Re: [Marxism] Helen Caldicott replies to George Monbiot
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Rod Holt writes: > For the U.S., the BEIR-VII Report results > predict that the nuclear fuel cycle (not > including the Fukushima accident) will be > about 150 cancer deaths in the US every year. > > From the BEIR report, 18 percent of the radiation > we receive (of the 2.4 mSv per year) is man made. > That accounts for 15,000 deaths from cancer. Of > the man made radiation, only 1 percent is attributable > to nuclear power. That should account for 1 percent > of the deaths, that is, 150 deaths annually. > This figure of 150 deaths annually cited by Rod Holt is, even if we accept it and the assumptions and models used to cook it up as valid, useless for almost anything except the propaganda purposes for which Rod reproduced it above. What Rod is implicitly doing is treating the supposedly low and relatively constant recent historical values of a function, that is the amount of morbidity or mortality produced by certain processes related to nuclear plants, as representative of the long term behaviour of that function over time. Yet clearly the function that Rod refers to is not smooth or continuous with respect to time, but rather has the potential to undergo sudden and unpredictable jumps of up to several orders of magnitude at undetermined points in the future. In other words the supposedly relatively constant and small present value of the function cited by Rod give absolutely no assurance about the behaviour of the function at or after its future points of discontinuity. Bear in mind also that, due to Murphy's law, the discontinuities referred to above must occur. > > Calculating from another angle; you are subjected > to radiation from nuclear power plants (including > all the activities related to uranium mining, > transport, disposal, etc.) at the rate of > 0.0043mSv/year, or about 0.2 mSv total in your last 50 years. > > > All these numbers are statistical averages and > don’t help the brave worker desperately attempting > to prevent a fuel meltdown. > As Alexey Nesterenko and co-authors noted in the context of Chernobyl, averaging radiation doses over populations is like averaging the temperatures of hospital patients. Your so called statistical averages are just statistically worthless rubbish. > > We all have reason enough to be angry with the > corner cutting profiteers running these plants > (including those in the U.S.) without being alarmist. > Given that Rod Holt wrote on this list recently, that the locations of nuclear plants in Japan were "from the standpoint of Japanese capital ... obvious sound decisions"(http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.politics.marxism.marxmail/146249), I assume that "alarmists" are people like seismologist Katsuhiko Ishibashi who have long argued that the Japanese nuclear program was "bound to fail". According to Wikipedia entry: Katsuhiko Ishibashi was a member of a 2006 Japanese government subcommittee charged with revising the national guidelines on the earthquake-resistance of nuclear power plants, published in 2007.[4] His proposal that the committee should review the standards for surveying active faults was rejected and, at the committee's final meeting he resigned claiming that the review process was 'unscientific'[4][5] and the outcome rigged[5][6] to suit the interests of the Japan Electric Association, which had 11 of its committee members on the 19-member government subcommittee[6] and that among other problems the guide was 'seriously flawed' as a consequence because it underestimated the design basis earthquake ground motion.[7] The article below is from the Japan times. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110414a6.html World right to slam nuke program mismanagement: expert By JUN HONGO STAFF WRITER Japan deserves international scorn for mismanaging its nuclear power program and unless the government acts quickly the odds of further catastrophes remain high, a leading seismologist said Wednesday. "It was a matter of course that attempts by the Japanese government to operate nuclear power plants failed miserably," Kobe University professor Katsuhiko Ishibashi, who decades ago coined the term "Genpatsu-Shinsai" (Quake and Nuclear Disaster Complex), told a joint interview in Tokyo. Ignoring the fact that approximately 10 percent of all the earthquakes on the planet take place near the archipelago was a fatal error, he said, adding that there is no such thing as comprehensive measures against quakes of the magnitude that struck the Tohoku region. "Japan is the most dangerous place to construct a nuclear power plant," Ishibashi said. Japan's nuclear program was bound to fail, considering how it ignored seismological history. Although stud
Re: [Marxism] Helen Caldicott replies to George Monbiot
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Fuel Rod Holt wrote: > > There is an ongoing meticulous and comprehensive > study from 1945 to the present of the A-Bomb > survivors. And, incidentally, the Japanese > survivors suffered the fallout, the contamination > of their food and water and everything around > them, both internal and external. A long > study; sixty-five years of careful surveillance! > To this has been added the Chernobyl data. Etc. > The summary of statistical evidence is presented > in detail in the Short Report. > Chernobyl data? Below is an excerpt from: Alexey B. Nesterenko, Vassily B. Nesterenko, Alexey V. Yablokov, Consequences of the Chernobyl Catastrophe for Public Health, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Volume 1181, Chernobyl Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment pages 31–220, November 2009 Chapter II. The full volume is behind a subscription wall and unfortunately not freely available to the public (send e-mail privately if interested). Excerpt: 3. General Morbidity, Impairment, and Disability after the Chernobyl Catastrophe There is no threshold for ionizing radiation's impact on health. The explosion of the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) dispersed an enormous amount of radionuclides (see Chapter I for details). Even the smallest excess of radiation over that of natural background will statistically (stochastically) affect the health of exposed individuals or their descendants, sooner or later. Changes in general morbidity were among the first stochastic effects of the Chernobyl irradiation. In all cases when territories heavily contaminated by Chernobyl radionuclides are compared with less contaminated areas that are similar in ethnography, economy, demography, and environment, there is increased morbidity in the more contaminated territories, increased numbers of weak newborns, and increased impairment and disability. The data on morbidity included in this chapter are only a few examples from many similar studies. 3.1. Belarus 1. The general morbidity of children noticeably increased in the heavily contaminated territories. This includes deaths from common as well as rare illnesses (Nesterenko et al., 1993). 2. According to data from the Belarussian Ministry of Public Health, just before the catastrophe (in 1985), 90% of children were considered “practically healthy.” By 2000 fewer than 20% were considered so, and in the most contaminated Gomel Province, fewer than 10% of children were well (Nesterenko, 2004). 3. From 1986 to 1994 the overall death rate for newborns was 9.5%. The largest increase (up to 205%), found in the most contaminated Gomel Province (Dzykovich et al., 1996), was due primarily to disease among the growing number of premature infants. 4. The number of children with impaired physical development increased in the heavily contaminated territories (Sharapov, 2001). 5. Children from areas with contamination levels of 15–40 Ci/km2 who were newborn to 4 years old at the time of the catastrophe have significantly more illnesses than those from places with contamination levels of 5–15 Ci/km2 (Kul’kova et al., 1996). 6. In 1993, only 9.5% of children (0 to 4 years old at the time of the catastrophe) were healthy in areas within the Kormyansk and Chechersk districts of Gomel Province, where soil Cs-137 levels were higher than 5 Ci/km2. Some 37% of the children there suffer from chronic diseases. The annual increase in disease (per 1,000, for 16 classes of illnesses) in the heavily contaminated areas reached 102–130 cases, which was considerably higher than for less contaminated territories (Gutkovsky et al., 1995; Blet’ko et al., 1995). 7. In the 8 years after the catastrophe, in the heavily contaminated Luninetsk District, Brest Province, illnesses per 1,000 children increased 3.5 times—1986–1988: 166.6; 1989–1991: 337.3; 1992–1994: 610.7 (Voronetsky, 1995). 8. For children of the Stolinsk District, Brest Province, who were radiated in utero from ambient Cs-137 levels up to 15 Ci/km2, morbidity was significantly higher for the primary classes of illnesses 10 years later. Disease diagnoses were manifest at ages 6 to 7 years (Sychik and Stozharov, 1999). 9. The rates of both premature neonates and small-for-gestational-age babies in Belarus as a whole were considerably higher in the more radioactive contaminated territories for 10 years following the catastrophe (Tsimlyakova and Lavrent’eva, 1996). 10. Newborns whose mothers had been evacuated from a zone of the strict control (≥15 Ci/km2) had a statistically significant longer body, but a smaller head and a smaller thorax circumference (Akulich and Gerasymovich, 1993). 11. In the Vetca, Narovly, and Ho
