Category: John James Newsletter

The John James Newsletter 62
30 May 2015- Positano

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear
George Orwell

Stupid Australia: Brain drain leaves economy less able to compete
The country that brought you refrigerators, black-box flight recorders, bionic ears and Wi-Fi will cut its research budget by 7 per cent over the next 12 months, and another 10 per cent in the following three years. At the same time it’s offering tax cuts and write-offs in its budget this month for small firms to buy equipment like espresso machines and lawnmowers as the centerpiece of a plan to build a ‘stronger and more prosperous Australia’.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/stupid-australia-brain-drain-leaves-economy-less-able-to-compete-51750

“Rebuilding America’s Defenses”
An influential policy document outlines a plan for American hegemony, pinpointing “problem areas” of the world and suggesting regime change of unfavourable governments so that eventually the whole world will be unified under the banner of American democracy.
http://newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf.
Failure of the US coup d’État in Macedonia
Macedonia has just neutralised an armed group whose sponsors had been under surveillance for at least eight months. This has prevented an attempted coup, planned by Washington for the 17th of May. The aim was to spread the chaos already infecting Ukraine into Macedonia in order to stall the passage of a Russian gas pipeline to the EU.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41969.htm
A Revolution For Macedonia
The National Endowment for Democracy (US) funds NGOs in countries targeted by Washington for political destabilisation who then develop cadres of idealistic students and disgruntled politicians and set them against the existing government. Washington spent $5 billion in Ukraine grooming politicians and creating NGOs so that when Viktor Yanukovich refused to align Ukraine with Washington’s interests, Washington unleashed its Fifth Columns, and Yanukovich’s government was overthrown with violence. Now the same fate may be in store for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgystan, and (for the moment) Macedonia.
http://www.countercurrents.org/roberts230515.htm

What if Putin is Telling the Truth?
Russian intelligence has known for almost two decades that the terror in Chechnya and in the Caucasus in the early 1990’s was actively backed by the CIA to destroy Russia as a functioning sovereign state. Today this agenda has been expanded to the neo-nazi coup in Ukraine and financial sanctions.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41886.htm

Happiness is Having Own Submarine-launched Ballistic Missile
Pyongyang’s nukes have always been to ward off a US-South Korean invasion – an operation that the two allies practice every fall, producing violent tantrums from Pyongyang. Kim Jong-un knows Iraq and Libya would not have been invaded if they had had nuclear weapons. The Kim dynasty’s days would be numbered without them.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41881.htm

Is the US planning a “Gulf of Tonkin” incident in the South China Sea?
The historic parallels are chilling.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/05/18/pers-m18.html
An already tense and dangerous situation in the South China Sea threatens to become even worse as the US considers plans to initiate systematic military patrols in that volatile area.
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/america-about-make-fatal-mistake-the-south-china-sea-12905
US Bombers to Australia??
Washington would “be placing additional air force assets in Australia, including B-1 bombers and surveillance aircraft. We will have a very strong presence throughout the region to back our commitments to our allies, to protect our diplomacy on the South China Sea.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41892.htm
One more Unintended Consequence of US interference in the Ukraine and the Spratleys
China rapidly upgrading nuclear arsenal with MIRVed missiles
The move comes decades after Beijing acquired the technology, indicating a strategy change.
http://rt.com/news/259417-china-mirv-missile-upgrade/

Fossil fuels subsidised by $10m a minute
The IMF calls the revelation “shocking” and says the figure is “extremely robust”. The $5.3tn subsidy estimated for 2015 is greater than the total health spending of all the world’s governments.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/18/fossil-fuel-companies-getting-10m-a-minute-in-subsidies-says-imf?CMP=share_btn_tw

As Iran forswears the Bomb the Saudis get it. As the Saudis “Promise to Match Iran’s Nuclear Power” who then steps in to protect Iran? Russia? China? Treaties of support will tie this up and, as in 1914, war is possible.
Saudis May Purchase Pakistani Atomic Bomb
“Nuclear weapons programs are extremely expensive and there’s no question that a lot of the funding of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program was provided by Saudi Arabia,”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41890.htm
Intelligence agents and diplomats have claimed Riyadh has had nuclear weapons since 1998 kept in a secret underground compound several miles from Riyadh capital.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41850.htm
Nuclear weapons made in Pakistan on behalf of Saudi Arabia are now sitting ready for delivery
Saudi Arabia ‘can get nuclear weapons from Pakistan’: Nuclear weapons made in Pakistan on behalf of Saudi Arabia are now sitting ready for deliver
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/saudi-arabia-can-get-nuclear-weapons-from-pakistan-1.1252773

France Declares All New Rooftops Must Be Topped With Plants Or Solar Panels
Green roofs, as they are called, have an isolating effect which helps to reduce the amount of energy needed to heat a building during the winter or cool it in the summer. They are capable of retaining rainwater and reducing problems with runoff, and also offer birds a place to call home in the urban jungle.
http://csglobe.com/france-declares-all-new-rooftops-must-be-topped-with-plants-or-solar-panels

