Morning Posting.
- Japan : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to : Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog.Here.
- Guildhall dinner in honour of Ronald Reagan's centenary who's Absent?Obama's reprsentative the US ambassador.(Thisislondon).It was one of the most glittering events of the year, attracting some of the greatest names in American and British politics.But as the British roasted lamb and the sunny Californian chardonnay were cleared away, one notable absence was the hottest topic among guests at the Guildhall dinner in honour of Ronald Reagan's centenary.Where was the American ambassador to London, Louis B Susman?He had, it soon transpired, been invited. But despite a guest list that boasted four British Cabinet ministers, ex-Prime Minister, nine US congressmen and a senator and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, there was no sign of President Obama's representative in London. And in a warm atmosphere evoking the closest days of the special Anglo-US relationship of the Eighties, the surprise at Mr Susman's absence turned to annoyance."Our ambassador should be here," said Lynn de Rothschild, the American entrepreneur who is married to Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and was one of Hillary Clinton's key fundraisers in 2008 as well as a supporter of several Republican presidential candidates. "This was an historic dinner to mark Reagan's centenary and to celebrate him as the man who ended the Cold War. What could not be more important?"Why is our ambassador not here on Independence Day? No excuse. How is it that America is not represented in this room by our ambassador? It is appalling that no representative of our government is in this room. This has the feel of petty partisanship."Where indeed? Mr Susman had been at the unveiling of a statue of Reagan in Grosvenor Square earlier in the day, and had hosted a generous breakfast for the entire VIP visiting party and the military band, so he had certainly not snubbed the grand centenary events. According to the US embassy spokesman: "Ambassador Susman was pleased to be invited to the dinner but was unable to attend."Hmmmmm.........Read the full story here.
- ExxonMobil pipeline bursts, spilling crude oil into Yellowstone River.(NWProgressive).An ExxonMobil pipeline running under the Yellowstone River in south central Montana ruptured late Friday, spilling crude oil into the river and forcing evacuations.As if we needed another reminder that the oil industry is a dirty industry…The pipeline burst about 10 miles west of Billings, coating parts of the Yellowstone River that run past Laurel — a town of about 6,500 people downstream from the rupture — with shiny patches of oil. Precisely how much oil leaked into the river was still unclear. But throughout the day Saturday, cleanup crews in Laurel worked to lessen the impact of the spill, laying down absorbent sheets along the banks of the river to mop up some of the escaped oil, and measuring fumes to determine the health threat.Of course, ExxonMobil is very, very, very sorry about all of this.EMPCo deeply regrets this release and is working hard with local emergency authorities to mitigate the impacts of this release on the surrounding communities and to the environment.The release originated from a 12″ crude pipeline operated by EMPCo that runs from Silver Tip to Billings. The pipeline has been shut down and the segment where the release occurred has been isolated. All appropriate state and federal authorities have been alerted.When a drilling rig blows up, when a pipeline bursts, or when a supertanker runs aground due to a careless crew, the ramifications are incredibly destructive. We know because we’ve seen this happen before. Some communities have tragically experienced the consequences firsthand.Each time a disaster happens, the company responsible apologizes and promises to clean up its mess and compensate those affected.Politicians vow to hold the company responsible accountable and press for tougher safety regulations. But inevitably, none of this talk leads to a safer or cleaner industry. Because preventable accidents keep happening.Since humans make mistakes, drilling (or mining) for fossil fuels is an inherently unsafe business… a business that needs to be made illegal.As long as the fossil fuel industry continues to operate in this country, we are going to be subjected to more environmental disasters. The time has come for us to recognize that our ways are not sustainable, and channel our resources into the development of clean, safe, distributed renewable energy. Only then will incidents like this begin to disappear from our headlines.Hmmmmmm........And everyone will drive an electric dinky toy ....ooooh look a unicorn.Read the full 'story' here.
- Documents just released by Social security Administration appear to indicate falsified SSN application for Stanley Ann Dunham!(ThePostAndMail).A report from early 2009 stated that Stanley Ann Dunham’s social security number has been used by a woman in Washington State “all her life.” The same social security number, 535-40-8522, appears on passport applications released through a FOIA request to Mr. Christopher Strunk last summer, although there was one occurrence in which the box was left blank.Read and see the full story here.
