Thursday, August 24, 2006

CNOOC, China/EnergyWaste; FBI/Pakistan/Terror, E.Africa/BinLaden; FTW/Nation, Soy Gringo;

China's CNOOC Drills Disputed Field
While the world is focussed on the several wars unfolding in the Middle East, rumblings in the Far East between China and Japan have been largely overlooked, understandably so. The irrelevant-sounding disputes about war shrines and text books were indeed just that. The real point of contention was the Chunxiao oil and gas field ('Shirakaba' to the Japanese) in the East China Sea. The field lies a few kilometers west of the Japanese-designated median line so that, Japan says, Chinese drilling there could siphon off gas that properly belongs to Japan. China does not recognize the line, claiming instead that its territory extends to the edge of the continental shelf (an area which, by the way, includes Taiwan.)

A year's worth of talks has effectively just ended with China's taking action. Will this lead to another round of talks or are we instead witnessing a spiral towards conflict?

China to Impose Harsher Penalties for Energy Waste

FBI Identifies Pakistan Terror Camp via Satellite

East Africa: Bin Laden's New Front (Also see: Islamist Rise in E. Africa posted July 4, 2006)

Food Prices Would Soar in Biofuels Switch
The major media are starting to do the math

FTW Featured in The Nation

Mike Ruppert's Soy Gringo etc. (posted at request of Gail so as to start a thread)

12 comments:

Dave Vogel said...

I read the original post by Mary MacElveen and it is quite obvious she is not a FTW subscriber nor has she read Crossing the Rubicon. Ruppert's comments about Michael Moore and Arianna Huffington are well noted. Also of importance (on the FTW website) is the WWII vet's comment that the use of the word "American" referring only to U.S. citizens is indeed offensive to many of the rest of the 2 continent's inhabitants. Unfortunately, we "gringos" don't really have a term like "Estado Unidense" in our lexicon, and "American" is so entrenched in our everyday speech that we can hardly avoid it. I also find it interesting that The Nation would feature FTW's articles when FTW has been so critical of it. Perhaps some at The Nation are beginning to wake up.

Lara Braveheart said...

I doubt Jenna would allow my letter of response to Ms. McAlveen to be posted here... understandably. I do not speak for FTW, and posting it here may imply that FTW supports certain aspects of my position.
Some I imagine they do, others not. So I posted it on my blog, if anyone is interested in my suggestion as to how Americans should demonstrate that they are AWAKE, and appreciate their FTW Hubbel telescope!

Rice Farmer said...

I was discussing the pipeline problem (latest postings on FTW) with some other people, some of whom thought that problems like this, plus profit-mongering by the oil companies, are the real causes of oil shortages and high prices. Well, not everyone is convinced about peak oil!

While I prefer to believe in peak oil -- and get ready to deal with it -- I also see the rusty pipeline problem differently. It's been observed on FTW and elsewhere that the petroleum civilization has grown to incredible size and complexity on cheap, plentiful energy, but now it's no longer possible to maintain it. So, we have roads, bridges, the electrical grid, and other elements of the infrastructure falling into disrepair. Rusting pipelines is just one other thing to add to the list. In other words, instead of an excuse not to believe in peak oil, it's actually another sign that the party is over. Our gluttonous petroleum civilization grew to elephantine proportions, and now the rolls of fat are beginning to rot.

Rice Farmer said...

Take a look at this article by Morgan Reynolds,

http://nomoregames.net/index.php?page=911&subpage1=trouble_with_jones

in which he takes issue with the research of Steven Jones, who is lately one of the top heros of the 9/11 truth movement. What's important here is not the issue of who's right. Rather, it shows what happens when people start haggling over the physical evidence. And these people are supposedly on the same side!

Michael Caddell said...

I will refrain from opera reviews. Ruppert was wise to go and study, write from where he is at now. We will continue to financially support FTW - if only because they have proved to represent a more realistic program for local resistance to Big Oil's peak oil crisis.

We should not rely on any politicians nor waste time arguing over 911 origins. Many of our neighbors are just now discovering what "denial" is concerning their petro-consumption and the scale of the problem. We live in a rural area of NE Kansas and are teaching our neighbors what they already know, but still motor back and forth from their jobs. They are starting to reassess their tenuous positions with each penny rise in gas costs.

I have few disagreements with FTW, but I must pose this question to all concerned.

Pertaining to FTW's position that an attack on Iran is unlikely.

In light of the horrible destruction of Lebanon by Israel with US manufactured bombs, wouldn't it be better to reconsider your position?

Question to Stan Goff:

While a military land invasion of Iran proper could be unlikely, after the examples of Iraq and Lebanon - Cheney and Rumsfeld obviously prefer a USAF strategy, wouldn't it be similar for Iran?

