News for today's 2018

UNITED STATES OF AMERICAS’ SYRIAN DILEMMA

7:27 AM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg9bZxp6YHQHjng2l09E-p6qo1gG4NAjWyR3m5ntioDRoB-Dtxo9NfBrzIWFw360Luu7iI4k3eucmyxe66oVmQFpdQjbaqup-Bp37mxCJvsqB-vM2ZA9I2toScI06RQHuFk5j6-R69VbOZ/s1600/608-00456666em-A-conceptual-illustration-of-a-world-chess-game.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg9bZxp6YHQHjng2l09E-p6qo1gG4NAjWyR3m5ntioDRoB-Dtxo9NfBrzIWFw360Luu7iI4k3eucmyxe66oVmQFpdQjbaqup-Bp37mxCJvsqB-vM2ZA9I2toScI06RQHuFk5j6-R69VbOZ/s640/608-00456666em-A-conceptual-illustration-of-a-world-chess-game.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">STRATEGIC SYRIAN “CHESS GAME”: RUSSIA VERSUS USA?</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By M K Bhadrakumar <br /><br />When Kathleen Trola McFarland, the familiar Fox News national security analyst who served in national security posts in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations and was an aide to Henry Kissinger at the White House, wrote that "Vladimir Putin is the one who really deserves the Nobel Peace Prize", she obviously had the SYRIAN crisis in mind. <br /><br />McFarland wrote, "In one of the most deft diplomatic maneuvers of all time, RUSSIA'S President Putin has saved the world from near-certain disaster." <br /><br />She went on to narrate how Secretary of State John Kerry's famous gaffe in London took wings and "the off-hand phrase was picked up by Putin, became a Kerry Proposal and ultimately the Obama peace plan..." </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Following up on her train of thought, it is easy to see how by the time this momentous period draws to a close Putin could doubly ensure his claim to a Nobel. <br /><br />The point is that a major highlight of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shanghai Cooperation Organization's</b> annual summit gathering in Bishkek, KYRGYZSTAN, promises to be an event on its sidelines - the scheduled "bilateral" meeting between Putin and his IRANIAN counterpart, newly elected Hassan Rouhani. The Putin-Rouhani meeting in Bishkek is a scheduled one, planned well in advance. Both statesmen are vastly experienced in international diplomacy. <br /><br /><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">RUSSIA’S NEXT GEOPOLITICAL COUP: IRAN?</b></span><br /><br />This will be Putin's first meeting with the newly elected Iranian president. The Rouhani presidency has aroused worldwide interest as presaging a meaningful US-IRAN engagement, and Rouhani has been signaling in many ways Tehran's renewed interest in negotiating with the West - through policy pronouncements, cabinet appointments or sheer diplomatic "body language". Rouhani has pledged that the revival of the IRANIAN economy is his priority for which he would seek a favorable external environment. <br /><br />The USA seemed to realize the limits to utilize its military power to intimidate or vanquish IRAN. Yet, like in the case with SYRIA, Obama is vacillating and is unable to take the leap of faith. It is a carbon copy of the dilemma he faced over SYRIA. <br /><br />War weariness amongst the AMERICAN public, pressure from the hawkish regional allies and their lobbies in the US, a dangerous regional milieu, an adversary's proven grit to retaliate against aggression, overwhelming international opinion favoring dialogue - all the ingredients are there. <br />Is Russia about to “help” the USA to make up their mind? <br /><br />As in the case of the RUSSIAN plan on SYRIA'S chemical weapons, there is a two- to three-year-old RUSSIAN blueprint already lying for a starter - an incremental approach of IRAN responding to the international community's concerns and the US step-by-step dismantling the sanctions regime and allowing IRAN'S full integration as a regional power. </span></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; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #444444;"><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; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; 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";">RUSSIA’S SYRIAN BIO CHEMICAL WEAPON REMOVAL PLAN</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; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/09/russian-forces-take-syrian-chemical.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/09/russian-forces-take-syrian-chemical.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/russian-forces-take-syrian-chemical.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/russian-forces-take-syrian-chemical.html </a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/russian-forces-take-syrian-chemical.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/russian-forces-take-syrian-chemical.html</a></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><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";">US NO LONGER OPPOSES IRAN'S INCLUSION IN ANY GENEVA 2 TALKS ON SYRIA</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><br />The US and IRAN are warily probing each other's intentions, and any keen observer of the three-decade old stand-off would sense that the diplomatic idiom is changing. The US no longer opposes IRAN'S inclusion in any Geneva 2 talks on SYRIA. <br /><br />Tehran too has taken a highly nuanced position on the issue of SYRIA'S chemical weapons. It has held a delicate line that, alas, the wily GULF ARAB sheikhs trapped Obama. In an extraordinary interview with Press TV (IRANIAN Media outlet!), IRAN'S savvy Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I think that a number of groups, people inside the UNITED STATES, and interests outside the UNITED STATES, wanted to put the president of the US - whom I believe was reluctant to start the war - into a trap, a trap which he had unfortunately laid down for himself; and that was to get him involved in a war in order to address a hypothetical issue of the use of chemical weapons by the government of SYRIA.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IRAN has been quick to express solid support for the RUSSIAN plan on SYRIA'S chemical weapons. <br /><br />Suffice to say, the meeting in Bishkek between the RUSSIAN and IRANIAN presidents has a regional backdrop. An engagement of the SYRIAN regime by the Obama administration becomes inevitable once the RUSSIAN plan is fleshed out and advances to the implementation stage. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><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; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #444444;"><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; 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; 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";">SYRIAN REGIME FIRM IN THE SADDLE</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;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/01/syria-assad-firm-in-saddle.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/01/syria-assad-firm-in-saddle.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;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #cc0000;">SYRIAN REGIME LIKELY TO SURVIVE UPRAISE</span> (<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">June 2011</span>)</span></b><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: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; 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: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/06/syrian-regime-likely-to-survive-upraise.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/06/syrian-regime-likely-to-survive-upraise.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; 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: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #cc0000;">ASSAD FIRMLY IN CHARGE IN SYRIA</span> (<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">March 2012</span>)</span></b><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: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; 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: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/03/syria.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/03/syria.html</a></span><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; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; 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: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #cc0000;">SYRIA SWITCHING PERCEPTION - INTERNAL POWER STRUGGLE </span>(<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">May 2012</span>)</span></b><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: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; 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: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/syria-switching-perception.