- FROM ORLY TAITZ: Letter from SSA shows an invalid application form for Ann Dunham.(BirtherReport).I received today a letter from the Social Security administration. It provided years when social security revised its forms. As you can see, there was no revision in 1955, however the form allegedly submitted by Stanley Ann Dunham to the Social Security administration, shows on the bottom non-existent revision date of 1955.As I provided judge Lamberth originally, Dunham’s application shows similar signs of forgery as Obama’s BC. If you look at the revision date, you can see that two numbers 5 are different, different type settings are used. Additionally, I provided judge Lamberth with examples of SS-5 forms, submitted in 1959, at the time this application was allegedly submitted. Those forms were different. All evidence points to the fact, that not only Obama, but also, his mother, Ann Dunham, used invalid or fraudulently obtained or forged documents. This is the biggest breach of the US National security, the biggest crime ever to be perpetrated upon this nation. If the judge does not grant my FOIA request, he will be complicit to the crimes perpetrated by Obama.Hmmmm.......Communist agent?Read and see the full story here.
- Another Obama landgrab?White House Takes Aim at Rural America by Executive Order.(EmergingCorruption).Where, exactly, does the U.S. Constitution authorize the federal government to create “sustainable communities” to: … expand access to the capital necessary for economic growth, promote innovation, improve access to health care and education, and expand outdoor recreational activities on public lands.Clearly, the Constitution provides no such authority, and the 10th Amendment prohibits the federal government from engaging in activity not explicitly enumerated and authorized in the Constitution. This fact meant nothing to Bill Clinton, who created the President’s Council on Sustainable Development by executive order. Nor does this fact have meaning to Barack Hussein Obama.On June 9, 2011, by Executive Order 13575, Obama created the White House Rural Council. This new council consists of 25 Cabinet secretaries – or their designee – and is chaired by the secretary of Agriculture. The mission of the council is to: … work across executive departments, agencies, and offices to coordinate development of policy recommendations to promote economic prosperity and quality of life in rural America, and shall coordinate my Administration’s engagement with rural communities.Anyone who has ever had cow manure on his boots knows full well that until the federal government decided to get “engaged” with rural communities to improve the quality of life for the poor souls who live in fly-over county, farming and ranching fed the nation. Rural America provided the resources that fueled unprecedented prosperity. Not until the government showed up to help did rural families begin to suffer.Obama’s new White House Rural Council has the potential to be much worse than anything Franklin Roosevelt ever dreamed about. In 1992, the U.N. produced a 40-chapter, non-binding policy document called Agenda 21. This document sets forth recommendations to transform capitalism and a free republic into an administrative unit of global governance. Bill Clinton’s PCSD began imposing these policies on American towns and cities in the mid-1990s. Obama’s new council is designed to continue and expand the implementation of these policies into the hinterland.Remember the National Animal Identification System, which USDA said was being abandoned. Ha! It’s back. This new council will have the effect of multi-jurisdictional enforcement. Simply put, if a rancher or farmer fights too hard against the new USDA electronic identification system, the rancher can and will be identified throughout every agency in the council and forced to submit to inspections and enforcement of every rule and regulation imaginable. This is multi-jurisdictional enforcement.Obama’s ultimate goal is to assure that government has ultimate control of every square inch of land, every business activity, the curriculum in every school and, ultimately, the information that may be conveyed on the public airways.This is the goal of Agenda 21. Its recommendations are designed to produce this outcome. The program is called “Sustainable Development,” which means in real terms “government-approved” development. Every recommendation in Agenda 21 requires government enforcement. Any activity that is preceded by the word “Sustainable,” should be recognized as a “government-controlled” activity.Sustainable Development brings the concept of “Amortization of Non-Conforming Uses.” This means that, over time, the right of private landowners to occupy their houses will automatically be extinguished, and owners will be forced to leave their property without just compensation. This is happening in both urban and rural areas of the country. One of the more blatant examples was revealed in an article published by the LA Weekly News, June 23: “L.A. County’s Private Property War.”Countless L.A. County property owners have been victimized by armed NATs (Nuisance Abatement Teams) issuing citations for “living on the land illegally” and other equally ridiculous code violations. This is on land the victim owns. The code violations arise from new codes that comply with Agenda 21. These codes did not exist when the homes in Antelope Valley were built 20 and 30 years ago. Owners have had the time since the new codes were adopted, until recently, to bring their structures up to code. Those who failed to do so have now effectively lost their property to the county – without compensation. The fact that the land owners had no idea these ridiculous codes had been adopted is no excuse. This is “Amortization of Non-Conforming Uses.”This is “Agenda 21′s Sustainable Development” operating in the rural areas of Los Angeles County. This is what the rest of rural America can expect from the White House Rural Council in the months and years ahead.Hmmmm.......Now compare to this 2008 map.Read and see the full story here.
