Libya, Gaddafi, and the idiocy of NATO and the United Nations

Tonight on CNN I heard John King say, “Muammar Gaddafi is now using bombs meant to maim and kill people.”  As opposed to what, bombs meant to give Swedish massage?!?  This whole Libyan situation has gotten beyond ridiculous and I’m sick of the US government, NATO and the United Nations.  I never believed the US wanted to do anything about Libya and laid out why in a piece I posted several weeks ago.

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/why-the-military-industrial-complex-commanded-we-abandon-libya/

So why are in Libya, simply look at who fired the first shot, the French.  The French were the first to recognize the rebels and drove the UN and NATO into this fight, why?  Well, it’s as simple as why we went into Iraq.   We went into Iraq to protect American oil company interests and the French led us into Libya to protect French oil interests.

http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/Oil/8578907

So, let’s face reality, Gaddafi is a criminal, a murderer specifically, we know for a fact that he is a terrorist.

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/why-we-will-do-nothing-about-libya/

So let’s stop playing games, if we want him out of power then take him out.  I know, it will make all of our other dictator/partner/oil suppliers nervous if we do so.  God forbid we should make oil hoarding dictators nervous, it might cause gas prices to go up.  Either go in and remove Gaddafi by any means and quickly, or get the hell out of Libya!

Why the military-industrial complex commanded we abandon Libya

I am not prone to flights of conspiratorial fancy but sometimes the conspiracy theory nuts get close to the truth.  So in this post I want to lay out an idea about how significant our abandonment of democratically focused freedom fighters was always a foregone conclusion.

So what is the military-industrial complex?  In 1961 President Dwight D Eisenhower made a farewell speech to the nation.  In that speech he clearly related the coming marriage between the defense industry and our nation and how powerful that new relationship would become and the impact it would have.  The most significant passage from his talk is below:

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

The amount we spent on defense in America in 2010 was $663 billion, roughly one-sixth of the entire US budget (16%).  By comparison, we spent $46 billion to fund the Department of Education.

The top ten defense lobbyist spent $27 million in the last quarter of 2009 at a time when the US had decided to ramp up the military efforts in Afghanistan.  With this type of money being spent the defense industry becomes a significant player in our government with significant influence on the policies and actions of congress and the president.

In a nutshell what this means is that the defense industry has a vested interest, which they pay heavily for, in how we conduct ourselves in the world.  Corporate leaders look for opportunities to support conflict which drives their profits, likewise they need fear to hold continued support from the public, and have an interest in maintaining a healthy economy that allows for significant defense spending.  So the military-industrial complex needs a growing economy, an American public in fear and conflict to drive military spending.

So how does this relate to Libya?  Libya is an oil rich country, granted, not a significant importer to America but an oil rich Arab nation none-the-less and let’s not forget that the defense industry is a global, not an American, phenomenon.   So as Egyptian students revolted in the streets we could be supportive, Egypt does not provide us with oil and as such is not a threat to our growing economy.  Saudi Arabia however is and literally across a causeway bridge is a burgeoning revolt in the country of Bahrain.  If the United States stepped in and helped out the Libyan rebels with military assets, it would be difficult to justify not helping similar rebels in Bahrain and then potentially, rebels in Saudi Arabia, our third largest energy provider after Canada and nearly equal to Mexico.  But North American sources are easily protected, the Saudi’s our good friends are not. 

So by not stepping in to help the Libyan rebels we do two things.  First, we stay on Gaddafi’s good side and also keep the oil fields pumping and oil profits from Libya flowing.  Secondly, we set up a situation where it would be hypocritical to go into Bahrain.  And so today, our good friends the Saudi’s moved in to help Bahrain quell their street protests with a military presence.  I’m sure this was done to send a clear message to people in Saudi Arabia that if they would use their military against protestors in Bahrain, they would certainly do the same at home.  Staying out of Libya guaranteed the Saudi’s could act with impunity.

