Begin Your Anti-Aging Regimen Early To Age Gracefully And Beautifully

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Rufus P. Berthold</div><br /><br /> <div class='uawarticle'>You are going to age no matter how hard you try to prevent it. As you grow older, the most vital thing that you can do is spend your time in a wise manner by doing worthwhile activities. The following article will help you properly care for your health.<br /> <br /> If you stop stressing over numbers, you will help yourself age better. When you're too concerned with your age, your weight or other numbers, it's too easy to be distracted from what's really important. You will still need some numbers for medical reasons but you should not weight yourself down every day.<br /> <br /> Do not preoccupy yourself with numbers. Pay attention to the big things in life, and don't get too wrapped up in numbers. The moment you start focusing on these three things is the moment that you will start obsessing over them and missing out on the fun parts of life that are aimed at keeping you feeling young.<br /> <br /> Friendships are important because they help your life gain more love and energy, which are good for your emotions and are positive. You can always make a new friend, no matter your age. By putting yourself out there and meeting new people, you can create friendships that will enrich your life.<br /> <br /> Exercising is especially important as you age. As your body gets older, it needs to stay active more to remain strong and flexible. Commit to walking a half hour a day, every weekday. Round out the week with two days of doing strength exercises. This is the best way to keep your body in tip top shape and prolong the aging process.<br /> <br /> Aging sometimes means we have to look at the option of some form of assisted living. The effects of aging makes it harder to care for yourself as well as you once did. This would be the time that you should consider moving into a nursing home. Each of these options offers some help with daily living without completely robbing people of their autonomy. There are professionals who work at the facility who are licensed and able to give you any assistance that you may need.<br /> <br /> Boost your exercise routines, and commit more time to fitness overall. As your body ages, it needs more activity to keep itself strong and malleable. Walking at least 30 minutes every day is good exercise. Add variety with strength exercise a couple of times a week. This will keep your muscles toned, while fighting off the effects of aging.<br /> <br /> Keep your eyes healthy, especially as you get on in years. Although some loss of eyesight is natural, it is possible to prevent or reduce the effects of age-related deterioration in the health of your eyes.<br /> <br /> With age, a lot of people are simply not able to live on their own anymore. We can reach a point as we age when caring for ourselves is no longer possible. There may come a time when you will have to decide whether or not to move into a nursing home. While this can be an unpleasant thought for some, it may be the best option. Licensed professionals can help you with a level of health care appropriate to your situation.<br /> <br /> Sugar is one of the biggest factors in having a shorter life. Sugar is an ingredient that can shorten your life and make you age faster. Research shows that sugar reduces lifespan of all animal life.<br /> <br /> You want to pay attention to your eyes when you age. It is natural to experience decreased visual acuity as you age, but by seeing an eye doctor on a regular basis, you can prevent any serious problems.<br /> <br /> If you are a smoker, you should make all efforts to quit to reduce the effects it has on aging your skin. Smoking can add wrinkles to your skin and make your lips look thin, which is not good for your appearance. In addition, smoking can make you age faster and shorten your life.<br /> <br /> One way to help prevent heart disease is to eat more fish. Red meat contains more fat than fish. This fat sticks to the inside of your veins which causes plaque build-up. Fish can help you live healthier and longer, unlike meat.<br /> <br /> They say youth is wasted on the young, but that's all the more reason to get your youth back. With the tips in this article, you'll be able to look and feel like you did years ago, but you'll retain all the wisdom age has brought you. You won't mind growing older now that you have this advice to guide you.<br /> <br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawresource'><br /> <div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawabout'><br /> About the Author:<br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawlinks'>Curious about fat burning? Check out this blog on <a href="http://bodyrevolutionreviews.org">aging</a> or acquire more information in this <a href="http://bodyrevolutionreviews.org/growing-older-not-just-for-the-young-anymore/">aging theories</a> report here</div><br /> </div><br />

Begin Your Anti-Aging Regimen Early To Age Gracefully And Beautifully

By Rufus P. Berthold You are going to age no matter how hard you try to prevent it. As you grow older, the most vital thing that you can...

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Getting A Great Sports Personal Trainer San Jose