- Obama tries to stop execution in Texas of Mexican killer, doesn't care about Hamas prisoner Gilad Shalit.(Guardian).US president warns Texan authorities that execution would put America in breach of international legal obligations.President Barack Obama is attempting to block the execution in Texas on Thursday of a Mexican man because it would breach an international convention and do "irreparable harm" to US interests.The White House has asked the US supreme court to put the execution of Humberto Leal Garcia on hold while Congress passes a law that would prevent the convicted rapist and murderer from being put to death along with dozens of other foreign nationals who were denied proper access to diplomatic representation before trials for capital crimes.The administration moved after the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, brushed aside appeals from diplomats, top judges, senior military officers, the United Nations and former president George W Bush to stay Leal's execution because it could jeopardise American citizens arrested abroad as well as US diplomatic interests.Leal, 38, was convicted in 1994 of the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio. Few question that he was responsible for the killing but the Texas authorities failed to tell Leal, who was born in Mexico and has lived in the US since the age of two, that under the Vienna convention he was entitled to contact the Mexican consulate when he was arrested. The legal situation has been complicated by earlier court rulings.In 2004, the international court of justice (ICJ) ruled that the US authorities had failed to meet its legal obligations to 51 Mexicans awaiting execution in American prisons when they were not informed of their right to contact their consulates.The then president, George W Bush, a former Texas governor who backs the death penalty, said the US would adhere to the ICJ ruling which, in effect, meant the death sentences would be reviewed or commuted. But in 2008 the supreme court ruled that while the US government was obliged to comply with the ICJ ruling it did not have the power to force individual American states to do so. Only Congress could require adherence by passing a law.The Obama administration has told the supreme court that a bill has recently been introduced in to the Senate to do just that but it is unlikely to win the approval of both houses of Congress before next year. The White House wants Leal's execution put on hold until the law is passed but two courts have already ruled that pending legislation has no effect on the legal process.The UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, has appealed to Perry to commute Leal's sentence to life imprisonment.Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said that if Leal was put to death it would be "tantamount to an arbitrary deprivation of life".Perry's office has said Texas laws had been abided by and that Leal would be executed for "the most heinous of crimes".Hmmmm..........Read the full story here.
- Coming to a ATM near you: "No God but Allah" Dollar bill?(GraniteGrok).This is going to put the Left into quite the quandary!It has been proven in a variety of polls that Lefties tend to trend much more secular than those on the Right. Problem in this case, Progressives are trying to remove God from the public square in their zest to keep us all free from religion (as opposed to the establishment of religion as in the First Amendment), which in my estimation is that they are continuing to establish secular humanism as a religion).Lately, however, but we've seen the Lefty useful idiots "protect" Islam (or is the proper word "use"?) as a victimized identity group (even as FBI stats show that Jews are most likely to be attacked). So, how would the Left rationalize this? Islamists want no God but Allah - they also are not keen on the idea of "no God" either (the Left's seeming adherence to remove "In God We Trust" on our currency, the practice of religion in the public square (except when it benefits them not to), and we've seen President Obama, on several occasions, delete the use of "the Creator" when speaking / quoting the Declaration of Independence. And who is going to go track down who is doing this? After all, it is a purposeful and willful defacing of our currency (and against the law)? Hmmmm......Lets bring back the Gold Standard.Read the full story here.
