NASA plans asteroid mission

May 31, 2011, 5:26 am

DPA May 30, 2011 The U.S. space agency will send an unmanned spacecraft to a nearby asteroid in 2016 and bring back a sample to provide clues about the formation of the solar system, NASA said on Wednesday. The mission known as Osiris-Rex will be the first U.S. effort to bring back a sample from an asteroid.

This undated picture made available by Lockheed Martin via NASA shows the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, which will take astronauts to a distant asteroid before travelling to Mars (PHOTO: AP/NASA)

Since asteroids formed from the gas and dust that made up the sun and planets, they are considered good indicators of conditions in the early universe and can provide clues about the formation of the solar system. “This asteroid is a time capsule from the birth of our solar system and ushers in a new era of planetary exploration,” said Jim Green, director of NASA’s planetary science division. Osiris-Rex will travel for four years to reach the asteroid 1999 RQ36 in the year 2020. It will then spend six months mapping the surface of the asteroid, allowing scientists to determine the best spot for the craft’s robotic arm to dig a 57-gram sample. The sample will be returned to Earth in 2023, NASA said. The mission is expected to cost some 800 million dollars. A Japanese mission brought back a sample from an asteroid last year. The space agency also hopes to send astronauts to an asteroid and on Tuesday unveiled plans for a new deep space vehicle. That spacecraft now known as the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle is planned to first take astronauts to a distant asteroid before travelling to Mars. This story originally appeared on The Hindu news site.

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MY BIG FAT NUCLEAR DIRTY BOMB

August 18, 2011, 8:55 am

≫ Next: WARNING: CONDITIONS ARE RIPE FOR A COMING NUCLEAR WAR

≪ Previous: NASA plans asteroid mission

By Andrew McKillop 21st Century Wire August 18, 2011 Within the next 15 years as many as 100 industry standard 900 MW nuclear reactors, concentrated in the “old nuclear’ countries will have to be decommissioned, dismantled and made safe – unless the sinister farce of reactor operating lifetime extensions goes on playing. In some countries, especially Germany, Switzerland and probably Japan this farce has already ended or could end very soon. When it does, nuclear debt will go into overdrive from its already high gear shift setting. Nuclear power is capital intensive, lives on subsidies, thrives on false hopes and dies in debt. Putting a figure on how much the nuclear “decomm” story will cost is in fact impossible – and is signalled by the tell-tale anticipative action of nuclear friendly governments, for example the UK, which now sets decomm as an activity that will only need to start a generous or foolhardy 30 or 40 years after the reactor was powered down and removed from the national power grid. Until then, the reactor can stay on the horizon as a contribution to national culture, or something. Decomm periods could or might be as long as 125 years, according to some nuclear apologists: why not 250 years?

PAST THEIR SELL-BY DATE: Old nuke plants are a massive liability for their host countries.

Staying an extra moment in the UK which this month of August 2011 had a three-day low level civil war outbreak, countered by PM David Cameron with the same phlegmatic repressive “courage” as Bashr el Assad facing his own five-month real civil war in Syria, we get an additional glimpse of nuclear power’s real and open-ended risks and costs. In a real civil war, in any country with real nuclear power plants, who exactly is going to tell us these giant Dirty Bombs will not get hit – possibly as early priority targets for insurgents and anti-government forces? In that case, what will be the economic costs and sequels of this? ECONOMIC DISASTER The keyword “disaster” suffers from overuse and erosion, for example the loss of Michael Jackson is a “disaster” for world culture, but nuclear disaster has a real and known meaning. While we do not know and will not know the real cost of the Fukushima 4-reactor meltdown because a period of 10 years is about the minimum needed to get a handle on it, the economic damage and loss from the Chernobyl 1-reactor meltdown has been relatively well costed – over the years since it happened in 1986. At a minimum and in today’s depreciating and devaluing dollars, the cost ballpark starts at about $ 250 bn. To be sure, this is chicken feed relative to the multi trillion-euro and trillion-dollar sovereign debts being juggled in Europe and the USA (or the 1000 trillion yen sovereign debt of Japan), but it concerns real world spending in the real economy. The leverage relation between the real economy, and the high speed fantasy world of sovereign debts, is hard to estimate but we can suggest that $1 spent in the real economy is equal to at least $100 of funny debt fiat money being refinanced, restructured and extended. Next we add that these two nuclear catastrophes, grave as they were, extreme as they were, occurred a long way from dense urban areas with high value properties and businesses, and millions of residents. The chance of “Nuclear Luck” continuing, with rural-type disasters rather than city region disasters, is not guaranteed – but nuclear power’s extreme high costs and risks are guaranteed, sure and certain. Worst-case scenarios for nuclear collateral damage in so-called “mature democracies” facing civil war because of political decisions made by the elite to defend their shrinking middle classes, waking up to the reality they are getting poorer, not richer, are relatively easy to construct. We can likely multiply the Chernobyl tab for economic and loss and damage by a factor of four, for city regional nuclear catastrophes of the future, taking the real economy risk of loss to around $ 1 trillion, a respectable number for players like Obama to put through their teleprompters. The impact of this on already so-fragile national finances and economic confidence in the Old Rich/New Poor countries would be, very simply, catastrophic. RECYCLE, REUSE AND DEFEND THE ECONOMY Nuclear waste business, as we know, is not business friendly and leads to the very basic reflex of simply dumping a considerable and growing part of the world’s unmanageable nuclear wastes from the current world fleet of around 436 operating civil reactors (depending on how many Japanese reactors are brought back into service). Proliferation risks are in a decidedly Olde Worlde 1950s-way restricted only to conventional explosive nuclear weapons – totally ignoring both Depleted Uranium weapons using and “recycling” nuclear wastes, value-adding too, and the future Dirty Bombs which with almost no possible doubt will be used in coming civil wars and international wars. Both of these nuclear war options are above all cheap, and of course dirty. Since the 1991 Gulf War 1 against Iraq, the war against Afghanistan starting in 2001, and second war against Iraq of 2003, at least 2500 tons of Depleted Uranium weapons have been used by the US, UK and France in these delightfully far away and “over the horizon” Indiana Jones type war theaters – causing a conservatively estimated 10 000 cancer deaths, and as many as 50 000 living sufferers of cancer in Iraq and Afghanistan. This has easily calculated economic consequences – when this concerns white democratic middle class sufferers of the same types of cancers: roughly $ 40 000 for a cancer death and $ 25 000-per-year fur surviving cancer sufferers. To be sure these cancer deaths and injuries are chicken feed in relation to the civilian deaths and refugees caused by the West’s “pre-emptive” attack against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and its virtual stock of Mass Destruction weapons, and revenge crusade against the Taliban for so expertly organizing the demolition of New York’s Twin Towers in 2001, exactly like the ratio of real economy damage cause by nuclear power and the notional debt mountains of the formerly-rich countries. However, total civilian deaths in these two completely illegal wars – probably more than 250 000 – and the real suffering caused to millions by these illegal wars will we can hope some day give way to reparations, which will be payable and due, exactly like debt repayment by the Old Rich/New Poor countries. The “cute idea” of recycling nuclear wastes as DU ordnance will generate the economic damage that these filthy weapons should generate. Those who profit from misery will finally pay. To be sure, this cozy morality is fine – as long as the sell-by-date for muddling through is way in the future. When it comes home to roost with the very shrinking number of bird numbers – even bird species – this is another kettle of also rapidly depleting open ocean fish. LOSS AVOIDANCE IS THE ONLY SOLUTION Turning off the nuclear tap will soon become the only solution. With civil nuclear power plant growth and proliferation already cancelled in several countries, including Germany, Japan and Switzerland and likely to be placed on hold because of nuclear debt and the sheer un-economic nature of nuclear power in other countries – to be sure with China and India coming very late to the party – we can be sure that Nuclear Nirvana’s murky underside of a Pandora’s Box of evils will soon cause a sea shift in ruling elite thinking. Options exist for the rapid removal of nuclear power from the scene. Since 2008, in more than a half of OECD countries exposed to the realities of the sovereign debt crisis, electricity consumption has fallen by double-digit amounts in 3 years. The need for nuclear power is cut by this real world trend. To be sure there are long-term and rising nuclear debts due to accumulated wastes and to the near-term future crisis of reactor decommissioning – which should (in a sane world) only hasten the total abandonment of this failed option for supplying “cheap, clean and safe” power. The options are better known than ever. The pathology of “we didn’t know” – has worn awfully thin after the Fukushima disaster, and the recent close calls around the Fort Calhoun Nuclear facility in Nebraska. The same applies to Depleted Uranium weapons, so nicely reserved for expert commentators to pontificate on – but which cause cancers and economic loss every day in Iraq and Afghanistan. The choices and options are on the table for those who want to admit them. Unfortunately our current political decider elite is congenitally unable to admit them. Soldiering along and muddling through with the deadly, high cost option of nuclear power will continue – but not for long. -