[Marxism] Former Fukushima Governor Sato Eisaku blasts METI –TEPCO alliance
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Former Fukushima Governor Sato Eisaku Blasts METI –TEPCO Alliance: “Government must accept responsibility for defrauding the people” Onuki Satoko Translated by Julie Higashi The explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has become an earthshaking situation, severely damaging the surrounding area. In addition, highly radioactive ocean water has been detected nearby. Sato Eisaku (佐藤栄佐久 age 71), who at one point brought 17 nuclear power plants operated by the Tokyo Power Electric Company (TEPCO) to a halt, is indignant about the situation: “The root of all evil is the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the government.” Every time I see news about the accident, I cannot help but feel anger rise in me. Some of the pundits have said, “This is an accident beyond all expectations. It is a natural disaster,” but do not be fooled. This accident was doomed to happen. In other words, it is a man-made disaster. During my tenure as governor of Fukushima prefecture, I fought hard against METI, demanding a transparency guarantee on accident information and working to secure the prefectural government’s rights with regard to where nuclear plants are built. METI is supposed to supervise and instruct TEPCO so as to prevent TEPCO’s repeated tampering with and concealing of information, but instead, the two organizations have been working together. Judging from the news reports, I think the situation has not changed at all. Sato, whose face remains calm as he speaks, lives in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture. More than two weeks have passed since the earthquake, but the scars remain vivid, with the ruins of stone walls still littering the ground. Sato, initially a proponent of nuclear energy, became skeptical about Japan’s nuclear energy policy in 1989, the next year he became governor. On January 6 of that year, we discovered that an accident had occurred in reactor unit 3 at the Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station. Part of a recirculation pump (for the reactor core coolant) had fallen off. However, TEPCO not only continued to operate the plant, even after the warning alarm had gone off at the end of the previous year, but the organization also concealed this fact. The prefectural and municipal governments were the last to receive this information. How can this be allowed to go unchallenged? The people who need to receive this kind of information first and foremost are the locals. Through the vice governor, I fiercely protested to METI (then Ministry of International Trade and Industry, or MITI), but we received no response from them whatsoever. Most members of the National Diet cannot touch Japan’s nuclear energy policy, because it is the Cabinet’s exclusive prerogative. Even the minister, who is in charge of the policy, is largely controlled by the government office. In other words, METI and the Cabinet’s Nuclear Energy Commission, the so-called “people of the nuclear power plant village,” decide the entire direction of policy. Neither politicians nor local governments where the power plants are built have any authority. According to Sato, the government and the electric power company not only kept local municipalities in the dark about nuclear power plants but they also concealed evidence of an accident, which Sato terms, “8.29.” On August 29, 2002, the Fukushima prefectural office received a fax from an informant inside the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA). It contained a terrifying message: “For many years, TEPCO has tampered with inspection records to cover up the malfunction of and cracks found in reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear plants.” I immediately ordered my subordinate to investigate. We later found out that NISA had received the same information two years earlier but, instead of conducting any investigation, had simply routed the information to the concerned party, TEPCO. At this point, my anger reached its peak. This is like the police and thieves working together. Until then, I had thought TEPCO was in cahoots with the government, but the real evil deep within the electric company, remained hidden. The ultimate problem is with METI and the government. As a result of this scandal, the president of TEPCO and five top executives resigned. In April 2003, all the power plants TEPCO operated were forced to shut down their nuclear reactors (10 in Fukushima Prefecture and 7 in Niigata Prefecture; link). However, neither NISA nor METI received any punishment or ever accepted any responsibility. On the contrary, the manager of METI came to Futaba County, where the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station is located, to distribute pamphlets that said,“Nuclear power plants
[Marxism] METI, NISA and Tepco were all part of the same gang says ex-governor of Fukushima
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Thursday, April 7, 2011 Ex-governor blasts Tepco's cozy ties By JUN HONGO Staff writer Earthquakes and tsunami are unavoidable natural events, but the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant was induced by "human errors" stemming from cozy ties between bureaucrats and Tokyo Electric Power Co., former Fukushima Gov. Eisaku Sato told The Japan Times on Wednesday. Sato, who served five terms from 1988 to 2006, said the inappropriate relationship between government bureaus and the utility often resulted in them burying major troubles, including cracks in reactors and safety shortcomings at Tepco's two nuclear plants in the prefecture. "Their improper bond means that no one was keeping an eye on Tepco," Sato, 71, said, adding it ultimately led to the inadequate preparations for the March 11 disaster. The first hint Sato had of inept supervision at the nuclear plants was in January 1989. Tepco, despite being aware for weeks that one of the reactor coolant pumps at the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant was malfunctioning, did not report the trouble to prefectural authorities. Sato said he quickly filed a complaint with the old Ministry of International Trade and Industry over a development he felt endangered the public. But Tepco only received a slap on the wrist and the power plant was back up and running after a temporary shutdown. Sato was prompted to take further action in 2002, when a whistle-blower claimed Tepco was hiding malfunctions and cracks in reactors at both Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2. "It turned out that the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency had received the same insider information — but in 2000, two years before we did," Sato said. And yet the nuclear safety watchdog, under the wing of MITI's successor, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, not only overlooked the accusation and failed to inform prefectural authorities, it even gave Tepco a heads up. A NISA official told The Japan Times that at the time, such tips were handled by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. "There were some mistakes in how to handle the matter, and I've heard that the tip was actually passed on to Tepco," he acknowledged. The incident resulted in the resignation of some Tepco executives and a temporary shutdown of all 17 of its nuclear reactors. But no one from METI took responsibility. "That's when I learned that METI, NISA and Tepco were all part of the same gang," Sato said, adding this prompted him to set up an office in the prefectural government to handle tips from insiders regarding the nuclear plants. From 2002 until Sato's resignation as governor, the team received 21 anonymous tips. "It was mostly a cry for help," Sato said. Some whistle-blowers complained about a wrecked turbine that went unreported. Others warned of the lack of safety on-site measures. "The tsunami danger was obviously an issue on the table," Sato said, stressing seismologists were pointing to past evidence of mega-earthquakes that could prove catastrophic. "But you have to ask how serious NISA was doing its job, considering the way that backup electricity was easily knocked out by the waves." Following March 11, there is finally talk of separating NISA from METI to keep Tepco on a short leash. But Sato said an overhaul of the system and new safety measures will be required before evacuees can safely return home. "There is a nightmare going on in the evacuation camps," Sato said. "Separating NISA and METI is just the first step — overhauling Tepco's operations and supervision is necessary." Sato resigned in 2006 and was handed a suspended prison term in 2008 by the Tokyo District Court in connection with a bribery case involving a public works project. That verdict was upheld in 2009 and he has appealed with the Supreme Court. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110407a5.html Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] The perils of remembering Chernobyl
