Turkey invades Iraq

With the likely aim to aid their embattled Islamic State (DAESH) puppet allies and consolidate the (Washington and Tel Aviv promoted) "Hornets Nest", under threat of extermination by the joint Russian and Syrian offensive, Turkey has sent troops to Mosul District, an area under DAESH control but disputed by Kurdish militias. 

Iraq has demanded the immediate exit of the Turkish invader force but this request is likely to be ignored by Erdogan's unbearable cynicism.

Ankara claims that it is just "an incursion" and that they are there "to train Iraqi troops". What "Iraqi troops" might those be (if at all)? Only those of the Islamic State. 

The most obvious aim of the attack is probably to set a barrier between DAESH and Kurdish forces, which might otherwise take control of Mosul, the second largest city of Iraq and a key hub in the oil smuggling business of the DAESH and the Erdogan clan. 

This mafioso-terrorist association of the Ankara regime and the DAESH puppet of the Pentagon has been denounced for a long time in the alternative media but only recently, after Turkey downed a Russian jet in a calculated act of war, the usually reserved Moscow government has provided strong evidence of this association. Iraq has also denounced the illegal trade and I guess this is yet another reason for Erdogan pushing it within the frail Iraqi borders. 

What can happen? Well, Iraq has let clear that they do not want US "boots on the ground" within their borders no matter what, pretexting that Shia militias had threatened to kill them but actually because they do not trust Washington nor their semi-autonomous protectorates (Tel Aviv, Ankara, Riyadh) at all. This underlines the alignment of Iraq, a major oil producer (second only to Saudia before the troubles began), with Iran, Russia and China, something that surely is not taken lightly in Washington nor in Ankara. 

Russia had pondered to extend their air operations into Iraq, while China did openly offer its air forces to Baghdad last year in order to fight DAESH. Recently China also signed a military base agreement with Djibouti, located at the strategical Bab-el-Madeb strait, near Yemen, and which also holds a French naval base. So the whole region is each day resembling a mini World War scenario, in which the Western Empire (NATO-plus) is clearly not afraid of provoking its Eurasian rivals into greater intervention, nor these seemingly coy about replying with a "bring it, cowboy", sorta.

Nevertheless I think that a likely development will be the destabilization of Saudia and Turkey themselves, because the Eurasian allies must know that only playing a defensive "cold war" is not enough, that Washington and their satellites must feel the pain themselves, else they will never be brought to any sort of semi-good faith negotiation or understanding. As Sun Tzu said: in order to win the war, take what the enemy values most.

Malaysian missing flight: passenger sends black photo with satellite location info: Diego García

A passenger of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370 has sent a completely black photo with a message and location data which is right by the Diego García airport. 

The passenger, Philip Wood, from the USA and working for IBM in Malaysia, sent a completely black photo with a short message and the Exif metadata, which reports the exact time and geographic coordinates (via GPS).

The coordinates are within two miles (3 km) of those of Diego García, as mapped by Google. Diego García is a key US military base already highly suspect of being the destination of the missing airplane. 

Exif data:

===> 7 18 58.30891" ==7316197
===72 25 35.55908 ==72426544

The message read:

I have been held hostage by unknown military personal after my flight was hijacked (blindfolded). I work for IBM and I have managed to hide my cellphone in my ass during the hijack. I have been separated from the rest of the passengers and I am in a cell. My name is Philip Wood. I think I have been drugged as well and cannot think clearly.

Intriguingly the IBM website does not list him at all, however his tragedy had been previously reported by the Los Angeles Times, mentioning him as working for IBM. Also the following image from his Linkedin profile reports him as IBM executive:

Most of the passengers in the kidnapped airplane were Chinese though. 

The exact reason why the airplane was kidnapped and the destiny of the other passengers remains a mystery to this day. But what seems growingly clear is that the flight was diverted to Diego García and that therefore the US Military is behind it.

Sources: Webguerrillero[es], Before It's News, Jim Stone Freelance (original source with plenty of details and a reasonable discussion on the credibility of the message and data).

Malaysian missing plane: qui bono? The death of four passengers benefits US corporation

Apparently four of the Chinese passengers are co-holders of a key semiconductor patent along with their employer Freescale Semiconductor, a Texas company detached from Motorola in 2004 and owned by Jacob Rotschild, the main heir of the infamous bourgeois dynasty.

