Monthly Archives: July 2006

Israel targets and destroys UN outpost – Harper says?

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The title says it all.

Israel has deliberately destroyed a manned UN observation post in southern Lebanon.

There is some conflicting reports on the nationalities of the peacekeepers, but there seems to be agreement that one each from Canada, Finland and China were killed.

The BBC reports that the 4th was from Austria.

The CBC is reporting though that the 4th was French.

The AFP is reporting that Lebanese security sources indicate the 4th was Austrian.

It doesn’t really matter.

What matters is that Israel deliberately destroyed a United Nations outpost. Reports indicate that the outpost had been under an IDF artillery barrage earlier on Tuesday. The 4 peacekeepers were sheltered in the bunker underneath the outpost. Then the IDF bombed the outpost from the air… killing the 4 peacekeepers.

…. why not turn the tables on this thought?

If this were an Israeli outpost… and Syria, or Iran, or, previously, Iraq, bombed it, killing 4 Israeli soldiers… what would the Israeli response be?

After all… we’ve all seen what happens when 3 IDF soldiers are kidnapped…

….

As for the local reaction.

What will Stephen Harper have to say? Will he be a witness when that Canadian soldier when is returned to Canada? Will he attend the funeral? Will he reflect on why he is supporting an Israeli government that is willfully displacing and killing Canadians, both civilian and military?

When an Afghan kills a Canadian… it’s Terror.

When an Israeli kills a Canadian it’s…. justified?

From the CBC report:

Daniel Ayalon, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., called Annan’s reaction “deplorable.” He said the observers were caught in crossfire between Hezbollah and Israel.

The BS-oh-meter is high on this one… last I checked Israel has been using laser guided weaponry (we’ve seen the pretty pictures on CNN, yay!)… so what.. this bomb just went off course?

Reports also indicate there was continued IDF attack even as rescuers entered the rubble to try to save/extract the peacekeepers.

Iraq… that “other” war?

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Here’s a question for you.

Has Iraq turned into another Afghanistan?

Will the war Israel is waging against Hezbollah Lebanese civilians effectively overshadow and bury the ongoing debacle in Iraq.

And yes, it is *still* a debacle.

Iraqi bloggers haven’t forgotten of course.

Citizen of Mosul is still active
Healing Iraq is healing Iraqis… but in Jordan
Star from Mosul is still trying to focus on her studies

From THe Mesopotamian on July 15…

Hi Friends,
Just to say Hellow and tell you that I am still alive. Things are really getting hot in Baghdad. What I have warned about always and since the beginning is sadly taking place right now. The battle of Baghdad is raging and we are still at the beginnig. Whoever wins this battle settles this business once and for all. Actually it may not a bad thing after all, and may bring a swift conclusion to this affair. A little bit of firmness, nay I would say justifiable ruthlessness and concentration of effort on this limited part of the map may bring things to a swift conclusion.
I shall try to find time to tell you some of my ideas but it is so difficult to spare the few minutes required in these treacherous and murderous times.
Regards to you all.
Your brother Alaa

And from Iraq the Model

This report from Radio Sawa quotes Omar al-Jubori the head of the human rights office in the Iraqi Islamic Party as saying that Harith al-Dhari, secretary of the association of Muslim scholars was “responsible for 50% of the blood of Sunni Iraqis who were killed in Iraq”.

I kind of agree with the above statement but in somewhat a different way; it is probably correct that al-Dhari and his gangs were responsible directly for 50% of Sunni deaths but they are equally responsible for the other 50% but rather indirectly.

Sounds like civil war to me…

But then, what do you call a war that involves not only national factions, but also foreign, international soldiers… soldiers that are still taking major casualties themselves.

The Iraq War of course.

415 US fatalities since Iraqi elections in January… US wounded… a number that is rarely seen in the MSM… over 8600 wounded since 2003, that did not return after 72 hours. over 10,000 that did return… of that, 2430, more than from the initial invasion –> to Dec 31 2003, this year so far.

Iraqi casualties? Who knows? The UN says 100 a day this past June. (that’s approx 50-100x more than US casualties).

(emphasis added)

The [Iraqi] health ministry revealed for the first time in June that 50,000 Iraqis have been killed violently since 2003, but added that this was probably an under-estimate. Medical care for the wounded is declining because so many doctors have left the country. The ministry says 106 doctors and 164 nurses have been killed.

That’s an average of around 40 people being killed “violently” since the 2003 invasion… and that’s an under-estimate?

By contrast, Iraqi Body Count, a website that has come under incredible criticism from Iraq war supporters… looks positively conservative in its’ “max” estimate of 43000+ Iraqi deaths… and just plain rosy eyed with 39000.