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == The perils of forgetting Chernobyl April 3, 2011 EVERY day there are more setbacks to solving the Japanese nuclear crisis and it's pretty clear that the industry and governments are telling us little and have no idea how long it will take to control or what the risk of cumulative contamination may be. The authorities reassure us by saying there is no immediate danger, and a few absolutist environmentalists obsessed with nuclear power because of the urgency to limit emissions repeat the industry mantra that only a few people died at Chernobyl - the worst nuclear accident in history. Those who disagree are smeared and put in the same camp as climate change deniers. I prefer the words of Alexey Yablokov, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and adviser to president Mikhail Gorbachev at the time of Chernobyl: ''When you hear 'no immediate danger' [from nuclear radiation] then you should run away as far and as fast as you can.'' Five years ago I visited the still highly contaminated areas of Ukraine and the Belarus border where much of the radioactive plume from Chernobyl descended on April 26, 1986. I challenge the British government's chief scientist, John Beddington, environmentalists such as George Monbiot or any of the pundits now downplaying the risks of radiation to talk to the doctors, the scientists, the mothers, children and villagers who have been left with the consequences of a major nuclear accident. It was grim. We went from hospital to hospital and from one contaminated village to another. We found deformed and genetically mutated babies in the wards; pitifully sick children in the homes; adolescents with stunted growth and dwarf torsos; foetuses without thighs or fingers and villagers who told us every member of their family was sick. This was 20 years after the accident but we heard of many unusual clusters of people with rare bone cancers. One doctor, in tears, told us that one in three pregnancies in some places was malformed and that she was overwhelmed by people with immune and endocrine system disorders. Others said they still saw caesium and strontium in the breast milk of mothers living far from the areas thought to be most affected, and significant radiation still in the food chain. The doctors and scientists who have dealt directly with the catastrophe said that the UN International Atomic Energy Agency's ''official'' toll, through its Chernobyl Forum, of 50 dead and perhaps 4000 eventual fatalities was insulting and grossly simplistic. The Ukrainian Scientific Centre for Radiation, which estimated that infant mortality increased 20 to 30 per cent after the accident, said its data had not been accepted by the UN because it had not been published in a leading scientific journal. Konstantin Tatuyan, one of the ''liquidators'' who helped clean up the plant, told us that nearly all his colleagues had died or had cancers of one sort or another, but that no one had ever asked him for evidence. There was burning resentment at the way the UN, the industry and ill-informed pundits had played down the catastrophe. While there have been thousands of east European studies into the health effects of radiation from Chernobyl, only a very few have been accepted by the UN, and there have been just a handful of international studies trying to gauge an overall figure. They range from the UN's Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation study (57 direct deaths and 4000 cancers expected) to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which estimated that more than 10,000 people had been affected by thyroid cancer alone and a further 50,000 cases could be expected. Moving up the scale, a 2006 report for Green members of the European Parliament suggested up to 60,000 possible deaths; Greenpeace took the evidence of 52 scientists and estimated the deaths and illnesses to be 93,000 terminal cancers already and perhaps 140,000 more in time. Using other data, the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences declared in 2006 that 212,000 people had died as a direct consequence of Chernobyl. Fukushima is not Chernobyl, but it is potentially worse. It is a multiple-reactor catastrophe happening close to a metropolis of 30 million people. If it happened at Sellafield, there would be panic in every major city in Britain. We still don't know the final outcome, but to hear experts claiming that nuclear radiation is not that serious, or that this accident proves the need for nuclear power, is nothing short of disgraceful. GUARDIAN http://www.theage.com.au/world/the-perils-of-forgetting-chernobyl-20110402-1cslf.html Send list submissions to: Marxism@green
Re: [Marxism] Japan pays 'suicide squads' fortunes to work in stricken nuclear plant as battle is lost for reactor two
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Les Schaffer wrote: > > i read one report that TEPCO was not handing out personal radiation dose > monitors to workers. > The report that Les read was confirmed by the Japan Times at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110401x1.html For more on the conditions of TEPCO workers, Heroes or Victims? - The "Fukushima Fifty" Back Mar. 28, 2011: By Matthew Penney -- The Fukushima plant workers have been widely lionized but who they are, why they work under such desperate conditions, and how they are being treated is less discussed. On the 29th, however, the Tokyo Shimbun published an article that sheds light on some unpleasant realities behind the heroic “Fukushima Fifty” (workers at the plant really number in the hundreds) story. Full article: http://www.japanfocus.org/events/view/61 Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Forwarded from Gilles d'Aymery
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Gilles d'Aymery writes: > > To keep harking on Paddy's analysis may be a pleasant emotional endeavor, but >it > does not address the fundamental and practical question I posed. > Before I answer Gilles eminently practical question about how to generate the electricity necessary to power the Japanese construction state or doken kokka (see Gavan McCormack New Left Review 13, January-February 2002), or the forests of pachinko parlours and neon lights in Japanese cities, few of which, I may point out, have anything to do with meeting actual human and social needs, how about Gilles answer another eminently practical question -- namely to produce an accurate quantification of the risks associated with the power generation system he seems to be promoting through his proxy Paddy Apling. I'm sure that the actually existing capitalist insurance industry today will be most interested to hear Gilles answer to this eminently practical question. > > Perhaps, what's needed on the list is less rethoric and more intellectual and > knowlegeable discourse. Thanks. > > It takes some nerve from Gilles to speak of the need of intellectual and knowledgeable discourse so soon after publishing Paddy's shoddy and propagandistic tract which had about as much intellectual and scientific substance as a MITI/TEPCO press release. Lajany Otum Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Energy and the Tsunami
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Paddy Apling writes: > > Hallo Listers > > All those sceptical at the contents of my article on the subject title > published on the latest edition of Swans at > Hey, if you're in the business of using your credentials as a food scientist to whitewash, so to speak, industrial malfeasance and the role of MITI, or to minimise the consequences of these, why stop at TEPCO and Fukushima today? I would say it's still not too late for you to also tackle Minamata disease in Kumamoto, where a bay and its fishing community was poisoned with mercury by Chisso Corp., under the supervision of MITI and with the cooperation of the Japan Chemical Industry Association. Or indeed any of the other historical "big four pollution diseases" of Japan in the 20th century. Lajany Otum Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Energy and the Tsunami
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == DW writes: > > That was not me but an engineer who was writing about the > 'conservatism' of the regulators there. I merely re-posted it because > I thought it informative. Glad "I can clear that up". > Well, you thought wrong. By posing the issues of industry regulation in terms of specious technical wonkery, while completely eliding the actual material interests of the Japanese bureaucracy and the historical role of the Japanese state -- particularly that of the MITI/METI/TEPCO nexus who have the greatest direct culpability in the present crisis -- the excerpt you posted was far more misinformative than anything else. Lajany Otum Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Energy and the Tsunami
