French Industry Minister: Japan has lost control of Fukushima I

French Industry Minister, Eric Besson, acknowledged today that the situation at Fukushima I is one where the Japanese authorities seem to have lost control:

Let's not beat about the bush. They have visibly lost the essential of control. That is our analysis, in any case, it's not what they are saying.

Environment Minister, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, described the situation in terms of catastrophe and suggested that French citizens in Japan who do not have a good reason to stay in Tokyo, leave the country or at least head to the South. 

France is  along with Japan one of the two states in the World who generate most of their energy out of atomic methods. Both do that largely for reasons of alleged "independence". It is most reasonable to assume that when French ministers speak in such terms they do for a good reason, as the last thing they want to do is to sound anti-nuclear. 

Source: Reuters (via FOSL)

Other not less important news on the Fukushima I nuclear catastrophe:

High radiation levels at affected plant prevent military helicopters from pouring water. The situation reminds that of Chernobyl, where brave USSR pilots gave away their lives in order to cover the nuclear meltdown with sand (if I recall properly). However one wonders if such kind of heroes do still exist today (or if they can be replaced by robots, what would be the ideal thing to do but probably not yet developed).  

TEPCO has released a photo (source) of the state of reactors 3 and 4 (where spent fuel rods were being kept and which has added to the troubles of its siblings). I wonder why is the image cut in order not to show the state of reactor 2, where a full meltdown was ongoing according to the information available since yesterday. 

Whatever the case, both buildings are in horrible state and reactor no. 3 is clearly destroyed in all its extension (and not just the top as was the case at reactor no. 1 originally).

TEPCO released image of reactors 3 and 4

The latest infos I have read on reactor 2 is that it is no longer sealed (so the meltdown has penetrated the container and is heading into the ground. 

As for reactor no. 3 it is also very likely that the container is damaged and leaking radioactivity. Something quite apparent in the photo above (even if radioactivity is invisible it just takes common sense to realize). 

Also (via FOSL) here you have a very good explanation of why spent fuel rods are potentially even more dangerous than the reactors by Racheal Meadow at MSNBC:

Worse than Chernobyl

There's no category for worse than Chernobyl (level 7 accident) but this is it anyhow: in Chernobyl there was only one reactor affected and, being on dry land, it could be eventually encased from underneath, not without huge effort under a planned economy (much more appropriate for this kind of titanic job, mind you). 

In this case there are three reactors and at least three spent fuel pools (more radioactive than reactors themselves). But what I am considering is that, being just near the sea, you cannot dig under the reactors to encase the meltdown materials because sea water will be filtering over there all the time most probably at this or that depth. 

So I have no idea how they are going to patch this huge nuclear problem but it does look like a nefarious engineering challenge. 

I'd propose to draft all nuclear yes people, specially those with some influence (from engineers to CEOs going through politicians and journalists) and send them as "volunteers" to patch the problem somehow... or die trying. 

Nuclear energy needs heroes, you know.

Benghazi as the new Barcelona

Pepe Escobar is without doubt the best columnist of Asia Times Online, the eclectic Hong Kong e-magazine. He's also the only one which can be considered a leftist. His articles are quite a good read and are often informally translated to Spanish in sites like Rebelión. 

Today he discusses the two hotter processes of the Arab Revolution, Bahrain and Libya, in an article entitled The house of Saud 'liberates' Bahrain.

Some excerpts:

These two paragons of equanimity - the House of Saud and the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty - have just helped to reconfigure a peaceful mass movement towards a constitutional monarchy in Bahrain into a full-fledged revolution. 

Saudi Arabia could not have invaded Bahrain without Washington's assent...

Western elites are staging just an illusion of action in Libya.

The West really doesn't care much about a bunch of kids with guns in Libya, those that have been grabbing a Kalashnikov and wrapping a keffiyah (checkered scarf) around their heads, rushing to the front in sports utility vehicles to fight for a better life. Yet this is Homage to Catalonia revisited, George Orwell on the Spanish Civil War, with Benghazi as the new Barcelona - an outburst of revolutionary fervor that may be crushed by the heavy weaponry of a northern African neo-fascist army. 

Ah, and, if you are a Pakistani mercenary measuring above 1.75 m., the House of Khalifa wants you... to kill, beat and torture the citizens of Bahrain. 

Strassbourg clears Basque leader of insults to the King and orders Spain to pay compensation

In a historical ruling, the European Tribunal of Human Rights has declared that when Arnaldo Otegi said, in 2003, that the King of Spain Juan Carlos II is responsible of torturers he was not insulting but making a legitimate criticism. More so as he was an elected popular representative and as freedom of speech is a precious right.

In that time Otegi was sentenced to one year of prison for insults to the King.

For all that the European tribunal sentences the State of Spain to pay €20,000 to Otegi in moral damages plus the €3,000 of the costs of the judicial procedure.

Originally the Superior Tribunal of the Basque Country judged in favor of Otegi but an appeal to Spanish Supreme Court had him declared guilty. Now he has been vindicated by the highest court of all the European Union against which there is no possible appeal. 

However it is very sad that the we, the Basque People, have to bee all the time asking for uncertain protection from European institutions when we could do very well on our own, would it not be for the Spanish and French occupation. 

The pampered Spanish monarch, appointed by the late Fascist and Fundamentalist dictator Gral. Francisco Franco, has already caused in the past cases of embargoes of publications, often satiric ones. And that is because tyranny does not accept criticism, much less humor. 

His huge salary has not been affected by the recent budgetary cuts.

Source: Gara[es] - Ref. full sentence (PDF)[fr]

Ireland threatens default

The new Irish minister of European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton, has hinted that unless Brussels helps to make the debt burden bearable for the Irish people, the Republic may default. 

