Any questions? Contact us.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Obama's First 100 days in office (Updated)

They'll never learn

They cannot help it. It doesn’t matter what History mastered us. It doesn’t even matter what today’s world shows us. For politicians, to say that we are going well, or we will be soon, it’s as normal as a rainy day in Dublin. It must be the use of lying.

But that’s exactly what Japanese Finance minister, Kaoru Yosano, said. He argued that the “worst is over”. His counterparts from in G7 were just out of a summit and agreed with him. It’s still needed more money for the IMF, more liquidity for the banks and more gasoline to kill the fire, more resources for the 25 people who got us here first. But nobody panics, the worst is over.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound new. I lost the count on how many times I have seen that. If I had a penny for each minister saying “we’re close to the end” or “everything’s going better” since January last year, now I’d be rich enough to be able to fix the problem. But everytime that happened before, the hope turned into desperation after a few days -or even hours. As G. W. Bush said, “First time you fool me, it’s my fault; second time... you don’t fool me a second time”. And if you try a third, I get angry.

Health authorities warn: being a politician distorts perception of reality. That’s why they never drive their cars. I don’t know what to think, if lying is something innate to them -for the double side of politician and economists- or if they are too cowards to face the truth. Or maybe, they are just idiots.

Something is clear in all this: we are in a job destruction time. And at an impressive rate. Apart from politicians, people living normal lifes have two ways of engaging the day-to-day routine: scared not knowing when they’ll lose their jobs or wondering how to survive until next month without a job.

The US destructs jobs at a rate of half a million per month, Spain leads Europe unemployment with the historic number of four million people without jobs (and it’s expected to rise up to 20% of unemployment) and the UK is already talking about a lost generation of young professionals, those born between the 80’s and first 90’s.

The recovery will last for long. The IMF -from the independence that grants not having to face elections every four years- calculates that all recessions since 1960 lasted twice as long as the crisis that made them. The average is two years. Two years with people living unemployed of fearing from losing their jobs; we are not talking only of unemployment and economy breakdown, we are talking of social frustration.

That’s why The Economist warns: the worse for the is to admitt the worse is over. It is not over, it’s yet to come. Einstein said about crisis that they were a time to renew, change and development. To advance and convert mistakes into new ideas and grow thanks to that.

Peggy Noonan follows that and argues that this crisis maybe is what this world needed. Too worried about perfection, impossible goals and lifes lived over what we have, this shock is maybe what the world need to stop and wake up. Including the politicians.

Surprisingly, Obama has been up to date the only one with the courage to say things are bad. He recognized that the worse isn’t over yet and the recovery will last for long and will be hard.

Honestly, I prefer Obama’s (partial) sincerity than European ministers’ blindness and negationism.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Schwarzenegger in "State of alert"

No, relax. Governator is not gonna make a new movie. It is just that his state, California, is under health alert because of the swine flu.

Media has jumped in like hyenas over the influenza cases over the world. In mostly of the cases, with excess of alarmism. Just like it was with the Y2K, the mad cows, the avian influenza or the contaminated pork in Ireland last summer. Let’s hope that the strong survivors from those dangers to the humanity (us) will be able to survive too this new threat and repopulate Earth.

First, there are three numbers to consider: possible affected, confirmed affected and deaths. For now, although there are about two hundred deaths in Mexico, only two dozens are confirmed are directly related to the virus. And even for those cases, it is because of the deficient health system of the Aztec country rather than due to the influenza itself.

And that (two hundred dead at max.) is in a country with a capital of more than 30 million inhabitants. Make the maths. Well, here they are: less than a 0.0001% of the population of Mexico DF. In Western countries, the threat should be even smaller than that percentage.

As today, the flu is a “pandemia” with 300 confirmed cases (mostly in Mexico) and 3,000 suspected. Cases are in Europe, USA, Australia, Russia and Argentina.

But if something has been proven with this “pandemic” disease is the value of Twitter, Wikipedia or Google Maps to hunt down the news minute to minute.

Alarms for new cases are diary, but many end up being normal flu or nothing at all. There is too much histery for too few viruses. As an example, Spanish tourists arriving home from Mexico were more afraid in Madrid watching the news than in their holidays.

And to complicate everything even more, media is not sure that it is a pig disease. It is still unclear if it was transmitted to humans from pigs or if the virus mutated inside the patient zero (who, by the way, still is not confirmed too) Some experts suggest to rename it as “North American flu”, as the “Spanish flu” was called in 1918 because it was discovered there.

But of course, you can always try to look in another intricate way trying to find conspirations where they aren’t. At least that would serve for a Schwarzenegger movie plot.




Photo: Reuters.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Friendly fire 28/04/09

- The surviving pirate from Maersk Alabama incident, being judge in NY. And according to his smile, not very sad for it.

- A Predator drone down in Afghanistan. It is the third one.

- The F-35, hacked, and the future of American air power in the hands of... these models? Definitely, it is not what it used to be...

- Berlusconi second act. After suggesting their own people affected by a earthquake to take it as a “camping holidays”, now il cavaglieri encourages them to “buy in IKEA”.

- Russian Police Forces: about water throwing trucks and efficiency (second try).


.

A matter of honor

I always said that in a fight, is better losing the argument than losing yourself. Quarrels are based on defending a position we think is morally superior to that of our opponent. In the case of wars, we have to add to the balance a few deaths. It is here, when people start to die, when having the moral superiority and the right on our side turns out to be fundamental.

If we punish a murderer by killing him, a robbery by cutting the hands of the robber or adultery by stoning to death, where does that leave us? Definitely not in a better position that those we pretend to judge. And losing the moral battle, takes away from us the capacity to judge them.

That’s why knowing the limits and not trespassing them is so important. And it is quite clear that the United States did so with torture. For many Americans, it was a shock to watch on TV Abu Ghraib images. If we were the good ones, why were we acting as the bad ones?

The Bush Administration tried to bury it by blaming a few guys, but the second episode of this horror movie goes through Cuba. And even after admitting what it was being done there, they refused to close it down.

Now, with Obama determined to stop that insanity -despite the problems some inmates can cause, like the Yemenis- it will be a matter of time for the American honor to be restored. In order to regain the superior moral position, it’s only left to criticize torture and send to court those responsible for it.

Or maybe not? According to Obama, it is not necessary to prosecute the culprits. The past is past, and better ”look forward”. Really?