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/syria-switching-perception.html</a></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">For one thing, the RUSSIAN plan simply has to go hand in hand with a Geneva 2 process. Its implementation is going to be a long haul. It took four years for Washington to take out of GERMANY the US' cold-war era stockpiles of 100,000 chemical weapons stockpile. When the operation began in 1986, a six-year timeline for implementation was envisaged. </b><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IMPLEMENTING THE BC WEAPON REMOVAL PLAN, ESTABLISHED STATE STRUCTURES ARE OF VITAL IMPORTANCE</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That is to say, there is going to be a critical necessity for the established state structures in SYRIA to be around for a while if only for the implementation of the RUSSIAN plan. Put differently, the "regime change" agenda gets pushed to the backburner and whatever democratic transition is possible in the civil war conditions cannot but involve the SYRIAN regime.<br /><br />Tehran, no doubt, is keenly watching. RUSSIA'S firm stance on SYRIA during the crisis period since the US began assembling an armada in the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN cannot but impress IRAN, for which regime change in Damascus also has existential overtones. <br /><br />This is where it will see that a revival of the strategic partnership with RUSSIA is an imperative. From IRAN'S viewpoint, it is the RUSSIAN connection that would be a "force multiplier" when it begins to negotiate with the "P5+1" (the US, BRITAIN, FRANCE, RUSSIA and CHINA plus GERMANY) format and with the US directly. <br />Rouhani would weigh in that even as his credibility as a negotiator is rising in Western eyes, his capacity to negotiate significantly gains out of a strengthening of the IRAN-RUSSIA relations at this juncture. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RUSSIAN AND IRANIAN OVERLAPPING GEO STRATEGIC FOCAL POINT: CENTRAL ASIA, THE CASPIAN, CAUCASUS AND THE MIDDLE EAST</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here, it takes two to tango. Looking back, Putin's visit to IRAN in 2007, the first by a Kremlin leader since Joseph Stalin's in 1943, had raised high hopes of a historic turn in the bilateral relationship and of a new template in the geopolitics of the vast space the two countries overlap in and around the "Heartland" - CENTRAL ASIA and the CASPIAN, CAUCASUS and the MIDDLE EAST. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><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; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #444444;"><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; 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; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">US OBJECTIVES IN CENTRAL ASIA AND THE CAUCASUS </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; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/09/europe-and-caucasus-europe-fails-to-tap.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/09/europe-and-caucasus-europe-fails-to-tap.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;"><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";">CASPIAN BASIN: INCREASED FOCAL POINT OF WEST AND EAST</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;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/09/the-caspian-region-future-war-zone.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/09/the-caspian-region-future-war-zone.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;"><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><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE WINNING FORMULA TO DESTABILIZE RUSSIA’S CAUCASUS AND THE MIDDLE EAST </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;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/09/dagestan-syria-comes-to-russia.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/09/dagestan-syria-comes-to-russia.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;"><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><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">POLITICAL DYNAMICS IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS AND IRAN’S PRIORITIES IN THE 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; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/06/israeli-azerbaijani-alliance-and-iran.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/06/israeli-azerbaijani-alliance-and-iran.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;"><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";">RELATIONS BETWEEN IRAN AND AZERBAIJAN HAVE NEVER BEEN ROSY</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;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/05/israel-azerbaijan-and-iran.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/05/israel-azerbaijan-and-iran.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;"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />But in the event, these hopes remain unfulfilled. Putin left the Kremlin in 2008. During Dmitry Medvedev's presidency once the RUSSIA-US "reset" appeared and the IRAN question became a real-time talking point between the two powers, the calculus of RUSSIAN-IRANIAN ties changed. <br /><br />Indeed, the pro-Western groups of the RUSSIAN elite gained ascendancy in the Kremlin. Soon, a transactional dispute arose over RUSSIA'S non-fulfillment of the contract for supply of S-300 missiles to IRAN. RUSSIA insisted it acted under the UN sanctions, but Tehran saw the "hidden hand" of the USA. Meanwhile, the steady worsening of the situation around the IRAN nuclear issue introduced limits to engaging that country, given the international ramifications. <br /><br /><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IRAN A “PIVOTAL STATE”?</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It stands to reason that unlike Medvedev, perhaps, Putin himself is acutely conscious that IRAN is what AMERICAN geo-strategists would call a "pivotal state". <br /><br />Interestingly, it didn't cross Putin's mind at all that the former president, Mahmud Ahmedinejad, was already a "lame duck" when they met in the Kremlin in July on the sidelines of the CASPIAN summit. Putin plunged with gusto into substantive discussions regarding ways to revive and strengthen a RUSSIAN-IRANIAN alliance, including a RUSSIAN-built second nuclear power plant in IRAN. <br /><br />Equally, Tehran would have noted the huge shift in the respective RUSSIAN approaches to the regime-change agenda in LIBYA (March 2011) and in SYRIA today. <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span></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; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #444444;"><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; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b><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;"><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";">RUSSIA’S AND CHINA’S STANCE ON SYRIA: A RESULT OF THE LIBYAN FIASCO </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;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle-East/Russia-Set-To-Lose-Billions-In-Libya.html">http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle-East/Russia-Set-To-Lose-Billions-In-Libya.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;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/09/libya-doomed-from-day-one.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/09/libya-doomed-from-day-one.html</a></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Paradoxically, the Rouhani presidency brings IRAN much closer to RUSSIA in its "de-ideologized" foreign-policy outlook. Indeed, RUSSIA doesn't view the world through any ideological "EAST-WEST" prism. Nor is it enchanted by the ideas of "resistance" and "justice" that fired up Ahmedinejad, but which Rouhani is gradually relegating to the backburner. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is inconceivable that, like Putin's RUSSIA, which scrupulously avoids the Soviet overreach, Rouhani's IRAN also will ever set aside national interests as the paramount consideration in foreign policy even while involved in regional security issues. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rouhani is also wedded to globalization and neo-liberal policies as RUSSIA is, and both see innovation of the economy as the core objective of national policies. Putin's priority has seemed to be always to work toward an equal partnership with the West, and windows of opportunity. The approach of Rouhani, who arrives on AMERICAN soil in a few days to attend the UN General Assembly session in New York, seems similar. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In sum, both IRAN and RUSSIA are in a frame of mind that is conducive to reviving their strategic partnership. The only way Obama can stall a Nobel for Putin seems to be by pre-empting the Kremlin from launching yet another irresistible peace plan. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>Ambassador <b>M K Bhadrakumar</b> served as a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service for over 29 years, with postings including India's ambassador to Uzbekistan (1995-1998) and to Turkey (1998-2001).</i></span></div>