These Chinese workers Peidong Wang, Zhijun Chen, Zhijong Cheng and Li Ying, all them native to Suzhou (near Shanghai) held each 20% of the patent rights, while the rest belonged to their employer, Frescale. All them traveled in the missing airplane, which was probably diverted to the US-UK base of Diego García.

According to the patent agreement, if any of the co-owners would die, its share would revert to the others. In this case the only beneficiary remaining "alive" is the company Freescale. 

Source: Votaire Network[es], citing Russia Today.

Almost certainly the lost Malaysian flight is in Diego García (US base)

Some days ago I speculated, based on the very fragmentary data available and my limited ability to understand some of it, that the missing Malaysian Flight 370 could be in île Amsterdam.

Even if I was cautious in my wording, I was surely wrong in my tentative conclusion. I misunderstood the satellite ping data to mean a more precise location than it actually was, confused by journalist wording, i.e. "1000 miles west of Perth". That is actually just the range of where the satellite could have picked the signal from, which includes most of the Indian Ocean, large parts of Asia and theoretically even Africa, as can be seen in this map by The Washington Post.

But now more information (→ Daily Mail) has arisen that clearly points to the main alternative suspected destination: Diego García, a US military base in British colonial territory, whose inhabitants were forcibly evicted in 1971.

Notably Maldivian witnesses have reported a plane that fits the description and the timing flying south at very low altitude, something that shocked them being such a large craft.

Also the last reported radar data and Malaysian witnesses accounts point to the airplane having crossed Peninsular Malaysia back into the Malacca Strait and Bay of Bengal.

Finally the home computer of the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, had deleted files of training for landing in Diego García, as well as Indian and Maldivian airports, all them with enough length for such a heavy craft to make safe landing.

So everything points to the pilot having planned in advance to kidnap that craft and bring it to Diego García, training also for alternative landing places in other airports of the region, maybe in prevision of complications if the flight could not reach its destination.

This is my best reconstruction of the route taken by the airplane:

click to expand

Why didn't the pilot fly in straight line to Diego García? I can only guess that without land support he could only rely on visual and radar clues from landforms, otherwise risking to get lost in the vastness Indian Ocean.

Why did he fly to Diego García? I can fathom two theories: one is that he was collaborating with the US military apparatus to do precisely that, the other that he meant to attack the military base with some sort of biological agent that was carried in the plane. However if this is the case, why didn't the US military shot the plane down? Or did they?

The main reason to think that a biological agent of some sort is involved is that it has been reported in some media that the plane landing was quickly followed by flight in of a number of top medical staff from both the USA and China. 

According to that report, Flight 307 carried some sort of biological weapon delivered originally by US military via Seychelles, with the involvement of the private mercenary agency The Trident Group (made up of former Navy Seals). That biological weapon was intended for China but Beijing got notice so they decided to divert the plane to Hainan island in the south of the country.

According to this theory it was then when the Pentagon chose to divert the flight to a safe place: the military-only atoll of Diego García. 

However this does not explain why the pilot had trained to land in that island. Maybe it is a false lead, potentially thrown around to prepare public opinion for the "discovery" of the missing plane in the island or maybe he actually did and the biological cargo story is the false lead. 

Or whatever else. Honestly I do not know what to think at this point. 

But what seems clear is that the missing flight headed to Diego García and that some convoluted spy story is behind, maybe even a would-be biological attack against a major superpower, what is as akin to open war as I can think of. 

Not that this is of any help to the passengers and their relatives and friends, of course. Because they still await release and knowledge respectively.

Where is the Malaysian lost airplane?

The airplane (CC by Laurent Herrera)

We all have already heard about the Malaysian missing airplane Flight 370, which was lost in the Gulf of Thailand never to be found again. 

You may also have read the reports of ringing but unanswered mobile phone calls that clearly indicate that the plane is not under the sea but somewhere on land, even if passengers and crew are not able to answer. 

This led to speculations that the airplane might be in some jungle area in SE Asia and that it could have been kidnapped rather than suffering an accident. 

However the latest information is that satellite data has allowed to track the plane to some 1000 miles West of Perth (Australia) in the middle of the Indian Ocean, not too far from the French colony of île Amsterdam. 