- Germany's high court on Tuesday began hearing a Legal Challenge to Greece Aid.'The Greeks Would Be Well Advised to Exit the Euro Zone'.(Spiegel).Germany's high court on Tuesday began hearing a legal challenge to the 110-billion-euro aid package provided to debt-stricken Greece in 2010. Retired economics professor Joachim Starbatty is one of those behind the case -- and he expects the court to prove him right.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Starbatty, the Greek parliament last week passed a €78 billion package of austerity measures in return for billions more in aid from the European Union.
Starbatty: By approving the package, the parliament decided against the will of the people. But only because it was blackmailed by Greece's partners in the euro zone .
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Is it not legitimate for governments in Europe's common currency zone to want to see a Greek contribution to solving the problem before releasing billions in aid money?
Starbatty: The financial assistance is only there to save the European banking industry. The EU is throwing massive amounts of good money after bad. But it is the Greek people who must endure the brutal belt-tightening measures. I don't consider that to be legitimate.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Should the German high court side with your view and no longer allow Germany to participate in providing financial assistance to debt-stricken euro-zone countries, Greece would likely become insolvent in a hurry. The monetary union as a whole would also be endangered.
Starbatty: Greece is already broke. The country needs to be given a chance to get back on its feet economically. I expect the court will establish parameters in order to limit the economic nonsense.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What exactly do you mean by that?
Starbatty: The aid will remain, but the German parliament will in the future have to approve every further credit tranche .
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Were Greece to exit the euro zone, wouldn't the financial markets take aim at other deeply indebted countries and trigger a collapse of the entire currency union?
Starbatty: This "domino theory" only exists to mislead people. Will Finland or the Netherlands fall too? Only those countries that are already deeply in debt are affected. Any further delay will merely drive up the costs.Read the full story here.
- UK - Islamic extremists want to establish independent states with sharia law in Dewsbury, Bradford and Tower Hamlets.(DailyMail).Islamic extremists have called on British Muslims to establish three independent states within the UK.The notorious Muslims Against the Crusades (MAC) group have named Yorkshire towns Bradford and Dewsbury and Tower Hamlets in East London as testbeds for blanket sharia rule.The medieval 'emirates' would operate entirely outside British law, according to a document on the MAC website.The MAC group, led by Abu Assadullah, was set up last year and has become notorious because of its violent protests, most provocatively burning poppies during the Remembrance Day silence.Under the heading 'Muslims should set up Islamic emirates in the UK', MAC says: 'We suggest it is time that areas with large Muslim populations declare an emirate delineating that Muslims trying to live within this area are trying to live by the sharia as much as possible with their own courts and community watch and schools and even self sufficient trade.'Likely areas for these projects might be Dewsbury or Bradford or Tower Hamlets to begin with. 'In time we can envisage that the whole of the sharia might one day be implemented starting with these enclaves.' The call is likely to cause anger among moderate Muslims and community leaders in the areas concerned.Ian Greenwood, leader of Bradford Council, said people would 'not allow extremists to provoke them into violence'.London 7/7 bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan lived in Dewsbury, which has battled to diffuse extremism in recent years. In 2007, it was alleged that a number of Muslims in Dewsbury were running an illegal Islamic court from a school and similar claims have been made in Tower Hamlets and Bradford. Tower Hamlets council was last year accused of falling under the control of extremist groups following a documentary by the Daily Telegraph journalist Andrew Gilligan.The plan is part of the MAC's response to the government's revised Prevent strategy to combat Islamic extremism.In its document, called Islamic Prevent, the fanatics also call for an end to CCTV cameras in and around mosques. It says: 'Muslims must get rid of all CCTV cameras from Muslim institutions. Sadly many mosques have today adopted CCTV cameras to spy on Muslims on behalf of the police and local authorities.' Other inflammatory instructions include demanding the release of all Muslim prisoners, a ban on Muslims joining the police or armed forces and a rejection of British democracy.The document ends: 'We can conclude that measures by the UK government are nothing more than an attempt by them to strip the Muslim community of their Islamic identity and to integrate them into the non-Islamic way of life.'Tower Hamlets and Kirklees Council, the local authority for Dewsbury, refused to comment. Hmmmmm......What happened to :"We don't want to take over your country"?Read the full story here.