Green power success stories take the wind out of Tony Abbott
Germany, the world leader in installing renewable energy, was producing so much electricity from solar, wind and biomass that more than half of the country’s electricity was flowing from these renewable sources. There was so much that the price of electricity fell to zero, and kept falling until it went negative. There were times on April 17 when wholesale electricity in Germany was selling for minus 14.91 euros for a megawatt hour. So it wasn’t free – it was cheaper than free.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/green-power-success-stories-take-the-wind-out-of-tony-abbott-20150526-gh9bd6

Huge Insurance Company Cites Climate Change As Reason For Divesting From Coal
Last year, AXA paid over €1 billion globally in weather-related insurance claims, citing climate change as a “core business issue”.  “The facts are undeniable. If we think we can live in a world where temperatures would have increased by more than 2C we’re fooling ourselves,”
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/05/22/3662053/axa-insurance-coal-divestment/

Formaldehyde is just one of 62,000 chemicals that Congress exempted from testing. Only 250 have been tested since.
http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2015/04/how-american-industry-skips-some-chemical-safety-checks
http://www.foreffectivegov.org/node/13411
EU dropped pesticide laws due to US pressure over TTIP
US trade officials pushed EU to shelve action on endocrine-disrupting chemicals linked to cancer and male infertility
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/22/eu-dropped-pesticide-laws-due-to-us-pressure-over-ttip-documents-reveal?CMP=ema_565

Gaza economy ‘on verge of collapse’, with world’s highest unemployment
World Bank report says Israeli blockades and war and damaged governance have left 43% of people out of work and the strip facing dangerous financial crisis. The current market in Gaza is not able to offer jobs, leaving a large population in despair, particularly the youth. Of the $3.5bn pledged by the international community for Gaza’s reconstruction, just $1bn, has been disbursed so far.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/22/gazas-economy-on-verge-of-collapse-jobless-rate-highest-in-world-israel
Which Countries Are Failing To Deliver Gaza Aid?
Qatar has delivered just 10 percent of the $1 billion it promised, while Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Kuwait between them have handed over just over $50 million of the $900 million they pledged,
http://www.countercurrents.org/slemrod220515.htm

‘Disaster after disaster’ hits Marshall Islands as climate change kicks in
Three-part series examining the effects of climate change on the Marshall Islands and what is being done to adapt.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/18/disaster-after-disaster-in-low-lying-marshall-islands.html

Mapping the migrant crisis
How did thousands of Asian migrants come to be stranded at sea with nowhere to go?

Southeast Asia’s Migrant Crisis Explained, in Maps

Megadeath
Until 2008, conservationists appeared to be winning. But in that year the number of rhinos killed in South Africa rose (from 13 in 2007) to 83. By 2011, the horrible tally had risen to 448. It climbed to 668 in 2012, 1004 in 2013 and 1215 in 2014. In the first four months of this year, 393 rhinos have been killed, which is 18% more than in the same period last year.
http://www.monbiot.com/2015/05/22/megadeath/

An American-Made Army in Africa
the most interesting part of this article is the later analysis of the Sudan situation and its causes in foreign interference.
http://www.countercurrents.org/turse180515.htm

Brutal truths about ISIL victories
The fight against ISIL is in many ways a fight between the idea of a nation state and the idea of a revolutionary ideological empire. Lessons learned about the intrinsic strengths of revolutionary insurgencies in comparison with the strengths of conventional armies are not being applied.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/05/iraq-truths-isil-victories-ramadi-150519050240243.html
Iraq army held 10-to-1 advantage during Ramadi defeat
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the Iraq forces lost their will to fight, despite the fact they “vastly outnumbered the opposing force.” ISIL captured Ramadi on May 17 with 1,000 fighters and are now reinforcing those forces from the west.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/26/iraq-army-held-advantage-during-ramadi-defeat-sources.html

48 Countries March Against Monsanto
Global anti-Monsanto protests have been spurred by a recent WHO warning that the company’s signature herbicide “probably” causes cancer. Tens of thousands of activists rallied in more than 400 cities across the world Saturday to protest.
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/48-Countries-March-Against-Monsanto-20150523-0010.html
and
http://fracturedparadigm.com/2013/04/02/boycott-monsanto-a-simple-list-of-companies-to-avoid/#axzz3bFcytGbU

The John James Newsletter 47
23 February 2015

Americans are too underinformed to digest information that contradicts what they already know. The media prefers to feed Americans a constant stream of simplified information so they do not have to devote more air time or newsprint to explanations or further investigations. This has infantilized the American public. This then confirms the people can’t handle complex truths.
Tom Fenton