After gathering all the data, it seems that whoever kidnapped the plane deactivated the radar transponder (which identifies the flight to radars) and also another tracking device known as "Acars". Disabling this element is technically complex. However they did not deactivate the satellite antenna, what has allowed this tracking, providing a raw geographic location every hour. 

Other radar data suggests that the airplane was making abrupt altitude changes as it flew back into Malaysia and across the Malacca Strait. 

Source: Bloomberg.

Approximate route (my reconstruction) from published satellite and other tracking data

Many questions arise:

Which is the target of the attack? First claims by a previously unknown organization of alleged Islamist ideas suggested that they were targeting ethnic Chinese and China itself, however the claim may well be a false lead considering that the plane was most likely never blown up, judging on the evidence. Nevertheless China or some still ill-defined Chinese interest flying in the aircraft may still be the target but the issue remains blurry. 

Even more intriguing is where the heck are the kidnappers flying to? The flight was scheduled to land in Beijing, so it probably did not have too much extra fuel at its last reported location on the Indian Ocean. Therefore, as the aircraft must be on land, there are not so many places to search anymore: mostly the Easternmost French Antarctic Territory. 

Both Île Amsterdam and its neighbor Île Saint-Paul are uninhabited except for intermittent research activities, so it is very possible that the kidnapped plane is to be found in either of them. Of course it is difficult to judge without knowing the exact fuel amount carried but they are good candidates. Île Saint-Paul seems to be devoid of human presence most of the time (while Île Amsterdam has a more semi-permanent research base and it is still summer in that part of the World, so it is likely that some researchers are present right now).

The landscape of the islands is dominated by grasslands, however most of it is rugged, so there are probably only some few spots where such a large plane can take land.

Map of Amsterdam and Saint-Paul islands (1976, public domain).

Another question is why this satellite and radar data has not been available to the Malaysian and other Asian authorities performing the search? Or, if it was available, why was it ignored?

Finally why would the kidnappers fly to those forgotten islands under French jurisdiction (OK, unconfirmed but quite plausible)? Are French and other NATO secret services involved? Were they just chosen because of their desertic status? Did the kidnappers and (some of) the hostages take another plane or ship waiting for them there? Where to?

And then of course: are the hostages still alive?


Update (Mar 18): new informations suggest that the actual route of the plane was actually more northerly, through the Bay of Bengal in westward direction. If this is correct it is very possible that the plane actually took land in Diego García, a UK-US military base, whose native population was forcibly evicted long ago to make sure that the key strategic base was unmolested.

Quite worrying is the information that claims that soon after the plane's arrival to Diego García top medical experts from both the USA and China flew to the remote island, located south of the Maldivas. If confirmed, this would be most intriguing indeed.

In any case it seems extremely unlikely that a plane could fly undetected by at least the USA in that area. Therefore the lack of clear information about the whereabouts of the aircraft strongly imply US participation in the "diversion" of the plane, whatever means they used to do it.


Update (Mar 19): RT also seems to think that the plane headed westwards and they argue that the maneuver was deliberate and possibly controlled by hacking the autopilot computer. 

A new speculative destination is Afghanistan but Pakistan says it did not cross its airspace.

It seems more and more clear in any case that the airplane was intentionally diverted (kidnapped) and that that at least some authorities do know what is going on (the USA for sure but probably also other countries, although it's being kept secret so far).

Relatives of the passengers have threatened with a hunger strike if the Malaysian government does not release all the information.


Update (Mar 20): almost certainly the airplane is in Diego García. See: this new entry. 

Fukushima latest

Some of the latest (and of course disturbing) news on the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe.

Tokyo suburb contamination worse than near Fukushima Daiichi

The data collected by a new study on radioactive pollution in Japan (→ LINK, open access) shows that some areas of Tokyo (Kashima) have levels of cesium contamination four times worse than some sites just two kilometers from the devastated nuclear plant. 

→ EneNews.

Tokyo governor: Fukushima is "NOT under control"

Tokyo governor Naoki Inose declared that: the leakage of contaminated water is not under control necessarily at this stage. 

The Town Assembly of Namie (Fukushima), in an unanimous decision, also protested PM Shinzo Abe's claims of the catastrophe being "under control", claims made to influence the Olympic games decision but which bear no resemblance to reality. 

→ Asahi Shimbun, EneNews.

Radioactive scrap metal seized in China

A shipment of radioactive scrap metal from Japan was seized by port authorities in China.

→ Simply Info.

