secrets,lies and civil liberties

Nuclear smuggling trial in Switzerland, CIA link to be covered up

“This deal has been done to keep the CIA link out of court,”

Nuclear smugglers who aided AQ Khan face trial in Switzerland, The Guardian UK, Julian Borger,13 Dec 11 Friedrich, Urs and Marco Tinner to stand trial but their claims of CIA involvement will not be examined in plea-bargain deal. Switzerland has charged three members of the same family for their role in the Abdul Qadeer Khan nuclear smuggling network after a plea deal which will mean that their claims of collaboration with the CIA
will not be examined in court. Continue reading →

December 14, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Switzerland | Leave a comment

Japan’s nuclear clique, the “nuclear village” fighting to stop renewable energy

the Diet managers were proposing 3 people, a majority, from the nuclear village who are disinclined to support renewables

Japanese renewable-energy supporters present credible evidence that Shindo and his compatriots’ backgrounds show them to be major figures in the clique that devised the policies that led to Japan’s current very low level of renewables and over-reliance on nuclear and other unsustainable power sources. Their suggested appointment to the FIT price-setting council is an indication of how strong the nuclear village remains in Nagatacho and Kasumigaseki, the political and bureaucratic centres of the central government even after support for nuclear power plummeted in public opinion polls.

Japan’s Nuclear Village Wages War on Renewable Energy and the Feed-in Tariff
Japan Focus Dec. 08, 2011, Andrew DeWit The effects of the Fukushima shock continue to spread. Throughout the eventful summer, one of those consequences was the turn away from nuclear power with a dramatic emphasis on renewable power and the feed-in tariff (FIT) to deploy it fast. The FIT policy was championed by former Prime Minister Kan Naoto as well as the CEO of Softbank, Son Masayoshi. They and others in the political, business, non-profit, and academic communities strongly endorsed a legislative bill to expand Japan’s handicapped FIT to geothermal, wind, biomass and small hydro.

The bill was passed on August of 26 with explicit constraints on the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry’s (METI) capacity to hamstring renewables in favour of nuclear power and on behalf of the nuclear village. Notably, the bill took price setting out of METI’s hands. But now METI and its allies in the nuclear village are trying to get that clout back in their hands.

The price-setting mechanism is of signal importance because the role of the FIT is to provide incentives for the adoption of renewable energy. Continue reading →

December 9, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Secrecy over poor conditions and pay for Fukushima cleanup workers

While the radiation at Fukushima continues to leak out, the same can’t be said about information regarding working conditions at the plant.

Fukushima secrecy over workers and conditions ABC Radio A.M. Mark Willacy reported this story on Wednesday, December 7, 2011 TONY EASTLEY: Still in Japan and the ABC has obtained documents revealing the lengths being taken to keep work at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant secret and to stop workers there from actually talking to the media. Continue reading →

December 9, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, employment, Japan | Leave a comment

Israel stole weapons grade uranium from USA reprocessing plant

Israel stole uranium from U.S., report will show December 05, By Kristin Dailey The Daily Star WASHINGTON: A U.S.-based research institute will soon publish what it says is “indisputable” evidence that Israel stole weapons-grade uranium for its still-undeclared atomic weapons program from a nuclear reprocessing plant in western Pennsylvania.

The Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) will release this month a 300-page report detailing the initial findings of a multi-year research project investigating the disappearance of highly enriched uranium from the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (Numec) in Apollo, Pennsylvania in the 1950s and 1960s.

Grant Smith, the director of IRmep, told The Daily Star that the report would include a broad range of newly declassified and un-redacted government documents from various agencies – including the Department of Energy, Atomic Energy Commission, FBI and CIA – that prove that nuclear material was diverted from Numec to Israel.