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == David W writes: > Secondly, on the issue of 'what they knew about tsunamis'. On the > nuclear list I'm on, contacts in the industry as just now getting > information from their Japanese counterparts as to the issue of > problamatic risk assemsent (PRA). Here is one informal reply we go > this morning (this from a former GE BWR safety engineer): [NISA > mentioned is their version of the NRC] > > "I've not been personally engaged in discussions with the Japanese > authorities, but through my work with my counterparts in Japan and > supporting their efforts to move to more accurate modeling methods have > insight into NISA approaches. > > "In general the Japanese licensing authority has remained very conservative > in their approach. By conservative, I mean unwilling to look at new > techniques or approaches to analysis. While they like more accurate modeling > techniques, actually using them for licensing basis has proven a long hard > acceptance process. For some analysis, they were still relying on methods > developed in the 60's and 70's. > > They have remained very deterministic in their approach and unwilling to > consider probabilistic risk." > > So...while a few experts *may* have raised the question of tsunamis, > clearly it was never a serious issue or raised to such a degree that > even NISA decided to reject it...they never incorporated the methods > into their assessing dangers. > Right, it it was never a serious issue. Thank you for clarifying. For the information of readers, the Japanese nuclear regulatory agency NISA is part of the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry or METI, (formerly the Ministry of International Trade and Industry), the government department that is also responsible for promoting the Japanese trade and export in nuclear technology to countries such as Vietnam and the US, and whose senior bureaucrats frequently "retire" to sinecures with TEPCO, the company which owns an operates the Fukushima plant. This practice, a common transaction between Japanese industry and senior government bureaucrats and politicians, is referred to in Japanese as "amakudari" or "descent from heaven". http://jisho.org/words?jap=amakudari&eng=&dict=edict His specious attempts at technical wonkery aside, anyone who speaks, as DW, does of the alleged technical "conservatism" of the Japanese regulators, while not taking into account the actual material interests and historical role of the Japanese bureaucracy, or its long and repeated record of collaboration with industry malfeasance, really doesn't have a clue what he or she is on about. A simple google search for the three terms METI TEPCO amakudari comes up with numerous articles, including the following: When Toru Ishida, a powerful advocate for the Japanese nuclear power industry, decided to leave his government post in 2010 for private industry, he didn't have to change his commute much at all. Ishida, who had been director general of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the agency overseeing nuclear power, was hired four months after he left his regulatory post by TEPCO. In a sign of the close ties between the utility and the government agency that serves as its biggest patron, the now-darkened TEPCO headquarters is just a few blocks from METI's drab complex in the Kasumigaski neighborhood that houses much of the government bureaucracy. The practice of former bureaucrats dropping into high-paid private sector jobs after retirement remains both relatively common and controversial in Japan where it is known as "amakudari," or "descent from heaven." But the Ishida case attracted so much notice when his hiring by TEPCO became public earlier this year, that then METI Minister Akihiro Ohata felt compelled to concede it could show the need for reform. "Something should be done to reassure public concern about this," Ohata told reporters in January, while arguing that Ishida had been hired by TEPCO for his "capacity, experience and intelligence" and nothing more. Critics, including the lawmaker Kono, said the hire illustrates the deep-seated problems in a system that has made METI both nuclear power's biggest backer and home to the safety agency in charge of its regulation. METI has guided Tokyo Electric's investment in nuclear power and provided an implicit backstop and financing. At the same time, the utility has provided jobs for some senior METI officials like Ishida and a network of sympathetic politicians, Kono said. http://au.news.yahoo.com/queensland/a/-/world/9050247/special-report-fuel-storage-safety-issues-vexed-japan-plant/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at:
Re: [Marxism] Energy and the Tsunami
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == David W writes: > > What matters is that in an era of 9.0 earthquakes consideration of > that the tsunami did should of been on everyone's mind...it wasn't, > and this includes, no less, than legions of anti-nuclear activists who > also were focusing, understandably perhaps, on quakes, not tidal > waves. I really don't think it was seriously considered in the last > few years even as the rate of these quakes increased and the damage > the 2004 tsunami did was evident on the coast of Sri Lanka and > India...and even Somalia. It was at this point that everyone should of > seriously *considered* the problems which became quite real, on the > 15th of this month. No one did, at least not in any particularly > assertive manner. > The article I posted earlier from the Japan Times clearly shows that an earthquake and tsunami of the size that occurred on March 11 was regarded a serious possibility by Japanese seismologists and experts outside the nuclear industry. However, as is to be expected, the opinions of these experts, whether "assertive" or not, were easily marginalised and dismissed by powerful political, state, corporate and regulatory institutions that exist in cosy, mutually reinforcing and protective, if not out right corrupt, relationships with each other. > > While generally I agree with Paddy about nuclear energy he starts > underplaying the dangers of radioactivity and spent nuclear fuel. The > idea that it could be spread around is particularly careless as if > anyone knows the lower levels dilution it would be rather hard to > prove and fatal if one is wrong. This is especially true of Cesium 137 > with a half life of 30 years and is extremely dangerous. There are > ways of dealing with it, and Paddy's "suggestion" is to be taken > un-seriously. > > David > To his further discredit, Paddy did not even mention in his article the tonnes of plutonium in the spent fuel rods and reactor at the Fukushima complex. Paddy's irresponsible and misleading article aside, this disaster again highlights the role of the Japanese central government in foisting maldevelopment on the regions, usually to the benefit of some combination of Japanese corporations, the construction industry, or the US military, and to the detriment of regional residents. The tonnes of plutonium MOX fuel which is currently causing such concern in reactor number three was only loaded into the reactor only after prolonged resistance by the Fukushima prefectural government which did not accept at face value the safety assurances of TEPCO and the central government. Since 1972, a similar pattern has been continually repeated in Okinawa, where enormous US military bases are constructed and maintained, against the wishes of the people of Okinawa who have been treated as a sort of internal colony by the central authorities in collusion with the US state. Lajany Otum Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Energy and the Tsunami
==
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==
Louis Proyect writes:
> Energy And The Tsunami
>
> by Edward ("Paddy") Apling
>
> The continued heating threatened not simply the release of radioactivity to
the
> atmosphere, but also the loss of integrity of the ponds' structures. This
could
> release the melted nuclear material to an uncontrolled, and possibly
> uncontrollable, area around the ponds, and would potentially threaten any
>further
> rehabilitation of the plant. Certainly, some elements in the rods such as
>iodine,
> strontium, and caesium would be emitted to the atmosphere, but considering the
> known effects of the 1986 complete meltdown at Chernobyl, the expected
>resulting
> deaths would be far less than those already caused by the earthquake and
>tsunami
> themselves.
>
A remarkably sanguine view, given that "some elements in the rods" also include
plutonium MOX fuel, which the Chernobyl reactor certainly did not. Besides, to
be quite frank, I have extreme difficulty treating as any more than laughable
the opinions, scientific or otherwise, of anyone who describes, as Paddy does
below, the recent tsunami in Japan as "unforeseeable" (cf the Sumatra tsunami
of
2004 which generated 23m waves from another quake on the Pacific ring of fire,
or the article attached below citing testimony of Japanese scientists to the
parliament of that country in 2005 predicting precisely such an outcome as we
see today).
