Category: Columns

Geoff has written for publications as diverse as PC User and The Northern Star His weekly columns have been a source of humour and inspiration for tens of thousands of readers and his mailbox is always full.
Here you can find his more recent contributions.

  • John James Newsletter No.

    John James Newsletter No. <20>

    The John James Newsletter 20
    20 October 2014.

    “An unconscious people, an indoctrinated people, a people fed only partisan information and opinion that confirm their own bias, a people made morbidly obese in mind and spirit by the junk food of propaganda, is less inclined to put up a fight, ask questions and be skeptical. That kind of orthodoxy can kill a democracy – or worse.”  – Bill Moyers

    Methane Hydrates – Extended Interview Extracts With Natalia Shakhova

    800x489

    The expression on her face alone tells me something is really really wrong and she is trying her best to not create a mass panic by telling the TRUTH of the situation, which could be much much worse. This is what most grabbed me. To my eyes, she was trying her best to just hold it together and get through the interview. She was genuinely shaken by this  data.

    I again urge you to read my report on the Siberian clathrates
    http://planetextinction.com/documents/Methane,%20the%20Gakkel%20Ridge%20and%20human%20survival.pdf

    Grid parity achievable for EU renewables by 2018
    European analysis finds solar and wind could achieve grid parity in Turkey by 2018; solar in Spain by 2021, Portugal by 2022 and Italy by 2025.
    http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/grid-parity-achieveable-eu-renewables-2018-report-74208

    Arctic Death Spiral during past 34 years
    The Arctic Death Spiral 1979-2013

    Arctic Sea Ice Spiral 1979-2013 (Sea Ice Decline / Deglaciation)

    arctic-death-spiral-620x581

    Ebola Is Ecosystem Collapse
    The global environment is collapsing and dying under the weight of inequitable over-population and ecosystem loss. 66% of Earth’s land area must be maintained as natural and agro-ecological ecosystems to sustain a livable environment. Yet about 50% have already been lost, threatening global biosphere collapse. In describing the paper, author Dr. Glen Barry suggests the Ebola epidemic, California drought, and Middle East revolutions indicate planetary boundaries have been exceeded.
    http://www.ecointernet.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/MEQ-Terrestrial-Ecosystem-Loss-and-Biosphere-Collapse.pdf

    Lets listen to our security analysis
    Multiple U.S. intelligence agencies have repeatedly announced their consensus that ISIS is not an immediate threat to America. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says there’s no evidence that ISIS is occupied with “active plotting against the homeland.” DHS reports ISIS is not in Mexico, attempting to infiltrate the southern border. The FBI swatted down any notion that ISIS is planning an attack in the New York City subway system.
    This mismatch between public perception and intelligence reports is not unique to ISIS. Indeed, it has been frustratingly consistent in Iran policy for years. No less than 16 American intelligence agencies agreed in 2012 that Iran had no nuclear weapons in development — a conclusion that apparently stands today. But Americans are consistently concerned that the United States is not doing enough to stop the “threat” of Iran getting nukes.
    http://theweek.com/article/index/269613/if-we-must-have-a-hugely-invasive-national-security-state-lets-at-least-listen-to-it?utm_content=buffer3e3a5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

    Iraq descends into anarchy
    The Shia militias have become the main fighting force of the Baghdad government since the Iraqi army was defeated by Isis when it took northern Iraq in June. According to a detailed Amnesty International report published today, the militias enjoy total immunity in committing war crimes against the Sunni community, often demanding large ransoms but killing their victims even when the money is paid.
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/shia-militias-abducting-and-killing-sunni-civilians-in-revenge-for-isis-attacks-9792838.htmlm

    The crumbling Levant poses a greater danger than ISIL
    The British colonial term Levant encompasses modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine, with a total population of over 70 million people. The population—mostly young, unemployed or underemployed, poor, and inadequately educated—has lost trust in their leaders and the governing elites.
    http://worldpress.org/link.cfm?http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/10/opinion-the-u-s-and-a-crumbling-levant/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=opinion-the-u-s-and-a-crumbling-levant

  • John James Newsletter No. <11>

    The John James Newsletter 11
    6 September 2014.