Evil Assad, Evil Gaddafi, Now Evil Putin: How the West Sells War (and Makes a Killing)
Ukraine it is largely about land grabs and western agribusiness GMO plans for her rich and fertile soil. ….. Gaddafi’s regime went from a “a model” and an “important ally” to target of regime change in just a few years. Was this sudden shift in popularity to do with Gaddafi’s plan “to quit selling Libyan oil in US dollars?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41074.htm

The U.S.-Backed Government In Ukraine Is Starting To Lose The Civil War
The first map shows what the conflict looked like last summer: The territory held by the separatists was mostly limited to areas around the cities of Luhansk and Donetsk; the second at the time of the peace accord… Have seen this in the mainstream media? If not, why not? Could it be that we aren’t supposed to know that the US-backed government in Kiev is losing the war?
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/the-u-s-backed-government-in-ukraine-is-starting-to-lose-the-civil-war

Ukrainian Retreat – the pocket is closed.
Maybe you weren’t told this either?  The trucks lined up on the edge of town around 1 am while tanks and tracked vehicles formed lines on either side of the convoy to shield the soldiers. Despite the precautions, the column came under attack almost immediately and trucks started breaking down and colliding in the dark. By dawn, the column was strung out on the plain and taking fire from all sides. They were shooting at the disintegrating column with rockets. Dead and wounded soldiers were just left on the fields.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/world/europe/ukraine-conflict-debaltseve.html?_r=0

German sociologists on Crimea’s choice
In answer to the most important question: “Do you endorse Russia’s annexation of Crimea?” 82% of the respondents answered “yes, definitely,” and another 11% – “yes, for the most part.” Only 2% gave an unambiguously negative response, and another 2% offered a relatively negative assessment.
http://orientalreview.org/2015/02/10/german-sociologists-on-crimeas-choice/

Obama Destroyed Libya
Gaddafi inherited one of the poorest nations in Africa. By the time he was assassinated, Libya was unquestionably Africa’s most prosperous nation with the highest GDP and life expectancy in Africa. Less people lived below the poverty line than in the Netherlands. Gaddafi was guilty of human rights abuses, but women enjoyed more rights than in any other Arab country. Libya was a relatively sweet place to live.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41020.htm
Relevant: The Warmongering Record of Hillary Clinton
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/11/the-warmon…

Hailed as a Model for Successful Intervention, Libya Proves to be the Exact Opposite
Since 2011, Libya has rapidly unraveled in much the way Iraq did following invasion: swamped by militia rule, factional warfare, economic devastation, and complete lawlessness. And to their eternal shame, most self-proclaimed “humanitarians” who advocated intervention completely ignored the country once the fun parts — the war victory dances and mocking of war opponents — were over. The unraveling of Libya is now close to absolute.
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/02/16/hailed-model-successful-intervention-libya-proves-exact-opposite/

What Putin learned from Reagan
There was a great power that was worried about its longtime rival’s efforts to undermine it. Its leaders thought the rival power was stronger and trying to throw its weight around and was now interfering in places the declining state had long regarded as its own backyard. To protect this traditional sphere of influence, the worried great power had long maintained one-sided relationships with its neighbors, many of them led by corrupt and brutal oligarchs who stayed in power because they were subservient to the powerful neighbor’s whims. Guess who!

What Putin Learned From Reagan

Michelangelo’s last surviving bronzes identified
“Bacchants Riding On Panthers”, date from 1506-08 and show a muscular pair of nude male revellers, arms raised in triumph to the sky, astride snarling panthers. Michelangelo is thought to have worked on them between his two most famous works — the four-metre marble sculpture “David” and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
http://www.news24.com/Green/News/Michelangelos-last-surviving-bronzes-identified-20150203
One of two bronze statues named ‘Bacchants Riding On Panthers’, thought to be by Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo. (Jack Taylor, AFP)

The John James Newsletter 48
28 February 2015

The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate objectivity so entirely from its media – much less dissent.
Gore Vidal

I have a question:
I have been told that engineers have found cracks under Warragamba dam (possibly caused by coal mining under the dam) through which our water supply is seeping away. They have tried to fix the leaks but haven’t been successful. It is worrying that the government may be keeping this problem under wraps. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON THIS?

Hope Among the Ruins?
Fascinating suggestions for a new order in the banking world
http://www.monbiot.com/2015/02/17/hope-among-the-ruins

http://www.sovereignman.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/LiquidityPyramid.pdf

Iraqi Army Downs Two British Planes Carrying Weapons for ISIL
Numerous flights by the US-led coalition that airdrop weapons and supplies for IS shows US prefers a chaotic situation in Anbar Province. It is near Baghdad. The US does not want the crisis to end.