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WARNING: CONDITIONS ARE RIPE FOR A COMING NUCLEAR WAR

August 19, 2011, 8:22 am

≫ Next: Chinese drones, marine survey heat up island dispute with Japan

≪ Previous: MY BIG FAT NUCLEAR DIRTY BOMB

By Andrew McKillop
21st Century Wire
August 19, 2011

It is perhaps difficult to understand why our leaders and mainstream media have not fully recognized and discuss openly the real and present danger that nuclear weapons and facilities pose to our communities worldwide.

It is possible that political elites know, but they are perhaps too stupid, or too reckless and arrogant, so they simply ignore what it all means.

We are currently entering the hot zone. The nuclear fuse can easily be lit now with Syria and Iran as prime NATO and Israeli targets. Just like “Mad Dog” Gaddafi suffered a trial by media, few western spectators will have much sympathy for Syria’s Basher el Assad.

Those in the US and Europe who are sworn to protect Israel’s ‘security’ will also have you believe that Iran does have quite long-range missiles.

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT: Elites know, but do want to talk about the iminent danger of nuclear material and the predictable use of these weapons.

But what they will not tell you is that Iran could also take out the Dimona bomb-making factory the Zionist militarists are so terribly proud of. Any day of the week, weekends too. The same works in reverse as Israel could also target a nuclear power facility in Iran. Who would blink first?

The same applies to Hezbollah. They aren’t going to like their el Assad “patron” going down the tube. In theory, they could deploy a Scud-type missiles with enough range to hit the Dimona facility.

The environmental and economic blow-back from any such incident would be huge, and in most cases, the regions involved would not be able to recover- ever.

So what are all these massive nuclear arsenals for, if not for military use? Why has depleted uranium already been sprayed via US, NATO, and Israeli munitions across the Middle East and North Africa? Still, no one in the MSM or in our halls of government seems to take the asymmetric nuclear war threat seriously – so far.

TOO LATE FOR NON-PROLIFERATION

The venerable and creaking NPT Treaty, first signed by only 3 States in March 1970 (US, USSR, UK), which now has 189 member state signatories, but even more than in 1970 the treaty- on its face, has no meaning.

Only explosive nuclear weapons, that is conventional nuclear weapons, are covered and theoretically limited by the treaty. The treaty makes no mention of Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons, or the vast Dirty Bomb targets of civil nuclear power reactors. This in no way prevents these “Doomsday Machines” being the most daunting nuclear weapons we face, taking account of their annual nuclear waste production, their in-reactor nuclear materials, their fuel rod stores and reprocessing centres, uranium mining wastes, reactor assemblies and nuclear fuels used on the world’s 1100 submarines and surface ships powered by the atom, and the ever-growing numbers and amounts of lost or stolen nuclear equipment and materials.

Taking only the world’s presently operating 430-odd civil power reactors (about 441 before Japan’s Fukushima disaster), their annual production of nuclear wastes is around 30 000 tons per year, to be sure much of it defined as low-level, relatively low risk in radiological terms and relatively low risk in chemical toxicity terms. Although exact data is secret, Depleted Uranium weapons production is a major value-adding spinoff from civil power reactor wastes, producing weapons with proven and high carcinogenic effects, and chemical toxicity effects on both humans and animals, but as already mentioned these weapons are not covered by the NPT Treaty.

DU – YOU ARE DEAD

Annual production of Depleted Uranium weapons, mainly anti-tank ordinance but including others, is as noted secret, but estimates suggest the main producers – the USA, Russia, France, China, the UK (ironically, the five declared nuclear weapons states as defined by the NPT), Germany, India, Pakistan, Israel, North Korea and an increasing number of other countries – manufacture about 4000 tons of DU ordnance per year. Stocks are high and rising, due to low and limited use, although the two Gulf wars against Iraq (1991 and from 2003) and the war against Afghanistan (since 2001) have used an estimated 3000 to 3500 tons of DU weapons to date. Small and limited amounts of DU weapons utilisation are reported in the NATO war against the Gaddafi regime of Libya. Cancer deaths due to these radioactive and chemically toxic weapons, especially in Iraq, are estimated to be as high as 10 000 to date, and deaths will certainly continue for decades ahead.

Make no mistake: DU is a killer.

EFFECTS OF DU: Many military and medical workers can tell you first-hand the shocking effects of DU on humans.

DU weapon stocks in the USA alone are estimated to be more than 25 000 tons, and world stocks are likely well above 70 000 tons.

The so-called attractiveness of DU weapons is directly linked to their origin – wastes from so-called civil nuclear power, used to make weapons of war. The basic material, uranium alloys with various levels of radioactivity and chemical toxicity is above all cheap. Secondly, it has major technical characteristics making it almost ideal for producing anti-tank and anti-building weapons. Uranium metal is heavy and dense. It is easily machined. Being radioactive, it is easy to trace and track, for example during weapons testing and through the industrial production process. But perhaps its main trump card is its incendiary nature – that is very easily catching fire and liberating large amounts of heat, triggering secondary fires, for example in tank and armed vehicle fuel reservoirs, and wall claddings and flooring of targeted buildings.

This incendiary, heat-liberating characteristic explains the acronym for the biggest single type of DU ordnance: anti-tank shells and missiles. These are called HEAT ordnance, for High Energy Anti Tank.

The usual type of shell or missile is called “discarding sabot”, designating a machined uranium sheath or nose cone on the shell, behind which a titanium or iridium high-strength metal dart is positioned, with the explosive “military payload”, for example pentrite or TNT, placed further behind. When the shell hits the armour of the targeted tank, the uranium alloy cone or sheath explodes, liberating fine dust particles which instantly ignite. The heat liberated massively weakens the armor, through which the dart penetrates, breaching the tank hull, enabling the conventional explosive ‘stage’ of the shell to enter and explode. Typical times needed for this sequence are around 400 milliseconds (0.4 seconds).

To be sure, all kinds of other dust particles can also be incendiary – for example rice or wheat dust, able to totally explode and destroy 65 000-ton cargo ships in worst-case explosions, phosphates as used in home-made bombs, and aluminium, magnesium or iron dust and filings as used in fireworks and in weapons, but uranium is extremely incendiary. Also to be sure, generous amounts of the uranium dust do not catch fire, are transported by wind, fall to earth with rain, and enter the food chain and water table – causing decades-long cancer epidemics in most affected areas. Our democracy-loving, human rights-defending political deciders with clean finger nails and a clean conscience, who order the use of these filthy weapons would apparently be unconcerned about that.

The image of the mushroom cloud has become part of our cultural lexicon.