We have one of the elements the military-industry complex needs, oil is flowing and that allows for economic growth in the world.  Now all we need is to keep the American public afraid and find a military option to make up for monies no longer being spent in Iraq.  Well my friends, both of those things can be taken care of in Yemen.  First there is a revolt going on in Yemen as well, and secondly they specter of Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula is alive and well.  Those two things give the United States all of the justification we need to perform airstrikes and missile attacks and eventually move forces into Yemen.  The purpose will be to quell the protests against the Yemeni president we support and of course to remove the bogey man of the 21^st century, the Al Qaeda terrorist threat.

BP Oil Spill: Halliburton is Implicated Again

Well as investigators start dissecting actually what happened to cause the deaths of eleven men and the largest oil spill in American history, we find our old friends Halliburton right in the thick of things.  According to an article published in the New York Times, Halliburton knew that the concrete used to seal the bottom of the well was unstable and didn’t meet industry standards.  Halliburton initially informed BP of the error and then failed to follow up with BP even though retests showed that the problem still exists.  This comes as no shock to anyone that both BP and Halliburton have extreme culpability in this accident.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/us/29spill.html?_r=2&hp

Die Prop 23 Die!

In the link below you can see the latest polling results for Proposition 23 which is attempting to make California a better business environment for big oil who is primarily bank rolling the proposition.  However, the election is still two weeks away and I would encourage everyone, as always, to get out and vote.  I hear Mickey Mouse is gaining on both Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown with my paper ballot helping the cause.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-poll-20101025,0,1234526.story

Should we get rid of all environmental regulation?!

So I went to a local Japanese restaurant after work the other day, I’ve been craving sushi after my week in the desert and so I settled in for a little chicken teriyaki and a B52 roll.  I ordered my standard bowl of miso soup as well and while I waited for the waitress to bring the soup, I sat there listening to the discussion at the next table.  At the table sat an older man who had the attention of a younger woman and two young guys, he was pontificating about the environment, liberals and such and I was about to tune it out when something caught my attention.  It was the phrase, “all this environmental stuff is blowing hot air, our environment is better now than it has ever been.”

He then went on to describe how the foothills area of the Sierras has improved vastly over the gold rush times.  He went on to talk about how the area was deforested and polluted with the chemicals of mining and how now we have trees and clean water and everything is wonderful.  Now, he’s not wrong about that but he then went on to talk about how because the environment is getting so much better that we need to get rid of all of this unnecessary regulation of the environment, that things get better as time goes on and that fifty years from now our environment will be cleaner than it has ever been because the earth repairs itself.  I looked over to see these three young people staring up at him with admiration in their eyes and I almost spit up my miso soup.

I quietly sat there wondering if I should insert myself into the conversation and lay down a little bit of reality and in all truth slaughter this half-ignorant wind bag, but in the end, I live and work in a very conservative county and I really just wasn’t up for the annoyance on a Friday afternoon, so I ate my meal and slipped out to enjoy my weekend.  But I don’t want to let this go, it fries my ass when I overhear things like this and friends I frequently overhear people who know just a little bit about science and then use this tiny bit of understanding to inappropriately apply science to support their ideology.  So my friends instead you’ll get to hear it and this is what I would have said.

Hi pal, couldn’t help overhearing your conversation and I find your perspective to be interesting and completely idiotic.  You are covering and interesting concept in environmental science, which is what point in time do we use as the baseline for the environment.  Taking your example, if we use the middle of the 1800’s as our baseline then yes, our environment here in the foothills is much better than it was.  However, if you pick 1800, then we have a whole different ballgame because prior to the massive environmental impact of the gold rush, this area was pristine forest habitat.  So apparently things don’t get better as time goes on, maybe you just picked a really convenient point to make your argument conform to your ideology.  I would ask people who lived on the Cuyahoga River in the 1960’s and 70’s if they think all of this environmental nonsense is just a lot of hot air.  In case you don’t know, the Cuyahoga River is most famously known as the river that caught on fire because it was so polluted:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuyahoga_River

