Update Japan, Daini nuclear plant starts smoking

Where there’s smoke there’s fire, in this case possible nuclear leak?

Smoke briefly detected at Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant

TOKYO, March 30, Kyodo

Smoke was temporarily seen at the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant, but it soon disappeared, its operator said Wednesday.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said smoke was detected at around 5:56 p.m. from a power distribution panel on the first floor of the turbine building at the reactor. The company, known as TEPCO, said it made a call to a local fire department.

The announcement came at a time when efforts are under way to contain the nuclear crisis at the radiation-leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, hit by the devastating March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami.

The Fukushima Daini plant is located about 10 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, and its four reactors have been stable in so-called ”cold shutdown” after suspending operations following the quake

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/82065.html

Kuwait will undergo collapse

 

Third Government Set To Fall In A Week: Kuwait Cabinet Expected To Resign On Thursday “Over Questioning”

Submitted by Tyler Durden

Following the fall of the Portuguese and Canadian governments (and don’t get us started on Belgium), here comes the latest entrant to the anarchy club. Kuwait’s cabinet is expected to resign on Thursday after lawmakers asked to question three ministers, parliamentary sources said on Wednesday. More from Reuters: “The sources said that the cabinet was set to submit its resignation after lawmakers asked to question three ministers who are ruling family members, including the oil exporter’s energy minister, who is also the information minister.” After all what better way to avoid answering questions in a bona fide “democracy” than to take down the entire government. But this too is bullish: “Ministerial resignations are frequent in Kuwait, which has the most outspoken parliament in the Gulf Arab region.” In other words it was priced on. And furthermore, with a globalized corporatocracy long in charge of the world, receiving its lifeblood of endless money and cheap credit, who needs governments anyway.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/third-government-set-fall-week-kuwait-cabinet-expected-resign-thursday-over-questioning

Update on Libya, now a new oil company is formed.

I said in another post this was about banking and oil. Resource grab. Right after I say this. I posted an update how a central bank was formed by private bankers immediately after the invasion. Now a private oil company to “rival” Gaddafi. Sure! Keep smoking!

Libyan Rebel Council Forms Oil Company to Replace Qaddafi’s

By Bill Varner

Libyan rebels in Benghazi said they have created a new national oil company to replace the corporation controlled by leader Muammar Qaddafi whose assets were frozen by the United Nations Security Council.

The Transitional National Council released a statement announcing the decision made at a March 19 meeting to establish the “Libyan Oil Company as supervisory authority on oil production and policies in the country, based temporarily in Benghazi, and the appointment of an interim director general” of the company.

The Council also said it “designated the Central Bank of Benghazi as a monetary authority competent in monetary policies in Libya and the appointment of a governor to the Central Bank of Libya, with a temporary headquarters in Benghazi.”

The Security Council adopted a resolution on March 17 that froze the foreign assets of the Libyan National Oil Corp. and the Central Bank of Libya, both described in the text as “a potential source of funding” for Qaddafi’s regime.

Libya holds Africa’s largest oil reserve. Output has fallen to fewer than 400,000 barrels a day, Shokri Ghanem, chairman of the National Oil Corp., said on March 19. The country produced 1.59 million barrels a day in January, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Exports may be halted for “many months” because of sanctions and unrest, the International Energy Agency said.

‘Extended Shutdown’

Brent crude for May settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange fell 0.3 percent to $114.62 as of 8:50 a.m. It surged to a 2 1/2-year high of $119.79 on Feb 24 as geopolitical tensions spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

The European benchmark will average $109 a barrel this year, up from a previous forecast of $98, on expectations of an “extended shutdown” of Libyan oil supplies, Societe Generale SA said in a monthly review dated yesterday.

The statement by the Transitional National Council also said the rebels would “urgently prepare a file on the referral of Qaddafi and his gang and his associates involved in the killing of Libyans to the International Criminal Court.”

The Security Council referred allegations of human rights violations by the Qaddafi regime to the court in a resolution adopted on Feb. 26.

The statement said the council would begin choosing ambassadors to foreign countries.

The UN said yesterday that Deputy Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi, who broke with the regime last month and said he was then representing the rebels, was no longer Libya’s accredited ambassador. Ambassador Mohammed Shalgham, who also broke with the regime, similarly lost his accreditation when Qaddafi appointed former UN General Assembly President Abdussalam Treki as envoy to the world body.