Let me get it right. So, a bank robber is not forgiven six months after he steals the money. Neither is a murderer. Not even an average Joe who downloads illegally a song from the Internet. But the ones behind Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo will be walking free on our streets? I don’t get it.

Condemn the torture is good, but it is only the first step. As an alcoholic, American government has identified what’s wrong; now it is time to act and prosecute the culprits. Not doing anything undermines American’s authority (if they ever really had it) to act as the world police and defender of freedom and democracy that has been for the last half a century.

But apparently Obama is serious about this. For now, he had already freed CIA agents from any responsibility, as they acted obeying orders. They will be luckier than their Army counterparts. But Obama hasn’t said anything about officials from Bush Administration. In the case of them, the President is passing the buck to Eric Holder, Attorney General. Holder will be who will decide if prosecute them or not.

Maybe because of that Dick Cheney was so nervous when he knew Obama had authorized -or to be precisely, he didn’t do anything to unauthorized- the publication of four memos that were the base to the legal framework that allowed waterboarding, sensorial privation, the use of attack dogs and other “limit interrogatories” (sic) techniques.

Calling waterboarding a “limit interrogatories” -Dick’s words- technique and denying it is torture is an exercise of bad taste. Especially for Yukio Asano, a Japanese official who had to serve 15 years of hard work after II World War. His offense? To practice waterboarding with an American captive.

But not only that. Apart from what is or isn’t torture for Cheney -who apparently doesn’t have a clear picture of that, it may be the aging- what disturbs more the ex vicepresident is not the publication of the memos. Nope. It is that the information obtained after those interrogations is not released together with the memos.

In a very maquiavelic move, Cheney seems to argue that the aim justifies the means. Maybe that’s why the alleged brain behind 9/11, Jalid Sheij Mohamed, was waterboarded 183 times. Abu Zubaide, supposedly an Al Qaeda member, was lucky: only 83 times.

The New York Times has also another 232 pages document, elaborated by the Armed Services Committee, that points out another heavy weight inside Bush Administration, the former Pentagon Chief Donald Rumsfeld. It also appears (again) the SERE (Survival, Evasion, Rescue and Escape), a USAF training for their pilots to resist after being captured and tortured by the enemy.

Only that this time, the enemy of freedom and democracy was the United States.




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PS. Guantanamo as a night reading for kids before sleeping.



Photo: Griston.
.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Should I stay or should I go?

Maybe Russia is withdrawing from Chechnya, but Medvedev doesn't have any intention to pull out from the Caucasus leaving it unattended. It's worth remember that, besides Chechnya, Georgia is also in the region (among other independentist wannabe regions). So the Russian bear shows his fauces to all of them by deploying six attack helicopters Mi-28N. The final number will increase to up to 67 by 2015.

And you though Medvedev was chikening out.



Photo: ITAR-TASS

Saturday, April 25, 2009

World leaders' summit... in Facebook!

Does anyone not know Facebook? For those living out of this galaxy, Facebook is a social network on the Internet. And everybody is there. Your friends, your exs, your school friends, the dog of the Quinns... Even Worldwide is there (and if you still don't follow us there, click here)

But, do you know who else is on Facebook? World leaders (click here to enlarge image).




Kudos to Jehad for the image.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Honey, get over it (Updated)

A week ago, John Kerry -the former next president of America- said that the USA really lacks of a clear strategy for Pakistan. Oh, thanks. That’s perfect, just what we needed. And to make it worse, it comes from a holy cow of the Democrats. Great!

But however, maybe there is something going on in the US. Here in Worldwide we have been saying it for a long time. To solve A’stan you need to focus on Pakistan, and to solve that you need to keep an eye on India.

Well, apparently in Washington offices they are also realizing this. Do they read us? General Petraeus went this week to the Pakistanis and said the damn “We need to talk” sentence. At the end, he shouted clearly: “Honey, get over it. It’s over”.

“The biggest of the big ideas with respect to Pakistan is that the existential threat to the country is the internal extremist threat, not the Indians — and that is a pretty big idea,” Petraeus said. “It is an intellectually dislocating idea for the institutions of Pakistan, for the military, for others that have spent — just as we spent decades faced off against the Warsaw Pact and were almost comfortable with that.”


Of course, it won’t be easy for Pakistan to get rid of the “comfort” of having an enemy easy to hate. Indians are culturally different and have another religion; they are “the others”. But start fighting someone you see as your brother in your eternal struggle against your biggest foe, that ain’t easy.

But Petraeus is right. If Pakistan doesn’t handle the indigenous extremists, the former friends can easily become dangerous insurgency foes. The US knows well about this.

Pakistani Talibans have shown several times their capability. A growing capability, by the way. The blasts are daily. And nobody is safe. Not even something as sacred in the area as cricket. In fact, the attack suffered by the Sri Lankan national team forced to suspend the World Cup of 2011 in Pakistan (and will take place in India instead).

Talibans have been able to strike even in India. The trial for the Mumbai attacks that started this week is a painful remainder of what was a dangerous incident that could destabilize the region.

Of course, the US have played a key role on that too. Maybe they should listen to Kerry and do something about their strategy in Pakistan too. Obama’s Administration recognizes that there is a threat, but doesn’t want to get dirt in Pakistani soil. So they attack with drones, what ends in attacks and terror over the population more than over the Talibans. A great recruitment claim for future terrorists.

Pakistani military isn’t happy either. They want the drones attacking the insurgency (not officially), but they want them under their control. Unlikely to happen. With an army not fully trusted by the Americans and a weak and lackluster political class, there aren’t the ideal conditions for a power handover.

Meanwhile the ones in green will continue ruling the country in the shadows, focusing on India. From the American aid to Pakistan, most of the money went into frigates, jets, missiles, subs and AAAs. Great to fight another conventional army (let’s say... India!) but completely useless for asymmetrical warfare.

What remains clear is that Pakistan is the clue of the region stability. Petraeus said in the same conference named above that Afghanistan "is going to get worse before it gets better". If in between we also lose Pakistan -or even worse, it falls on the hands of extremists-, that could be fatal. Just remember, Pakistan has nukes.



Photo: Matt Bors.

UPDATE: Gates warns Pakistan too: Handle your bad kids or forget American help.




.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Presidential Nip-Tucking

Spot the seven mistakes in this photo:



Well, actually they are less than seven, but the most important is on Obama. On his pecs, to be precise. As the own Washingtonian magazine admits, the graphic team played with Photoshop over the Presidential musculature.