- "Food Jihad"? Experts : German E Coli outbreak contamination originated in Egypt!(Seattlepi).LONDON (AP) — Contaminated Egyptian fenugreek seeds are likely the source of Europe's deadly E. coli outbreaks, health experts warned Thursday, predicting there could be more infections from seeds still in the food chain.The tainted seeds may be behind the massive food poisoning outbreak in Germany beginning in May that has killed 49 people and infected over 4,000 in 15 countries, as well as a much smaller outbreak in France in June. More than 800 people have also developed a life-threatening kidney complication after catching the bug.On Thursday, the national French laboratory said the E. coli strain that sickened 15 people in Bordeaux is genetically similar to the one in Germany. The World Health Organization said this increased the proof that the outbreaks were linked, but scientists still haven't found any contaminated seeds."There's no smoking gun," Ian Henderson, a professor of microbial biology at the University of Birmingham, told The Associated Press on Thursday. "But it would be unusual to have the same rare strain found in Germany and France without some link."Fenugreek leaves are commonly used as an herb and also in curry.If the fenugreek seeds were contaminated at the source — during production in Egypt — they could have been freeze-dried before being sold, allowing the E. coli bacteria to live for years. Once water is added to grow the fenugreek sprouts, the entire sprout would be infected and washing wouldn't help get rid of the potentially deadly bacteria.Osterholm said the seeds could also cross-contaminate other products or be sold in a seed mix.The European Food Safety Authority recommends that people stop growing their own sprouts and not eat any type of sprouts unless they're thoroughly cooked.European food safety and health officials have asked Germany and France to quickly find out where seeds from the suspected contaminated Egyptian batch may have been sold. French farmers apparently bought their seeds from Thompson and Morgan, a large British mail-order company.Thompson and Morgan said their supplier bought fenugreek sprouting seeds from Egypt, which were then exclusively sold into a French garden market. The company does not sell sprouting seeds to commercial farms.Germany's consumer protection and food safety agency refused to say Thursday whether the organic farm in northern Germany implicated in the deadly E. coli outbreak used seeds from Egypt or whether other German farms had received Egyptian seeds. However, the agency said it was investigating the report.Experts said it was crucial to trace exactly where the bad seeds ended up but that doing so would be very difficult."They might have shipped over a couple of tons of seeds from Egypt, but it could have just been a small amount of seeds that were contaminated," explained Stephen Smith, a microbiologist at Trinity College in Dublin. "And then some of that shipment goes to Germany, France, and maybe lots of other countries."Smith said it was likely only a small batch of the seeds were contaminated, which might explain why the new E. coli cases are appearing sporadically."We will probably see more cases, but hopefully not on the scale of the German outbreak," he said.Hmmmm..............Read the full story here.
- Related - EU withdraws Egyptian seeds from market and temporarily bans their import.(Al-Arabia).The European Union is withdrawing from the market, and temporarily banning the import of, certain types of seeds from Egypt after Egyptian fenugreek seeds were linked to the E. coli outbreaks (O104 strain) in northern Germany and Bordeaux, France. The decision follows a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) report, published earlier Tuesday, establishing a link between the outbreaks and seeds from Egypt.Fenugreek seeds imported from Egypt may be the source of highly toxic E. coli outbreaks in Germany and France that have killed at least 48 people, according to investigations by European scientists.More than 4,000 people across Europe and in North America have been infected in the deadliest outbreak of E. coli so far recorded, which began in early May. Almost all of those sickened lived in Germany or had recently travelled there. The German outbreak and a smaller cluster of E. coli near the French city of Bordeaux have both been linked to the seeds. Experts from the Sweden-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the Italy-based European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said initial investigations suggested that the consumption of sprouts is the suspected vehicle of infection in both the French cluster and the German outbreak. “The tracing back is progressing and has thus far shown that fenugreek seeds imported from Egypt either in 2009 and/or 2010 are implicated in both outbreaks,” the scientists said.Hmmmm.........Human error , Accidental or ......Food jihad?Read the full story here.
