Encore entente cordiale?

By John Busby

Mar/27/2008

The state visit of France's President Sarkozy will culminate in an agreement with Prime Minister Brown to jointly develop a new generation of nuclear power plants and to export the technology to the rest of the world. See Entente Cordiale Sanders Research, August 7th 2006. The state visit of France's President Sarkozy will culminate in an agreement with Prime Minister Brown to jointly develop a new generation of nuclear power plants and to export the technology to the rest of the world. Concurrently to the meeting in Arsenal's Emirates football stadium Sarkozy is offering to decommission some of his arsenal of nuclear warheads. The recent UK government consultation on nuclear power has ended with an invitation to the private sector to invest in a replacement fleet of reactors, while putting finance in place "up front" to avoid future decommissioning and waste management liabilities passing to the taxpayer. The designs of three out of four reactor candidates are to be examined by safety inspectors, culminating in the approvals for the new build in 2012. With an anticipated construction period of five years, new nuclear generation would commence at the earliest in 2017. It now appears that this is not big enough or fast enough for Gordon Brown. His industry minister John Hutton wants more than just replacement and is arguing for a "significantly higher proportion" of nuclear generation than at present. The competing designs submitted for scrutiny are those of Toshiba (Westinghouse in the US), GE (US), Candu (Canada) and Areva (France). The agency involved in the task has in the past has taken much time and has insisted on modifications for increased safety, which in the case of the Sizewell B station added to the cost and the delay. Cooperation with France for nuclear power means working with Areva, the station builder and fuel provider, which is 90% French state owned. Already electricity is generated and distributed in Britain by EdF, another French company, 85% state owned. Other potential nuclear generators in the UK include German E.On and RWE, Spanish Iberdrola and the UK's Centrica and would presumably be obliged to purchase an Areva reactor. There seems little point in studying the rival designs, but cutting them out risks infringing anti-competition laws. It seems that the Brownian "clunking fist" is impatient with the birth pangs of a nuclear "renaissance" unlikely to be financed by the private sector without subsidy and disincentivised by the need to meet waste management obligations "up front". He wants to lay the foundation stone of Sizewell C right now and that means building an Areva station (or two) there without scrutiny or waiting until the prototype being built in Finland has been satisfactorily commissioned. The Arsenal agreement represents a return to the corporate state – if we ever left it! If EdF is the keenest developer it is because, as a state company, it needs no subsidy and leads to a re-nationalisation of part of the UK electricity industry, albeit by the French state. The flaw is Areva's declining supply of uranium needed to make the nuclear fuel for its reactors in France, China, Belgium, Finland and others. Half of the US nuclear generation is fuelled from Russian ex-weapons highly enriched uranium diluted to a reactor grade by Rosatom. France supplies some enrichment tails for this program and it may be surmised that Sarkozy is planning to fill the looming gap in France's uranium supplies by sending some of its ex-weapons material to Russia for dilution. The Entente Cordiale in the football ground concludes the Blair-Chirac agreement in June 2006 (See RRR's "Entente Cordiale?"). The original Entente Cordiale was between Britain and France in 1904, worried about the German navy, but in 1907 it was to become the Triple Entente when Russia joined in to defend Serbia against Austro-Hungarian expansion. Maybe the Arsenal meeting is not just Encore Entente Cordiale but presages a Triple Entente to keep the lights on in France.

Sander's research is OUR CIA! Their latest on CHINA

The Heron's Latest Catch

China drought underlines hydropower reliance risks

By: Emma Graham-Harrison
Date: 28-01-2008

BEIJING (Reuters) - A major drought has squeezed electricity output at big dams across southwest China, highlighting the risks of Beijing's massive hydropower expansion plans on coal and oil markets in a warmer, drier world. Ships are stranded, millions are short on drinking water, and power supplies to big consumers in several Chinese provinces have been cut back, industry officials and local media have said.

And while building more dams will help Beijing meet more of its electricity demand using resources within its own borders, it also risks short-term surges in consumption of oil, coal or natural gas to generate emergency power when rivers run low. . . Other countries like Pakistan and Vietnam that are heavily reliant on hydropower have been forced to step up imports of fuel oil or buy power from neighbours during dry spells, driving up costs for producers and unsettling regional oil markets.

