The Goracle Ties Myanmar Cyclone to AGW

Not a surprise, really.  He’s laying the blame of this horrible tragedy at the feet of industry, carbon dioxide, and the evil Internal Combustion Devil.

It’s an inconvenient truth– Al Gore doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about.

The death toll of the Myanmar Cyclone Nargis is expected to climb to a staggering 100,000 from direct and indirect causes.  It’s an area that was similarly devastated by the New Years Tsunami that killed over 200,000 people.  This cyclone hit with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph, putting it at a category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale of Hurricane intensity.  Coincidentally, that’s the same wind speed that Katrina had when it hit New Orleans.

The reason both of these Hurricanes are such horrible tragedies has less to do with nature and more to do with incompetent governance.  New Orleans was evacuated during Katrina.  The people left behind were not evacuated due to various reasons, and their rescue was not affected due to poor management of emergency resources.  As I mentioned before, Florida was hit with 4 hurricanes in a row the year before Katrina, and they managed to come out OK.  One hurricane hits Louisiana and nobody can land supply helicopters at the Superdome.

Myanmar is far worse.  A secretive military junta (backed by China) that slaughters innocents in secret isn’t going to be willing to chum up to Western governments wanting to supply aid.  So as they drag their feet, thousands more will die of illnesses that could have been prevented with modern medicines blocked by a reactionary government.

The tragedy of both Katrina and the Myanmar Cyclone is that faith in government is wholly misplaced.  Instead of consolidating military power, perhaps the military junta in Myanmar could have evacuated the coastline as the cyclone approached.  But they didn’t, and as a result, hundreds of thousands are dead, dying, injured or homeless.

Don’t blame Global Warming for these deaths, Al.  The blame is on a government your feckless United Nations does nothing to stop.

The Energy Bully — Time’s 2007 Man of the Year

Vladimir Putin.

I wouldn’t really challenge Time on this. Of all the people in the world, we should really be scrutinizing Putin and his policies, especially his plans for local domination through manipulation of natural resources.

While Petraeus would also have been a good choice (and Al Gore would have been horrible, and Rowling a certainly-deserved surprise), Putin’s impact is certainly more global. Time named Hitler Man of the Year in 1938. Here’s what they said about him:

But the figure of Adolf Hitler strode over a cringing Europe with all the swagger of a conqueror. Not the mere fact that the Führer brought 10,500,000 more people (7,000,000 Austrians, 3,500,000 Sudetens) under his absolute rule made him the Man of 1938. Japan during the same time added tens of millions of Chinese to her empire. More significant was the fact Hitler became in 1938 the greatest threatening force that the democratic, freedom-loving world faces today.

His shadow fell far beyond Germany’s frontiers. Small, neighboring States (Denmark, Norway, Czecho-Slovakia, Lithuania, the Balkans, Luxembourg, The Netherlands) feared to offend him. In France Nazi pressure was in part responsible for some of the post-Munich anti-democratic decrees. Fascism had intervened openly in Spain, had fostered a revolt in Brazil, was covertly aiding revolutionary movements in Rumania, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania. In Finland a foreign minister had to resign under Nazi pressure. Throughout eastern Europe after Munich the trend was toward less freedom, more dictatorship. In the U. S. alone did democracy feel itself strong enough at year’s end to give Hitler his come-uppance (see p. 5).

The Fascintern, with Hitler in the driver’s seat, with Mussolini, Franco and the Japanese military cabal riding behind, emerged in 1938 as an international, revolutionary movement. Rant as he might against the machinations of international Communism and international Jewry, or rave as he would that he was just a Pan-German trying to get all the Germans back in one nation, Führer Hitler had himself become the world’s No. 1 International Revolutionist—so much so that if the oft-predicted struggle between Fascism and Communism now takes place it will be only because two revolutionist dictators. Hitler and Stalin, are too big to let each other live in the same world.