So my friend why don’t we look at the reality of the environment globally and seriously if you think the global environment is better now than in 1850, I’d have to say you’re a moron.  In 1850 passenger pigeons on migration flew overhead in flocks that were a mile wide and sometimes 300 miles long, taking hours to pass; you could regularly catch blue fin tuna bigger than the biggest tuna caught today;  and there were even grizzly bears in California actually roaming around, not just on the flag.  I could go on and I don’t want to take away the successes we have had in recovering and saving species, species like the Bald Eagle, the Gray Wolf and the California Condor.  However our environment is in trouble:

* There are dead zones in our oceans depleted of oxygen

http://azstarnet.com/news/science/environment/article_69547a06-1391-5939-b3ca-451cc65b5017.html

* We now the Great Pacific Garbage Patch floating in the Pacific

http://www.greatgarbagepatch.org/

* Niger is so polluted due to oil extraction that they should close the country

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/the-bp-gulf-oil-spill-is-nothing-compared-to-this%e2%80%a6/

* Air quality is so bad in Beijing that athletes at the Olympics wore dust masks

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/U-S-athletes-wear-face-masks-upon-arrival-in-Be?urn=oly-98641

* Haliburton and friends are destroying water quality through hydrologic fracking

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/natural-gas-fracking-in-the-news/

 And yes my conservative friends, I made that entire argument without once mentioning global climate change.  How do we get people to understand the simplest of scientific principles and the difference between causation and correlation?  Honestly I don’t know but trust me we are trying in Biology and Environmental Studies classes all over the world we are trying.  In the meantime let’s remember all of the good things the Clean Air and Water Acts as well as the Endangered Species Act have done.  Should our environmental laws and policies be reviewed, of course no law or policy should be above review, but let’s not be stupid enough to think that they should all be abolished, if you’re not convinced you can borrow my copy of Silent Spring.

The BP Gulf Oil Spill is nothing compared to this…

The BP Gulf Oil Spill is nothing compared to this…

 Probably the only upside to the BP Horizon drilling platform sinking and subsequent oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is that light has been shed on some other significant problems in the energy sector.

The first area that has gotten recent attention is the situation in the Niger Delta in Africa.  This area in Africa that many multi-national oil companies drill for oil in has had a significant amount of oil spill damage to its environment.  Effectively the river system that the local people are completely dependent upon for everything is a toxic mess.  The monetary fund established to compensate these same people  seems to vanish after it reaches the government of the country.  How much oil has been spilled in the Niger Delta, the equivalent of a spill the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster every year for the last forty years, a total of over 13 million barrels of oil.  This has not only led to an environmental disaster but also political upheaval as well as locals have rebelled against the government by performing terrorist acts upon the oil pipelines and drilling rigs in Niger exacerbating the problem.  However, I have to say, were I in their shoes  I might do the same thing, you can learn more about the situation in the following links:

http://newsdesk.org/2010/06/niger-delta-oil-spills-dwarf-bp-exxon-valdez-catastrophes/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/30/oil-spills-nigeria-niger-delta-shell

The second area that has gotten attention due to the BP disaster has been the issue of previously capped wells that may be leaking oil and methane into the gulf.  According to the Associated Press, there are over 27,000 abandoned wells in the Gulf of Mexico.  These “abandoned wells” are not inspected and many have been capped since the 1940’s, there are laws on the books that require these wells , particularly recently abandoned wells, to be inspected but there are no teeth in the laws so companies do not comply.  Essentially, neither the government nor the industry have any idea if or more likely how many of these wells are leaking.  Given that wells can repressurize and caps in place for up to 70 years maybe rusted and faulty, how long will it be before we have another huge spill in the Gulf of Mexico, you can read more about this at:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/07/07/1547812/old-wells-are-rarely-checked-for.html

