Of course you would expect the conspiracy-minded little red email to immediately conjure up allusions of US involvement in the latest country to endure regime change, Kyrgyzstan. Yet, this time around there were differences that might have put us off the trail. There was no catchy name — no orange or velvet revolutions going on, like in Georgia or the Ukraine. No made-for-TV rent-a-crowd moments as in Beirut recently and the two aforementioned countries. And the country had no oil reserves. Yes, this latest ‘revolution’ was different.

Since the embarrassing April 2003 failure of the aborted coup against Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, America has been honing its regime change by stealth practices and this latest one is approaching perfection with seemingly little connection to Langley, Pennsylvania Avenue or the Pentagon.

And then we happened across a situation report on the eve of elections written by the US Ambassador to Kyrgyz Republic Stephen M. Young on December 30, which noted the following. That Russia had greater sway than anyone else in the country; that Islam was rising; how keen the US was to make Akayev, the now ousted president, “resign ahead of schedule”.

“We know Akayev’s adherents suspect the opposition to prepare the same scenario of elections like that one in Georgia and Ukraine.

We ought to remember that Russia remains the basic employer in Kyrgyzstan,” the report noted.

However, most intriguingly, the ambassador singled out former prime minister K Bakiev as “the most acceptable candidate in the aspect of fruitful development of relations between the USA and Kyrgyzstan.” The ambassador said he met Bakiev who told the diplomat “after ambiguous American involvement in elections in Georgia and Ukraine unconcealed American support provided to a candidate might have a negative effect on his political reputation” The new great game is all about smoke and mirrors.

If not Bakiev, then the ambassador’s next favourite choices were F. Kulov and R. Otunbaeva, with the former “[sharing and adhering] to American concepts of freedom and democracy”.

Now, would you believe it — the US’ top pick is now the interim president following Akayev’s corrupt election, his increasingly pro-Russia leanings and subsequent ousting, and second choice heads up the interim ministry of interior while Mrs Otunbaeva is the interim foreign minister. A tad suspicious, I think you’ll agree. And rather like his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yushchenko, he is no saint.

The memo continues: “With a view to providing favourable conditions and helping democratic opposition leaders come to power, our primary goal for the pre-elections period is to arouse mistrust to the authorities in force and Akayev’s incapacitated corruption regime, his pro-Russian orientation and illegal use of “an administrative resource” to rig elections. In this regard, the embassy’s Democratic commission, Soros Foundations, Eurasia Foundation in Bishkek in cooperation with USAID have been organizing politically active groups of voters in order to inspire riots against pro-president candidates.

“We have set up and opened financing for an independent printing office — the Media Support centre — and AKIpress news agency to interpret impartially the course of the elections and minimize state mass media propaganda impact. We also render financial support to promising non-governmental television and radio companies.

“Taking into account arrangements of the Department of State Plan for the period of 2005-2006 to intensify our influence in Central Asia, particularly in Kyrgyzstan, we view the country as the base to advance with the process of democratization in Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and limit Chinese and Russian capabilities in the area.”

Watch this space then for more ‘democratic’ regime changes in the region. Here in lies the significance of Kyrgyzstan for Washington, it will act as a touch paper for further ‘people power’ movements among its neighbours.

Lutz Kleveman, author of the superb book which the little red email lost on a ferry with 15 pages to go, The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia, explains, in an article posted by the Zurich-based Centre for Security Studies’ ISN Security Watch: “Since 11 September 2001, the Bush Administration has undertaken a massive military build-up in Central Asia, deploying thousands of US troops, not only in Afghanistan but also in the republics of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Georgia. These first US combat troops on former Soviet territory have dramatically altered the geo-strategic power equations in the region, with Washington trying to seal the Cold War victory against Russia, contain Chinese influence, and tighten the noose around Iran.”

The US has a base in Kyrgyzstan, negotiated by none other than that benign economist, Paul Wolfowitz, as do the Russians and the Chinese are going all out to boost ties with the nation that acts as a strategic pivot state in Central Asia. Last month, Akayev’s support of Russia became more vocal and more alarming for the Bush administration who are desperate to hem the Chinese in as well as assert there military strength across the region. Akayev, following a visit to Moscow, allowed more Russian military equipment into his country and then banned the US from performing AWACS reconnaissance missions from its base in his country.

New Great Game author Kleveman summed up the current shenanigans going on in the area as follows: “The Bush Administration is using the ‘war on terror’ to further US energy interests in Central Asia. The bad news is that this dramatic geopolitical gamble involving thuggish dictators and corrupt Saudi oil sheiks is likely to produce only more terrorists, jeopardizing US prospects of victory.”