CIVIL POWER REACTOR DIRTY BOMBS

As we know from the Fukushima disaster, and the Chernobyl disaster any industry standard 900 MW light water or other type of reactor using uranium fuel contains a “radiological inventory” roughly equal to 150 Hiroshima-sized atom bombs. Each reactor.

Fuel rod stores, and dumps, can radically increase this equivalence, when spent fuel rods are stored, or buried on-site, usually only a few metres under the soil. Depending on the age and type of the reactor, its operational history, and other parameters like spent fuel rod inventories on-site, one single industry standard civil power reactor can be considered equivalent to as much as 250 or 350 Hiroshima-sized bombs in its capacity to kill by radiation poisoning, and totally sterilize hundreds of square kilometres of land – becoming a Total Exclusion Zone for decades ahead.

Using HEAT ordnance, or in fact any kind of conventional military ordnance, or unconventional ordnance such as drone airplanes with stand-off missiles, or simply a 50-kilogram explosive charge, no conventional civil power reactor’s core shielding will resist. Attack also targeting the reactor’s cooling systems, and its IT and control centre, will assure almost 98% “target acquisition” as the military jargon puts it, in restricted-audience advertising and promotion of HEAT ordnance. The myth of nuclear deterrence, and the fatuous irrelevance of the NPT Treaty is shown by this. All component parts of the civil nuclear power system are equally vulnerable to conventional military attack, especially spent fuel production and reprocessing, even using 1914-1918 war ordnance, Somali “technicals” or home-made drone bombs. No country with conventional civil nuclear power has any meaningful national security Of one thing we can be sure: no leading politician in any country using civil nuclear power will admit this basic truth. This curious primitive-minded and schizophrenic separation of civil nuclear power, from military nuclear weapons, is all the more hypocritical and evil when it concerns Western leaders almost proudly using DU weapons against Afghans, Iraqis, or Libyans. This is an open and permanent challenge to attacked people and nations to hit back using “asymmetric” and devastating weapons already positioned in the Oppressor’s country: their civil nuclear Dirty Bombs.

When we wake up to a successful asymmetric nuclear weapons attack – to be sure described as an industrial accident, and then later on as a terrorist attack – it will be much too late to whine “but we didn’t know”.

Both Chernobyl and Fukushima have provided all we need to know about the weapons potential of so-called civil nuclear power. Thousands of victims of DU-caused cancers in Iraq and Afghanistan can explain to the educated middle class voters of the countries producing and using DU weapons that these are genuine nuclear weapons – which kill by cancer.

Understandably, one single case of using this asymmetric nuclear weapon in the Aggressor countries will be worth millions of words and online rantings, and those who voted for producing and using these weapons – either knowingly or not – will have paid the price of their destructive democratic decision.

So when will the discussion begin? It should begin now, before it’s too late.

RED MORE NUCLEAR NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Nuclear Files

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Chinese drones, marine survey heat up island dispute with Japan

September 27, 2012, 6:30 am

≫ Next: Japan vs China: No compromise over East China Sea islands

≪ Previous: WARNING: CONDITIONS ARE RIPE FOR A COMING NUCLEAR WAR

China plans to use unmanned drones to increase its presence around the islands that are at the center of a volatile dispute with Japan. They will conduct marine surveillance of the area. Three Chinese patrol vessels still remain very close to the uninhabited – but strategic – archipelago; and have briefly entered waters which Japan considers its territory. The conflict’s seen large-scale protests in both countries turn ugly. The row could be further complicated as Taiwanese boats are now heading to the islands to reassert their fishing rights in the area while all around, the US is increasing its military activity in the region. RT talks to James Corbett, editor of the Corbett Report website, from Japan…

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Japan vs China: No compromise over East China Sea islands

September 27, 2012, 6:38 am

≫ Next: Japanese PM invokes Margaret Thatcher over Falklands in Island dispute with China

≪ Previous: Chinese drones, marine survey heat up island dispute with Japan

Japan and China are in a war of words over who owns a chain of islands in the East China Sea, and leaders from both countries say they will not compromise. The territorial dispute has caused violent protests and confrontations in recent weeks. Steve Chao reports from Ishigaki, near the disputed islands…

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Japanese PM invokes Margaret Thatcher over Falklands in Island dispute with China

February 28, 2013, 1:45 pm

≫ Next: 7 Countries Beefing Up Their Militaries in Today’s More Dangerous World

≪ Previous: Japan vs China: No compromise over East China Sea islands

Leon Watson
Daily Mail

Japan’s prime minister today quoted former British leader Margaret Thatcher over the importance of sea power as tensions with China mounted over a set of tiny islands. Shinzo Abe used the former Prime Minister’s defiant words on the 1982 Falklands war with Argentina to stress the importance of the rule of law at sea.

Mr Abe, whose country is embroiled in a row with China over the disputed territory, said: ‘Our national interests have been immutable.

‘They lie in making the seas, which are the foundation of our nation’s existence, completely open, free and peaceful.’

In a wide-ranging policy speech to parliament he also urged Japan to seek to become ‘No.1′ as an economic power.

Mr Abe went on to quote a remark from Thatcher’s memoirs, reflecting on the Falklands war, in which she said Britain was defending the fundamental principle that international law should prevail over the use of force.

The war over the remote South Atlantic archipelago began when Argentine troops landed on the Falkland islands on April 2, 1982.

It ended 74 days later with their surrender. The conflict killed about 650 Argentine and 255 British troops.

Continuing in his own words, Mr Abe said: ‘The rule of law at sea. I want to appeal to international society that in modern times changes to the status quo by the use of force will justify nothing.’

Read more

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7 Countries Beefing Up Their Militaries in Today’s More Dangerous World

March 1, 2013, 4:30 am

≫ Next: Broke: US Can’t Afford Base in Okinawa – Japan to rescue Pentagon with bailout for move

≪ Previous: Japanese PM invokes Margaret Thatcher over Falklands in Island dispute with China

Dillon Zhou
policymic

The balance of power in the world is changing, with many new power players emerging — in some cases re-emerging — with growing militaries that challenges U.S. interests in the world and highlight the increasing security challenges of the 21st century.

While the U.S. ponders cutting its military spending, her competitors and allies are ramping up their military strength to advance their interests in their part of the world and beyond. This trend may undermine U.S. interests in the long term, if the president and Congress cannot get our fiscal affairs in order.

In Asia, China, Japan, and India stand as the leaders in military spending with an emphasis in quantity for the purpose of improving their standing and to uphold their national pride.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Iraq represent the two fastest growing militaries in the Middle East, while the traditional powerhouses in the region — Egypt and Iran — are dealing with their current internal problems.

Algeria, while not a great power, has spent considerable resources to improve its military capabilities to shape its role in North Africa.

Finally, there is the continued growth of Russia’s armed forces under Vladimir Putin, which has been growing in size and sophistication to levels not seen since the Cold War.

Read More

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Broke: US Can’t Afford Base in Okinawa – Japan to rescue Pentagon with bailout for move

October 8, 2013, 6:51 am

≫ Next: The Darkest Secret of WWII: Harbin’s Bioweapons Lab

≪ Previous: 7 Countries Beefing Up Their Militaries in Today’s More Dangerous World

21st Century Wire says…

PHOTO: graffiti against the U.S. military base is painted on a wall where a gas station used to stand across from the U.S. Air Force Kadena air base in Kadena, Okinawa, southwestern Japan.

World War II began in 1941 with Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. For 70 years, Japanese people on the island of Okinawa have been under military occupation from the United States – hosting one of America’s key Cold War overseas bases, but all that is finally coming to an end.

Plans are being drawn up now to relocate thousands of US troops off the island and over to other sites like Guam and Northern Mariana Islands, but the US cannot afford the whole cost involved. Eager to get the move underway, Japan has thrown in a $3.1 billion bailout for the Pentagon to fast-track the job. Some say it’s Washington’s final swipe at collecting war reparations from the country it devastated during the war.