Now, I don’t want to Godwin this thread before it starts, but it’s important to highlight those doing great good (Petraeus) and those doing great evil (Putin).

Make no mistake. Putin is organizing Russia into an energy empire, and it seeks to reconsolidate all the states that broke off from it under the weakness of one Mikhail Gorbechev and faltered under Boris Yeltsin. And as for opposition? It gets beaten, arrested, and/or killed. Even the celebrities.

But one thing I will say fearlessly to Putin. I was Man of the Year first. In your face, n00b.

Chavez Forever!

Hugo Chavez, the “President” of Venezuela, has been touting his “no term limit for me” exemption to the Venezuelan constitution.  Well, it looks as though that resolution may not pass.

And those who voted against it? Traitors!  Scum!  A wretched hive of scum and villainy!

All of this is a safety net.  If Chavez loses, it’s a backdoor to accuse “foreign elements” and “radicals” from keeping the people from the polls, or cheating somehow.  He’ll nullify certain votes, or he’ll just extend his rule by fiat.  The vote is a technicality, and Hugo will make sure it’s nullified if it goes against him.

But with all of the attention he’s attracting, if he does get a black eye at the polls, it’ll be embarrassing, and he’s going to take it out on those who wrought it.

The Energy Bully Can’t Be Stopped!

Yes, Vladimir Putin will move from President of Russia to Prime Minister of Russia, then back to President in 2012. It’s Putin-mania!

Anyone else uncomfortable with a former KGB-dictator running Russia? It seems Canada’s not happy, especially that Russia claimed half of the North Pole. What we need, in the words of Tina Turner, is a hero.

Enter Gary Kasparov, former Chess champion and Grand Master! Hey, chess grand masters are like rock stars in Russia. I’m sure he’ll do well, but President? Probably not.

The West needs reliable solar power now, before Russia chokes off power supplies to Europe through a monopoly of energy resources.

Mattel Apologizes to China

“We’re terribly sorry that we expected you to conform to the safety standards of the United States when we made a multi-million dollar manufacturing agreement. It is our fault that you refused to properly inspect your outgoing products, and your lack of concern over crap your ship to other nations for cash is so great. We also apologize for your horrible human rights record, that employees in your factories work 6 10-hour days, and that any dissent is crushed and rewarded with a bullet in the head.

Again, it’s all Mattel’s fault.”

Oh, if such a letter were actually true. Instead, they apologized for including some OK products in the massive toy recall.

The Energy Bully Gets Its Ducks in a Row

Looks like Vladimir Putin is setting up the government to continue on its current strategy to regain regional supremacy. He’s dissolved the Russian Government and it looks like he’ll be reforming it with either his Big Crony Sergei Ivanov or Gazprom Executive Dmitry Medvedev. Ivanov is ex-KGB, so I’d look to him to be the next President, and then put Medvedev in as PM. That way you have Putin’s influence reigning in both locations. (UPDATE: It’s neither– it’s Viktor Zubkov, someone who’s been working with Putin since 1992. It’s no surprise, then. I’m sure Zubkov is well acquainted with the energy strategy being employed by Putin.)

Putin’s plan is to establish an energy monopoly and use that power to squeeze its weaker neighbors. The recent military flexing is more of a show for China than it is for the US, and indicator not to underestimate the Russian military and beware any military action to try and seize (perceived) Russian energy assets.

Putin’s not stupid. He knows that he can “rule” the East by controlling its energy input. He needs to find reserves of hydrocarbons and control them, or establish alliances with energy-rich countries (like Iran) to secure a steady flow of oil. If it can deny direct sales to China, Russia can then influence Chinese policy through energy trading. It’s already got a stranglehold on the former Russian republics, and it’s working on former Eastern-bloc countries as well.

The Seizing of the Arctic

Russia is making a symbolic gesture and will be planting a flag at the North Pole– claiming nearly the whole thing and the resources that lay below the water.

