New Labour, Nu Clear
We are being softened up for a new generation of nuclear power. Sad that this is coming from a Labour government, but what is even more sad is the restricted parameters of the debate. What is not up for discussion the the overconsumption of our way of life. It has been dismissed by Bliar and so we are left with the 'Now much nuclear power' debate. To quote: "Both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are utterly committed to economic growth and for that to keep happening, we have to keep on consuming new products. I have talked to two of Blair's key advisers at some length, and the fact is that the Treasury refuses to countenance any ecological legislation that threatens affluence..." Bliar also repeated this point at Davos; "My view is that if we put forward, as a solution to climate change, something which involves drastic cuts in growth or standards of living, it matters not how justified it is, it simply won't be agreed to."
You can see this 'economic-blindness' locally too; The expansion of Bristol airport seems madness when we are staring down the barrel of not only climate change, but an energy shortfall. Its bonkers to even consider it. A good article on GNN about surviving climate change offers some good ideas for solutions; Decentralize, Localize, Autonomize, "[The solutions] all involve communities learning to fend more powerfully for themselves—communities ratcheting down their dependence on the overstretched and oil-dependent lines of supply that mark a globalized economy, and ratcheting up the semiforgotten, close-to-home economies that might prove more stable in an energy-starved world. Some of this work is already underway, but it will be given a new urgency if the price of oil just keeps on leaping." New nuclear power stations and airports – far from being positive developments may well become a millstone around the local area's neck.
Time for us to act, as the politicians have clearly shown they are not up to the task of securing our future.
Now: STOP PRESS from Stop Hinkley campaign: Following Greenpeace's action this morning the BBC are asking "Should there be a new generation of nuclear reactors?" Go to
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4478946.stm
to tell them what you think. Scroll down the page to see the YES or NO vote section
3rd December: Critical Mass on Global Day of Action over climate change, 12pm College Green
5th December: Anti-Consumption Xmas Party! Monday 5th December @ Cube Cinema
Then: Lets get talking post oil, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bristolpeakoilers/
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
New Labour, Nu Clear
We are being softened up for a new generation of nuclear power. Sad that this is coming from a Labour government, but what is even more sad is the restricted parameters of the debate. What is not up for discussion the the overconsumption of our way of life. It has been dismissed by Bliar and so we are left with the 'Now much nuclear power' debate. To quote: "Both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are utterly committed to economic growth and for that to keep happening, we have to keep on consuming new products. I have talked to two of Blair's key advisers at some length, and the fact is that the Treasury refuses to countenance any ecological legislation that threatens affluence..." Bliar also repeated this point at Davos; "My view is that if we put forward, as a solution to climate change, something which involves drastic cuts in growth or standards of living, it matters not how justified it is, it simply won't be agreed to."
You can see this 'economic-blindness' locally too; The expansion of Bristol airport seems madness when we are staring down the barrel of not only climate change, but an energy shortfall. Its bonkers to even consider it. A good article on GNN about surviving climate change offers some good ideas for solutions; Decentralize, Localize, Autonomize, "[The solutions] all involve communities learning to fend more powerfully for themselves—communities ratcheting down their dependence on the overstretched and oil-dependent lines of supply that mark a globalized economy, and ratcheting up the semiforgotten, close-to-home economies that might prove more stable in an energy-starved world. Some of this work is already underway, but it will be given a new urgency if the price of oil just keeps on leaping." New nuclear power stations and airports – far from being positive developments may well become a millstone around the local area's neck.
Time for us to act, as the politicians have clearly shown they are not up to the task of securing our future.