If we compare the photo with the original, taken by Bauer-Griffin, the Washingtonian kids changed the color of the pants, his skin tone and the volume of his pecs.

This isn’t, however, strange to politicians. They use Photoshop in every campaign they do. But some magazines also use it on them and that’s seen with less permissivity. It is highly remembered the scandal in France after Paris-Match Nip-Tucked the presidential body of Nicolas Sarkozy to make him slimmer.

The one who didn’t have to make use of Photoshop (or at least is unknown if he did) was Vladimir Putin. It’s a pity the photos look like just out of a Russian bride/groom-by-mail catalogue.


.

Happy Earth Day!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Friendly fire 20/04/09

- No-one is surprised by Human Rights Watch report's appreciation: Hamas too used Gaza war to apply justice. Their way.

- Beware, Scottish criminals. Here comes the Jedi (Police) Force.

- The outlaw country no-man’s land of Somalia adopts the Sharia. Well, at least it’s something... On the other hand, the only theological country in the world (the Vatican) condemns Belgium condemn of the Pope words in Africa about condoms. But everybody is cool if they are the ones trying to affect other country’s policy.

- Being a journalist today sucks. Being a journalist in Israel sucks even more. Being a journalist in Israel being paid by a Spanish news agency; better find something else. Being an Indian journalist having to write about the inferior masculinity of the Indians; that’s better if you kill yourself.

- The video (click here) that made me stop hating Lindsay Lohan. At least the girl has humor sense.



.

Matryoshka wars

So in the end Russia is leaving Chechnya. Great, isn’t it? It’s Medvedev the new Russian Obama? Well, not so fast.

After more than ten years of wars, the Russian National Committee for Anti-terrorism has decreted Chechnya as an area free of “antiterrorist operations”. This effectively means that Russia will leave the Republic and won’t consider it anymore a threat.

Maybe the conflict is over -for now-, but the subjacent cause is still there. In fact, all the region is a great threat.

And in this dangerous area, will remain on top the present Chechen President, Ramzan Kadyrov. Probably, he is the worst one for the job. Kadyrov has gained a reputation of sadism and despotism, and his presidency has plenty of examples of disappearing members of the opposition -just to be found later already dead. Russia, leaving him on charge now, just makes him good for the job. And that’s what makes this region even more instable.

But the problem is not only in Chechnya. Have a look on the map. Who is south? Georgia.

To the war the two countries had last summer we have to add now more discrepancies. According to some, that’s just Russia trying to provoke NATO. There are for example troop movements on the borders that talk of a possible incursion inside Georgia. In fact, there are even troops inside Georgia, against what was signed last summer after the ceasefires.

Of course, NATO isn’t either helping. Making some joint exercises in Russian backyard isn’t precisely diplomatic. And just to add more tension, the inside opposition to pro-Western president Saakashvili is highlyagitated.

But let’s give them an opportunity. At least, they have started talking again. Will it be worth? The answer, this summer on your screens.




Photo: English Russian

Lucky bastard



Lucky bastard definition:

32 year old British soldier, electricist back at home, three-son father, on tour in Afghanistan and almost new to it. Gets a bullet in his head, it pass through the kevlar headgear from side to side...

...and doesn't touch his head by 2mm.

The rest of the story of the officially "luckiest soldier" in BBC website.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Aye captain, no end on sight!


Asymmetrical warfare is the new black in international armed conflicts. Obviously, the seas weren’t going to be indifferent to this fashion.

The problem of the Somali pirates is starting to become too big to be handled by traditional Navies. And its aftermath will be sensitive for the Western countries. Already in an economic downturn, it specially affects the Europeans, that can see the consumer goods’ prices climbing too much. For Americans and Russians the problem is not so bad: neither their commerce is directly affected nor their ships use those routes.

That’s why only last week we had the first seizure on an American freighter: the odds are against the European and Asian ships just for a matter of numbers; they are many more. For the rest, the area where pirates operate is key for the maritime commerce lines between Asia and Europe. The Gulf of Aden sees every year more than 20,000 ships going through it. Add to those number the intense fishing business (mostly Europeans, again) and make the maths of people sailing around.

In fact, this latter issue was the one that triggered the piracy in the region. Just 20 years ago, the now sea bandits were just fishermen. The big European ships, using big trawling nets, decimated the fish on the waters. The local industry couldn’t compete with the big boats of the foreigners. So they organize themselves against them to render a “fine” for fishing around.

What started as a revolutionary fee imposed to foreign fishermen operating in the area turned into something bigger and more organized. Being a pirate today is highly profitable, compared to the risks. And what’s more ironical, piracy is finally achieving its starting goal. According to the magazine Warship International Fleet Review, the tuna hauls of foreign fishing companies in the region has been cut in half.

All this could have been avoided with the presence of a strong central government in Somalia. But for years, there hasn’t been anything at all. The fall of the State in 1991 and the forwarding waves of armed conflicts (USA, Al Qaeda, Ethiopia) left a broad zone of the Horn of Africa alone with a huge arsenal at their own. Somalia is not a failed state, because there isn’t even a state. The official Government controls only a few blocks of the capital, Mogadishu. The rest, is just a no man’s land between their neighbors and the sea.


There are no easy solutions to the problem. Noah Sachtman, from Danger Room, proposes some. Some, like sending in the Navy (in fact, they are already there) and kill the pirates who seize freighters (like in captain Phillips’ incident), seem to be in line with the vision from a 72% of Americans, who want a tougher approach.

But it doesn’t look easy to coordinate a dozen navies and twice that number of warships. And in fact, it doesn’t seem to be having much effect on the pirates either. It is true that during the first months of 2009 the Joint Task Force had a relative success. The attacks were cut and all appeared to be a bad nightmare from the past. But it was just a mere illusion. As soon as the spring sun started to shine and good weather come back, pirates started to sail again, stronger than before.

And about the possibility of killing the pirates, the possible revenges against other ships make that option very unattractive for the crews. And the non-lethal weapons, only have worked so far once. Sailors, in general, prefer their shipowners to throw ransoms rather than bullets. And that’s why stopping the payments won’t work either. There will be always someone who will pay and will destabilize the general strategy.