- Syria accused of crimes against humanity.(Al-Jazeera). Amnesty International says it has gathered proof of such crimes by the government in the northern town of Tall Kalakh.The Syrian government's violent suppression of the revolt against its rule could amount to a systematic campaign of crimes against humanity, a human rights group has said.London-based Amnesty International says it has gathered proof of such crimes by the government in the northern town of Tall Kalakh.The organisation called for the UN Security Council to refer the Syrian government's massive repression, which has come in response to continuing protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule, to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, in a report released on Wednesday morning."The willingness of the international community to take action on Libya in the name of human rights has highlighted its double standards on Syria," Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa deputy director, said.The testimony gathered from witnesses from Tall Kalakh suggests systematic and targeted abuses aimed at trampling dissent, Luther said."Most of the crimes described in this report would fall within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court," Luther said."But the UN Security Council must first refer the situation in Syria to the Court's Prosecutor."In a pattern followed in towns across the country since the wave of protests began, army and security forces entered Tall Kalakh on May 14 after a demonstration against the government, Amnesty said.Security forces fired indiscriminately on civilians, killing eight. Scores of men and boys were arrested, most of them tortured, according to evidence collected by Amnesty. Some of them remain in detention, weeks later.Rights groups say that more than 1,300 civilians have been killed and 10,000 people arrested by security forces since the revolt against Assad began in mid-March.The Amnesty report comes as the Syrian government turns its attentions to the central city of Hama.Tanks were still surrounding Hama, days after it witnessed some of the biggest protests against Assad's rule since the recent uprising started. The attacks focused on two districts north of the Orontes River, which splits the city of 650,000 people in half.Some residents of Hama, scene of a crackdown by Assad's father nearly 30 years ago, had sought to halt any military advance by blocking roads between neighbourhoods with garbage containers, and by burning tyres, wood and metal.In response to the amplified violence in Hama, world leaders have threatened to increase the pressure on Syria."Violent repression in Hama will only further undermine the regime's legitimacy and raise serious questions about whether it is committed to the reforms it has recently announced," William Hague, the British foreign minister, said in a statement on Tuesday."The UK has made clear that President Assad must reform or step aside. If the regime continues to choose the path of brutal repression, pressure from the international community will only increase."The US, meanwhile, called on Syria to withdraw its forces from Hama."We urge the government of Syria to immediately halt its intimidation and arrest campaign, to pull its security forces back from Hama and other cities, and to allow Syrians to express their opinions freely so that a genuine transition to democracy can take place," Victoria Nuland, a spokesperson for the US state department, said.Nuland said Washington was "very concerned about the ongoing attacks against peaceful demonstrators in Syria".France, which has taken a tougher stance on Syria than its Western allies, said on Tuesday there were signs Russia was beginning to question its Syrian stance after seeing Assad continue the bloody crackdown.Russia has opposed a French-led UN Security Council draft resolution, which condemns Assad's government and urges it to adopt rapid change, but stops short of imposing sanctions or allow military action.Moscow has accused Western countries of exploiting the Security Council resolution that authorised limited military intervention in Libya and says it fears that could happen again in Syria.Alain Juppe, France’s foreign affairs minister, attempted to sway his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow last week, but said on Tuesday that Russia was still threatening to use a veto against the resolution."I pointed out that there was nothing in it that resembles paragraph 4 [of the Libya resolution], but I still haven't convinced him [Lavrov]," Juppe told the French parliament's foreign affairs commission."I think the point of no return has been crossed and the ability for Assad to make reforms today is zero in view of what has happened," Juppe said."But to facilitate the emergence of a consensus at the UN Security Council we accepted to once again address Assad and to ask him to sign up to reforms."France has also failed to convince South Africa, India and Brazil to vote in favour, leaving the resolution short of the minimum 11 of 15 votes it feels it needs to submit the resolution.Hmmmmmm........Assad the "Reformer" as hillary and erdogan used to call him,Done lots of 'reforming' lately?Read the full story here, Video report by Israel Matzav here.