It’s an interesting idea, and I wonder how much opposition they’ll really face. But given the resources in the Arctic, it’ll really solidify Russia’s energy needs for decades to come. And it will allow them to become an even bigger energy exporter. And we all know how Gazprom and Russia have been acting towards their neighbors and selling their energy.

Dicatorships for Dummies

There are three dictatorships rising in the world (one’s rather old, but it’s worth a look) that are “new” to a degree but still consolidate power under one central source, and I thought it would be worthwhile to look at how they came to power.

1) Venezuela and Hugo Chavez: All democracy shams aside, Chavez is putting his Populist posterior in for life, and he’s getting there through a very familiar source: demonization of a convenient enemy. Chavez is now warning people that the US is going to invade the country, annex the oil, and turn the population over to Guantanimo medical researchers for experiments on making robot slaves. Maybe not the last part. But the rest is true. Some are even reporting that Hugo is planning an invasion with all of the recent orders of Russian military equipment. (The Purple Avenger says it’s Curaco, and I wouldn’t doubt it considering Hugo’s buying submarines.)

Hugo’s been demonizing the West for a while, cleverly selling us the oil we so desperately need. He knows there’s no invasion anytime soon, but it’s a clever front for selling massive arms purchases to his loyal fans. And the opposition? Quietly suppressed. I wonder how many have been secretly arrested. But you won’t hear that on Common Dreams. They’re all thinking, “My God, Chavez is right! Bush is going to invade Venezeula!” (In their defense, they think Bush is going to invade everyone at some point of time.)

But let’s go through the dictator checklist for Chavez. Consolidation of power? Check. Easy enemy to blame all nations problems on? Check. Suppression of the opposition? Check.

All that’s missing is an appointment as Leader for Life, and I have a sneaking suspicion that can’t be more than a year away.

2) Russia. Vladimir Putin, duly elected ex-KGB President of Russia has been slowly rebuilding the Kremlin into an institution with one sole purpose– energy domination of Asia through the national company Gazprom. I’ve been blogging about Gazprom for a while, and their energy resources are large enough that they can influence policy in other nations. They’re even planning on energy deliveries to the UK, which I counter with a “No, don’t do it!” Oil, natural gas, coal– it runs the region. And let’s face it, natural resources are the only industry that Russia can compete with on a global level.

When Russia started seizing (I mean, nationalizing) foreign-based oil and gas platforms, you had to think something was up. And indeed, something is up.

Putin has even been eliminating people who could be costly for him. Polonium poisoning? Wow.

He plans on stepping down at the end of his current term (there’s a two-term limit), but he hasn’t ruled out a 2012 return to office. In the meantime, he and his party can prop up a useful idiot to do their bidding, all the while having Putin pulling the strings. In the meantime, Gazprom grows larger, slowly consolidating all Eurasian energy sources and making the region dependent upon its untapped natural resources.

As for a common enemy, Putin’s been putting it to the West for a variety or reasons, and he’s probably selling it big back home with his controlled media. The US is an old enemy, so the sell isn’t hard, and people will rally behind their nationalistic dreams.

Dicatorship checklist: Consolidation of power? Check. Demonizing a common enemy? Check. Suppression of opposition/press? Check. Dictator for life? No, but that doesn’t mean he’s not running things from the shadows– a perfect place for an ex-KGBer.

3) Iran and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This is a little tougher to call, as Mahmoud has certainly lost much popularity recently. One important facet of a successful rise to power to make sure the people think they’re better off after you’ve taken over.

Mahmoud is certainly sticking it to the Jews, and he and his hard-line Islamist religious backers have made no secret of their disdain for Israel. The common enemy is an old one and easy to rally against, but the economy has really suffered under the diversion of infrastructure to the nuclear program. Gas prices have skyrocketed and there’s been a crackdown on the “un-Islamic” in their nation. Unfortunately, you don’t score many points when you’re arresting suspected Israeli spies and women who aren’t being as totally modest as they should be at the same time. The moral equivalency falls flat, and it really seems to resonate with the Iranian people.

