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Which European country is committed to decommissioning all of its nuclear reactors?

Nuclear Decommissioning: Decommission nuclear facilities - World Nuclear Association Decommissioning Nuclear Facilities (Updated November 2016) To date, about 110 commercial power reactors, 46 experimental or prototype reactors, over 250 research reactors and a number of fuel cycle facilities have been retired from operation. Some of these have been fully dismantled. Most parts of a nuclear power plant do not become radioactive, or are contaminated at only very low levels. Most of the metal can be recycled. Proven techniques and equipment are available to dismantle nuclear facilities safely and these have now been well demonstrated in several parts of the world. Decommissioning costs for nuclear power plants, including disposal of associated wastes, are reducing and contribute only a small fraction of the total cost of electricity generation. All power plants, coal, gas and nuclear, have a finite life beyond which it is not economically feasible to operate them. Generally speaking, early nuclear plants were designed for a life of about 30 years, though with refurbishment, some have proved capable of continuing well beyond this. Newer plants are designed for a 40 to 60 year operating life. At the end of the life of any power plant, it needs to be decommissioned, cleaned up and demolished so that the site is made available for other uses. For nuclear plants, the term decommissioning includes all clean-up of radioactivity and progressive dismantling of the plant. This may start with the owner's decision to write it off or declare that it is permanently removed from operation. For practical purposes it includes defueling and removal of coolant, though NRC at least defines it as strictly beginning only after fuel and coolant are removed. It concludes with licence termination after decontamination is verified and wastes removed. A Table showing about 150 shutdown reactors is at the end of this paper. About 17 of these have had the full decommissioning process completed as of 2016. Decommissioning Options The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has defined three options for decommissioning, the definitions of which have been internationally adopted: Immediate Dismantling (or Early Site Release/'Decon' in the US): This option allows for the facility to be removed from regulatory control relatively soon after shutdown or termination of regulated activities. Final dismantling or decontamination activities can begin within a few months or years, depending on the facility. Following removal from regulatory control, the site is then available for re-use. Safe Enclosure ('Safstor') or deferred dismantling: This option postpones the final removal of controls for a longer period, usually in the order of 40 to 60 years. The facility is placed into a safe storage configuration until the eventual dismantling and decontamination activities occur after resudual radioactivity has decayed. There is a risk in this case of regulatory change which could increase costs unpredictably. Entombment (or 'Entomb'): This option entails placing the facility into a condition that will allow the remaining on-site radioactive material to remain on-site without ever removing it totally. This option usually involves reducing the size of the area where the radioactive material is located and then encasing the facility in a long-lived structure such as concrete, that will last for a period of time to ensure the remaining radioactivity is no longer of concern. Each approach has its benefits and disadvantages. National policy determines which approach or combination of approaches is adopted or allowed. In the case of immediate dismantling (or early site release), responsibility for completion of decommissioning is not transferred to future generations. The experience and skills of operating staff can also be utilised during the decommissioning program. Alternatively, Safe Enclosure (or Safstor) allows significant reduction in residual radioactivity, thus reducing radiation hazard during the eventual dismantling. The expected improvements in mechanical techniques should also lead to a reduction in the hazard and also costs. In the case of nuclear reactors, about 99% of the radioactivity is associated with the fuel which is removed following permanent shutdown. Apart from some surface contamination of plant, the remaining radioactivity comes from "activation products" in steel which has long been exposed to neutron irradiation, notably the reactor pressure vessel. Stable atoms are changed into different isotopes such as iron-55, iron-59 and zinc-65. Several are highly radioactive, emitting gamma rays. However, their half life is such (2.7 years, 45 days, 5.3 years, 245 days respectively) after 50 years from closedown their radioactivity is much diminished and the occupational risk to workers largely gone. Decommissioning Experience Considerable experience has been gained in decommissioning various types of nuclear facilities. About 90 commercial power reactors, 45 experimental or prototype power reactors, as well as over 250 research reactors and a number of fuel cycle facilities, have been retired from operation. Of the 140+ power reactors including experimental and prototype units, at least 15 have been fully dismantled, over 50 are being dismantled, over 50 are in Safstor, three have been entombed, and for others the decommissioning strategy is not yet specified. (Ships and numerous submarines have also been decommissioned but are not included in this paper.) European reactors To decommission its retired gas-cooled reactors at the Chinon, Bugey and St Laurent nuclear power stations, Electricité de France (EdF) chose partial dismantling and postponed final dismantling and demolition for 50 years. As other reactors will continue to operate at those sites, monitoring and surveillance do not add to the cost. A recycling plant for steel from dismantled nuclear facilities is at Marcoule, in France. This metal will contain some activation products, but it can be recycled for other nuclear plants. Decommissioning has begun at 29 UK reactors, 25 of them early Magnox types with graphite moderators.* One of the first was Berkeley nuclear power station (2 x 138 MWe), closed for economic reasons in 1989 after 27 years of operation, where defuelling was completed in 1992. The cooling ponds were then drained, cleaned and filled in and the turbine hall was dismantled and demolished. The reactor buildings are in an extended Safstor period. Ultimately they too will be dismantled, leaving the site to be leveled and landscaped. The same pattern is being followed at other UK reactor sites. * Costs for decommissioning gas-cooled reactors are much higher per unit of capacity than for light water reactors – at least five times for Magnox. This is due to the large volume of material and the need to dispose of a lot of graphite moderator. Decommissioning waste volumes per unit capacity for Magnox are ten times those for western light water reactors. See also following subsection on Graphite. Spain's Vandellos 1, a 480 MWe gas-graphite reactor, was closed down in 1990 after 18 years operation, due to a turbine fire which made the plant uneconomic to repair. In 2003 ENRESA concluded phase 2 of the reactor decommissioning and dismantling project, which allowed much of the site to be released. After 30 years Safestor, when activity levels have diminished by 95%, the remainder of the plant will be removed. The cost of the 63-month project was €93 million. Eleven of Germany’s 19 decommissioned units are subject to immediate dismantling. (It is not yet clear if and when the eight units shut down in March 2011 for political reasons will be decommissioned. The four operators have €30 billion set aside for decommissioning and waste disposal.) Germany chose immediate dismantling over safe enclosure for the closed Greifswald nuclear power station in the former East Germany, where five reactors had been operating. Similarly, the site of the 100 MWe Niederaichbach nuclear power plant in Bavaria was declared fit for unrestricted agricultural use in mid-1995. The 15 MWe Kahl experimental BWR was shut down in 1985, after 25 years operation. After decontamination, the plant was completely dismantled and the site was cleared for unrestricted use. The 250 MWe Gundremmingen A unit was Germany's first commercial nuclear reactor, operating 1966-77. Decommissioning work started in 1983, and moved to the more contaminated parts in 1990, using underwater cutting techniques. This project demonstrated that decommissioning could be undertaken safely and economically without long delays, and recycling most of the metal. Japan's Tokai 1 reactor, a 160 MWe UK Magnox design, is being decommissioned after 32 years service to 1998. After 10 years storage, in Phase 2 (to 2011) the steam generators and turbines were removed, and in Phase 3 (to 2018) the reactor will be dismantled, the buildings demolished and the site left ready for re-use. The total cost will be JPY 93 billion (USD 1.04 billion) – 35 billion for dismantling and 58 billion for waste treatment which will include the graphite moderator (which escalates the cost significantly, see subsection below). US reactors Experience in the USA has varied, but 13 power reactors are using the Safestor approach, while 16 – mostly single-unit plants – are using, or have used, Decon. Procedures are set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and considerable experience has now been gained. A total of 32 power reactors have been closed and decommissioned. NRC requires that the operating license of a closed reactor be terminated and decommissioning activities be completed within 60 years. Site release often excludes the on-site used fuel storage in an ISFSI (independent spent fuel storage installation), which usually remains, to await the Department of Energy taking away the used fuel (over which it has title) to a national repository sometime in the future. Rancho Seco (single 913 MWe, PWR) was closed in 1989, and in 1995 NRC approved a Safestor plan for it. However, the utility subsequently decided upon incremental