Other options suggested by Noah include make convoys or give guns to the crews, but neither of them are welcomed by the shipowners. Convoys worked during WWI, but the delays forming them would result in millionaire losses for the companies. On the other hand, the option of arming the crews, apart from sounding impossible to some kind of ships (no firearms at all onboard tankers, for example) is hardly against the will of the sailors. They are the first one that doesn’t want any guns onboard.

So, if we don’t send in the military (that also, is not prepared for this kind of warfare) and don’t arm the crews, there is only one option: mercenaries to protect the ships. In this way goes Ron Paul’s proposal. The former Republican candidate to the presidency suggests giving “letters of marquee” to modern privateers.

The professionals like Blackwater Xe, already are on the market, since last year. Shipowners, though, are not so happy with the idea. They cannot afford the bills that the USA pays in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The US Navy Admirals are considering another option that lies in between the contractors and the armies. This would be to pay pirates to attack their brothers. This is, copy the tactic used in Mesopotamia with the “Sons of Iraq” to apply it in open seas.


But probably, the only good, solid and stable exit to the problem would be to implement a strong Government in Somalia and attack the pirates on shore. Barbery wars were only solved when pirates’ refuge in Algiers was taken by the French. And the UN has already authorized raids in Somalia’s soil to prosecute the sea bandits.

The problem is that not many countries are willing to take part in an operation in the Horn of Africa with boots on the ground. Ethiopia did it because it was in their own good, to avoid an Islamist nightmare in their backyard. Maybe Kenya could be convinced to intervene for the same reason, but they are already with too many problems at home. For the rest of the countries, that’s unlikely to happen.

The United States are already involved in three asymmetrical wars in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Getting into more trouble may be considered, but after “Black Hawk Down” it is unlikely to see American troops getting alone in a serious operation on Somali soil. Only, maybe, France could get along the US in this adventure. The French have launched nine operations against the pirates, one of them, a helicopter-borne commandos infiltration on shore.

For the rest, nothing is expected. The EU created a task force and was the first one in the area, but lacks of the logistics to get involved in an asymmetrical war in Africa being already engaged in Iraq and with the Talibans in Afghanistan, what is their priority right now. China, India, Japan and other Asian countries have done more than enough. At least, to the light of their public opinions, that is what counts. Russia? Don’t expect the Russians in this game.

However, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is willing to create something like a state in Somalia. This position collides with UN decision last December to pull out of the country and end its mission there. Obama bets too for tough hand against the pirates. And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also elaborated a few proposals in this way.

Clinton comes with the already said ideas of increasing the coordination between the navies, modernize freighters’ passive defensive systems, make some government building and, the most original idea, freeze the assets of the pirates. A great idea if it wasn’t because it is really hard to bring into a safe port.

First, there is no State in Somalia who controls the banks. There aren’t even banks. And then, there is the issue of the money. Pirates doesn’t use online accounts transfers to get the ransoms. They want cash, preferably in sport bags handled over by hand or launched into an area in land or the sea from helicopters. And after they got the money, they don’t save it into Swiss accounts like AIG executives.


For now, some as Abu Muqawama see signs in Obama’s policy that show they may be preparing an intervention soon. But until then, the Horn of Africa will be the most dangerous place on Earth.

And it's getting worse.

Somalia’s Prime Minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmake, says that with the money from the ransoms -a huge amount in the last months- pirates are now able to buy more weapons, more equipment and more contacts.

Until now, they always attacked small preys near the coastline armed with cheap weapons like RPGs and old Kalashnikovs. And more important, they lacked from logistic and information.

But as David Axe suggests, now, thanks to their GPS devices and a wide net of spies -made up of money- that includes port authorities and custom officers form Port Said to Mombasa and Dubai, pirates know exactly which ships are where, when, what are carrying and if they are able to attack them or not. And the beginning of seizures after the dark increases the worries about the pirates acquiring night vision tech.

That’s why Sharmake asks for guns to fight them back. But introduce more weapons in a country already riddled with them seems very risky. Last time that happened, thousands of Somali soldiers deserted with their uniforms and their guns. And even if they don’t do so this time, the Somali army has only less than 5,000 really loyal boots.

Of course, in the end, the Somalis will have to become a solid country with a strong state, but as for today, they aren’t still up for the job. And getting more weapons without control won’t help.

Meanwhile, as the Economist states, the best ally for the freighters in the Indic will be bad weather. The monsoon starts at the end of May and lasts until August. Let’s hope this year will be a bit longer.



Photos: EPA / Veronique de Viguerie / Reuters / Jehad Nga

Thursday, April 16, 2009

World leadership without a leader

Kofi Annan. Hands up who remember him. Of course you do. Just having watched TV for a while sometime in the past ten years you have known a thing or two related to him. He made of his time in the UN General Secretary office a valuable period. Maybe he wasn’t as successful as he should have been, but it was more because of having in front a super-villain like Bush Jr. rather than for lack of effort. Somewhat like why Larry Bird wasn’t as bright as he should have been: because he had in front of him two people like Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan.

But, anyone knows the current UN General Secretary?

Ban Ki-Moon -that’s his name- is a complete unknown person for most of the general public. In fact, in an occasion talking with Korean friends, they were surprised that I actually knew of the existence of him. Well, maybe that’s not so important. In the end, many of the common people like you or me never will give a shit of what is done in NY’s UN HQ. But what is more worrying is that not even in the diplomatic circle is he well known.

Just as a starter: his internal circle is really close to outsiders. The decision group surrounding him is made up of close collaborators of Ki-Moon. Like Kim Won-soo, an old friend from his time as Foreign Minister in South Korea and the visible head of the corps guards constantly around him. Going down the organization, it doesn’t get better. The General Secretary tries to manage the UN as if it was his old Korean portfolio (homogen and uniform) when it is something completely different (heterogen and complex).

From the old employees of the floor 38 of the UN building in NY (the floor of the General Secretary office), just a few survived after Annan left. As an African diplomat said to John Carlin in this article their substitutes lack, generally, of the experience and abilities of those under Annan management.

To make things worse, he has betted since the beginning for a discrete diplomacy. Indeed. Ban Ki-Moon’s inactivity has been a constant since his first day in office. He then started his first test by standing in a passive attitude against the sentence against Saddam Hussein in Iraq, just the opposite to the general attitude from the UN office against death penalty.