This is one of those cases where owing a lot is "beneficial" for the borrower because surely Greece or Portugal, with much smaller foreign debts than Ireland, do not hold any similarly strong bargaining position. Ireland owes (to German and British banks mostly) almost as much as Spain, even if it is 10 times smaller in terms of population and almost the same proportion by GDP, what is really a big problem but not only for the Irish (after all, the indebted banks were mostly foreign-owned).

While a conjectural collapse in Spain would cause much more damage to the European real economy (as this is described, even if only approximately, by GDP) than a collapse in Ireland, a default by Ireland would be quite as bad for EU finances (virtual economy) as a hypothetical default by Spain. 

Of course, the creditor states may want to send the thugs (a military intervention of some sort) but that's not any realistic option, as it would only make things worse. It's no doubt a lot cheaper to devalue the euro and to allow the ECB to directly lend to the states, so they can maneuver with greater flexibility than they have now under the stringent euro policies.

However, as some commenters at the ultimate source of this news for me, Naked Capitalism, say, the ultra-low Irish tax policies are perceived by other EU states as dumping and certainly not helping at all to pay off the debt. It is not easy to demand comprehension when you are not even taxing business properly.

But it is clear that Ireland did not need to assume the private debts of toxic banks (it should have never done that: if you nationalize a toxic company, do always after bankruptcy is declared, not before, so creditors have to put up with their willfully assumed risks and not the public) and that therefore the EU should be offering credit to the Republic at the same rate that it does to private banks (i.e. near 0%) and not at an abusive 5% rate, which is a total scandal.

Indefension, abandonment in Japan

Interesting, shattering, article at Forbes by B. Caulfeld, using the tweets of his friend Yas Idei.

Some excerpts:

Even the employees who had been working to fix the plant evacuated after the explosion.

25 kilometers from the plant ... Gasoline is sold out. There’s no way out of here for the local people.


I visited an evacuation camp this morning. Young mothers are trying to protect their infants from radiation by covering them with plastic bags. There are no rescuers here.

Did you know the radiation level has risen two-to-three times higher than normal in Tokyo? What should we do with our kids?

From the tweeter directly:

radiation level is 40 times higher than normal in Saitama, suburb of Tokyo. gov't says no immediate harm to human body.

my place is included in the area of possible power cuts after an hour. but still no announcement if they really cut.

snow expected from this evening in Tohoku area. no heater, no food, no help for many being isolated.

Probably power was later cut as he has not posted anything in 3 hours. 

(As in so many other cases, found via Florida Oil Spill Law) 

Yemen uses nerve gas against protesters. Morocco goes to the streets

While we are all thinking of the Fukushima nuclear hecatomb, the revolution continues its way in the Arab World.

Yemen using nerve gases against protesters. Pitched street battles in Sanaa:

I'd say that Saleh is about to get kicked... somehow, but he insists in finishing his term which extends to 2013.


In Morocco (Dar el-Beida - Casablanca):

Videos found via Protestation.org. Remember that the situation is also very tense in Bahrain, where Saudi Arabia has intervened, and Libya, where rebels are barely resisting the counter-attack of Gaddafi's forces.

All Fukushima I reactors in 'likely' meltdown (official)

AP reports, citing Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, that the fuel rods appear to be melting in three of the most troubled reactors. 

Although we cannot directly check it, it's highly likely happening. 

No specifications are provided about which are these three reactors but I understand that this refers to the three reactors of Fukushima I (or Daichi), all of which were already in dire straits.

Other three nuclear plants in NE Japan have been reported as damaged, though their situation is not yet known to be so severe. 

Found via Florida Oil Spill Law. Other relevant reports mentioned: 

• Reuters live page on Japan's catastrophe
• BBC FAQ page on the meltdown

Also, air view (from FOSL):

Fukushima I overhead view after explosions (click to expand)

From bottom left to up-right you can see reactor 1 (top broken), reactor 2 (intact in the outside) and reactor 3 (the only one working with plutonium, highly damaged and smoking). The reactors at the top right (no. 4 is visible) were not operative when the earthquake and tsunami hit.


Update: habemus Chernobyl:

Reactor 4 (idle at the time of the tsunami) is also affected, as the spent fuel pond has caught fire. This underlines, I believe, how extremely demanding (and hence costly) is the nuclear option, where even idle stuff is extremely dangerous. 

But even more severe is that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has acknowledged that radioactivity is being directly released to the atmosphere at extremely high doses of up 400 milliSievert (mSv)per hour, equivalent to 40,000 milirems or 40 rems per hour. For comparison the usual background radiation is of 2.4 mSv per year or about a millesimal fraction of a millirem per hour. So the emissions may be of the order of a million times the normal background radiation.

This emission of radiation was acknowledged only after the remaining active reactor at Fukushima I plant exploded in what has been claimed to be another hydrogen explosion. However, I have the impression that the explosion at reactor no. 3 may have been the worst one, as it was a huge explosion that left the building utterly destroyed (see photo above). 

In a related development, the Japanese Nikkei index fell down 13% yesterday in spite of all the preventive exercises of the Central Bank.

An animated image from Der Spiegel shows that the plume is mostly blowing towards the Ocean (and hence towards North America eventually, even if it should arrive in a reduced concentration) but that now and then it goes to other directions, quite worryingly to the South-SW, right over Tokyo and its metropolitan area (today), where 35 million people live and where all government and most economical institutions have their seats:

If this is accurate, today Tokyo is being radiated in full. I wonder how people will react to this information when they get it, as they will surely. 

According to FOSL, citing NHK (which I can't watch because it requires Windows something), radioactive iodine and cesium have been already detected in Tokyo. It also mentions (citing Reuters) that radioactivity some 40 times higher than normal has been detected in Tokyo.