According to local reports from Okinawa residents and businesses (photo, left), aside from noisy new Osprey aircraft and aircraft vibration damage to local buildings, other problems from US military have persisted – alcohol abuse, bar fights, prostitution – and rape, have all been a source of tension on the island ever since America moved in. Residents are keen to see a return to normality in the community.

A 1995 rape of a Japanese schoolgirl by two Marines and a sailor triggered rage across the island, whose population is about 1.4 million. Another rape in 2012, along with other misdeeds by U.S. servicemen triggered new waves of anger.

US forces will be replaced by a fleet of long-range Global Hawk drones to be based at the airport. The total operation will cost $8.6 billion.

One has to ask the question then: is drone expansion is more important than repairing nuclear reactors currently pumping radiation into the environment at Fukushima?

Or is this the real reason why the US is wanting to pull out in the first place?

RT reports…
.

Japan to pay $3.1bn to remove US troops from Okinawa, will host spy drones

Tokyo is to foot a $3.1 billion bill, which is part of the cost for relocating American troops from Okinawa. For the first time, it will also host US long-range surveillance drones, which would help to monitor disputed islands in the East China Sea.

The cost-sharing agreement for the troop transfer and the future deployment of drones by next spring are both part of an effort aimed at updating the US-Japan military and diplomatic alliance.

The pledge to modernize the alliance for the first time in 16 years was made in a joint declaration during the visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry and US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who met their Japanese counterparts, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera.

Japan hosts some 50,000 American soldiers and officers, particularly in Okinawa. Their presence is a constant source of tension with local populations due to crimes committed by the servicemen, disruptions caused by military flights and land use by the US military.

Last year the countries announced a plan to relocate about 9,000 US Marines from Okinawa to other locations. 5,000 of them will go to Guam while others will be stationed elsewhere. The estimated cost of the relocation is about $8.6 billion.

A file picture taken on April 24, 2010 shows planes and helicopters stationed at the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma base in Ginowan, Okinawa prefecture. (AFP Photo)

Japan will cover $3.1 billion of that sum, the officials from the two countries announced on Thursday. The cost includes development of new facilities in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

As the foot soldiers leave, US Global Hawk unmanned aircraft will be arriving, marking the first time that American drones will be stationed on Japanese soil on a permanent basis. Two or three long-range spy drones will be placed at a US base to help monitor Japan’s territory.

While the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea was not mentioned in the documents, the islands contested by Japan, China and Taiwan was a prevailing topic in public speeches after the signing.

Hagel said the US reiterated that it recognizes Japan’s administration of the islands and has responsibilities to protect Japanese territory under a mutual defense treaty.

“We strongly oppose any unilateral or coercive action that seeks to undermine Japan’s administrative control,” he said.

The US will also deploy second X-band early warning radar in Japan. Officials were careful to stress that it will be directed against North Korea rather than China, and will help track down and probably intercept missiles coming from the defiant state. The plan to deploy radar was first announced by the then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta about a year ago. The new system will be placed at Kyogamisaki air base in Kyoto prefecture in western Japan to complement already existing radar in the northern part of Japan.

This March 22, 2013 handout image provided by the US Navy shows the Sea-based, X-band Radar (SBX 1) transits the waters of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (AFP Photo/US Navy)

Beijing however may not be convinced by the assurances. It has criticized the installation of the inaugural military radar, saying it could disrupt the strategic military balance in the region and destabilize the situation.

Other plans to boost US military presence in Japan include possible deployment of F-35 jet fighters around 2017, a top UN official told AP. There is also a plan to send Navy P-8 anti-submarine aircraft later this year – the first time the sub-killers deployment outside of US.

The upgrade also expands cooperation in areas like counter-terrorism and cyber warfare. The Internet threat is the one that Japan sometimes cannot defend itself against with the systems it currently has, Kazunori Kimura, the Defense Ministry’s director of cyber-defense planning, told Reuters.

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The Darkest Secret of WWII: Harbin’s Bioweapons Lab

December 25, 2013, 3:00 am

≫ Next: Elite Psychopathy: FIRE Everything and Forget the Future

≪ Previous: Broke: US Can’t Afford Base in Okinawa – Japan to rescue Pentagon with bailout for move

21st Century Wire says….

The untold story of Unit 731 – Japan’s secret bioweapons lab in occupied China, in a town called Harbin…

Here Japan perfected the art of germ warfare. The results were true devastating…

Brasscheck TV

The Japanese had entire city-sized lab complexes in China devoted to “studies” in bio-war.

Bigger – and as brutal – as anything the Nazis ever did. So why don’t you know about it? Missing from this film is a dirty secret. The US government was so interested in the “data” that the Japanese generated and in the advantages they thought it would give them that they chose not to prosecute the Japanese involved to keep a lid on the story and the data.

The winners write the history and in this case the winners thought there was an advantage to writing this part of the story out.

Google Unit 731.

WARNING: Very Graphic Content. Watch…

SEE MORE INT’L NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire

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Elite Psychopathy: FIRE Everything and Forget the Future

April 3, 2014, 4:15 am

≫ Next: Report: West Coast Children Hit With Thyroid Problems Following Fukushima

≪ Previous: The Darkest Secret of WWII: Harbin’s Bioweapons Lab

Andrew McKillop
21st Century Wire

Oh, that feeling of being lied to that most of us had all those years – well it’s safe to say it’s not just a feeling any more.

Think of all the wonderfully dressed financial ‘experts’ we’ve seen on our televisions over the last seven years, all so confident, with the pretense and arrogance required to be a mainstream media pundit. At first it seemed funny and amusing – every prediction and statement muttered on air – all wrong, and completely off the mark. We knew they didn’t know what they were talking about, and enjoyed a laugh at their expense. Only, now it’s not funny anymore. Financial and political sock puppets have since left the port of ignorance, and are now permanently moored at the dock of deception.

Blowtorch the Economy

Known to many but understood by few, the Finance-Insurance-Real Estate economy has taken control in what are schizophrenically called the “advanced industrial/post-industrial” nations, AKA the “mature democracies” – where mega-debt, unemployment, slow-to-zero growth, extortionate energy tariffs and income inequality are the main features. Above all, a deregulation-happy, laisser-faire political mindset rules, and we’re told that nothing can be done about the firestorm.

In this liberalized clepto-cratic economic zone, the stock exchange and financial futures rule. Taking bets on hot stock picks has become the national sport alongside football, but as a quick look at any finance and business website or news outlet will show, the new ‘FIRE’ economy is always teetering on the brink of collapse – when it isn’t poised for taking off into the stratosphere. This is new normal, FIRE style.

Ukraine, Plane, Down the Drain

World media, dominated by the advanced industrial/post-industrial nations stays riveted to how much world stock exchanges will rise, every day, alongside the star football team results. So it rapidly lost interest in what happened to Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, for reasons ranging from normal to worst-possible. Media consensus, based on “expert analysis of satellite data” from British firm Inmarsat, portends to claim that the plane went down in the Roaring Forties far off the coast of western Australia.

WHALE WATCHING? MH370 International Marine Sight-Seeing Tours including lunch – departing daily, on the hour.

After the biggest fishing expedition ever of its kind, authorities have nothing, and now ‘admit’ that Flight MH370 may never be found – ever.

Estimated search costs, compensation of families, replacement of the Boeing 777 airliner, lost cargo whatever it may have been, and other varied costs are said by air crash insurance experts as likely to attain $1.5 billion, making it one of the most expensive air disasters of all time. Result: airline shares are up, like insurance company shares.

Further fueling the skeptics, Lloyds of London are already organizing early pay-outs for families victims, which of course, is not very usual.