Treki hasn’t presented his credentials yet to Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, a prerequisite for officials taking the post.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-21/libyan-rebel-council-sets-up-oil-company-to-replace-qaddafi-s.html

Secret Nuclear Bombs hidden in US in 160 areas

I knew it was only a matter of time. The boogey is being brought back up. Look for them to ask the American public soon to give up some type of freedom in name of national safety here soon!

Threats Claim Nuclear Bombs Hidden All Over U.S.

CHICAGO (CBS 2) – The threats came in the mail and to date, there have been 25 letters that warn of nuclear bombs destroying America.

People who got them called the FBI and CBS 2′s Kristyn Hartman learned, the Bureau’s Chicago office is leading the investigation.

FBI Special Agent Andre Zavala said, “Yes, they alarmed a lot of people.”

Attorney Tracy Rizzo was alarmed. A number of days ago, an envelope, with a Chicago postmark and a hand-written address to her private investigations firm, came in the mail.

The letter inside said, “The Al-Qaeda organization has planted 160 nuclear bombs throughout the U.S. in schools, stadiums, churches, stores, financial institutions and government buildings.” It also said, “This is a suicide mission for us.”

The writer, who claims to be Osama Bin Laden, tells the reader the nukes are remotely controlled. “It was clear the writer wanted to scare me,” said Rizzo, “Yes, it frightened me.” Rizzo was one of eight people in the Chicago area to contact the FBI.

Agencies in Oregon, California, Texas and Florida also got the letter with the Chicago postmark.

“There are items in the letter that lead us to believe it is a hoax,” said Zavala. “There are several demands documented that aren’t fully coherent.”

He said much of what’s in the message doesn’t add up, but in a post 9-11 world, the FBI can’t let it go – even if it does appear to be a hoax.

“The FBI investigates every element. We can’t take that chance,” said Zavala.

So, why the threats?

The writer alluded to how families in Afghanistan have to live. The FBI said it will find that writer, and when it does, he could face 5 to 10 years in prison for each letter mailed. Anyone who’s received a similar letter should call the FBI.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/03/29/threats-claim-nuclear-bombs-hidden-all-over-u-s/

No more silver for war from Bolivia, as workers are on strike BUY SILVER

Oh no! This is real bad news for the government. As this will affect how many bombs they can drop on countries now as missles and bombs all contain around about 14% silver. The price of silver should go on up, as the supply has basically dropped by a large number. BUY silver! BUY BUY!

Third Largest Producer Of Silver Says Production Is Now “Totally Paralyzed” Following Week-Long Strike

Submitted by Tyler Durden

In news that should move the precious metals market, we learn that the world’s third largest producer of silver (as well as zinc and lead) has announced its production is now totally paralyzed. From Reuters: “A week-old strike at Bolivia’s San Cristobal mine has totally paralyzed production and exports of silver, zinc and lead, a union leader said on Wednesday. San Cristobal is the world’s third-largest producer of silver and the sixth-largest producer of zinc, according to Japan’s Sumitomo Corp, which owns the mine.” For those who recall basic central planning economics this means that silver should plunge immediately, and should react even more adversely on news that crude supplies in the US are surging. After all, oil supply demand is far more critical to silver price discovery than the actual supply of a metal that unlike gold, is used in various industrial and peacebringing applications (see Operation Odyssey Dawn).

I pay more taxes than GE. General Electric that’s right!

As GE not paying taxes is hitting huge right now, on top of this being given $3.2 bil of our US hard earned tax payer cash for nothing. The killed 1/5th their labor force in the US and created jobs overseas yet still got payed for the credits. They are are also getting rewarded with an advisory position to the President on the economy! BRAVO!

But I am thinking……I paid more taxes than they did. They made more in 1 qtr that my family will make in 10 generations and yet I paid more taxes than they.

We are not in a recession, we are booming hence why we can afford this extra 1/2 billion so far!

Yeah we are full of money, just ask Uncle Bernanke. We need it, he prints it or digitizes it. We’ve committed to war for what a week now, and we are already up to 1/2 billion dollars in tax payer money killing people in other nations in a 3rd war. Which should be called World War 3. It’s two continents and more than 10 countries involved. But we won’t until 30 years down road when this is all blown over. It’s imperialism is what it is. Resource grab for oil, water, and dividends on country repair and rebuild, plus add in the financing of the rebels war and once they win and take over only after months and months of running up an unpayable debt. Then, then…they will be apart of the club and begin to pass war reperations for supporting them in their time of need, even though they didn’t want us there.