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Dee C. Williams</div><br /><br /> <div class='uawarticle'>Getting a personal trainer San Jose isn't that hard. The web is full of details about various personal trainers, training centers and gyms that provide personal training. But because there are a lot of personal trainers from the city, you should make sure that you are employing the best one for you.<br /> <br /> Because not all personal trainers offer the same kind of training and don't have a similar expertise as someone else does, you have to make sure that you are hiring the one that can present you with the correct training that you need so that you can achieve your primary goal in an safe and effective way.<br /> <br /> Finding the Right Sports Personal Trainer<br /> <br /> Below are great tips regarding how to find the best personal trainer San Jose that will best suit your requirements and your goals.<br /> <br /> * Right Kind of Certifications<br /> <br /> When hiring the best sports trainer, you need to think about the certifications that the preferred personal fitness trainer has. Because this will indicate the line of expertise that your trainer specializes in, you will be able to find out whether your chosen personal fitness trainer fits your needs.<br /> <br /> A few of the certifications that you would like your chosen personal fitness trainer to have are certification from the American Council on Exercise or ACE and National Academy of Sports Medicine or NASM. This will make sure that your preferred personal trainer San Jose has truly undergone training and seminars that are specifically built for sports trainers.<br /> <br /> * Can Customize Workout Programs for you<br /> <br /> You should also take note of the approach of the personal fitness trainer that you would like to employ to the trainings that she or he gives to their clients. Customized trainings and workout programs should not be out of the question for any sports fitness trainer. Because customized workout and diet programs are some of the most important things about personal training, your chosen personal fitness trainer should be able to provide it for you.<br /> <br /> Knowing how to produce a customized workout and diet plan will even enable you to determine whether your personal trainer San Jose is very knowledgeable in his type of work.<br /> <br /> * Should Have a Background in Sports<br /> <br /> Your selected personal trainer should also be quite familiar with sports and should have played the type of sport that she or he focuses on. This can make sure that he or she knows what he is doing and knows the sport well. After all, nobody wants to become trained by someone who's bad in the sport.<br /> <br /> It is ideal to select a personal trainer who plays or have played the sport that you want to improve on to ensure that they might provide you with insights, techniques and strategies which you can use to enhance your game play. Having an experienced personal fitness trainer on your chosen sport will also allow you to have a common passion with your trainer, which will make your professional relationship better and make your trainings easier and much more enjoyable for the two of you.<br /> <br /> Fitness instructors shouldn't only learn things from academies as well as training centers. They should also have desire for the sport that they're teaching their customers so that they can efficiently implement the techniques and the knowledge that they have learned and developed to increase the service quality that they provide for their customers.<br /> <br /> So, when selecting a sports personal trainer San Jose, make sure that you are going for someone who is not only knowledgeable but can also be enthusiastic about your selected sport and also the things that are based on the game that you want to improve on.<br /> <br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawresource'><br /> <div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawabout'><br /> About the Author:<br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawlinks'>Getting in great shape with the help of <a href="http://www.theperfectworkout.com/personal-trainer-san-jose/">blog url</a> not only enhances your own entire body but also your health as well. The benefits that you can obtain from <a href="https://plus.google.com/106004061680121716759/about?gl=US&hl=en-US">visit the site</a> are countless.</div><br /> </div><br />

Getting A Great Sports Personal Trainer San Jose

By Dee C. Williams Getting a personal trainer San Jose isn't that hard. The web is full of details about various personal trainers, ...

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Running A Popular Weight Loss Website Is Facile

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Jill Tsai</div><br /><br /> <div class='uawarticle'>The proper attitude is a must for anything you do. The running of a diet tips and weight loss information website is no different if you want it to be successful. Are you ready for the highs and lows that accompany having a website? Things can be easier for you if you keep these points in mind.<br /> <br /> Having powerful and interesting titles that draw the attention of your target audience makes your visitors want to explore all that you have to offer them. These enticements can make them stay on your site longer and increase the chances that they will purchase your products or services.<br /> <br /> It's not 1995 anymore - get rid of that visitor counter widget on your site! Visitor counters these days look very amateurish and don't serve any purpose whatsoever. If you need to get your traffic numbers, you should be using a comprehensive service like Google Analytics, which will tell you not just the number, but information about your visitors as well.<br /> <br /> You can gain additional exposure to the brand and business while ridding yourself of old inventory with online auctions. Buyers will see the brand and what you offer even if there is not a lot of direct business or money made.<br /> <br /> Another popular type of contest are review contests. These contests will help you increase your search rankings. For this contest people need to write about the contest to get an entry. Links that you get will give you traffic from Google juice and new visitors. It is important that you have a good prize to motivate people to write about your contest remember this before you begin.<br /> <br /> Put a competition on your diet tips and weight loss information website, for example, you can run re-tweet contest and people can re-tweet your URL to take entry in the contest of random prizes draw, or you can give prize to those for best comments on post, etc. This will indulge the people very much and also provide entertainment to them.<br /> <br /> Many of the search algorithms used by large engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing are biased toward older, more established diet tips and weight loss information websites. It can be hard to break through with a brand new site. If you have the opportunity, consider buying an old site with a strong link profile and rebuilding it.<br /> <br /> Descriptive link text will make it very easy for your visitors to anticipate the content that they are going to be able to access through that link. Also, the better a link describes it's content, the better search engines will be able to accurately portray them on searches.<br /> <br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawresource'><br /> <div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawabout'><br /> About the Author:<br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawlinks'>Searching for ways to enhance your insight regarding the information presented above? Just submit <a href='http://www.bestfatreduceblog.com/'>where to buy phen375</a> when searching online. You can find some fantastic helpful suggestions about <a href='http://www.bestfatreduceblog.com/benefits-of-phen375-to-people-suffering-from-obesity'>metabolic booster</a>.</div><br /> </div><br />

Running A Popular Weight Loss Website Is Facile

By Jill Tsai The proper attitude is a must for anything you do. The running of a diet tips and weight loss information website is no dif...

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Sperone Westwater's Moving Elevator

I've never seen the red elevator/gallery behind the facade of the Norman Foster-designed Sperone Westwater gallery on The Bowery actually move, but this short film from Foster + Partners captures the slow ascent and descent through some time lapse photography.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Up-XJN_n7Fc?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><br /><br />Check out the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/FOSTERANDPARTNERS1/videos">Foster + Partners channel on YouTube</a> for many more recently uploaded videos.