Now: STOP PRESS from Stop Hinkley campaign: Following Greenpeace's action this morning the BBC are asking "Should there be a new generation of nuclear reactors?" Go to
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4478946.stm
to tell them what you think. Scroll down the page to see the YES or NO vote section
3rd December: Critical Mass on Global Day of Action over climate change, 12pm College Green
5th December: Anti-Consumption Xmas Party! Monday 5th December @ Cube Cinema
Then: Lets get talking post oil, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bristolpeakoilers/
We are being softened up for a new generation of nuclear power. Sad that this is coming from a Labour government, but what is even more sad is the restricted parameters of the debate. What is not up for discussion the the overconsumption of our way of life. It has been dismissed by Bliar and so we are left with the 'Now much nuclear power' debate. To quote: "Both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are utterly committed to economic growth and for that to keep happening, we have to keep on consuming new products. I have talked to two of Blair's key advisers at some length, and the fact is that the Treasury refuses to countenance any ecological legislation that threatens affluence..." Bliar also repeated this point at Davos; "My view is that if we put forward, as a solution to climate change, something which involves drastic cuts in growth or standards of living, it matters not how justified it is, it simply won't be agreed to."
You can see this 'economic-blindness' locally too; The expansion of Bristol airport seems madness when we are staring down the barrel of not only climate change, but an energy shortfall. Its bonkers to even consider it. A good article on GNN about surviving climate change offers some good ideas for solutions; Decentralize, Localize, Autonomize, "[The solutions] all involve communities learning to fend more powerfully for themselves—communities ratcheting down their dependence on the overstretched and oil-dependent lines of supply that mark a globalized economy, and ratcheting up the semiforgotten, close-to-home economies that might prove more stable in an energy-starved world. Some of this work is already underway, but it will be given a new urgency if the price of oil just keeps on leaping." New nuclear power stations and airports – far from being positive developments may well become a millstone around the local area's neck.
Time for us to act, as the politicians have clearly shown they are not up to the task of securing our future.
Now: STOP PRESS from Stop Hinkley campaign: Following Greenpeace's action this morning the BBC are asking "Should there be a new generation of nuclear reactors?" Go to
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4478946.stm
to tell them what you think. Scroll down the page to see the YES or NO vote section
3rd December: Critical Mass on Global Day of Action over climate change, 12pm College Green
5th December: Anti-Consumption Xmas Party! Monday 5th December @ Cube Cinema
Then: Lets get talking post oil, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bristolpeakoilers/
Empire Notes in the 51st State
I went to the talk at Malcolm X by Eric Herring and Rahul Mahajan, I've heard a lot about Eric Herring and so was eager to see him talk. As for Rahul, I've been reading his Blog for some time now and am a big fan of his reporting. Eric talked of finding a quote on a US military website written by one of the people writing the counter terror manuals for Iraq. In this chilling quote he wrote of who the best counter-insurgency people from history were the Nazi's and Stalin's lot – and noted that the Coalition were adopting some of their methods without being tainted by the ideology. In response to a question about if the Coalition were creating ethnic trouble to justify staying in Iraq, both were clear. Eric Herring stated that there was no clear evidence to support this idea (to quote: "In terms of the withdrawal of foreign troops its worth pointing out that the American strategic vision for the new Iraq never was the desire to have large numbers of troops permanently stationed there. What they wanted was a basing capability, a deployment capability; so they’d have bases with a relatively small number of personnel and the idea was that they would have them there in a time of crisis, not for use in Iraq but for use elsewhere in the region. So that was the outcome that they explicitly sought and again I have no reason to dispute that because that was their strategic vision before.")
Rahul Mahajan stated that not all the insurgency want the US out – that many of the al-Qaeda/fundamentalist Islamic fighters want the US right there so they can be fought. I guess perhaps they feel they game an empire a bloody nose (to the USSR in Afghanistan) in the 80s (with Western help) and so can now repeat the exercise on the US. Rahul noted that the only force currently equipped and with the local know-how to take on the al-Qaeda psychos are the Sunni resistance – something they are not going to do while the US is around. They also talked about how the efforts to combat the insurgency are unwittingly fueling civil war such as the use by the US of Shia and Kurdish forces to police Sunni areas. Another example is the first assault on Fallujah the Iraqi units refused to fight and both Sunni and Shia marched on the beleaguered city to offer aid to the civilians. The second time round, that the the increased ethnic tensions meant that the Shia did very little, indeed some troops took a limited part in the assault.