Pentagon: Libya mission has cost US $550M so far

 

// <![CDATA[By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press ]]>

WASHINGTON – The military intervention in Libya has cost the Pentagon an extra $550 million so far, mostly for bombs and missiles, officials said Tuesday.

The figure is not a full picture of the price tag for the operation in that it does not include such money as pay for U.S. sailors, airmen and other forces, who would have been deployed somewhere in the world anyway, officials said. But it is the first official figure released on the cost of setting up the no-fly zone in the North African nation and protecting civilians from strongman Moammar Gadhafi as he resists a movement to oust him.

Of the $550 million in added spending through Monday, about 60 percent was “for munitions, the remaining costs are for higher operating tempo” of U.S. forces and of getting them there, Cmdr. Kathleen Kesler, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said Tuesday.

As of Monday, the 10th day of the intervention, the U.S. had launched 192 long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles from naval positions in the Mediterranean Sea — at a cost of about $1 million to $1.5 million each. The U.S. also had flown 983 sorties, 370 of those bombing missions against Gadhafi military sites and forces and the rest for surveillance, refueling and so on.

The spending only addresses the U.S. part of the costs in Libya, where an international coalition has been operating and NATO is now taking over command.

“Future costs are highly uncertain,” Kesler said. But officials estimate that they’ll see added costs of about $40 million over the next three weeks as U.S. forces are reduced and NATO assumes more responsibility for the operation started March 19, she said.

After that, officials expect to spend about $40 million a month, “if U.S. forces stay at the levels currently planned and the operation continues,” Kesler said.

With the U.S. already stretching to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan amid difficult financial times, the operation has drawn mixed opinions among lawmakers, including one who estimated last week that Libya could be a $1 billion campaign

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110329/ap_on_re_us/us_us_libya_cost

Update on Libya: Told you it was about oil and banking

I mentioned in an earlier post there were only several countries left that opposed the oil and banking capitalism of the west, and did not allow a private central bank to run the country much like the Federal Reserve. These countries were Iran, Iraq, Afganishtan, Libya, Venezuela, North Korea, Syria. There may be more like Cuba but I am not sure. Argentina may have pulled out. I do know they told the Central Bank to GTFO at one time and did not pay their debts. I am not sure if this has changed or not. We are in war in Iraq, Afghan, and now Libya. Bush tried to go to war with Iran and Syria but was fought with only 6 mths left in office.

Wow That Was Fast! Libyan Rebels Have Already Established A New Central Bank Of Libya

The rebels in Libya are in the middle of a life or death civil war and Moammar Gadhafi is still in power and yet somehow the Libyan rebels have had enough time to establish a new Central Bank of Libya and form a new national oil company.  Perhaps when this conflict is over those rebels can become time management consultants.  They sure do get a lot done.  What a skilled bunch of rebels – they can fight a war during the day and draw up a new central bank and a new national oil company at night without any outside help whatsoever.  If only the rest of us were so versatile!  But isn’t forming a central bank something that could be done after the civil war is over?  According to Bloomberg, the Transitional National Council has “designated the Central Bank of Benghazi as a monetary authority competent in monetary policies in Libya and the appointment of a governor to the Central Bank of Libya, with a temporary headquarters in Benghazi.”  Apparently someone felt that it was very important to get pesky matters such as control of the banks and control of the money supply out of the way even before a new government is formed.

Of course it is probably safe to assume that the new Central Bank of Libya will be 100% owned and 100% controlled by the newly liberated people of Libya, isn’t it?

Most people don’t realize that the previous Central Bank of Libya was 100% state owned. The following is an excerpt from Wikipedia’s article on the former Central Bank of Libya….

The Central Bank of Libya (CBL) is 100% state owned and represents the monetary authority in The Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and enjoys the status of autonomous corporate body. The law establishing the CBL stipulates that the objectives of the central bank shall be to maintain monetary stability in Libya , and to promote the sustained growth of the economy in accordance with the general economic policy of the state.

Since the old Central Bank of Libya was state owned, it was essentially under the control of Moammar Gadhafi.

