- The Real Lords of Afghan Poppy Fields & Heroin Distribution Hubs (Sibel Edmonds’ Boiling Frogs, May 22, 2012):
Facts, Myths, Smugglers, and the International Dudes
Afghanistan-poppies[i-Afghanistan-poppies]
Yesterday this so-not-news news made the headlines: Central Asia Key to Afghanistan Heroin Smuggling – UNODC. The headline was followed by these so-not-accurate descriptions and statements [emphasis mine]:
A new report by the United Nations drug agency sheds light on the nuts and bolts of narcotics transit from Afghanistan through Central Asia, highlighting the former Soviet republics’ lackluster efforts at interdiction.
…
The 106-page report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), released this month, describes how smugglers traffic heroin and opium from Afghanistan, the world’s largest producer, to Russia, the world’s largest consumer. Ninety tons of highly pure heroin, roughly a quarter of the substance exiting Afghanistan, passes through Central Asia annually. Yet in 2010 authorities in the region seized less than 3 percent of it. And despite international efforts to help, that number keeps falling. Continue reading »
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Bush administration, Drugs, George Bush, Global News, Government, heroin, Military, NATO, Obama administration, Politics, U.N., U.S.
More here: An $8bn Loss Or Was JPMorgan ‘Unhedged, Long-And-Wrong’ Post-LTRO2? (ZeroHedge, May 22, 2012):
…
So, in summary, it appears that the CDS data confirms what we suspected.
- A large (~$120bn) tail-risk tranche credit hedge was placed.
- The hedging of that hedge became very onerous but surprisingly profitable as markets rallied day after day with no give-back.
- This led to a greedy trader lifting some of the original tranche (and the HY short side) and leaving himself much more naked long to the market into LTRO2 – which marked the top. Losses escalated through April (~$2.5bn or so).
- Dimon went public (with some of the details).
- Last week, the rest of the tranche was dumped (we suspect) at a large cost (perhaps ~$5.5bn) leaving, we suspect…
- A potential ~$8bn loss and a heavy IG9 long credit position hedged (with major basis risk – difference in dynamics between the legs of the trade and the hedge) by various other liquid positions including shorts in HYG, JNK, IG18, and HY18 (and we would suspect equity/financials too).
Tags: Banking, cds, Economy, Global News, JPMorgan
Bilderberg-20113[i-Bilderberg-20113]
- Bilderberg power masters meet in the US (RT, May 23, 2012):
Every time a “Bilderberg Meeting” takes place, important things happen. The last time they met in the US was an election year, 2008 – and the world got Obama. This year they’re back in the US: will they decide who the next president of the United State
When in 2008 they gathered from June 5 to 8 in Chantilly, Virginia – just a stone’s throw from the Washington DC – Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were neck-in-neck in the battle for the Democratic Party’s presidential candidacy.
On June 5 of that year, Barack and Hillary mysteriously “disappeared” for some hours “somewhere in the DC area.” Their agendas blocked out, they clearly sneaked off to “Meet the Bilderbergers.”
Tags: Barack Obama, Bilderberg, Dictatorship, Economy, Global News, Government, Hillary Clinton, New World Order, Obama administration, Politics, U.S.
- Incinerating radioactive sewage sludge could contaminate environment (The Asahi Shimbun, May 22, 2012):
Incinerating the radioactive sludge that has piled up at sewage facilities across eastern Japan and burying it after mixing it with cement could increase the risk of cesium seeping into the environment, scientists say.
Disposal of the sludge, which is thought to have been created after radioactive materials from the Fukushima nuclear disaster were carried by rainwater into sewage pipes and then condensed during sewage treatment, has become a major headache for local governments.
One solution, being pursued by local governments, is incinerating the sludge and then mixing it with cement before burying it in landfill sites.
Tags: Contamination, Environment, Fukushima, Global News, Government, Health, Japan, Journalism, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Politics, Radiation, Science, Society
Japanese government banned staff from… von iori404
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare banned staff from researching Fukushima contamination (Fukushima Diary, May 21, 2012):
5/15 of last year, ETV (NHK) reported Japanese government prohibited their own staff from researching Fukushima contamination situation without a permission of directors.
Associate professor Kimura from Dokkyo Medical University researched Tokai village nuclear accident as staff of National Institute of Radiological Sciences.