UNITED STATES OF AMERICAS’ SYRIAN DILEMMA

STRATEGIC SYRIAN “CHESS GAME”: RUSSIA VERSUS USA? By M K Bhadrakumar When Kathleen Trola McFarland, the familiar Fox News national security...

Ways To Reduce Belly Fat - True Weight Loss Tactics Which Actually Work

7:25 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Kimberly Jose</div><br /><br />  <div class='uawarticle'>All around the world, millions of people are trying to lose their belly fat with varying degrees of success. Tummy fat is in fact simpler to lose that an individual might think if they follow the right plan. Remember that it took you time to build up the fat, so it will take some time to burn it away. Exactly what follows are a couple of easy pointers to losing the belly fat and keeping it off. Remember to make the changes slowly so that they take hold and enter into your day-to-day routine.<br />  <br />  Consume Breakfast<br />  <br />  Believe it or not, the most vital meal of the day is likewise the one that revs up your metabolic process, keeping your insulin levels at the correct amount and even reduces the bad cholesterol in your body. A great morning meal that includes plenty of protein and fat can help you feel complete and increase your energy levels for the day.<br />  <br />  Eat others Whole Grains<br />  <br />  Scientific researches have shown that individuals who eat others whole grains, that included eating others lean meats, fruits and vegetables, lost more belly fat than groups who ate the same diet regimen, but rather consumed fine-tuned grains. This is because whole grains disappear the fat from the body by changing the relationship of the glucose and insulin feedback when you consume meals. You'll want to avoid white grains, such as white bread and white rice and favor brown rice and brownish wheat bread instead.<br />  <br />  Drink More Water<br />  <br />  Drinking others water not just flushes out the contaminants and waste in the body, it also enhances your overall health and brings about a more energetic metabolic process. Being adequately hydrated allows your body to much better deal with the excess fat when you making use of dieting and workout techniques to slim down.<br />  <br />  Increase your Cardio Workouts<br />  <br />  Cardio exercises are not only helpful for the heart. They can ramp up your metabolism too. Start by doing low impact cardio exercises such as walking to begin the body on burning away the fat. While cardio exercises alone will not do the task, integrating it with a healthy diet regimen that is lower in carbs and sugars and rich in protein will begin to have the preferred result. Bear in mind however to not overdo your exercises. Begin small, make it a five day a week practice and slowly develop gradually.<br />  <br />  Add Resistance to your Cardio Workouts<br />  <br />  Building muscle tissue means enhancing the fat burning agents in your body. Muscles need energy to run and fix themselves when you work them out. In turn, they use the fat cells for that energy. You can use free weights, workout machines or resistance bands to do the trick. Kettlebells are an excellent complimentary weight to build and tone muscles.<br />  <br />  Avoid Stomach Crunches Until you Lose the Fat<br />  <br />  While belly crunches can build up the stomach muscles, you will not truly see that under the layer of fat. Your tummy might actually grow in size as you construct up your muscles. Rather, you should aim to develop your leg muscles, particularly with squats and various other exercises, to start burning the fat from your body.<br />  <br />  When you apply these suggestions, they will work directly to losing the fat around the tummy. You need to always be mindful of your diet regimen and prevent eating meals high in carbs and sugars if possible. Each of these suggestions will work efficiently to produce a leaner mid-section and a healthier 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'>For those who enjoyed reading this short article and identified it informative pay a visit to our <a href="http://phen375realreviews.net">Phen375 feedback</a> web site at this time. You'll find some good useful resources concerning <a href="http://phen375realreviews.net/does-phen375-work-for-weight-loss">fat burners</a> which will unquestionably help you. http://phen375realreviews.net</div><br />  </div><br />

Ways To Reduce Belly Fat - True Weight Loss Tactics Which Actually Work

By Kimberly Jose All around the world, millions of people are trying to lose their belly fat with varying degrees of success. Tummy fat ...