Both stated that there was no easy way out of the mess that is Iraq. Both agreed that the situation is a complex nightmare of no-win scenario's. The least worst thing that can be done is to end the occupation now.
Want to know what life under occupation is like? Check this video of Private Security Consultants (aka mercenaries) driving around Iraq taking pot-shots with live ammo at any vehicle that comes close (I guess fear of suicide bombers) as well as anything else they feel like. The occupiers, far from liberators, are untouchable parasites drawing more diseases to a swamp of their own creation. Its a swamp many people - innocent and guilty - will drown in, and all so the US can secure a little more control over the world. As folk singer David Rovis sang, "Empire's crumble, and this one will too/ So here's to the day when this one is through."
I went to the talk at Malcolm X by Eric Herring and Rahul Mahajan, I've heard a lot about Eric Herring and so was eager to see him talk. As for Rahul, I've been reading his Blog for some time now and am a big fan of his reporting. Eric talked of finding a quote on a US military website written by one of the people writing the counter terror manuals for Iraq. In this chilling quote he wrote of who the best counter-insurgency people from history were the Nazi's and Stalin's lot – and noted that the Coalition were adopting some of their methods without being tainted by the ideology. In response to a question about if the Coalition were creating ethnic trouble to justify staying in Iraq, both were clear. Eric Herring stated that there was no clear evidence to support this idea (to quote: "In terms of the withdrawal of foreign troops its worth pointing out that the American strategic vision for the new Iraq never was the desire to have large numbers of troops permanently stationed there. What they wanted was a basing capability, a deployment capability; so they’d have bases with a relatively small number of personnel and the idea was that they would have them there in a time of crisis, not for use in Iraq but for use elsewhere in the region. So that was the outcome that they explicitly sought and again I have no reason to dispute that because that was their strategic vision before.")
Rahul Mahajan stated that not all the insurgency want the US out – that many of the al-Qaeda/fundamentalist Islamic fighters want the US right there so they can be fought. I guess perhaps they feel they game an empire a bloody nose (to the USSR in Afghanistan) in the 80s (with Western help) and so can now repeat the exercise on the US. Rahul noted that the only force currently equipped and with the local know-how to take on the al-Qaeda psychos are the Sunni resistance – something they are not going to do while the US is around. They also talked about how the efforts to combat the insurgency are unwittingly fueling civil war such as the use by the US of Shia and Kurdish forces to police Sunni areas. Another example is the first assault on Fallujah the Iraqi units refused to fight and both Sunni and Shia marched on the beleaguered city to offer aid to the civilians. The second time round, that the the increased ethnic tensions meant that the Shia did very little, indeed some troops took a limited part in the assault.
Both stated that there was no easy way out of the mess that is Iraq. Both agreed that the situation is a complex nightmare of no-win scenario's. The least worst thing that can be done is to end the occupation now.
Want to know what life under occupation is like? Check this video of Private Security Consultants (aka mercenaries) driving around Iraq taking pot-shots with live ammo at any vehicle that comes close (I guess fear of suicide bombers) as well as anything else they feel like. The occupiers, far from liberators, are untouchable parasites drawing more diseases to a swamp of their own creation. Its a swamp many people - innocent and guilty - will drown in, and all so the US can secure a little more control over the world. As folk singer David Rovis sang, "Empire's crumble, and this one will too/ So here's to the day when this one is through."
