A Macroeconomic and Geostrategic Analysis of the Unspoken Truth

Here is a link to a very, very interesting and deep macroeconomic and geopolitical study about the US position in the world.

It was written before the 2003 Iraq war, and has been expanded with some extra material after it.

It is quite long, but it explains quite clearly the role of the USD as the main contributor to the US economic supremacy, and also why they had to invade Iraq (according to the neo-cons ideology at least!)

If you are interested in macroeconomics and geopolitics, this is a MUST read!!

You can also find the PDF document on my website.

William R. Clark is manager of performance improvement at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research on oil depletion, oil currency issues and US geostrategy received a 2003 Project Censored Award and was published in Censored 2004. He lives in Columbia, Maryland.
Here is one of his newest book.

Project Uncensored

As I was saying in the Power of Images, how can you judge if you don't know what is happening!

This project lists all the things that didn't make it to the front News.

Being informed is being free(er)! :)

Drinking Sea Water!

It seems that Deep Sea Water has plenty of nice properties! :)
But it is damn expensive (US$28.62 for 10 liters), and you have to desalinate it before you can drink it.


Here is another idea about what to use the sea water for.

When there won't be enough oil to produce the energy we need, somebody might actually look into that idea :)

South Asia and its drinking water supply

Shrinking glacier in the Himalaya = not enough drinking water for the people of the region.

Imagine a world with not enough drinking water... Scary!!

In some years, people will love Bergen's weather (300+ days of rain a year) :).

Unprecedented

Here is a documentary (definitely not made by a Republican) about the 2000 presidential election which took place in the USA.
It is surely not perfect, but it makes a lot of good points!
Among others:
- How many voters were denied the right to vote.
- How high ranking Florida state officials were working both for the Bush campaign and organizing the election.
-How the US Supreme Court overruled the Florida Supreme Court, and made its ruling a one off thing which doesn't set a precedent and can't be applied in future similar dispute.

And when you remember the problems they had in Ohio in 2004, I really don't understand why it is so difficult to put a system in place where every vote is counted properly, and where you can recount them reliably if needs be! They put a man on the Moon for Heaven's sake!!

Katrina Profiteerings?

Interesting stuff...

Pat Robertson's charity has had problems before with the way they use the donations they get, but is still listed in 4th place on the charity organization list on the FEMA website.

And what about Halliburton? They wouldn't dare, would day?!

The power of images

Public opinion is something you'd better have on your side if you are a politician.

When you see how Americans are mad at their government (Bush is at his lowest approval rating, 39%) when they get a chance to see what is really happening (Cf handling of Hurricane Katrina), you understand better why they control so much what images from Iraq are allowed to be shown.

Imagine how different the situation would be if the public opinion started to really see what is going on in Iraq since the war started! Would Bush still be president now?

And in order to regain a bit of control, images coming out from New Orleans are being controlled once again. If nobody knows what you are doing, there is no accountability!

Rethinking our energy use

With more and more people fighting for a finite amount of oil in order to enjoy high living standards, we are heading towards a big problem. Oil price is going through the roof, which will have severe impact in the future if it carries on getting more and more expensive.

So until we have found a way to produce more energy from renewable sources in a sustainable fashion, we have to be more efficient at using what we have. There are HUGE gains to be made. Right now, we waste energy like drunken sailors! Big buildings can and should be design to be as environment-friendly and power-saving as possible. Transport also has a big potential for improvement. On the Home Sweet Home front, the way we produce, transport and consume energy should also be redesigned with efficiency in mind.

The average thermal efficiency of a power plant is around 33%! And we lose 7% of that through the grid! The energy facilities combining heat and power generation achieve efficiencies of 65% to 90%. We could gain by using natural gas in every building both for producing electricity and heat.

Saving energy is the easiest, logical step we can take now in order to be more self-sufficient and less polluting.

Major crisis looming in the USA?

It is well known that one should never say never! But hearing Bush urging his citizens to use their cars only if they really have to is not something you hear often!
hurricane Katrina knocked 8% of the US oil refining capacities out!
The gasoline price is increasing fast, due to shortages, or fear of shortages.
Bill O'Reilly himself (another surprise) is urging people to save gasoline, and he is even warning the oil companies that they should not profit from the shortages by rising prices. He promises to keep a close watch on what they will do and says that they should takes prices down in order to reduce their profit by 20%!
Meanwhile experts are really pessimistic for the coming winter since the price tag for heating private homes might skyrocket. They are telling people to take their thermostats down, and better isolate their houses.
All this sounds like doomsday for Americans if you ask me. They are so used to consume oil without thinking of the consequences...

On another matter, the National Guard can't face the needs of soldiers in New-Orleans to protect the city... because too many of the ones who would be needed at home are in IRAQ!!!!
Now I am curious to see if the Americans will get really pissed off at Bush!
After all they are finally suffering first hand the results of his actions for the past 5 years...

Time will tell!

Reforming the U.N, but for my OWN gain!

Finally Bush got Bolton to be the US ambassador to the U.N. And boy he started working fast!

The 450 changes that Washington is demanding to the action agenda that will culminate at the September 2005 United Nations summit don't represent U.N. reform. They are a clear onslaught against any move that could strengthen the United Nations or international law.

Once again, the USA want to have it their way, and they don't give a f*ck about the greater good of humanity, justice or making the world a better place.
They simply want to carry on doing exactly what they feel like doing, and not being part of any international law they don't like.

Have a look in the article at all the points they want deleted from the negociated document made to reform the U.N!

Don't mess with Mother Nature!

How interesting to read that the destruction of coastal wetlands for economical development has destroyed an efficient buffer zone protecting New Orleans and other places from hurricane like Katrina!

If at least the planners would learn... But somehow I have the feeling that money and profit will blind them again in the future... Human nature you see...