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gz8SP1X8Y6bOR5kwCcuxUdV1XwLgD9GPVQ0G1

Finally there is one issue in the energy sector that has not gotten the attention it deserves during this disaster and that is the environmental damage done by hydrologic cracking or more commonly called, fracking.  I recently wrote a piece on this and you can read it at:

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/bp-and-the-oil-industry-are-only-part-of-the-danger-and-haliburton-is-involved/

For me all of this brings up two significant issues, the first being that our insatiable desire for energy has caused us to pursue an extractive energy policy regardless of the environmental and I would argue long-term economic costs.  This mentality has to change and has to come on several fronts including conservation which seems to currently being ignored by everyone; selective extraction with concern for the environmental and health impacts to the public; and finally an energy policy in this country that address and focuses on renewable energy.  No matter what your political affiliation is you can’t deny that renewable energy helps us solve our energy issues in the United States which in the end helps our economy and improves our national security by leaving us less dependent on unstable nations.  Currently in California people are actually trying to repeal a state law that has been helping us down this road, have we learned anything from the BP spill?

My fear is that the only thing that we will take away from this disaster are the rumors of things that haven’t actually happened including the cracking of the sea floor and extinction level methane bubble disasters, both have been debunked in previous posts and can be found at:

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/has-bp-triggered-an-explosive-methane-event-that-will-bring-on-dystopian-times/

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2010/06/26/anatoly-sagalevitch-comments-on-bp-oil-crisis-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/

Has BP triggered an explosive methane event that will bring on Dystopian Times?

A story has been floating around the internet recently, written by Terrence Aym, that references Gregory Riskin’s theory that several times over the course of the history of the world, explosive releases of methane gas from under the ocean have caused mass extinctions.  This theory is currently being debated in the scientific community particularly amongst geologists.  According to Aym, the recent events taking place in the Gulf of Mexico, “may have triggered an irreversible, cascading geological Apocalypse that will culminate with the first mass extinction of life on Earth in many millions of years.”

Aym further discusses the signs that would be evidence of this cataclysmic event which would include:  a splitting and cracking of the sea floor; a rise in the level of the sea floor; and massive venting of methane and other gasses.  According to Aym, ALL OF THESE ARE HAPPENING! 

You can find Aym’s story at:

http://www.helium.com/items/1882339-doomsday-how-bp-gulf-disaster-may-have-triggered-a-world-killing-event

Were this to actually occur what would really happen?  According to Ryskin’s theory the explosive release of the methane would cause a massive sea floor collapse which would trigger a giant tsunami that would significantly inundate coastal zones potentially around the world.  Secondly, as the methane entered the atmosphere, methane/water vapor clouds would form that would actually self-ignite causing worldwide fire storms.  In the end, were this event to actually occur we are talking about the end of society as we know it and for any human survivors the beginning of Dystopian Times!

So, should you be terrified right now?  Should you be suddenly investing in gas masks and fire suppression systems?  Should you say the hell with it, spend out the limits of your credit cards and have the world’s last greatest orgy?  Well the Libertarian in me won’t allow me to tell you what to do, but here are a few things to think about.

First off, Aym claims that all of the signs of a massive methane release have been demonstrated including fracturing of the sea floor, this is a rumor that has been floating around the net and is mainly attributed to comments made by Dr. Anatoly Sagalevitch which were debunked in this blog after we talked to Dr. Sagalevitch, you can read more about this at:

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2010/06/26/anatoly-sagalevitch-comments-on-bp-oil-crisis-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/