Whether the airliner was hijacked by a coordinated and planned in-plane attack followed by onward flight in “fly by wire” mode, commanded by an AWACS-type spy plane, and then guided to key destinations such as Diego Garcia or the Andaman Islands, is unlikely to ever be known. But this is great for the Conspiracy Media. It will almost certainly spawn potentially big selling ‘who dunnit’ paperbacks and high box office receipt Hollywood offerings with the right amount of gore and suspense.

MH370 disappeared. The once-was “united and indivisible” nation state of Ukraine has also disappeared. The satellite data reports “massive Russian troop movements” on the former indivisible state’s eastern borders – denied by Russia, of course. Crimea is now a separate mini-country, with half to the EU and half to the Russian Federation, take your pick. Media interest in Ukraine has lost a lot of steam however – because reporting on this subject is bad for keeping stock exchanges growing, every day. Unwanted news.

At least as important, the state of France has also disappeared, in a manner of speaking. It was replaced by the 20-percent-rule, the new buzzword in French politics. President “Flamby” Hollande dumped his previous government and prime minister, to bring in photogenic, youthful looking and Tony Blair-admiring New Socialist Manuel Valls with an all-new government. Valls wants all taxes to be 20%, he says, whatever they previously were. Mostly this means a sharp raise of taxes, for example VAT on tacky Old Age stuff like food and electricity or clothes, but in other cases like payroll and income taxes, it would mean a deep-deep cut. But whatever happens, French state debt rises.

This is very good for the finance sector even if its bad for 99% of the population. Trading on French state bond issues, of its national debt, promises to be hectic. You should all know the drill by now: “There is No Alternative!”

Party On with the FIRE Economy

The common link is ultra simple. How do we pay for all this? Pay for MH370, pay to bail out Rump Ukraine and its all-new Flash Mob government, and pay for the party of all those French tax cuts, only on business expenses of course?

The answer is borrowing. This needs financial engineering creating “asset value” from nothing, levering and dealing it to crazy heights, and then imploding it from time to time, MH370-style. This party-on mode is so good for global stock exchanges and the finance “industry”, that its the only tune the “industry” knows. Markets love debt!

Drilling down a little but not all that much, we hit the real bedrock of the FIRE economy. Call it anarchy, the 24/7 urge to create and play with “asset value”, pumping and dumping with the other folks playing the game. New Age Economics is also good to describe the FIRE economy, freed from Old Age stuff like actually producing anything at all with tacky old industries.

Politicians have more than just simply adapted to New Age Economics. They are happy with what you get when you mix and mingle high-tech with Assassins Creed, Wall Street with the Flash Mob, and the green ecology theme with war-war/jaw-jaw. They are spellbound by the result! That really outstrips the imagination – but how do we put it all back in the bottle?

No point asking that question because it is not possible. The djinn monster got out and took control. Whether its the world airline industry, not just Malaysian Airlines, and not only the fade-out economies and states of Ukraine and France, but also the US and Japan, all of them are mired in heavy and basically un-payable debt. Their solution: They need FIRE!

The debt numbers are New Age-lurid, so it is pointless giving them out here – and of course all the debts are growing (really growing). Once again, the only solution elites are offering – is the FIRE economy. Collateral damage to society – yes, we all know that’s a given. The Zombie Drones playing the Homer Simpson-style mutant middle class have to stay happy, over weight, and beguiling conspiracy theories, star football matches, and making studio executives fat by paying through the nose for creaky Hollywood movies.

Topping off the FIRE-sale society, you should not forget the ecology stuff – as well as some low-intensity war games on the Ukrainian frontier.

It’s all fuel for the FIRE.

Awesome Collateral Damage

Mix and mingle. Pump up the jam. The party has to go on because if it ever stopped, we are all lost where the “we” in question is the Royal We of that 1% of the population who siphon out any remaining wealth in the economy, using FIRE.

Collateral damage also includes nations, by the way. They fall by the wayside as non-performing assets. Ukraine is in fact a classic case. The country (or two countries, possibly three) is so mired in debt that it has No Future. Like Greece or Cyprus or Spain, its national debt (even three national debts), it will be a financial market plaything for years ahead. The country or countries will only get poorer.

Disappearing France, lost in a 20-percent-world of taxes funded by a rise in state borrowing, is nicely modeled on the bigger-better Japanese blueprint. The monetary insanity of Shinzo Abenomics has in much less than 18 months made an economic freak-show out of Japan Inc.

After 20 years of relentless borrowing and money printing, Japan literally teeters on the edge of an economic abyss, a Frankenstein monster shackled with vast lead weights of public debt on each leg. Thanks to the FIRE economy, once-was industrious manufacturing Japan runs a ballooning trade deficit. But Japan’s financial casinos and roulette wheels are burning bright.

In simple terms, the Japanese government will have to borrow 1 Yen for every 2 Yen it spends for years ahead, and all it can propose is… yes, you guessed it – lower wages and more taxes on consumption, in order to drain more cash for players in the financial casino, among which we can surely and certainly include that over-sized pig in the pen commonly known as Big Government!

The FIRE economy has a perfect clone lookalike in the drugs industry. Its “business model”,financing and its spinoff in the economy make it a perfect partner for the FIRE economy. Profit margins from the initial costs of producing drugs, to their final street value can run at 20 000 percent.

Exactly like a Facebook-Twitter-Whats App share from the time the paper/electronic share certificate was printed, to when its “nominal value” peaked on finance markets. Creaming off asset value at the top of the market, funds are then shifted into the “permanent” real estate bubble, to gouge housing prices and thrust the Losers into the gutter as No Fixed Aboders. To lock in financial gains, the insurance industry will use and play with the spare change from the FIRE-raising operations “upstream” in share issues and trading, government bond plays, and all the rest. The dream machine.

When things go wrong as they always do – call it “overreach” – crony government can be counted on to save crony finance from the FIREstorm it can only cause. Perhaps with “cliffhanger negotiations” relayed by the tame and faithful business-finance media, but the bailout using public money will surely come. Privatized profit. Public loss. Everything is fine, right?

The War of the Elites

Mainstream media will get around to the strange case of disappearing France but it will take some time to home-in on the War of the Elites. Due to rampant overreach, Wall Street and its clones are stoking blowback from forces – which they thought they had under control. The casino dream-spinners and roulette wheel turners thought they had bought out and fazed the political elite. But they pushed the “politicos” into a corner where anything can happen, now.

Disappearing France with its all-new prime minister Manuel Valls is a good example. He has no economic program because any economic program is nonsense. So he says “Call me Mister 20-percent” while his boss “Flamby” Hollande says “Twenty percent less across the board!”. Japan or the Empire of Abenomics is the same. There is No Future for these governments.

Result in these cases: They will have to borrow even more from the casino operators but every billion of new government borrowed funds, and every trillion of the financial derivatives it spawns ups the ante for a classic market crash – and they know it.

The politicos can see where that leads, even if they are very dumb. They saw what happened over there in Kiev or Cairo, Bangkok or Caracas. The Flash Mob can instantly assemble, get to a critical mass, and run riot. They might even kill the Political Elite! So, something has to give, and we can be sure the politicos will fight dirty, like they always do when cornered, and will at some stage attack their casino operator friends. Their fairweather former friends, that is.

For Ukraine, in the space of at most one month its “future borrowing need”, that is its bailout need, has climbed to around $35 billion from $15 billion. The IMF, ECB and other players will be printing and lending the cash to Rump Ukraine. France is of course a former Great Nation, so we can’t be surprised to hear analysts say this “politically stressed” country will have to find an extra 50 billion euros somewhere this year – by borrowing. The $1.5 billion MH370 story is placed in context – small beer.

But this all adds up. Predicting when the tilt happens on those up-trending finance markets, called the study of moving average asset value by the financial analysts, is to be sure a mystic cottage industry but when the politicos panic and react is yet more mystical. We can call it New Age politics.