As the parliamentary elections approached, Akayev made it plain that the balance had tilted in favour of Moscow. Declaring that “Russia has been, is now, and will be our chief strategic ally and partner”, he noted that the US air base exists only to support the “antiterrorist operation in Afghanistan” and will be closed down as soon as “stability is achieved in Afghanistan”; whereas the Russian base is meant to “provide security throughout the Central Asian region” and “will suffice for the security of the region”. Not exactly what Bush and Cheney wanted to hear — hence why Akayev had to go. Despite the administration’s best courting of the man, he had fallen for the great bear embrace of Mother Russia, so they sent in the stealth regime changers.

One of the last major firms to still trade in sanctioned Burma received its belated come-uppance last week. Though whatever amount American energy giant Unocal was forced to pay, will not bring return the land it scarred to pristine condition, nor bring back to life the hundreds of people who died as a result of its controversial pipeline, nor will it stop the brutal regime in Rangoon from profiting from the American energy giant’s continued presence in the southeast Asian nation.

Unocal effectively admitted it had profited from slave labour last week by agreeing in an out of court settlement to pay Burmese villagers a confidential sum for abuses committed during the construction of a $1.2bn 62km gas pipeline from Thailand to the Andaman Sea. The little red email would like to see a similar suit brought against Unocal’s joint venture partner on this project — French energy concern, Total.

Unocal was accused of allowing Burmese troops guarding the project to rape, murder and enslave villagers. The legal action was brought about eight years ago under a law allowing foreigners to sue US companies for abuses overseas. Unocal has filed lawsuits against its insurance companies stating that “the allegations of forced labour, murder, rape, torture, battery, forced relocation and detention throughout the Myanmar litigation fall within the policies’ personal injuries coverage”. The four insurance companies have refused to pay, probably because slave labour is not covered by their insurance policies.

Last November, the International Labour Organization, for the first time in its 81-year history, asked its members to sanction the Burmese regime for its brutal imposition of forced labour on Burmese and ethnic minority groups The European Union has imposed sanctions on Burma, and the United States has imposed restrictions prohibiting new US investments in Burma and banning senior Burmese officials from obtaining visas to enter the United States. The list of flagrant violations of human rights listed in the admittedly somewhat hypocritical US Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2000 run the gamut— including forced labour, child labour, trafficking in prostitution, imprisonment and torture of political dissidents, the internal and external displacement of millions of refugees, and the draconian suppression of civil liberties.

And it is the oil multinationals that prop up the military dictatorship.

In 1988, the regime, having ousted one dictator, Ne Win, “began to sell Burma’s natural resources like fast food,” according to the Burma Action Group, a British human rights organization. A main item on this menu is the sale of Burma’s oil and gas reserves.

Between 70 and 90 percent of the profits from any oil and gas development goes directly to the military regime. The Burma Rights Movement for Action, an opposition group based in Bangkok, Thailand, estimates oil exploration contracts have accounted for 65 percent of the foreign investment in Burma since 1988.

Michele Bohana, the director of the Washington, DC-based Institute for Asian Democracy, asserts that “these foreign investments directly support the illegitimate military junta of Burma. The government is bankrupt. They have to get foreign exchange to survive.”

The presence of energy multinationals gives the generals access to foreign cash that they have no other way of getting. This cash goes on increasing military hardware.

The project Unocal is working on is expected to generate an estimated $150-$400 million annually in foreign exchange earnings for Burma for nearly three decades — essential cash now that so many other multinationals such as Texaco, Arco, PepsiCo, Eastman Kodak, Motorola and Best Western have withdrawn investment from Burma.

The Unocal/Total gas pipeline goes through a variety of ecosystems including dense virgin tropical forest, disrupting the habitat of rare animals such as tigers, rhinos and elephants. The deforestation has led to flash floods and the streams and rivers have been polluted with mud and silt. The pipeline area is inhabited by the Karen, Mon and Tavoy peoples who have partial control of the region. This venture is currently linked to forced village relocation, the forced labour of tens of thousands of local inhabitants, and fatalities at the hands of the government’s troops.

The message is simple from the little red email though hardly likely given the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Stop the oil multinationals trading in Burma then they will be forced to rely on foreign aid, which always comes with political reform demands. And in the meantime, let’s make sure Total have to fork out for its share in the desecration of this beautiful country.