Russia to extend ban of Japanese seafood imports

Russia will continue rejecting the import of Japanese seafood from NE Japan, in line with a similar recent decision by South Korea.

→ Voice of Russia.

Another illegal dump of radioactive material

Hundreds of tons of radioactive waste (cesium-tainted wood chips reading up to 3000 Bq/kg) were found near Japan's biggest lake (Lake Biwa) in yet another case of mafioso crime against health and ecology.

→ EneNews.

Refugees forgotten in abandoned school

Some 100, mosly elderly, refugees from Futaba Machi have been forgotten by the Japanese authorities in an abandoned school building. 

→ EXSKF.

China: protests succeed against nuclear plant project near Guangzhou

The planned Heshan uranium-processing plant was canceled after hundreds of protesters wearing anti-nuclear t-shirts "walked" through Jiangmen, the prefectural capital. 

"I need life, not nukes", reads the banner

It is the first nuclear energy project canceled by Beijing. However there are fears that the authorities are just trying to win some time and the project may be restarted in the near future.

Environmental concerns seem able to mobilize the citizenry in China: last year a copper industry in Sichuan was canceled after large clashes. 

Source: EXSKF.

Uyghuristan: China deploys troops in force

China deployed many troops including tanks and other armored vehicles in Ürümqi, the capital of Uyghuristan (Xinjiang-Uyghur), annexed to China but ethnically distinct.

Around 19:00 Beijing time, thousands of heavily armed soldiers of the so-called Armed Police of the Pople were deployed in the Central Asian city, occupying the central square. I have never seen anything like that before, declared a local.

The deployment ended an hour and a half later. 

It appears to be scare tactics as the 4th anniversary of the Uyghur revolt of 2009 approaches. Recently some 100 activists attacked, armed with knives, a police station in the historical city of Hotan. 35 people were killed, although it is unclear to which side they belonged to. 

Four years ago, brutal riots confronted the native Uyghurs with the Han colonists, which make up some 40% of the population, resulting in a death toll of 200, including the victims of police repression.

Source: Gara[es].

China: Demonstrators in Hong Kong support Snowden

Hundreds demonstrated in Hong Kong in support for Snowden's asylum plea and his revelation of NSA snooping in the USA and around the World. 

Both pro-Beijing and opposition forces have similar position in this matter, being Hong Kong, unlike mainland China, a place where Internet freedom is real and a coveted right.

Protesters gave a missive with their demands to US general consul Steve Young. 

Sources: Webguerrillero[es], EXSKF.

Update on whistleblowers: Snowden missing, Manning's mock-trial transcripts

It has been reported that US NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has disappeared after his asylum request in Hong Kong. It is unclear at this moment if Snowden is in hiding, he has been kidnapped or arrested by Chinese police. He was last seen yesterday at noon, when he checked out of a luxury hotel in the semi-autonomous Chinese city. Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the USA since 1998.

Both Julian Assange (Wikileaks' leader, refuged in Ecuador's embassy since a year ago) and Daniel Ellsberg (who leaked the Pentagon Papers back in the 1970s) have issued separate communications in solidarity with Snowden.

Assange declared that:

Edward Snowden is a hero who has informed the public about one of the most serious events of the decade, which was the creeping formulation of a mass surveillance state. 

Ellsberg wrote an article at The Guardian in which he said, among other things that:

In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden's release of NSA material – and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago. Snowden's whistleblowing gives us the possibility to roll back a key part of what has amounted to an "executive coup" against the US constitution.

And also:

... what is not legitimate is to use a secrecy system to hide programs that are blatantly unconstitutional in their breadth and potential abuse. 

Manning and Snowden depicted as superheroes by Webguerrillero.

Manning's mock trial transcripts:

The Freedom of the Press Foundation is making a major effort to independently transcript the military trial against Bradley Manning (official transcripts are not available to the public). They explain:

The US military has refused to release transcripts of Bradley Manning's trial. In addition, they've denied press passes to 270 out of the 350 media organizations that applied. Without public transcripts or a press pass, it's virtually impossible for media organizations to accurately cover the trial and for the public to know what the government is doing in its name.

In response, Freedom of the Press Foundation has crowd-sourced funding to place a professional stenographer in the media room covering the trial. We will post full transcripts shortly after each day's proceedings end. The morning session with be posted by 7 pm the same evening. The afternoon session will be posted by 9 am the next morning. The transcripts will be released under an Attribution 3.0 Unported Creative Commons license.