dismantling and this was completed in 2009, leaving about 3 ha still under NRC licence for waste storage. About 32 ha has been released for unrestricted use. At multi-unit nuclear power stations, the choice has been to place the first closed unit into storage until the others end their operating lives, so that all can be decommissioned in sequence. This will optimise the use of staff and the specialised equipment required for cutting and remote operations, and achieve cost benefits. Thus, after 14 years of comprehensive clean-up activities, including the removal of fuel, debris and water from the 1979 accident, Three Mile Island 2 was placed in Post-Defuelling Monitored Storage (Safstor) until the operating licence of Unit 1expires, so that both units can be dismantled together. San Onofre 1, which closed in 1992, was put into Safestor until licences for units 2&3 expired in 2022-23. However, after NRC changes, dismantling was brought forward to 1999, so it became an active Decon project which was largely completed in 2008. A small amount of work remains to be completed with eventual dismantling of units 2&3 on the site, which were shut down in May 2013. In April 2016 the California Public Utilities Commission approved $4.41 billion in decommissioning costs for them, from funds held in trust. Southern California Edison said that funds were then $3.37 billion. Used fuel will be removed from 2024, and decommissioning is expected to be complete in 2050. A US Decon project was the 60 MWe Shippingport reactor, which operated commercially from 1957 to 1982. It was used to demonstrate the safe and cost-effective dismantling of a commercial scale nuclear power plant and the early release of the site. Defuelling was completed in two years, and five years later the site was released for use without any restrictions. Because of its size, the pressure vessel could be removed and disposed of intact. For larger units, such components have to be cut up. Immediate Decon also the option chosen for Fort St Vrain, a 330 MWe high temperature gas-cooled reactor which was closed in 1989. This took place on a fixed-price contract for US$ 195 million (hence costing less than 1 cent/kWh despite only a 16-year operating life) and the project proceeded on schedule to clear the site and relinquish its licence early in 1997 - the first US power reactor of this size to achieve this. Shoreham BWR, on Long Island, generated very little power and never received a full operating licence, so the level of activation products was minimal. It was shut down in 1989 and became a Decon project, completed in 1994. The 59 MWe Pathfinder prototype BWR in South Dakota, shut down in 1967 after a very short life was also a Decon project, completed in 1992. Haddam Neck 560 MWe PWR in Connecticut, closed in 1996 after 29 years operation, was a further Decon project, completed in 2007. This was very high cost (over $800 million) due to difficulty in cutting up the internal components and then having to store them onsite. For Trojan (1180 MWe, PWR) in Oregon the dismantling was undertaken by the utility itself. The plant closed in 1993, steam generators were removed, transported and disposed of at Hanford in 1995, and the reactor vessel (with internals) was removed and transported to Hanford in 1999. Except for the used fuel storage, the site was released for unrestricted use in 2005. The cooling tower was demolished in 2006. This was a relatively low-cost operation – about $300 million. Another US Decon project was Maine Yankee, a 860 MWe PWR plant which closed down in 1996 after 24 years operation. The containment structure was finally demolished in 2004 and except for 5 ha with the dry store for used fuel, the site was released for unrestricted public use in 2005, on budget (about $500 million) and on schedule. Connecticut Yankee (590 MWe PWR) also shut down in 1996 after 28 years operation. Decommissioning work began in 1998 and demolition was concluded in 2006. The site was released for unrestricted public use in 2007, apart from 2 ha for dry cask used fuel storage. Residual contamination on the land is below NRC's limit of 0.25 millisievert per year for maximum radiation dose. In 2006 the site of 72 MWe Big Rock Point nuclear power plant in Michigan, shut down in 1997 after 35 years operation, was largely returned to greenfield status. In January 2007 most of the land was released for derestricted public use, though 43 hectares still has the dry cask storage facility where used fuel is stored pending transfer to the national repository. With Exelon's Zion 1&2 reactors (2 x 1098 MWe) closed down in 1998 and initially in Safstor, a slightly different process is envisaged, considerably accelerating the decommissioning. Exelon has contracted with a specialist company – EnergySolutions – to dismantle the plant, ship the waste to its disposal site in Utah, and return the site to greenfield status. To achieve this, in 2010 the plant's licence and decommissioning funds were transferred to EnergySolutions, which is then the owner and licensee, and the site will be returned to Exelon about 2020. Used fuel remains on site until taken to the national repository, and in less than 12 months to January 2015 EnergySolutions had transferred it all to 61 Magnastor dry casks on site. Duke’s Crystal River 3 is expected to cost $1.18 billion (2013 dollars) to decommission via Safstor over 60 years, during which time the funds reserved for the purpose will accrue interest, thereby fully covering the cost, despite the fact that is was closed after only 35 years of operation. Decon would cost only $994 million, but this would be over only a few years, so the decommissioning fund would have less time to grow sufficiently to cover it. A $195 million impact on Florida ratepayers would result. Safstor will begin in July 2015 after used fuel is removed, and will end with removal of the unit’s remaining components about 2070 and site restoration in 2074. To August 2019 the spent fuel will remain in pools and from then to 2036 it will be held in a planned dry cask storage facility onsite. The spent fuel will then be moved to a federal facility. In summary, US plants with Decon completed are: Big Rock Point, Elk River, Fort St Vrain, Haddam Neck, Maine Yankee, Pathfinder, Rancho Seco, San Onofre 1, Saxton, Shippingport, Shoreham, Trojan and Yankee Rowe. (Also Santa Susana Sodium Reactor Experimental which is not included in Tables.) Decon is in progress at Fermi 1, Humboldt Bay 3, LaCrosse, Zion 1&2. US plants in Safstor include Crystal River 3, Dresden 1, Fermi 1, Indian Point 1, LaCrosse, Kewaunee, Millstone 1, Peach Bottom 1, and Zion 1&2, as well as NS Savannah. Three Mile Island 2 is in post-defueling monitored storage. San Onofre 2&3 and later Vermont Yankee will also enter Safstor when defuelled. The only US plants subject to the Entomb option are small experimental ones: Bonus BWR in Puerto Rico, Piqua organic-moderated reactor in Ohio, Hallam graphite-moderated sodium-cooled reactor in Nebraska, and in 2015, EBR-2. No NRC-licensed plant has used this option. In addition to the above is the first floating nuclear power plant, installed in a former liberty ship, and utilised at Panama 1967-76. The Sturgis had a 45 MWt/ 10 MWe (net) PWR which provided power to the Canal Zone. After it was defuelled in 1977, some 89 m3 of solid radioactive waste and 363 m3 of liquid waste was removed and the vessel placed in safstor at Fort Belvoir, Virginia until 2027. In 2014 CB&I was awarded a contract from the US Army to decommission and dismantle the MH-1A PWR reactor. Further information on decommissioning in USA is available from the Nuclear Energy Institute , and from NRC . Russian reactors Rostechnadzor oversees a major program of decommissioning old fuel cycle facilities, financed under the Federal target program on Nuclear and Radiation Safety. Six civil reactors are being decommissioned: three early LWGRs, the Melekess VK-50 prototype BWR, and two larger prototype VVER-440 units at Novovoronezh. Most were shut down 1981-90, the fuel removed, and they now await dismantling, which is staring to progress at Novovronezh. Graphite A number of first-generation reactors had graphite blocks as moderator. This is high-quality reactor-grade material produced at about 3000°C which accumulates some radionuclide contamination while in service, particularly carbon-14 at levels which often means that it must be classified as intermediate-level waste. While it oxidizes slightly under neutron bombardment and also at high temperatures (to CO), it does not burn, but sublimes at 3652°C. There is no risk of oxidation under Safstor conditions. A 2006 report commissioned by EPRI states: "The graphite moderators of retired gas-cooled nuclear reactors present a difficult challenge during demolition activities. As a result, utilities have not dismantled any moderators of CO2 cooled power reactors to date." However, it concludes that adequate information exists to enable the safe dismantling and processing of graphite moderators, and that the three main options for disposal of this graphite are oxidation to the gas phase and release as carbon dioxide (difficult), direct burial, or recycling into new products for the nuclear industry. In each case, opportunities exist for pre-processing to concentrate or remove radionuclides to enhance the safety of the chosen option. The radionuclide inventory of irradiated graphite is unusual in comparison with other nuclear wastes. Cobalt-60 and tritium are the principal isotopes of short-term importance, carbon-14 and chlorine-36 are dominant in the longer term. Fast neutron reactors Several sodium-cooled fast reactors have been decommissioned, but only a few have been dismantled. Germany’s KNK-2 at Karlsruhe was shut down in 1991 after 14 years' operation, with fuel removal and initial dismantling in 1993. High levels of activation products meant that much work was remote, and residual sodium meant that some cutting was done in a nitrogen atmosphere. Total cost is estimated as €364 million, with completion expected in 2020. Other facilities The French Atomic Energy Commission is decommissioning the UP1 reprocessing plant at Marcoule. This plant started up in 1958 and treated 18,600 