After moving to Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, he researched Chernobyl spontaneously.
However, directors of Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare banned him from researching Fukushima contamination after 311. He resigned.
He regrets he couldn’t make the most of his experience in Tokai village nuclear accident and Chernobyl.
Tags: Contamination, Environment, Fukushima, Global News, Government, Health, Japan, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Politics, Radiation, Society
- Austria Joins Germany In Opposing Euro Bonds (ZeroHedge, May 22, 2012):
While the euro bond song and dance is all too familiar, being a carbon copy replay of last year, we feel obliged to remind who the key actors are, but more importantly who the key decision makers are. In short: while last year, at least in the first half, it was everyone against Merkozy, demanding that the two AAA rated countries backstop Europe at their own expense, following the French downgrade, France no longer cared if there are Eurobonds and joined the peripheral push to convince Merkel to shoulder the cost of preserving the Eurozone on its own. Germany politely declined. Fast forward to this year, when we get the same, only Hollande is now more vocal than ever knowing full well that he alone will be unable to deliver the “growth”, read incremental leverage, needed to back up his campaign promises. This is, or rather was, the whole point of today’s and tomorrow’s latest European summit which, just like this weekend’s useless G-8 photosession for the world’s leaders to express their support for either Chelsea or Arsenal, will achieve absolutely nothing. Importantly, we now can add at least one more country to the list of those opposed to a AAA-backstopped rescue of the rest of the Eurozone.
From Bloomberg:
Austria’s Finance Minister Maria Fekter said she opposes joint euro-area bonds as they would cost the Alpine republic more interest. Continue reading »
Tags: Austria, Bonds, Debt, Economy, EU, Euro Bonds, Europe, Germany, Global News, Government, Politics
- #Fukushima I Nuke Plant Reactor 1 Containment Vessel May Have Only 40 Centimeters of Water, Government Researchers at JNES Say (EX-SKF, May 21, 2012):
Move over, Reactor 2 (which has 60 centimeters of water)…
Tokyo Shinbun reports that the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry analyzed the parameters of Reactor 1 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, and concluded that there may be only 40 centimeters of water retained inside the Containment Vessel.
Tags: Environment, Fukushima, Global News, Health, Japan, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Radiation, TEPCO
- ‘The Sleeper’: Unit 3 building ‘fatally flawed’ (ENENews, May 21, 2012):
Arnold Gundersen with a new report on the Fukushima meltdowns and their worldwide implications
IF YOU LOVE THIS PLANET, A Weekly Radio Program with Dr. Helen Caldicott
May 18, 2012Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds Chief Nuclear Engineer: This is the sleeper as far as I’m concerned.
Unit 3 has about half the nuclear fuel in its pool than Unit 4 does.
Some of it is still quite hot.
It had been removed about 6 months before the meltdowns.
So it has a hot enough quarter of a core that it could burn in air.
And of course the Unit 3 building is fatally flawed.
Tags: Arnie Gundersen, Environment, Fukushima, Global News, Health, Helen Caldicott, Japan, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Radiation
- Ambassador’s comments translated by Asahi: Another accident at No. 4 reactor building could cause the “final catastrophe of the world” (ENENews, May 21, 2012):
Subscription Only: Officials try to calm fears about spent nuclear fuel rods
Asahi Shimbun AJW
By HIROSHI MATSUBARA
May 21, 2012[...] Experts from around the world are becoming increasingly concerned about the state of the No. 4 reactor building. [...]
Mitsuhei Murata, former ambassador to Switzerland, also told an Upper House hearing in March that another accident at the reactor building could cause the “final catastrophe of the world.” [...]
Tags: Environment, Fukushima, Global News, Health, Japan, Mitsuhei Murata, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Radiation
- The Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe’s Effects on the Pacific Ocean (Natural Society, May 22, 2012):
Just prior to the Supermoon of March 18th, 2011, the world witnessed a natural and man-made disaster of epic proportions. What transpired off the coast of Honshu Island, Japan on March 11 has forever altered the planet and irremediably affected the global environment. Whereas the earthquake and tsunami proved to be truly apocalyptic events for the people of Japan, the ongoing nuclear disaster at Fukushima is proving to be cataclysmic for the entire world.
Tags: Environment, Fukushima, Global News, Health, Japan, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Oceans, Radiation