Europeans don't like Israel

A new poll shows that most Europeans think very badly of Israel and, by heart at least, support the Palestinian position in the long colonial conflict. 

From Middle East Monitor (found via Jews sans frontieres).

A poll in the six largest states of Western Europe (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands) showed that most Europeans think:

1. In Gaza when told Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
2. That Israel is NOT a democracy nor treats all religious/ethnic groups equally.
3. That the pro-Israeli lobby is overly influential in the UK, while the Palestine lobby is not.
4. That Israeli oppression of Palestinians and settlements are the main obstacles to peace.
5. That Israel is the primary aggressor, Palestinians are the primary victims. Israel is the main threat to World peace. 
6. That Israeli stand on Gaza (siege, attacks, flotilla attack) is illegal.
7. That Hamas should be included in peace talks.
8. That Israel exploits the historical suffering of the Jewish people,  etc.
9. That Jerusalem should be designated a neutral international city.
10. That the pro-Israeli stand of European fascists ("far right") is perceived as being WRONG.

References (PDF format): full ICM poll report, synthesis report.

Saudi and other GCC troops intervene in Bahrain

The popular revolution is so advanced in Bahrain that the dictator clan, the Khalifa dynasty, had to ask for military support to ally countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, an organization whose main power is Saudi Arabia, which also has its own problems, so far contained by means of military and police terror. (Source: Al Jazeera)

The embattled autocrats, a remnant of British feudalist colonial policies, have sent their police forces to shoot a point blank against protesters, sometimes with live ammo and in other cases with rubber bullets. However all the repression does not seem able to quell the revolution but rather is like setting fire to oil.

Follows Al Jazeera video (full story here), where a policeman is seen emptying his pistol against protesters and then running away and then another policeman shoots a rubber bullet against the face of another protester while his buddies cheer him:

A less explicit footage from Protestation.org shows a view of the camp set up by protesters at Manama. A demonstrator was allegedly shoot by police also at point blank in this scene but the moment of the shooting is not captured as the camera was looking elsewhere (we see the citizen refusing to run and holding a yellow sign and later we see him falling unconscious and being retrieved by other people):

Update: the column of Saudi troops entering the island state at Euronews and the negative opinion among Bahrainis about this development.

Japan nuclear disaster might be "worse than Chernobyl"

That is what Chinese official Xinhua agency suggests, citing Indian experts. The lack of accurate information by the government doesn't seem to help to keep people calm about the dangers but it is clear that, with 4 nuclear plants damaged, one of which is exploding and another one which has produced dangerous levels of radiation, all in the midst of widespread destruction by a huge quake and tsunami, thinking "everything is alright" is not an option.

Reactor no. 3 exploded in a larger bang than that of reactor no. 1. As the first one it has also been blamed on hydrogen accumulation and it is claimed that the reactor's container is still intact but it is hard to believe that such a sequence of explosions and emergencies are not a greater danger than officially reported. Reactor no. 2 has also lost all its coolant, maybe because of the neighboring explosions, and is therefore set to follow its "siblings" into catastrophe.

Video of reactor no. 3 explosion:

The Japanese authorities are not yet saying if this second explosion has led to uncontrolled release of radiation, according to Reuters.

Notice please how this explosion is much much larger than the one at reactor no. 1, suggestive, I would think, of a true nuclear explosion, rather than a mere hydrogen or steam blowout.

Related news stories from around the Net, largely via Florida Oil Spill Law, which is doing a prime job following the catastrophe:

• The Scotsman: Japan: crippled nation on nuclear knife-edge. Plutonium of reactor 3 is harder to control, as it burns at much higher temperature.
• Wind blowing southwards towards Tokyo today.
• US Navy detects radioactive plume 100 miles (c. 180 km) from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean.
• Fuel rods of reactor no. 2 (the only one which has not yet exploded) were fully exposed after the earthquake - Kyodo News. 
• Very curious satellite photo comparisons at the New York Times.

Wikileaks: Pentagon pushes its way ahead

Hillary Clinton's spokesman P.J. Crowley has been pushed to resign after he declared that the Pentagon's sexual abuse (my description) against whistleblower Bradley Manning was ridiculous and counter-productive and stupid.

This development confirms who is the real boss in the USA: the Pentagon. 

In a parallel development a US court in Alexandria, Virginia (a suburb of Washington where the Pentagon is located) has ordered the seizure of the Twitter accounts of Wikileaks and of Icelandic MP Birgitta Jónsdóttir, who has supported Wikileaks in the past and was somewhat prominent in the release of the video of the murder of Reuters journalists and several civilians by US helicopters in Iraq in 2007, known as Collateral Murder. 

Hiding US violence, harming US business

Since the First Gulf War, the USA has made all in its hand to hide the reality of their institutional violence against diverse peoples around the World, culminating in the hiding of the massacre at the other gulf: the Gulf of Mexico against its own citizens just to satiate the vicious demands of some of the largest multinational corporations.

That was somewhat of a success in the early 1990s, when the information of war against Iraq was strictly filtered by the Pentagon. However what has happened since then is that we are looking for news and information elsewhere. 

In general we are looking for information in many more diverse places through the Internet. And we crave real information, be it via Wikileaks, Al Jazeera, twits (no my choice but it's a trend), blogs and a long and personalized etcetera. 

The Pentagon and other power structures are unease with that: their imperial dreams (our nightmares) can go down the toilet too easily if the information just keeps flowing - as it will no doubt. 

Their reaction is ridiculous and counter-productive and stupid: they are actually causing much harm to US companies because they have to bow to such totalitarian rulings. Would I create an account at PayPal or Amazon or Facebook after what they have done? No way! I would look for an equivalent in Iceland maybe... somewhere where my rights will be guaranteed and the bullies can't snoop into my business or get them sabotaged overnight with a court order, very possibly a secret court order issued under the state of emergency that exists in the USA since the psi-op self-attacks of 2001.