The Moral Dilemmas of Doctors During Disaster : The New Yorker

5:43 AM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; 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); ">In the late summer of 2005, the waters loosed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina laid siege to New Orleans. At Memorial Medical Center, the power and then the backup generators failed, creating a silence one doctor described as the "sickest sound" of his life. Doctors and nurses, at times in darkness, struggled to take care of patients without life-saving machines, air conditioning, or functioning toilets. After several days of desperation, some allegedly euthanized critically ill patients, even as large-scale evacuations of the hospital began. The journalist and doctor Sheri Fink published a meticulous investigation of these deaths in the<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30doctors.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline; outline: 0px; ">New York <i>Times Magazine</i></a> and on the Web site of ProPublica, in 2009. Her work won a Pulitzer Prize.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; 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 now comes the book. In "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Five-Days-Memorial-Storm-Ravaged-Hospital/dp/0307718964/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378237263&sr=1-1&keywords=five+days+at+memorial" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline; outline: 0px; ">Five Days at Memorial</a>," the contours of the story remain the same, yet Fink imbues them with far more narrative richness, making the doctors seem both more sympathetic and more culpable. Fink also expands on the ethical conundrums, which have festered over time and seem to gain fresh urgency whenever the angry winds of a hurricane crash against our shores. Which patients should receive priority in a disaster? Should doctors abandon the critically ill? What should they do if they believe those patients will suffer? Should they receive legal immunity for decisions made under duress? To a disturbing degree, the best answers seem to run counter to what key players at Memorial did and what at least one of them has advocated for since.</p><div id="entry-more" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; 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; "><p style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">As the waters surged toward Memorial, hospital leaders began by acting with familiar priorities: they chose to evacuate the sickest patients and those who relied on ventilators or other devices first. But then the medical chairman decided that patients with do-not-resuscitate orders should get lowest priority, later saying he thought they had the "least to lose." As the staff scrambled to move patients down from the upper floors, other factors played a role. One doctor worried that a patient who weighed more than three hundred pounds might slow the evacuation line; he was moved to another area to wait, rather than joining the queue. Some patients on the seventh floor seemed to get even lower priority, in part because their treatment was overseen by LifeCare, a health-care company that leased space within Memorial. As the days passed and doctors soldiered on without electricity, running water, sleep, or outside help, they flipped their moral scale upside down. Now the sickest patients—whom they designated threes on a one-to-three scale—would wait, and the healthiest would go first. This reflected "a sense among the doctors that they would not be able to save everyone," writes Fink, citing the head-and-neck surgeon Anna Pou.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">Setting the right triage priorities is one thing. But then something darker began to happen. Four days into the ordeal, Dr. Ewing Cook, who'd previously survived two heart attacks, struggled to reach the eighth-floor intensive-care unit, where he examined a patient with advanced cancer. Convinced that she was close to death and that he couldn't possibly make it up the stairs again, he asked the nurse to raise her dosage of morphine. "There's no question I hastened her demise," he later said. Cook allegedly spoke with Pou about injecting patients with morphine and the sedative Versed, and she wrote prescriptions for substantial amounts of morphine, which, despite the chaos, were filled by the hospital pharmacy. (Whether her intent was to relieve pain or end life remains in dispute.) Meanwhile, the pulmonologist John Thiele apparently injected several category-three patients with morphine and Versed. Knowing that he would soon evacuate, he felt he could not "justify hanging a morphine drip and praying it didn't run out after everyone left and before the patient died," Fink reports.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">There are moments when doctors face genuinely tough calls about whether to let someone live or die: a soldier on a battlefield, say, who begs a doctor not to leave him behind alive. But this isn't the way Fink describes the scene at Memorial. Some of the patients whose bodies contained high levels of morphine or Versed were apparently not on the verge of death or even in terrible pain, according to details of the investigation. A three-hundred-eighty-pound paraplegic named Emmett Everett had eaten tuna fish, crackers, and relish for breakfast. "I knew he was sick," one staff member later said, "but, um, you know, he could talk and everything." In fact, he told one of his nurses, "Cindy, don't let them leave me behind." Then a doctor allegedly ended his life—without his consent. Even after the earthquake in Haiti, physicians from a field hospital said they did not amputate survivors' limbs without consent, regardless of how urgently they thought patients needed the procedure. Ultimately, over twenty of the bodies found at Memorial contained either morphine and Versed or both. Multiple forensic experts determined that eight or nine of these deaths were homicides. Pou was arrested, but a sympathetic grand jury, which for political reasons was not privy to all of the forensic evidence, failed to indict her. No other doctors or nurses were held to be criminally responsible.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">The more gritty detail Fink offers, the harder it is not to feel sympathy for the doctors and nurses. Yet much of what they did—especially the euthanasia but also the triage priorities—sets an awful example for future disasters. For starters, a D.N.R. order simply means that "a patient whose heartbeat or breathing had stopped should not be revived," Fink writes. It reflects that patient's wishes for the future; it does not necessarily indicate how sick he is now, or how close to death. Using D.N.R. orders in triage also risks penalizing individuals who plan for scenarios that may not occur. At Memorial, the early reliance on these orders meant that some patients were never carried down from the seventh floor to the staging area for evacuation. This made it harder to include them later on, even as more helicopters arrived.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">A triage plan that puts the most vulnerable last is also troubling. Doctors may reason that the very sick are too fragile or too heavy to transport or don't have long to live. But they're the ones who are most likely to die if left in the hospitals as conditions get worse. A system that prioritizes the healthy—or the unhealthy—should also be looked at with humility. Death is unpredictable, and experts aren't necessarily good at differentiating among critical patients. Indeed, in a small exercise designed to plan for pandemic flu, researchers asked doctors to assess the likely survival of I.C.U. patients with the H1N1 virus who were on ventilators. Their predictions, as Fink notes in her epilogue, were largely wrong.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">Some doctors have been criticized for leaving Memorial, even when food, water, and pain medication were still plentiful. But with gunshots in the distance and rumors of violence and martial law, it seems reasonable that some of them chose to evacuate. "They are not the Secret Service," the bioethicist Arthur Caplan told me. It also makes sense that they would try to lessen their patients' pain beforehand, even if the drugs they used risked hastening death. If their intent was to end suffering forever, though, this crosses a line, Caplan and others argue. After all, who can know whether some unforeseen rescue might have materialized at the eleventh hour, however unlikely it seemed?</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">Pou and her team have argued that we should not second-guess doctors and should instead grant them broad legal immunity for their work during disasters. But this is neither necessary nor wise. Doctors are already judged according to the resources available and the circumstances, as <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1007700" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline; outline: 0px; ">George Annas</a> of Boston University told me. The standard of care is what "a reasonable physician would do in that disaster, not in a fully equipped O.R. in New York." And the last message we should want crisis workers to receive is that anything goes.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">Terrified, weary doctors should not abandon ethical standards; they should cling to the norms of medicine, beyond when it feels reasonable to do so. This means talking to patients and respecting their autonomy, even under awful conditions. It also means making every effort to evacuate the sickest and most dependent patients first. The original—deeply reasonable—triage plan at Memorial prioritized babies, I.C.U. patients, those who required dialysis, and those who had received bone-marrow transplants (and therefore had compromised immune systems). If hospital leaders had been forced to choose some of these patients over others, it would have been reasonable to send babies over the elderly, since infants arguably have the most life ahead of them. (Alternatively, some ethicists propose simply drawing straws.)</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">But the grim hypotheticals risk obscuring another issue: medical workers under siege can easily lose perspective. They can start to make decisions based on their own dark fears rather than the changing facts on the ground. "For heavens sake," one of the forensic experts cited by Fink said, "Memorial wasn't on a goddamn battlefield with enemy shells coming in. This was New Orleans, and there were helicopters and boats. And really, were they saying they couldn't get patients off the seventh floor?" In any disaster, medical teams must reëvaluate patients' conditions and the available resources frequently, as Fink argues, "maintaining the ability to 'see' in the midst of a crisis." This, along with better backup generators, is what may ultimately save the most lives.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; "><i>Amanda Schaffer is a science and medical columnist for Slate and a freelance science writer.</i></p></div></div><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/09/the-moral-dilemmas-of-doctors-during-disaster.html">http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/09/the-moral-dilemmas-of-doctors-during-disaster.html</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

The Moral Dilemmas of Doctors During Disaster : The New Yorker

In the late summer of 2005, the waters loosed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina laid siege to New Orleans. At Memorial Medical Center, the po...