Secondly Aym asserts that the sea floor is rising, which he gets from reports that have ”filtered in” but yet he quotes no one specific, which has to raise some doubts about the validity of this statement.  Additionally, Aym tells us, “Most disturbing of all: Methane levels in the water are now calculated as being almost one million times higher than normal.”   He is quoting a Reuters article by Julie Steenhuysen where they do say they found concentrations in some places one million times the background concentration, however the article goes on to say that in other places they found much lower concentrations and they don’t know way.  Also, were the entire gulf being flooded with methane at the levels suggested by Mr. Aym, then the oxygen concentrations would be severely reduced.  While the researchers found some places where oxygen levels were 30% lower than normal, they also found areas with normal levels of oxygen.  So it would appear that there isn’t a massive methane bubble in the gulf at this time.  You can read the article for yourself at:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2221822720100622

Finally, as with the comments  attributed to Dr. Sagalevitch, someone actually did the smart thing and actually contacted Dr. Gregory Ryskin to ask him what he thinks?  Well folks, he doesn’t think it’s even a possibility given his theory actually deals with completely different methane compounds then the ones being released into the Gulf of Mexico.  So the guy who wrote the theory that all of the fuss is being made about doesn’t support Mr. Aym, and you can read about this at:  

http://www.businessinsider.com/gregory-ryskin-methane-2010-7

So at the end of the day is Terrence Aym just another tin foil hat lunatic trying to scare everyone to death for his own sick amusement, I doubt it.  Sadly I think the real issue a serious issue that our society faces, a lack of science education.  It is understandable that Mr. Aym could become terrified having been exposed to Ryskin’s theory, (probably on the History Channel special MegaDisasters), and then reading what would seem like those same things occurring in the Gulf of Mexico.  Unfortunately, any digging and reasoned thinking shows us clearly that we are not on the edge of a global methane bubble disaster.  Dystopian times might be coming folks, but not from this.

Gulf Seafloor Cracking Rumors to Get Tested Today by BP!

Today BP will commence with testing its new containment cap set up on the leaking Horizon Well on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.  I reported earlier in my blog on some of the scary rumors that had been floating around the web concerning that the seafloor was in fact cracked and that oil was not just leaking from the bore hole, but also from multiple cracks along the seafloor.  You can view that original post at:  http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/if-this-is-true-bp-may-lead-the-united-states-into-depression/

One of the main points of the rumor was that Dr. Anatoly Sagalevitch had been to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico in his deepwater submersibles the Mir1 and Mir2, I contacted Dr. Sagalevitch and he cleared this rumor up by telling me that he in fact had not been to the Gulf of Mexico and that the submersibles were currently being utilized in Lake Baikal in Russia.  You can read more about this at: http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2010/06/26/anatoly-sagalevitch-comments-on-bp-oil-crisis-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/

This however has not stopped rumors flying around the net that in fact the seafloor is cracked and that multiple leaks exist.  I have not ruled out this possibility and today we will get a key piece of evidence to either confirm or put down the speculation.  The cap that BP is fitting today will actually stop the flow of oil out of the pipe head.  Once they place that cap, if the pipe below is in tact and there are not other leaking areas, the pressure under that cap will rise, they predict up to 8000 psi.  If once they place that cap and close the vents and the pressure does not increase, it is significant evidence of at least more than one leak point.

So, if the pressure up significantly we can put all of the seafloor cracking rumors to bed.  If however it doesn’t, it’s not confirmation of the rumors but will be indicative of other leak points and leaves us in a position of not being able to refute that idea.

As of the writing of this article BP has announced they have delayed the closing of the vents and the integrity or pressure test.  This in itself makes me wonder if they have some indication it will not be successful?  However at this point, all we can do is sit and wait, just like we’ve been doing for nearly 3 months.

An Economic View of BP, the Oil Spill and the Gulf of Mexico

To quote Fred McCallister of Allegiance Capital Corporation while on CNN earlier this week, “BP is doing what’s in the best interest of BP and its shareholders.”  This should not come as a shock to anyone but it’s nice to actually hear someone say it on a national news broadcast.  Let’s take a deeper look at what that really means though.