In this sense it must be said that Twitter, unlike the other companies, at least behaved honestly and defended up to where they could their customer's rights, securing that at least they could inform their customer of what was going on. But if they want to stay popular they may need to move outside of the USA, to somewhere where privacy and civil rights are guaranteed.

Massive rallies at Portugal for the right to work

Video via Protestation.org

Hundreds of thousands of Portuguese citizens (200,000 according to some sources) have more or less spontaneously gathered to rally at Lisbon and other Portuguese cities yesterday against the new austerity measures imposed by Brussels, the IMF and their local vassal, conservative PM Socrates.

The most interesting feature of these protests are that they are happening outside what is the established traditional class opposition like unions and left-wing parties, but has been called by informal groups with some projection in the Internet, notably one called Geração À Rasca, Precarious Generation in English (a transparent reference to the lack of job security we face these days).

According to an online manifesto,  the protesters demand the application of Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that:

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

They claim therefore:

• the right to employment
• the right to education
• the improvement of job conditions and end of precariety
• the recognition of qualifications, competence and experience by means of dignified contracts and salaries 

200,000 people in a small country like Portugal with no other appeal that some Internet and street agitation is, I understand, a massive success which should put the oligarchs very much in defensive mode.

As one of the callers, humorist Jel, said in an interview, everything worth it has been achieved on the streets. I'd add, if they have to cut, they may cut the ties of the bourgeois oligarchs and their political minions, the size of the guns of the tanks, the payments of debt to fat people overseas, etc. But the rights of the workers must not be touched, the opposite is true: they must be advanced, though (of course) that will only happen if the workers, the citizens, go out to the streets and protest.

Thumbs up for the Portuguese People.

More from the organizers (in Portuguese) at: Geração À Rasca.

More in English at: Euronews (brief video), Global Voices Online, AllVoices...

Update: video of discourses at the demo of Lisbon (from Protestation.org):

Yemen: dictator murders protesters

Besides Libya, Bahrain and the uneasiness of state terror in Saudi Arabia, the hotspot of the Arab Revolution these days is in Yemen.

Until recently protests and counter-protests had been mostly peaceful but now the government has moved to quell the popular uprising with violence, shooting gas and live ammunition against the crowds, murdering at least four.


Full stories at News Daily and Al Jazeera.


Update:

A bit not directly related but you can watch the video of the demo yesterday at Bahrain at Protestation.org.

At least two reactors officially in meltdown in Japan, as many as 6 having cooling troubles

The confusion and half-good news of yesterday's were all just lies. For some reason politicians just do not know how to talk straight and say: "citizens, we have a big mess in our hands". No: they have to lie once and again while reality exposes them as the liars they are. 

Right now there are officially two meltdowns ("partial meltdowns" in official speech) at Fukushima I power plant, in reactor 1 (the one which exploded) and reactor 3 (which is fed by a mixture of plutonium and uranium, making it even more dangerous). Reactor 2, located between the others, was also having cooling problems since the tsunami as far as I can tell. 

According to eco-social watchdog site Florida Oil Spill Law (right now I am unable to connect to it but I have been able to read part of its news via the feed) there is a 6th reactor which has lost cooling. That means that there are other five reactors with major problems, three of which are the ones at Fukushima I but the rest must be from Fukushima II or some other power plant (there was a third one affected by the earthquake and tsunami but I cannot recall the name at the moment). 

Again, via FOSL, I can read that the NISA (a US nuclear agency) declared that the explosion at reactor 1 of Fukushima I could only have been caused by the reactor itself and not any hydrogen buildup as it was claimed. 

Fukushima I - reactor 1

Above: the best image I have seen so far of  reactor 1 after the explosion. According to the official information that reactor is still intact and only the outer casing exploded. However it is difficult to believe considering how damaged the building is.

Besides Japan and other East Asian countries, the USA is also closely monitoring the situation because the prevailing winds are likely to send the radioactive cloud across the Pacific Ocean into North America. Anyhow, as I mentioned earlier, when Chernobyl exploded the resulting radioactive cloud flew around the World several times, so no part of the Northern Hemisphere, is really safe from the effects of this catastrophe, even if the bulk of the impact should be concentrated in Japan.


Update: Radiation levels 400 times normal at tsunami-hit Miyagi Prefecture. While there is a nuclear plant there, the electricity company claims that this one is stable and that radiation must have some other source (source - via FOSL, now again accessible).

Update: reactor no. 2 to have sea water injected too. The whole plant is therefore out of control (as this is the last resort "cooling" method - reactors 4, 5 and 6 were not operative at the time of the tsunami).  Source: Reuters, via FOSL.

Update: Sare Antifaxista reports that  the Onagawa plant has also been put under emergency state because of the high radiation levels detected (see two updates above).

Update: EuroNews reports of yet another nuclear power plant facing serious problems: Tokai II. This plant is closer to Tokyo than others. Overall there are four nuclear plants under emergency procedures, though the exact situation of each is not well known because the authorities are issuing information very sparingly.

Informative report on Algerian reasons to revolt

I just stumbled upon it and it is true journalism, with the reporters entering to slums and interviewing real citizens, showing their homes, their hopes, their frustrations.

Watch it at Euronews (should exist in other all other official languages of the EU, I did watch it in Spanish on TV).

Nuclear disaster could aggravate tsunami destruction in Japan

Aerial view of the plant before the accident

According to Kyodo News, the level of radiation at the control station of Fukushima no. 1 power plant is a thousand times the normal levels. At the moment however the radiation levels outside is "only" 8 times the normal levels, what means that most of the radioactivity is yet being contained in the plant.