Follow this link: http://www.sandersresearch.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1337

(c) Copyright Sanders Research Associates Limited, 2007
All rights reserved.

Pay attention! OUR intel has picked up another item

Special Operations Command's 'Trans-Regional Web Initiative'

By: Sharon Weinberger - Wired
Date: 25-01-2008

During the Cold War, the State Department did a great deal of work on what it calls public diplomacy, i.e. creating cultural, political and news material to get other countries to understand (or better yet, like) the United States and its policies. Since 9/11, the U.S. military has also made a big push into this area as well under the framework of "strategic communication."


Follow this link: http://www.sandersresearch.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1335

(c) Copyright Sanders Research Associates Limited, 2007
All rights reserved.

News Unfit to Print

By Carlton Meyer

Aug/09/2007

Americans have limited news because editors fear upsetting readers. There are millions of naïve American simpletons who become furious at bad news and blame the messenger. Traditionally, news organizations did their best to report the facts while management rebuffed angry responses from those who disapprove of reality. Over the past decade, news departments have been absorbed by entertainment divisions keen on ratings, so they ignore news that may upset some viewers. For example, most of the U.S. Army consists of excellent soldiers, but the integrity of some senior generals is disappointing. Here are four shocking news stories from this year that America’s corporate media declared unfit to print: American Paratroopers Lynch Arab-American Sergeant A U.S. Army sergeant was found hanged with his hands cuffed behind his back. He was an Arab-American, Sameer Rateb, who grew up in the USA. Rateb had already served his initial three year enlistment, and had just reenlisted for five more. He was going home on leave from Iraq in a few days with plans to visit his parents. Perhaps Rateb was killed by Muslim-hating soldiers, or maybe he was upset by illegal activity and someone worried that he might file complaints while back in the USA. The Army immediately ruled his death a suicide, but opened a criminal investigation only after his mother complained. The Army insists that finding the truth takes time, maybe 18 months.[1] It is possible that he committed suicide, but that seems unlikely. He wasn’t a young teenage soldier, but a 22-year old sergeant. He left no suicide note. Moreover, soldiers have ample ammunition. If they want to die, it is far easier and less painful to shoot oneself in the head. Hanging requires finding a rope, somewhere to hang it where no one is around for several minutes while the hangee suffers a slow death. Then he cuffed his own hands behind his back before getting his head in the noose? In addition, this would embarrass his family. Why not just pull a grenade pin and wait for death? On the other hand, suicidal people are not always rational. What is clear is that America’s corporate media will not cover this story. Army Deploys Unready Brigade The U.S. Army’s “Stryker” brigade from Fort Lewis deployed to Iraq in early May. It had target strength of 4000 men, but 700 stayed behind for various legal and medical reasons. An Army officer admitted this was a very high figure, which indicates that hundreds of soldiers sought reasons to miss the 15-month deployment. The officer mentioned that such problems have become common in other deploying units.[2] Within two months of arrival, the unit suffered 17 killed and 170 wounded, which included 30 so disfigured that they were sent home. At this rate of attrition, during the remaining 13 months, the 3300 soldiers that deployed with this brigade can expect another 110 killed and 1105 wounded, to include 195 so badly injured they will be discharged. After this brigade returns to Fort Lewis, surviving soldiers can expect to return to Iraq within a year since President Bush has indicated that pacifying Iraq may take 50 years of sacrifice. As a result, career soldiers should expect they will end up dead or crippled before they can retire. Football Star Murdered by Army Ranger Pat Tillman was a handsome American football star who enlisted in the U.S. Army after the 9-11 terror attacks to fight terrorists. He was assigned to an elite U.S. Army ranger unit and rose to the grade of corporal. He was killed while on patrol in Afghanistan and hailed as a national hero by President Bush. After unofficial reports from fellow rangers made their way to Tillman’s family, the Army admitted that Tillman was killed by “friendly fire” from fellow soldiers. Army generals claimed his death was a typical accident of war during a major firefight with the Taliban. Tillman’s family had doubts since the Army never explained why all Tillman’s personal effects and gear were burned immediately after his death. The family learned that the Army had not performed an investigation into his death, which is required whenever a soldier dies from an accident. The Army conducted an investigation after the Tillman family complained, but refused to release details. The Army recently complied with a Freedom of Information Act request from the Associated Press concerning Tillman’s death.