Today's Teamster News 09.14.13

4:45 AM Tukiyooo 0

<a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/first-student-school-bus-workers-choose-teamsters" rel="nofollow">First Student School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters</a>   teamster.org   ...School bus drivers and monitors with First Student in Oak Park, Mich., have voted by an overwhelming 5-1 margin to join Teamsters Local 1038 in Detroit...<br /><a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/dairy-workers-georgia-join-local-528" rel="nofollow">Dairy Workers in Georgia Join Local 528</a>  teamster.org   ...On September 6, workers at Mayfield Dairy in Macon voted to become Teamsters by a nearly 3-1 margin. There are 32 transport drivers, route sales drivers and warehouse workers in the unit...<br /><a href="http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Sikorsky-lays-off-200-workers-4809286.php" rel="nofollow">Sikorsky lays off 200 workers</a>   Connecticut Post   ...Sikorsky Aircraft announced plans Thursday to cut its hourly workforce by 200 people, mostly here in Connecticut, in its second round of layoffs of that size this summer...<br /><a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/allied-chooses-jack-cooper-bid" rel="nofollow">Allied Chooses Jack Cooper Bid</a>  teamster.org   ...At the auction that concluded Thursday, September 12, Allied selected Jack Cooper Transport as the entity with the best and highest bid...<br /><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/09/12/us-volkswagen-uaw-idINBRE98B0AE20130912" rel="nofollow">U.S. union UAW close to organizing at Volkswagen plant</a>   Reuters   ...Volkswagen's factory at Chattanooga, Tennessee, is close to becoming the first U.S. car assembly plant run by a foreign company to have its workers officially represented by the United Auto Workers union, a German paper reported...<br /><a href="http://www.alternet.org/corporate-accountability-and-workplace/10-reasons-millennials-are-screwed-generation" rel="nofollow">10 Reasons Millennials Are the Screwed Generation</a>   AlterNet   ...Young people living in the United States have inherited a broken country. Here are the reasons…<br /><a href="http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/09/12/financial-crisis-cases-ending-as-sec-struggles-with-reputation/" rel="nofollow">Financial Crisis Cases Ending As SEC Struggles With Reputation</a>   Fire Dog Lake   ...It has now been 5 years since Wall Street crashed the economy through its pump and dump mortgage derivative scheme. Few of the bad actors have been held accountable and none of the big ones...  <br /><a href="http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2013/09/us_manufacturing_rebirth_fizzl.html" rel="nofollow">U.S. manufacturing rebirth fizzles as jobs still head overseas</a>   Bloomberg News   ...Despite promises of a U.S. manufacturing resurgence, job gains in the field have stagnated as work continues to be sent to other countries...<br /><a href="http://valleywag.gawker.com/google-execs-have-been-flying-to-nantucket-with-taxpaye-1310297294/1310355985@maxread" rel="nofollow">The Pentagon Helped Pay for Gas on These Billionaires' Private Jets</a>  Gawker   ...Guess who's been paying for jet fuel on behalf of a handful of billionaires? That's right—you...<br /><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bill-granting-domestic-workers-OT-goes-to-Gov-4810133.php" rel="nofollow">Domestic Workers Bill of Rights passes Legislature</a>  San Francisco Chronicle   ...Californians who hire a nanny, a cook, a maid or other domestic employees would be required to pay them overtime wages under a landmark bill that awaits Gov. Jerry Brown's signature...<br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2013/09/13/usda-official-defends-pork-inspection-pilot-program/?hpid=z14" rel="nofollow">USDA official defends pork inspection pilot program</a>   Washington Post   ...A top food safety official at the USDA says that a pilot program for inspecting pork is working well, defending the experimental procedures being used in five hog plants around the country...<br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/federal-judge-rules-wisconsins-union-reforms-constitutional-200020962.html" rel="nofollow">Federal judge rules Wisconsin's union reforms constitutional</a>  Reuters   ...Wisconsin's controversial collective bargaining reforms do not violate the free speech and equal protection rights of public sector union workers, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday...<br /><a href="http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/22530497-418/union-will-fight-right-to-work-law-on-appeal.html" rel="nofollow">Union vows to fight Indiana right-to-work law on appeal</a>   Associated Press   ...Indiana is appealing a ruling declaring the state’s right-to-work law unconstitutional, Attorney General Greg Zoeller said Thursday...<br /><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/09/mary-landrieu-morganza-levee-oil-supply" rel="nofollow">Louisiana Senator Wants to Shut Down Nation's Oil Supply Until Congress Funds Levee Project</a>  Mother Jones   ...Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) <a href="http://www.republican.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/floor-updates?ID=b81efa95-9a3a-45c2-9362-56b45846bb28" rel="nofollow">said Wednesday</a> that Louisiana ought to shut down all of the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico until the House of Representatives agrees to fund a much-needed levee project in her state designed to protect against Katrina-type storms...

Today's Teamster News 09.14.13

First Student School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters teamster.org ...School bus drivers and monitors with First Student in Oak Park, Mich....