The little red email is grateful to Paul French, author of the recently published North Korea — The Paranoid Peninsula for his thoughts below on the latest WMD falsifications by the Bush regime.

The vogue among western governments for “sexing up” intelligence data continues. As part of its effort to increase pressure on the self-isolating and desperate North Korean (DPRK) government, the Bush administration told its Asian allies in briefings earlier this year that Pyongyang had exported nuclear material to Libya. But that is not what US intelligence services reported, according to two intelligence officials with detailed knowledge of the transaction.

The DPRK, according to the intelligence, had supplied uranium hexafluoride — which can be enriched to weapons-grade uranium — to Pakistan.

It was Pakistan, a key US ally since the start of the War on Terror (TWOT™) and a country run by an army general who took power in a coup and controls Pakistan’ s nuclear arsenal, that sold the material to Libya. A DPRK-Pakistan transfer would not have been news to the US allies, or anyone else, who have known of such transfers for years and (while generally disapproving) have largely viewed them as a business matter between sovereign states

For its part the US government is now backtracking and relying on the usual “what we really meant was” line of defence. The US Embassy in Seoul issued a statement saying, “The US has not misled allies or anyone else about the matter. US officials informed allies of the intelligence community’s assessment of the most likely source of certain nuclear material that was transferred to Libya through the AQ Khan network.” Yellowcake and Niger spring to mind immediately. There’s a lot to read into that phrase “most likely”.

Even if North Korea had sold nuclear material to Libya it is not clear US intelligence would have known about it till long after the fact. In the 1970s the former CIA Director Robert Gates described North Korea as a “black hole” and the “toughest intelligence target in the world” while more recently IAEA chief Mohammed El Baradei claimed that the DPRK posed a much bigger nuclear threat than Iran, though had to clarify this by admitting that, “In Iran we are active, we are generating information and we know what’s going on, more or less. In Korea, it is an absolutely black hole.”

“Black hole” is a popular description of our knowledge of the DPRK.

So this attempt to put pressure on Pyongyang to return to the stalled six-party negotiations in Beijing appears to have failed; and rather crude it was too. But what is really annoying Washington so much? On her recent whirlwind tour through the region Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice once again raised the idea of imposing economic or political penalties against the DPRK if its government persisted in refusing to return to the talks aimed at ending its nuclear ambitions. This policy is doomed to failure as China will never agree and they remain the largest donor of food and oil to the DPRK. Rice then called upon China to try and persuade Pyongyang to return. This need to rely on Beijing in the absence of any other strategy from Washington is what is really galling to the Bush administration.

The little red email’s roving columnist, Yahuda Bangs, reports from Taipei. These raw notes were filed heavily under the gun, from outside a noisy nightclub post Saturday’s mega march.

Were there a million people, as the president had called for? Or was the number less, maybe half? Only people in helicopters or tourists gawking from the observation deck of the Taipei 101 observatory or the now low-rent Shingong tower can really guess. But there certainly were a lot of people, both dyed in the wool independence supporters and ordinary Taiwanese who just don’t much like the menacing signals sent out by the Chinese Communist Party’s anti secession law (referred to by some in these parts as the Anschluss edict).

The march began in a strange wagon wheel formation, with ten massive lines of people wearing green hats, blowing air horns and waving banners starting at different points in the city and marching towards the presidential palace, where Chen Shui-bian, the tenacious and precariously perched high priest of all that is pro-Taiwan (while stopping just short of actually declaring independence) would either speak or not (there was some confusion over this).

However, one thing was likely, and that was that Chen would sing. He does this often, and has even been known to make occasional forays into light hip-hop. The buzz on the day before the march was that he’d written a song especially for the occasion, based loosely on Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind”.

On each spoke line, the numbers could have easily been in the high tens of thousands, if not more, making the total number on this island of 22 million impressive regardless of whether it actually reached one million. Many waved flags with images of the leaf-shaped island. Others marched with banners reading “Taiwan is not China” and “Germany 1935 = China 2005” Some considered even this too subtle, choosing to voice themselves with the less eloquent but decidedly more direct message — “F**k China”

But was this march really about declaring independence, an ominous move for all parties involved, maybe even the entire world economy?

There were less than subtle clues to be found in the languages chosen by the sign-waving mob. Though the majority of these were written in Chinese, every third or fourth was in English. A few were in French.

The entire rally seemed, like many Taiwan rallies past, to be as much about making Taiwan’s collective voice heard as sending any real message to China. Barred from most international decision-making bodies and abandoned diplomatically by all but a handful of countries, the Taiwanese have a powerful desire to be recognized, and certainly the new anti secession law gives the island ample cause to expect support from any nation playing lip-service to the notion of democracy.

