Saturday, March 12, 2011
JAPAN CONFIRMS MELTDOWN
How Bibi Could Outmaneuver Obama
JAPAN UPDATE: RADIATION RECEDING
US Defense Chief Warns of Iran Influence in Bahrain
OBAMA'S OVERT SUPPORT FOR MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD AND POLITICAL ISLAM RECALLS CARTER'S COVERT SPONSORSHIP OF IRAN'S ISLAMIC REVOLUTION, AFGHANISTAN JIHAD
NUCLEAR NIGHTMARE IN JAPAN
Friday, March 11, 2011
N. KOREA CAPABLE OF NUKING US TARGETS
HUNDREDS INJURED IN BAHRAIN CLASHES
Unearthed: Khomeini Letter Opposing Women's Rights
Khadafy Winning Civil War
Sunday, 13 March 2011
CONFLICTING OFFICIAL STATEMENTS
Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said March 12 that the explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi No. 1 nuclear plant could only have been caused by a meltdown of the reactor core, Japanese daily Nikkei reported. This statement seemed somewhat at odds with Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano’s comments earlier March 12, in which he said “the walls of the building containing the reactor were destroyed, meaning that the metal container encasing the reactor did not explode.”
NISA’s statement is significant because it is the government agency that reports to the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy within the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. NISA works in conjunction with the Atomic Energy Commission. Its role is to provide oversight to the industry and is responsible for signing off construction of new plants, among other things. It has been criticized for approving nuclear plants on geological fault lines and for an alleged conflict of interest in regulating the nuclear sector. It was NISA that issued the order for the opening of the valve to release pressure — and thus allegedly some radiation — from the Fukushima power plant.
NISA has also overseen the entire government response to the nuclear reactor problems following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. It is difficult to determine at this point whether the NISA statement is accurate, as the Nikkei report has not been corroborated by others. It is also not clear from the context whether NISA is stating the conclusions of an official assessment or simply making a statement. However, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant, also said that although it had relieved pressure, nevertheless some nuclear fuel had melted and further action was necessary to contain the pressure.
If this report is accurate, it would not be the first time statements by NISA and Edano have diverged. When Edano earlier claimed that radiation levels had fallen at the site after the depressurization efforts, NISA claimed they had risen due to the release of radioactive vapors.
The above report is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
Caroline Glick's essay is essential reading. Here's an excerpt.
Since Obama came into office, he has consistently demonstrated that no Israeli concession will convince him to support Israel against the Palestinians. So too, the fact that every Israeli concession has been met by Palestinian intransigence has had no impact on either Obama or his European counterparts. Netanyahu correct claims that the Palestinians’ intransigence shows they are not interested in peace is of interest to no one. And it is this lack of interest in Palestinian intransigence rather than Palestinian intransigence itself that is remarkable. What it shows is that Obama and his European counterparts don’t care about achieving peace. Like the Palestinians, all they want is more Israeli concessions.
Since taking office, Obama has only supported Israel against the Palestinians twice. The first time was last December. After months of deliberate ambiguity, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the administration opposes the Palestinian plan to unilaterally declare independence. Then last month the administration grudgingly vetoed the Palestinian-Lebanese draft resolution condemning Israeli construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
In both cases, the administration’s actions were not the result of Israeli appeasement, but of massive Congressional pressure. Congress issued bipartisan calls demanding that the administration torpedo both of these anti-Israel initiatives.
What this shows is that Netanyahu’s strategy for contending with Obama is fundamentally misconstrued and misdirected. Obama will not be moved by Israeli concessions. The only way to stop Obama from moving forward on his anti-Israel policy course is to work through Congress.
And the most effective way to work through Congress is for Netanyahu to abandon his current course and tell the truth about the nature of the Palestinians, their rejection of Israel, their anti-Americanism and their support for jihadist terror.
At the same time, Netanyahu must speak unambiguously about Israel’s national rights to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, our required security borders, and about why US national security requires a strong Israel.
The stronger the case Netanyahu makes for Israel, the more support Israel will receive from the Congress. And the more support Israel receives from the Congress, the more Obama will be compelled to temper his anti-Israel agenda.
Click here to read the entire essay.
While the left-wing of the U.S. Democratic Party despises Israel--seeing the establishment of a Jewish State in the Middle East as a terrible mistake, and right-wing political Islam, ironically, as a potent force to be used and "engaged" in order to reduce the power, prestige, and influence of the United States, and to hasten the collapse of capitalism--Obama is actually the most anti-Israel U.S. President since Dwight Eisenhower (notwithstanding Jimmy Carter's well known hatred of Menahem Begin during their times in power and current support for Hamas and Hezbollah).
Just as the Israel-bashing, Islamist-appeasing Democratic Party of Obama and Clinton and Carter ... and Brzezinski and Bill Ayers ... is not the Democratic party of Harry Truman and FDR, the staunchly pro-Israel Republican Party of Palin and Gingrich and Romney bears little resemblance in terms of Middle East policy to the GOP of the Eisenhower administration, which, during the Cold War, sought to push a weakened and declining Great Britain out of the oil-rich region, and to counter the threat of Soviet encroachment by (a) secretly supporting the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots, and (b) viciously pressuring Israel into making potentially catastrophic concessions to its Arab enemies. Eisenhower's pressure tactics--likely to be copied by a second Obama administration no longer in need of faking moderation in response to Congressional criticism and concerns--included, under cover of adopting a new (in contrast with that of the preceding Truman administration) "evenhanded policy" toward the Arab-Israeli conflict, instructing the U.S. Treasury Department to draft an order removing the tax-deductable status of contributions made by American citizens to the United Jewish Appeal and other organizations in the U.S. raising private funds for Israel and suspension of U.S. economic aid to Israel. (The U.S. under Eisenhower also pressured Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula, which it captured, together with Britain and France, following a series of terrorist attacks on Israeli farms and villages by Egyptian-sponsored Fedayeeen groups and Egyptian President Gamel Abdel Nasser's decision of 26 July 1956 to nationalize the Suez Canal. The U.S. also pressured Britain financially as demonstration of opposition to the tripartite invasion.)