tonnes of metal fuels from gas-cooled reactors (both defence and civil) to 1997. Progressive decontamination and dismantling of the plant and waste treatment will span 40 years and cost some EUR 5.6 billion, nearly half of this for treatment of the wastes stored on the site. Areva is decommissioning the Eurodif enrichment plant at Marcoule since 2012. This involved over 2012-15 the decontamination with ClF3 gas to remove the residual uranium left inside, and extract it as UF6, then recovery of all produced chloride and fluoride gas before the opening of equipments and circuits. Then over 2016-25 the plant is being dismantled. The US Department of Energy in August 2010 awarded a $2.1 billion contract to a joint venture between Fluor Corp and Babcock and Wilcox (B&W, now BWXT) for decontamination and decommissioning of the huge (1500 ha) Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (GDP) uranium enrichment site in Ohio, from March 2011. In March 2016 the contract was extended by 30 months. The US Department of Energy contractors in 2016 finished demolishing the Oak Ridge diffusion enrichment plant in Tennessee, which operated from the early 1940s to 1985, making 120 ha available for other uses. Many nuclear submarines have been decommissioned over the last decade. In USA, after defuelling, the reactor compartments are cut out of the vessels and are transported inland to Hanford, where they are buried as low-level waste. Russia has decommissioned three nuclear powered icebreakers: Lenin, Sibir and Arktika. Cost and Finance In most countries the operator or owner is responsible for the decommissioning costs. The total cost of decommissioning is dependent on the sequence and timing of the various stages of the program. Deferment of a stage tends to reduce its cost, due to decreasing radioactivity, but this may be offset by increased storage and surveillance costs. Even allowing for uncertainties in cost estimates and applicable discount rates, decommissioning contributes a small fraction of total electricity generation costs. In USA many utilities have revised their cost projections downwards in the light of experience. Financing methods vary from country to country. Among the most common are: Prepayment, where money is deposited in a separate account to cover decommissioning costs even before the plant begins operation. This may be done in a number of ways but the funds cannot be withdrawn other than for decommissioning purposes. External sinking fund (Nuclear Power Levy): This is built up over the years from a percentage of the electricity rates charged to consumers. Proceeds are placed in a trust fund outside the utility's control. This is the main US system, where sufficient funds are set aside during the reactor's operatinig lifetime to cover the cost of decommissioning. Surety fund, letter of credit, or insurance purchased by the utility to guarantee that decommissioning costs will be covered even if the utility defaults. In USA, utilities are collecting 0.1 to 0.2 cents/kWh to fund decommissioning. They must then report regularly to the NRC on the status of their decommissioning funds. About two thirds of the total estimated cost of decommissioning all US nuclear power reactors has already been collected, leaving a liability of about $9 billion to be covered over the remaining operating lives of 100 reactors (on basis of average $320 million per unit). An OECD survey published in 2003 reported US dollar (2001) costs by reactor type. For western PWRs, most were $200-500/kWe, for VVERs costs were around $330/kWe, for BWRs $300-550/kWe, for CANDU $270-430/kWe. For gas-cooled reactors the costs were much higher due to the greater amount of radioactive materials involved, reaching $2600/kWe for some UK Magnox reactors. This last figure remains to be tested in experience. Constraints on recycling Recycling materials from decommissioned nuclear facilities is constrained by the level of radioactivity in them. This is also true for materials from elsewhere, such as gas plants, but the levels specified can be very different. For example, scrap steel from gas plants may be recycled if it has less than 500,000 Bq/kg (0.5 MBq/kg) radioactivity (the exemption level). This level however is one thousand times higher than the clearance level for recycled material (both steel and concrete) from the nuclear industry, where anything above 500 Bq/kg may not be cleared from regulatory control for recycling. There is increasing concerned about double standards developing in Europe which allow 30 times the dose rate from non-nuclear recycled materials than from those out of the nuclear industry. Norway and Holland are the only countries with consistent standards. Elsewhere, 0.3 to 1.0 mSv/yr individual dose constraint is applied to oil and gas recyclables, and 0.01 mSv/yr for release of materials with the same kind of radiation from the nuclear industry. The double standard means that the same radionuclide, at the same concentration, can either be sent to deep disposal or released for use in building materials, depending on where it comes from. The 0.3 mSv/yr dose limit is still only one tenth of most natural background levels, and two orders of magnitude lower than those experienced naturally by many people, who suffer no apparent ill effects. The main radionuclide in scrap from the oil and gas industry is radium-226, with a half-life of 1600 years as it decays to radon. Those in nuclear industry scrap are cobalt-60 and caesium-137, with much shorter half-lives. Application of a 0.3 mSv/yr dose limit results in a clearance level for Ra-226 of 500 Bq/kg, compared with 10 Bq/kg for nuclear material. In 2011, 16 decommissioned steam generators from Bruce Power in Canada were to be shipped to Sweden for recycling. Although the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) approved Bruce Power’s plans in 2011 and confirmed steam generator processing is an excellent example of responsible and safe nuclear waste management practices, this caused public controversy at the time, and following the Fukushima nuclear accident plans for this shipment were shelved. These steam generators were each 12m long and 2.5m diameter, with mass 100 t, and contained some 4g of radionuclides with about 340 GBq of activity. Exposure was 0.08 mSv/hr at one metre. They were classified as low-level waste (LLW). Studsvik in Sweden would recycle much of the metal and return about 10% of the overall volume as LLW for disposal in Ontario. The balance would be under 100 Bq/kg, which appeared to be the clearance level. In 2012 five steam generators from UK plants were shipped to Studsvik in Sweden for recycling. Studsvik has also set up a plant in the UK, at Lillyhall in Cumbria, to recycle materials from nuclear facilities, and this became fully operational in 2013 after processing 2000 t of metal from numerous sites and recycling 96% of it. The balance went to a LLW repository. International Cooperation The IAEA, the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency and the Commission of the European Communities are among a number of organisations through which experience and knowledge about decommissioning is shared among technical communities in various countries. In 1985, the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency launched an International Co-operative Program for the Exchange of Scientific and Technical Information Concerning Nuclear Installation Decommissioning Projects. This international collaboration, covering 15 reactors and six fuel-cycle facilities, has produced a great deal of technical and financial information. In 2013, following the Fukushima accident, an International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning ( IRID ) was established, based in Japan. As well as bringing together knowledge and experience from wrecked reactors, IRID will build up the knowledge base for routine decommissioning. In January 2015 the IAEA launched an International Project on Decommissioning and Remediation of Damaged Nuclear Facilities, the DAROD project, to help increase nuclear safety under the agency’s Nuclear Safety Action Plan that was unanimously adopted by IAEA member states following the 2011 Fukushima accident. The project will run for three years, and involves 35 international experts from 19 IAEA member states. The important areas where experience is being gained and shared are the assessment of the radioactive inventories, decontamination methods, cutting techniques, remote operation, radioactive waste management and health and safety. The aims are to minimise the radiological hazards to workers and to optimise the dismantling sequence and timing to reduce the total decommissioning cost. Reasons for shutdown Most decommissioned reactors were shut down because there was no longer any economic justification for running them. Practically all are relatively early-model designs, and about 45 are experimental or prototype power reactors. Three categories are listed here: Experimental, early commercial types and commercial unit whose continued operation was no longer justified, usually for economic reasons. Most of these started up before 1980 and their short life is not surprising for the first couple of decades of a major new technology. At least 41 of this 113 (* asterisked) ran relatively full-term, for a design life of 25-35 years or so (design lives today are 40-60 years). Total 113. Units which closed following an accident or serious incident (not necessarily to the reactor itself) which meant that repair was not economically justified. Total 11. Units which were closed prematurely by political decision or due to regulatory impediment without clear or significant economic or technical justification. Total 25, 17 of these being early Soviet designs. In fact the distinctions are not always sharp, e.g. Chernobyl 2 was closed in 1991 after a turbine fire when it would have been politically impossible to repair and restart it, Rheinsberg was closed in 1990 though it was nearly at the end of its design life – both these are in the 'political decision' category. Note that the eight German reactors shut down in 2011 are not yet listed here. Reactors closed following damage in an accident or serious incident (11) Country