Then, the inactivity or late responses have been going on crisis after crisis. In Sudan (for now, his only victory, and it was just temporary and partial) he convinced al-Bashir to let international NGOs operate in Darfur. But a few months after, he didn’t have any problem to meet him FACE to FACE in the Arab summit in Doha, even Bashir was under an arrest warrant from the ICC

In the African Great Lakes, in Georgia and in Gaza, Ban Ki-Moon arrived late and show. Very late, in fact, In the case of Gaza, he only started to speak when the death toll was already on 600, even some UN offices had been already attacked before and will be again in the days after.

Now, we have to add to the list the Western Sahara. According to a report from his office, and against the opinion of the UN’s envoy to the area, Chris Ross, and some NGOs, Ban Ki-Moon considers that the MINURSO mission should finish. Well, in fact this shouldn’t be so shocking. He did the same in Somalia last December, leaving them alone.

But if DPRK launches a missile, then three days are enough to make a condemn resolution.

Of course, China, Russia and the USA are really happy with him, unlike they were with Kofi Annan. In the end, Ban Ki-Moon is a good boy and doesn’t give them too much trouble.



Photo: AP

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Damn you Kim Jong-Il!

In the end, the United Nations Security Council could make it forward for a document condemning the DPRK’s launch of a long-range missile/satellite-rocket. The text also includes possible new “hard sanctions” for North Korea. And Kim Jong-Il said...

So... What?

As many analysts predicted, the DPRK not only ignored the resolution but also warned the Western countries with going back to the nukes line production. After a long up-down six-party negotiation, Pyongyang dismantled his Yongbyon nuclear reactor and agreed to do so with other facilities in the country. However, last December, the talks got stopped.

New American Administration has been able to attract again the Europeans, calm the Iranians and Russians and even make smile the Cubans. But the DPRK, that's something apparently Obama won't change. Too much ego in such a tiny person.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Hard to be a woman in Afghanistan

It’s understandable see the Talibans trying to stab to death the Americans from behind in Afghanistan. What is not so cool is Hamid Karzai, president of the country thanks to the Marines, doing so. But that’s exactly what has happened.

Campaign in Afghanistan was sold as an all war on terror, for democracy and freedom. In the whole world people could see on their TVs images of women completely covered by burqas, living under the dictatorship of their husbands and the Talibans, with no rights, not even the most elementary ones. Liberation of Afghan women was made the motto of the antiterrorist operation in Central Asia.

Seven years later, the situation of women hasn’t improved a lot. And if the law approved last month comes finally into effect, then we will be going backwards. On it, among other measures, is approved the rape inside marriage and women aren’t allowed to go outside without the authorization from their husbands.

If it still hasn’t came into effect is because of the internacional fire it come under -Barak Obama said the law was “abherrant”-, and Karzai decided to put it on hold to be revised.

It is not just a whim from the clergy -although it was so at the beginning. It is a law enacted through a legislative process, approved by the two houses of the Parliament after three months of debate and has the sign of Karzai on it. Too bad for him, who many accuse of trying to get the radical sectors onboard with him for the next elections now that lacks the support from the US. Mohammad Asif Mohseni, one of the heads of the clergy in Afghanistan and one the drafters of the law, is using precisely Karzai’s signature to defend the rape law’s validity:

“ The Westerners claim that they have brought democracy to Afghanistan. What does democracy mean? It means government by the people for the people. They should let the people use these democratic rights”.

Afghanistan is still today, after the Taliban fled from the Government, an Islamic country legislated under the Sharia. Although the polemic law only affects to the Shiite population (around the 20% of Afghans), Mohseni defends that it can also applied to the Sunnis in many articles.

Like what? Maybe the fact that women cannot deny having sex to their husbands every four nights? The cleric points out that women can refuse if she is “menstruating, sick, preparing for a pilgrimage, recovering from giving birth or during Ramadan”. Or maybe he was talking about the prohibition to go on the streets without the authorization of the husband? “The law is permissive”, said Mr. Mohseni, “allows a woman to go out for a medical emergency or other urgent reason without asking”.

Cool. Now I feel much better.

This highlights that make of Afghanistan a democratic country won’t be easy. And it won’t get solved just with more troops. We cannot talk about democracy to people without electricity of clean water. Democracy is a consequence of a high level of life for the middle class, not something that can be imposed from the outside. Definitely not in a country anchored (at least in its way of thinking) in the Middle Ages. What worked in Iraq won’t work in Afghanistan for ages.

Iraq, prior to Bush, was a laic country. The US changed that for a fundamentalist Shiite conglomerate of parties’ government. The situation of women in Iraq came back three decades after the invasion. But Iraqi women can consider themselves lucky. At least they know what they want to achieve because they were living it just six years ago. They have a fresh memory of freedom.

Afghanistan, on the other hand, doesn’t know what personal freedoms are since the 80s. That the Americans say that back three decades ago, under a communist regime, the Afghans were freer than now, shows the low standards in Afghanistan. But truth is that back in the 80s they were a lot of women fighting with the Russians against the muyahidins, those Islamic fundamentalists that United States funded for many years happily and later turn their backs on Uncle Sam.

Time will show us if Iraq becomes another Afghanistan (et vice versa). For now, priorities have changed. It’s not about winning an impossible winnable war, but to not lose it. Meanwhile, similarities between one and the other are more and more every day. And meanwhile, tomorrow it will be still a long hard day for women in Iraq and Afghanistan.



Photo: Getty Images

US Navy 1 - Pirates 0 (Updated)

Finally. Captain Richard Phillips, kidnapped by Somali pirates since Wednesday in the Indic Ocean waters, was freed yesterday by the US Navy SEALS.

Details from the operation are coming out quietly. We know for sure that Obama approved at least twice similar operations to liberate Phillips –for those angry Republicans accusing him of not doing anything. In fact, last Friday the Navy tried to reach the lifeboat of the pirates, but they were repeled with fire.

At the end, Navy snipers took their chance when one of the pirates was onboard the USS Bainbridge negotiating the fate of Captain Phillips. They shot down the other three in an intense but short sniper fire. 3 bullets, 3 dead pirates. The remaining pirate waits in the American ship to know what Hill be his future, but he faces a life in prison in the US. Captain Phillips is free, alive and healthy.

But 24 hours alter the rescue operation we still don’t know for sure how it was. Apparently it all started when Phillips was pointed by one of the pirates with his AK-47 and the USS Bainbridge captain ordered to neutralize them. But it is unclear if Phillips jumped into the water when the shoot-out started or if it was before -and then the SEAL’s snipers started to make their job.