Iraqi Army Downs Two British Planes Carrying Weapons for ISIL Terrorists

Financial War: US Wants to Trigger Russian Bankruptcies
If loans due in dollars during the coming year cannot be rolled over there would be a “devastating” impact on the Russian economy The US intends to use a technical trick to shorten the duration of existing loans and credits to Russian banks, energy companies and arms companies. In another move the US is moving to exclude Russia from the SWIFT system that enables electronic transactions instead of paper. This is particularly feared by the Russians, who are rushing to install an alternative. American rating agencies have already classified Russian government bonds as junk so some large pension funds are legally obliged to withdraw, all intended to destroy the rouble.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/02/financial-war-us-wants-trigger-wave-russian-bankruptcies.html

100 reasons to ‘Audit The Fed’
We like to think that we have a government “of the people, by the people, for the people”, but the truth is that an unelected, unaccountable group has far more power over our economy than anyone else. The Federal Reserve is “independent” of the government,  “not an agency” and therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/janet-yellen-is-freaking-out-about-audit-the-fed-here-are-100-reasons-why-she-should-be

Russia ratifies $100bn BRICS New Development Bank
http://rt.com/business/234027-russia-ratifies-brics-bank/

Russia’s roadmap for annexing eastern Ukraine leaked from Putin’s office
A bombshell document showing a ‘step-by-step’ guide to taking Crimea and other eastern Ukrainian provinces more than a year ago
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russias-roadmap-for-annexing-eastern-ukraine-leaked-from-vladimir-putins-office-10069203.html

The next move on Ukraine
Crimea has been reclaimed, and Ukraine’s drive to join Europe’s mainstream and possibly Nato seems more problematic now that Moscow has shown how far it will go to prevent this. …. Russia also dominates South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia and signed a border agreement with South Ossetia last week.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-1-303467-Putin-surveys-the-map-as-he-ponders-next-move-on-Ukraine
And not unexpectedly:
Putin: Gas supplies to Europe could suffer in 3-4 days if Kiev doesn’t pay
http://rt.com/news/235459-putin-gas-ukraine-europe/

Washington Has Resurrected The Threat Of Nuclear War
Former US Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1987-91) Jack Matlock is astonished by the dismissal of Russia as merely “a regional power” of little consequence to the powerful US. No country armed with numerous, accurate, and mobile ICBMs is a limited regional power. This is the kind of hubristic miscalculation that ends in world destruction. The Ukraine has been part of Russia for centuries and NATO has no business being there. It is the violations of promises made to Russia not to expand NATO eastward that has recreated the lack of trust that Reagan had successfully obtained.
http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/2015/2015_1-9/2015-08/pdf/10-14_4208.pdfvercome.

Dozens of new craters suspected in northern Russia
The parapet suggests an underground explosion. “The absence of charred rock and traces of  significant erosion shows it was a gas-explosive mechanism. A concentration of 5-to-16% of methane is explosive.
http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/n0127-dozens-of-mysterious-new-craters-suspected-in-northern-russia/

Lester Brown: Dust Bowl Conditions Spreading Over Africa And Asia
“We are pushing against the limits of land that can be plowed and the land available for grazing and there are two areas of the world in which we are in serious trouble now. One is the Sahel region of Africa, from Senegal to Somalia where a huge dust bowl is forming that  stretches right across the continent, and it is removing the top soil – this is serious.”
http://www.countercurrents.org/queally250215.htm

Toxic water worse at Fukushima
About 350 tons of toxic water are generated daily in the process of cooling three reactors at the Fukushima plant that suffered meltdowns during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. “The situation … remains very complex, with the increasing amount of contaminated water posing a short-term challenge”
http://www.news24.com/Green/News/Toxic-water-worse-at-Fukushima-20150217
and
Fresh leak at Fukushima nuclear plant sees 70-fold radiation spike
http://rt.com/news/234547-fukushima-new-leak-nuclear/

Two unfinished Cezannes discovered
http://www.smh.com.au/world/two-unfinished-cezannes-discovered-20150221-13l3js.html

Statins
Dr. MaryAnne Demasi’s documentary on the activity of the pharmaceutical industry regarding cholesterol-lowering statin drugs sent shock waves through the mainstream media in Australia at the end of 2013. Published in two parts on The Catalyst, the pharmaceutical industry complained so loudly the network removed the videos from their website and from YouTube. Dr. Michael Eades has published them here.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41045.htm

Birth right
25 years ago we ranked 50 countries according to where would be the best place to be born. Then, America came top. The new quality-of-life index links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys—how happy people say they are—to objective determinants across 80 countries. Oz is second, the US now 16th.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2013/01/daily-chart?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/birthright

Reading the Greek Deal Correctly
Negotiations can continue because Chancellor Merkel preferred not to be the leader responsible for the fragmentation of Europe.
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/02/24/reading-greek-deal-correctly

The Madrid Earthquake That Divides The US
The faults responsible for the New Madrid Seismic Zone are embedded in a subsurface geological feature known as the Reelfoot Rift that formed during the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia in the Neoproterozoic Era (about 750 million years ago). The resulting rift system have made the Earth’s crust mechanically weak and would allow the relatively small east-west compressive forces associated with the continuing continental drift to reactivate old faults making the area unusually prone to earthquakes in spite of it being far from the nearest tectonic plate boundary.
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/the-new-madrid-earthquake-that-will-divide-the-united-states-in-half