New Age politics isn’t read-on from New Age economics and doesn’t have to be predictable, likely the opposite, and when the worm turns and the politicos throw off their worm casts and fight back, we can expect lurid events. Two trends will play: The street Flash Mob, and Big Government both turning against their fair weather FIRE friends.

The net result will be a mega-singularity, later called ‘Historical’, for example massive re-nationalization of key industries in those “postindustrial” countries – but before that we will first we get the New Age politics shift – which should be very colourful, if not mildly entertaining.

At that stage we will also get the return of the Future, a forgotten thing at present – so be prepared for what you didn’t expect!

READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR AT: 21st Century Wire McKillop Files

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Report: West Coast Children Hit With Thyroid Problems Following Fukushima

April 4, 2013, 3:00 am

≫ Next: Fukushima: What Are the Risks?

≪ Previous: Elite Psychopathy: FIRE Everything and Forget the Future

Intellihub

The study followed children born in California, Alaska, Washington, Hawaii, and Oregon between 1 and 16 weeks after the horrific meltdown at Fukushima back in March 2011.

Published in the Open Journal of Pediatrics by researchers affiliated with the Radiation and Public Health Project, the information further lends credence to previous documentation regarding the way in which radioactive fallout ended up on US soil. The researchers explained how radioactive fallout affected the entirety of the US in varying degrees:

“Fukushima fallout appeared to affect all areas of the U.S., and was especially large in some, mostly in the western part of the nation,” they wrote. The findings are likely no surprise to those who have been following the effects of Fukushima closely, as back in 2011 numerous reports surfaced regarding the ways in which Fukushima’s radioactive waste had made its way to the US geography in a big way.

Despite Japanese officials downplaying the incident and its real devastating health consequences, even so much as to ignore the fact that Fukushima radiation was detected in Tokyo far beyond the evacuation zone, US scientists were quick to reveal their own measurements to the scientific community. Even as far away as Boston, highly radioactive objects known as ‘hot particles’ were detected by 2 out of 3 monitoring stations.

Scientists from UC Berkley detailed even more concerning reports following the disaster, finding the highest cesium content in topsoil for each California location was consistent.

Read More

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Fukushima: What Are the Risks?

March 2, 2015, 12:11 am

≫ Next: Debt 101: Japan Overtakes China as Largest US Creditor

≪ Previous: Report: West Coast Children Hit With Thyroid Problems Following Fukushima

21st Century Wire says…

It’s not a popular topic in any news media for two reasons – it’s nearly invisible, and its totally fatal. Some practical questions come to mind…

What is the true nature of the risk?

Even if our governments knew the risks to public health and safety, would they ever openly admit these to the public?

If our governments are withholding such vital information, then would we know how to protect ourselves from harmful exposure?

Fukushima Nuclear Radiation Spikes 7,000% as Contaminated Water Pours into the Ocean

Ethan A. Huff
Natural News

Cleanup crews trying to mitigate Japan’s never-ending radiation crisis at Fukushima ran into more problems recently after sensors monitoring a drainage gutter detected a huge spike in radiation levels from wastewater pouring into the Pacific Ocean.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company says radiation levels were up to 70 times, or 7,000 percent, higher than normal, prompting an immediate shutdown of the drainage instrument. The first readings came around 10 a.m. local time on February 22, setting off alarms not once but twice as radiation levels spiked to extremely high levels.

“The levels of beta ray-emitting substances, such as strontium-90, measured 5,050 to 7,230 becquerels per liter of water between 10:20 a.m. and 10:50 a.m.,” reported The Japan Times. “TEPCO requires radioactivity levels of groundwater at the plant discharged into the sea to remain below 5 becquerels.”

TEPCO shut off leaky gutter, but radiation continued to spike throughout day

The gutter was quickly decommissioned to prevent further radiation emissions, but the leaks reportedly continued throughout the day, with radiation levels hovering between 10 and 20 times higher than normal. TEPCO says it doesn’t know what caused the sudden radiation spikes.

“With emergency surveys of the plant and monitoring of other sensors, we have no reason to believe tanks storing radioactive waste water have leaked,” stated a plant official to the media. “We have shut the gutter [from pouring water to the bay]. We are currently monitoring the sensors at the gutter and seeing the trend.”

Multiple major leaks reported as Fukushima generates 400 tons of new radioactive waste daily

Just four days prior to the leak, the International Atomic Energy Agency congratulated TEPCO for its continued cleanup efforts at the Fukushima site. This is despite numerous other radiation leaks, some of them quite major, that have occurred in recent months at the shuttered facility.

Back in October 2013, for instance, a failed transfer of radioactive wastewater from one storage tank to another resulted in more than four tons of highly contaminated sludge being dumped into the ground. Not long before this, 300 tons of radioactive waste reportedly leaked from another nearby storage tank.

As we reported earlier in the month, a worker actually died after falling into a radioactive storage tank during a routine inspection. The 33-foot container that swallowed the man is one of many at the site that holds a portion of the 400 tons of highly radioactive water generated daily at Fukushima.

Fukushima workers build one new storage tank daily, but this can’t go on forever

The Japan News reports that large storage tanks capable of holding up to 2,900 tons of contaminated water are constantly being built at the site, up to one new tank daily, in fact. At some point, though, other mitigatory measures will have to be implemented, as there’s only so much space available to build more tanks.

According to The Ecologist, the Reactor 3 fuel storage pond also still contains upwards of 89 metric tons of plutonium-based, mixed-oxide fuel that, should the pond leak or dry up, could result in another major reactor meltdown. Reactor 3, as you may recall, experienced a full meltdown back in 2011 that resulted in the reactor core falling through the floor to the bottom of the containment vessel.

The chart at the following link, which was put together just days after the tsunami and earthquake hit Fukushima, provides a visual breakdown of radiation exposures from various sources. It can be used to quantify the threat associated with each respective leak:

Blog.XKCD.com.

READ MORE FUKUSHIMA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Fukushima Files
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Debt 101: Japan Overtakes China as Largest US Creditor

April 16, 2015, 6:47 pm

≫ Next: Thick America: Still Woefully Ignorant About Atomic Bombs Dropped On Japan

≪ Previous: Fukushima: What Are the Risks?

21st Century Wire says…

Who Owns The Most U.S. Debt?

Mike Patton from Forbes explains, “To satisfy the U.S. government’s need for revenue, Washington collects taxes and fees. What happens if this isn’t enough? What happens if the federal government needs more? That is the subject of this article in which we’ll reveal who owns the most U.S. debt and how much of it is owned by foreign nations. We’ll begin by explaining, in simple terms, how the debt market functions.”

“An individual takes on debt when they finance a new car, house, etc. The U.S. government does so when it issues securities. Specifically, the federal government issues Treasury bills, notes, and bonds. The primary difference is in their maturity. For example, Treasury bills have a maturity less than one year. Treasury notes mature in one to ten years. Treasury bonds have maturities greater than 10 years.”

“To issue its debt, the government holds periodic Treasury auctions. A successful auction indicates a strong demand for U.S. Treasury securities. If the auction doesn’t go well, it means demand for Treasuries is weak. Who owns the most Treasurys?”

It appears that the Japanese have just moved into pole position in terms of US bondholders…

Japanese become biggest funders of American government for first time since 2008 financial crisis

Wall Street Journal

Japan dethroned China as the top foreign holder of U.S. Treasurys for the first time since the financial crisis, following a wave of purchases by buyers shifting money to the U.S. as Japan’s economic policies push down interest rates there.

In reclaiming its status as the largest foreign creditor to America in U.S. official data, Japan is reasserting itself as Beijing holds its Treasury portfolio steady amid a weakening Chinese economy.

U.S. debt bears higher yields than government bonds offered in other rich nations, thanks to the perception of stronger U.S. growth prospects and to central-bank bond purchases that have driven yields near zero across Europe and in Japan.

