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Thursday, May 27, 2010
FW: Memorial Day Preparation
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Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
lol.......I was just trying to make you laugh
Sent: Thu, May 27, 2010 9:42:15 AM
Subject: Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
oh please..........
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 12:36 PM, Kristen Spurgeon <kristenspurgeon@yahoo.com> wrote:
SO,,,why all the plastic disposible caskets?
Sent: Thu, May 27, 2010 9:33:07 AM
Subject: Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
Yep
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 11:55 AM, Kristen Spurgeon <kristenspurgeon@yahoo.com> wrote:
RJ,,, so this is normal ??? IS that what your saying . lolKristen
From: Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com>
To: remnant-news@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, May 27, 2010 6:23:42 AM
Subject: Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
probably a fleet change out
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:21 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
Ok because the last time I saw this many white vehicles in one place was up near Waco about 6 yrs ago & we never found out what they were for or where they went.
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:11 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
Yes that would be a logical explanation--
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 7:58 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
So you think these thousands of vehicles are replacements for USAF like GSA fleet turnover or postal service?
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 7:37 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
I can not speak for the entire gov but I do know the USAF swaps out vehicles on a regular basis. It was not uncommon for one military base to swap out several hundred at one time.--
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:22 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
Just am awful lot of government or UN vehicles amassed in early spring...wondering where they all went after being hid out there in central florida
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 5:01 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
and the point is?--
On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 4:13 PM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
It's a rail yard. Zoom out a little and look to the right of the vertical car grouping. Lot's of rail cars.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=29%C2%B058%2721.01%22N+81%C2%B039%2746.49%22W&mrt=loc&sll=36.782892,-80.699387&sspn=0.26892,0.672226&ie=UTF8&ll=29.972,-81.663727&spn=0.004545,0.010504&t=h&z=17
________________________
Rick Johnson
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Rick Johnson
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Rick Johnson
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Rick Johnson
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Rick Johnson
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Rick Johnson
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Rick Johnson
Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
From: Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com>
To: remnant-news@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, May 27, 2010 9:42:15 AM
Subject: Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
oh please..........
SO,,,why all the plastic disposible caskets?
Sent: Thu, May 27, 2010 9:33:07 AM
Subject: Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
Yep
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 11:55 AM, Kristen Spurgeon <kristenspurgeon@yahoo.com> wrote:
RJ,,, so this is normal ??? IS that what your saying . lolKristen
From: Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com>
To: remnant-news@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, May 27, 2010 6:23:42 AM
Subject: Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
probably a fleet change out
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:21 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
Ok because the last time I saw this many white vehicles in one place was up near Waco about 6 yrs ago & we never found out what they were for or where they went.
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:11 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
Yes that would be a logical explanation--
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 7:58 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
So you think these thousands of vehicles are replacements for USAF like GSA fleet turnover or postal service?
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 7:37 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
I can not speak for the entire gov but I do know the USAF swaps out vehicles on a regular basis. It was not uncommon for one military base to swap out several hundred at one time.--
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:22 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
Just am awful lot of government or UN vehicles amassed in early spring...wondering where they all went after being hid out there in central florida
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 5:01 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
and the point is?--
On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 4:13 PM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
It's a rail yard. Zoom out a little and look to the right of the vertical car grouping. Lot's of rail cars.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=29%C2%B058%2721.01%22N+81%C2%B039%2746.49%22W&mrt=loc&sll=36.782892,-80.699387&sspn=0.26892,0.672226&ie=UTF8&ll=29.972,-81.663727&spn=0.004545,0.010504&t=h&z=17
________________________
Rick Johnson
________________________
Rick Johnson
________________________
Rick Johnson
--
________________________
Rick Johnson
--
________________________
Rick Johnson
--
________________________
Rick Johnson
Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
SO,,,why all the plastic disposible caskets?
Sent: Thu, May 27, 2010 9:33:07 AM
Subject: Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
Yep
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 11:55 AM, Kristen Spurgeon <kristenspurgeon@yahoo.com> wrote:
RJ,,, so this is normal ??? IS that what your saying . lolKristen
From: Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com>
To: remnant-news@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, May 27, 2010 6:23:42 AM
Subject: Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
probably a fleet change out
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:21 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
Ok because the last time I saw this many white vehicles in one place was up near Waco about 6 yrs ago & we never found out what they were for or where they went.
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:11 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
Yes that would be a logical explanation--
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 7:58 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
So you think these thousands of vehicles are replacements for USAF like GSA fleet turnover or postal service?
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 7:37 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
I can not speak for the entire gov but I do know the USAF swaps out vehicles on a regular basis. It was not uncommon for one military base to swap out several hundred at one time.--
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:22 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
Just am awful lot of government or UN vehicles amassed in early spring...wondering where they all went after being hid out there in central florida
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 5:01 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
and the point is?--
On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 4:13 PM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
It's a rail yard. Zoom out a little and look to the right of the vertical car grouping. Lot's of rail cars.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=29%C2%B058%2721.01%22N+81%C2%B039%2746.49%22W&mrt=loc&sll=36.782892,-80.699387&sspn=0.26892,0.672226&ie=UTF8&ll=29.972,-81.663727&spn=0.004545,0.010504&t=h&z=17
________________________
Rick Johnson
________________________
Rick Johnson
________________________
Rick Johnson
--
________________________
Rick Johnson
--
________________________
Rick Johnson
--
________________________
Rick Johnson
Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
From: Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com>
To: remnant-news@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, May 27, 2010 9:33:07 AM
Subject: Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
RJ,,, so this is normal ??? IS that what your saying . lolKristen
From: Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com>
To: remnant-news@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, May 27, 2010 6:23:42 AM
Subject: Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
probably a fleet change out
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:21 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
Ok because the last time I saw this many white vehicles in one place was up near Waco about 6 yrs ago & we never found out what they were for or where they went.