    How the IPCC is sharpening its language on climate change
    Not only is the wording around how the climate is changing more decisive, the evidence the report references is stronger when compared to the  previous version published in 2007.
    http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2014/09/how-the-ipcc-is-sharpening-its-language-on-climate-change/

    Arab Region Has World’s Fastest Growing HIV Epidemic
    http://worldpress.org/link.cfm?http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/09/arab-region-has-worlds-fastest-growing-hiv-epidemic/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=arab-region-has-worlds-fastest-growing-hiv-epidemic

    You Can’t Understand ISIS If You Don’t Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia
    The dramatic arrival of ISIS in Iraq has perplexed many by its violence and its evident magnetism for Sunni youth. They find Saudi Arabia’s ambivalence in the face of this both troubling and inexplicable, wondering, “Don’t the Saudis understand that ISIS threatens them, too?” A powerful analysis.
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article39555.htm
    also from
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article39569.htm
    The Caliph now controls seven oil fields and two refineries in northern Iraq, plus six oil fields in northeastern Syria. They are extracting at least 40,000 barrels a day. They sell this oil at a cut-rate $25 to $60 a barrel whereas  Brent crude is currently over $100. The Caliph is making roughly $2 million a day, and everything paid for in cash or bartered goods. No one knows who’s buying from their complex distribution network, but the fact is the oil flows from Caliph-controlled Syria to Turkey and Jordan. Being so flush, no wonder The Caliph’s armies are heading towards Aleppo; they are less than 50 km away, and could soon take over some eastern suburbs.
    The Obama administration, meanwhile, prefers to excel at sanctioning Russia. If they were really serious at targeting The Caliph, they’d be following the money.

    Which town will be Australia’s first Zero Net Energy Town?
    The NSW consortium behind the push to create Australia’s first zero net energy town has formally issued a call for tenders, inviting service providers to develop a blueprint and business case for the project.
    http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/which-town-will-be-australias-first-zero-net-energy-town-21965

    Another step in the growing Central-Asian block that is changing the global balance of power.
    Putin breaks ground on Russia-China gas pipeline to launch the construction of the first part of Gazprom’s Power of Siberia pipeline, which will deliver 4 trillion cubic meters of gas to China over 30 years.
    http://rt.com/business/184176-russia-china-gas-siberian-power/

    “Disaster”
    Solar, wind, sugar, manufacturing sectors respond to RET review
    http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/disaster-solar-wind-sugar-manufacturing-sector-respond-to-ret-review-37501

    Somalia famine: ‘We only have days to live’
    People are starving in southern Somalia while relief efforts are blocked by government and rebel fighting.
    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/08/somalia-famine-only-days-live-2014830113012260245.html

  • John James Newsletter No. <21>

    The John James Newsletter 21
    24 October 2014.

    “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but who thinks of changing himself?” –  Leo Tolstoy

    Australia is becoming more Fascist by the day
    Babies born to asylum-seekers in Australian detention will become stateless persons. Many asylum-seeker families will be forced to remain permanently divided. Courts will have no oversight of the immigration bureaucracy. Our nation will be in contempt of its international obligations and of the United Nations Refugee Convention.
    https://www.communityrun.org/petitions/stop-legislation-denying-human-right-for-aslyum-seekers

    The US is a Leading Terrorist State – Noam Chomsky
    On October 14, the lead story in the New York Times reported a CIA review of major terrorist operations run by the White House around the world, to determine the factors that led to their success or failure. It concluded that unfortunately successes were rare so that some rethinking of policy is in order.  The article went on to quote Obama as saying that he had asked the CIA to carry out such inquiries to find cases of “financing and supplying arms to an insurgency in a country that actually worked out well. And they couldn’t come up with much.”
    There were no cries of outrage to this article, no indignation, nothing.
    The conclusion seems quite clear. It is taken to be entirely natural and appropriate that  the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and liberal constitutional lawyer who holds the reins of power should be concerned only with how to carry out such actions more efficaciously.
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article40026.htm

    http://nsidc.org/greenland-today/#about-images-text

    screen-shot-2014-10-22-at-11-59-23-am
    Will Serbia Turn To The East? The Real Significance of Putin’s Visit
    This indicates a very real and growing shift, not only for Serbia, but for all of Europe. As the conflict between the CSTO and NATO intensifies, Russia is shoring up its traditional allies and reaffirming its support for the ‘Pink Tide’ Latin American allies. Russia does not oppose Serbia’s potential to join the EU, seeing it as another asset within the EU, which can help to maintain its position in bilateral relations.
    http://www.countercurrents.org/flores191014.htm