- Gaza flotilla - French flotilla boat slips trough the maze, sets sail for Gaza.(Al-Jazeera).A French boat has set sail for Gaza in the latest attempt by activists to deliver aid to the Palestinian territory, according to a journalist aboard the vessel.The Dignite al Karama, which slipped past Greek authorities overnight is, thus far, the only boat in a flotilla organised by pro-Palestinian activists to successfully sail for Gaza, with most confined to ports in Greece.The vessel's passengers include Olivier Besancenot, head of the New Left Party in France, French politician and member of the European Parliament Nicole Kiil-Nilsen, and other well-known French personalities."We are about 20 minutes from international waters, and when we arrive there, the organisers on the boat will decide what their next move is," Quentin Girard, a journalist with the French newspaper Liberation, told Al Jazeera from aboard the boat.Girard said that the activists on the boat want to go to Gaza, but are waiting to decide if they will go once the boat arrives in international waters."I think they will go if the international committee for the flotilla encourages them to go," Girard said.Meanwhile, the captain of a US ship, who was arrested by Greek authorities, was released on Tuesday and all charges against him dropped, Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal reported from Athens."He has not been fined for anything, and he is a free man. This after Greek authorities arrested him or detained him late on Friday as he tried to bring his ship out and take the passengers to Gaza," Elshayyal said.The Audacity of Hope, also part of the so-called 'Freedom Flotilla', set sail on Friday from the Greek port of Perama and was towed back to shore by the Greek coast guard."Many viewed that the case today would be indicative of how likely it would be that this flotilla would actually set sail altogether," Elshayyal said. "And it seems that there is reason for optimism on the part of the participants, since now their captain has been set free."Greece's coast guard said on Saturday that the captain of The Audacity of Hope faced charges of trying to leave port without permission and of endangering the lives of the boat's passengers.The US boat is one of nine vessels carrying several hundred activists attempting to deliver aid to Gaza. Some of the passengers on the US ship have remained on board in solidarity with the jailed captain.On June 24, an anonymous complaint was filed against the ship's "seaworthiness". The Israel Law Centre (Shurat HaDin), took responsibility for the complaint in the Israeli media.On Monday, a Canadian boat, the Tahrir, was forced to return to harbour in Crete after an attempt to reach international waters was thwarted by the coast guard, according to onboard activists.The Tahrir sailed 15 minutes out of harbour before it was intercepted, activists told Al Jazeera.The coast guard ship pursued the Tahrir, using water cannons and eventually boarding the ship.Ehab Lotayef, spokesperson and coordinator for the Canadian boat, told Al Jazeera from Montreal that the two kayakers and a Canadian-Jewish activist, Sandra Rush, whose name was on the boat papers, were being held.According to Lotayef, everyone else on the boat remained aboard through the night. On Tuesday, the Greek prosecutor was on board taking statements from the activists.The group of activists in Corfu seemed to have all but exhausted their attempts to comply with the necessary paperwork for getting official permission to leave port.In a meeting on Tuesday, the Corfu group discussed staging local demonstrations against the Greek blockade of their flotilla, but did not disclose the nature of the planned protest.Most activists in the group seemed to reject the idea of breaking out of port, while the captain of the ship said he did not want to copy other breakouts out of fear of jeopardising his sailing license.Hmmmmm.......Back, ye scurvy dogs!or we will be 'placin' the black spot'?Read the full story here.