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:11 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
Yes that would be a logical explanation--
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 7:58 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
So you think these thousands of vehicles are replacements for USAF like GSA fleet turnover or postal service?
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 7:37 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
I can not speak for the entire gov but I do know the USAF swaps out vehicles on a regular basis. It was not uncommon for one military base to swap out several hundred at one time.--
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:22 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
Just am awful lot of government or UN vehicles amassed in early spring...wondering where they all went after being hid out there in central florida
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 5:01 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
and the point is?--
On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 4:13 PM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
It's a rail yard. Zoom out a little and look to the right of the vertical car grouping. Lot's of rail cars.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=29%C2%B058%2721.01%22N+81%C2%B039%2746.49%22W&mrt=loc&sll=36.782892,-80.699387&sspn=0.26892,0.672226&ie=UTF8&ll=29.972,-81.663727&spn=0.004545,0.010504&t=h&z=17
________________________
Rick Johnson
________________________
Rick Johnson
________________________
Rick Johnson
--
________________________
Rick Johnson
--
________________________
Rick Johnson
Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
RJ,,, so this is normal ??? IS that what your saying . lolKristen
From: Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com>
To: remnant-news@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, May 27, 2010 6:23:42 AM
Subject: Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
probably a fleet change out
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:21 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
Ok because the last time I saw this many white vehicles in one place was up near Waco about 6 yrs ago & we never found out what they were for or where they went.
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:11 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
Yes that would be a logical explanation--
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 7:58 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
So you think these thousands of vehicles are replacements for USAF like GSA fleet turnover or postal service?
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 7:37 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
I can not speak for the entire gov but I do know the USAF swaps out vehicles on a regular basis. It was not uncommon for one military base to swap out several hundred at one time.--
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:22 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
Just am awful lot of government or UN vehicles amassed in early spring...wondering where they all went after being hid out there in central florida
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 5:01 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
and the point is?--
On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 4:13 PM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
It's a rail yard. Zoom out a little and look to the right of the vertical car grouping. Lot's of rail cars.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=29%C2%B058%2721.01%22N+81%C2%B039%2746.49%22W&mrt=loc&sll=36.782892,-80.699387&sspn=0.26892,0.672226&ie=UTF8&ll=29.972,-81.663727&spn=0.004545,0.010504&t=h&z=17
________________________
Rick Johnson
________________________
Rick Johnson
________________________
Rick Johnson
--
________________________
Rick Johnson
--
________________________
Rick Johnson
Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
From: Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com>
To: remnant-news@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, May 27, 2010 6:23:42 AM
Subject: Re: **** FLA AFB drag map to see all
probably a fleet change out
Ok because the last time I saw this many white vehicles in one place was up near Waco about 6 yrs ago & we never found out what they were for or where they went.
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:11 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
Yes that would be a logical explanation--
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 7:58 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
So you think these thousands of vehicles are replacements for USAF like GSA fleet turnover or postal service?
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 7:37 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
I can not speak for the entire gov but I do know the USAF swaps out vehicles on a regular basis. It was not uncommon for one military base to swap out several hundred at one time.--
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 8:22 AM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
Just am awful lot of government or UN vehicles amassed in early spring...wondering where they all went after being hid out there in central florida
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 5:01 AM, Rick Johnson <rljohnson77@gmail.com> wrote:
and the point is?--
On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 4:13 PM, signa <signa777@gmail.com> wrote:
It's a rail yard. Zoom out a little and look to the right of the vertical car grouping. Lot's of rail cars.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=29%C2%B058%2721.01%22N+81%C2%B039%2746.49%22W&mrt=loc&sll=36.782892,-80.699387&sspn=0.26892,0.672226&ie=UTF8&ll=29.972,-81.663727&spn=0.004545,0.010504&t=h&z=17
________________________
Rick Johnson
________________________
Rick Johnson
________________________
Rick Johnson
--
________________________
Rick Johnson
[Fwd: News Alert: 'Top Kill' Effort Seems to Be Working, U.S. Says Cautiously]
--
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Rand Paul and the Civil Rights Act: Was he right?
Rand Paul and the Civil Rights Act: Was he right?
The controversy over Rand Paul's comments about the Civil Rights Act shows a major misunderstanding of freedom and the road to racial equality.
By Sheldon Richman
posted May 26, 2010 at 11:29 am EDT
Little Rock, Arkansas
Fresh from his victory in last week's Kentucky Republican senatorial primary, Rand Paul found himself caught in a whirlwind when MSNBC's Rachel Maddow asked whether the 1964 Civil Rights Act properly outlawed racial segregation at privately owned lunch counters. Speaking circuitously if not evasively, Mr. Paul finally said:
"[O]ne of the things freedom requires is that we allow people to be boorish and uncivilized. But that doesn't mean we approve of it."
So although he supports striking down segregationist state Jim Crow laws, he objected to Title II of the Act, outlawing racial discrimination in "public accommodations." "Had I been around I would have tried to modify that," he said.
However, after a torrent of media and blogospheric criticism, he changed course, telling CNN's Wolf Blitzer, "I would have voted yes…. I think that there was an overriding problem in the South, so big that it did require federal intervention in the sixties."
Which Rand Paul had it right?