Sperone Westwater's Moving Elevator

I've never seen the red elevator/gallery behind the facade of the Norman Foster-designed Sperone Westwater gallery on The Bowery actuall...

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Cone head

<span style="font-size: large;">I was back in the vets this morning with Bones - the nurse was a Star Trek fan and she immediately commented on his name.  Bones is called after the Star Trek character Dr. Bones McCoy.</span><br /><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">He has been licking his paws and made them quite irritated. We had put booties on his feet to stop him doing this but the vet recommended he wear a cone for the next 2 weeks.</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkvGi6G5WR2AX6dYVL0LW3pAxkYn5VYbgu7lq9Bc2Dd1IBW_nJqU_DACwOptSd_jVQQ7VKvNzf5XcHr9e_Nudx5zpLNM4gvBF72otPFFYzb4BF3p5KLPaJCHiIjYKYYsrml90G6tnz42ti/s640/blogger-image-576345485.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkvGi6G5WR2AX6dYVL0LW3pAxkYn5VYbgu7lq9Bc2Dd1IBW_nJqU_DACwOptSd_jVQQ7VKvNzf5XcHr9e_Nudx5zpLNM4gvBF72otPFFYzb4BF3p5KLPaJCHiIjYKYYsrml90G6tnz42ti/s640/blogger-image-576345485.jpg" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">We left the surgery with cream and antibiotics and a diagnosis of dermatitis.  If it doesn't clear up after treatment we may be in to a biopsy situation.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Bones was not a happy chappy in the cone.  After falling in to the car he proceeded to give me the stink eye.  </span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwKA0rDuybLV1RoCt_AkXsJwtSiuEsGTqVwe2t0wULbHU9BiwE123XMD_esP7VRvmBT-nuQhJrC9w-zWdWDvQiKM0Dq9c_fgb_yHsSMj2yaqh79l58J8x-rN8vOoYrtmJN_iXj12ikR7fx/s640/blogger-image--2099248114.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwKA0rDuybLV1RoCt_AkXsJwtSiuEsGTqVwe2t0wULbHU9BiwE123XMD_esP7VRvmBT-nuQhJrC9w-zWdWDvQiKM0Dq9c_fgb_yHsSMj2yaqh79l58J8x-rN8vOoYrtmJN_iXj12ikR7fx/s640/blogger-image--2099248114.jpg" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Hopefully by bathing his feet daily and medication his paws will be better soon.</span></div>

Cone head

I was back in the vets this morning with Bones - the nurse was a Star Trek fan and she immediately commented on his name.  Bones is called a...

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Waiting to Hear From the Doctor - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The call came Sunday morning, just after I had returned from a bike ride on one of those rare, glorious, sunny Cleveland days.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"It's your doctor," my wife said, as she handed me the phone. Never a good sign, your doctor calling on a weekend.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I had recently seen him for my routine physical, where I had been found to have high blood pressure. I tried to explain it away, blaming the morning traffic as I dropped off my children at camp, drinking a tall cup of coffee and running to my appointment. But my wise doctor ignored my attempts to minimize it and had referred me for a stress echo, an ultrasound of the heart, followed by a run on the treadmill, followed by another ultrasound of the heart. I had completed the test just two days earlier.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"Your resting echo images" — the ones before I exercised — "showed wall motion abnormalities in the left circumflex distribution," he said. "You need to see a cardiologist." Translation: Your heart muscle isn't moving in a region fed by one of the three main blood supplies to the heart. You've had a silent heart attack sometime in the past.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I sat down in the living room, the only sounds being those of the wood clock on the mantelpiece, and the distant murmur of my wife and children chattering away in the other room. Time passing, and family.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"I'll e-mail him and copy you right now, to get you in," my doctor concluded. I thanked him, my brain too jolted to generate any clarifying questions.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">A heart attack. It was official. My dad, his father and my great-grandfather did not bother to pass down to me their good looks, but they had managed to secure in their patrilineage coronary artery disease: All three had died suddenly, of cardiac arrest. I was on deck.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">True to my doctor's word, the e-mail came across my iPhone within the hour. And then I waited for a "reply to all" from the cardiologist.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">And waited.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">And checked my e-mail more times than I'm comfortable admitting publicly.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I revisited past illnesses, trying to identify the one concealing a heart attack: the upper respiratory tract infection that left me short of breath; the chest pain a couple of days after a vigorous upper body workout at the gym.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">That afternoon I called a friend who is a cardiologist, and she kindly reviewed my echo report.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"It's probably just an error – this doesn't make any sense at all. Don't worry," she said.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">That helped for a few hours, until it didn't. I later talked to a friend who specializes in cardiac imaging, who was much more blunt.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"You're being an idiot," he told me. "This has to be a bad test. Why are you letting this bother you?"</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Because the men in my family die from heart attacks. And while I can modify my lifestyle to avoid eating gribnitz — fried chicken fat — spread on rye bread like my grandfather, and can exercise regularly unlike my father, I can't escape their genes.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">A couple of days passed without an e-mail from the cardiologist. I called his office and left a message. My wife noticed I was distracted.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"You're not letting this bother you, are you?" she asked.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I told her I was.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">She reminded me that when one of my patients calls, concerned that they have leukemia because of a low platelet count, that I always reassure them that the test was probably wrong and that they should get it rechecked. "You've had two doctors tell you the same thing. Why can't you follow your own advice?"</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Because this is emotional, not logical.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The next day I called the cardiologist's office again, and he scheduled a more detailed ultrasound. I underwent the test and saw him the following day.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"Your repeat echo was stone-cold normal," he told me. "The first one was probably just a technical error, involving where the probe was held." He brought up the images on the computer to show me the differences, and was very apologetic.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">It happens. Medicine is not an exact science, and even routine tests have variability.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">That night, back home, we had a celebratory dinner, butter and cheese be damned. The phone rang during the meal, and I let it go to voice mail. I listened to the message as we cleaned up, from a distant cousin.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"I got some news today, from my doctor," he said, sounding nervous. "I have prostate cancer, and I'd love to get some advice on what to do next."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">I called him right back. I didn't want him to have to wait to hear from me one second longer than necessary.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><em>Dr. Mikkael Sekeres is director of the leukemia program at the Cleveland Clinic.<br></em></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><em><br></em></div></div><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/waiting-to-hear-from-the-doctor/?_r=0">http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/waiting-to-hear-from-the-doctor/?_r=0</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Waiting to Hear From the Doctor - NYTimes.com