The size of the spill determines the fine

 This explains why BP initially downplayed the size of the leak and has consistently underestimated the number of barrels per hour pumping out of the broken pipe.  British Petroleum already faces up to 14 billion dollars in civil penalties, payable under US environmental law, assuming the leak is plugged in August.  The size of these fines are directly linked to the size of the spill which is quickly becoming the largest in US history,  with BP liable for over $4,000 for each barrel spilt.  So in a nut shell, the fewer the barrels of oil reported to have been spilled, the smaller the fine.

Spreading out oil over time allows amortization of costs

A disturbing idea but one that seems to have merit, the use of dispersants sinks the oil so that it does not come to the surface or end up on beaches immediately, instead it will sink and wash up over time on the beaches as tar balls, thus increasing the size of the spill over time instead of all at once, read more at:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/02/96959/why-so-few-skimmers-at-the-oil.html

Given the financial advantage to using dispersants it is no surprise that BP refused to stop using the most available dispersant even when the EPA told them to stop.  British Petroleum is not worried about toxicity or long-term environmental impact, what’s important to BP is their bottom line, you can read more at:

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0524/bp-ignores-order-stop-dumping-toxic-oil-dispersant-gulf/

Finally, the dollar figure for BP will escalate as: private citizens sue over health issues; environmental groups sue on behalf of the environment of the gulf; fishers sue over the damage to fishing grounds; and tourism and other industries sue for lost business.  It is not inconceivable that BP is looking at 60 – 70 billion dollars in fines and law suit damages; given that the company’s profits for 2008 and 2009 totaled approximately 40 billion dollars, this is a company in trouble.  Were the fines and lawsuits to happen all at once they’d be done, just one more reason to do what they can to work on making this all spread out over time.

In the end it’s simple, BP will only do what it has to do and will focus on doing what’s best for BP and to hell with the environment, the animals and people of the Gulf of Mexico.

Anatoly Sagalevitch comments on BP Oil crisis in the Gulf of Mexico

I wrote a post about two weeks ago after reading a story online that Anatoly Sagalevitch, a world renown Russian Oceanographer, had visited the Gulf of Mexico shortly after the Deepwater Horizon platform managed by BP had exploded and collapsed.  According to the article Dr. Sagalevitch had reportedly said that upon his visit to the site in his submersibles, that he in fact saw over 20 cracks on the seafloor leaking.  You can read my post at: http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/if-this-is-true-bp-may-lead-the-united-states-into-depression/

As you may notice, the post title starts with, if this is true?  That particular question weighed on me for some time and I waited to see if the mainstream media would address this question.  They did not, so I decided to track down the answer myself.  Anyone who tells you it’s easy to track down anyone’s e-mail address on the web hasn’t tried to track down anyone they didn’t already know.  It took me three days of searching but finally I was able to get in contact with Dr. Sagalevitch and as him the very basic question, is this story true?  Dr. Sagalevitch’s response was very prompt and he told me he had not been to the Gulf of Mexico, in fact he was on vacation when the accident occurred and that he couldn’t have possibly surveyed the seafloor of the gulf as his submersibles, the Mir1 and Mir2 are actually deployed in Lake Baikal.  So the definitive answer to my post and the rumor flying around the internet is that no, Dr. Sagalevitch has not reported seeing dozens of cracks on the seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico leaking oil.

This information brings two points to bear for me.  First, how fast disinformation can fly around the internet, Dr. Sagalevitch remarked upon this as well.  Secondly, even without this information, we still don’t know what the actual conditions are at the seafloor or whether or not the relief wells will work.  Today we have been given a couple of interesting pieces of information including that the relief well drilling is proceeding as planned and the first tropical storm of the season has formed and is on track for the Gulf of Mexico.    We’ll talk in more detail in my next post about the potential consequences of a large tropical storm or hurricane in the gulf.  Hurricane formation in the gulf is greatly related to the temperature of the gulf and right now the gulf is very, very warm approximately eighty-six degrees Farenheit.  Look out friends the situation in the gulf may drastically change very soon and not for the better.