The first one. Had he known and related the full story, he could have avoided the metamorphosis.
I write as a libertarian, something Rand Paul claims not to be. The essence of the libertarian philosophy is that each person owns him- or herself and whatever belongings he or she honestly acquires. Thus individuals are due freedom of association and, logically, non-association. It also follows that the owner of property should be free to set the rules of use, the only constraint being that the owner may not use aggressive force against others.
Admittedly, that leaves room for loathsome peaceful behavior, such as running a whites-only lunch counter. Who imagined that freedom of association couldn't have its ugly side?
Nevertheless, individuals are either free to do anything peaceful or they are not. If politicians decide, we have arbitrary government. But government is force, and force is moral only in response to force.
Some champions of Title II acknowledge the opponents' consistency with the libertarian principle but suspect it is motivated by racism. Logically, that is absurd. Even if every racist invoked libertarian grounds for opposing laws mandating desegregation in private establishments, it would not follow that everyone who invokes libertarian grounds is a racist. (Southern racists were hardly libertarians; they supported government-mandated segregation.)
Libertarian opponents of Title II are also accused of being so unmoved by racial bigotry that they are blind to the importance of Title II. But there is no inconsistency in abhorring bigotry and opposing a government-based solution.
A final charge made against Title II opponents – from left and right – is that they are so obsessed with doctrinal purity that they ignore real-world consequences, abominable as those may be. The premise here is, as Maddow put it, "[U]nless it's illegal … there's nothing under your worldview to stop the country from re-segregating…."
Why assume that legislation was the only way to stop segregation and today is the only thing preventing resegregation? We can easily imagine scenarios in which private nonviolent action could pressure bigots into changing their racial policies.
But we don't need to imagine it. We can consult history. Lunch counters throughout the South were integrating years – years! – before the civil rights bill was passed. It happened not out of the goodness of the racists' hearts – they had to be dragged, metaphorically, kicking and screaming. It was the result of an effective nongovernment social movement.
Starting in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960, lunch counters throughout the South began to be desegregated through direct but peaceful confrontation – sit-ins – staged by courageous students and others who refused to accept humiliating second-class citizenship. Four years before the Civil Rights Act passed, lunch counters in downtown Nashville were integrated within four months of the launch of the Nashville Student Movement's sit-in campaign.
Students were beaten and jailed, but they won the day, Gandhi-style, by shaming the bigots with their simple request to be served like anyone else. The sit-ins then sparked sympathy boycotts of department stores nationwide. The campaign wasn't easy, but people seized control of their own lives, shook their communities, and sent shockwaves through the country. State and city governments were far slower to respond.
Why is this inspirational history ignored in the current controversy? I can think of only one reason. So-called progressives at heart are elitists who believe – and want you to believe – that nothing good happens without government.
To acknowledge that young people courageously stood down the bigots long before the patronizing white political elite in Washington scurried to the front of the march would be to confess that government is not the source of all things wonderful. Recall Hillary Clinton's belittling of the grassroots civil rights movement when she ran against Barack Obama: "Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964…. It took a president to get it done."
History says she is wrong. People were realizing the dream directly.
One might reasonably ask if Title II at least did no harm since it only codified what was already happening. The case can be made that it was harmful. The effort to pass the Act diverted the grassroots movement from self-help, mutual aid, and independent community action to lobbying, legislation, and litigation – that is, dependence on the white ruling elite. Direct efforts undertaken by free individuals were demoted to at best a supporting role.
That was a loss for freedom, justice, and independence. Our country is the worse for it.
Sheldon Richman is the editor of The Freeman. He lives near Little Rock, Arkansas.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2010/0526/Rand-Paul-and-the-Civil-Rights-Act-Was-he-right
S Korea holds anti-submarine drill as tensions grow
S Korea holds anti-submarine drill as tensions grow
South Korean vessels drilled with depth charges
The South Korean navy is conducting a major anti-submarine drill, amid renewed tensions with North Korea over the sinking of a southern navy ship in March.
The South Korean news agency, Yonhap, says 10 warships are taking part in the drill. Anti-submarine depth charges and naval guns are being tested.
An international investigation last week found that the South Korean ship, the Cheonan, was sunk by a torpedo from the North, but this has been denied by Pyongyang.
South Korea's one-day submarine exercise, taking place off the west coast town of Taean, follows the sighting of South Korean K1 tanks on Tuesday conducting an exercise to prepare for a possible surprise attack by North Korea.
South Korea's close ally, the United States, has said it intends to hold large-scale military exercises between its troops stationed in South Korea, and the South Korean armed forces. It has not yet announced a date.
Analysts have said none of the states involved wants to escalate military tensions, but South Korea and its allies want to find a way to restrain the North and prevent it from conducting further attacks.
North Korea denies any involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan.
ResponseUS Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has just visited the region, said the international community must respond in the growing crisis over the sinking of a South Korean warship.
She said there was "overwhelming" evidence that North Korea was to blame, and urged Pyongyang to halt its "policy of belligerence".
"This was an unacceptable provocation by North Korea and the international community has a responsibility and a duty to respond," Mrs Clinton said.
She also urged China, a close friend of North Korea, to stand firmly with the international community on the issue.
Analysts have predicted China will refrain from publicly chastising the North but could seek a discreet way to communicate widespread concerns to the North.
China's new ambassador to Britain has said his country's top priority at present is to avoid a violent conflict between North and South Korea, and guarantee stability in the region.