Fukushima I nuclear power plant has six reactors, three of which were working when the earthquake and tsunami hit the area. Reactor no. 1 suffered from major malfunction in the cooling system so the government declared a nuclear emergency (per law but also because it is a very real emergency). Official reports have admitted that the reactor has pressures of more than 2.5 times the capacity of the system and a "solution" being considered is to release the excess gases to the atmosphere, what will surely result in catastrophic radiation emissions. Not doing it however may be even worse (a meltdown very possibly).

The plant was built in 1966, almost half a century ago being older than Chernobyl plant, which collapsed in that fated year of 1986. 

Naturally, I am, like everyone, shocked by the destruction and deaths caused by the forces of Nature but I am even more concerned on the aggravating effects of humankind's technology, very specially the risk of a nuclear disaster, which I understand is a fact right now, only that we do not understand yet its dimension.


Update (Mar 12): nuclear meltdown ongoing?

Right now the situation is very confuse but a meltdown was announced by some news sources c. 5:20 am (GMT). Later at 6:36 it was reported that pressure was released successfully from the damaged reactor, however at 7:56 a massive explosion is recorded to have happened. Some experts say meltdown is not possible because of the characteristics of the reactor (light water: no cooling = no reaction) while others think it is instead.

Sources: Al Jazeera, The Guardian, BBC (includes video of the explosion).

PS- No further details have emerged other than it is now obvious that the building of the reactor is now nothing else than an empty structure and that a column black smoke is heading towards the sea (by the moment, left). The meltdown "Chernobyl" scenario is probably very much real at this point but, as usual, authorities are minimizing the threat in order not to cause panic, specially in the context this accident has happened (amidst massive destruction).

There is an information at Florida Oil Spill Law, taken from an expert, Mark Hibbs, on CNN live, who said:

Detection of Caesium indicates we have gotten to the point of meltdown.

And then the broadcasting company changed theme. 

So yes, basically that is it. Just that authorities and media are too scared to admit openly but that seems to be the case.

Let's recap what happened with Chernobyl: the radioactive cloud circled Earth many times although the worst affected areas were in a large radius from the accident. For many years milk from many parts of Europe could not be exported and whole cities had to be evacuated  for good near the destroyed plant. It is estimated that 200,000 people died directly from the accident or the radiation released by it, many of them children.

Furthermore, in order to contain the meltdown, many heroic people, notably pilots, had to sacrifice their lives, a giant sarcophagus was built around the core and is now in need of being replaced by another larger one (nothing is forever except radioactivity). The meltdown continues and will continue for what we usually call "always". 

We can expect a similar scenario in Japan.

PS(2)- Russia Today has confirmed the cesium traces detected. Tokyo, hundreds of kilometers south of the nuclear plant, is a ghost town for fear of radiation and whoever goes out uses masks apparently.

One can only wonder how will this affect the rescue efforts in the cities affected by the tsunami, where there were reports of many people being trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings and masses of refugees stranded here and there.

Also radiation by the exploded reactor has climbed to maybe 8000 times the normal levels. The situation is dire and other plants and reactors in the same plant are also affected by similar circumstances.

Ivan Blokov of Greenpeace mentioned that the risk of earthquake was well known when these reactors were built, because a similar catastrophe happened in 1926. All Japan is part of an earthquake zone but because of reasons of economic independence, it has relied heavily on nuclear energy, with the consequences we can see today.


PS(3)- The Japanese authorities have announced that the reactor's container did not break ("only" the outside concrete building did), however the plant experienced an aftershock 6.4 force earthquake which may have damaged it further. Japanese authorities have decided to fill the reactor with seawater and boric acid in order to cool it down.

Several workers injured in the explosion appear to have suffered lethal radiation doses, however the authorities claim that there is no increase in the radiation levels outside the damaged reactor.

Sources: Al Jazeera and Sky News, via Florida Oil Spill Law.

March 13: will continue in a new post as the situation is clearly out of control by now.

Gulf of Mexico health disaster reaches mainstream media

Children risking their lives

After almost a year of disdaining the problem, the crime against humankind perpetrated by the coalition of oil industry and US central and (often) local governments against the environment and the inhabitants, the situation is so dramatic and getting worse that the media has no choice but to report on it.

First has been, of course, Qatari state TV Al Jazeera, which has earned its reputation for a reason:

Gulf oil sickness wrecking lives.

"I have critically high levels of chemicals in my body," 33-year-old Steven Aguinaga...

Actually, Steven just died two days ago and Al Jazeera has not realized, it seems.  But at least they are trying to report, while other media are hiding this institutional crime.

I do welcome this change because it's awfully similar to the Nazi holocaust, which was happening just in front of everybody and nobody reported on it until it was too late. Yes, there are differences in details of intentionality and, so far, the number of fatal casualties, but the resemblance is incredible. Other such chemical massacres or environmental disasters have got much greater attention even if the treatment to the victims has also been abusive.

Here we are in front of not just one of the worst oil spills ever but also a case of mismanagement by a collusion of BP and US government(s) in order to hide the dimension of the disaster, causing only more problems. 

Dispersants have aggravated the problem

As Al Jazeera reports, the dispersants used not only are themselves toxic, but have scattered the oil in tiny particles which have been deposited in the ocean floor, are still floating around or have got aerosolized arriving to residents in form of air pollution, even if they had no contact with water or coastal exposure zones themselves.

One of the most affected sub-populations are cleanup workers, who were regularly no provided with the appropriate equipment and even forbidden from bringing it themselves. In particular breathing masks were forbidden by BP. 