Private investors and official institutions in Japan owned $1.2244 trillion of U.S. government securities at the end of February, compared with $1.2386 trillion at the end of January, according to the latest monthly data released by the Treasury on Wednesday…

Continue this story at Wall Street Journal

READ MORE ASIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Asia Files
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Thick America: Still Woefully Ignorant About Atomic Bombs Dropped On Japan

August 12, 2015, 3:34 pm

≫ Next: (VIDEO) Japan’s Mount Aso Volcano Erupts Following Major Earthquake Yesterday

≪ Previous: Debt 101: Japan Overtakes China as Largest US Creditor

21st Century Wire says…

This week saw the 70 year Anniversary of the US dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan at the end of WWII. It was one of the deadliest, if not the deadliest event ever in human history.

It’s the sugar-coating that makes that ugly pill easier to swallow: “We had to drop the bombs, otherwise Japan would never have surrendered…”, but is it really true?

We only have to consider the words of the US president Dwight D. Eisenhower, who later lamented about, “… my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary…”.

Regardless, it’s still one of many popular American myths taught in American schools in order help make light of the top two single largest slaughters in human history. Violence on a grand scale.

In 2015, more people, including Americans, are finally summoning up the courage to question President Harry Truman’s decision to unleash the A-bombs which ravaged so many innocents…

RT notes: ‘Japan’s marking a tragic anniversary today – 70 years ago an atomic bomb was dropped by US forces on Hiroshima. Tens of thousands attended a solemn ceremony in the city’s Peace Park near the epicentre of the attack and observed a minute’s silence. The bombing of Hiroshima and then of Nagasaki led Japan to surrender in WWII, but it cost tens of thousands of lives.”

Incredibly, for some patriotists, the A-bomb is a source of nationalist pride. RT’s Gayane Chichakyan captures some shocking vox pops on the streets of Washington DC last week…

Thankfully, the woeful ignorance of those in the news segment above is not necessarily borne out in the polls…

Poll: More Americans, Japanese looking back at the #Hiroshima, #Nagasaki bombings as unjustifiable. pic.twitter.com/t1gWkbR1j1
— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) August 5, 2015

READ MORE NUCLEAR NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Nuclear Files

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(VIDEO) Japan’s Mount Aso Volcano Erupts Following Major Earthquake Yesterday

April 5, 2016, 10:43 pm

≫ Next: Contaminated ‘Radioactive’ Wild Boars Running Amok Around Fukushima

≪ Previous: Thick America: Still Woefully Ignorant About Atomic Bombs Dropped On Japan

21st Century Wire says…

Japan continues to experience serious aftershocks from yesterday’s major earthquake.

The 7.0 earthquake struck Japan’s Kyushu Island, just after another 6.2 quake had hit the region just two days earlier.

The death toll has risen to 19, according to figures released by the Kumamoto Prefecture’s disaster management office.

No word yet about whether this week’s spate of disasters has affect the Island’s two nuclear reactors.

The quake appears to have also triggered a volcanic eruption. Watch:

.
RT

After a series of deadly earthquakes in Japan, a “small-scale” eruption of Mount Aso has been recorded by the Japan Meteorological Agency. However, it decided to keep the alert level at 2, as it was not immediately clear whether the natural disasters were related.

Plumes of smoke rose some 100 meters into the sky, according to local media and videos captured by witnesses. The eruption of Mt. Aso, located in southern Japan, was recorded at around 11:30pm GMT Friday.

Since small eruptions had been recorded at Mt. Aso even before the series of deadly quakes hit the area on Thursday and Friday, the Japanese Meteorological Agency has reportedly decided to keep the alert level at 2 on a scale of 1-5…

Continue this story at RT

READ MORE SCI-TECH NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Sci-Tech Files

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Contaminated ‘Radioactive’ Wild Boars Running Amok Around Fukushima

April 15, 2016, 10:01 pm

≫ Next: (VIDEO) Japan Volcanic Eruption Triggered By String of Earthquakes

≪ Previous: (VIDEO) Japan’s Mount Aso Volcano Erupts Following Major Earthquake Yesterday

21st Century Wire says…

Despite the complete world mainstream media blackout regarding the 2011 Daiichi nuclear reactor meltdown at Fukushima, Japan, a few stories are getting out into the public domain which provide some indication of the radioactive contamination in and around the quarantine zone.

Japanese nuclear operator TEPCO measures using a dosimeter at the central operating control room of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at their tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant (Image Source: 50K View)

Experts now admit that there is evidence of radioactive-led mutations to local plant and insect life. There are also concerns with other wildlife too. In this case, it’s the swelling population of wild boars in the area – apparently, plagued with nuclear contamination and unfit for human consumption.

Authorities claim that the radiation levels will remain toxic for another 30 years, but this could also be an overly positive assessment design to abate public fears and concerns.

The reality is that this is a catastrophe the likes of which the planet has rarely seen, and still, political leaders, corporate bosses and nuclear tycoons – all remain largely in a state of denial…

(Image Source: Wikiwand)

Will Worley
The Independent

Radioactive boars are running wild and breeding uncontrollably in the northern region of Japan contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The animals have been devastating local agriculture and eating toxic, nuclear-contaminated food from around the accident site.

Mass graves and incinerators have been unable to cope with the quantity of boar corpses, shot by local hunters.

A quarantine zone near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant where a 2011 meltdown leaked radioactive material into the surrounding countryside has been uninhabited by humans since the disaster.

However, boars remained in the area, unchecked by humans. Their precise number is unknown, but since 2014, the number of boars hunted has increased from 3,000 to 13,000, The Times reported…

Continue this story at The Independent

READ MORE FUKUSHIMA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Fukushima Files

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(VIDEO) Japan Volcanic Eruption Triggered By String of Earthquakes

April 15, 2016, 10:45 pm

≫ Next: 21WIRE’s Week in Review: 16 APR 2016 Edition

≪ Previous: Contaminated ‘Radioactive’ Wild Boars Running Amok Around Fukushima

21st Century Wire says…

Japan continues to experience serious aftershocks from yesterday’s major earthquake. The 7.0 earthquake struck Japan’s Kyushu Island just after another 6.2 quake had hit the region just two days earlier.

The death toll has risen to 19, according to figures released by the Kumamoto Prefecture’s disaster management office.

No word yet about whether this week’s spate of disasters has affect the Island’s two nuclear reactors.

The quake appears to have also triggered a volcanic eruption. Watch:

.
RT

Continue this story at RT

READ MORE SCI-TECH NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Sci-Tech Files

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21WIRE’s Week in Review: 16 APR 2016 Edition

April 16, 2016, 12:25 pm

≫ Next: Radioactive Risk: Plumes of Mysterious Steam Now Rising Over Fukushima

≪ Previous: (VIDEO) Japan Volcanic Eruption Triggered By String of Earthquakes

21st Century Wire says…

A review of all the Top Stories from this week – for your consideration.

Syrian Elections 2016: US, NATO Criminals, Liars & Hypocrites' Failed Attempt to Deny the Will of the Syrian People

Vanessa Beeley | Syrian elections further expose US & NATO hypocrisy, corruption and criminality.

21st Century Wire

Obama Finally Admits: 'We Had No Plan After Libya Regime Change'

21WIRE + RT | Obama and Hillary Clinton are absolutely responsible for a humanitarian disaster in Libya.

21st Century Wire

POVERTY PIMP: Sir Bob Geldof wants $100,000 for 'anti-poverty' speech

21WIRE + Telegraph | Meanwhile, nothing gets done, and the poverty pimps just get richer.

21st Century Wire

Would a Hillary Clinton Presidency Mean More Wars?

Robert Parry | In 2016, the "safe choice" will be the unleashing of more wars - business as usual.