SINKING OF CHEONAN - KEY DATES
Continue reading the main story
- March 26: Explosion hits naval corvette near disputed maritime border, killing 46 on board
- May 20: Independent investigators produce proof North Korean torpedo struck vessel
- May 24: South Korea declares trade with North frozen, demands apology
- May 25: North Korea announces it is severing all ties with South
"I believe that the Chinese understand the seriousness of this issue and are willing to listen to the concerns expressed by both South Korea and the United States," Mrs Clinton said on Wednesday.
"We expect to be working with China as we move forward in fashioning a response."
South Korea has meanwhile announced a package of measures, including a halt to most trade. It is also seeking action via the United Nations Security Council.
North Korea announced late on Tuesday that it was cutting all ties with the South. It has also banned South Korean ships and planes from its territory.
It has said it will close the last road link between North and South if South Korean loudspeaker broadcasts of propaganda across the border resume.
Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun earlier said his country was still evaluating information on the sinking of the Cheonan.
With tensions rising rapidly, the North has reacted angrily to trade and shipping sanctions announced by the South.
The two states are technically still at war after the Korean conflict ended without a peace treaty in 1953.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10169491.stm
The Outsiders: Russia and Turkey in the Greater Europe
The Outsiders: Russia and Turkey in the Greater Europe
By Richard Sakwa, Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent at Canterbury, an Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House
European international relations are now entering a period of flux as the legacy of the cold war wanes, and the 'outsider' countries, notably Russia and Turkey, are rethinking their mutual relations as well as their place in the world. The current stalemate in Russia's relations with the European Union is accompanied by a broader impasse in the global role and status of both Russia and the EU, while Turkey's aspirations to enter the EU remain contested both at home and abroad. In this context new ideas are emerging that offer a way out of the current stagnation. Notable among them are neo-revisionist Russian ideas about a 'greater Europe', shared in part by Turkish thinkers, suggesting a new vision of continent-wide European unity that transcends traditional interpretations of the insider/outsider dialectic. At the institutional level this is accompanied by a revival of 'pan-European' integrative ideas, including a restructuring of European security and the creation of a 'union of Europe' encompassing the EU, Russia, Turkey and others as equal members of a new political community.
Integrative projects in Europe have reached a plateau, and in some aspects there has been a noticeable decline. The 2009 Lisbon Treaty within the European Union (EU) represented a significant watering down of the ambitions vested in drafts of the European constitution that it came to replace. Russia's relations with the EU are characterised by a lukewarm embrace that at times becomes a chilly estrangement. No common language or common purpose has been found in relations between the two. The enlargement agenda is no longer the focus of relations with contiguous countries, and although there will be some continued enlargement, notably in the Balkans, the emphasis has shifted to managing relations with neighbours. The prospects of Turkish membership are receding, while the EU aspirations of Ukraine and other eastern European countries have been placed on indefinite hold.
The outsiders
The notion of 'outsiders' is increasingly used in the literature to describe the uncomfortable position that Russia and Turkey, and to a lesser extent Ukraine, Belarus and other 'in between' countries, find themselves in the broader process of European integration. However, the language of outsiders makes a number of assumptions about the character of the dynamics of European politics that are increasingly questioned, not least by the putative outsiders themselves. Russia and Turkey have become the core of a new category of 'outsiders', but this is no longer simply a group based on exclusion but one which has elements of a voluntary character. The notion of outsiders, assumes that there are insiders. Clearly today membership of the EU is the great prize and the token of becoming a core member of Europe, but a new pattern of alliances and orientations is beginning to emerge. We often think of Europe in terms of concentric rings, but that is precisely the model that is now being challenged. New patterns of the insider/outside dialectic challenge EU-centric representations of political and geopolitical reality in the greater European space.
Deeper patterns of European history are beginning to reassert themselves against the integrationist agendas of the post-cold war era, and even the patterns of European politics as they took shape during the cold war are losing their power. Turkey for example has been a member of NATO since 1952, so in terms of security was clearly an insider in the post-war era, yet today in relative prestige terms, NATO is no longer quite what it was and Turkey is reverting to its classic 'outsider' status. This of course is nothing like the exclusion of earlier eras, and Turkey enjoys strong customs and other relations with the EU and other European institutions.
Russia's status as an outsider is rather less contested. It is a member of neither of the EU or NATO, and does not look likely to join either organisation in the foreseeable future. More than that, its relationship with both is laced with suspicions, threat perceptions and fears. Negotiations to frame the successor to the Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA), which formally expired in December 2007, have advanced with tortuous circumspection, and for long there was no basic agreement on what the new treaty should be called. There are limits to Russia's outsiderness, however, and Russia remains a member of the Council of Europe (CoE), and in civilisational terms, considers itself closer to certain representations of Europe than Turkey. At the same time as Turkey's EU membership negotiations entered the doldrums, even the most optimistic of views of Russo-EU relations spoke of a partnership that would enjoy everything except shared institutions. This would at most entail a visa-free regime (in other words, an extended Schengen zone) and a common economic space reinforced by a free trade zone, but with few expectations that this would lead to the creation of some sort of new political community.
A new marginality?
While the Russians now talk of 'greater Europe', this is taking place precisely at a time when the continent as a whole is becoming a 'lesser Europe'. When the idea of a European constitution was first mooted it was intended to provide a formal framework for European ascendancy. However, the bruising experience followed by the adoption of the rather modest Lisbon Treaty appears now to be a response to relative decline. The Lisbon Treaty, moreover, appears to have done little to remove confusion about leadership in domestic and foreign policy in the EU. Although the EU has a total combined GDP equal to that of the United States ($14.5 trillion), its strategic marginalisation derives not just from a lack of unity but also from the absence of common resolve. Both Russia and the EU begin to suspect that they are on a relative downward slope in terms of global power, and that the continent as a whole is in danger of being marginalised.