The call came Sunday morning, just after I had returned from a bike ride on one of those rare, glorious, sunny Cleveland days. "It'...

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Today's Teamster News 08.23.13

<a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/ups-upstate-new-york-supplement-ratified" rel="nofollow">Teamsters Ratify UPS Upstate New York Supplement</a>   IBT   ...UPS Teamsters in New York state ratified the Upstate New York supplement to the UPS national agreement yesterday with 65% voting in favor...<br /><a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/waste-workers-cape-cod-ratify-first-contract" rel="nofollow">Teamster Waste Workers On Cape Cod Ratify First Contract</a>  IBT   ...Workers at Republic/Allied Waste, who serve all of Cape Cod, have ratified their first contract which contains many improvements. The workers joined Local 59 in New Bedford in 2012...<br /><a href="http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1214153/teamsters-gains-a-foothold-in-ontario-hospitals" rel="nofollow">Teamsters gains a foothold in Ontario hospitals</a>  Teamsters Canada   ...Teamsters Union Local 419 has gained approximately 2000 new members as the result of a merger with the Ontario Workers' Union (OWU). The OWU represents 14 bargaining units with two of the more notible sized units being Humber River Hospital with three hospital locations and William Osler Health System with two hospital locations...<br /><a href="http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yoursouthhills/yoursouthhillsmore/4533009-74/contract-officers-percent#axzz2chvoOxxa" rel="nofollow">Pleasant Hills, Teamsters reach four-year contract agreement</a>  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review   ...Pleasant Hills Council has a tentative contract agreement with the Pleasant Hills police officers, who are represented by Teamsters Local 205 in White Oak, Pennsylvania. Wages would increase by 2.5 percent in the first and fourth years and 3 percent in the second and third years...<br /><a href="http://www.lakeconews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32707:three-union-members-to-return-to-work-at-lake-transit-congressman-urges-sides-to-continue-talks&catid=1:latest&Itemid=197" rel="nofollow">Congressman urges Teamsters, Lake Transit to continue talks</a>  Lake County News   ...On Wednesday, Congressman Mike Thompson sent Teamsters Local 665 President Ralph Miranda and Paratransit Services a letter urging the two sides to return to negotiations as soon as possible, noting the service stoppage is having a “devastating effect” on riders...<br /><a href="http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/08/21/Richmond-Ikea-Dispute-Update/" rel="nofollow">Teamsters at Ikea Richmond, B.C. unanimously reject fourth contract offer</a>  The Tyee   ...Members of Teamsters Local 213 locked out of the Richmond Ikea since May have unanimously rejected a fourth contract offer from the company, while other unions are calling for a <a href="http://www.tssu.ca/2013/08/13/back-to-school-do-not-patronize-either-ikea-richmond-or-coquitlam/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">boycott</a> of the store. Ikea has been embroiled in a <a href="http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/06/12/Richmond-Ikea-Labour-Dispute/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">bitter labor fight</a> with the union at the Richmond outlet in British Columbia since May 13, but reported $32 billion in revenues last year...<br /><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/News/higher-minimum-wage-public-agrees-republicans-remain-divided/story?id=20026021" rel="nofollow">Higher Minimum Wage: Public Agrees But Republicans Remain Divided</a>  ABC News   ...Republicans in Congress are divided over a measure that most Americans support: raising minimum wage...<br /><a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/175875/fired-walmart-workers-arrested-rally-announcing-labor-day-deadline#axzz2ceOpqMnF" rel="nofollow">Fired Walmart Workers Arrested at Rally Announcing Labor Day Deadline</a>  The Nation   ...Nine fired workers and a current employee were arrested around 2:30 pm Thursday after locking arms and sitting in front of the entrance to a Washington, DC, Walmart office. The planned act of civil disobedience concluded a noon rally at which workers announced a Labor Day deadline for Walmart to raise wages and reinstate workers they allege were fired for their activism. Twenty workers who joined a June strike by the labor group OUR Walmart have since been terminated; another fifty-some have been otherwise disciplined by Walmart...<br /><a href="http://www.mintpressnews.com/alt-labor-provides-support-for-fast-food-strikes/167449/" rel="nofollow">‘Alt Labor’ Provides Support For Fast-Food Strikes</a>  Mint Press News   ...On the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, thousands of low wage fast food workers are expected to walk off the job in what could be the largest single-day protest in the history of U.S. fast food. In a <a href="http://www.fastfoodforward.org/en/">$200 billion</a> per year industry, workers across the U.S. have taken part in protests, calling for $15 per hour and the right to form a union without intimidation...