>
> It is necessary to emphasize that damage at the plant was entirely due to the
> unforeseen strength of the tsunami, which poured over the insufficient sea
> defences, putting out of action all electrical mains and backup power, with
> consequent failure of all the cooling water pumps, the development of fires
> in
>the
> plant, and the overheating of the spent rods in the storage ponds. It is
>supremely
> evident that the design of the plant coped very well with an earthquake of a
> severity greater than had been designed for, but was overwhelmed by the
> height
>of
> the tsunami.
>
Tokyo Electric Power Corporation, the owner and operator of the plant, who
incidentally have a long record of accidents, cover ups, falsifications of
inspection data, and well as paying out large dividends to their shareholders,
have recently sought to exculpate themselves of responsibility for the nuclear
disaster with the claim that the 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami was
"unforeseeable". While the blockheads in TEPCO and the Japanese government
certainly have an understandable and rational motive for spreading this
falsehood, I wonder what possible motive Paddy Apling has for doing the same:
Japan Times
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Signs of disaster were there to see
Seismology experts warned for years nuclear plants can't withstand true
worst-case scenario
By JUN HONGO
Staff writer
On Feb. 23, 2005, Kobe University professor Katsuhiko Ishibashi appeared before
the Lower House Budget Committee and pointed out the risks of operating nuclear
power plants in earthquake-prone Japan.
"An earthquake and its seismic thrust can hit multiple parts (of a nuclear
plant)" and induce not one but a variety of breakdowns, Ishibashi, an expert on
Earth and planetary sciences, told the lawmakers.
Such a scenario could knock out even the backup safety system and possibly
result in a "severe accident," such as overheating of the reactor core or even
a
runaway nuclear reaction, he warned.
Warnings like this from Ishibashi and other experts went largely unheeded.
Two weeks after the tragedy struck the Tohoku region, the situation at the
Fukushima No. 1 nuclear facility has shown at best only incremental
improvements. Ishibashi's prediction of a chain of catastrophes proved all too
prophetic.
The quake caused tsunami that obliterated cities on the coast and severely
damaged the nuclear plant, which has resulted in contamination of local
vegetables and tap water as far away as Tokyo, as well as other radioactive
discharges.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. quickly said after the quake that the tsunami was
bigger than it could have imagined, but pundits say otherwise and claim the
signs were clear for anyone to see.
"Safety measures were not sufficient," Nagoya University professor Yasuhiro
Suzuki, who teaches at the Research Center for Seismology, Volcanology and
Disaster Mitigation, told The Japan Times.
Although it was determined only in 2005, after extensive research, that large
tsunami could be generated by an earthquake off the coast of the Tohoku region,
the government was in a position to take immediate action and ensure the safety
of the nuclear power plants in Fukushima Prefecture, Suzuki said.
Warnings by seismologists prior to March 11 were not only based on scientific
data but on historic fact
Re: [Marxism] Gadhafi forces head toward rebel stronghold; West weighs more sanctions
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I am somewhat surprised by this. Qaddafi's army and air force was thankfully routed by the Tanzanians when he attempted a large scale intervention in Uganda to prop up Idi Amin's dictatorship. After the military fiasco in Uganda, Qaddafi gave asylum to Idi Amin, who then moved to Saudi Arabia when Qaddafi apparently had no more use for him. Perhaps mad dogs pack together. Lajany Otum Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Daily update from bravenewclimate.com on Fukushima
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Gary MacLennan writes: > I was very struck here by what Fidel Castro wrote on this > natural disaster. We are living through events which are all too horrible > to contemplate - yet they are all too real. > > On the political front the hopes I had for the Arab revolution are being > murdered by the mad butcher Qaddafi and the other tyrants. > > Economically I am witnessing in my native country, Ireland, the sad spectre > of mass immigration arising once more. Elsewhere around the world > "austerity" is now the order of the day. > > In ecological terms the poor people of Japan may actually be witnessing the > capital city of their country rendered unlivable, for make no mistake about > it that is what is at stake here. > My sentiments exactly. Though I happened to be out of Japan when the disaster struck, I am currently in the process of evacuating a family member who remains there. We have essentially left our house as is, and my wife her job, and do not know if or when it will ever be possible to go back. Nevertheless, these are minor travails compared to the suffering of people further east and north in the country, or of those who do not have the option of leaving. Lajany Otum Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Asahi Shinbun on the unfolding disaster (English)
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Extremely serious levels of radiation have escaped. Dangerously high doses of radiation have been detected in or near the compounds of the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture. Japan's worsening nuclear crisis will now be compared to the Chernobyl disaster in the former Soviet Union in 1986. The Fukushima plant has six reactors. Of them, the No. 2 reactor has begun to release radioactive substances as the suppression pool connected to the reactor containment vessel was apparently damaged. The No. 1 and No. 3 reactors are also in a perilous situation with their nuclear fuel rods exposed out of cooling water. An apparent hydrogen explosion has rattled the No. 4 reactor, whose operation had been suspended for inspection when the magnitude-9 earthquake struck March 11. Spent nuclear fuel rods kept in a pool with circulating water appear to have produced hydrogen. If they are exposed above water, then the dangers from the extremely strong radiation would hamper work to bring the situation under control. Now, four nuclear reactors standing in a line are simultaneously spinning out of control. The immediate challenge is to cut off the sources of radiation leaks. The work is dangerous, but this is a fight against time to keep the contamination of the people and the land to a minimum. Japan's nuclear energy technology long accumulated through time and money must be fully utilized to support the efforts of Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant's operator. To avoid exposure, action at an early stage is of vital importance. Radioactive materials are dispersed by the wind in tiny particles, comparable to invisible smoke or dust. People must pay attention to wind directions to avoid being caught in high concentrations of radioactivity. The priority in evacuation must be put on children. The Chernobyl disaster showed that the risk of young children developing thyroid cancer is more than 100 times greater than that for adults. Society must share the idea that children should be the first ones protected from radioactivity. Many people must be finding it difficult to believe the news unfolding before their eyes. The earthquake and tsunami of unprecedented scale in Japan may have caused this situation. But Japan should have developed nuclear energy not only with pride in its advanced technology, but also with cautiousness as a nation hit by atomic bombs. This is a consequence of the history of Japan, which has placed nuclear power as a key pillar of its energy policy and enjoyed its benefits in the postwar period. Society as a whole must accept this consequence. People in areas battered by the killer temblor and tsunami need homes, food and energy. Many people have lost their loved ones. They must be supported by the entire Japanese society. The resilience of Japanese society is being questioned. http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201103150148.html Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Daily update from bravenewclimate.com on Fukushima
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Gary MacLennan writes: > We all hope that David's pronouncement about the situation at Fukushima > stabilising prove to be true. Whatever one's stance on nuclear power there > is no room for schadenfreude here. The alternative to the plant being > brought under control is just too horrible to contemplate. But the latest > from the live Al Jazeera blog plus what Lajany has posted from the BBC site > would suggest that the situation is currently not yet stable. > A foreign resident of Japan whom I know just went to the local immigration office to process some paperwork before planned evacuation tomorrow. The immigration official at hand advised that those who have the means ought to get out of the country, and fast if at all possible. The official described his own position as "akirameru shikanai", which translates in this context to him being resigned to his fate. And this in a western region of Japan which is too far from Tohoku to feel the shaking of the quake. Even though I have been a refugee once before in my life, what is happening to the people of Japan today after the combined earthquake and nuclear disasters is one of the saddest things I have ever witnessed. Lajany Otum Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Daily update from bravenewclimate.com on Fukushima