And what about this new law? Is it a step further in the direction of war, or is it, as Kyle, a long term Taiwan-based expat expressed, quite the opposite: a canny ploy by moderates in Beijing to appease the Chinese militarists by setting down as an absolute red line any declaration of independence, thus allowing the status quo to continue while helping to isolate the hard-line pro-independence advocates in Taiwan? And if Chen knows this, might the whole march just be a convenient steam release to appease his own base? Despite the current tension, might cooler heads prevail?

The afternoon before the march I’d been talking about just this with a fairly high ranking member of the DPP’s inner circle, a young political operative who asked not to be identified by name. I’d been introduced to “Mr Wu” through a friend as an American journalist. This fact alone would have made most in the pro-independence camp, who (naively or not) see America as a stalwart defender of democracy feel quite comfortable about launching into the usual pro-independence spiel: Communist China is the great oppressor, Democratic Taiwan is the victim.

So I was quite surprised when Mr Wu started our conversation by telling me about a trip he’d just taken to Shanghai, and how the city had changed since the last trip he’d taken during his university years. When the discussion turned to politics, he was the picture of moderation. While neither confirming nor denying the protest-as-steam-valve theory, he said he felt that both the passing of the law by Beijing and the timing of the march in Taipei were largely political, meant more for domestic and international consumption than to indicate any real change in policy. He’d travelled around China, and had had a good time, and felt that the resolution of the situation across the straits — whatever that resolution might be — could and should wait another generation, with neither side making any potentially foolish moves.

Quite a different tone was present on the streets the next day as DPP trucks whipped the crowd into anti-mainland chanting. When the spokes converged, president Chen, who’d marched on one of the main spokes surrounded by police, appeared larger than life on a huge monitor erected for the occasion.

While he didn’t make a speech per se, he did quite a lot of chanting, eventually leading the assembled throng in songs singing the praises of Taiwanese identity.

As the rally wound down, the masses dispersed in all directions, high on the buzz that good democracy ought to give those who take the time to participate. Snapping pictures in the post-rally glow, I — a conspicuous foreigner in a sea of green clad Taiwanese faces — was thanked loudly and boisterously by no fewer than thirty people.

“Thank you for coming to Taiwan! Tell the people in your country who we are!”

Heading back to my hotel, it occurred to me that this may well have been the rally’s real purpose; a public shout from the collective voice of Taiwan, a mass gathering to affirm to China, the world, and most importantly, themselves know that they refuse to be bullied in silence, torpedoes be damned.

The case of Terri Schiavo, a 41-year-old Florida woman has ignited a huge upsurge of resentment against President Bush in the last week, reports our medical correspondent, Dr Jim. Terri suffered brain damage in 1990 following a cardiac arrest, and has been left in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). This diagnosis is an ethical minefield. It is defined as a clinical condition of unawareness of self and environment in which the patient breathes spontaneously, has a stable circulation, and shows cycles of eye closure and opening, which may simulate sleep and waking. The patient requires artificial feeding via a P.E.G. to survive. A P.E.G is a plastic tube that is placed into the stomach through the abdominal wall. These provide a secure means of feeding and administering drugs in incapacitated patients.

The diagnosis of PVS is extremely difficult to accept. Patients in this state are rarely immobile. They may move limbs or trunk in meaningless ways. They may smile or shed tears. Rarely they utter grunts or moan and scream. These behaviours are inconsistent and non-purposeful. They may misleadingly suggest awareness, and may lead relatives to believe that the patient retains insight into their situation. This is one of the many reasons that the withdrawal of artificial feeding is so difficult. Without feeding Terri will die shortly.

Terri’s prognosis is poor. It is accepted that recovery in PVS rarely occurs after 12 months. Terri has been in this situation for nearly 15 years. Doctors appointed for the two sides of this argument disagree, but the court appointed physician, Dr Walker, believes recovery is extremely unlikely.

The legal situation in Florida is complex. Terri’s legal guardian is her husband Michael. He has petitioned the State courts since 1998 to have her means of feeding removed. He points to Terri’s often stated wish not be kept alive by tubes in this kind of situation as his motivation.