“The story at this point is that there is no one smoking gun; there are many smoking pistols lying all over the place that we’ve painstakingly collected,” Smith told The Daily Star……

December 5, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Israel, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Secret Martial Law Act in USA – imprisonment without charge, without trial

Senate approves Martial Law: Military can jail indefinitely, no charge, no trial, Deborah Dupre, Human Rights Examiner November 30, 2011 Human rights campaign to prevent codification of Martial Law in America fails

Although the Obama administration has threatened to veto what is being called the “Secret Martial Law Act” if Congress approved it, on Tuesday, the Senate, mainly with Republican backing, voted 61 to 37 in favor of it, empowering the military to imprison “terror suspects” including people arrested inside the United States, without charge or trial and to hold them indefinitely, a Constitutional and human rights violation that even the national-security team has said is unacceptable and that the U.S. has used military aggression to end in foreign countries.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Senate approves Martial Law: Military can jail indefinitely, no charge, no trial – National Human Rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/senate-approves-martial-law-military-can-jail-indefinitely-no-charge-no-trial?CID=examiner_alerts_article#ixzz1fJv20yxJ

December 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

USA to use drone aircraft to target U.S. citizens?

Drone shoots Targeted Individual in New York Deborah Dupre, Human Rights Examiner, November 30, 2011 Drone aircraft, known for human rights violations of killing innocent children and other civilians, reported as destroying “terrorist” hideouts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, might be spotted in American neighborhoods soon, and some people might have already seen one. One Targeted Individual has given his account to the Examiner of seeing a drone in New York, and its applying high-tech “less than lethal” directed energy weaponry on him. Continue reading on Examiner.com Drone shoots Targeted Individual in New York – National Human Rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/u-s-targeted-individual-shot-by-drone?CID=examiner_alerts_article#ixzz1fJvMpFtC

December 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Sabotage, assassinations, cyber attacks on Iran’s nuclear program

Iran Nuclear Sabotage Suspected After Reports of Blasts at Atomic Centers, Bloomberg, By Ladane Nasseri – Nov 28, 2011 Reports of a blast in the province of Isfahan, home to one of Iran’s atomic facilities, adds to a series of unexplained incidents that have raised suspicions of sabotage against the country’s nuclear program. Continue reading →

November 30, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, safety, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Police violence does not deter huge anti nuclear protests in France and Germany

After 126 hours en route the 13th CASTOR delivery arrived for storage in Gorleben. The longest and most expensive delivery trip ever was caused by blockades of anti-nuclear activists, starting in France, continuing throughout Germany and culminating in the Gorleben area itself.

After a trip of nearly five and a half days from Normandy in France the 13^th delivery of processed German nuclear waste reached the “temporary” storage hall in Gorleben, a village in northwest Germany at about 10 pm on Monday +++ Police perpetrated massive violence and breaches of the law against demonstrators, injuring at least 355 with truncheons, gas, dogs, horses and water cannons +++ The 25,000 activists in the county were the second largest number ever +++ Resistance against the shipment began in France where activists reported police violence against them but also an upsurge of anti-nuclear sentiment in the country +++ In the Gorleben area resistance took the form of rail and road squats, chain-ons (one caused a 14-hour delay in the train journey) and massive road traffic disruptions, notably by farmers with tractors and agricultural machinery +++_{(See German Source here)}

The activists’ first aid team of doctors and other health professionals report treating at least 355 injured by police, including serious head wounds and a suspected vertebral fracture from truncheoning. About a third of the injuries were caused by gas, the others mainly by truncheons. One person was run down by a horse, another had a tooth bashed out. Some police who’d been affected by their own mace or who were totally exhausted (10 cases) were also treated. In some cases the first aiders were denied access, especially during the trucking phase. Nine were ordered away from places. A doctor was not allowed to examine an arrested injured person. In another case first aiders were kettled while washing out people’s eyes. There were several cases of police violence against first aiders, e.g. one was injured by gas, another by several blows with a truncheon. A first aid camp in Laase was overrun linkby police, who threatened and insulted first aiders. The group is shocked by the high number of injured which will probably rise because not all the numbers are in yet. http://linksunten.indymedia.org/en/node/50895

November 30, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, France, Germany, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Secrecy in Japan’s radiation studies

Will the Government of Japan’s radiation studies on the people exposed to radiation include removing tissue and bone samples after they have died? Will they inform the public or keep it a secret? dedicated to the mystery surrounding the 2 tsunami dogs 26 Nov 11

The citizens that were exposed to radiation from the Fukushima Prefecture have a surprise coming to them. It won’t matter to them, actually, because this will happen to them after they die. It is justwhat has been happening with the animals that have been killed andtheir bodies examined for cesium levels. Don’t think that it won’t happen to the Fukushima citizens that have been exposed to radiation.
Those same scientists that are examining the animals will want to examine the people also. This is where the Government of Japan will either tell people or keep it a secret and just take the samples and hope that no one will notice. The scientists that are like vultures
waiting, will want those samples to see what the levels of cesium are in those people.