Mahmoud was very popular at first, and his rise to dictatorship seemed to be fast-tracked by the clerics and people. He consolidated power (well, the power was pretty much already centralized), suppressed opposition, and controlled the press, especially the foreign press who called him a “master diplomat”. But he hasn’t secured the population yet, and until he does, he’s going to have problems that could culminate in a revolution. The “modesty patrols” are the tip of the iceberg– those who aren’t hardcore Muslims in the eyes of the Ayatollahs are going to be the first who are rounded up. And guess who aren’t hardcore Islamists? People who don’t wear the traditional clothing.

So begins the crackdown on the rabble who oppose Mahmoud and his Clerics. Will there be a subsequent revolution? Only time will tell.

From Russia with Love

Our favorite ex-KGB agent, Vladimir Putin, is in the news and following up with his strategy for domination of Europe and Asia through energy market manipulation.

Putin made calls this week to scrap the architecture of the G8 (a funny thing to say while attending a G8 summit) to include other nations, mainly China. It’s a reasonable request, actually, as China has certainly progressed to the head of the world economic stage. In addition, it’s reasonable to consolidate the UK, France, Italy and Germany into one unit to represent the EU.

But why is Vladimir so eager to get China recognition? It boils down to energy.

China’s energy demands are skyrocketing. One estimate said the Chinese are building one coal-fired energy plant a week in 2007. I’m sure Al Gore’s not too happy about that, but if China wants to be an industrialized partner in the G8, it needs energy to support the 1.2 billion people and the economy that comes with them.

Russia has been strategically consolidating regional power assets in Gazprom, and it’s something I’ve been blogging about for a while now. By putting a stranglehold on natural gas, oil, and coal resources (and trust me, Russia is full of them), Russia can control other states by controlling their energy needs.

Putting all of your eggs into one basket isn’t a smart move, and the Eastern European nations, as well as some Asian nations, have diversified their energy needs to other companies. However, Putin has been making great strides in absorbing those assets into Gazprom. We’ve already gotten a taste of how he’ll act when he has even more control of foreign energy markets. And if he can exert control over China using energy as a lever, then he’ll do so.

Putin knows this is a long-term goal, which is why he’s not going to step down anytime soon. He’s a patriot who wants Russia to do well, but he’s stuck in a Kremlin mindset. He won’t be happy unless Russia is doing well, and it will be doing well when it drives its neighbors to their knees. So he may have a puppet in office for four years, but don’t expect any deviation from Putin’s policies. Otherwise he may get a polonium salad.

Big Gas in Russia

In this case, railing against Big Petroleum in Russia may be worthwhile:

At their first meeting with journalists since taking over Russia’s largest independent radio news network, the managers had startling news of their own: from now on, they said, at least 50 percent of the reports about Russia must be “positive.”

In addition, opposition leaders could not be mentioned on the air and the United States was to be portrayed as an enemy, journalists employed by the network, Russian News Service, say they were told by the new managers, who are allies of the Kremlin.

How would they know what constituted positive news?

“When we talk of death, violence or poverty, for example, this is not positive,” said one editor at the station who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution. “If the stock market is up, that is positive. The weather can also be positive.”

In a darkening media landscape, radio news had been a rare bright spot. Now, the implementation of the “50 percent positive” rule at the Russian News Service leaves an increasingly small number of news outlets that are not managed by the Kremlin, directly or through the state national gas company, Gazprom, a major owner of media assets.

The three national television networks are already state controlled, though small-circulation newspapers generally remain independent.

Putin knows that economic power is far more potent in the 21st Century than military power, especially when it’s competing with China for those resources. Putin figures if he has Europe over a barrel, so speak, they’ll be able to exercise a great deal of local influence.

But when the US comes out against your pet petroleum project (Gazprom) and its attempt to consolidate local energy sources, you need to silence them. How do you do that? Control the media and paint the US as an enemy.

Anyone concerned yet?