- Turkey’s ambitious religious imam-hatip schooled Erdogan not a tolerant man.(Al-Arabia). Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s apparent political ambitions to become president with increased powers are not in the country’s interests because of his “dangerous intolerance of criticism,” The Economist’s European editor told a London audience on Tuesday.The editor, John Peet, described Mr. Erdogan as possibly the most important Turk since the founder of the republic, Kemal Ataturk, but said his goal of creating a strong presidency, apparently with himself at the helm, are “somewhat worrying.”He said Mr. Erdogan appeared determined to stay in power for a long time, hinting during the recent national election campaign that he hoped to be president in 2023, the 100th anniversary of the republic.“His party and he have shown they are intolerant of criticism. They don’t like opposition,” Mr. Peet told a meeting of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. He noted that Turkey ranks 138th in the world in the international press freedom index. The Turkish Journalists Association says 58 journalists are in jail, more than in China.The Economist has come under heavy criticism from Mr. Erdogan’s supporters because it endorsed the country’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party, in the recent election. Mr. Peet said he was surprised anyone in Turkey even noticed.He noted that the Turkish economy has enjoyed “fantastic success” since the 2001 meltdown in which the government had to call in the International Monetary Fund. It now has the world’s 16th largest economy and could become one of the top 10, he said, moving from basket case to what he called the China of Europe.But he said Turkey has a worryingly large current account deficit, the economy is overheating, unemployment remains just under 10 per cent and the country has been reluctant to embrace reforms in such areas as labor markets and minimum wages.He acknowledged that the Constitution, a military-dictated document dating from 1982, needs updating but questioned Mr. Erdogan’s goal of a presidency based on the French model. “The problem I have with Turkey is autocracy and intolerance of criticism,” he said. He noted that, after the election, Mr. Erdogan promised to work with the opposition on writing a new Constitution but has since become involved in controversy with opposition parties that refuse to take their parliamentary seats because some of their members have been jailed. As for the Kurds, he suggested the government is better at conflict than conflict resolution. It has taken some helpful steps in appeasing the Kurds, he said, but Mr. Erdogan’s opposition to centralization is “worrying.”Turkey and Israel will never go back to their relationship of 10 years ago, he said, but it would be helpful if Turkey could play a mediating role between Israel and its Arab neighbors.He said Turks recognize that their future is with the European Union, but their country’s prospects of joining the EU look “pretty remote” because of opposition from French President Nicolas Sarkozy and some other EU leaders. He expressed hope that Mr. Sarkozy would be toppled in French elections next year.Turkey’s EU prospects might be improved by movement in resolving the Cyprus impasse, he said, but noted there is little sign of concessions by either Greek Cypriots or Turkish Cypriots. The United Nations may be tempted to give up trying to resolve the conflict, he said.Hmmmmm.........Mr. Erdogan appeared determined to stay in power for a long time.Read the full story here.
- And now for something completely different.A warning for Sushi and Cod lovers!Fishing industry quiet as a fish on worms in cod: report.(TheLocal).A growing seal population in the Baltic sea has brought with it an unwanted consequence - the cod worm (anisakis), which can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and intense stomach aches if ingested, is steadily becoming more common in the Baltic area.But the Swedish fishing industry has kept a tight lid on information about the growing numbers, according to a report in newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN)."The worry is that it'll have very negative consequences, and that people will stop eating fish. So we want more information on the subject and so far this has not been a financial priority," Sven-Gunnar Lunneryd, an expert on seals, told the newspaper.Though the symptoms usually disappear within two weeks, severe cases can see the cod worm eating its way through the stomach and showing up in other places in the body.According to the DN report, one unlucky man in the United States suffered from a truly stubborn cod worm after eating sushi. The parasite crawled up his esophagus, and from there proceeded to eat its way through into the man's neck.Another incident reported by the paper was one sufferer who coughed up live worms after experiencing a ticklish and achy throat. But when a similar revelation was made in Germany in the 1980's it caused a significant drop in fish consumption and authorities are fearing the same will happen in Sweden, Lunneryd told the paper."There aren't any reports about this being common in the Baltic, so I got interested and looked through 2,000 fishes collected in the area. From these we can see that the parasite is quite common."Southern areas of Sweden, including the southern coast of Skåne and the waters outside Blekinge and Öland, seem to be hit especially hard. According to Lunneryd, this is well known among his co-workers at the Swedish Board of Fisheries (Fiskeriverket, now Havs- och vattenmyndigheten). But even so, he says no official investigations have been made, nor have any reports been written. In fact, Lunneryd's study was made in his own free time.One person who's seen the cod worm up close is Harry Löfgren, who was just about to eat his newly-caught cod on Friday when he received a nasty surprise."I noticed something moving in my sauce," the 9-year-old told DN.Despite his father cooking the fresh caught cod, the worms, which were "yellow and about a centimeter long", were very much alive, according to the newspaper."Next time we will freeze the fillets before we cook them," the boy told the paper.Hmmmm.....Who's the 'bait' here?Read the full story here.