And, last isn't this the initiation of a horrible example of "demand destruction" on a geopolitical scale?

Jenna Orkin said...

by 'appropriate' if you mean does it violate someone's sense of etiquette to send a check return receipt requested, i would bet money that it doesn't. thank you!

Rice Farmer said...

I assume we are all familiar with the 9/11 debunking campaign of Popular Mechanics magazine. The 9/11 truth movement would have done well to simply ignore PM's article on the subject. Instead, people took the bait and have since been bogged down in a fruitless debate about the physical evidence. Now PM appears to be engaged in some kind of national debunking campaign. PM's "fact checker" recently appeared on a Phoenix radio program. You can listen to that segment here:

http://www.911podcasts.com/files/audio/A003I060823-am-c3.MP3

Why is this worth listening to? Because the program's host cleverly sidestepped the physical-evidence argument and asked a few common-sense questions, to which the "fact checker" had no answers. Clearly he was expecting the host to challenge him on the physical evidence, but got wrong-footed.

Let this be an important lesson for the 9/11 truth movement!

Leslie Raw said...

Liebchen,

so sorry to hear of your departure. I enjoyed meeting you at the pool and chatting. You split town when I was in Detroit, discussing your book with my dad, and getting him up to speed on peak oil and the cia dealing drugs. He was impressed.

I have admired your work for about a year now, and have seen all your videos at the RVML and I'm making my way across the rube. Thank you for your courage and determination.

What I have read thus far about the events leading up to your departure seems to border on outrageous. Infiltrators, sex, sledgehammers, and sabateurs everywhere. I can only say, as unpleasant as it is, it confirms you are on the right track. If you were merely a blow-hard, they would dis you and leave you alone.

Hope you find a good life down south, and we hope it's not forever. I was going to propose producing a weekly podcast of your reports for subscribers. Maybe someone down there is interested in the gig, that is if you are.

Regards,

Leslie

Edward said...

Gringo - an interesting word. Meaning a Greek. I was in Venezuela in 1983 or so the only time I ever heard that word, when somone exclaimed it from a window as I passed by. It did not make me feel welcome. Neither did the gunfire, military and tense atmosphere. Nonetheless a pretty capital, what I saw of it. What is the connotation of that word to a Venezuelan? If mike wants to go to a much friendlier place for gringos, he should go farther south to Brasil where he will be treated really nicely. Just my opinion.

Jenna Orkin said...

readers should note that the person referring to mike as a 'gringo' is mike himself. it would seem from his two articles so far on the subject, he's extremely happy with his treatment at the hands of the venezuelans.

Howlin_Dog said...

Loretta Lynn sings a song with the words something like “Your not woman enough to take my man.” This seems like the activist community. “I have a better alternative idea than you do!”

Continuing on with this lousy analogy there are two things to learn. First, if the man is playing both women maybe he ain't worth having anyhow. Seems to me that is what Mike is saying about many of the people in the US and Mary is still wanting to lay a little loving on em.

The second thing to learn is if you are the man playing both women, you can loose two ways. If one woman wins and the other gives up, you loose because now your will have to pay retribution for the grief you have caused. Even worse, if they ever start talking, you will really have hell to pay and retribution is not possible at all. The point of this is: Keep em fighting if your playing one against the other. I think the elites seem to be doing a good job at that.

If you found a good one stick with it. Mike and FTW has provided me with very valuable insight about how the world works so there is no reason to not trust his motives at this time. If Mike said things were getting too rough, I believe him. I sometimes don't like the situation and the grief I bring on myself with my mouth. I have only thrown water balloons. Mike has thrown big rocks at them.

Kind of related to this subject is the Morgan Reynolds article puting the bad mouth on Stephen E. Jones. Stephen Jones is what led me to FTW because he convinced me 911 was an inside job. After determining it was an inside job the question of who and why was answered by Mike in “Truth and Lies” and even more so in “Crossing the Rubicon”. Anyhow... Mr. Reynolds states that aluminum glows red at high temperatures. I worked in an aluminum plant it does not. Even aluminum hot enough to melt looks silvery like mercury. This and a couple of other statments tells me Mr. Reynolds does not know what he is talking about and for sure could not put up the $1000 guarantee of accuracy like Mike did.

Jenna Orkin said...

DGSE has left a new comment on your post "CNOOC, China/EnergyWaste; FBI/Pakistan/Terror, E.Africa/BinLaden; FTW/Nation, Soy Gringo;":

I see that my comments on FTW and MCR haven't gone up. Isn't one of the reasons that Mike left the US due to his being unable to speak freely....