Towards a greater Europe
The ambiguities and tensions in the relationship have prompted Russia to try to shift the parameters of the discussion. For most of the post-cold war period the terms of engagement between Russia and Europe were established by Brussels and the west European powers, or so it seemed in Russian perceptions. From the late Putin period there were attempts to shift the terrain of discussion in a way that would equalise the basis for relations. The various concrete proposals that have emerged on this basis are epiphenomena of this ontological shift, and it is for this reason that they appear too often rudimentary and even ill-considered. As far as the elite are considered, the reassertion of Russia's status as an existential equal is as important as any of its concrete manifestations.
New ideas are emerging to reinterpret and broaden the definition of what it means to be European, which at the same time change the relationship between insiders and outsiders. The first of these ideas is the notion of greater Europe. Like many of Russia's neo-revisionist ideas, the notion remains little more than a vague aspiration and an ideal than a developed programme. Yet it does provide some indications of an alternative model of European politics. If the EU's integration project is based on conditionality, Russia's approach to non-accession states repudiates conditionality as a mechanism.
The idea of greater Europe is accompanied by revived ideas of pan-Europe. The failure of the European Defence Community in the early 1950s was countered by the establishment of the supranational European Coal and Steel Community by the Treaty of Paris ion 18 April 1951, and today the debate over a new security treaty for Europe reprises some of the themes of the earlier discussion, but this time on a pan-European scale. The debate also harks back to Gorbachev's idea of a common European home advanced during perestroika, sentiments echoed by François Mitterand. The idea of greater Europe, it must be stressed, is not the same as pan-Europe. Discussion of greater Europe focuses on ideas and the expression of the abstract ideal of European commonality and unity, whereas pan-Europe is more of an institutions based project.
The pan-European dimension is one that is increasingly mooted as a possible framework for both Russia and Turkey. This is a half-way house: providing some sort of institutional framework for ideas of greater Europe; but falling short of a fully-fledged supranational transformative agenda. For Russia this means integration without accession, something that may in the long-run provide a framework also for Turkey's relations with the EU. This was made explicit in Nicolas Sarkozy's European Parliament election speech in Nîmes on 5 May 2009. He spoke against Turkey's accession to the EU, arguing that Turkey 'is not intended to become an EU member', but Ankara should nevertheless be linked to the EU in both economic and security terms. In a significant innovation, he placed Russia and Turkey on an equal footing, noting that both countries should establish 'an economic and security common area' with the EU. A new bloc would thus be created 'of 800 million people who share the same prosperity and security' (Nicholas Sarkozy, 'Discours de M. le Président de la République', Nîmes, 5 May 2009, Elysée.fr.)
This is a visionary idea and offers a prospect not only for integrating Russia and Turkey with Europe, but also a way for Europe to redefine itself. The old European integration model is exhausted, in which Europe sets itself up as a proto-great power bloc that would in that form inevitably come into confrontation with Russia and, possibly, with America and China as well. Instead various configurations of pan-Europe are possible. One of these is the creation of a grand 'Pan-Eurasian Union' in which the EU, Russia, Turkey and other 'outsiders' would join as equal sovereign powers but in which a supranational Eurasian Commission would be created. In the first instance this would be concerned with managing a pan-Eurasian energy system, reconciling the interests of producers and consumers, but in due course 'spillover' into other sectors could be anticipated. A genuine energy partnership could serve as the foundations of an integrative process akin to the role played by the European Coal and Steel Community of the early 1950s.
A grand bargain in the present circumstances is unlikely, since both sides are too firmly embedded in their present stance of 'coexistence'. What is needed is a discussion that recognises the dangers of a competitive dynamic becoming consolidated in Eurasia. Already the development of the Eastern Partnership from May 2009, however benign in intention, provoked renewed fears about the clash of 'near abroads' in the new 'lands in-between'. To overcome this competitive dynamic the grand bargain proposed by Bordachëv needs to be complemented by a grand vision – the establishment of a Eurasian Union. This Union would have a type of Commission, beginning with relatively limited powers but establishing a dynamic of supranationalism. Intergovernmental arrangements are helpful, but the genius of Jean Monnet and the early European founding fathers was the understanding that this was not enough. The accumulation and preservation of sovereignty is an understandable process, but a counter-dynamic is required to ensure that our continent is not once again plunged into war.
Conclusion
Russia's discussion of greater Europe and pan-Europe is an attempt to transcend the competitive logic of a divided Europe, while retaining distinctive spheres of interest. However, Russia's refusal to accept the logic on which western European integration was based, the view that diplomacy between nation-states is not enough and needed to be accompanied by the dismantling of sovereignty in selected areas, means that unresolved tensions remain in its project of a greater Europe. Some common pooling of sovereignty, in energy and some other selected sectors, would represent precisely the first step in a transformational European policy that its neo-revisionist critique of the existing order demands. But new ideas are emerging to reinterpret and broaden the definition of what it means to be European, changing insider/outsider dynamics. The idea of greater Europe provides both Russia and Turkey to escape from the burden of history and marginality, and to create a positive post-enlargement agenda of European inclusion. Schemes to give pan-European aspirations concrete form offer a way of making the greater Europe once again a great Europe.
http://en.rian.ru/valdai_op/20100527/159182522.htmlLebanon deploys army in response to Israel's security drill
Lebanon deploys army in response to Israel's security drill
Sources in Beirut say Lebanese soldiers deployed along southern border while Israel holds Turning Point 4 drill. 'We shall thwart any possible offensive from enemy,' says security source Roee Nahmias Published: 05.26.10, 20:18 / Israel News
| Amid the Israeli security establishment's Home Front Commend drill on Wednesday– Lebanon's army also conducted a military exercise in the south of the country.