Other specially affected sectors are fishermen, who have been trying to catch anything, whatever in vain, and people enjoying vacations at the once wonderful beaches of the region, who were encouraged by the authorities (including Obama in person) to keep bathing as if nothing was going on. Some of the worst affected victims, like Aguinaga, are these, and they are often children. 

Before dying, Aguinaga declared to the press:

I feel stabbed in the back by my own country. I feel we are being dictated to by a foreign power. Maybe our president is not strong enough to stand up against them. I know money buys people, but they couldn't offer me enough money for the loss of my friend, and the stuff we’re going through.

The reference to "a foreign power" may mean the UK but a little known fact is that BP is mostly owned by US stockholders even if the see is still in London.

Like Chernobyl

As I said months ago: this is the American Chernobyl. For some odd reason (better propaganda tactics, I guess, also it has yet to clearly affect any second country), the matter has remained hidden from the media for longer. But the scope is similar if not even bigger, even if the damage is "only" chemical and not radioactive. 

But when the next hurricane comes, then it will become very apparent, as those monsters can suck all what is in the ocean and drop it well inland.

Wisconsin fascists pass anti-workers bill

Yes, fascist and no other qualification is what those who attack the right of workers to unionize and strike deserve.

While the opposition senators had even left the state in order to sabotage the quorum requirements, the ruling Republican ones found a way out of the impasse by separating the bill about workers' rights from budgetary dispositions, which were the ones requiring quorum.

More info at Naked Capitalism.

March 8th

Today 93 years ago, a women's demonstration declared inaugurated the Russian Revolution and a whole new era with it. A century ago this day was already celebrated as International Working Women's Day. 

It's just a date in the calendar if you wish but one that should be official holiday but it is not - not here but I realize it is holiday in about 80 states around the world, including nearby France. It is anyhow a date to celebrate and take in consideration. 

In my city:

In yours?

Update: Video from a rather informal but massively attended show by Mania at Bilbao's centric Arriaga Plaza (from Sare Antifaxista):

The American Way (nowadays): go to the beach and die

Thousands maybe millions are going to die or be affected for life because of the Deepwater Horizon disaster and, specially, the criminal practices displayed by Washington, BP and the states in the aftermath, spraying corexit, lying about it, lying about the state of the water and the beaches, forcing workers not to bear respirators.

A true genocide. 

Not a year has passed and more and more people are being annihilated coldly, the media, as far as I can tell, almost does not report anymore of this crime against humankind on US soil happening right now against US citizens (not to mention the environment).

Yesterday, for example, citizen who bathed in full accordance with official recommendations died after long suffering that swelled her face and plagued her with disease doctors did not know how to treat. She's just one example: millions are at risk or already in their way to the tomb.

This video of Lisa Nelson was taken months ago, long before her death:

(Source: Florida Oil Spill Law)

When will the criminals be brought to justice? Why are not the cities of the area full of demonstrators setting up barricades? This is at least as bad as Gaddafi!

Arrested Basque raped by police

Moment of the arrest of Beatriz Etxebarria

It was already known that at least in one case of the last arrested, the infamous Spanish military police had practiced torture. Sadly, no surprises here, as torture is systematic under Spanish police custody, specially under the Guardia Civil.

But now, as the legal incommunicado period ends, we get to know what happened to the rest: 

Particularly harsh was the suffering of Beatriz Etxebarria, who was raped with a stick by the police agents. According to her own narration to the judge: the policemen put her on a stool, spread vaseline on her anus and vagina, and introduced a stick into her body. 

She was often kept naked and in one occasion thrown freezing water on her. Like the rest, she was kept all the incommunicado period blindfolded and was threatened with the use of electrodes (not really used anymore because it leaves marks). 

Daniel Pastor, the person accused of self-injuries in order to avoid further torture and emotional blackmail, was also threatened with the electrodes and his attorney could see himself the remnants of the glue of the electrodes on his body. Pastor reported that death threats against him and his relatives did not stop even at hospital, happening even before the nurses there, nor in the dungeons of the tribunal, where Guardia Civil agents repeatedly asked to the guards there to be allowed in to continue with the torture.

The infamous practice of "the bag" (repeated asphyxia, similar to waterboarding but with a plastic bag instead of water) has been reported by Beatriz Etxebarria and Iñigo Zapirain. In this last case, the torture was repeated even in his transportation to the jury, in order to "persuade" him of ratifying the police declaration. 

The fourth arrested, Lorena López, is apparently unrelated to the alleged commando and was arrested only to use her as blackmail tool against David Pastor.  While she may have escaped torture, she, as the rest, could all the time hear each other yelling and even vomiting in the police station's dungeons.

The fact that the four arrested formed two couples, was certainly used by the police torturers to emotionally blackmail them. The attorney's tell that it is not common to hear tortures so neatly and that the policemen even put them together in the same cell, so this practice was surely intentional. It seems it was fear of torture against his companion Lorena what caused Daniel Pastor's self-injuring behavior.

Source: Gara.

Update (Mar 10):  a more detailed account of the tortures suffered by Beatriz Etxebarria can be read (in Spanish) in Gara today. 

Update: full testimony of Etxebarria on the tortures she suffered is available in Spanish (PDF) and in Basque (Berria newspaper). Via Bilbolko Branka.

Bradley Manning subject to sexual abuse by his captors every night

Commanders at Quantico base force the suspect of leaking confidential documents to a ritual of forced nakedness every night. This is apparently a "punishment" for a sarcastic comment Manning made.

The attorney of Manning described this as "ritual humiliation" but I understand that it is also sexual abuse because forcing anyone to be naked in presence of others without an absolute need and total respect is sexual abuse and bears no other name.

Full story at The Guardian.