<br /><a href="http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201308220031" rel="nofollow">Japan-made parts to push up price of F-35 fighter jets for ASDF</a>  Asahi Shimbun    ...Two Japanese contractors will supply 24 components for the next-generation F-35 stealth fighters for the Air Self-Defense Force, which will push up the price by 50 percent, sources said. The F-35 will be built mainly by Lockheed Martin Corp., with parts procured in the United States, Britain and other countries participating in the project. The aircraft will be assembled in the United States, Italy and Japan...<br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-cohen/working-families-need-fai_b_3775696.html" rel="nofollow">Working Families Need Fair Trade, Not Free Trade</a> (opinion) Huffington Post   ...Working families haven't seen much of an economic recovery, and we definitely can't afford to lose more manufacturing and service jobs to yet another free trade agreement. But that is exactly where we're headed if the <a href="http://www.ustr.gov/tpp" rel="nofollow">Trans-Pacific Partnership</a> moves ahead unchallenged...<br /><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2013/08/22/sources-koch-industries-not-buying-la-times-chicago-tribune/" rel="nofollow">Sources: Koch Industries not buying LA Times, Chicago Tribune</a>  The Daily Caller   ...The company determined that purchasing the newspapers was “not economically viable” and that both parties walked away from the negotiations, they said...<br /><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-20/amazon-ramps-up-13-9-billion-warehouse-building-spree.html" rel="nofollow">Amazon Ramps Up $13.9 Billion Warehouse Building Spree</a>  Bloomberg   ...<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/AMZN:US">Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)</a> is stepping up a warehouse building spree, signaling the urgency of getting products to customers more quickly amid rising competition from <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/EBAY:US">EBay Inc. (EBAY)</a>and Wal-Mart Stores Inc...<br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-gathered-thousands-of-americans-e-mails-before-court-struck-down-program/2013/08/21/146ba4b6-0a90-11e3-b87c-476db8ac34cd_story.html?tid=pm_pop" rel="nofollow">NSA gathered thousands of Americans’ e-mails before court ordered it to revise its tactics</a> Washington Post   ...For several years, the National Security Agency unlawfully gathered tens of thousands of e-mails and other electronic communications between Americans as part of a now-revised collection method, according to <a href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/fisa-court-documents-on-illegal-nsa-e-mail-collection-program/409/" rel="nofollow">a 2011 secret court opinion</a>...<br /><a href="http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2013/08/alec-declares-itself-exempt-public-disclosure-laws-and-challenged" rel="nofollow">ALEC declares itself exempt from public-disclosure laws, and is challenged</a>   MinnPost   ...Sometime in the last year or so, the super-secretive <a href="http://www.alec.org/">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> (ALEC), the group that helps its corporate and think-tank members get their wish lists into the hands of state lawmakers, decided to unilaterally declare itself exempt from public disclosure laws throughout the country...<br /><a href="http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/speaking_in_raleigh_colin_powell_blasts_north_carolina_voting_law" rel="nofollow">Speaking in Raleigh, Colin Powell blasts North Carolina voting law</a>   News & Observer   ...With Gov. Pat McCrory in the audience, former Secretary of State Colin Powell took aim at North Carolina's new voting law Thursday, saying it hurts the Republican Party, punishes minority voters and makes it more difficult for everyone to vote...<br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/08/22/justice-department-will-challenge-texas-voter-id-law/?hpid=z1" rel="nofollow">Justice Department will challenge Texas Voter ID law</a>   Washington Post   ...The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday that it will challenge Texas’s Voter ID law, saying it violates the Voting Rights Act, as well as the Constitution’s 14th and 15th Amendments...<br /><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/20/5666268/pension-systems-to-file-longer.html" rel="nofollow">Pension systems to file longer Chapter 9 objection</a>  Associated Press   ...A federal judge will let Detroit's two pensions systems file longer eligibility objections to emergency manager Kevyn Orr's bankruptcy petition...<br /><a href="http://wepartypatriots.com/wp/2013/08/22/ceo-comes-out-swinging-in-favor-of-sb7-prevailing-wages-and-the-race-to-the-top/" rel="nofollow">CEO Comes Out Swinging in Favor of SB7, Prevailing Wages, and the Race to the Top</a>   We Party Patriots   ...In a recent <a href="http://www.modbee.com/2013/08/19/2872992/business-leaders-for-prevailing.html" rel="nofollow">op-ed for the Modesto Bee</a>, Mark Breslin, CEO of San Francisco-based United Contractors, explains why he favors California’s SB 7, a bill which would make charter cities eligible for public funds only if they follow prevailing wage guidelines...