Anyway, the point is that at least Captain Phillips is alive. And now he become a new nacional hero (sorry Sully, your time is over)

It is not the first time pirates are taken down by firearms, but it is the first time the Americans are involved. This incident will mark an inflexion point and probably, from now on, we will be immersed in new maritime guerrilla warfare. For now on, pirates have promised retaliation.


Photo: AP Photo/US Navy

Update: Well, they promised retaliation... Indeed. Just this morning, an American Congressman took off in Mogadishu under mortar fire.

Behind PDRK's epic rocket-fail

Against what Kim Jong-Il is telling us, probable the North Korean satellite is now transmitting (indeed) from a subacuatic orbit instead than over our heads.

But at least now we know the real reason for that. Japan said that they wouldn’t do anything to stop the launch, but they left free their anti-Godzilla monster (via Lumberjack):



This is outrageous! Kim Jong-Il, declare war on them!

And Jon Stewart about the Korean Dong missiles. Best part from minute 3.30.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
Bad Korea Move
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Economic CrisisPolitical Humor

Friendly fire 11/04/09

- A man who attempted to kill Obama was detained in Turkey. At least JFK had a year of Government.

- After suffering a horrible earthquake, Italy faces its worst fear, something much worse: Berlusconi. What he said to the victims that had just lost everything, including relatives and friends: “Take it as a camping holidays”. Sure.

- The shoe-throwing fever reaches India. In Iraq, the man who started it all, saw his sentence changed into one year instead of three.

- Elections in Moldova, including assaults to the Pairlament. Follow the revolution via Twitter. Welcome to the new era of cyber-revolutionaires.

- Israeli commandos in Sudan?




.

Killing flies with cannonballs

Back in last year’s November, when I started writing this blog, I did so talking about pirates. Then, the modern buccaneers were right on the top of the wave. The kidnapping of a supertanker and a freighter loaded of tanks woke up Governments all around the globe.

Immediately, some countries sent their ships to the area. Not so China and the US, who joined the force months later. Since then, it’s become the biggest and most heterogen combat fleet since World War II, according to the CNN. And although at the beginning it seemed to have some effect on the attacks, truth is that pirates are back in business. They were just enjoying the money from their last prey.

Only in the last month there have been more than 30 seizures -half of them in the last week. “Numancia” Spanish frigate could abort the seizure of a Panamanian cargo on Tuesday. The French weren’t so successful in their rescue attempt. It was the third operation that the French Special Forces were delivering against the pirates, but this one didn’t come out well.

All the others were when the ransom had been already paid and the hostages freed. They ended up with the pirates captured or dead. It was like a warning to pirates, like saying that piracy doesn’t worth. This time the tactic was different. They attempted to rescue the hostages without paying any ransom and the result was a dead hostage.

But what has attracted the attention of the media has been the seizure of a Danish freighter with American flag and crew onboard, the MV Maersk Alabama. The pirates assaulted the cargo ship but the crew was able to recapture it. Pirates then escaped in a lifeboat with the captain as a hostage. He is still held captive.

The captain couldn’t do more than what he did, exchanging himself as hostage for his crew. It was worthless the attempt to escape swimming. The USS Bainbridge who is following the lifeboat of the pirates, couldn’t do anything. It didn’t even have a helicopter onboard -epic fail- and for now, the ship only can monitor the pirates with drones. Another amphibious ship, this one with choppers and Special Ops teams onboard, is heading to the area. The FBI is also negotiating with the pirates.

Meanwhile a small fleet of other seized ships with pirates onboard are also trying to locate their commarades, defying the omnipotent US Navy. The intention is to create a circle surrounding the lifeboat and carry the captain to land where negotiations can be delivered with Washington, even for the future, having the captain as their safe.

This incident has shown even more the need for a new small ship to face this threat. The same kind that Gates pushed in his budget proposal. The big destructors, frigates and carriers are unable to make any good against the rapid squiffs and irregular pirate tactics. But a small, agile ship, able to navigate near the coast and with airborne units -just like the Littoral Combat Ship- is the perfect match for them. And that’s precisely Obama’s and Gates’ phylosophy. Anything else is like try to kill flies with cannonballs.

It also has shown that the fact of having a naval deterrent in the area is worthless. You can deter someone who has something to lose, not someone who doesn’t have anything. Problem is not piracy, that’s the consequence of the poverty and lack of government in Somalia. Before being pirates they were just fishers, why then live in danger?

The problem is in Somalia, on shore, not in the water. America is a young country and may not know a lot about the lessons from History. But just 200 years ago, when the US were a growing nation, they joined their first international military mission abroad to combat the piracy in Barbary. They should remember that the problem wasn't solved until the French invaded Algiers.



Photo. Reuters

Saturday, April 11, 2009

New wars, new weapons, new budget. Part IV (So far...)


So, basically the changes concur with Gates and Obama’s new perception of 21st Century. The F-35 is a jet much more qualified than the F-22 for the new battle grounds (skies) -not to mention that, as the el Lightning II can be exported, unlike the Raptor, it is a better business. And about the FCS, it was a very ambitious project that hadn’t shown results yet (and probably won’t do so in the next few years); so it needed to be terminated. Neither the LCS has shown good results, but at least it suits better to the new counter-insurgency scenarios.

Meanwhile, the Marines should be really happy. Almost all their projects passed the cut untouched. The Osprey, the AH-1, their new and highly problematic-overbudget-mostly-delayed EFV and even the F-35 were part of their plans. And not only they haven’t been cancelled, but they have been push forward. Not to mention the extra Special Ops they will get. What else could they want?

That’s only, however, what Gates has said. But now it’s all on the Senate hands, that has a long history of recovering weapons. In fact, Senators think more of the works that will be created or destroyed in the States where they were elected rather than in the nation’s behalf.


In fact, one of today’s Government’s favorite programs, the Osprey, was about to crash 20 years ago. April 1989, just months before the wall came down, the Defense Secretary announced his plans to cut many projects from the Reagan era. Including the V-22. They were a waste for citizens’ taxes. Guess who was? Dick Cheney. Hard to relieve, isn’t it? And he had to face the Senate too.

At the end, the Osprey continued on schedule. And today, it has already seen the battlefields in Iraq and soon it will in Afghanistan. But some generals think now that maybe it could have been better if it had been cancelled. Specially after detecting a bunch of failures that forced to ground all the fleet. But it is also something usual with militaries and kids: they always want the latest toys, but they got tired of them when they already have had them for a while.