See also: Bradley Manning Support Network


Update (Mar 11):

Hillary Clinton's spokesman, P.J. Crowley has declared that the Pentagon's attitude on Manning is ridiculous and counter-productive and stupid. Full story at The Guardian.


Update (Mar 16):

The Guardian has a story on an interview with Manning's one friend, who visits him regularly. Manning's maximum security treatment (absurd) is torture by all accounts: he'is kept in solitary confinement in a cell, where he is forbidden to do anything: exercising, sleeping, reading, keeping any possessions, watched 24 hours... At night, he is stripped of all clothes and must sleep with a peculiar lead-like blanket. When he is moved around for a visit he is brought in chains.

He is fed a diet of antidepressants, strip searched every night and kept on standing wait every morning while waiting for his clothes.

Honestly, in such a situation, I'd start a hunger and thirst strike. What else can you do? I can only imagine he will at some point.

Has the Revolution finally reached Saudi Arabia?

It is clear that SA is the next one to explode: there is hardly any other such oppressive tyranny in all the World and it is hard to believe that the ultra-reactionary realm will be spared the wave of anger and democratic demands.

The Saudi autocrat has decreed a prohibition of all protest rallies in the realm because there have been, it seems, some "Shia" protests in the Eastern Province. The announcement comes together with a massive troop deployment in this area towards the Persian Gulf. Mention is made of small protests at Hotuf and Qatif.

A week ago, in what seems a preventive act of calculated generosity, the Saudi tyrant threw to the plebe some $37 billion dollars. It may not be enough specially if the 27 million inhabitants want something else: like at least some degree of popular power.

Source: Al Jazeera


Update (Mar 6): video of one of the protests in Saudi Arabia:

From Protestation.org

Russia denies the existance of bombings against Benghazi

The Russian armed forces, which have been monitoring the situation in Libya via satellite since the beginning of the unrest, cast a shadow on Western reports of what is going on in Libya. According to Western media (BBC, Al Jazeera) on February 22 the Libyan Air Force would have attacked the rebel city of Benghazi, this attack never really happened, say the Russians now.

Sources: La Haine, Atilio Boron, Russia Today.

The La Haine article also includes a video of a massacre at Bahrain (real deaths warning) dated Feb 18.

Other news from the Arab Revolution

While I do not want to undermine the causes and reality of the Libyan facet of the Arab Revolution, this is obviously only part of a much larger and important process and it is also clear that the disinformation and dramatic posturing being launched on Libya and not the other Arab states where repression is at least as violent as in Libya and revolution at least as important, obey to the interests of the Empire, which is massing up forces in Crete for an imperialist intervention.

• Clashes in Alexandria - the Egyptian Revolution is far from over
• Massive protests in Bahrein (pictured) at Manama and around the state TV at Madinat Isa among calls for inter-faith harmony
• Yemeni army fires against protesters - and Hillary does say a word about it
• Calls for reforms dominate the scene in Algeria and Oman

Torture against arrested and other news of repression against Basques

Bilboko Branka reports that some among the latest people arrested in Bilbao have gone through hospital because of lesions, a clear indication of ongoing torture at the hands of the Spanish military police corps: the infamous Guardia Civil. 

Daniel Pastor has been moved twice to the Hospital Clínico of Madrid because of lesions, which have been blamed by the police agents to himself. Eventually judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska has decided, probably fearing death under his custody, to significantly shorten the incommunicado period and take declaration to Pastor today. 

Iñigo Zapirain also has gone through hospital apparently but this is not yet confirmed. All four Basque citizens arrested two days ago are incommunicado in application of the anti-terrorist law which have existed since the formal end of Fascism in the 1970s. It is widely acknowledged that the only reason for the existence of an incommunicado period is in allow torture to happen with impunity.

The four arrested on Wednesday are accused of being part of a "legal" (not yet clandestine) commando of ETA and their arrests happened after the discovery of a depot with 195 kilograms of explosives and three pistols in Galdakao. 

It is not clear how the arrested would be related to the finding nor what specific accusations could be pushed against them.

Barman arrested on opinion crime

The manager of the social center Herriko Taberna (People's Tavern) at the Old Quarter of Bilbao, José Manuel Rivero, has been arbitrarily arrested under orders of Inquisition's judge Ismael Moreno for the "crime" of keeping pictures of Basque prisoners on display in this tavern. 

The display of such images, which are a way of reminding that their rights as citizens and prisoners are being taken off, is not any crime under any law but it is being criminalized by a coalition of pro-Spanish politicians, including some who pretend to be "Basque nationalist" like the mayor of Bilbao J.M. Atutxa, a genuine fascist who could well have been appointed as mayor by Franco himself. 

Source: Branka[eu].

Tasio Erkizia judged by the Inquisition for paying homage to Argala, a victim of Spanish institutional terrorism

Argala

José Miguel Beñaran "Argala" ("Slim")  was a leader of ETA under Fascism and a reference of  antifascism, as he was co-responsible of the execution of Franco's prime minister and dauphin, Admiral Carrero Blanco. Argala was murdered by Spanish death squads in 1978.

Tasio Erkizia, an elderly leader of the Basque Nationalist Left, took part in a homage to Argala in his hometown of Arrigorriaga in 2008, placing a flower on the monolith that honors him. On such grounds, the Spanish Inquisition has put him on trial for "apology of terrorism". 

Erkizia declared that he took part in that homage because he knew Argala personally from the University. 

I had him in great appreciation and I keep that appreciation and that flower was just in his memory. 

He reminded the judge that in that act he emphasized the need to take the path that best guarantees the future of the Basque Country and that such path is the one of political struggle.

Source: Branka[es].