But now that Libya is going to be “free”, the new Central Bank of Libya will be run by Libyans and solely for the benefit of Libyans, right?

Of course it is probably safe to assume that will be the case with the new national oil company as well, isn’t it?

Over the past couple of years, Moammar Gadhafi had threatened to nationalize the oil industry in Libya and kick western oil companies out of the country, but now that Libya will be “free” the people of Libya will be able to work hand in hand with “big oil” and this will create a better Libya for everyone.

Right?

Of course oil had absolutely nothing to do with why the U.S. “inva—” (scratch that) “initiated a kinetic humanitarian liberty action” in Libya.

When Barack Obama looked straight into the camera and told the American people that the war in Libya is in the “strategic interest” of the United States, surely he was not referring to oil.

After all, war for oil was a “Bush thing”, right?  The Democrats voted for Obama to end wars like this, right?  Surely no prominent Democrats will publicly support this war in Libya, right?

Surely Barack Obama will end the bombing of Libya if the international community begins to object, right?

Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize.  He wouldn’t deeply upset the other major powers on the globe and bring us closer to World War III, would he?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has loudly denounced “coalition strikes on columns of Gaddafi’s forces” and he believes that the U.S. has badly violated the terms of the UN Security Council resolution….

“We consider that intervention by the coalition in what is essentially an internal civil war is not sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council resolution.”

So to cool off rising tensions with the rest of the world, Obama is going to call off the air strikes, right?

Well, considering the fact that Obama has such vast foreign policy experience we should all be able to rest easy knowing that Obama will understand exactly what to do.

Meanwhile, the rebels seem to be getting the hang of international trade already.

They have even signed an oil deal with Qatar!

Rebel “spokesman” Ali Tarhouni has announced that oil exports to Qatar will begin in “less than a week“.

Who knew that the rag tag group of rebels in Libya were also masters of banking and international trade?

We sure do live in a strange world.

Tonight, Barack Obama told the American people the following….

“Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different.”

So now we are going to police all of the atrocities in all of the other countries around the globe?

The last time I checked, the government was gunning down protesters in Syria.

Is it time to start warming up the Tomahawks?

Or do we reserve “humanitarian interventions” only for those nations that have a lot of oil?

In fact, atrocities are currently being committed all over Africa and in about a dozen different nations in the Middle East.

Should we institute a draft so that we will have enough young men and women to police the world with?

We all have to be ready to serve our country, right?

The world is becoming a smaller place every day, and you never know where U.S. “strategic interests” are going to be threatened next.

The rest of the world understands that we know best, right?

Of course the rest of the world can surely see our good intentions in Libya, can’t they?

Tensions with Russia, China and the rest of the Arab world are certainly going to subside after they all see how selfless our “humanitarian intervention” has been in Libya, don’t you think?

In all seriousness, we now live in a world where nothing is stable anymore.  Wars and revolutions are breaking out all over the globe, unprecedented natural disasters are happening with alarming frequency and the global economy is on the verge of total collapse.

By interfering in Libya, we are just making things worse.  Gadhafi is certainly a horrible dictator, but this was a fight for the Libyan people to sort out.

We promised the rest of the world that we were only going to be setting up a “no fly zone”.  By violating the terms of the UN Security Council resolution, we have shown other nations that we cannot be trusted and by our actions we have increased tensions all over the globe.

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/516/283/Wow_That_Was_Fast_Libyan_Rebels_Have_Already_Established_A_New_Central_Bank_Of_Libya.html

US Dollar recognized to crash as World Reserve by CNBC

Mainstream media is even picking up on yesterdays news. When the central banks that run the country don’t want our dollar and just shred it, it is something the private citizen should take notice. Buy silver, buy gold and pass this along to a friend.

Morning Note: Gold Replacing Dollar as World’s Reserve Currency?

By: CNBC Producer Catherine Holahan /

$105 per barrel oil. Cotton prices at record levels. Food prices at 2008 highs. Typically, such commodity price increases would send central banks running to the U.S. Dollar to secure the value of their savings. After all, the dollar has been the reserve currency since World War I.

But not this time.

Central banks are shedding dollars [DXC1  76.395    -0.09  (-0.12%)   ] , reducing their holdings by about $9 billion in previous quarter, according to Nomura Securities’ Jens Nordvig, global head of G10 FX Strategy.