Childhood Treasures

3:54 AM Tukiyooo 0

<span style="font-size: large;">Nearly 30 years ago in about 1985, I received a camera for Christmas from Santa.</span><br /><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">It was a children's Fisher-Price camera made by Kodak and it took 110 film and it's flash involved attaching a strip of cube bulbs to it.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Out of all my childhood possessions it is the one that has still survived and I still have today.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">It was a chunky camera, solidly made to allow for dropping and rough handling by children with rubber ends in order to protect it.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijshgrKPohsetNSXjOL_pZamz-M692tB48E68cfKyxZi1DkNx5qggiuybLJkEPu1okQntkZrd-CVoT7CfcWW-4Ovtda_abrYfNErPnRog0FNPO6tw-OLZSTS421RIXbtECXVrwZefUpR54/s640/blogger-image--950222574.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijshgrKPohsetNSXjOL_pZamz-M692tB48E68cfKyxZi1DkNx5qggiuybLJkEPu1okQntkZrd-CVoT7CfcWW-4Ovtda_abrYfNErPnRog0FNPO6tw-OLZSTS421RIXbtECXVrwZefUpR54/s640/blogger-image--950222574.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJhQVGjS4-uZvsEkVx1a3ZaxuwejFe6EoQIbR2oYXoprkUf9oL5RorCt_lxpgJ7utGbNnZ0lxOSx2Sw6rpU9Iz8aH5n9zGVwBJg369wlUrZ6H8BDO9kGB4Zi7sjmPDjAYK7I3QmAawmPXd/s640/blogger-image--614192746.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJhQVGjS4-uZvsEkVx1a3ZaxuwejFe6EoQIbR2oYXoprkUf9oL5RorCt_lxpgJ7utGbNnZ0lxOSx2Sw6rpU9Iz8aH5n9zGVwBJg369wlUrZ6H8BDO9kGB4Zi7sjmPDjAYK7I3QmAawmPXd/s640/blogger-image--614192746.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">To wind on the film there was a large yellow slider on the underside.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRCmcohTaD1Okz8siRUaDsOejyJoiIK12aUM69Qrcbxzz8l9dnKbmY1mgDMmGv0fgOZk5KiTFNnRuQD-L0mZs2HsrX1-RBaW_zc24F-1-jYf0UK7iS8VyXHklo_HYrIm5JfLjbs5ehO3WJ/s640/blogger-image--1138607453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRCmcohTaD1Okz8siRUaDsOejyJoiIK12aUM69Qrcbxzz8l9dnKbmY1mgDMmGv0fgOZk5KiTFNnRuQD-L0mZs2HsrX1-RBaW_zc24F-1-jYf0UK7iS8VyXHklo_HYrIm5JfLjbs5ehO3WJ/s640/blogger-image--1138607453.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">And when you took a photo there was a satisfying click as you pressed the button.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixO8JcLJuo1m89FsGoaYEAIwMdXS9_w_uOIIE-hVMXzcKJUmoFl12uGeDRJVU159iOPyBP3MSmNs55xSKwRwVn9r-W4ovK_sUZuaJYjW8Ifp32dxTNFqmGKOtZQu8pMUurmQLPFvjuEC1S/s640/blogger-image--1468173717.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixO8JcLJuo1m89FsGoaYEAIwMdXS9_w_uOIIE-hVMXzcKJUmoFl12uGeDRJVU159iOPyBP3MSmNs55xSKwRwVn9r-W4ovK_sUZuaJYjW8Ifp32dxTNFqmGKOtZQu8pMUurmQLPFvjuEC1S/s640/blogger-image--1468173717.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">Film was loaded in to the back of the camera.  There is still a roll of film in my camera but the pictures would be ruined as the film has been exposed to the light over the years.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGXz7-KvDkiODxpMJZN12bpiEkl3U3y938lCclzRQ4Qc1Oho_vQBBUN6Xol896Y076hkfKhKpxqUOpJ6e3KGtIv2d6CzdmlS1sgWyejWG0PMS2ghvcZzgu1k9MQZdMTYFwJvKff12l5IaE/s640/blogger-image--2053151896.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGXz7-KvDkiODxpMJZN12bpiEkl3U3y938lCclzRQ4Qc1Oho_vQBBUN6Xol896Y076hkfKhKpxqUOpJ6e3KGtIv2d6CzdmlS1sgWyejWG0PMS2ghvcZzgu1k9MQZdMTYFwJvKff12l5IaE/s640/blogger-image--2053151896.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGK2Od8SN4fuVE73ZlEw4ZOCkusfZ1_AfTxNMwO6z8PBduIDgnISwJFho-WlPdcuSs8-CTuU0bu5i2TD88vb-CKIJT5NltqLETvYFAFdJ2fvc3niRjZLzRStqcr8ammFAVrg7TNIqBtDSG/s640/blogger-image--743269756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGK2Od8SN4fuVE73ZlEw4ZOCkusfZ1_AfTxNMwO6z8PBduIDgnISwJFho-WlPdcuSs8-CTuU0bu5i2TD88vb-CKIJT5NltqLETvYFAFdJ2fvc3niRjZLzRStqcr8ammFAVrg7TNIqBtDSG/s640/blogger-image--743269756.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OJgPCIVTpIIblXECczg7wJ4dTvwIVcEBgnGsLQwo27GR6xhrpGxFde8ia6ZfU1IPPPQRr-zWMnXcU7vs1fY3MLr7aDh_O94OGV7Xg19UnkA-CaE5F9meI6ekZNiDrY1mF6guxij7hetR/s640/blogger-image-744759088.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OJgPCIVTpIIblXECczg7wJ4dTvwIVcEBgnGsLQwo27GR6xhrpGxFde8ia6ZfU1IPPPQRr-zWMnXcU7vs1fY3MLr7aDh_O94OGV7Xg19UnkA-CaE5F9meI6ekZNiDrY1mF6guxij7hetR/s640/blogger-image-744759088.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">A safety feature on the cord allowed for quick opening in case of emergencies.  This was in order to prevent strangulation accidents, I presume.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilNykpOFrN8U8wO6EK-13kiVkZAyUZ_LtLzKvqqJEuBYFqzz4i1Q93TbPKUd-iqyjRteMB7g4g4ZUhE5_ga17dLl32c0L-94_xNhjoE9sJBgvqSgzh1Z7jJuNWE4n_bAB1JVApoGP9T4-w/s640/blogger-image--774623840.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilNykpOFrN8U8wO6EK-13kiVkZAyUZ_LtLzKvqqJEuBYFqzz4i1Q93TbPKUd-iqyjRteMB7g4g4ZUhE5_ga17dLl32c0L-94_xNhjoE9sJBgvqSgzh1Z7jJuNWE4n_bAB1JVApoGP9T4-w/s640/blogger-image--774623840.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here (black catch)  is where the strip flash was connected to </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxzOKT4JC9DrH_L4BT9Uws8NOHZF-QmkXsfDDTEJcqlR7kyiEVmnEfoGkOjbkD7CFOgf5OhcO_XT_xWgs_0F35mAaEltutzMb9PqL1edqrWA7-jyeXKUNoNfOmvc4tA8qbHqXFSWOt0Enw/s640/blogger-image--1198457149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxzOKT4JC9DrH_L4BT9Uws8NOHZF-QmkXsfDDTEJcqlR7kyiEVmnEfoGkOjbkD7CFOgf5OhcO_XT_xWgs_0F35mAaEltutzMb9PqL1edqrWA7-jyeXKUNoNfOmvc4tA8qbHqXFSWOt0Enw/s640/blogger-image--1198457149.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Having a camera was a novelty for children in the '80's in Ireland and on school trips, and the like, sometimes I was the only child in the class who took photos.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">Taking photos on film was quite the adventure before digital as you all know.  It involved a serious process of buying the film from the chemist, taking 24 careful snaps over a few months.  You would then return the film to the chemist for development.  In 2 weeks, or so, you would collect the photos and nervously take them out of the wallet and hopefully there would be lots of nice pics.  More than likely there would a few blurry efforts that would be binned but if you got 20 good pics you would be happy.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">As well as being time consuming, film development was quite costly so photos were generally taken at special occasions in my house and not wily nily!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">I hope you enjoyed this post! Do you have memories of taking photos before digital? Do let me know in the comments below.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">I'd also love to hear from anyone who had seen this camera before or knew of someone who owned one.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thanks for reading!</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>

Childhood Treasures

Nearly 30 years ago in about 1985, I received a camera for Christmas from Santa. It was a children's Fisher-Price camera made by Kodak a...

No Connection

2:56 AM Tukiyooo 0

No Connection

The fucking internet connection went tits up again Thursday and stayed off until sometime Friday evening while I was doing another twelve ho...

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 09/14/2013

2:30 AM Tukiyooo 0

<ul class="diigo-linkroll">      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/sept10/vol68/num01/Seven_Essentials_for_Project-Based_Learning.aspx">Educational Leadership:Giving Students Meaningful Work:Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">Excellent article from ASCD about meaningful work and students. I particularly appreciate the section on having a driving question. "A project without a driving question is like an essay without a thesis." Absolutely. Does your project or activity have a driving question? Great article worth a read.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/pbl">pbl</a></p>                                <ul class="diigo-comments">                  </ul>                      </li>  </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='https://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 09/14/2013

Educational Leadership:Giving Students Meaningful Work:Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning E...

Industrial Production Has Gone Parabolic!

10:24 PM Tukiyooo 0

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAmPw3_qMILhzIoRUUUGKqmyOeelpEtnmzOSolavujGSUFRJwZQlEdU9KIsF0SPsiwe3w29cA496RS7Jjl_NuH7n9Sythye_O1z1ZjoHAS4hbxkhaGgvdGmB3e3wYjKXLdNbqUKLGHvkI/s1600/Industrial+Production+Index+v,2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAmPw3_qMILhzIoRUUUGKqmyOeelpEtnmzOSolavujGSUFRJwZQlEdU9KIsF0SPsiwe3w29cA496RS7Jjl_NuH7n9Sythye_O1z1ZjoHAS4hbxkhaGgvdGmB3e3wYjKXLdNbqUKLGHvkI/s320/Industrial+Production+Index+v,2.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to enlarge</span><br /><br />It's just not the kind of parabola an optimist would wish to see. Sigh.<br /><br />This post inspired by <a href="http://maxedoutmama.blogspot.com/">MaxedOutMama's</a> post: <a href="http://maxedoutmama.blogspot.com/2013/09/and-add-on-to-yoy-decline-in-production.html">And The Add-on To the YoY Decline in Production Jobs</a>.<br /><br /><b>Source Data:</b><br /><a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=mnP">St. Louis Fed: Industrial Production Index</a>

Industrial Production Has Gone Parabolic!

Click to enlarge It's just not the kind of parabola an optimist would wish to see. Sigh. This post inspired by MaxedOutMama's post:...