Depending on how long the trial lasts, transcriptions will cost between $60,000-120,000, so please help support this project by going here to donate.

The transcripts are freely available HERE.

NSA whistleblower exiles himself in Hong Kong

Edward Snowden, who allowed his identity to be published, is seeking refuge in Hong Kong (China). It remains to be seen how keen are the equally autocratic Chinese authorities to have him in their soil.

An extensive interview is available at The Guardian (which was also the paper reporting the extensive surveillance network in the USA and abroad). Excerpts:

The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards. 

I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things … I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under.

...

Manning was a classic whistleblower. He was inspired by the public good.

...

I think it is really tragic that an American has to move to a place that has a reputation for less freedom. Still, Hong Kong has a reputation for freedom in spite of the People's Republic of China. It has a strong tradition of free speech.

...

Someone responding to the story said 'real spies do not speak like that'. Well, I am a spy and that is how they talk. Whenever we had a debate in the office on how to handle crimes, they do not defend due process – they defend decisive action. They say it is better to kick someone out of a plane than let these people have a day in court. It is an authoritarian mindset in general.

...

The only thing I can do is sit here and hope the Hong Kong government does not deport me … My predisposition is to seek asylum in a country with shared values. The nation that most encompasses this is Iceland. They stood up for people over internet freedom. I have no idea what my future is going to be.

State support for the economy works

Ah, the irony: ultraliberal (=ultracapitalist) and decadent Europe (EU) debates whether or not impose duties on Chinese cheap solar panels. Why? Because it is suspected that the overwhelming Chinese production necessarily required of state support. 

Sure, probably very true. If so, why not to begin or retake at least some much needed state support for the economy here in Europe?

That is what is not being debated at all. The current desperate situation of European economy and society is only because of ultraliberalization and destroying by design the state involvement in the economy. 

Without state intervention we are bound to become others' colonies.

Honduras: month-long road blockade against hydro project

For more than 30 days, the popular resistance to the hydroelectric project Agua Zarca, financed by the World Bank, in the river Gualcarque, sacred for the Lenca people.

Gathered Around their mayor, Orlando Hernández Bautista, who has been persecuted at court by DESA and SINOHYDRO (an imperialist Chinese corporation), the People of Zacapa has risen against the capitalist imposition, in defense of water and environment and in solidarity with their Lenca brothers and sisters, taking over the lands assigned for the construction of the destructive energy project. 

Sources[es]: LINyM, COPINH.

USA is no longer no. 1 trading power, China is now

The economic global dominance of the USA is vanishing by the moment. While China is not expected to overtake the North American republic in terms of GDP until later, by the end of this decade of extreme changes, it has already become the number one trading power on Earth, reports The Guardian. 

China to overcome USA "before 2030" - much earlier I'd say

A study by the US official think tank National Intelligence Council admits that China will overcome the USA as first global power by GDP "before 2030". Of course... but why to say 2030 when it is likely that it will be by 2021 (by nominal GDP) or even much earlier (by GDP-PPP)?

In 2010 I reported that China would overcome the USA by GDP-PPP in 2018 (however present day IMF estimates already suggest 2017 in fact). As an exercise I have estimated at home that (at current growth rates) China will overcome the USA by GDP (nominal) in 2021:

Y-axis: nominal GDP in billion USD

By 2030 actually the US-China relationship will be totally inverted in relation to present day one in terms of absolute GDP (assuming that the forecast stands the test of time).

The NIC study is not realistic at all but rather self-complacent in fact. See for example how they dream to be at the same level as China in 2030:

click to expand

The overcome in GDP by China resembles a lot the same scenario in the late 19th century, when Germany overcame Britain in similar economic output figures (overall economic might) and, like China today, lacked of a colonial or semi-colonial network (and like China today worked frantically to attract low development powers like Russia and the Ottoman Empire to its orbit as result). 

The parallels may end there anyhow because while the British Empire had a creole backup replacement in the form of the USA, this one has no backup whatsoever. Also while Britain could push for all out war, today such eventuality is only the madman's option, as the whole planet would be razed to the ground.