Unfortunately Terri did not have a Living Will and her parents are disputing her husband’s version of events. They feel Terri has a meaningful quality of life, and wish doctors to do everything they can to extend this for a long as possible. Their web site has video footage of Terri smiling, and seeming to interact with visitors. These are likely to be edited highlights of her life. They are exactly the behaviour patterns that make the clinical condition so hard to accept. Her parents paint a graphic description of a lingering death plagued by hunger and thirst if the feeding tube were to be removed. This is contested by Dr Walker who believes the damage done to her cerebral cortex has removed the ability to feel these sensations. This does not stop the persuasive power of this argument.

Upon the signature of President Bush, Congress has given the federal courts jurisdiction to decide if Terri’s constitutional rights are being violated. The bill then asks the rest of the world to ignore the precedent set by the judge’s decision. There seems to be no hard and fast argument as to why Bush felt he had to involve himself in this decision. It has been very unpopular, with large numbers of people suspecting that his motivation is political.

“Americans broadly and strongly disapprove of federal intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, with sizable majorities saying Congress is overstepping its bounds for political gain,” writes ABC News’ G. Langer. “The public, by 63-28 %, supports the removal of Schiavo’s feeding tube, and by a 25 point margin opposes a law mandating federal review of her case. By a lopsided 67-19% most think the elected officials trying to keep Schiavo alive are doing so more for political advantage than out of concern for her or the principles involved”.

Republican Tom Delay (who rather hypocritically euthanased his own father after he had been in a coma for one month by stopping his father’s dialysis machine back in 1988) is thought to have been the catalyst for the President’s decision to become involved. It is felt to be the perfect chance for Delay, who has been facing questions about his ethical conduct, to work on his image and divert attention from more troublesome matters.

This decision has been widely denounced in the American media. Bush seems to feel that he can impose his beliefs on anything from one individual to whole countries. He is quoted as saying “In cases like this one where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws and our courts should have a presumption in favour of life”. The serious questions and substantial doubts he refers to are presumably based on the symptoms of PVS described earlier. The little red email is in no doubt that his medical briefing would have included the information in this article, but this action gives him the opportunity to establish a worrying precedent. Still, when has turning a blind eye to the facts stopped the chimp?

Individual states like Florida and the US as a whole have constitutions that enshrine a separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government. This Bill has overruled this constitution, on the basis of an emotional argument. Bush has become Judge and Jury for the United States.

On hearing the latest ‘environmental’ efforts by Swiss authorities, the smirking little red email quickly reached for our calendar just to check that it was not April Fool’s Day. Sadly it was not and the following weird news is true, though very warped in our opinion.

The Swiss will wrap some of their mountain glaciers entirely in tin foil this summer to protect them from further melting. Has anyone told the Swiss what damage to the environment the manufacturing of tin foil causes?

Carlo Danioth, head of mountain rescue services in Andermatt, said: “We will initially cover around 30,000 square feet on the upper Gurschen glacier at the beginning of May as a test.”

Other resorts like Saas-Fee and Titlis and some Austrian glaciers have said that they plan to test similar schemes this summer.

Environmental groups have criticised the £45,000 plan at Andermatt as “absurd”.

Raimund Rosewald, head of a landscape protection foundation, said: “We cannot stop the glaciers melting using foil.”

Besides from the quite literal eye sore (or retina burning vista) this is being done to ensure the recreational Swiss francs continue to pour in, in the form of summer skiing — it is not a long-term measure to counter the disappearing glaciers. Indeed, it is a one off expensive, environmentally damaging exercise.

The production of aluminium foil from the raw material bauxite involves huge quantities of energy, and nearly always causes considerable environmental degradation near the mining area, so its production is too costly for it to be used only once before final disposal. It is mined from remote regions, so transportation across the world is also polluting and wastes energy. Worse still, chocolate lovers should also worry about how this sudden increase in tin foil usage might affect the supply of Toblerones.

As conspiracy theorists, we say the only real use for tin foil can be found at this website devoted to the mystical powers of the aluminium foil deflector beanie which prevents people from reading your mind, a far more practical use than carpeting a mountainside in foil!

Could Tony Blair face some credible opposition at this May’s general election finally? No, not from the laughable main opposition party, the Conservatives, who haven’t a hope in hell hopefully, but from someone closer to home. The father of a British soldier killed in Iraq has announced that he plans to challenge Prime Minister Tony Blair for his seat in parliament, Sedgefield.

Reg Keys, 52, has announced he is running in the same constituency as Blair as well as David Shayler, the secret services whistleblower who released information on Britain’s efforts to assassinate Colonel Gaddaffi.

Upping the ante, Mr Keys has called on the two main opposition parties, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, to pull out of the running in this particular constituency to give him a clear shot at the prime minister. The Conservative candidate has reportedly stepped down.