A security source in Beirut said that Lebanese soldiers were dispatched across the border with Israel "in order to thwart any possible offensive from the enemy, and close any loopholes that it might use during an attack scenario."
According to Hezbollah-operated al Manar network, the military deployed the 11th infantry brigade along the western sector at the south of the country. Also according to the network, Lebanese antiaircraft forces opened fire at "hostile aircrafts" circling above Har Dov. "If Israel imposes a naval blockade during a future war, all civilian, military and commercial ships that approach its ports will be in danger," said Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah during a speech broadcasted on satellite. |
Nasrallah warned that "whoever tries to reach the shores of Palestine will come under heavy fire by the fighters of the Islamic resistance."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3894713,00.html
Oil climbs above $73 per barrel
(AFP)
LONDON — World oil prices topped 73 dollars on Thursday as the euro rebounded against the dollar and global stock markets bounced higher, traders said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, soared 1.91 dollars to 73.42 dollars a barrel.
London's Brent North Sea crude for July jumped 1.56 dollars to 73.30 dollars.
Global share prices and the euro were higher on Thursday, extending the previous day's large gains, aided by easing concerns over the eurozone debt crisis and Korea, dealers said.
"As outside markets continue to reflect less fear and more optimism, oil influences may conspire to move oil more solidly into the 70-75 dollar range," said analysts at the Sucden Financial Research brokerage in a note.
In morning London trade, the European single currency rose to 1.2265 dollars, up from 1.2181 dollars in late New York trade on Wednesday.
A weaker US unit makes dollar-priced crude cheaper for buyers using stronger currencies, which therefore tends to stimulate oil demand and push prices higher.
Meanwhile, Frankfurt equities were up 2.24 percent, London rose 1.79 percent, Madrid gained 1.44 percent and Paris put on 1.94 percent.
The strong performance mirrored gains earlier in Asia, where Tokyo bounced 1.23 percent and Hong Kong rose 1.22 percent despite losses overnight on Wall Street.
Stock market gains reflected bargain hunting but the upturn was restrained by persistent fears Europe's debt woes and the weak euro could derail the global economic recovery.
"The market is following the situation with the euro. I think the market is continuing to rebound probably based on technicals," said Tony Nunan, an energy risk manager with Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo.
"People are feeling a little bit better since the stock markets are recovering," Nunan told AFP.
Oil had rallied on Wednesday, with sentiment lifted by recovering stock markets and fresh data pointing to a sustained economic recovery in the key US energy market.
A report by the US Department of Energy on Wednesday also showed improving demand in the world's biggest energy consuming nation.
The report showed an unexpected dip in US gasoline (petrol) supplies, dropping 200,000 barrels. Distillate stocks, including diesel and heating oil, fell 300,000 barrels in the week ending May 21.
Ben Westmore, a minerals and energy economist with the National Australia Bank in Melbourne, said the fall in US energy stockpiles, which indicate improving demand, is "positive for the oil price."
US crude inventories, however, rose 2.4 million barrels against market expectations for a much smaller gain of 200,000 barrels.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gjEu8dfF50NtMKocX4sEYeAPoDlg
US troops won't be used to stop illegal immigration
US National Guard troops being sent to the Mexican border will be used to stem the flow of guns and drugs across the frontier and not to enforce US immigration laws, the State Department said Wednesday.
The clarification came after the Mexican government urged Washington not to use the additional troops to go after illegal immigrants.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday authorized the deployment of up to 1,200 additional troops to border areas but State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters, "It's not about immigration."
He said the move was "fully consistent with our efforts to do our part to stem, you know, violence, to interdict the flow of dangerous people and dangerous goods -- drugs, guns, people."
He said the extra troops would be used to free up civilians engaged in support functions so that law enforcement personnel can be increased along the 2,000-mile-long (3,200 kilometer) border.
Nearly 13 million Mexicans live in the United States, more than half of them illegally.
"We have explained the president's announcement to the government of Mexico, and they fully understand the rationale behind it," Crowley said.
Obama's announcement came less than a week after a state visit to Washington by Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who asked for greater US backing for a bloody three-year-old war on drug cartels.
Drug violence has claimed the lives of nearly 23,000 people over the past three years.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.0513d49acfc29bc63d3ee39de8bd3b71.dc1&show_article=1
US money supply plunges at 1930s pace as Obama eyes fresh stimulus
US money supply plunges at 1930s pace as Obama eyes fresh stimulus
The M3 money supply in the United States is contracting at an accelerating rate that now matches the average decline seen from 1929 to 1933, despite near zero interest rates and the biggest fiscal blitz in history.
The M3 figures - which include broad range of bank accounts and are tracked by British and European monetarists for warning signals about the direction of the US economy a year or so in advance - began shrinking last summer. The pace has since quickened.
The stock of money fell from $14.2 trillion to $13.9 trillion in the three months to April, amounting to an annual rate of contraction of 9.6pc. The assets of insitutional money market funds fell at a 37pc rate, the sharpest drop ever.
