At a dinner party, it's the empty chair that garners the most curiosity. In this case the chair belongs to Turkmenistan which did not participate in the Astana summit discussed below, culminating in the pact to preserve the Aral Sea.
Yet they're hardly immune to the problems afflicting their neighbors. 80-90% desert, Turkmenistan has the lowest operational resources of groundwater of all the Central Asian states.
The other piece missing from the Astana pact is Russia. The Central Asian states agreed, as they have in the past, that the way to resolve their water problems is by diverting waters from the rivers of Siberia.
How does Russia feel about this? It has "yet to come up with any official reaction to the Siberian river diversion scheme. However, some officials have indicated that Russia, or at least some regions, may eventually face shortages of quality drinking water.In the meantime, competition for water is increasing in Central Asia at an alarming rate, adding tension to what is already a volatile region." JO
KAZAKHSTAN, KYRGYZSTAN, UZBEKISTAN, AND TAJIKISTAN SIGN PACT TO PRESERVE ARAL SEA
China/Kazakh SCO Joint Anti-Terrorism Exercises
Report Urges FAA To Act Regarding False 9/11 Testimony
Nafeez Ahmed on What the 9/11 Families Are Saying
U.S. Considers New Military Command for Africa
Australian City of Perth Belongs to Aborigines
winston smith has left a new comment on your post "C. Asia Pact/Aral Sea; SCO Military Exercises; FAA/False 9/11 Testimony; Nafeez Ahmed/9/11 Families; US/Africa Military; Perth/Aborigines":
ReplyDeletegreeting FTW team and readers (saludo, Mike),
hope everyone is handling being blasted backwards through time to the pre-Magna Charta era ok. may you live in interesting times, indeed...
this is somewhat off topic from the blog post, but it seemed like a rather important admission for the 9/11 movement re: Omar Saeed Sheikh being a MI6 agent, and I haven't seen much chatter about it on the net. I need a little help reading the map:
[quote from article]
*************************************************
How we found Pearl buried in ten pieces
(extracts from Pakistan President Musharraf's memoirs)
The Times, September 26, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/kzqsj
[quote from article]
President dubs alleged Pearl killer MI6 spy
Friday, 29 September, 2006, 01:06 PM Doha Time
http://tinyurl.com/h5nu4
*************************************************
i know British MP Michael Meecher had drawn attention to this about a year ago in the Guardian UK ("Britain now faces it's own blowback", Saturday September 10, 2005).
what i can't get my head around is Musharraf's motive here, in the context of Mike's "PAKISTANI PAYOFFS" dispatch. I understand that Musharraf is ~just saying~ Omar Sheikh "went rogue", but it seems somewhat bold to even give any credence to British Intel links at all to me. what are y'alls thoughts on this?
btw, has anyone checked out the "Who Killed John O'Neill' (http://www.wkjo.com) yet? my friend and i have been wanting to do this for years, doubleplusgood job.
Mike, if you're reading this - I hope you are well, your courage and heart will not be forgotten sir. God bless.
~ winston
"Russian oil grab 'puts western supplies at risk'"
ReplyDeletehttp://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1885258,00.html
"British board game brings satire to war on terror"
ReplyDeletehttp://stripes.com/articleprint.asp?section=104&article=40466
Oil is the prize.
Mike: Did you check this out?:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193344165&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Sep. 29, 2006 22:15 | Updated Sep. 30, 2006 5:18
Russian planes buzz Alaskan coast
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOSCOW
Keep up the work of justice & democracy, Mike. You're a light in the darkness & it's getting darker.
P.S. So... Venezuela has Habeas Corpus & the U.S. doesn't? How long before Europe goes the way of the U.S.? Fascism is contagion
I'd just like to say thanks to FTW for the veritable barrage of valuable news and analysis. In particular, it appears that Mike is not allowing his circumstances to get him down, and that is very encouraging.
ReplyDeletein answer to the question you raise about nytimes registration: we have no control over that. at a certain point, times' articles, like those of many other organizations, become unavailable to the general public. it's an automatically determined event.
ReplyDeletemaebrussel has left a new comment on your post "C. Asia Pact/Aral Sea; SCO Military Exercises; FAA/False 9/11 Testimony; Nafeez Ahmed/9/11 Families; US/Africa Military; Perth/Aborigines":
I've noticed that you rarely, if ever, put anything I have to say on your blog, and that's just fine. I must say I am shocked that I would have to register with the NYT to read your lead to the Ausralian aborigines. I gave up my NYC born and raised culture for the back to the land life in the mountains decades ago, and I believe that your awareness of how fucked up things are was grasped by the hardcore MANY years ago. I have enough food growing on my private property to feed an army, and I have been a paid subscriber. I hope you do many more stories focusing on abo life and the ANSWERS, and SOLUTIONS, but please, no NYT registration.