Matt Said, Jay Said 10100111001

9:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal">Matt: Cheeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrssssssssss!!!!<br />Jay: Holaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!<br />Matt: We’re so damn cool.<br />Jay: The nerds out there envy us so much. <br />Matt: Totally. <br />Jay: I haven’t always been this cool though, you know. <br />Matt: You don’t say? <br />Jay: I’m serious! I used to be a bit of nerd myself. <br />Matt: YOU? No way! <br />Jay: IKR?! <br />Matt: I’ve always been cool. <br />Jay: It shows. <br />Matt: That’s where all my self-confidence comes from. <br />Jay: The easy life of the cool people. <br />Matt: I wish you could experience it too. <br />Jay: Yeah, me too. <br />Matt: But the nerdy, uncool life has its own rewards right?<br />Jay: Not really, no. <br />Matt: Well, that’s too bad. <br />Jay: Thank you for your understanding. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirfKzE3qYvu065tkyuBh18hMU03qBLHqzvWPBJRPjJyCCOVJ4vkyEWURKFu1vN0Z5vC5FM01SxQciIZNsZ8bOGT31nyhkrI_CfE2dqH5CwWOl46LjfPK7XhOuogoKIu1UImueABYFcutnb/s1600/Felicia+Day+Hot+Nerd+Red+Hair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirfKzE3qYvu065tkyuBh18hMU03qBLHqzvWPBJRPjJyCCOVJ4vkyEWURKFu1vN0Z5vC5FM01SxQciIZNsZ8bOGT31nyhkrI_CfE2dqH5CwWOl46LjfPK7XhOuogoKIu1UImueABYFcutnb/s1600/Felicia+Day+Hot+Nerd+Red+Hair.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br /></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Matt: So, what was for supper tonight? <br />Jay: Spaghetti! <br />Matt: Ooooooooo that’s good! <br />Jay: Oh yeah, whatchu having? <br />Matt: Frozen pizza. <br />Jay: Nice, Putting anything extra on it?<br />Matt: I might just have it as is out of the box. <br />Jay: Rare move on your part. <br />Matt: I like to mix things up a bit. <br />Jay: Keeps you from getting into a rut. <br />Matt: What did you have last night? <br />Jay: Fish sticks and a baked potato. <br />Matt: Great combo. <br />Jay: What did you have? <br />Matt: Sausage patties and scrambled eggs. <br />Jay: Oh yeahhhhhhhhh! Delicious! <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqMLCcTdozbUH5g4wIsUAoBjEky6ZRebSK0UMDKzyTGdTdWC7jIjvZUxPr8G3HrMyEz0SKyuuM_Fzp3sloEXSiCpHHSlui8SCvy7_w1LHfsshk5Z1qCnmwsChyphenhyphenHy1MDgDxgzb1phG5KBwb/s1600/Daisy+Fuentes+Hot+Legs+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqMLCcTdozbUH5g4wIsUAoBjEky6ZRebSK0UMDKzyTGdTdWC7jIjvZUxPr8G3HrMyEz0SKyuuM_Fzp3sloEXSiCpHHSlui8SCvy7_w1LHfsshk5Z1qCnmwsChyphenhyphenHy1MDgDxgzb1phG5KBwb/s1600/Daisy+Fuentes+Hot+Legs+2013.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Matt: You know what’s sad though?<br />Jay: What?<br />Matt: The box says serving size ONE PATTY! <br />Jay: Get out! <br />Matt: I’m serious! <br />Jay: Who do they think they’re bullshitting? <br />Matt: Nobody! They’re just being Provisionally Correct.<br />Jay: What losers! <br />Matt: More like Fascists! <br />Jay: Portion Size Terrorists! <br />Matt: Damn right! <br />Jay: This “Serving Size Recommendation” shit is outrageous. <br />Matt: It’s a threat to our very freedom as Americans. <br />Jay: We need to stand up to these people. <br />Matt: I think I’m thinking what you’re thinking! <br />Jay: We will discuss this outrage on the show Sunday. <br />Matt: Yes we will! <br />Jay: What else can we talk about? <br />Matt: Yom Kippur?<br />Jay: Call us up and atone people! <br />Matt: Hispanic Heritage Month?<br />Jay: I love Latinas. <br />Matt: Oh yeah! <br />Jay: OH! And the first ever CANADA REPORT W/ JAMIE! <br />Matt: That’s gonna be sooooooo hawt! <br />Jay: Hell yes! <br />Matt: And it’s National Farm Animal Awareness Week. <br />Jay: Hmm … Okay then: Food, Sex and Farm Animals! <br />Matt: Love it! Where did you get the sex part? <br />Jay: Food leads to sex.<br />Matt: Or is a substitute for it. <br />Jay: HA! Don’t I know it! <br />Matt: Poor nerd. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">So be sure to tune into IWS Radio as we celebrate <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/09/15/food-sex-and-farm-animals" target="_blank">Food Sexand Farm Animals</a> Sunday at 12 Noon ET!!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>

Matt Said, Jay Said 10100111001

Matt: Cheeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrssssssssss!!!! Jay: Holaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Matt: We’re so damn cool. Jay: The nerds out there envy ...

