Category Archives: Text

Radioactive Policies

Rain has cooled things in Berlin, hopefully that includes excessively jubilant Spain fans. And while the cool air blows through the apartment, I’m digging around into certain issues from the past week. One of which involves Canada, where the province of Ontario has decided to build new nuclear powerplants, the first North American plants in three decades, following years of financial, political, and safety crises.

This plan gets the support of the conservative Prime Minister, of course. And it certainly rings true with the rhetoric of his neighbor to the south. But the way pro-nuclear lobbyists and the big companies behind them refer to this as a nuclear “renaissance” is disturbing. Be it in Canada, Berlin, Japan, or Brazil… the world still has not figured out how to store radioactive waste in a safe way. Better yet, we don’t even know IF that can be done at all. In Nevada they want to put it under a mountain. In Europe they seem to pass it back and forth by rail between Germany and France. In Japan… what do the Japanese do with their waste?

So instead of taking the focus off nuclear, since it is simply not viable if you value human lives and health, they’ve decided to just keep going.

I was considering all this in the context of an article I was reading in the Courrier International about the WIPP radioactive waste storage project in New Mexico. Here’s the aspect of the project that I find ponderous: They’re trying to devise a system of warning that will be understandable for future civilizations. Think about it — the radioactive material is still dangerous in 250,000 years. So by that point, language as we know it will not exist… at least not in its present form. So how do you alert people not to dig there? That this is deadly waste we left behind because we needed energy and it was good business for a few important individuals.

Got Any Flags

I have indeed arrived safe and sound though constantly hungry… here in Berlin. (watch this video for proof) The famous Tim is sitting to my right and most of the blog house has gone to sleep. I’ve no clue where I’m sleeping, so I’ll wait for everyone else to go to bed. Cept that some people are drinking like it’s 1999 and some teenagers just showed up at the door… so who knows when that will be.

Nevermind the shallow details, this blog is still about issues, regardless of how good the US plays or how awesome Ghana is.

I just pointed to an article in the Spiegel, about there being a run on German flags at all the shops. There have been quite a few podcasts recently covering the issue of the world cup and german nationalism. Interesting listening, for example, at Radio Open Source. Tim says this sort of thing was unheard of before this year. Normally someone running around with a German flag attached to their car would be socially cut-off… or scowled at.. or some sort of ostracizing.

A few berliner guests at the party tonight talked about this subject. They said it is pretty strange. Lots of mixed feelings about this new trend of being proud. I’ve heard Americans say its fine and good. But Americans are the last nationality I want to listen to about how much national pride is acceptable.

Naked Fussball

I digress. I’m in berlin for the first time in my life. Some of my favorite vloggers made the trip with me from Amsterdam and that makes it extra nice. Meanwhile, outside.. people drive around with flags attached to their cars. Beep beep beep.

This Man Has a Name… His Name is Henry Paulson

I went with an obscure movie/reality post title today, but I’m going to talk about neither the new treasury secretary of the US nor the film.

I’m also not going to talk about the Iranian president’s interview with Der Spiegel that D-Rock just pointed out to me. Not yet.. I’ve something special planned for it in my podcast in the coming days.

Instead, today I have to turn my attention to Indonesia. Several days have now passed since the 6.5 earthquake and the death toll of over 5,000 continues to rise. And to further complicate things a volcano is now spilling lava within the earthquake’s area. Of course, as of this morning, 27 countries had already offerred help in the form of people/stuff/money. But it is such a difficult part of the world, not only because of what seems like a large amount of natural disasters, year after year, but because despite its wealth in natural resources and the fact that the clothes on your back are probably made there – it is still the under-developed world, where the average person has little in the way of emergency measures and options and the government certainly doesn’t seem to make it priority number one that their nation be equipped to handle various levels of natural disaster emergencies.

For the willing and able, I refer you to the Java Earthquake Relief Wiki, where you may find some role you can play as a citizen of the same planet. And to best keep up to speed via blogs, use the WorldWideHelpTeam.

An Excellent Way to Settle Disputes Between Iran and Israel

Let me just preface this post with one thing I want to be clear on: I’m not being sarcastic on this one. Matter of fact, remind me not to use sarcasm as a regular method of blogging, it’s a lazy cop out I occasionally fall into. I digress, here’s the headline from the BBC today:

A group of Israeli diplomats wants to sue Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for incitement to genocide.

Incitement to genocide is what it sounds like. And under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, it is a crime. Nevermind the punishment, I’m not here to worry about that. What interests me is the method this group of Israeli’s have chosen to use to combat the statements and the potential implications of those statements by the Iranian president. This is what I called civilized. Not bombs or soldiers or threats, legal action on an international scale. It’s how it would work in my slightly more idealistic version of the world.