The M3 figures - which include broad range of bank accounts and are tracked by British and European monetarists for warning signals about the direction of the US economy a year or so in advance - began shrinking last summer. The pace has since quickened.
The stock of money fell from $14.2 trillion to $13.9 trillion in the three months to April, amounting to an annual rate of contraction of 9.6pc. The assets of insitutional money market funds fell at a 37pc rate, the sharpest drop ever.
The Sustainable -- and Young -- Hydrocarbon Energy Age
Obama Promises to Wean Country from Fossil Fuels
"President Barack Obama reaffirmed Wednesday his commitment to containing and cleaning up the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and pledged to wean the country off its dependence on fossil fuels." ( Miami Herald, Thursday)
The promise to "wean" us is either idle political blather or a hint of a coming government takeover of the economy.
"Hydrocarbons -- oil, natural gas, orimulsion, and coal -- are intensive energy carriers. Despite concern that such supplies are running out, official estimates of remaining supply are bullish. On a total energy equivalent basis, 99 percent of total supply is still left after almost 140 years of consumption. With increasing estimates of remaining hydrocarbons, "1% down, 99% to go" may also be the statistic well into the future."
The Sustainable -- and Young -- Hydrocarbon Energy Age
'by Robert L. Bradley Jr.
November 2001 • Volume: 51 • Issue: 11 •
Robert L. Bradley Jr., president of the Institute for Energy Research in Houston, is author of Julian Simon and the Triumph of Energy Sustainability (American Legislative Exchange Council, 2000) and coauthor, with Richard Fulmer, of the forthcoming Energy: The Master Resource.
As the Bush administration confronts the economy's growing need for affordable and reliable energy, the critics of the hydrocarbon-based energy economy are back to the drawing board. The "soft" energy path of subsidies and mandates for conservation and nonhydro renewable energy -- hatched during the 1970s energy crisis and popularized during the eight years of Clinton/Gore -- was not supposed to end in price spikes and shortages in the California laboratory.
Energy demand has rapidly grown even as the economy has become one-third less energy intensive. Nonhydro renewable energies constitute less than 2 percent of the supply mix after a quarter century of private and public effort. And hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles remain decades away from mass penetration at best. Meanwhile, a plethora of technological advances promise to increase the global market share of oil, natural gas, orimulsion, and coal beyond today's 85 percent and extend the hydrocarbon era well beyond the 21st century.
Central economic planning may be intellectually dead, but planning for "energy sustainability" remains an environmentalist mantra. The theme of Earth Day last year, "New Energy for a New Era," set forth the goals to reduce total energy usage, phase out nuclear power, and substitute renewable energy for fossil fuels.
This prescription is at odds with market and political realities.
Electricity generation has grown at twice the rate predicted by the Department of Energy in the last five years because of new uses of electricity in the digital age. Environmentalists, who talk a big game about renewable energy, oppose most renewable capacity on close inspection. They have turned against the kingpin of renewable energy, hydropower, in favor of fish migration and returning rivers to their natural state. Environmentalists have blocked wind and geothermal projects in "sensitive" areas -- where they are commonly located. Solar farms and some biomass projects have been questioned by environmentalists as too land-intensive for the (limited) energy that is produced. Their professed concern about the role of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on global climate fails to square with the fact that carbon-free hydropower and nuclear power, also vehemently opposed, produced 90 times more electricity in the United States last year than wind and solar combined.
Hydrocarbons are an expanding energy resource, not a depleting one as doomsayers have long alleged. The world's proved reserves of crude oil are 21 times greater today than they were when such record-keeping began over a half century ago. Reserves of orimulsion, a recently commercialized tar-like oil, are greater than the global supply of crude oil. World natural-gas reserves are five times greater than they were in the mid-1960s. Coal reserves are four times greater than originally estimated a half-century ago and twice as great as all of the known oil and gas reserves combined on an energy-equivalent basis. Energy economists are still looking for a "depletion signal" nearly two centuries into the hydrocarbon age, increasing interest in the Thomas Gold hypothesis that superabundant hydrocarbons deep in the earth are slowly seeping toward the drill bit. Another explanation is that human ingenuity and financial capital are not depletable but expanding resources, explaining why hydrocarbon supplies are increasing even after consumption increases.
Cheaper Energy
Increasing affordability has resulted from the increasing abundance of hydrocarbons, whether measured in terms of inflation-adjusted prices or work-time pricing (the amount of time it takes the average laborer to purchase a unit of energy). The average laborer today can purchase a tank of gasoline and several days' worth of residential electricity in about two hours of work time. In 1940 the same purchase of 15 gallons of gasoline and 100 kilowatt hours of electricity required most of the workday. To use a more recent example, substantially higher natural-gas prices paid by consumers this year are about the same as the prices consumers paid in the mid-1980s, adjusted for inflation. Gasoline prices are substantially lower than in the same period when adjusted for inflation. Still, consumers have reason to desire and expect lower prices for the record quantities of energy they are now purchasing.
Hydrocarbon energies are rapidly improving in terms of product quality. Risks associated with supply and price can be managed for days, weeks, months, or years on central futures markets and with over-the-counter (company-specific) products. Fuel diversity for its own sake, government oil stockpiles such as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and emerging grants under low-income energy assistance programs are unnecessary in the financial-energy age where certainty can be secured with the click of a button. Commercial and industrial firms can optimize their energy usage by outsourcing their energy function to highly specialized energy service companies. Online "click" trading with hundreds of customized energy products has made the energy market more transparent for the entire supply chain and final users. Mega-retailers are entering the market to allow customers to buy their natural gas and electricity competitively rather than from utility monopolists. These quality improvements have all occurred in the last five, ten, or 15 years.