    Al Baghdadi and the Doctrine Behind the Name
    When Ibrahim al-Badri al-Samarrai adopted the name of Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi al-Husseini al-Quraishi and revealed himself to the world as the Amir al-Mu’minin (the Commander of the Faithful) Caliph Ibrahim of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, the whole world had to sit up and take notice of him. the views and actions of al-Baghdadi and his followers are almost an exact copy of the Wahhabi revivalist movement instigated by 18th century theologian Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab.

    OPINION: Al Baghdadi and the Doctrine Behind the Name

    Polar jet stream appears hugely deformed

    85453784893-700

    http://arctic-news.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/polar-jet-stream-appears-hugely-deformed.html

    A Shell Game Falters: Fracking Update November 2013
    This is a good-outcome read!

    A Shell Game Falters: Fracking Update November 2013

  • John James Newsletter No. <4>

    The John James Newsletter 4
    6 August 2014.

    “The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do.”         Samuel Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations”

     

    One of the two first international monitors on-site saw conclusive evidence that the Malaysian plane had been hit by “very very strong machine-gun fire,” not by ground-based missile-fire.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ze9BNGDyk4
    And fuller description
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article39341.htm

    A bundle of information on the Great Siberian Craters
    Not resolved, but it is thought that warming temperature created a hot pond that sank with enough heat to release the methane
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2711806/Has-mystery-Siberian-craters-finally-solved-Scientist-claims-created-SINKHOLES-erupted-outwards.html

    Worse news for Australia as India taps solar, Beijing bans coal
    http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/worse-news-for-australia-as-india-taps-solar-beijing-bans-coal-66423

    Obama’s ‘helplessness’ an act: Snowden reveals scale of US aid to Israel
    http://rt.com/news/177716-us-israel-funding-aggression/

     

  • John James Newsletter No. <5>

    The John James Newsletter 5
    11 August 2014.

    For full coverage of the emissions of methane and the consequences to our weather and our future
    Spend a little time with this.
    The Arctic Methane Monster’s Rapid Rise
    Jennifer Hynes gave thus presentation about the situation in the Arctic and the odds that things will rapidly spiral out of control, escalating into runaway global warming a few decades from now.
    youtube.com/watch?v=a9PshoYtoxo

    “A Hideous Atrocity”: Noam Chomsky on Israel’s Assault on Gaza
    It’s a hideous atrocity, sadistic, vicious, murderous, totally without any credible pretext.
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article39364.htm

    Why can’t Islamic State be stopped? Analysts say it’s better armed and better organized.
    http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/08/07/6028238/why-cant-islamic-state-be-stopped.html?rh=1

  • John James Newsletter No. <6>

    The John James Newsletter 6
    15 August 2014.

    “We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the
    cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population.”
    David Ben-Gurion, (1886-1973),
    from Ben-Gurion, A Biography, by Michael Ben-Zohar, Delacorte, New York 1978.

    Water Disaster Hits Every Single Person In Gaza
    www.countercurrents.org/abunimah140814.htm
    This is the infograph mentioned
    http://www.ewash.org/files/library/Gaza%20water%20disaster%20info%20graphic.pdf

    A catastrophe of unimaginable proportions is unfolding in the Arctic Ocean.
    Huge quantities of methane are erupting from the seafloor of the East Siberian Sea and entering the atmosphere over the Arctic Ocean. Horrific Methane Eruptions in East Siberian Sea
    http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2014/08/horrific-methane-eruptions-in-east-siberian-sea.html

    Another 16,000 homes add rooftop solar in July, mainly in Queensland.
    http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/graph-day-another-16000-homes-add-rooftop-solar-july-97792

    The madness of WA’s multi-billion fossil fuel energy disaster
    Is this the first “death spiral” for the coal industry?
    http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/madness-multi-billion-dollar-electricity-disaster-70983