“I’m coming for you, Mr. Blair, but I’m going to do it in a civilized way,” Keys said in a news conference at the London studio of music producer Brian Eno. “I want to get the troops brought safely home. Get them out and replace them with U.N. peacekeeping forces.”

“I am a victim of this war,” he said. “I made the ultimate sacrifice. I’ve lost my son,” he said, referring to Lance Corporal Tom Keys, who died in Iraq in June 2003, aged 20.

“How does (Blair) think those families of dead Iraqis feel? How does he think I felt when I dressed my son for his funeral, combed his beautiful blond hair and tried to avert my vision from the side of his face that had been blown off?” Keys said.

He urged the prime minister to debate him on television.

“If this war was legal and Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction, you’ve got nothing to hide,” he said.

The Guardian notes it would take a 22% swing for Keys to defeat Blair in this Labour-supporting region. Nevertheless, Keys is optimistic. Along with Craig Murray, the former ambassador to Uzbekistan who denounced the country’s human rights record, and is running in Foreign Secretary’s, Jack Straw, constituency, the little red email has two candidates to support and give this dangerous Blair administration the bloody nose it deserves for misleading the nation into war in its embarrassing transatlantic poodle status.

For more on Reg Keys, check out his organization, Military Families Against The War.

A hotchpotch of stuff we’ve found and enjoyed recently on the Weird Wide Web.

Get your lovely T-shirts while they’re hot!
Everybody loves a winner. Nobody likes a loser. Nobody likes to be a loser. So with this in mind, Canned Revolution have set it up so that you can now buy your own Canned Revolution T-Shirt, and pretend that you won it in our competition. We’ll back up any claims to being a lucky winner by anyone who purchases a freshly tinned t-shirt to help the cause.

Owning your own Canned Revolution shirt could be a great way of life for you — imagine the friends, the opportunities, the fame, the copious offers of gratuitous sex.

Don’t delay! Buy your way into coolness today by clicking here.

 

If you fancy your luck, on the other hand...
You could try our latest competition! Yes, that’s right: another chance to be cool for free. Head on over to here to try your luck in our latest revolutionary contest.

 

It might be art, but is it ours?
According to the BBC, a UK graffiti artist Banksy smuggled his works into four New York museums and hung them there. He has previously hit the Tate in London and the Louvre in Paris, but this time he managed to raid new York’s Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), The Brooklyn Museum and, rather more oddly, the American Museum of Natural History. The illustration of a beetle with missiles attached to its body hung unnoticed in the Hall of biodiversity at the American Museum of Natural History for several days.

 

The brain that launched a thousand lawsuits
Here’s a look at the brain of the moment, that of Terri Schiavo. The large dark blue blobs in the middle are ventricles, also present in healthy brains (you can see the two little dark crescent shapes in the brain on the right) that have expanded to a large size because the overall brain volume is so low. Cranial space that would otherwise have been filled by gray matter is now filled with cerebrospinal fluid. The dark blue space is cerebrospinal fluid, which is filling up space left behind by the necrotic brain tissue that has been scavenged and removed by the body. The light blue squiggly things are white matter — connective tracts that have the loose, uncoiled look about them that they do because, again, the grey matter that once compressed them is no longer there, so they “float” loosely in CSF.

 

Fiore presents Georgie’s Angels
Mark Fiore gives a 70s crime-fighting flavour to his topical skit of the Republicans’ sudden interest in choosing life.

 

David “Mr Happy” Firth does it again
That’s right, kids! He’s gone and done it again. The creator of Salad Fingers presents yet another joyful flash animation celebrating life: A Black And White Cartoon About Roof Tiling.

 

Dim prospects on Horizon
If you haven’t seen the BBC’s Horizon report on global dimming, you need to find it somehow, and watch it. It shows that in fact, global warming is much worse than we thought, because it has been kept hidden from us by global dimming: where small particulate pollution and jet contrails in the air block and reflect the sun, causing the planet to cool, and thus reducing the effect of greenhouse gas warming. This discovery has lead environmental experts to reassess their models and many now assert without major pollution and greenhouse gas reduction, we will pass the point of no return some time around 2035.