The John James Newsletter 49
7 March 2015

YOU MAY NEED TO CUT AND PASTE THESE LINKS

The Great Transition: Shifting from fossil fuels to solar and wind energy by Lester R. Brown
The link is to Chapter One. “While France is completing construction of its last nuclear plant, it is in the process of developing 25,000 megawatts of wind generating capacity, of which 8,300 megawatts were already online in 2013. It is aiming to drop its nuclear share of power to 50 percent by 2025. China, which has 16,000 megawatts of nuclear generating capacity, has developed a world-leading 91,000 megawatts of wind generating capacity.”
www.earth-policy.org/images/uploads/book_images/EPI_TGT-ch01.pdf

Climate Change Hastened Syria’s Civil War
Drought in Syria, exacerbated to record levels by global warming, pushed social unrest into an open uprising in 2011. The conflict has since become a major civil war with international involvement. Drought from 2006 to 2011 forced many farmers into the cities. The influx added to social stresses already created by refugees from the war in Iraq.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-hastened-the-syrian-war/

Australian science research facilities prepare for shutdown as government refuses to secure funding
Some of the facility’s 94 staff – all but three of them researchers or technicians – will take jobs overseas, and one has already left for Canada  The uncertainty means the facility has not entered into any commercial contracts past the end of June, meaning revenue will likely fall even if the government money comes through.
www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/mar/04/research-facilities-prepare-shutdown-government-refuses-secure-funding?CMP=ema_632

A Mediterranean diet is ‘better than exercise’ and can halve the risk of heart disease
Those who stuck to the diet, consisting of fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, beans, olive oil, fish and even a glass of red wine were 47 per cent less likely to develop heart disease over a 10 year period.
http//;www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2979508/A-Mediterranean-diet-better-exercise-halve-risk-heart-disease.html

Wind Power Beats Nuclear in China
http//:www.earth-policy.org/data_highlights/2015/highlights50

Delhi Gang-Rape Convict Blames Victim
“When being raped, she shouldn’t fight back. She should just be silent and allow the rape,” Mr. Singh says in the BBC film. “If she hadn’t resisted, the rapists would have dropped her off after ‘doing her,’”.
blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2015/03/02/delhi-gang-rape-convict-blames-victim-for-the-attack-bbc/?

Intergenerational Report fails at first hurdle – ignores climate change
Peter Costello introduced Intergenerational reports to assess the economy over the next forty years. Climate change is mentioned just 12 times – and only in passing – in the 175 page report. This is a massive oversight because the environment is the very foundation stone of Australians’ livelihoods and way of life
reneweconomy.com.au/2015/intergenerational-report-fails-at-first-hurdle-ignores-climate-change-51863

Russia ready to repel any nuke strike, retaliate
Nationwide war games of Strategic Nuclear Missile Forces were conducted in February, with 30 missile regiments training in 12 regions of Russia. Missilemen performed ultimate combat operational readiness, counteraction to subversive groups and perfected defences against airborne precision weapons
rt.com/news/236573-russia-repel-nuclear-strike/

U.S. Strategy in Iraq Increasingly Relies on Iran
“The only way in which the Obama administration can credibly stick with its strategy is by implicitly assuming that the Iranians will carry most of the weight and win the battles on the ground,”
www.nytimes.com/2015/03/06/world/middleeast/us-strategy-in-iraq-increasingly-relies-on-iran.html

Police investigate Save the Children whistleblowers over Nauru abuse report
staff had anonymously written a submission outlining cases of sexual and physical abuse of children, and acts of self-harm. “We believe that the children have been subjected to multiple violations of their human rights and wrongdoing from multiple parties.“
http;//www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/mar/04/police-investigate-save-the-children-whistleblowers-over-nauru-abuse-report?CMP=ema_632

New Silk Roads and the Chinese Vision of a Brave New (Trade) World
The Beijing leadership vision of a potentially mind-boggling infrastructure, much of it from scratch, that will connect China to Central Asia, the Middle East, and Western Europe. Such a development will include projects that range from upgrading the ancient silk road via Central Asia to developing a Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridor; a China-Pakistan corridor through Kashmir; and a new maritime silk road that will extend from southern China all the way to Venice. Don’t think of this as the twenty-first-century Chinese equivalent of America’s post-World War II Marshall Plan for Europe, but as something far more ambitious and potentially with a far vaster reach.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175959/tomgram:_pepe_escobar,_inside_china%27s_%22new_normal%22/#more

New Study Shows California Droughts Driven by Climate Change and Here to Stay
The increasingly frequent and severe droughts that have punished California over the past two decades are primarily the result of human-caused climate change and will likely grow even worse. This new research analyzes historical records and computer simulations of global warming, to investigate the role of changing temperatures.
www.commondreams.org/news/2015/03/03/new-study-shows-california-droughts-driven-climate-change-and-here-stay