Sweden

Which Canadian city gave its name to the 1987world agreement on protection of the ozone layer?

BBC NEWS | Europe | Nuclear Europe: Country guide Printable version Nuclear Europe: Country guide There are 165 nuclear reactors producing power in Europe (excluding Russia), with six under construction and others planned. There is a wide divergence of approaches to nuclear power. Some countries, like Germany and Spain, are committed to phasing out nuclear power; others, like the UK and Italy, have recently committed themselves to building new power plants; while some, including Ukraine and Finland, already are. FRANCE Reactors decommissioned/out of use 11 New reactors planned/under construction 1 Electricity generated (net billion kiloWatt hours (kWh)) 419 Proportion of electricity from nuclear power 77% France has been Europe's most enthusiastic devotee of nuclear power, constructing dozens of reactors since the 1970s oil crises spurred on its desire for energy independence. It has become the world's biggest net exporter of electricity, and is also a major exporter of nuclear technology. France began a public debate in 2003 on future energy policy, in response to a "strong demand from the French people". Two years later, the state power company EDF approved plans for the construction of a new European Pressurised Reactor (EPR), or improved third-generation plant, at Flamanville in Normandy. The project, which is intended as a prototype for up to 40 others of similar design, is expected to be completed in late 2012. In 2006, the government also announced the start of the design process for a prototype fourth-generation, sodium-cooled fast reactor, with the aim of having the technology ready for industrial deployment and export after 2035-40. Reactors decommissioned/out of use 23 Electricity generated (net billion kWh) 57 Proportion of electricity from nuclear power 13% The UK was the first country to use nuclear energy to generate power for large-scale civilian use, opening its first plant in 1956. The last new reactor was opened in 1995, and the country has been steadily decommissioning its old plants, with many set to close by 2023. In 2008, the government gave the go-ahead for a new generation of nuclear power stations. It said it would identify what it believed were the best sites for new reactors, streamline the planning process, and set up a new independent body to monitor clean-up costs. Ministers hope that the first new reactors could be operational by 2020, but there could yet be new legal challenges. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has suggested that the replacement nuclear power stations could be built on new sites, not just those with existing plants. Reactors decommissioned/out of use 19 Electricity generated (net billion kWh) 133 Proportion of electricity from nuclear power 23% Germany, like the UK, has plans to close several plants in the coming years. All the reactors built in East Germany prior to reunification have been closed for safety reasons. Under former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, whose coalition included the Green Party, the government decided in 2001 to phase out nuclear power by 2020, and to close all reactors when they reached an average of 32 years old. The construction of new nuclear power plants was also forbidden. The current "grand coalition" of Chancellor of Angela Merkel has so far ruled out a change of policy. Reactors decommissioned/out of use 3 Electricity generated (net billion kWh) 64 Proportion of electricity from nuclear power 47% While a large proportion of Sweden's electricity is generated by hydro-electric power, Sweden decided in the 1960s and 70s to increase nuclear capacity to reduce dependence on oil. In 1980, Swedes voted in a referendum to phase out nuclear power amid heightened fears over safety. Since then, however, only two of 12 reactors have been closed. Twenty-nine years later, the government announced that it planned to lift the ban on building new reactors and replace the 10 still in operation. The plan, which will not receive state funding, still needs to be approved by parliament. Public support has grown amid concerns over climate change and the reliability of foreign energy. New reactors planned/under construction 2 Reactors decommissioned/out of use 4 Electricity generated (net billion kWh) 92 Proportion of electricity from nuclear power 47% Ukraine's Chernobyl plant was the site of the largest nuclear accident in history in 1986, when an explosion blew the top off the site's number four reactor and sent a radioactive cloud across much of Europe. The country has remained committed to nuclear power, and is building two more reactors and planning as many as 11 more by 2030 as it seeks to reduce its dependence on energy from Russia, particularly in light of the disputes over gas in 2006 and 2009. The strategy also envisages completing the construction by 2017 of two reactors at Khmelnitski, work on which has been halted since 1990. New reactors planned/under construction 4 Reactors decommissioned/out of use 4 Proportion of electricity from nuclear power 0% Italy was an early pioneer of nuclear technology, and built four reactors, but these were all shut down by 1990 in accordance with a referendum held after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. Italy has since become the world's largest net importer of electricity, with more than 10% of its electricity coming from foreign-produced nuclear power. But in 2009, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed a co-operation agreement which will see their countries work together to revive nuclear power in Italy. The Italian power company, ENEL, and its French counterpart, EDF, at the same time agreed to study the feasibility of building four, third-generation European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) in Italy. The Italian government says it needs a total of eight to 10 EPRs, the first of which is expects to be operational by 2020. Reactors decommissioned/out of use 1 New reactors planned/under construction 1 Electricity generated (net billion kWh) 9 Proportion of electricity from nuclear power 64% Lithuania is second only to France in its dependence on nuclear power for its electricity. The government pledged to close its Ignalina plant - based on the same design as Chernobyl - by 2009 as part of its negotiations to join the European Union. But in 2008, Lithuania's parliament voted to hold a referendum on whether to extend its life. In a bid to find a replacement, Lithuania invited Latvia, Estonia and Poland to build a new nuclear plant at Ignalina. The first reactor is expected come on line by 2018. Reactors decommissioned/out of use 4 New reactors planned/under construction 1 Electricity generated (net billion kWh) 14 Proportion of electricity from nuclear power 32% Concerns over safety standards led Bulgaria to reluctantly close four of the six reactors at its Kozloduy plant before it joined the European Union at the start of 2007. Bulgaria's government is committed to pressing ahead with the construction of two new reactors at Belene on the Danube, which are due to come on line in 2014. It has said it might consider recommissioning some of the closed Kozloduy reactors if energy shortages became too acute in the meantime - a strategy firmly opposed by the EU. New reactors planned/under construction 1 Electricity generated (net billion kWh) 22 Proportion of electricity from nuclear power 29% In 2002, Finland's parliament voted to approve building a fifth nuclear power plant on economic, energy security and environmental grounds. The energy firm TVO won the bid to build the reactor at its existing facility in Olkiluoto, where it operates two others. The reactor was due to be commissioned in 2009, but the project has been delayed until mid-2012. Plans for a sixth reactor were submitted to the government for approval in 2009. Finland's decision to expand nuclear power defied the general European trend of the past decade. Reactors decommissioned/out of use 1 Electricity generated (net billion kWh) 46 Proportion of electricity from nuclear power 54% In 2003, Belgium's parliament voted to phase out the country's nuclear power plants between 2015 and 2025. The law also prohibits the building of new nuclear power plants and limits the operational period of the existing plants to 40 years. If the law is implemented by the current government, Belgium's largest energy generator, Electrabel, will have to take initial steps regarding the shutdowns in 2009 or 2010. Belgium has seven nuclear reactors, four at the Doel power plant near Antwerp and three in the eastern town of Tihange. Electricity generated (net billion kWh) 26 Proportion of electricity from nuclear power 39% In 1990, a 10-year moratorium on the construction of new nuclear plants in Switzerland was imposed after a national referendum. But 13 years later, voters firmly rejected proposals to phase out nuclear energy altogether or extend the moratorium. The Swiss government subsequently announced in 2007 that the existing five nuclear reactors would be replaced with new units. SLOVENIA Electricity generated (net billion kWh) 5 Proportion of electricity from nuclear power 42% Slovenia jointly owns the Krsko nuclear power plant with Croatia, which came on line in 1981 when the neighbours were still part of the former Yugoslavia. It generates about 15% of Croatia's total power supply. The construction of another reactor at Krsko by 2017 is currently under consideration. Croatia is also said to be looking at the feasibility of building a new plant near its border with Serbia. Sources: International Atomic Energy Agency, World Nuclear Association, International Nuclear Safety Center, European Nuclear Society Bookmark with:

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The dodo was a native bird of which island?

The Dodo Bird | History, Story and Resources for Dodobirds The Story of the Dodo Bird A Reference Site for The Dodo Bird and it's History The Dodo bird or Raphus Cucullatus was a flightless bird native to the island of Mauritius, near the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The closest relatives to the dodo bird are pigeons and doves, even though dodo birds were much larger in size. On average, dodo birds stood 3 feet tall and weighted about 40 lb. Unfortunately, due to aggressive human population, dodo birds became extinct in late 17th century. The Dodo Bird Location Dodo Birds, while now extinct, were found only on the small island of Mauritius, some 500 miles east of Madagascar, and 1200 miles east of Africa. The complete isolation of this island let the Dodo Birds grow and evolve without natural predators, unfortunately to a fault that led to their extinction.

Mauritius

What is the name given to the study of earthquakes?

Dodo bird a resilient island survivor before the arrival of humans, study reveals | Smithsonian Insider Dodo bird a resilient island survivor before the arrival of humans, study reveals / 1 comment The dodo (Raphus cucullatus), an extinct flightless relative of the pigeon has today come to symbolize the stupid, clumsy or obsolete. A new study on the dodo’s island home of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, however, paints a much different picture of this unusual bird as an intrepid survivor on par with the giant tortoise for its resiliency. The dodo’s large size and inability to fly were adaptations that allowed this bird to survive some of the most hostile conditions and climactic events imaginable. Only in the 1600s did a force more deadly than extreme drought and volcanic eruptions lead to its extinction: humans. Painting of a dodo head by Cornelis Saftleven. Done in 1638,  this painting may be one of the last illustrations made of a live dodo. (Image from Boijmans Museum, Rotterdam) In a recent paper in the journal “The Holocene” a team of scientists detail the extreme conditions that caused the death of some 500,000 animals on Mauritius during the mid-Holocene at around 4000 years ago. The evidence is a thick bed of fossil bones on Mauritius that spans an area of about 5 acres—the site of a former freshwater lake bed. The fossil layer is dominated by the remains of thousands of dodos and giant tortoises, as well as many small reptiles and flying birds. Dodo bone in a matrix of mud, seed and other fossils excavated in a dry lake bed on the Island of Mauritius. (Image copyright Kenneth Rijsdijk/Dodo Research Programme) Using radiocarbon dating of the bones, oxygen isotope analysis of geologic features on Mauritius and nearby islands, and the study of the island’s water table, the scientists determined the animals died during an extreme drought that lasted several decades. “Dodos, tortoises, lizards and other animals gathered here because the lake was one of the few sites on the island with fresh water,” says Hanneke Meijer, an ornithologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and one of the paper’s co-authors. “It is evident that a lot of animals suffered and died during this period, and their populations were greatly reduced,” Meijer continues, “but no species, including the dodo, went extinct during this extreme drought.” Fossil evidence reveals that “all animals were still living and the island’s ecosystem was intact at the time humans arrived in the 1600s.” The excavation site on the island of Mauritius where the remains of some 500,000 animals were found, victims of an extreme drought some 4,000 years ago. (Image copyright Mikel Rijsdijk/Dodo Research Programme) The dodo was resilient, and perfectly adapted to the island’s habitat, Meijer explains. “The island had no predators or carnivores and the dodo had no need to flee, so it lost its ability to fly. It received a reputation as stupid because it did not flee from humans” and human-introduced predators after they arrived at the dodo’s home in the 1600s. Today, Meijer says, the forest cover on Mauritius has been reduced by 98 percent with only a few patches of original forest remaining. Considerable resources have been directed to preserving the island’s few remaining endemic species, such as the Mauritian kestrel. (The island’s giant tortoises went extinct in the 1800s when Dutch trade ships filled their holds with these long-lived animals to use as fresh meat on long voyages to and from Indonesia. “Mauritius was a popular stop because it provided fresh water and lots of food,” Meijer says) Researchers at the Mauritius Island excavation site sieving excavated mud for small bones, teeth and plant remains. (Image copyright Mikel Rijsdijk/Dodo Research Programme) Should another extended drought occur similar to the mid-Holocene event, it is very likely the remaining endemic species on Mauritius would not survive as the environment is so degraded. “Even many of the native plant species in the few remaining forest patches would probably perish,” Meijer says. “With modern climate change scientists are very interested in how island animals adapt, as their ability to move to less disturbed areas is limited,” Meijer explains. “It has always been thought that animals on islands are particularly sensitive to climate change.” In the case of the dodo and other species on Mauritias, this new study reveals an island population highly resilient to climate change. The article “Mid-Holocene (4200 kyr BP) mass mortalities in Mauritius (Mascarenes): Insular vertebrates resilient to climatic extremes but vulnerable to human impact,” appeared recently in the scientific journal “The Holocene.” (Rijsdijk, K.F., Zinke, J., de Louw, P.G.B., Hume,J.P., van der Plicht, J., Hooghiemstra, H., Meijer, H.J.M., Vonhof, H.B., Porch, N., Florens, F.B.V., Baider, C., van Geel, B., Brinkkemper, J., Vernimmen, T. & Janoo, A., 2011. Mid-Holocene (4200 kyr BP) mass mortalities in Mauritius (Mascarenes): Insular vertebrates resilient to climatic extremes but vulnerable to human impact. The Holocene, doi:10.1177/0959683611405236) You might also like:

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Marble is formed by the metamorphosis of which rock?

Marble: Metamorphic Rock: Pictures, Definition, Properties Marble A non-foliated metamorphic rock that forms when limestone is subjected to heat and pressure. Pink Marble: A piece of pink marble about four inches (ten centimeters) across. The pink color is most likely derived from iron. Image by NASA. What is Marble? Marble is a metamorphic rock that forms when limestone is subjected to the heat and pressure of metamorphism. It is composed primarily of the mineral calcite (CaCO3) and usually contains other minerals, such as clay minerals, micas, quartz , pyrite , iron oxides, and graphite . Under the conditions of metamorphism, the calcite in the limestone recrystallizes to form a rock that is a mass of interlocking calcite crystals. A related rock, dolomitic marble, is produced when dolostone is subjected to heat and pressure.   Photo Gallery:   The Many Uses of Marble Ruby in Marble: Marble is often the host rock for corundum, spinel, and other gem minerals. This specimen is a piece of white marble with a large red ruby crystal from Afghanistan. Specimen is about 1 1/4 inches across (about 3 centimeters). Specimen and photo by Arkenstone / www.iRocks.com . How Does Marble Form? Most marble forms at convergent plate boundaries where large areas of Earth's crust are exposed to regional metamorphism. Some marble also forms by contact metamorphism when a hot magma body heats adjacent limestone or dolostone. Before metamorphism, the calcite in the limestone is often in the form of lithified fossil material and biological debris. During metamorphism, this calcite recrystallizes and the texture of the rock changes. In the early stages of the limestone-to-marble transformation, the calcite crystals in the rock are very small. In a freshly-broken hand specimen, they might only be recognized as a sugary sparkle of light reflecting from their tiny cleavage faces when the rock is played in the light. As metamorphism progresses, the crystals grow larger and become easily recognizable as interlocking crystals of calcite. Recrystallization obscures the original fossils and sedimentary structures of the limestone. It also occurs without forming foliation, which normally is found in rocks that are altered by the directed pressure of a convergent plate boundary. Recrystallization is what marks the separation between limestone and marble. Marble that has been exposed to low levels of metamorphism will have very small calcite crystals. The crystals become larger as the level of metamorphism progresses. Clay minerals within the marble will alter to micas and more complex silicate structures as the level of metamorphism increases. Marble Dimension Stone: Marble cut into blocks and slabs of specific size is known as "dimension stone." Photo © iStockphoto / Thomas Lehmann. Physical Properties and Uses of Marble Marble occurs in large deposits that can be hundreds of feet thick and geographically extensive. This allows it to be economically mined on a large scale, with some mines and quarries producing millions of tons per year. Most marble is made into either crushed stone or dimension stone. Crushed stone is used as an aggregate in highways, railroad beds, building foundations, and other types of construction. Dimension stone is produced by sawing marble into pieces of specific dimensions. These are used in monuments, buildings, sculptures, paving and other projects. We have an article about " the uses of marble " that includes photos and descriptions of marble in many types of uses. Gray Marble: This specimen has calcite cleavage faces up to several millimeters in size that are reflecting light. The specimen is about two inches (five centimeters) across. Calcium carbonate medicines: Marble is composed of calcium carbonate. That makes it very effective at neutralizing acids. Highest purity marble is often crushed to a powder, processed to remove impurities, and then used to make products such as Tums and Alka-Seltzer that are used for the treatment of acid indigestion. Crushed marble is also used to reduce the acid content of soils, the acid levels of streams, and as an acid-neutralizing material in the chemical industry. Photo © iStockphoto / NoDerog. Rock & Mineral Kits: Get a rock, mineral, or fossil kit to learn more about Earth materials. The best way to learn about rocks is to have specimens available for testing and examination. Color:   Marble is usually a light-colored rock. When it is formed from a limestone with very few impurities, it will be white in color. Marble that contains impurities such as clay minerals, iron oxides, or bituminous material can be bluish, gray, pink, yellow, or black in color. Marble of extremely high purity with a bright white color is very useful. It is often mined, crushed to a powder, and then processed to remove as many impurities as possible. The resulting product is called "whiting." This powder is used as a coloring agent and filler in paint, whitewash, putty, plastic, grout, cosmetics, paper, and other manufactured products. Acid Reaction:   Being composed of calcium carbonate, marble will react in contact with many acids, neutralizing the acid. It is one of the most effective acid neutralization materials. Marble is often crushed and used for acid neutralization in streams, lakes, and soils. It is used for acid neutralization in the chemical industry as well. Pharmaceutical antacid medicines such as "Tums" contain calcium carbonate, which is sometimes made from powdered marble. These medicines are helpful to people who suffer from acid reflux or acid indigestion. Powdered marble is used as an inert filler in other pills. Hardness:   Being composed of calcite, marble has a hardness of three on the Mohs hardness scale . As a result, marble is easy to carve, and that makes it useful for producing sculptures and ornamental objects. The translucence of marble makes it especially attractive for many types of sculptures. The low hardness and solubility of marble allows it to be used as a calcium additive in animal feeds. Calcium additives are especially important for dairy cows and egg-producing chickens. It is also used as a low-hardness abrasive for scrubbing bathroom and kitchen fixtures. Ability to Accept a Polish:   After being sanded with progressively finer abrasives, marble can be polished to a high luster. This allows attractive pieces of marble to be cut, polished, and used as floor tiles, architectural panels, facing stone, window sills, stair treads, columns, and many other pieces of decorative stone. Another Definition of Marble The name "marble" is used in a different way in the dimension stone trade. Any crystalline carbonate rock that has an ability to accept a polish is called "marble." The name is sometimes used for other soft rocks such as travertine, verd antique, serpentine , and some limestones.

Limestone

Which common water pollutant is believed to be harmful to newborn babies?