Also Germany, Britain, the USA and most of the other actors in the early 20th century were of European culture (the main exception being Japan), today China stands to vindicate a long history of Asian global primacy which was only temporarily eclipsed by European mariner and mercantile audacity, this is a major unprecedented change in the overall human ethno-cultural landscape, at least for the last many centuries.

And such a rather unprecedented change is happening right now, almost...

Pre-installed Microsoft software may come with serious malware

(from Geek.com)

From TechnWorld:

Microsoft discovers Chinese malware pre-installed on new PCs

Shock as Chinese supply chain compromised

By John E Dunn

Microsoft has published evidence of an extraordinary conspiracy in which potent botnet malware was apparently installed and hidden on PCs during their manufacture in China.

In ‘Operation B70’ started in August 2011, Microsoft documents how its Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) bought 20 brand new laptops and desktop PCs from various cities in China, finding that four were infected with pre-installed backdoor malware, including one with a known rootkit called ‘Nitol’.

Tracing Nitol’s activity back to an extensive network of global command and control (C&C) servers, the team discovered that the malware that has infected PCs to build a larger bot, most probably used to launch DDoS attacks.

Once in situ, Nitol would spread beyond the PCs on which it had been pre-installed by copying itself to USB and other removable drives.

Disturbingly, other malware hosted on the main domain used as C&C by Nitol was capable of performing just about every nasty in the malware criminal’s armoury, including keylogging, controlling webcams, and changing search settings.

This hints at the disturbing possibility that the pre-installed malware tactic is almost certainly much more significant than previously realised.

That PCs are being pre-installed with malware during or soon after manufacture confirmed a long-held suspicion that had prompted Microsoft to investigate supply chain security, the firm said.

“What’s especially disturbing is that the counterfeit software embedded with malware could have entered the chain at any point as a computer travels among companies that transport and resell the computer,” Microsoft said in a blog introducing its investigations.

Anyone installing malware during manufacture – that is before any form of security is added – would have an important head start over security systems that might be installed on the PC at a later point. The only way around this would be for the customer to reinstall the operating system after purchase using a known secure image.

As PC malware scandals go this is about as bad as it gets; Operation B70 offers an unpleasant glimpse of the state of PC security and asks questions of the security of the supply chain.

Microsoft was earlier this week granted permission by a US court to take control of the C&C servers being used to direct the Nitol botnet.

Microsoft’s DCU has acquired a reputation for unwinding botnets. An earlier bot disruption assault called Operation B71, it disrupted servers being used to distribute the Zeus banking Trojan. In 2011, it played a critical role in knocking down the Rustock botnet.

Third parties can already gain access to the company’s global honeypot for monitoring botnets through an API.

In other words: you buy a personal computer with pre-installed Windows OS, as most do, and there is a chance (how big?) that it comes with the most sophisticated of virus. As Microsoft does not provide you with a guaranteed disk with the OS to reinstall, you have to buy a brand new Windows OS, which is much much more expensive than the pre-installed version.

Blame the Chinese. 

Or you can, I guess, decide that it's about time to change to Linux, of which there are several versions which are very stable and usable by the non-expert (Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc.) and you may even get better technical help, all for free... 

But up to you: keep paying for junk.

China: massive protests block heavy metal factory construction in Sichuan

From The Commune:

Locals are celebrating in the Chinese city of Shifang today, following the government’s decision to scrap its plans for a [copper] alloy plant which many feared would poison them. This sensational policy reversal was apparently forced out of the Communist Party dictatorship by rioting, followed by a sit-in in support of those arrested. In making this concession, the regime has shown its vulnerability at a time when the national economy is being hit by the economic crisis in Europe and the US.

The announcement itself was stark, a mere “Shifang will not build this project henceforth”. But just like the official accommodation to mass rebellion in Wukan last year, it demonstrates that the Chinese authorities are doing everything they can to avoid the flames of resistance spreading. In many under-reported cases, they will merely repress any popular uprising. But in others – perhaps those that quickly gain a national and international following – they will give away an inch for fear of losing a mile. The release of twenty-one “suspected criminals” after “receiving criticism and education and repenting for their mistakes”, would seem to confirm this analysis.

Shifang is located in Sichuan province, which was devastated by a huge 2008 earthquake. With what passes for a ‘recovery’ still very much ongoing, the jobs ‘carrot’ was dangled before the residents of Shifang, in an attempt to overcome concerns that the local water supply would be contaminated. Because of Chinese censorship, it is difficult to find a record of grassroots concerns, but Ma Jun of the liberal Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs commented that:

“Heavy metal projects are always highly polluting. Of course the public has concerns about this. The government only released the short version of the plant’s environmental report, which did not have information about the solid waste and waste water. It should have released the full version.”