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 3/15/11 10:24 PM, DW wrote: > First, the situation is clearly (but slowly) stabilising. As each day > passes, the amount of thermal heat (caused by radioactive decay of the > fission products) that remains in the reactor fuel assemblies > decreases exponentially. > TOKYO (AFP) - Japan is ready to seek cooperation with the US military as it battles to avert catastrophe at a stricken nuclear plant hit by fire and explosions as radiation levels spike, the government said Wednesday. Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Daily update from bravenewclimate.com on Fukushima
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 3/15/11 10:24 PM, DW wrote: > First, the situation is clearly (but slowly) stabilising. As each day > passes, the amount of thermal heat (caused by radioactive decay of the > fission products) that remains in the reactor fuel assemblies > decreases exponentially. This just in from the BBC: A spike in radiation levels at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant has forced workers to suspend their operation, a government spokesman says. He was speaking after smoke was seen rising from reactor three. Earlier, a blaze struck reactor four for the second time in two days. Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami, which killed thousands, damaged the plant's cooling functions. On Wednesday, Japanese Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said at a news briefing that workers at Fukushima had been withdrawn following the rise in radiation levels. It is believed that about 50 employees had been working at the plant to try to stabilise its four reactors. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12755739 Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Role of spent fuel in the current nuclear crisis
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == This prescient article was published before the fire of 15 March 2011 which reportedly occurred in a spent fuel storage site. Source: JapanFocus http://japanfocus.org/events/view/51 Japan's Nuclear Crisis: Status of Spent Fuel at Exploded Reactor Buildings Unclear Mar. 14, 2011:By John McGlynn -- The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) is asking an important question about Japan's nuclear crisis that seems to have been ignored by the media and in announcements from the Japanese government and Japan's nuclear power industry: What is happening with the spent fuel pools located at the top of the buildings housing the Unit 1 and Unit 3 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant facility? Both reactor buildings have lost their upper structures due to explosions possibly caused by a hydrogen gas build-up (Unit 1 on March 12, Unit 3 on March 14). IEER writes in its analysis of the situation at the Daiichi nuclear facility: "While Japanese authorities have stated that the reactor vessel is still intact [editor's note: Here IEER refers to reactor #1 but the same applies to reactor #3], there has been no word regarding the status of the spent fuel pool structure, except indirectly. Is it still intact? This is a critical question as to the range of potential consequences of the reactor accident." The New York Times has a visual that indicates the location of the spent fuel pool near the top of the reactor vessel (here; see frame #3 of The Crippled Japanese Nuclear Reactors). The full IEER analysis can be found here. This excerpt from the analysis highlights the dangerous implications of any disruption of the spent fuel pools by the two reactor building explosions: "Both reactors [Units 1 and 3] are of the Mark 1 Boiling Water Design. They do not have the sturdy secondary containment buildings of concrete that is several feet thick typical of later reactor designs. A special feature of the Mark 1 design is that the used fuel, also called spent fuel, is stored within the reactor building in a swimming pool like concrete structure near the top of the reactor vessel. When the reactor is refueled, the spent fuel is taken from the reactor by a large crane, transferred to the pool, and kept underwater for a few years. This spent fuel must be kept underwater to prevent severe releases of radioactivity, among other reasons. A meltdown or even a fire could occur if there is a loss of coolant from the spent fuel pool. The water in the spent fuel pool and the roof of the reactor building are the main barriers to release of radioactivity from the spent fuel pool." Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Gavan McCormack on the Japanese nuclear threat
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Japan's Nuclear Crisis: A Wakeup Call for the World Back Mar. 14, 2011:By Gavan McCormack -- After years of warnings about the "North Korean nuclear threat" now suddenly the entire Northeast Asian region is subjected to the "Japan nuclear threat," just as North Korea has been warning for years. Apart from the Fukushima meltdown risk, how safe is Japan's plutonium mountain, accumulating in the waste piles and underground parking places outside reactors up and down the country, 50 odd tons of radioactive sludge, and at the vast repositories at Rokkasho, just up the road from Fukushima, which has a planned reprocessing capacity of 800 tons of spent fuel per year, including eight tons of plutonium? It is surely time now to revisit, debate, and in due course reverse the policies adopted especially in the New National Energy Policy of 2006, which defined the future of the country as a "nuclear state" (genshiryoku rikkoku). The bureaucrats have for decades struggled to overcome Japan's "Hiroshima syndrome..." (See related McCormack 2007 essay, "Japan as a Plutonium Superpower," here) The cargo cult bureaucratic vision of eternal energy security drives not just the conventional nuclear reactors but the push for full commercial reprocessing, fast breeders, MOX, Monju, etc. The recycling of plutonium in the form of MOX fuel went against sound international advice and now MOX has multiplied and plutonium-ized the risk. In light of the disaster unfolding in Fukushima Japan and the rest of the civilian nuclear power countries, Japan should now move toward a democratic consensus on the way forward choosing between three main options: 1) Maintain but reinforce (and possibly expand) civilian nuclear power programs by making them "safe"; 2) Wind down nuclear power but hold power output in the remaining plants to roughly current levels in the grid (phasing out the old reactors and applying new standards to the existing), including quake-proofing to magnitude 9 all those plants to be maintained, while finding supplementary energy sources; or 3) Set a target date for the abolition of civilian nuclear power in the name of a dramatically different energy policy that shifts toward renewables. The debate is fundamentally about the course of civilization, hinted at by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who described over the weekend Japan's nuclear power crisis as a "turning point for the world," adding that Germany "could not carry on as usual given that an explosion at a nuclear plant happened despite Japan's high safety standards" (indirect quote). Gavan McCormack is an emeritus professor of Australian National University, a coordinator of the Asia-Pacific Journal, and author of Client State: Japan in the American Embrace. This article was published by JapanFocus on 14 March 2011. http://japanfocus.org/events/view/49 Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Nuclear Hubris: Could Japan's Disaster Happen in the U.S?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Dennis Brasky writes: > >Nuclear Hubris: Could Japan's Disaster Happen in the U.S? > > The “impossible” is underway in Japan. > Never fear. According to our very own expert, Fuel Rod Holt, disaster proofing nuclear technology can be achieve through the simple device of a few coats of red paint. Lajany Otum Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] What was the excuse for putting those reactors there?