Today's Teamster News 08.23.13

Teamsters Ratify UPS Upstate New York Supplement    IBT   ...UPS Teamsters in New York state ratified the Upstate New York supplement to the...

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new sponsor - arianna belle

What better way to wrap up unofficial 'pillow week' with my official pillow source? A lot of you probably already know about <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=59" target="_blank">Arianna Belle</a>, maker of all things lovely, and if you don't you'll thank me in a minute.<br /><br />I found Arianna way back when while doing one of my late night Etsy pillow searches. (I know how to have a good time) She created my <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=91" target="_blank">Schumacher Ric Rac</a> pillow and I've been a member of her fan club ever since.<br /><br />Girlfriend can create anything you can dream up, her work is impeccable and her taste is spot on. Here are some I've added to my wish list. (take notes hubs)<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vLXvhW_ZpCB_iq9V8pzL0pnizx8sD-mlJPVT8RKixbV0zj9vaFJIbBqsg0MzyE4MEjBuauGmDcIlP9-k4Hr9TcOFzzcImRyG9MXMr_bbnjMcOQnqTDghHfBS5rph6-b9mIaomeV9qh30/s1600/ariannabellepillows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vLXvhW_ZpCB_iq9V8pzL0pnizx8sD-mlJPVT8RKixbV0zj9vaFJIbBqsg0MzyE4MEjBuauGmDcIlP9-k4Hr9TcOFzzcImRyG9MXMr_bbnjMcOQnqTDghHfBS5rph6-b9mIaomeV9qh30/s640/ariannabellepillows.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=98" target="_blank">1</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=88" target="_blank">2</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=104" target="_blank">3</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=83" target="_blank">4</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=105" target="_blank">5</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=89" target="_blank">6</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=119" target="_blank">7</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=70" target="_blank">8</a> // <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=90" target="_blank">9</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Check out her <a href="http://ariannabelle.com/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=59" target="_blank">shop</a> and prepare to drool. Welcome Arianna Belle to the LBD family, I'm happy you are here!<br /><br /><i>Interested in a sponsorship with little black door? <a href="mailto:news-these-days@gmail.com" target="_blank">Email me</a>!</i>

new sponsor - arianna belle

What better way to wrap up unofficial 'pillow week' with my official pillow source? A lot of you probably already know about  Ariann...

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EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN REGION