21st Century Wire

FBI Director James Comey: 'Trust, but protect' (and cover your laptop webcam with tape)

21WIRE + RT International | This is latest pokes fun at the complete hypocrisy and fraud that is the Orwellian spy state.

21st Century Wire

Finger in Every Pie: How CIA Produces Our 'News' and Entertainment

21WIRE + Sputnik | CIA media productions are designed to reinforce a set of false believes about the world outside of the United States.

21st Century Wire

CrossTalk: 'Bullhorns Incorruptible' with guest Patrick Henningsen

CrossTalk | This week's biggest international news stories - through the bullhorn.

21st Century Wire

Yemen: A Saudi Genocidal War Backed by Obama with Regional Oil Reserves as the Prize.

Phil Butler | Yemen: Oil is the treasure the US hopes to extract from the Saudi Coalition genocidal war against Yemen.

21st Century Wire

CRIMINAL: Details Emerge of Washington's 'Fast & Furious' Arms Trafficking in Syria

21WIRE + IHS Janes | Details of US gun-running in Syria, much of which has fallen into terrorist hands.

21st Century Wire

BOILER ROOM – EP #52 – Never Ending Chaos

Alternate Current Radio | Hesher, Spore, Jay Dyer, Daniel Spaulding, Randy J and Andy Nowicki bring the uninterruptible talk radio this week on ACR & 21Wire.

21st Century Wire

AVAAZ: The Progressive's Honey Trap and Advocates of 'Bombs for a Better World'

John Hanrahan | Avaaz promote "bombing for a better world" while calling for Palestinian Statehood. Hypocrisy or progressive manipulation?

21st Century Wire

Syrian Elections Prove Again That Washington & Its Presstitutes Lie Through Their Teeth

Paul Craig Roberts | Once again, the western media clap-trap denied Syria the right to self-determination.

21st Century Wire

Nuland's Lapdog 'Yats' Finally Exits Out Rear Door of Kiev Parliament

Robert Parry | Backed by Washington and the local Nazi brigades, 'Yats' has finally been shown the door.

21st Century Wire

Breaking News! American Warship Sails "Dangerously Close" to Russia

21WIRE | Russian jets fly dangerously close to US warship that is sailing "dangerously close" to Russia.

21st Century Wire

LIVE REPORT: Syrian Elections Defy US and NATO "Regime Change" Agenda

Ken Stone | Live from Damascus, veteran anti-war activist, Ken Stone reports on the Syrian elections defying US and NATO exceptionalism.

21st Century Wire

YEMEN: Senator Rand Paul Combats Saudi Empowerment of AQAP and Indiscriminate Bombing of Yemeni Civilians

Tyler Koteskey | Rand Paul takes a stand against US arms sales to Saudi Arabia being used to illegally target civilians in Yemen.

21st Century Wire

Contaminated 'Radioactive' Wild Boars Running Amok Around Fukushima

21WIRE + The Independent | Area's animal population has been left unchecked since the 2011 reactor meltdown.

21st Century Wire

Kerry's Lunacy: 'US Would Be Justified Shooting Down Unarmed Russian Jets'

21WIRE + Antiwar.com | Clinging to his outdated script, Kerry remains completely detached from reality.

21st Century Wire

(VIDEO) Japan Volcanic Eruption Triggered By String of Earthquakes

21WIRE + RT | Plumes of smoke could be seen rising some 100 meters into the sky.

21st Century Wire

Erdogan: Pretender to the Ottoman Throne Threatens to Exile Five Million Turks

Thierry Meyssan | Erdogan's delusions of Empire threaten to deprive 5 million Turks of their nationality.

21st Century Wire

Syria: How Washington Backed the ISIS Takeover and Destruction of Palmyra

Prof. Tim Anderson | The US supported ISIS occupation and destruction of Palmyra, mass killings and torture.

21st Century Wire

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Radioactive Risk: Plumes of Mysterious Steam Now Rising Over Fukushima

January 2, 2014, 4:00 am

≫ Next: SUNDAY SCREENING: 24 Hours After Hiroshima (2010)

≪ Previous: 21WIRE’s Week in Review: 16 APR 2016 Edition

21st Century Wire says…

As the Japanese government, in collusion with TEPCO (and almost every corporate mainstream media worldwide), continue to downplay the apocalyptic meltdown at the Daiichi nuclear power facility in Fukushima, Japan – the invisible menace continues to pump life-threatening radiation into the earth’s atmosphere.

The reason for the silence is twofold. The corporate nuclear mafia wish to avoid spending any money which could severely affect their future bottom-line profits. In addition to this, they are also very keen to avoid any heavy legal action based on their guilt due to not safeguarding the toxic radioactive fuels and waste stored on site.

Due to corporate psychopathy – they have put their precious profits over human lives, and have placed billions of innocent lives of this generation – and the next, at fatal risk. To call this debacle criminal would be a gross understatement.

It’s genocidal…

RT.com

Fresh plumes of most probably radioactive steam have been detected rising from the reactor 3 building at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, said the facility’s operator company.

The steam has been detected by surveillance cameras and appeared to be coming from the fifth floor of the mostly-destroyed building housing crippled reactor 3, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the plant’s operator.

The steam was first spotted on December 19 for a short period of time, then again on December 24, 25, 27, according to a report TEPCO published on its website.

The company, responsible for the cleanup of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, has not explained the source of the steam or the reason it is rising from the reactor building. High levels of radiation have complicated entry into the building and further inspection of the situation.

Three of the plant’s reactors suffered a nuclear meltdown in March 2011 after the Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting tsunami hit the region. The plant is comprised of six separate water boiling reactors. At the time of the earthquake, reactor number 4 had been de-fueled and reactors 5 and 6 were in cold shutdown for planned maintenance, thereby managing to avoid meltdowns.

Unlike the other five reactors, reactor 3 ran on mixed core containing both uranium fuel and mixed uranium and plutonium oxide, or MOX nuclear fuel. The Reactor 3 fuel storage pond still houses an estimated 89 tons of the plutonium-based MOX nuclear fuel composed of 514 fuel rods.

In a similar incident, small amounts of steam escaped from the reactor 3 building in July 2013, Asahi Shimbun reported. However it was unclear where the steam came from. TEPCO said that radiation levels did not change, adding that the steam could have been caused by rain that found its way to the primary containment of the reactor, and because this vessel was still hot, the water evaporated. On 23 July the steam was seen again coming out of the fifth floor just above the reactor containment, the Japanese newspaper reported.

In November, TEPCO, responsible for the decommissioning of the plant, began the highly risky removal of over 1,500 potentially damaged nuclear fuel rods from reactor 4. The reactor is the most unstable part of the plant as it was offline at the time of the 2011 catastrophe and its core didn’t go into meltdown. Instead, hydrogen explosions blew the roof off the building and severely damaged the structure.One of the most dangerous operations attempted in nuclear history was a success as a total of 22 assemblies containing 50 to 70 fuel rods have been transported to a new storage pool.

While the extraction of the fuel rods is a significant challenge for TEPCO, a more complex task of removing the cores of the stricken reactors is yet to come.

READ MORE FUKUSHIMA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Fukushima Files

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SUNDAY SCREENING: 24 Hours After Hiroshima (2010)

December 11, 2016, 9:35 am

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21st Century Wire says…

This week’s documentary film curated by our editorial team at 21WIRE.

“By August 1945, the Allied Manhattan Project had successfully detonated an atomic device in the New Mexico desert and subsequently produced atomic weapons based on two alternate designs. The 509th Composite Group of the U.S. Army Air Forces was equipped with a Silverplate Boeing B-29 Superfortress that could deliver them from Tinian in the Mariana Islands.”

“In August 1945, during the final stage of the Second World War, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The two bombings, which killed at least 129,000 people, remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare in history.”

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Run time: 40 min
Director: Pamela Caragol Wells
Distribution: National Geographic Explorer