Marble Formation, Characteristics, and Applications Marble Products written by: Baby Rani • edited by: Lamar Stonecypher • updated: 9/29/2011 Marble has been used since ancient times in sculpture and as a decorative construction material. It has been a symbol of beauty in the grand buildings built by emperors. Marble is used in both internal and external applications, and is available in several colors and shapes. slide 1 of 4 Marble Formation Marble is a metamorphic rock produced from limestone by pressure and heat in the earth crust due to geological processes. The pressures and temperatures essential to produce this stone generally eliminate any fossils that exist in the initial rock. Due to these forces, the texture of limestone is changed. Impurities in the limestone affect the marble mineral composition. Marble is available in various colors due to the variety of minerals present in the marble like clay, sand, and silt. It is widely utilized as a building material, in monuments and sculptures, and in numerous other applications. Marbles are suitable for internal and external applications. However, due to modern-day environmental pollution, the polish on marble used for external applications may not be durable. slide 2 of 4 Characteristics Of Marbles Marble is a stone with a firm crystalline structure and slight porosity. Due to its structure, marble can be polished to improve its shine and is thus a common and attractive stone for building applications. The restricted marble porosity, mainly when refined, makes it less susceptible to water damage. However, calcium carbonate, the main ingredient of marble, is exceedingly susceptible to acidic agents: it rapidly dissolves in some acids. The actual influence of acidic contact will vary with the kind of the acid: chlorides, sulfates, and other chemical compounds respond in different ways with marble. Byproducts are created that possess a wide range of solubility and influence on the durability of marble. Therefore, it is essential to ascertain the exact kind of pollutants that cause marble deterioration. slide 3 of 4 Weather Effects On Marble The forces of nature may produce a decaying effect on the look and structural reliability of marble. These agents include temperature, snow, rain, wind and atmospheric pollutants. Weathering agents normally act in combination with the other agents to increase the deterioration of marble. Rain water, particularly in combination with the atmospheric gases, may cause dissolution of the marble, generating salt movement within the micro-structure. Temperature can intensify the deterioration rate, and the patterns of salt relocation within the stone. High temperatures normally multiply the chemical changes. Sudden changes in temperature can cause stresses due to the differential in expansion. Moisture is considered to be one of the foremost causes of the problems that may happen. However other troubles like erosion due to wind and mutilation may also occur. slide 4 of 4 Applications Of Marble Marble has numerous applications for structural and decorative purposes. It is utilized for outdoor sculpture, external walls, floor covering, decoration, stairs, and pavements. The technique of stone usage can influence the exposure severity. Marble is considered the stone for the emperors and gods. The majority of prehistoric monuments were made of marble. Marble has decorated the corridors of cathedrals and historical places. Marble tiles cover the floors of the affluent and also beautifies the baths of more moderate homeowners. These tiles are either polished or honed. Polished tiles provide a stylish appearance, though are extremely slippery when wet. Honed tiles offer more grip and are considered safe. Use of several treatments can slow the marble deterioration process. Marble is vulnerable to etching and staining by water and chemicals, for which appropriate advanced sealants have been developed to reduce this risk considerably. ◄ ● ● ● ● ►

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What natural feature covers approximately 6% of the Earth's land surface, and harbors 40% of the Earth's species?