What are they buying instead? Gold [GCCV1  1419.30    -6.90  (-0.48%)   ] .

The yellow metal hit a fresh record high this morning, while the dollar index dropped to a 15-month low. The news had Fast Money’s Brian Kelly looking to add more gold and silver longs to his portfolio Thursday morning.

“What is working is gold, silver [SICV1  37.15    0.101  (+0.27%)   ] and oil [CLCV1  103.96    -1.44  (-1.37%)   ] ,” said Kanundrum Capital’s Kelly. “I wish I had more.”

Gold and silver have become the inflation hedges of choice for some investors. Gold hit an intra day high today of $1,448 per ounce. Silver is trading at 31-year highs, hitting an intra day high of $38 per ounce

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42250806

Update of Japan Nuclear Radiation

 

Radiation Level Outside Damaged Japan Reactor May Cause Death Within Hours

By Michio Nakayama, Tsuyoshi Inajima and Yuriy Humber

Radiation levels that can prove fatal were detected outside reactor buildings at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant for the first time, complicating efforts to contain the worst disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Water in an underground trench outside the No. 2 reactor had levels exceeding 1 sievert an hour, a spokesman for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. told reporters in the capital yesterday. Exposure to that dose for 30 minutes would trigger nausea and four hours might lead to death within two months, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Preventing the most-contaminated water from leaking into the ground or air is key to containing the spread of radiation beyond the plant. A partial meltdown of fuel rods in the No. 2 reactor probably caused a jump in the readings, Japan’s chief government spokesman said.

“There’s not much good news right now,” said Gennady Pshakin, a former IAEA official based in Obninsk, the site of Russia’s first nuclear power plant. “There’re questions arising on how much fuel will leak out, what isotopes will be carried and how quickly they will settle. It’s becoming less predictable.”

A magnitude-9 earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11 knocked out power at the plant, disabling its cooling systems and forcing Tokyo Electric to dump thousands of tons of sea water on the complex as a stopgap measure. Damage to reactor buildings, including a possible breach in the No. 2 unit’s containment vessel, has made it harder for workers to get close enough to fix the equipment without risking their health.

Power Outages

The number of dead and missing from the earthquake and tsunami had reached 28,343 as of 9 p.m. yesterday. About 200,000 households in northeast Japan remain without power and more than 350,000 have no gas, the government said. There are 242,882 refugees living in 2,045 shelters, the National Police Agency said. Thousands of temporary pre-fabricated homes are being built in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures.

Residents evacuated from a 20-kilometer (12-mile) radius of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant shouldn’t return home, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. Some people had gone back to pick up belongings, he said.

Elevated radiation levels have been detected in crops grown near the stricken plant as well as the water supply in Tokyo, 220 kilometers to the south, and other regions. This has triggered bulk-buying of bottled water at supermarkets that have been forced to restrict purchases.

Some Success

Ever-higher radiation emissions at Dai-Ichi and evidence water has leaked out of the No. 2 reactor’s containment vessel are undermining success at restoring lighting to control rooms and injecting fresh water into the reactor pressure vessels to keep temperatures from rising.

“The high radiation levels seem to have come from fuel rods that partially melted down and came into contact with water used to cool the reactor,” Edano said at a briefing in Tokyo, citing a draft report from the nuclear safety commission. “It’s very regrettable, but we’re trying to contain the whole situation while preventing the health impact from spreading.”

Shares of Tepco, as the utility is known, slumped 18 percent to 696 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday, the lowest close since February 1977.

Soil near the Fukushima plant tested positive for plutonium contamination, Tepco said. The radioactive metal was part of the fuel mix in reactor No. 3 and its presence outside the plant would suggest those fuel rods were also exposed. The amount found shouldn’t be enough to affect human health, Tepco Vice President Sakae Muto said at a press conference shown on a webcast yesterday.

Tepco said it needs to drain water lying in four reactor turbine buildings to determine where it came from and assess damage to the fuel rods. Water in the No. 2 turbine building is as high as 1 meter (3.2 feet) deep, a company official told reporters yesterday.

To contact the reporters on this story: Michio Nakayama in Tokyo at mnakayama4@bloomberg.net; Tsuyoshi Inajima in Tokyo at tinajima@bloomberg.net; Yuriy Humber in Tokyo at yhumber@bloomberg.net