Flight of the Butterflies: Truly soars

6:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><b><i>Flight of the Butterflies</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span><b>(2013) • <a href="http://www.flightofthebutterflies.com/home/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><b> </b><br /><b>Four stars. Rating: G, and suitable for all ages</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a> • </b></span>Originally published in <i><a href="http://www.davisenterprise.com/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">The Davis Enterprise</a></i>, 9.13.13</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>            <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nature is always awesome, but sometimes she’s jaw-droppingly unbelievable.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then, if we’re lucky — if the right wildlife saga intrigues the right filmmakers — the results can be mesmerizing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRtLMXrP0UxFVsnAQCfSKiEaYSb3W2mfa6u1YQWMu4SVBPlxB93TqNp19hyf_y88F8-4rCY_ANcMedvD26ryZMM4slZaBeqHvbHpuEmCSriUijRyKfc9RT-aufUtQX5zkmDw-0rw6kWhM/s1600/Flight+of+the+Butterflies+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRtLMXrP0UxFVsnAQCfSKiEaYSb3W2mfa6u1YQWMu4SVBPlxB93TqNp19hyf_y88F8-4rCY_ANcMedvD26ryZMM4slZaBeqHvbHpuEmCSriUijRyKfc9RT-aufUtQX5zkmDw-0rw6kWhM/s400/Flight+of+the+Butterflies+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Monarch butterflies lay eggs, emerge as caterpillars, grow until they "hibernate" in a<br />chrysalis and then emerge as adult butterflies to begin the cycle anew. You probably<br />thought this entire process occurs within a relatively small geographical radius, such as<br />within our city limits, right? Way, way wrong ... as this film demonstrates.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Luc Jacquet’s <i>March of the Penguins</i> wasn’t merely a marvelous film and the surprise hit of the 2005 movie season; it also was a Hollywood game-changer, proving that well-made documentaries could hold their own against big-budget dramas. Walt Disney had demonstrated as much between 1948 and ’60, with his studio’s <i>True-Life Adventures</i> series, but — several generations later — the non-fiction genre had fallen out of mainstream favor, until Jacquet’s mind-bogglingly patient Emperor penguins came waddling along.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Out of favor, perhaps, but definitely not extinct.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">IMAX theaters have been screening documentary shorts since 1971’s <i>Tiger Child</i>, slowly assembling an impressive library of titles that included hits such as 1984’s <i>Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets</i>, 1990’s <i>Blue Planet</i> and 1995’s <i>The Living Sea</i>. IMAX projects have grown even more impressive as filming techniques have improved, and the giant-screen format definitely came into its own with 1998’s one-two punch of <i>Everest</i> and <i>T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suddenly, IMAX movies were <i>cool</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of which brings us to <i>Flight of the Butterflies</i>, just now fluttering into Sacramento’s Esquire IMAX theater. And while these delicate winged insects admittedly aren’t as cute as tuxedo-clad penguins, they’re quite remarkable in their own right, as director Mike Slee’s 40-minute film makes abundantly clear.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At its core, <i>Flight of the Butterflies</i> is a lepidopterist’s mystery story, which Slee and co-scripter Wendy MacKeigan weave into a compelling depiction of the monarch butterfly’s unusual life cycle and amazing migratory habits.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charles Foster Kane had his Rosebud; Fred Urquhart’s world changed as a result of PS 397.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And therein lies a tale...<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The story begins in Toronto in the early 1920s, when as a boy Urquhart wondered where all the butterflies went each winter. This interest blossomed into an academic career as a zoology professor who maintained his fascination with butterflies; he and his wife, Norah, became obsessed with the concept of somehow tracking these winged insects.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But tracking meant tagging, a seemingly insurmountable issue: How could one tag something as delicate as a butterfly’s moisture-sensitive wing, without impairing its flight abilities?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Very carefully, as it turned out, and by 1940 Urquhart was successful; he began tagging monarchs with tiny labels that read “Send to Zoology University of Toronto Canada.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What happened next, as depicted in Slee’s charming film, never would have been believed as fiction. Thanks to press releases and ads that Norah Urquhart placed in newspapers throughout North America, their embryonic Insect Migration Association enlisted thousands of volunteers across the United States and Canada to tag hundreds of thousands of butterflies, and then attempt to <i>find</i> them again, in order to track their migratory route.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As demonstrated by this film’s gallery of vintage newspaper photos and articles, joining the “butterfly brigade” became a cool thing to do in the free-spirited, counter-culture 1960s and early ’70s: a means of honoring good ol’ Mother Earth — remember, the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 — while (hopefully) contributing to scientific research.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In August 1975, Minnesota junior high school students Jim Street and Dean Boen, assisted by their teacher Jim Gilbert, fastened tag number PS 397 to a butterfly, and then watched it fly away.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, fellow “citizen scientists” Ken Brugger and his wife, Catalina Aguado, were searching for monarchs in and around the Michoacan region of Mexico. Brugger, a textile engineer and businessman from Texas, had become one of Urquhart’s soldiers entirely by accident; while driving on a road through the Transvolcanic mountain belt one day, halfway between Morelia and Mexico City, he had been amazed to discover that a pounding rainstorm was covering the road — and his vehicle — with thousands upon thousands of dead butterflies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brugger had kept one of Urquhart’s newspaper ads for years; he got in touch, and soon he and Aguado spent every free moment looking for monarchs. Her similar interest was serendipitous — she remembered being enchanted by monarchs as a little girl — because Brugger, being color-blind, could not distinguish different insects by appearance (an intriguing detail not mentioned in this film, although it certainly should have been).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They searched, and they searched, and they searched. And then, on Jan. 2, 1975...<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, heck; I have to leave you wanting to see this film to find out, right?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I’ll add this much: Aguado made a memorable appearance on the cover of the August 1976 issue of <i>National Geographic</i>, a picture that remains famous — and breathtaking — to this day.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fred and Norah Urquhart, Brugger and Aguado are played by actors in these re-created scenes, of course, but Slee handles his cast with a gentle touch, eschewing the phony-baloney bombast and overacting that infect so many television dramatizations. Nor do the factual details need to be enhanced; the saga is sufficiently fascinating in its own right.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Urquhart’s story is interwoven with cinematographer Simon De Glanville’s airborne and ground-level depictions of the monarch life-cycle, from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. The macro-photography is stunning throughout, although our glimpse <i>inside</i> a chrysalis is particularly breathtaking, thanks to advanced MRI and micro-CT scans. (Peter Parks, credited for macro photography and system design, has won two technical achievement Academy Awards for microscopic and special-effects photography.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most astonishing detail, however, concerns the monarch’s unusual generational phases. We’re certainly not surprised to learn that two or three generations of butterflies are required to make the initial trip north, while traveling from Mexico through the United States and up into eastern Canada. But then comes the corker: Once in Canada, the egg-laying adults somehow know to create a “super generation” that, when it emerges and grows through caterpillar infancy and becomes a butterfly, is larger, stronger and lives eight to 10 times longer than the “regular” generations.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These “super butterflies” then travel the entire distance from Toronto to Mexico, a journey of roughly 2,500 miles, in order to begin the cycle anew.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That <i>has</i> to blow your mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Slee and MacKeigan don’t miss the opportunity for a bit of environmental advocacy, of course; no nature documentary could exist without it. The message is delivered gently, but is no less grim; monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed, which then becomes the sole diet of the rapidly growing caterpillar. Although once prevalent in fields across the continent, back in the day, industrial farming has wiped out massive stretches of milkweed. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As shown here, this potentially dire situation is being addressed by homeowners who plant “butterfly-friendly” gardens, laden with both colorful flowers — to attract the monarchs — and milkweed, in order to nurture them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My one complaint with this film is completely regional: It does not cite the massive monarch butterfly preserve that we have here in California, at the Monterey Peninsula’s Pacific Grove, where millions of monarchs winter from mid-October through mid-February. California isn’t even acknowledged in this film’s depictions of the monarch migratory route, although a map included with the press notes shows a smaller route that apparently runs from the California coast to Nevada, Arizona and southern Utah, and then back again.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not nearly as dramatic as the trip from Toronto to Mexico, to be sure, but I’d have thought we warranted at least a <i>mention</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No matter. <i>Flight of the Butterflies</i> is enchanting, absorbing and instructive: everything one could want from a nature documentary.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And De Glanville’s 3D cinematography makes it even neater. You’ll be hard-pressed <i>not</i> to grab at the air in front of your face, hoping to snatch a monarch in mid-flight. </span></span>

Flight of the Butterflies (2013) • View trailer Four stars. Rating: G, and suitable for all ages By Derrick Bang • Originally publis...

Friday update!

5:39 PM Tukiyooo 0

Friday update!

Hello everyone - I am sorry I am just now posting. I actually volunteered today at the PSTD Foundation where transitional homes are being b...