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Michael Perelman writes: > > In California, we have 2 reactors on fault lines. > The 52 reactors in Japan -- which generate a little over 30 percent of its electricity -- are located in an area the size of California, many within 150 km of each other and almost all built along the coast where seawater is available to cool them. However, many of those reactors have been negligently sited on active faults, particularly in the subduction zone along the Pacific coast, where major earthquakes of magnitude 7-8 or more on the Richter scale occur frequently. The periodicity of major earthquakes in Japan is less than 10 years. There is almost no geologic setting in the world more dangerous for nuclear power than Japan -- the third-ranked country in the world for nuclear reactors. After visiting the center a few kilometers from Hamaoka, I realized that Japan has no real nuclear-disaster plan in the event that an earthquake damaged a reactor's water-cooling system and triggered a reactor meltdown. Full article: http://www.japanfocus.org/-Leuren-Moret/2013 Leuren Moret is a geoscientist who worked at the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Laboratory on the Yucca Mountain Project, and became a whistle-blower in 1991 by reporting science fraud on the project and at Livermore. She is an independent and international radiation specialist, and the Environmental Commissioner in the city of Berkeley, Calif. She has visited Japan four times to work with Japanese citizens, scientists and elected officials on radiation and peace issues. Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] What was the excuse for putting those reactors there?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Rod Holt writes: > > In any case, the earthquake was far offshore. > You forgot to mention that besides being far offshore, it was apparently also far underground -- all of 24km underground in fact. > > From the standpoint of Japanese capital, these were obvious sound decisions. > Graphic of many more obvious and sound decisions: http://japanfocus.org/data/japannukeplants.jpg from an article http://japanfocus.org/-Tony-Barrell/2338 > > No coal, No gas, No oil. Of course, they could invade China, or Mongolia, > or > > Alaska. I don't think socialists would advocate that. > I'm sure that Japanese ruling class not only pays attention to what socialists advocate, but is also thankful that these socialists don't advocate they invade China, or Mongolia or Alaska. Lajany Otum Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Qaddafi compares his military actions to what the IDF did in Gaza
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == It seems the interview referred to by Haaretz is actually available on the France 24 site: http://www.france24.com/en/20110308-france-24-exclusive-interview-with-libya-muammar-gaddafi John Edmundson writes: > And worse still, if we can trust Haaretz he describes anyone who fought the IDF > as "extremists". "... even the Israelis in Gaza, when they moved into the Gaza > strip, they moved in with tanks to fight such extremists." That doesn't sound > like the words of a staunch anti-imperialist fighter to me. > Cheers, > John > Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Libyan Republic Declared?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == No surprise here, if this report turns out to be accurate. On the contrary, I found the speculation posted earlier on the list about the Libyan uprising being in support of a restored "emirates" under British tutelage to be quite fantastic. Even bearing in mind that they have lived under Qaddafi's stifling dictatorship for 42 years, it is an astounding orientalist slander against the Libyan people to imagine they have been so isolated from the anti-colonial and freedom struggles in the Arab world since WWI, that they would come out en masse and sacrifice their lives today, for such a retrograde political project as the restoration of a British imposed emirate. Indeed, with the Libyan uprising, I have resolved to watch the film Lion of the Desert, so as to better acquaint myself with those historical traditions of the Libyan people which our would-be orientalists prefer to overlook. Lajany Otum > > http://www.p2pnet.net/story/49758 > > report of the declaration of a Libyan republic: > > The Libyan Republic > > Declaration of the Establishment of the National Transitional Temporary Council > Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] From the archives: foreign forces intervene in Uganda in support of Idi Amin
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == [When Tanzanian forces counter-attacked in response to Idi Amin's invasion, plundering and attempted annexation of the Kagera region of Tanzania,] Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi sent 2,500 troops to aid Amin, equipped with T-54 and T-55 tanks, BTR APCs, BM-21 Katyusha MRLs, artillery, MiG-21s, and a Tu-22 bomber.[5] However the Libyans soon found themselves on the front line, while Ugandan Army units were using supply trucks to carry their newly plundered wealth in the opposite direction.[6] >The Libyan troops were a mix of regular Libyan Army units, People's Militia, >and sub-Saharan Africans of the Islamic Legion, a further force created by >Libya for this type of expeditionary mission.[5] The Tanzanians, joined by >UNLA >dissidents, moved north for Kampala but halted at the vast deep-water swamp >north of Lukaya. The Tanzanians decided to send the 201st Brigade directly >across the causeway across the swamp while the better-quality 208th Brigade >skirted the western edge of the swamp as an alternative in case the causeway >was blocked or destroyed. A planned attack by a brigade-sized Libyan force >with >fifteen T-55s, a dozen APCs, and BM-21 MRLs, intended to reach Masaka, >instead >collided with the Tanzanian force at Lukuya on 10 March and sent the 201st >Brigade reeling backwards in disarray. However, a Tanzanian counter-attack on >the night of 11–12 March from two directions, involving a reorganised 201st >Brigade attacking from the south and the 208th Brigade from the north-west, >was >successful, with many Libyan units, including the militia, breaking and >retreating at a run. Libyan casualties were reported at 200 plus another 200 >allied Ugandans. > > >Tanzanian and UNLA forces met little resistance after the Battle of Lukuya >and >carried on west toward Kampala, first taking the Entebbe airfield after some >fighting, and then taking Kampala itself on 10 April 1979. Few Ugandan or >Libyan >units gave much resistance, and Pollack says the greatest problem for the >Tanzanian troops was their own lack of maps of the city.[5] Amin fled, first >to >Libya and later to Saudi Arabia. > > > > >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda%E2%80%93Tanzania_War > > [I'm reliably told that, for this intervention on behalf of his fellow revolutionary and anti-imperialist firebrand Idi Amin, many Ugandans remember Muammar Qaddafi with fondness, gratitude, and admiration to this day.] Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] The leftists who flocked to Qadhdhafi's Libya
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == And let's not forget that it was Qaddafi who forcibly expelled the approximately 30,000 Palestinian refugees working and living in Libya in 1995. In his mercurial way, he justified this expulsion as being in support of the cause of Palestinian liberation, while urging other Arab states to follow his lead by also expelling their Palestinian populations. http://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/05/world/libya-s-leader-urges-other-arab-countries-to-expel-palestinians.html Tom Cod writes: > > So what? What does that have to with Palestine? national liberation > fighters have the right to turn to whomever or whatever will materially aid > them or wherever the needs of survival mandate. What about Palestinians > living in the US? Lenin for one was clear on this as it related to the > Irish and Kaiser's Germany. Moreover, let's not forget that thousands of > Palestinian fighters were forcibly expelled from Lebanon by Israel and the > US in the wake of the Sabra and Shatilla massacres. Where did Trotsky > "flock" to? the Jews of Nazi Germany? whatever safe haven they could find. > Should we therefore tag them with the crimes of British colonialism or US > Dixiecrat racism? > Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] The leftists who flocked to Qadhdhafi's Libya
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == >From the Angry Arab blog: Comrade Fawwaz reminds me that among those leftist leaders who flocked to Qadhdhafi's Libya was none other than George Habash. That can't be denied. Habash's PFLP also inexcusably aligned itself with Saddam Husayn. Those sins of the left are unforgivable by my standards because they burdened those of us leftist who came later, and they damaged the cause of Leftism in the Arab world. http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/02/down-with-tyrant.html Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Herbert Bix: The Middle East Revolutions in Historical Perspective: Egypt, Occupied Palestine, and the United States