For now, Republicans are already shouting at Obama for the cancellation of the antimissile shield (including the ABL). Apparently, Reagan’s shadow is long. And the mobilizations to save the jobs the Raptor creates have been going on for weeks.

Meanwhile, there will be several funny weeks in between. For now, let’s try with Jon Stewart. Just a small mistake for Wyatt: the F-22 (cancelled) doesn’t have VSTOL capabilities, it is the F-35 (ongoing).

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
Full Metal Budget
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Economic CrisisPolitical Humor


(And the second part, with the engineer salamanders)

Photos: AP / Cherie Cullen; DoD

New wars, new weapons, new budget. Part III (US Navy and Special Ops)

The USAF and the Army didn’t go off well from Gates’ budget, that’s clear. What about the Navy? Well, they did better.

It’s true that the eleventh combat group won’t be created (including the cancellation of a new aircraft carrier, being the George H. W. Bush the last Nimitz class being built). Future perspectives for carriers aren’t better, as the Ford class carriers will stay only in the designing tables. But even though, the American airborne deterrent will continue to be the biggest in the world.

The plans for a new stealth destroyer, the DDG-1000 class ships, hit too the drydock for now. As it does the troubled presidential chopper.

But the AEGIS/SM-3 system; the small corvettes of the Littoral Combat Ship class (LCS); the project for a new amphibious vehicle, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV); and the updates for the new versions of the V-22, UH-1 and AH-1 are carried forward.

Two of these projects, the Littoral Combat Ship and the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, have the same problems as many of the projects cancelled for the Army and the USAF -like the Airborne Laser, the F-22 Raptor and de Future Combat Systems. This is, they are clearly overbudget, delayed far from schedule and their performance is under questioning. Why maintain them then?

The truth is that those two projects are perfectly in line with Obama’s new approach to wars. Asymmetrical warfare, a smaller navy and a force capable of quick deployment anywhere in the world and prepared to cope with the new wars on the ground and in the sea. The EFV is called to be the next amphibious vehicle, carrying infantrymen safely to land from their amphibious ships. The LCS, on the other hand, is perfect to accompany the new Strategic Projection Ships (smaller aircraft carriers with amphibious capabilities, the backbone of future Navy). Not to mention that is the perfect match -or at least more adequate than the actual ships- for the quick small pirate ships, as stated this week.

In this guerrilla warfare philosophy are also included (in a central part) the Special Ops and choppers. They have been the other winners in Gates’ budget.

About the hellos, Gates plans to buy or update 2,000 UH-60 (medium airlift), 500 CH-47 Chinook (heavy airlift), 600 AH-64 (ground support) and 300 UH-71 (multipurpose). All these choppers have been actively used in Afghanistan and Iraq and form the backbone of the supply chain and heavy fire ground support of the boots over the ground.

But in between so many tanks, planes and ships, the increase in personnel has gone almost unseen. Just as a starting point, the Pentagon wants to increase in 2,800 Special Ops (a 5% increase) his forces. They also plan to employ $500 million to “recruit and train” new crew for the above mentioned helicopters. In a third instance, they want also to recruit more boots to try to avoid hiring mercenaries.

The new focus looks smart. Smarter at least than the Bush-era focus, although it become a little more intelligent in the later times (under Gates). Now let’s see if it works. Or even if the Senate approves it before.



Photo. Officer 2nd Class Charles E. Alvarado

New wars, new weapons, new budget. Part II (US Army)

The USAF has been, clearly the most damnified by Gates’ new budget. But the Army didn’t go away to well either.

Many of Army’s Generals’ hopes were under the FCS (“Future Combat System”) umbrella. This complex project joined other ventures, including new drones, new ammunition, new personal weapons and new vehicles, highly interconnected with a dedicated computer network.

Right now, in words of Gates. The Army has 6 ton Humvees to carry infantrymen on open grounds; 18 ton Stryker Armored Personal Carriers to bring a small squad into urban combat theatres; and heavy 72 ton Abrams to combat other first line main battle tanks.

The FCS wanted to substitute all of them for a 27 ton family of vehicles. They should be agile, light armored, fuel efficient and highly interconnected. The project has been going on for almost a decade and at the end it was growing up exponentially in size and prize. In fact, they had become something completely different from the original. And to make things worse, according to Gates we are not even close to have the technology for them and maybe we won’t in at least another decade.

Bad symptoms. But for the Defense Secretary this was a decision we had to take. Hard, but we had to. In fact, this was “the hardest decision” for Gates, who didn’t “make up” his mind about the FCS until the weekend.

Also, the Army had been guessing that a vehicle somewhat in between the Humvee and the Abrams could be used both in asymmetrical warfare and big scale battles. Well, wrong. Tendency in Iraq and A’stan goes into more armor, not the opposite like stated in the FCS foundations. The FCS as a concept was dead.

Well, not all of it. Some small drones and ground robots hill see the battle grounds in the near future. In fact, some of them already are in the hot zones.

Of course, Gates acknowledges that these decisions -specially the ones about the FCS and the F-22- won’t be liked by many Generals. But he warned the military who disagree with him he doesn’t want any “guerrilla warfare on this... We have a chain of command”.



Photo: US Army

Thursday, April 09, 2009

New wars, new weapons, new budget. Part I (USAF)

They are tough times. Times of change. And the American Armed Forces wants to adapt to them. Or even if they don’t want, they will.

Robert M. Gates, Defense Secretary under the late Bush Administration and only survivor to him in the Government, announced this Monday the budget for the military for FY10. And just in case you don’t want to read the speech or listen to the half an hour time of the bloggers’ press conference, here is my analysis.

Before we start, it’s to be said that there is not all sold. Still the text has to go to the Senate, with a long history of resistance to cut-spending in weapons. But for sure it will get the approval from Obama and it’s a declaration of intentions of the new Administration.

And in Gates’ proposal, there are cuts everywhere. But they are uneven, too. The Air Force is the biggest loser, with the Army losing some and the Navy being almost untouched. This concurs with Gates and Obama’s view of the new asymmetrical wars that will face USA.

For more than a year and a half, Gates has been trying to cut spending and projects aimed to the possible threats of big armies (like Russia or China) and reconduct it into counterinsurgency projects, like guerrilla warfare and pirates conflicts. The strategy of cancelled -and ongoing- projects relies heavily on that philosophy.