Carbon crash, solar dawn: Deutsche Bank on why solar has already won
Their report suggests solar will become the dominant electricity source around the world as it beats conventional fuels, generates $5 trillion in revenue over the next 15 years, and displaces large amounts of fossil fuels. But by 2030, the solar market will increase 10-fold, as more than 100 million customers are added, and solar’s share of the electricity market jumps to 10 per cent. By 2050 solar’s share will be 30 per cent of the market.
reneweconomy.com.au/2015/carbon-crash-solar-dawn-deutsche-bank-on-why-solar-has-already-won-51105
and
Energy storage to reach cost ‘holy grail’, mass adoption in 5 years
reneweconomy.com.au/2015/energy-storage-to-reach-cost-holy-grail-mass-adoption-in-5-years-18383

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The John James Newsletter 50
14 March 2015

YOU MAY NEED TO CUT AND PASTE THESE LINKS

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect
Mark Twain

The Arctic Ocean is coming close to complete summer meltdown
The apparent ‘pause’ in global warming has been no such thing. Instead the surplus heat – two Hiroshima bombs-worth a second – has been ‘buried’ deep in the Pacific Ocean. That’s because of two important climate cycles, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, has masked the warming. But soon they will tip the other way and the ‘Big Heat’ is set to begin – a five to ten year burst of rapid warming that will be most severe in the Arctic. “Nothing has been said by the IPCC. Nothing has been said in the mainstream media. Nothing has been said by the scientific community. This is a terrible omission.”
arctic-news.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/save-the-arctic-sea-ice-while-we-still-can.html

March 4 Arctic Sea Ice Extent Hits Record Low
There is little scope for Arctic sea ice extent to grow over the next few weeks, since the only areas where it could possibly expand would be the Pacific and the North Atlantic, the very areas that are under pressure from ocean heat and high surface temperatures. In other words, the situation looks set to deteriorate further.
arctic-news.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/march-4-2015-arctic-sea-ice-extent-hits-record-low.html

How is it happening?
What is the mechanism behind accelerated warming of the Arctic Ocean, huge abrupt methane eruptions from the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean and skyrocketing temperatures?
http://news.euoa.net/category/natalia-shakhova

Naomi Klein: This changes everything
I denied climate change for longer than I care to admit. I knew it was happening, but stayed pretty hazy on the details and only skimmed most of the news stories, especially the really scary ones. I told myself the science was too complicated and that the environmentalists were dealing with it. And I continued to behave as if there was nothing wrong with the shiny card in my wallet attesting to my “elite” frequent flyer status.
www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/06/dont-look-away-now-the-climate-crisis-needs-you?CMP=ema_565

Byron shire aims to lead Australia on zero emissions plan
“All revolutions start from the bottom up, and what is required is a revolution. Politicians will follow what action happens in the communities.” This had been the case in Europe, particularly Germany and Denmark, where “people power” had driven the major uptake of renewable energy. The plan is to incorporate land use, retrofitting of buildings, waste and transport – including electric vehicles – into the plan.
reneweconomy.com.au/2015/byron-shire-aims-to-lead-australia-on-zero-emissions-community-plan-90958

Nuclear arsenals of the world – the GOOD NEWS
Rising, then pulling back from a Peak in the late 1980s, the number of nuclear warheads has dropped significantly, though more countries now possess them.
thebulletin.org/nuclear-notebook-multimedia

UN: Impact on Africa if we keep to 2 degrees
The latest science suggests climate change adaptation measures could cost Africa $50 billion per year by the mid-century, and put up to 50 per cent of the continent’s population is at risk of undernourishment, even if efforts to prevent a 2°C temperature increase are successful. African nations do not have the domestic resources to head off this crippling economic cost.
https://newmatilda.com/2015/03/08/un-report-predicts-african-disaster-even-if-we-keep-global-warming-2-degrees

Aleppo: Notes from the Dark
With bombs exploding and under sniper fire, this film shows the life of Aleppo from the perspective of seven of its residents, struggling with the hardships of war: A social journalist, a street vendor, a cleric, an entrepreneur, a doctor from a field hospital, a shopkeeper – ordinary people with hopes and dreams.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2014/08/aleppo-notes-from-dark-20148412419590705.html

Boko Haram Turns Robin Hood’s Strategy on Its Head
Boko Haram is now raising money by ignoring the rich and targeting the poor, an unusually cruel tactic that takes struggling innocents and pushes them over the financial cliff.
foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/05/boko-haram-turns-robin-hoods-strategy-on-its-head-nigeria-niger/

Health costs of hormone disrupting chemicals
Lower IQ, adult obesity and 5% of autism cases are all linked to exposure to endocrine disruptors found in food containers, plastics, furniture, toys, carpeting and cosmetics. “The shocking thing is that the major component of that cost is related to the loss of brain function in the next generation,”
www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/06/health-costs-hormone-disrupting-chemicals-150bn-a-year-europe-says-study?CMP=EMCENVEML1631

Business Is Booming at Abu Dhabi’s Great Arms Bazaar
With conflicts raging from Ukraine to Syria to Yemen, there’s something for everyone at the world’s most important gun show. Business is booming. Defence spending grew 12.1 percent in the Middle East last year.