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == >From the early 1880s down to the end of World War II, British and French colonial rulers, among others, held the Arab peoples of the Middle East in subjugation. Weakened by the war against Hitlerism, the European imperialists retreated under pressure from the United States, which stepped in to take their place. The creation of Israel as the last "colonial-settler state" (1948) and Israel's expulsion of the indigenous population of Palestine from their land and homes framed one side of the European retreat; the failed Anglo-French invasion of Egypt, known as the Suez Canal crisis (1956), framed the other. During World War II, the U.S. moved decisively to secure the oil fields of Saudi Arabia and transfer the desert kingdom from the British sphere of influence to one of hegemony by the U.S. and American oil corporations. It was the beginning of the US displacing the old colonial powers to carve out the oil-rich Middle East as its informal dominion. This article assesses the contemporary Middle East revolutions in light of their global power implications in general, American power in the Middle East and Israel in particular. Herbert Bix, author of Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, which won the Pulitzer Prize, teaches at Binghamton University and writes on issues of war and empire. He is a Japan Focus associate. Recommended citation: Herbert P. Bix, The Middle East Revolutions in Historical Perspective: Egypt, the Palestinians, and the United States, The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol 9, Issue 8 No 1, February 21, 2011. FULL: http://japanfocus.org/-Herbert_P_-Bix/3488 Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Betraying the Egyptian People
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Louis Proyect wrote: > > On 2/10/11 9:32 PM, sobuadha...@hushmail.com wrote: > > The Communist Party has not been silent and its > > support and positive news coverage are easily seen. > > Generally the adaptation to Obama is not around foreign policy > issues but domestic politics. This article swooning over Obama's > Reaganesque speech to the Chamber of Commerce is typical: > > http://peoplesworld.org/obama-turns-up-the-heat-on-big-business/ > I don't know -- haven't they turned a blind eye to Bushama's wars since Jan 2009, even as the war against Afghanistan has been escalated and extended into Pakistan? Not to mention the wars against Yemen, Somalia, etc. Lajany Otum Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Thoughts on the Egyptian Revolution
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Gary wrote: > thank you for the very thoughtful comment on my post. I hope my tone came > across as tentative. It was certainly meant to. Now what do we agree on? > Quite a lot actually - above all we agree on the characterisation of Israel > as a settler nation beholden to a super power. I would add here the > ideological important absence of the "mother country". What makes Zionist > colonialism unique is that after some prevarication it settled on the myth > that it constitutes a return > > But where we part company is in the cost benefit analysis. I am genuinely > puzzled by what goods accrue to the USA because of Israel. The metaphor you > employ here of Israel as the "bedrock" tends I believe to somewhat mislead > you. Israel is anything but a bed rock. Rather I tend to see it as > something like the source of recurring infections. It is the guarantor of > continuing instability and war. Even when through bribery and corruption > leading Arab states are neutralised - rendered "stable" as the State Dept > would have it, the instability moves to another site and eventually even > stable entities like Egypt erupt into instability. > > The loyalty of Israel to the US is by no means an eternal given. Perhaps > the sinking of the USS Liberty was a 'tragic error' but there are other > signs that the Israelis are far from the grateful clients that the metaphor > of bedrock suggests. An interesting parallel to consider here is the use > that Stalin made of communist movements in the countries he was allied to. > He had a bargaining chip against Roosevelt and Churchill because important > sections of their societies were primarily loyal to the Soviet Union. > > Similarly with the Zionist entity, Netanyahu has significant elements within > the USA who are more loyal to him and Israel than to the USA. It seems to me > that Israeli leaders can and do use the Zionists within the USA to bully USA > politicians into prioritising the interests of Israel. > > Though here you would probably deny my basic premise that there are Israeli > interests which are not the same as American interests, even American > Imperial interests. > Gary, You are right there is is a recurring infection but wrong to identify Israel as the actual source. The root cause of the instability is the marginalisation, underdevelopment and poverty of the region, which is itself an outcome fact that those who control, exploit and waste the immense resources of the area cannot and will not meet not even the most basic interests and aspirations of the majority of the peoples there. Were Israel to vanish tomorrow this fundamental problem would remain. However, within this empire of chaos, Israel performs a valuable function for the imperialist powers -- that of the wrecker of the dreams and hopes of the people of the region for a future free from imperialist domination. Just think of the role that Israeli aggression played in thwarting Nasser's Egypt and Arab nationalism, compared to its foul record of collaboration with the likes of the Mubaraks, the Hashemites, the Saudis and Pahlavis, not to mention its support for the apartheid regime in South Africa, the Mobutus, Kenyattas, Houphouët-Boignys, the Guatemalan dictatorship, etc. When I look at Israel today I am reminded of the role of the South African apartheid regime, much of whose violence and aggression against neighbouring countries like Mozambique etc was designed to prop up native stooges while instructing the local people on the futility of resisting imperialism and attempting to construct their own futures. Thus Israel's wars and aggression are not the source of the instability of the region, but part of the strategy of imperialism for managing and containing the struggles of the people of the region to control their own futures. You can be sure that if a progressive popular government were again to come to power in Egypt tomorrow, the first task the US and Europe, and by extension Israel, would set themselves would be the destruction of this government. I would also hardly describe Egypt as having been stable before the present outbreak. The façade of stability, such as it was, was based only on fear of the police, the state thugs and torturers, hardly on the ability of the state to meet any the aspirations of the people over whom the Mubarak ruled. Lastly, within the US, the Zionist lobby has surely serves a useful domestic purpose for the ruling class as a whole, in promoting a generally reactionary, pro-imperialist and racist tenor in US pol
Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Thoughts on the Egyptian Revolution
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Gary wrote: > > Will the tail continue to wag the dog and will Netanyahu and the Zionist > lobby remain in charge of what constitutes American interests? It looks > like it. But I have difficulty in believing that this will always be the > case. But first it would seem that the revolution must mature and really > threaten American business, before the relationship with Tel Aviv comes > under threat. > I don't think Gary's formulation is at all accurate. The US is loyal to the Israeli state exactly because the Israeli state is loyal to the US in the way that no major Arab client or puppet regime can be, no matter how craven and servile. It is the fact that the very existence of Israeli state and society as a colonial outpost, against the will of the natives, depends in its entirety on the good will and largesse on the ruling imperial power of the day, Britain yesterday and the US today, that guarantees its utility as the bedrock of the imperial order in West Asia. By comparison, the Arab people (substitute any other semi-colonial peoples here), does not owe its existence to the imperial order and the puppet and client states which have been foisted upon it, but rather contains large majorities whose material interests are fundamentally at odds with the imperialist order, and who continue to live from day to day in spite of of that criminal order and its depredations. Egypt demonstrates this is the source of the instability and unreliability which is built into the foundations of the native puppet or client state, and why the US persistently regards the interests of its Israeli colonial garrison above those of even the most servile of its native clients in this important region. Samir Amin has also pointed out in Empire of Chaos that Britain first recognised the utility of a settler colony in the Arab regions in the 1860s, when faced with the attempt by Mohammed Ali to industrialise Egypt (cf the Meiji restoration in Japan) and remove it from the semi colonial and dependent status to which it had already been assigned by Britain and France. Israel, under Netanyahu and gang, continue to perform their assigned functions today, though in the service of the US. Lajany Otum. Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