On Monday and Tuesday, demonstrators tore down the door of the municipal government building, smashed windows, and threw bricks at police. In response, police unleashed barely restrained brutality, which was played out across the Chinese-language internet, as users uploaded photos and videos of battered and bleeding protesters. The Tuesday night saw a massive sit-down protest outside a government office, and it was at this point that officials agreed to back down.

The speed at which the government caved-in highlights Communist Party fears of a nationwide uprising, as the export-led economy starts to show signs of collapse. In the wake of falling orders from Europe and America, export orders are reportedly at their lowest level since March 2009 – the crest of the first crisis wave – and the purchasing managers’ index tumbled to 0.2 to 50.4 last month – only 0.5 above a mark which would indicate recession.

The dictatorship’s Shifang u-turn has perhaps bought it more time to prepare, but there seems little doubt that China will be the scene of explosive class struggles will be played out in China in the very near future.

China to curtail Big Pharma patents

It is ironic that in this the "communist" state follows the steps of several clearly capitalist ones like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and India. The intent is to limit the abusive profits of Big Pharma, whose patents are all re-editions of old stuff. 

The new law allows the People's Republic of China to allow for generic medicines in the interest of the public, be it Chinese or foreign (they can also export generics). 

As Naked Capitalism explains, this is perfectly in agreement with WTO rules, because these were issued in an age when the public interest was still held to have a higher value than private, corporate, interest.

Sea Shepherd's Watson to be extradited to Costa Rica on false charges of "murder attempt"

Capt. Paul Watson

Environmentalist hero Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was arrested in Germany by  police forces who want to defend the mafia of shark extinction. 

In the relevant incident in 2002, Captain Paul Watson ordered the Costa Rican ship Varadero to stop murdering sharks for their fins on account that the practice was illegal in Guatemalan waters, where the incident happened. However then the Guatemalan and Costa Rican authorities attempted to arrest Watson and confiscate the ship on the fabricated pretext of "murder attempt", something that the relevant videos show to be false. 

Sharks are often mutilated while still alive

The German police arrested Watson, who has Canadian passport, in Frankfurt while in transit towards France and pretend to extradite him to Costa Rica, a state that promotes the extermination of sharks for commercial purposes. 

Watson has the support of two French environmentalist notables: Daniel Cohn-Bendit (vice-president of the European Parliament) and José Bové (MEP). 

 

Don't forget to boycott every Chinese restaurant unless they sell no shark fin soup and demand the European authorities to forbid the biocidal dish within the boundaries of the European Union. Every day hundreds of sharks are tortured and murdered only for that silly soup, bringing the millenarian fish near extinction.

Sources: Sea Shepherd, The Sydney Morning Herald.

The crisis is deepening, not being solved

If anyone though that the austerity for the workers (but abundance for the elites) could in any way solve the deep economic crisis that began in 2007-2008 with the bubble limit (not yet burst because the implosion is being contained at the expense of worker's lifes and any hope of effective solution)... that one was wrong. 

Greece is effectively in default according to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, whatever the EU authorities say (WSWS), Italy has officially entered in recession today (Euronews) and China is being severely affected by the contraction of its markets in Europe and North America, showing for the first time in 12 years a trade deficit (it imported more than exported - Euronews).

Meanwhile I am surprised now and then by people who claim to be revolutionary Marxist economists and who are unable to see the big hole in which the global Capitalist system is in. Well, comrades, I can't know if it's is (some years from now) the time for a revolution or if it would succeed but what I do know is that the Capitalist system has not been this fucked up since at least the 1930s. 

And I actually do consider that this crisis may not even have a single precedent in all the Capitalist history and that we have to look back to as far as the late 18th century crisis to compare with. If so we'd be before a true unprecedented systemic crisis because the complexity of society and economy and the technological (and destructive) power accumulated through the last two centuries has no precedents whatsoever.

Now sure what each one of us can do (no, I do not have any clear plan, at least not yet)  but we must think ahead as if the revolutionary process is coalescing before our eyes in our lifetime and without expecting any hope of serious recovery for the Capitalist system, so stable until the day past yesterday.