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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLOgQcMIhLUhaIUknnyaCvndyevb-biTWpAaNfNYSr0nw9lGZCjvDqlSe_ORJXQOVAS2E0Up-fhA2pTPneB9o3Zyo23jQkRh70HL-pSHQuoEQwRUrIdBtF9ZITTLfIdPnsBOnr7EjP-e6k/s1600/640x392_27469_154627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLOgQcMIhLUhaIUknnyaCvndyevb-biTWpAaNfNYSr0nw9lGZCjvDqlSe_ORJXQOVAS2E0Up-fhA2pTPneB9o3Zyo23jQkRh70HL-pSHQuoEQwRUrIdBtF9ZITTLfIdPnsBOnr7EjP-e6k/s400/640x392_27469_154627.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">MEDITERRANEAN GAS OUTLOOK THREATENED BY ARMED CONFLICT?</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The population in the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN region is expected to increase by as much as 35 percent in the next 20 years. Natural gas deposits in the Levant Basin are expected to keep the energy needs of the growing population satisfied indefinitely. Governments in the region are working quickly to get excess natural gas to the international market.  CYPRUS is already taking preliminary steps to start construction on a liquefied natural gas terminal and energy companies are queuing up in anticipation of an ISRAELI court decision on gas export polices. Ongoing conflict in SYRIA and territorial disputes between ISRAEL and LEBANON, however, may interfere with ambitions for the natural gas deposits in the MEDITERRANEAN SEA.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2M6SGsvn47WACeHBP-aiwbaFqSMtwkbOquWC9_b_leI1Yo2VVsVmZanmm9pC7kuJTA_lNUV6BWI0L-i0g6x7z-rFqk10s8H3CmZy4kBi6w5Z6ss5fWZbz9Y7u-C8sst-4Qks7r4PN8mv/s1600/The-East-Med-pipeline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2M6SGsvn47WACeHBP-aiwbaFqSMtwkbOquWC9_b_leI1Yo2VVsVmZanmm9pC7kuJTA_lNUV6BWI0L-i0g6x7z-rFqk10s8H3CmZy4kBi6w5Z6ss5fWZbz9Y7u-C8sst-4Qks7r4PN8mv/s320/The-East-Med-pipeline.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CYPRUS reported its first offshore natural gas discovery just two years ago and is already laying the groundwork for an export terminal. Construction could start as early as 2015 and LNG exports are planned for 2020. Executives there <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-12/cyprus-studies-lng-export-expansion-beyond-12-billion-terminal.html">said</a>they'd likely have to make accommodations for natural gas from ISRAEL and LEBANON in their future export plans. Last year, one of AUSTRALIA'S biggest energy companies, Woodside Petroleum Ltd., <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-21/woodside-awaits-israel-court-decision-before-completing-gas-deal.html">said</a>it would fork over more than $2 billion for a stake in the Leviathan natural gas field. The company said this week it was waiting patiently for the ISRAELI courts to make a decision affecting gas export policies.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The U.S. Geological Survey estimated the Levant Basin has probable undiscovered natural gas resources of 122 trillion cubic feet. At current rates of consumption, that may be enough to meet domestic natural gas demand almost indefinitely. Leviathan, the biggest of the Levant fields with 18 trillion cubic feet of estimated recoverable reserves, was discovered three years ago and could start production by 2016. Tamar, with an estimated 10 trillion cubic feet of reserves, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-30/israel-begins-gas-production-at-tamar-field-in-boost-to-economy.html">started</a>production this year, four years after discovery.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">TERRITORIAL DISPUTES BETWEEN ISRAEL AND LEBANON COULD LIMIT THE NATURAL GAS POTENTIAL IN THE REGION</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGg4M00ITpVaxCF67PmWgf8hDZ-lI9lrQrHC38cWe1jTtbOxXxKrYwKUwQ34C76zLSaZ8oL42KjChKJu218Uv0gXlaSJ7fMBVTYdbqT-0zlcCshyphenhyphen-rBw3rYaxv6_tyLZAyrI6ojnPNbh9G/s1600/Lebanon-Israel-Maritime-border-dispute.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGg4M00ITpVaxCF67PmWgf8hDZ-lI9lrQrHC38cWe1jTtbOxXxKrYwKUwQ34C76zLSaZ8oL42KjChKJu218Uv0gXlaSJ7fMBVTYdbqT-0zlcCshyphenhyphen-rBw3rYaxv6_tyLZAyrI6ojnPNbh9G/s1600/Lebanon-Israel-Maritime-border-dispute.gif" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration <a href="http://www.eia.gov/countries/regions-topics.cfm?fips=EM">said</a> nearly all of the "significant" natural gas discoveries of natural gas made in the last 10 years or so are in the Levant Basin. Most of the discoveries were made in ISRAELI waters. LEBANON contends some of the natural gas lies within its territorial waters and two years ago, the ISRAELI military launched drones over its gas fields in the Mediterranean, saying it was fearful of a Hezbollah attack. Hezbollah took its 2006 war with ISRAEL as an sign it could take on its adversaries using conventional military means and, in 2011, Hezbollah <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hezbollah-lebanon-will-not-let-israel-seize-its-natural-gas-1.373201">pledged</a>to use whatever means necessary to defend LEBANON'S national interests.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The EIA said armed conflict and territorial disputes could limit the natural gas potential in the region. In terms of oil, the EIA said SYRIA had the largest reserves as of January. Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut were the target of recent bombing campaigns as the Shiite organization faces more threats since acknowledging it was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/world/middleeast/hezbollah-makes-vow-to-step-up-sunni-fight.html">fighting </a>alongside pro-government forces in SYRIA.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Background Information</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SYRIA ALLEGEDLY DISCOVERED LARGE OIL AND NATURAL GAS IN ITS TERRITORIAL WATERS</span></b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/08/syrian-oil-and-gas-findings-propaganda.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/08/syrian-oil-and-gas-findings-propaganda.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IRAN - IRAQ - SYRIA GAS PIPELINE AGREEMENT SIGNED IN JULY 2012 WORTH US$10 BILLION</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/05/pipelineistan.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/05/pipelineistan.html</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TRANS ARABIAN PIPELINE “TAPLINE</span>”</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/syria-cause-and-effect.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/syria-cause-and-effect.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is no sign the conflict in SYRIA is letting up. The U.N. Security Council <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/hold-emergency-meeting-syria-attack-20024783">said </a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it scheduled an emergency meeting to discuss the alleged use of chemical weapons in SYRIA. Pro-Western lawmakers in Beirut, meanwhile, <a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Aug-21/228089-future-raps-hezbollah-militia-like-measures.ashx">said</a>Hezbollah's security crackdown following last week's bombing was "an aggression against the state." The White House said the use of chemical weapons in SYRIA "crossed clear red lines that have existed within the international community for decades." But that was in June, the last time allegations of chemical weapons surfaced. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The population in the Mediterranean region could reach 62 million by 2030.  While representing less than 1 percent of the total proven oil and natural gas reserves, prolific offshore basins could alter the regional markets substantially. Conflict, however, could inhibit much of the regional development in the short-term. With most signs pointing to an escalation of the crisis in SYRIA, the energy sector won't be the only thing redefined in terms of regional dynamics.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Comment by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Worthwhile to mention is that the SYRIAN conflict will most probably continue for some time, similar to the civil war in LEBANON, which lasted 15 years.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By Daniel J. Graeber via Oilprice.com</span></span></div>

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN REGION

MEDITERRANEAN GAS OUTLOOK THREATENED BY ARMED CONFLICT? The population in the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN region is expected to increase by as mu...