Owing to his farewell address warning of the dangers of the "military-industrial complex," Eisenhower has become an improbable hero to leftists and old-line Republican isolationists (e.g. the Nazi-sympathizing Pat Buchanan) opposed to expansion (or simply maintenance) of U.S. military power. China Confidential analysts predict that Obama and his adoring, liberal media backers will try to invoke "Ike" as a model for pressuring and isolating Israel in the coming months.
OFFICIALS SAY MAJOR MELTDOWN
STRATFOR reports:
New developments at Japan’s earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor No. 1 may suggest positive signs for authorities’ efforts to contain the problem. But many dangers and risks remain.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said that while an explosion did occur at the plant, it did not damage the steel container around reactor No.1, where emergency workers are still struggling to cool down the reactor core after nuclear fuel rods were damaged following the failure of cooling systems due to the earthquake damage and short power supply. Edano said the explosion did not occur within the reactor container and thus did not lead to a large leak of radioactive material. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency claims that radiation levels support the view that there has been no breach of the container around the reactor, though they have risen as a result of actions taken to relieve pressure in the container by releasing radioactive steam.
If accurate, these would be positive developments for the attempt to avert a meltdown in the reactor core. A number of nuclear engineers and experts interviewed in the press have also suggested that the explosion at the nuclear plant was not caused by a breach of the reactor itself, but rather involved the sudden release of hydrogen, which Edano confirmed, saying the hydrogen had been trapped between the reactor core and the surrounding containment structure, and exploded when released and mixed with oxygen. The government did not call for an expansion of the evacuation area of 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) around the two plants, and the fact that the evacuation zone has not been expanded is a positive sign.
It is too early to say, however, that a catastrophe has been averted. The nuclear safety agency said the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), which operates the nuclear plant, had succeeded in relieving pressure, but confirmed that some of the nuclear fuel had melted and that further depressurizing was necessary to continue to contain the reactor heat and pressure. TEPCO claims it is continuing to pump sea water and boric acid into the reactor container in order to substitute for the failed cooling process. Edano estimated it would take five to 10 hours to fill the container and 10 days to complete the process of cooling.
A number of questions remain. For instance, Edano claimed radiation levels were decreasing around the area, whereas the nuclear safety agency pointed to the fact that the release of steam to depressurize the reactor resulted in increased radiation levels. Other questions include the nature of the earlier explosion and whether it is true that the container was not damaged; whether radiation levels are as negligible as the government says; whether pressure in the reactor is indeed dropping; the sustainability of the cooling effort which is using batteries due to the lack of electricity; and the status of the Fukushima Daini reactors that were also reported to have had cooling malfunctions (water levels and radiation levels there last appeared to show no cause for worry). Thus while the official statements suggest some progress, potentially making this incident more similar to Three Mile Island than Chernobyl, nevertheless details are sparse and the situation remains precarious.
ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT – Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he was convinced Bahrain’s ruling family was ready to take more than “baby steps” toward reforms, but the opposition movement’s slow response to enter negotiations is allowing more time for Iranian influence to foment.
“There is clear evidence that as the process is protracted – particularly in Bahrain – that the Iranians are looking for ways to exploit it and create problems,” he said.
Continue reading here.
SHAH: 'WE SEPARATE OIL FROM POLITICS.... THE WEST IS OUR FRIEND'
PLANT EXPLODES AFTER EARTHQUAKE;
Tokyo Electric Power Co. which operates the plant, says the reactor is not melting down or cracking.
Should a meltdown takes place, it would be the first since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and the Three Mile Island incident in 1979.
The Obama-orchestrated Middle East protest wave--a tsunami that will ultimately benefit Islamist Iran and Islamism in general--has reached and threatens to overwhelm tiny Bahrain, a truly strategic, pro-Western kingdom. Click here for the latest developments.
Set forth below is a letter that the clerical fascist Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini--a Hitlerian monster hailed as a "saint" by Jimmy Carter's UN envoy, Andrew Young, and other left-wing morons and liberal idiots of appeasement--sent to Iran's late, great Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (may his soul rest in peace). In the letter, Khomeini complains about the Shah's plan to give Iranian women the right to vote--in line with the Shah's policy of equal rights for women (and all Iranian citizens, regardless of sex or religion). It is important to remember that Iranian women, thanks to the Shah, got the right to vote in 1962, well before the women of Switzerland (1971). Khomeini argued that allowing women to vote is un-Islamic. China Confidential readers are encouraged to connect the dots: from the Eisenhower administration's covert support for the Muslim Brotherhood to the catastrophic Carter administration's complicity in the Shah's overthrow--and secret intervention in Afghanistan on the side of Islamist warlords--and the Obama administration's embrace of radical Islam (apart from Al Qaeda and elements of the Taliban).
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