The increasing sustainability of conventional energy applies equally well to water and air pollution associated with hydrocarbon transportation and combustion. Large oil spills in U.S. waters have become rare because of reforms undertaken in the wake of the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989. Urban air quality in the United States is one-third better today than in 1970 despite an increase in total energy usage of more than 40 percent. Ozone violation days in Los Angeles have dropped by two-thirds since the early 1980s because of technological advancements, not lifestyle changes. The recent-year smog leader, Houston, has reduced its ozone violation days by one-fourth in the same period, and plans are being completed for the region to implement control measures even stricter than southern California's to totally eliminate ozone episode days by 2007. This would be a great achievement given that the rest of the country benefits from the output of Houston-area refiners and petrochemical plants.
New drilling technologies allow precise extraction from remote locations to minimize the disturbance to ecologically sensitive areas. This is a major argument in favor of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska and on other public lands. At the other end of the energy chain, new power plants produce more power with less natural gas, oil, or coal, and emit far fewer pollutants than ever before. The "hydrocarbon footprint" is becoming fainter with the march of time in market economies around the world and particularly in the United States.
Climate Alarmism
The increasing economic and environmental sustainability of hydrocarbon energies has forced hydrocarbon critics to sound a new alarmclimate change from hydrocarbon-based greenhouse gas emissions. Yet there are significant benefits in addition to potential damages from the human influence on climate. Furthermore, societal wealth created from hydrocarbon energy abundance creates the resiliency to cope with weather and climate extremes that occur from any source.
Climate economists are impressed by the ecological and social benefits of a moderately warmer and wetter world, coupled with longer growing seasons and the CO2 fertilization effect on plants and agriculture. Economists also factor in the scientific evidence that weather extremes are not increasing, and the greenhouse warming is favorably distributed as predominantly higher minimum temperatures. A disproportionate amount of the warming is also "dead warming," where higher below-freezing temperatures are occurring. Greenhouse physics, as well as the statistical record, points toward man-made warming occurring in the coldest and driest air masses, predominantly during winter Siberian and Alaskan nights.
The global-warming scare has led two oil majors, BP and Royal Dutch Shell, to trumpet their diversification into renewable energy and solar in particular. Meanwhile, both companies' aggressive hunt for oil around the world and investments in cleaner gasoline are making the petroleum age more sustainable, not less. BP, having dropped its "Beyond Petroleum" moniker, is poised to take the lead in developing ANWR. Shell has offered an alternative scenario where the market share of renewable energies catches up to hydrocarbons and nuclear by mid-century, but reality suggests otherwise. Shell's own highly publicized multiyear global budget for renewable energy$500 millionis a fraction of its budget to develop oil and gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico alone.
There are real energy problems, but most of these problems stem from acts of government, not acts of the market or of God. The electricity shortage that California has experienced has the same cause as gasoline lines during World War II and the 1970sprice controls. California's "deregulation" effort capped retail electricity rates, while letting wholesale power prices move with market demand. Wholesale prices could only rise with rapidly increasing demand from 24-7 uses of information power and changed supply conditions from a bad hydro year. Retail prices could not clearhence the political-allocation problem of rolling blackoutsand utility buyers could not pay wholesale suppliers. Rather than deregulate prices to solve the shortage in a rational manner, California authorities expanded government actions on the supply and demand sides in the quest to impose economic order. Ludwig von Mises's writings on the futility of the "middle way" between free markets and planning apply presciently to California.
Energy policy is becoming more focused on expanding energy reserves and infrastructure to keep up with demand growth. Gone is the assumption that supply would be there, despite a variety of government disincentives, until politically favored energy alternatives could emerge. The hyperbole about a post-hydrocarbon "new energy future" is being exposed as little more than a recipe to return to a bygone era of energy scarcity; note the primary energy role of solar, wood, waste, water, and wind in centuries past, the invention of the fuel cell in 1839, and the dominance of the electric car before Henry Ford's internal combustion engine entered mass production after the turn of the last century.
Good News, Bad News
Hydrocarbon energies are at the center of today's consumer-driven technology revolution. Wealthy societies may be able to afford esoteric energy forays in the government sector, but energy consumers around the world desire their political leaders to lessen the hand of government so that energy will be more plentiful and affordable and their lives improved. The good news is that the needed hydrocarbons are abundant and growing cleaner and more "sustainable" over time. The bad news is that the soft energy mirage of the last two decades succeeded in getting "hard energy" partially off track. With free-market public-policy reform, hydrocarbon energies can overcome artificially imposed constraints and meet rising expectations for an open-ended future.
The threat to "energy sustainability" is not depletion, pollution, global cooling, or global warming. Activist government policies that increase prices and reduce reliability are the real threat for the 1.6 billion people still awaiting modern energy and the other 4.5 billion who are more reliant on energy than ever before. Policymakers should respect energy reality, heed consumer expectations, and let free markets reign with the "master resource."
Source: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2001: Mitigation (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 236.
Hydrocarbons -- oil, natural gas, orimulsion, and coal -- are intensive energy carriers. Despite concern that such supplies are running out, official estimates of remaining supply are bullish. On a total energy equivalent basis, 99 percent of total supply is still left after almost 140 years of consumption. With increasing estimates of remaining hydrocarbons, "1% down, 99% to go" may also be the statistic well into the future.
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/the-sustainable-and-young-hydrocarbon-energy-age/