the volatile province neighbouring the capital Kabul. 'In today’s national security council meeting… President Karzai ordered the ministry of defence to kick out the US special forces from Wardak province within two weeks,' said presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi. 'The US special forces and illegal armed groups created by them are causing insecurity, instability, and harass local people in this province,' he told a press conference." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAfghan president: U.S. special forces creating ‘insecurity and instability’

Locksmiths and firemen refuse to aid evictions in Spain

"Locksmiths and firemen in Spain are rebelling against a wave of evictions in the economic crisis by refusing to help bailiffs open ruined homeowners’ doors to throw them out. A wave of evictions of mortgage-holders ruined by the recession has prompted several suicides and sparked a protest movement that last week brought a motion to parliament for a law to end the procedure. With the locksmiths refusing to take part, some authorities have been asking the fire service to step in and break open the doors of those resisting eviction. [..] When the firefighters arrived they refused to open the door and some of them joined in the protest." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLocksmiths and firemen refuse to aid evictions in Spain

Another ‘War is Peace’ Award (This Time Hollande Wins!)

"In this case it may be more appropriate than one might first imagine. The prize, awarded by UNESCO, is known as the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize in honor of the authoritarian president of of the Ivory Coast from 1960-1993. Could it be, as suggested in this very provocative article in the journal of the Strategic Culture Foundation, that France was over-eager to show its new Rafale fighter jets in action in hopes of scoring the "deal of the century" -- a $12 billion sale of these thus far tepidly received fighters to India?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnother ‘War is Peace’ Award (This Time Hollande Wins!)

France’s Hollande Invades Mali, Wins UNESCO Peace Prize

"This is France's second war in Africa in several years. The first we have written about at length – the destabilization of the Ivory Coast on behalf, partially, of France's cocoa interests and the empowerment of Alassane Ouattara. His opponent, Laurent Gbagbo is on trial now in front of the International Criminal Court for the crime of trying to insist on his lawful election. Hollande, who now lords over an increasingly aggressive and unjust France that has started two wars in about as many years, has just received a peace prize. Conclusion: Oh, the irony." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrance’s Hollande Invades Mali, Wins UNESCO Peace Prize