 

Donnie dubs Venezuela’s AKs doubleplus ungood
The Pentagon propaganda team are busying spinning like crazy this week with Donny Darkside at the mic. Speaking in Brazil about the recent plan by Venezuela to purchase AK-47s, Rummy said, “I can’t imagine what’s going to happen to 100,000 AK-47s.” What indeed? What on earth would any country with a 100,000-strong army in the process of modernizing its forces need 100,000 new AK-47s for? The Dark one continued to expand on his incomprehension: “I can’t imagine why Venezuela needs 100,000 AK-47s. I just hope that — personally hope that — it doesn’t happen. I can’t imagine that if it did happen that it would be good for the hemisphere.” Well, it would certainly make the next US-backed coup or invasion a little harder — but would that be good or bad for the hemisphere?

 

More cash for Malaysian floggers and executioners
It’s not a windfall, but the men who hold two of the most unsavoury jobs in the penal system are to be paid more.
For every swing of the rotan, flogging officers now get RM10, up from the RM3 per stroke they used to receive.
For every hanging, executioners are now paid RM500, up from RM300.
The increase in allowances for officers assigned with these “special duties” was endorsed by the Public Service Department on Feb 24.
With this change, a flogging officer stands to receive RM2,000 for 200 strokes of the rotan delivered a month.
However, for executioners, the hike will not bring about much change in their earning capacity as executions are not held regularly.
For example, it is learnt that no execution had been carried out at the Taiping prison in the last two years.
There are some 50 flogging officers and executioners nationwide.
Internal Security Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said the increase in allowances for floggers and executioners had been long overdue.
Both types of officials were performing “challenging tasks”.
He noted that only personnel who were “hardened” could perform an execution or administer whipping.
On the new salary scheme for the more than 11,000 prisons staff nationwide, Aziz said before the scheme could be implemented, it had to be approved by the Cabinet working committee on salaries and schemes of public service chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
“According to the regulations, the new scheme must get formal approval from the Cabinet working committee. We will submit it soon,” he told reporters after the passing-out parade of 195 prisons personnel here.

 

The start of the “long emergency”
Rolling Stone has woken up to smell the coffee, vis-à-vis the peak oil problem in this new article.

 

Regional press plays catch up with little red email
It was nice to see the local South China Morning Post and the Straits Times catching up with the little red email’s story two weeks ago about transpolar flight radiation:

Radiation fears see Cathay limit crews’ NY flights; Unions say passengers must be told of risks
Simon Parry, 27 March 2005, South China Morning Post

Attendants on Cathay Pacific’s direct flights to New York say they are being limited to around two trips a month on the route because of concerns about their exposure to cosmic radiation.
But no warnings are being given to frequent fliers on the transpolar route because the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) says passengers do not fly enough to be at risk.
Unions representing both pilots and flight attendants believe passengers should be given more information about cosmic radiation, which has been linked to marginal increases in the risk of developing cancer.
“The public ought to be aware that there are possible dangers,” said John Findlay, general secretary of the Aircrew Officers Association.
Becky Kwan Siu-wa, head of the Flight Attendants Union, said frequent travellers should be warned.
Fliers are exposed to increased doses of cosmic radiation at altitudes above 8,000 metres over the north and south poles, where the atmosphere is thinner.
Concern over radiation exposure coincided with the launch of the daily Cathay Pacific transpolar direct flights to New York last July.
Cathay has introduced a stringent radiation monitoring programme, which allows pilots and flight attendants to know how much radiation they have been exposed to and to ensure it never exceeds safe limits.
Data on radiation levels on each flight is processed so pilots or flight attendants can check their exposure. Rosters are tailored to keep them within safe limits.
Ms Kwan said a formula had been worked out which effectively limited flight attendants to about two round trips a month on the polar route.
“If you do two and a half polar flights a month, you are in the danger zone,” she said. “At first, when we heard about this, everybody was worried. But we have had regular meetings with the CAD and Cathay and guidance from an aviation doctor.”
She said the airline has ensured no flight attendant registered radiation levels above what are regarded as safe limits.
But Ms Kwan said passengers should be given more information about the risks.
“I think the same message should be communicated to the travelling public,” she said. “If you are a frequent traveller you shouldn’t do more than so many trips on this route.”
Mr Findlay said he believed Cathay Pacific had done as much as any other airline to keep staff informed about cosmic radiation and to monitor their exposure to it and he was happy with its response. But he said regulatory bodies such as CAD and the International Civil Aviation Organisation should be giving out more information on the issue.
Mr Findlay said he believed that in future, regular warnings about cosmic radiation might be given to airline crews and the public.
“It is early days yet [in terms of scientific research],” he said. “As time goes on, people will become more and more concerned.”
A spokeswoman for Cathay Pacific said there was no quota on the number of New York flights cabin crew could serve on but she said rosters would be adjusted if cumulative radiation readings for staff approached the top end of safety limits.
Cathay has a passenger information section on its website that says the increased cancer risks brought on by exposure to cosmic radiation is minimal and one “most people would probably not consider unacceptable”.
A person flying direct from Hong Kong to New York every two weeks for 20 years will increase their risk of death from cancer from 23 per cent to between 23.11 and 23.14 per cent, it says.
A CAD spokeswoman said a cosmic radiation monitoring programme for pilots and flight attendants had been introduced in August 2002 “in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation requirements and international practices”.
She said the organisation does not require similar monitoring of passengers, as they are less exposed to cosmic radiation than crew members.