Monday, November 21, 2005
Empire Notes in Bristol
Rahul Mahajan is going to talk in Bristol on Thursday 24th - The guy writes a great blog and it's a great example of indy media - Check it out! I have been writing some stuff for a new book on the G8 protests and the media as part of a collective and used Rahul's site as an example of indy journalism. Here's a quote from version 1.0:
A good example of a news blog is Empire Notes. It is written by Rahul Mahajan. His site has a clear biography where its states enough about him so that his bias is clear (remember, all media is bias, whether is obvious or not to the reader!). It is also fairly clear where his funding comes from - donations from the site, sales of his books and some teaching. This is allows us to place the news source easily in its correct context. His writing is articulate, impassioned and intelligent - the complete opposite of the shallow, sound bite media many of us are offered to consume. Rahual comments on this; "I believe one can be biased (for example, I am strongly biased in favor of the ordinary people of the world rather than of American imperial interests) but still objective (which doesn't have to mean strictly neutral or lacking in identity)….The place of my blog has varied a lot. I'm not really part of the liberal blogosphere [the more mainstream network of liberal-bias blogs], which almost never links to me any more…when I was reporting from Iraq in April 2004 and also when I wrote about Fallujah in November 2004, I got major traffic, with several days going over 10,000 visits, and lots of people did pay attention."
Rahul Mahajan is going to talk in Bristol on Thursday 24th - The guy writes a great blog and it's a great example of indy media - Check it out! I have been writing some stuff for a new book on the G8 protests and the media as part of a collective and used Rahul's site as an example of indy journalism. Here's a quote from version 1.0:
A good example of a news blog is Empire Notes. It is written by Rahul Mahajan. His site has a clear biography where its states enough about him so that his bias is clear (remember, all media is bias, whether is obvious or not to the reader!). It is also fairly clear where his funding comes from - donations from the site, sales of his books and some teaching. This is allows us to place the news source easily in its correct context. His writing is articulate, impassioned and intelligent - the complete opposite of the shallow, sound bite media many of us are offered to consume. Rahual comments on this; "I believe one can be biased (for example, I am strongly biased in favor of the ordinary people of the world rather than of American imperial interests) but still objective (which doesn't have to mean strictly neutral or lacking in identity)….The place of my blog has varied a lot. I'm not really part of the liberal blogosphere [the more mainstream network of liberal-bias blogs], which almost never links to me any more…when I was reporting from Iraq in April 2004 and also when I wrote about Fallujah in November 2004, I got major traffic, with several days going over 10,000 visits, and lots of people did pay attention."
Thursday, November 17, 2005
H-Wars: From Afghanistan to Bristol
The UK is about to take the lead role in trying to stabalise/occupy Afghanistan. We all know the stories of the Taliban/al Qaeda insurgency that seems to be gathering pace there, but not that much has been said on the subject that will impact on most people in relation to Afghanistan – drugs. Smack, Brown, Skag – whatever you call it, 60% of the Afghan economy is based on Heroin. I suspect a significant, though much lower percentage of Bristol’s economy is also based on drugs. We know that the city is the top of the 10 most violent drink-related centers in the UK, alcohol being a drug and we know that St.Pauls is the major gateway for class A drug dealing in the South West. Bliar said that we needed to bomb the shit out for self interest – stopping the H trade. Well plenty of Afgans and occupation soldiers have died. Tones of high explosives and been dropped on one of the poorest countries in the world and…has the Heroin trade stopped in Bristol? No. It seems pretty much the same to me. Same people pushing and taking. What is going to stop the drug war is calling it for what it is – a lost cause. Bristol based Tranform Drug Policy group note, "As Paul Goggins MP (and Home Office minister with the drugs brief) sets out on his 9-stop drug policy tour of the UK, Transform, the UK's leading drug policy reform think tank have drawn attention to the shocking failure of current drug policy, and how the Government doesn't want you to know about it…It demonstrates that enforcement strategies to eliminate or reduce the trade in heroin and cocaine have failed to halt their production, supply or use. In a powerful and detailed critique, the report demonstrates that the war on drugs is actively counterproductive - causing many of the harms that it is intended to reduce."