For the USAF, Gates proposed stop acquiring more C-17 airlifters and F-22 jet fighters (these ones very overpriced) leaving the numbers for them in 205 and 187 respectively. Also decides to prescind of 250 ageing jets (F-16 and F-15) and put on stand by the decision for a new tanker.. However, he encourages the development and acquisition of more F-35.

Shocking for the USAF was as well the cancellation of the new generation bomber -“until the technology is viable”-, leaving in the future the task of ground attack to the wings of F-35 -and for now, to the F-15 and F-16. The Air Force also sees canceled the plans for a new rescue chopper, as well as the problematic Presidential Helicopter, the Marine One.

The anti-missile shield gets a push for the AEGIS system and the SM-3. But the Airborne Laser -or ABL, a futuristic Project aimed to shoot down ICBMs in their initial boost phase with lasers mounted in 747s- is canceled as well. And the Kinetic Energy Interceptor is put on hold for a while.

But probable, the most significative sign comes from the increase of UAVs: the drones. A’stan and Iraq had been a great test ground for this new weapon. Its development has been in fact very similar to the military aviation’s: first were used only for reconnaissance, then for bombing targets on the ground and now are about to explore the war in the air.

Gates’ budget wants to double the number of drones actually in service. This means increase the number of UAVs up to almost 500. At least half of those would be permanently deployed all over the world. It is more, much more than the total number of wings of many Air Forces in the world. In fact, the Predator and Reaper actually on duty will be considered at all effects fighters alongside with the F-16s, F-15s, F-22s and F-35s.

The military development runs also that road. Today, the USAF has a fleet of Predators (200) and Reapers (30). The idea is to substitute both models with a new Predator version, the “C version”. And this improved drone, as points Stephen Trimble, it is juts about to see the light. With stealth characteristics, more action range and improved capacities, including jet engines. The Nave is too developing its own embarked stealth drone, the UCAS-D.

This implies air raids with drones will become more and more frequent. It isn’t gonna be the total elimination for manned jets, but it is a clear bet for the robots. Maybe that’s why in Pakistan, Talibans are so happy. The attacks with drones are destabilizing the country more and faster than any other factor. And more attacks means more recruits for the Talibans. In fact, they are running out of ideas to provoke Obama to send more drones against them.


Photo: AP
.

Green farts

If you think you have seen everything about dumb ideas on how to save the World, think again. Maybe you though it was impressive the Discovery Channel series “How to save the Earth". But raining forests, cover the ices in Greenland or even throw tones of iron into the sea are nothing compared with what suggest an article from this week’s New Scientist magazine: using a micro-organism’s farts to produce fuel.

According to Tom Curtis, form the Institute for Research on Environment and Sustainability of the University of Newcastle, in the UK, there is a micro-organism capable of producing methane (in the form of farts) from electricity and CO2. The methane, later, could be use as fuel in cars or even planes. Not to mention that it would help to reduce the CO2 in the atmosphere. A great fuel source.

The solution looks awesome. From the energy used on the process, an 80% is recovered. And, as there are no noble metals involved and only implies living forms, it is cheap, simple and green.

It isn’t something new or revolutionary, however. Farts have been seen as a possible solution to cool the planet since more than a year and a half. In December 2007, Athol Klive, an Australian scientific, launched a similar proposal but in the opposite way: aimed to reduce the methane expelled by cattle and sheep. Unlike the farts of the bacterias, it’s impossible (and very unpleasant) to recover cow’s and sheep’s farts. So methane from those animal’s stomachs goes directly into the atmosphere, and it becomes another greenhouse gas.

But Klieve discovered a bacteria in kangaroos' stomachs that makes their farts free of methane. His study is based on the implementation of this bacteria into cattle and sheep’s’ stomachs with genetically modified tech.

The measure, according to the Aussie scientific, not only will decrease the emissions in a 14%, but also will increase the animals’ stomachs’ efficiency in between a 15 and a 20%. This is, they will need less food. Obviously this makes happy many farmers.

Meanwhile, Europe has just approved what was discussed a year ago about the reduction of CO2 emissions in a 20% and increase of the renewable energy sources use up to the 20% by 2020. The so called 20-20-20 deal.

Surprisingly, data from 2008 suggest that they are on the right road. Last year, emissions in Europe were down a 6%. But to be fair, recession has had a lot to say on that.

At least it’s going down. With everyone (media, scientifics, even the defence industry) proposing solutions, politicians finally jumped into the green car of global warming.

Of course, it’s not purely altruistic. It has a lot to do with newcoming threats. Global warming is not just something affecting Africa or the penguins in Antarctica. It can fire up wars and there are a few spots worldwide that will be seriously threatened by this. They are about to become hot zones, but not because of the increase of temperatures.

However, not everyone is doing it well. Even the good guys, like Germany, Norway, Japan or Spain. In the latter, green energies are having a great backing from the government, but money goes into the implementation, not into investigation and development. The end of this cycle is just the same as the house bubble, especially because of how it is being implemented (likewise the housing permits before).

Also the debate about nuclear energy has arisen again. There is a lot of hipocresy around the official position. The Government bans new nuclear plants, but doesn’t hesitate to buy energy to France, mostly produced in nuclear plants.

Today, green energies aren’t as profitable -energetically speaking- as the rest. And to fill the gap until they are, the most efficient, clean and safe way to do so is with the nuclear energy. And even better if we can discover the fusion. That’s even truer if we think about emerging markets’ demands in Brazil, India and, of course, China.

Neither Japan nor Norway are doing it well. There is a lot of external image but few real interest. Japan is the world largest manufacturer of solar panels, but still three of each four units of energy he spends come from non-renewvable sources and it is one of the ten biggest contributors of CO2 to the atmosphere.

Norway, on the other hand, is a extremely green minded country. Probably the most. But as the Economist states, he doesn’t hesitate to drill his own marine floor to seek oil to sell to others. Double moral?

Maybe the only good example, up to now, is Germany.


Are you afraid? Well, this works in that way. First you do what scares you and it's later when you get the courage
Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More

 
Worldwide blog©, WGMreports© and the texts included here are copyright of Javier Garcia Marcos.
All the pictures used in this blog are property of their respective owners. Any innappropiate use of them is unintentioned. Any image or link used without permission will be removed.
Powered by Blogger