Political party blocked by the Inquisition

In spite of making sure that the statutes of the new party Sortu fit the demands of the ad hoc Spanish law and jurisprudence, the Spanish political tribunal Audiencia Nacional (Inquisition) has paralyzed the inscription on unclear grounds, on request of the Ministry of Interior, which is doing all they can to make sure that there is no peaceful exit for the Basque-Spanish conflict. 

Source: Gara[es].

March 3rd 1976: massacre in Vitoria-Gasteiz

35 years now. I was just 8 back then and I do not remember anything myself. But I know from what I have been told, from what I have read here and there: five workers were massacred in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, when they were enclosed in a church demanding their right to strike and the end of the dictatorship.

The then Minster of Interior, Manuel Fraga, who later founded the conservative Partido Popular, launched his infamous war cry: la calle es mía (the streets are mine!)

This terrorist Sr. Fraga is still legal in Spain. Nobody has judged him, he has not known a single minute of prison nor a single instance of interrogation for the massacre. The opposite is true: he was favored by a large sector of reactionary or plainly dumb Spaniards and Galicians to represent them. He was eventually chosen as President of Galicia, which he ruled with iron fist in the name of Spain for more than a decade.

Justice has not been done nor is likely to be ever done on this massacre. Don't tell me about violence or terrorism until these criminals pay for what they did and the victims are compensated, recognized and honored as the freedom fighters they were. Don't tell me nonsense while Franco's men are still at large, as are the organizers of the death squads.

Portugal to submit to bankster mafias: financial "rescue" around the corner. Why not bankruptcy?

Philip II the bankrupt - history repeats itself

Spanish newspaper El Economista writes: Portugal will accept EU financial rescue in the upcoming weeks (in Spanish, found via La Barricada...)

Why not bankrupticy? This is my permanent question.

There is absolutely nothing (other than the trivial impossibility of further borrowing in the short term) that prevents a sovereign state like Portugal from declaring bankruptcy or even a softer version such as a moratorium... until the economy recovers or inflation erases the debt to payable terms. 

Because while some indebtedness can be of occasional help, there is a moment when paying the debt back becomes impossible and an undesirable burdern for the nation, specially for the common people. In these cases bankruptcy is surely the way ahead and as such it is formally established for individuals and corporations in the laws of all modern states. After all bankers knew the risks when they made the loans. 

And the person or state declaring bankruptcy knows what it means for its credit. But when the burden is too big there is no way around.

Right now Portugal is being forced to borrow at more than 7% interest (when banks get their credit from USA or EU at nearly 0%, please!) and EU is likely to impose conditions of circa 5% (that was the interest imposed to Ireland - let god protect me of my friends...) 

Spain is already borrowing at more than 5% and the downgrading of Portugal is not helping, as most Portuguese debt is held by Spanish institutions, private or public. So it is likely that the Bourbon Kingdom will have to declare bankruptcy soon... because there is no rescue package big enough for Spain (and maybe better that way).

And I say maybe better that way because it is about time that a sovereign bankruptcy happens. How can we tolerate that public money is being given away to banks in form of hyper-cheap credits which pay off alone (as they have rates under inflation levels, discouraging investment risks) and instead allow public institutions, specially social services, being undermined by artificially high interest rates driven by the avarice of the minions that the bankster mafia has put in the ECB, the European Commission and even in the various states, including those being robbed of everything under these speculative maneuvers?!

A sovereign bankruptcy, which will happen sooner than later and will probably happen a few months from now in Madrid in fact, a city with a long tradition of such quitter tactics.

Maybe it is some bad karma. So much genocide, inquisition and fascism cannot be good for any spirit.

But sincerely, considering how the ECB and the Fed give away money to banks and do not give it to the states, the only logical thing to do is to put back the ball in their court by openly threatening with bankruptcy, something that should get the global banksters and Angela Merkel veggy negvous.

Political persecution against Basques: France arrests youths

Wanted: Basque and organized

That is more or less what the euro-orders that the French Republic is applying against Basque citizens refuged in the North say. For that reason the Kingdom of Spain issued an European arrest order and, in spite of being a clear political case and in spite of the youths' association Segi being legal north of the military occupation line (aka border), Paris is complying with the requests from the Spanish Inquisition without hesitation. 

For that reason eight Basque citizens made a sit-in at Izpurua the last weeks, and were now being hosted by politicians from the Northern Basque Country at their homes. 

The persecuted Basque youths and some supporters

Aiala Zaldibar and Bergoi Madernaz del Pozo were arrested today in Baiona (Bayonne), while Beinat Lizeaga and Aitziber Plazaola were taken from the home of regional councilor Alice Leiziagezahar (EE-Les Verts).

The eight Basque citizens have been persecuted by Spain since, in October 2010, the political tribunal Audiencia Nacional (today's Spanish Inquisition) decided to persecute the reorganization of the Basque nationalist youth movement Segi, which is still legal in the North.

Solidarity with them, in the North as in the South has been widespread. 

Source: Gara[es], Kazeta[eu].


Update (Mar 2): two other of the eight persecuted citizens have been arrested in Arrangoitze: brothers Xalba and Jazint Ramírez , when they traveled to Baiona for a press conference. The arrest (left) by agents of the French military police (Gendarmerie), wearing masks, was violent, with the elects accompanying the two persecuted youths, being threatened and insulted.

Protests continue and will continue through the country, at both sides of the occupation line.

Source: Gara[es].

Update (Mar 3): yesterday another of the eight citizens persecuted by the Spanish-French inquisitorial coalition, Endika Pérez, was arrested as well. The only one of the eight still at large, Irati Tobar (left), got yesterday the support of the Town Hall of Hendaia (Hendaye). She spoke to the municipal council and got outspoken support from former mayor Kotte Ezenarro and other members of the Socialist Party. 

Source: Gara[es], Kazeta[eu].