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ISRAEL, GREECE, CYPRUS

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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia9NtwHGHY6wfNNFlbf0zSSIfEr_7q87yqFQaIskXHzm8J6QCqkUU4Zs85U3_jVQZ6xcbK_KKnRtG-OvAOEmIeNol1wsRuroNoeWiAbepD9JUdGuvYWevy1eK8t3kKvWTksZrXjmI1wdGk/s1600/Kipr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia9NtwHGHY6wfNNFlbf0zSSIfEr_7q87yqFQaIskXHzm8J6QCqkUU4Zs85U3_jVQZ6xcbK_KKnRtG-OvAOEmIeNol1wsRuroNoeWiAbepD9JUdGuvYWevy1eK8t3kKvWTksZrXjmI1wdGk/s320/Kipr.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SIGN ENERGY AND WATER DEAL</span></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Three-way agreement enhances cooperation over electricity, natural gas and sewage treatment</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ISRAEL signed an agreement with GREECE and CYPRUS that promises to link the three countries’ electricity grids via an underwater cable. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The tripartite energy memorandum of understanding came after nearly a year of negotiations and was signed in Nicosia, CYPRUS, by Energy and Water Resources Minister Silvan Shalom; Nicos Kouyialis, the CYPRIOT minister of agriculture, natural resources and environment; and George Lakkotrypis, the GREEK minister for the environment, energy and climate change. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The underwater, 2,000-mega-watt EUROASIA Interconnector “will lift CYPRUS out of energy isolation, with cheaper electricity which will help our economy become more competitive,” Lakotrypis said.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Shalom said the “historic” agreement “demonstrates the strong and tightening relations between the countries.” He added that the “electric conduit can easily become a cable that will supply and export electricity to the EUROPEAN energy market, and provide us with energy security.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">THE AGREEMENT ALSO DEALT WITH NATURAL GAS AND WATER ISSUES</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The three countries will work together to protect natural gas fields, and have launched a project to cooperate with treatment of sewage as well as recycling water for use in farming. TURKEY has challenged CYPRUS’S right to some of the gas fields it claims, and has even threatened military intervention.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Background Information: </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ENERGY RUSH IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND ITS POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2011/12/energy-games-in-eastern-mediterranean.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2011/12/energy-games-in-eastern-mediterranean.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">CHANGING THE GEOPOLITICAL BALANCE OF POWER IN THE MIDDLE EASTERN REGION</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/02/new-mediterranean-oil-and-gas-bonanza.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/02/new-mediterranean-oil-and-gas-bonanza.html</a></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlUfG96fzH6AU3ItOdNyABbHnpLJUrW_L3sRJC9uQN8McZOasm9SADFFxmIEykaAWch4FsPfCoDRmjLVe187ibdqy_i7BG-9pQWDdeU6K5pEk875ctR1ZzGQvEzAMGEwpW7J1CvLhZQGVf/s1600/Southeastern-Mediterranean-Energy-Developments-300x200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlUfG96fzH6AU3ItOdNyABbHnpLJUrW_L3sRJC9uQN8McZOasm9SADFFxmIEykaAWch4FsPfCoDRmjLVe187ibdqy_i7BG-9pQWDdeU6K5pEk875ctR1ZzGQvEzAMGEwpW7J1CvLhZQGVf/s320/Southeastern-Mediterranean-Energy-Developments-300x200.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kouyialis said that the agreement signed on marks the continuation of an already existing partnership. He noted that ISRAELI companies were involved in the establishment of three of his country’s four permanent desalination plants.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“A new era of cooperation starts today in the field of sewage treatment and waste water reuse that will help CYPRUS improve its water balance, as substantial and constant quantities of recycled water will be utilized in the best possible way,” said Kouyialis.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">REGIONAL WATER SECURITY A NECESSITY </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Shalom said that “ISRAEL would like to give any help needed” and added that regional water security was necessary, “even though CYPRUS is not facing the same threats that ISRAEL is facing from terrorists.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Background Information</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">IAF TO BE STATIONED IN CYPRUS</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">CYPRUS AND ISRAEL TO BECOME MAJOR GAS EXPORTERS IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/geo-strategic-dynamics-in-eastern.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/geo-strategic-dynamics-in-eastern.html</a></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ISRAEL’S partnership with CYPRUS on natural gas is seen as a challenge to TURKEY, which has threatened Cyprus over gas fields it claims for itself. Jerusalem upgraded its relationship with CYPRUS and GREECE as its ties with TURKEY, once the Jewish state’s prime regional ally, began to deteriorate following the rise of Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2007.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="color: blue;"> </span><div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Background Information: </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEY RESUMES NATO TIES WITH ISRAEL</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/12/israel-and-turkey.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/12/israel-and-turkey.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE RESOURCES</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/12/energy-adventures-in-eastern.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/12/energy-adventures-in-eastern.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">CYPRUS: EMERGING GEO-STRATEGIC KEY PLAYER IN THE EASTER MEDITERRANEAN? </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/03/cyprus-emerging-geo-strategic-key.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/03/cyprus-emerging-geo-strategic-key.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">By Asher Zeiger </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>

ISRAEL, GREECE, CYPRUS

SIGN ENERGY AND WATER DEAL Three-way agreement enhances cooperation over electricity, natural gas and sewage treatment ISRAEL signed an agr...

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