[3] These documents revealed that no Afghans were in the area when Tillman was killed. No one else was killed or injured, and no government equipment damaged. Army doctors thought Tillman had been murdered since he died from three bullet holes to the forehead, which was inconsistent with the explanation of the incident given by ranger officers. The doctors estimated the shooter would have to be less than 10 yards from Tillman when he fired those three rounds. This new information revealed that Army generals refused to conduct the required investigation, so belligerent Army doctors took the unusual step of bypassing the chain-of-command and contacting Army generals in the USA to complain. They were rebuffed, and an investigation only occurred because some of Tillman’s ranger comrades provided details to his family. There are other facts to consider not found in these Army documents. First, Americans carry M-16 and M-4 rifles that fire a 5.56mm round. Afghans carry Soviet-type weapons that fire the much louder 7.62mm round. The sound from these weapons is distinct, so it easy determine friend from foe when shooting starts. Second, a rifle barrel moves when fired as the bullet exits, and the human body jerks from the impact of a bullet. Shooting Tillman three times in the forehead with an “accidental” burst of automatic rifle fire is nearly impossible. The shooter had to fire, aim, fire, aim, and fire to hit him neatly in the forehead with three shots. It is obvious that Pat Tillman was murdered, something his mother has openly declared. Perhaps he was personally disliked by a ranger in his unit. Given that Tillman had become a vocal critic of the invasion of Iraq and frequently called President Bush a war criminal, it is not unthinkable that a fanatical ranger decided to kill this dissident. Tillman was scheduled to return to the USA soon and meet with prominent anti-war activist, MIT Professor Noam Chomsky. A famous anti-war former ranger touring the USA would devastate the Bush administration and the U.S. Army, so his death was fortunate for some. Americans find this controversy fascinating, as Internet chatter reveals. Fox News fills hours of airtime with detailed investigations of missing teenagers and murders of obscure housewives. Certainly, the murder of a football star by a fellow ranger is newsworthy, and would draw large numbers of viewers, yet the supposedly ratings hungry “news” organizations declared this murder unfit to print. American General Compares the U.S. Army to the Mafia When reports of abuses at the Army-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq reached senior army officers in 2004, an investigation was ordered. The general in charge of the prison was a one-star, so a more senior general was required to lead the investigation. Major General Antonio M. Taguba had just arrived in Kuwait, so he was assigned. His detailed, confidential investigation about the abuse was sent to senior Army officers, and top civilian leaders in the Department of Defense. Many senior generals were upset that Taguba reported the truth, among them four-star General John Abizaid, then the head of Central Command. They felt Taguba should have covered-up the hundreds of cases of torture. According to a June 25, 2007 article in the New Yorker, a few weeks after his report was leaked to the public by an unknown person, Taguba found himself in the back seat of a Mercedes sedan with Abizaid who issued warning: “You and your report will be investigated.” “I wasn’t angry about what he said but disappointed that he would say that to me,” Taguba said. “I’d been in the Army thirty-two years by then, and it was the first time that I thought I was in the Mafia.”[4] Taguba was forced to retire, and no Army officers have been prosecuted for those war crimes. Taguba declared in 2007: “I know that my peers in the Army will be mad at me for speaking out, but the fact is that we violated the laws of land warfare in Abu Ghraib. We violated the tenets of the Geneva Convention. We violated our own principles and we violated the core of our military values. The stress of combat is not an excuse, and I believe, even today, that those civilian and military leaders responsible should be held accountable.”[5] ______________________________________________ [1] “Army soldier hanged, mom says”, Atlantic City, June 7, 2007. [2] “Stryker Brigade felt strain even before it left for battle”, Seattle Times, July 29, 2007. [3] “Was Tillman Murdered?”, Editor & Publisher, July 26, 2007. [4] “The General’s Report ”, The New Yorker, June 25, 2007. [5] Ibid.