If they think that their participation of the research being done by the Government of Japan on their exposure to the radiation is limited to just being monitored, it is not. Continue reading →

November 28, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

How Japan rigged public opinion to support MOX plutonium nuclear reactor

Rigging opinions on nuclear power, Japan Times, , Nov. 28, 2011, EDITORIAL A third-party committee of the Hokkaido government on Wednesday reported that the then chief of the regional government’s nuclear power safety measures section asked Hokkaido Electric Power Co. in July 2008 to collect opinions that favored the use of MOX (mixed oxide) nuclear fuel in the No. 3 reactor of its Tomari nuclear power plant.

The chief made the request because a majority of opinions collected by the Hokkaido government up to that point had been decidedly against the use of MOX fuel, which contains both plutonium and uranium, the committee said.

This is just the latest revelation of attempts to rig public opinions on nuclear power. Continue reading →

November 28, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Kudankulam anti nuclear protestors- are their lives in danger?

Kudankulam N-plant: Protesters allege threat to lives, NDTV – ‎Nov 24, 2011‎ Kudankulam: Days after talks between government representatives and villagers protesting against the setting up of a nuclear power plant at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu failed, protesters are alleging a threat to their lives. … http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/kudankulam-n-plant-protesters-allege-threat-to-lives-152712

November 27, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, India | Leave a comment

Agents of USA and Israel targeting Iran’s military and nuclear programs

Although the US Embassy in Beirut initially said there was no substance to the accusations, the Associated Press reports that American officials later conceded that Nasrallah had been telling the truth.

Iran arrests 12 ‘CIA spies’ for targeting nuclear plans BBC News, 24 November 2011 Iran has arrested 12 spies of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the official IRNA news agency reports. Parviz Sorouri, an influential lawmaker, said the agents were targeting Iran’s military and its nuclear programme.

He said they were operating in co-ordination with Israel’s Mossad and other regional agencies…… Mr Sorouri, a member of the powerful National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, did not give the nationality of the alleged agents, nor when they were arrested. Continue reading →

November 25, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Nuclear waste safety problems, retaliation against whistleblowers

The agency “seems to be more interested in paying contractor fees than in paying attention to safety concerns or to those who are disciplined for raising them,”

Hanford Nuclear-Waste Safety May Not Be Assured, Markey Says, By Brian Wingfield Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) –– The U.S. Energy Department may not have adequately responded to safety questions and allegations of retaliation against whistle-blowers at a nuclear-waste treatment plant in Washington state, Representative Edward Markey said. Continue reading →

November 23, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Australians kept in the dark on USA new military base in Darwin

We need more details of US build-up: Brown, SMH, 17 Nov 11, Australian Greens leader Bob Brown fears nuclear submarines could be stationed off the coast of Australia as part of a US military build-up in the Top End……

The expansion of the existing collaboration between the Australian Defence Force and the US Marine Corps and US Air Force will allow America to enhance its presence in the Asia-Pacific region

Senator Brown wants to see more details of the deal, announced jointly by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and US President Barack Obama on Wednesday. He also wants a parliamentary debate on the deal. ”I object to Australian people and parliament not knowing what the details are,” Senator Brown told ABC radio on Thursday. Continue reading →

November 17, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, politics international, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Cheating among U.S, nuclear submarine personnel – it doesn’t inspire confidence!

Navy probes cheating on submarine nuclear exams, CBS News, 16 Nov 11(AP), HARTFORD, Conn. – The Navy’s inspector general for the Atlantic submarine force is investigating claims that pervasive cheating has tainted exams administered to enlisted sailors and officers as part oftheir nuclear training…. Continue reading →

November 17, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

« Previous Entries Next Entries »