Now over the other side of the pond a new group have formed, LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, easy to spot their members because of their buzz cuts amd extremely large lettering on their brightly colored t-shirts: "Cops Say Legalize Drugs. Ask Me Why." Here’s more on LEAP:
A LEAP panel discussion yielded shocking stories from the drug war front lines. Admissions from LEAP Director and former New Jersey state police lieutenant Jack Cole, a 26-year veteran and narc, surprised even this drug war-savvy crowd. "We lied regularly about the numbers of drugs we were seizing," Cole said, explaining that if his fellow officers were lucky enough to bust someone for one ounce of cocaine, they’d immediately look for a cutting agent to double the amount of the seizure. And if a seizure’s street value stood at $1,500, the cops would bump it up to $20,000. "Who’s to question it," Cole asked.
The war on drugs has failed and is failing us. It’s a war on freedom and an excuse by the state for social control. The war on terror seems to be going the same way. Its all very fucked up.
The UK is about to take the lead role in trying to stabalise/occupy Afghanistan. We all know the stories of the Taliban/al Qaeda insurgency that seems to be gathering pace there, but not that much has been said on the subject that will impact on most people in relation to Afghanistan – drugs. Smack, Brown, Skag – whatever you call it, 60% of the Afghan economy is based on Heroin. I suspect a significant, though much lower percentage of Bristol’s economy is also based on drugs. We know that the city is the top of the 10 most violent drink-related centers in the UK, alcohol being a drug and we know that St.Pauls is the major gateway for class A drug dealing in the South West. Bliar said that we needed to bomb the shit out for self interest – stopping the H trade. Well plenty of Afgans and occupation soldiers have died. Tones of high explosives and been dropped on one of the poorest countries in the world and…has the Heroin trade stopped in Bristol? No. It seems pretty much the same to me. Same people pushing and taking. What is going to stop the drug war is calling it for what it is – a lost cause. Bristol based Tranform Drug Policy group note, "As Paul Goggins MP (and Home Office minister with the drugs brief) sets out on his 9-stop drug policy tour of the UK, Transform, the UK's leading drug policy reform think tank have drawn attention to the shocking failure of current drug policy, and how the Government doesn't want you to know about it…It demonstrates that enforcement strategies to eliminate or reduce the trade in heroin and cocaine have failed to halt their production, supply or use. In a powerful and detailed critique, the report demonstrates that the war on drugs is actively counterproductive - causing many of the harms that it is intended to reduce."
Now over the other side of the pond a new group have formed, LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, easy to spot their members because of their buzz cuts amd extremely large lettering on their brightly colored t-shirts: "Cops Say Legalize Drugs. Ask Me Why." Here’s more on LEAP:
A LEAP panel discussion yielded shocking stories from the drug war front lines. Admissions from LEAP Director and former New Jersey state police lieutenant Jack Cole, a 26-year veteran and narc, surprised even this drug war-savvy crowd. "We lied regularly about the numbers of drugs we were seizing," Cole said, explaining that if his fellow officers were lucky enough to bust someone for one ounce of cocaine, they’d immediately look for a cutting agent to double the amount of the seizure. And if a seizure’s street value stood at $1,500, the cops would bump it up to $20,000. "Who’s to question it," Cole asked.
The war on drugs has failed and is failing us. It’s a war on freedom and an excuse by the state for social control. The war on terror seems to be going the same way. Its all very fucked up.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
A Call to Arms
I am seeing more and more information about peak oil arriving in the media. Not is a major sense, and often from an odd angle, but here's Heinberg, author of 'The Party's Over' issuing a call to arms over Peak Oil: Oil is a finite resource - and the decline of world oil production is predicted to occur anytime within the next 30 years. To avoid the worst-case scenario, we must begin today to reduce our dependence on oil. Clear and to the point.
I am seeing more and more information about peak oil arriving in the media. Not is a major sense, and often from an odd angle, but here's Heinberg, author of 'The Party's Over' issuing a call to arms over Peak Oil: Oil is a finite resource - and the decline of world oil production is predicted to occur anytime within the next 30 years. To avoid the worst-case scenario, we must begin today to reduce our dependence on oil. Clear and to the point.
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