Business Is Booming at Abu Dhabi’s Great Arms Bazaar

Under the Dome: Trying To Save This Whole System We Call Home
My son lives in Shanghai and has an apartment on the 37th floor that should have a wonderful view over the city and far beyond. Unfortunately, you can barely see a couple of hundred meters and even that is murky. Some days you can barely make out buildings over the river. Whenever I visit I’m given a face-mask. Once in the car, I’m forbidden to open the windows. Every couple of hours we check the weather apps on our phone what is the pollution like and if it’s bad we get inside.
http://www.commondreams.org/further/2015/03/05/under-dome-trying-save-whole-system-we-call-home

and
Only 1% of China’s 560 million urban residents breathe air that is safe by EU standards
www.china-mike.com/facts-about-china/facts-pollution-environment-energy/

The Staggering Cost of Israel to Americans
It seems that the US is paying Israel to buy its own Congress- some deal ??
Israel is among the world’s most affluent nations, with a per capita income similar to that of the European Union. Israel’s unemployment rate of 5.8% is better than America’s 7.3%, and Israel’s net trade, earnings, and payments is ranked 30th in the world while the US sits in last place at a dismal 193rd. Yet, Israel receives more aid  than all the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean combined—which have a total population of over a billion people. And foreign aid is just one component of the staggering cost of US alliance with Israel.
www.ifamericansknew.org/stat/cost.html

Four charts about mental illness
For years doctors have complained about the serious underfunding of mental health services. Most people think performing more surgeries and cutting waiting times in emergency departments wins elections, while making sure someone with schizophrenia is properly supported and medicated doesn’t.
www.smh.com.au/nsw/the-four-charts-that-will-terrify-you-if-you-or-anyone-you-love-has-a-mental-illness-20150309-13yswk.html

The John James Newsletter 51
21 March 2015

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner.
James Bovard

Solar and wind power have halted the rise in global emissions   !!!!!!!!!!

The IEA has hailed a “surprising” and “unprecedented” halt in the rise of global CO2 emissions as directly credited to the growth in solar and wind power, increased hydro, and the decline in coal-fired generation. Global emissions stood at 32.3 billion tonnes in 2014, unchanged from the preceding year, despite a 3% increase in global economic growth. This is the first time in 40 years that a halt in emissions was not part of an economic downturn.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/solar-wind-power-aid-unprecedented-halt-in-global-emissions-75353

http://www.vox.com/2015/3/16/8224915/economic-growth-carbon-emissions

Because this is now the trend everywhere !
Under the sun: Australia’s largest solar farm set to sprout in a Queensland field
A sea of glass panels may soon be sprawling across a paddock in Queensland’s Darling Downs cranking out two gigawatts of energy – 100 times more than the largest solar farm in Australia today – and a former top flight barrister is the unusual shining light behind its development. That is equivalent to one fifth of the current total renewable energy target for the entire country in a single power station. It is also more power than any coal fired station in Queensland can currently muster.
\http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/02/under-the-sun-australias-largest-solar-farm-set-to-sprout-in-a-queensland-field?CMP=ema_632
and
Texas city to go 100% solar, wind – because it’s cheaper, more reliable
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/texas-city-to-go-100-solar-wind-because-its-cheaper-more-reliable-75098
and
Costa Rica powered by 100% renewables for first 75 days of 2015
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/costa-rica-powered-100-by-renewables-for-first-75-days-of-2015

Australia top tan climate polluters
While most of the top 10 polluters publicly accept climate change and their responsibilities to reduce pollution, some have opposed important mechanisms such as the carbon price and the RET. All are Australian owned except for the worst which is owned by the Chinese.
https://www.acfonline.org.au/sites/default/files/resources/ACF_Biggest_Polluters_Report_FINAL_V1.2.pdf

How plants FEEL when insects eat them
A cabbage knows what creature is attacking it by the way it chews. Caterpillars produce more drool when eating a plant leaf so  it responded to caterpillars differently. The plant could tell various caterpillars apart, and can identify nearby sounds of eating
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2988798/How-plants-FEEL-insects-eating-alive-cabbage-knows-creature-attacking-way-chews-claims-study.html