 

Radiation risk on repeat HK-NY flights
Vince Chong, 28 March 2005, Straits Times

CATHAY Pacific cabin crews have been barred from flying more than two round trips a month on the airline’s non-stop Hong Kong — New York route. This is to limit their exposure to potentially harmful cosmic radiation arising from the thinner atmosphere over the North Pole.
A spokesman for the airline yesterday told The Straits Times that crew members serving the 16-hour route could adjust their rosters if their cumulative radiation readings rose near the top end of safety levels.
But he said there was no quota on the number of times the crew could fly the long-haul flights. Cathay began daily non-stop flights from Hong Kong to New York last July.
In 2000, the European Union introduced legislation requiring all European airlines to monitor cosmic radiation levels during flights, and to inform air crews of the possible health risks.
In August 2002, Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department (CAD) adopted a similar monitoring programme for airlines based in the territory, including Cathay .
The South China Morning Post yesterday said Cathay’s monitoring system found that fliers are exposed to higher doses of cosmic radiation at altitudes above 8,000m over the North and South poles.
The head of Cathay’s Flight Attendants Union, Ms Becky Kwan, told the Post that a formula had been worked out which limited crew flights to about two round trips a month on the Hong Kong — New York route.
‘If you do 2 1/2 polar flights a month, you are in the danger zone,’ she said.
The CAD has not given passengers warnings as they do not travel enough to be at risk, reported the Post.
The airline, however, recommended that frequent travellers keep a record of their exposure to cosmic radiation, and has provided a calculation program for downloading.
Some airlines take pregnant flight attendants off airborne duties to avoid exposing the foetuses to cosmic rays.

 

Bad idea boy
This is culled from the Access Asia weekly update:
In the past we’ve commented on a few Brits visiting China who may not always be best qualified for their missions. We had Prince Andrew promoting F1 on the tax payers pound, then the Lord Mayor of London selling the “no questions asked” London Stock Exchange soon followed by the twice disgraced former British Minister and now EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson. Now it is the turn of another Brit with a somewhat dubious past to advise China — Sir Howard Davies.

Davies is now an adviser to the Chinese government on financial regulation but who advised Beijing to hire him to advise them? Sir Howard is the former chief of the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) and a director of the London School of Economics (LSE). He previously served two years as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England after three years as Director General of the Confederation of British Industry. In the past he has also been a Controller of the UK’s Audit Commission, an Adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and a Private Secretary to the British Ambassador in Paris as well as a former McKinsey man. Not a bad resume and one that obviously impressed Beijing.

However, that is not everything in Davies’s past.

He has not proved a popular Director of the LSE and when he attended an exclusive Whitehall banquet in honour of George W Bush over 1,000 students protested outside the venue. He has also been a champion of top-up fees for university students — another unpopular issue and one that confused personal opinion with LSE policy. Also not featured on his official CV is the five years Davies spent as a high-level employee of GKN, a UK firm that makes components for military aircraft. During his time there GKN made several lucrative deals including one with General Suharto in Indonesia for armaments later used against civilians in East Timor. Davies did not veto the sale. Davies also managed to annoy many LSE staff and students by almost becoming a board member of Total Fina Elf, which has been embroiled in a long-running and massive corruption scandal in France. Following a protest by staff and students Davies announced that he would not be accepting the post.

All of this might not be a problem for Beijing except that Davies is advising on financial regulation. Perhaps he neglected to tell them that while head of the FSA he presided over the Equitable Life pensions scandal, the UK’s largest pensions miss-selling disaster, which led to the FSA being declared ’asleep on the job’. Last week Davies told an audience in Sydney that the Chinese economy needed better regulation and corporate governance standards — it does, but if Davies the man to advise on them?

Sir Howard… let’s pray he does a better job for China’s pensioners than he did for Britain’s

 

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