So, getting back to the topic at hand… is Iraq turning into… or being turned into, another Afghanistan? Is Israels war with Hezbollah going to overshadow the atrocities happening only a couple doors down?

If I was an overly cynical, conspiracy theory prone, nutbar, I’d probably say that Bush and Cheney put Israel up to this so that the heat would come off of them on the US homefront and support for Israel would turn into support for the Republicans in the mid-term elections in November.

But surely that is too cynical of me.

No, I’m sure the media will keep picking up the plight of Iraqis and US soldiers… surely they won’t move on to a more “fresh” story.

Surely.

Why Ethanol is Not the Answer:

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“Heatwaves and biofuel demand in Europe and US to fuel bread, pasta and beer price rises”

Finfacts (Irish Business news portal)

The combination of heatwaves in Europe and the US, low global grain stocks and an increase in production of biofuels has seen wheat prices rise to 10-year highs and may lead to big increases in the cost of bread and pasta.

You make your own judgement… but if you think Ethanol is a great alternative to “big oil”, think about this article.

Very powerful forces are proposing using our food sources to fuel our cars?

We have not even *started* seriously using those new sources, and already, prices for food are rising.

Does that not ring alarm bells in your head?

Ethanol is not the answer… it really should not even be part of the answer…

Mexicos largest oil field starts to decline?

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Saw this on the Oil Drum this afternoon

The original article appeared in the LA Times today.

Production at Cantarell, the world’s second-largest oil complex, in the shallow gulf waters off the shore of Mexico’s southern Campeche state, averaged just over 1.8 million barrels a day in May, according to the most recent government figures. That’s a 7% drop from the first of the year and the lowest monthly output since July 2005, when Hurricane Emily forced the evacuation of thousands of oil workers from the region

As stated above, Cantarell is the 2nd largest oil “complex” in the world. (a “complex” simply being a large group of similar fields, bundled under one name).

Cantarell is 2nd only to the Ghawar oil field, in Saudi Arabia.

Here is a list of the worlds oil fields

The Mexican state oil company, Pemex, has predicted in the past that production from Cantarell would start to decline this year… but they indicated 6%, rather than 7%… a significant difference when we’re talking about the 2nd largest oil field in the world.

Remember… the amount of oil in the ground is not nearly as important, for us, as how fast we can pump it. So even though there are “trillions” of barrels of oil left in the tar sands in Canada or somewhere else… if we can’t pump it into the world oil “system” as fast as we are now (about 93 million barrels per day) then that leads to higher prices, less energy for the economy, recession… and on and on.

People want to drive on their vacations. They want to drive to work. They want to fly to Paris and Hawaii. They want to buy “stuff”, that is made from plastic or plastic products. They want to buy “stuff” that is shipped from China or Chile or Australia or Florida or California….

This all demands oil.

Our economic system is only “good” if it is “growing”…

This demands “more” oil.

If oil production cannot keep up with that demand…. then oil prices go up… and economys go “down”.

Why are we spending billions, trillions, on fighting wars, when we should be unhitching our economy from this oil machine?

If what our economies need to continue to grow is “energy”… and more and more of it… then clearly we need to find other sources than oil.

Hotter than Hades – Climate Change vs. Global Warming.

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So is this Global Warming?

More precisely… is this Climate Change?

We’ve set a number of temperature records in British Columbia over the past few days. My weather station at Alberni Weather.ca recorded a maximum of 41.1C on Friday (21st) and over 38C yesterday in the City of Port Alberni. Both would be records if they were measured by Environment Canada… But even so.. the Environment Canada station at the Alberni airport measured a record of over 38C on Friday and 37.8 yesterday.

So… what does it all mean? (Aside from it being almost unliveable in our non-air conditioned house).

Well, personally, I don’t like the terms “Global Warming” per-se. While that may be happening on a global level, it’s very hard to perceive for the average human being like you and me.

I would rather call it, “Climate Change”. While the term is more vague, I think it’s actually more accurate because this “warming” causes not only stifling heat… but also more rain… more hurricanes, more tornadoes, different weather patterns, drier, wetter, windier, or more still, more snow in the winter… or less… more sun in the summer… or less. It all depends where you live on the Earth. We in the “West” really only see what happens locally in Europe, and North America….

but there could be greater monsoons in India, or stronger Typhoons in Japan and Australia.

Oh, wait… that *is* happening.

Climate Change is here folks. We need only look out our own windows to see that…

Have humans caused it? I certainly think so. (I had seen plenty of real, undeniable, scientific evidence *before* I saw “The Inconvenient Truth”… but I also did see that movie, and I would highly recommend it to absolutely everyone. It lays out the facts in very very obvious and indisputable ways.)

Anyway, I’m going to go get a drink of water… and finish hanging out the laundry.