But this interests me for another reason. During my days as a masters student here in the Amsterdam, I had a professor who was very involved with the UN and particularly concerned about the role of media that incites genocide. Think Rwanda, for example, where radio was the tool used by Hutu extremists to first incite more and more hate and eventually culminating in violence which, if I recall correctly, was coordinated by use of radio programs as well.

So my professor had this idea for the creation of a monitor under the UN umbrella. It would be a media monitor, and its function would be to watch media (all types) to proactively detect if and when it is being used to incite genocide. Now, you might already be asking “then what” but like I said before, one step at a time; and it would be a very important step to be able to catch these things BEFORE they happen.

It has been some time since I sat and talked with that professor, and this is all reminding me of his plan. And although this situation with Israel and Iran is slightly different, and I don’t claim to know if the Iranian president is guilty or not-STILL- I have the utmost respect for any government or group of citizens who put together a case to be presented before the international court and before the eyes of the entire world, pointing out the violation of a very important treaty, and when a leader could be inciting violence on a mass scale.

So we’ll see what happens. And whatever happens, the symbolic value, the example such an action represents in the form of using non-people killing methods, is big in itself.

Who Gave What to New Orleans

Catching up on news from the past few days, I found time to look into some details until now I had not seen. As I read the list of who gave what for the Hurricane Recovery from around the world, it’s really interesting to see how the world can be. Take a look for yourselves:

  • Kuwait: 500 million (makes sense considering what the US spends on Kuwait)
  • Qatar: 100 millon, including 17.5 mil to Xavier University
  • Saudi Arabia and UAE: 100 million each
  • India and China, 5 million each
  • Bangladesh: 1 million (I’m impressed.)
  • Sri Lanka: 25,000
  • Cyprus and Dominican Republic: 50,000 each
  • Ghana: 15,000
  • Denmark: An oceanliner docked in Baton Rouge which houses evacuees

Of course there’s alot more. Some is direct, but much is actually through organizations. Lots of donor countries, especially the EU, didn’t do the direct money thing, probably because they’re well aware how many can be mismanaged. Hopefully that doesn’t happen in Louisiana… but considering how corrupt the national government and the shakey record of the local government in places like New Orleans.. everyone should keep on eye on this.

Speaking of eyes on New Orleans and hurricane recovery, I’m subscribed to miss B. havens vlog, and you should see their place down there.

Seeking the Truth about Charles Taylor

Tonight I was hoping to get the “ok” from Pauline in Ivory Coast to do the podcast that focuses on Charles Taylor, which we’ve been discussing in sporatic email. Anyone who either reads the Known Universe or heard my program about the conflict in Ivory Coast remembers Pauline, the roving reporter transplanted from Amsterdam to Abidjan. Last I spoke with her she had just returned from a visit to Dakar, Senegal. Talk about adventure!

You may recall my post about a month ago bringing up the topic of Charles Taylor and pondering whether or not he is a sociopath, and generally discussing his alleged crimes. Pauline read it, and offered another point of view on the whole thing. She’d just returned from Liberia, and mentioned how in reality, many people there still support their former president and despite all the things he stands accused of, think his actions were justified. I was a bit surprised to hear it, although I think it’s a normal response in many cases that the abused still love the abuser.

But I leave the details and the closer analysis to the podcast, as soon as I reconnect with her. In the mean time I’m sorting through more details of his life, things I hadn’t considered before. Here are some eye-opening highlights:

– Taylor actually broke out of a Massachesetts prison back in in 1984! Where he was being held for embezzling almost 1 million dollars from a Liberia related institution. When I say broke out, I mean hollywood style, complete with rope of bed sheets, sawing through bars, and a getaway car. Talk about good training for later becoming president.

– In 1997, after leading one faction of a civil war in Liberia, elections were held and he ran for president. One of his campaign slogans was, “He killed my Ma, he killed my Pa, but I will vote for him.” – He went on to win by a landslide.

– Pat Robertson, famous televangelist who occasionally urges his viewers to assasinate world leaders, struck a deal with Taylor back in 1994. The deal gave Robertson the right to the diamond rich mines of Liberia, which were transported via airplane through his Operation Blessing relief organization. Robertson told his viewers that those flights were actually flying relief supplies to the victims of the genocide in Rwanda.

All this being said. I’ve never been to Liberia. I’ve never walked a day in the shoes of a Liberian, and certainly will never fully understand how all that trauma from so much war and manipulation can effect you. All the more reason I look forward to hearing from Pauline, who fortunately for all of us, has been looking into these questions, and trying to gather more information and testimony from people who lived it and continue to live in the new Liberia, post-Charles Taylor.