Kurds of Syria, Turkey and Iraq unite to build Kurdistan
Is this possible when these three states would have to give up territory to achieve it? And when you read how this wrong was inflicted after WWI.
‘A consolidated Kurdistan is an impossibility. There is no reason why the distribution of the Kurds should dictate frontiers or why Kurds should be regarded as a people who require consolidation.’ – Lt Col Sir Mark Sykes, March 15, 1915
‘Major Noel . . . considered that British policy demanded the setting-up of a Kurdish buffer state which could be used to counterbalance any strong anti-British movement which might occur in Mesopotamia.” – minutes of Cairo Conference, March 15, 1921. Meeting chaired by Winston Churchill.
‘We demand that independence which is our birthright, and which alone will permit us to fight our way along the road of progress and civilisation, to turn to account the resources of our country and to live in peace with our neighbours.’ – General Sherif Pasha, president of the Kurdish delegation to the Peace Conference in Paris, March 22, 1919.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/kurds-of-syria-turkey-and-iraqi-unite-to-build-kurdistan–an-alternative-state-and-direct-challenge-to-islamic-states-caliphate-20150314-141xwp.html

After four years of conflict, Syria is ‘entering the dark ages’
83% of the country’s lights have gone out since its conflict began and life expectancy has dropped by 20 years, As the conflict enters its fifth year this month, the death toll stands at more than 200,000, Nearly 11 million have been forced to flee their homes, including hundreds of thousands trapped in combat zones with little access to food, shelter or medical care. More than 3 million have sought shelter in neighbouring countries, whose governments say they are struggling to cope. Syria is entering the dark ages, literally and metaphorically,
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-syria-lights-20150312-story.html

Moscow Launches Ruble-Renminbi Futures To “Facilitate Trade Between China And Russia”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-17/moscow-launches-ruble-renminbi-futures-facilitate-trade-between-china-and-russia
After the UK announced it will join the new China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a founding member, Germany, France and Italy decided to follow Britain’s lead and join as well (AND possibly Australia too!). Is this the end of the US dollar’s dominance? Is one reason that the total net assets of the US — every acre of land, every tank, every drone, every drop of oil in the strategic reserve – leave the US government owning MINUS $60 trillion.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world/asia/china/
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-ready-to-join-us100-billion-china-bank-20150319-1m33pa.html

Poor Farmers Bear The Brunt Natural Disasters In Developing Countries
Twenty-two percent of all damages inflicted by natural hazards such as drought, floods storms or tsunamis are registered within the agriculture sector, most often incurred by poor rural and semi-rural communities without insurance and lacking the financial resources needed to regain lost livelihoods. Yet only 4.5 percent of post-disaster humanitarian aid in the 2003-2013 period targeted agriculture.
http://www.countercurrents.org/cc170315.htm

Watch how 7-12 metre waves battered the Arctic ice between March 13-20
http://arctic-news.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/strong-winds-and-waves-batter-arctic-sea-ice.html

The latest sea ice thickness measurement (9th March 2015) for the US Navy submarines shows that the thick and rigid multiyear sea ice congestion has cleared from the Fram Strait between Greenland and the Svalbard Archipelago. The wave penetration is stronger within soft and highly fragmented seasonal ice packs, and so, the sea ice is now primed for faster transport out of the Arctic Ocean.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153101217844449&set=p.10153101217844449&type=1

German Officials: Claims of Russian Invasion of Ukraine Are American Propaganda
US officials regularly claim ceasefire violations in Ukraine, and Russian “invasions” that no one questions. The German government is increasingly annoyed over “dangerous propaganda” meant to sabotage the ceasefire, saying that the US claims are wildly inaccurate or unconfirmed.

German Officials: Claims of Russian Invasion of Ukraine Are American Propaganda

Putin in film on Crimea: US masterminds behind Ukraine coup, helped train radicals
“The Ukrainian armed coup was organised from Washington. The Americans tried to hide behind the Europeans, but we saw through it. The trick was to get the [Ukrainian] opposition supported by the Europeans whereas we knew for sure that the real masterminds were our American friends. They helped train the nationalists and facilitated the armed coup.
http://rt.com/news/240921-us-masterminds-ukraine-putin/

What They’re Not Telling You About Monsanto’s Role in Ukraine
In the guise of ‘aid,’ a claim has been made on Ukraine’s vast agricultural riches. It is the world’s third largest exporter of corn and fifth largest exporter of wheat. Ukraine has deep, rich, black soil that can grow almost anything, and its ability to produce high volumes of GM grain is what made biotech come rushing to take it over.
http://naturalsociety.com/theyre-not-telling-monsantos-role-ukraine/

Terrorists: The US Creates Them, Turkey Trains Them, Qatar Finances Them
Few are aware that Turkey is ruled by a Muslim Brotherhood government. As a NATO member, Turkey has long provided recruitment, intelligence, training and armaments (including a daily flow of ammunition and spare parts) on behalf of US interests. With Qatari financing, American equipment and Turkish training, it was like a marriage made in heaven. Although the Syrian army and security forces were exhausted they were not defeated. But the problems in this clever scheme came when IS started beheading Westerners and using the universal reach of social media to ensure that the whole world would see it.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41244.htm

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