Community and Ecosystem Dynamics COMMUNITY AND ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS Definitions | Back to Top A community is the set of all populations that inhabit a certain area. Communities can have different sizes and boundaries. These are often identified with some difficulty. An ecosystem is a higher level of organization the community plus its physical environment. Ecosystems include both the biological and physical components affecting the community/ecosystem. We can study ecosystems from a structural view of population distribution or from a functional view of energy flow and other processes. Community Structure | Back to Top Ecologists find that within a community many populations are not randomly distributed. This recognition that there was a pattern and process of spatial distribution of species was a major accomplishment of ecology. Two of the most important patterns are open community structure and the relative rarity of species within a community. Do species within a community have similar geographic range and density peaks? If they do, the community is said to be a closed community , a discrete unit with sharp boundaries known as ecotones . An open community, however, has its populations without ecotones and distributed more or less randomly. In a forest, where we find an open community structure, there is a gradient of soil moisture. Plants have different tolerances to this gradient and occur at different places along the continuum. Where the physical environment has abrupt transitions, we find sharp boundaries developing between populations. For example, an ecotone develops at a beach separating water and land. Open structure provides some protection for the community. Lacking boundaries, it is harder for a community to be destroyed in an all or nothing fashion. Species can come and go within communities over time, yet the community as a whole persists. In general, communities are less fragile and more flexible than some earlier concepts would suggest. Most species in a community are far less abundant than the dominant species that provide a community its name: for example oak-hickory, pine, etc. Populations of just a few species are dominant within a community, no matter what community we examine. Resource partitioning is thought to be the main cause for this distribution. Classification of Communities | Back to Top There are two basic categories of communities: terrestrial (land) and aquatic (water). These two basic types of community contain eight smaller units known as biomes . A biome is a large-scale category containing many communities of a similar nature, whose distribution is largely controlled by climate Terrestrial Biomes: tundra, grassland, desert, taiga, temperate forest, tropical forest. Terrestrial biome distribution is shown in Figure 1. Aquatic Biomes: marine, freshwater. Figure 1. Major terrestrial biomes. Image from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates ( www.sinauer.com ) and WH Freeman ( www.whfreeman.com ), used with permission. Terrestrial Biomes Tundra and Desert The tundra and desert biomes occupy the most extreme environments, with little or no moisture and extremes of temperature acting as harsh selective agents on organisms that occupy these areas. These two biomes have the fewest numbers of species due to the stringent environmental conditions. In other words, not everyone can live there due to the specialized adaptations required by the environment. Tropical Rain Forests Tropical rain forests occur in regions near the equator. The climate is always warm (between 20° and 25° C) with plenty of rainfall (at least 190 cm/year). The rain forest is probably the richest biome, both in diversity and in total biomass. The tropical rain forest has a complex structure, with many levels of life. More than half of all terrestrial species live in this biome. While diversity is high, dominance by a particular species is low. Typical tropical rain forest views are shown in Figure 2. While some animals live on the ground, most rain forest animals live in the trees. Many of these animals spend their entire life in the forest canopy. Insects are so abundant in tropical rain forests that the majority have not yet been identified. Charles Darwin noted the number of species found on a single tree, and suggested the richness of the rain forest would stagger the future systematist with the size of the catalogue of animal species found there. Termites are critical in the decomposition and nutrient cycling of wood. Birds tend to be brightly colored, often making them sought after as exotic pets. Amphibians and reptiles are well represented. Lemurs, sloths, and monkeys feed on fruits in tropical rain forest trees. The largest carnivores are the cats (jaguars in South America and leopards in Africa and Asia). Encroachment and destruction of habitat put all these animals and plants at risk. Epiphytes are plants that grow on other plants. These epiphytes have their own roots to absorb moisture and minerals, and use the other plant more as an aid to grow taller. Some tropical forests in India, Southeast Asia, West Africa, Central and South American are seasonal and have trees that shed leaves in dry season. The warm, moist climate supports high productivity as well as rapid decomposition of detritus. With its yearlong growing season, tropical forests have a rapid cycling of nutrients. Soils in tropical rain forests tend to have very little organic matter since most of the organic carbon is tied up in the standing biomass of the plants. These tropical soils, termed laterites, make poor agricultural soils after the forest has been cleared. About 17 million hectares of rain forest are destroyed each year (an area equal in size to Washington state). Estimates indicate the forests will be destroyed (along with a great part of the Earth's diversity) within 100 years. Rainfall and climate patterns could change as a result. Figure 2. Top image: Costa Rican cloud forest. Image from the Botanical Society of America website, http://images.botany.org/bsa/set-01/01-197v.jpg . Bottom image: Tropical rainforest in Puerto Rico. Image from the Botanical Society of America website, http://images.botany.org/set-01/01-140v.jpg . Temperate Forests The temperate forest biome occurs south of the taiga in eastern North America, eastern Asia, and much of Europe. Rainfall is abundant (30-80 inches/year; 75-150 cm) and there is a well-defined growing season of between 140 and 300 days. The eastern United States and Canada are covered (or rather were once covered) by this biome's natural vegetation, the eastern deciduous forest. Dominant plants include beech, maple, oak; and other deciduous hardwood trees. Trees of a deciduous forest have broad leaves, which they lose in the fall and grow again in the spring. A scenic view of this type of biome is shown in Figure 3. Figure 3. Fall color in the eastern deciduous forest. Note the presence of a few evergreens among the hardwoods. Image from the Botanical Society of America website, http://images.botany.org/bsa/set-01/01-036v.jpg . Sufficient sunlight penetrates the canopy to support a well-developed understory composed of shrubs, a layer of herbaceous plants, and then often a ground cover of mosses and ferns. This stratification beneath the canopy provides a numerous habitats for a variety of insects and birds. The deciduous forest also contains many members of the rodent family, which serve as a food source for bobcats, wolves, and foxes. This area also is a home for deer and black bears. Winters are not as cold as in the taiga, so many amphibian and reptiles are able to survive. Shrubland (Chaparral) The shrubland biome is dominated by shrubs with small but thick evergreen leaves that are often coated with a thick, waxy cuticle, and with thick underground stems that survive the dry summers and frequent fires. Shrublands occur in parts of South America, western Australia, central Chile, and around the Mediterranean Sea. Dense shrubland in California, where the summers are hot and very dry, is known as chaparral, shown in Figure 4. This Mediterranean-type shrubland lacks an understory and ground litter, and is also highly flammable. The seeds of many species require the heat and scarring action of fire to induce germination. Figure 4. Chaparral vegetation (predominantly Adenostema) in California. Image from the Botanical Society of America website, http://images.botany.org/bsa/set-01/01-110v.jpg . Grasslands Grasslands occur in temperate and tropical areas with reduced rainfall (10-30 inches per year) or prolonged dry seasons. Grasslands occur in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Soils in this region are deep and rich and are excellent for agriculture. Grasslands are almost entirely devoid of trees, and can support large herds of grazing animals. Natural grasslands once covered over 40 percent of the earth's land surface. In temperate areas where rainfall is between 10 and 30 inches a year, grassland is the climax community because it is too wet for desert and too dry for forests. Most grasslands have now been utilized to grow crops, especially wheat and corn. Grasses are the dominant plants, while grazing and burrowing species are the dominant animals. The extensive root systems of grasses allows them to recover quickly from grazing, flooding, drought, and sometimes fire. Temperate grasslands include the Russian steppes, the South American pampas, and North American prairies. A tall-grass prairie occurs where moisture is not quite sufficient to support trees. A short-grass-prairie, shown in Figure 5, survives on less moisture and occurs between a tall-grass prairie and desert. A desert grassland is shown in Figure 6. Figure 5. Short grass prairie, Nebraska. Image from the Botanical Society of America website, http://images.botany.org/bsa/set-01/01-068v.jpg . Figure 6. A desert grassland in southeastern Arizona. Image from the Botanical Society of America website, http://images.botany.org/set-01/01-177v.jpg . Animal life includes mice, prairie dogs, rabbits, and animals that feed on them (hawks and snakes). Prairies once contained large herds of buffalo and pronghorn antelope, but with human activity these once great herds ahve dwindled. The savanna is a tropical grassland that contains some trees. The savanna contains the greatest variety and numbers of herbivores (antelopes, zebras, and wildebeests, among others). This environment supports a large population of carnivores (lions, cheetahs, hyenas, and leopards). Any plant litter not consumed by grazers is attacked by termites and other decomposers. Once again, human activities are threatening this biome, reducing the range for herbivores and carnivores. Will extinction of the great cats be a result? Deserts Deserts are characterized by dry conditions (usually less than 10 inches per year; 25 cm) and a wide temperature range. The dry air leads to wide daily temperature fluctuations from freezing at night to over 120 degrees during the day. Most deserts occur at latitudes of 30o N or S where descending air masses are dry. Some deserts occur in the rainshadow of tall mountain ranges or in coastal areas near cold offshore currents. Plants in this biome have developed a series of adaptations (such as succulent stems, and small, spiny, or absent leaves) to conserve water and deal with these temperature extremes. Photosynthetic modifications (CAM) are another strategy to life in the drylands. The Sahara and a few other deserts have almost no vegetation. Most deserts, however, are home to a variety of plants, all adapted to heat and lack of abundant water (succulents and cacti). A view of the Sonoran desert vegetation type in Arizona is shown by Figure 7. Animal life of the Sonoran desert includes arthropods (especially insects and spiders), reptiles (lizards and snakes), running birds (the roadrunner of the American southwest and Warner Brothers cartoon fame), rodents (kangaroo rat and pack rat), and a few larger birds and mammals (hawks, owls, and coyotes). Figure 7. Saguaro and cholla cacti in association with palo verde trees in the Sonoran desert, AZ. Note the lack of a canopy and the scarcity of ground cover. Image from the Botanical Society of America website, http://images.botany.org/bsa/set-01/01-097v.jpg . Taiga (Boreal Forest) The taiga (pronounced "tie-guh" and shown in Figure 8) is a coniferous forest extending across most of the northern area of northern Eurasia and North America. This forest belt also occurs in a few other areas, where it has different names: the montane coniferous forest when near mountain tops; and the temperate rain forest along the Pacific Coast as far south as California. The taiga receives between 10 and 40 inches of rain per year and has a short growing season. Winters are cold and short, while summers tend to be cool. The taiga is noted for its great stands of spruce, fir, hemlock, and pine. These trees have thick protective leaves and bark, as well as needlelike (evergreen) leaves can withstand the weight of accumulated snow. Taiga forests have a limited understory of plants, and a forest floor covered by low-lying mosses and lichens. Conifers, alders, birch and willow are common plants; wolves, grizzly bears, moose, and caribou are common animals. Dominance of a few species is pronounced, but diversity is low when compared to temperate and tropical biomes. Figure 8. Top image: Taiga, Glacial River in Alaska. Image from the Botanical Society of America website, http://images.botany.org/set-01/01-002v.jpg ; Middle image of a Larix-dominated area of the taiga biome. Image from the Botanical Society of America website, http://images.botany.org/bsa/set-01/01-027v.jpg ; Bottom image: Temperate rain forest, Washington. Note the dense understory of ferns and herbaceous plants. Image from the Botanical Society of America website, http://images.botany.org/bsa/set-01/01-134v.jpg . Tundra The tundra, shown in Figure 9, covers the northernmost regions of North America and Eurasia, about 20% of the Earth's land area. This biome receives about 20 cm (8-10 inches) of rainfall annually. Snow melt makes water plentiful during summer months. Winters are long and dark, followed by very short summers. Water is frozen most of the time, producing frozen soil, permafrost. Vegetation includes no trees, but rather patches of grass and shrubs; grazing musk ox, reindeer, and caribou exist along with wolves, lynx, and rodents. A few animals highly adapted to cold live in the tundra year-round (lemming, ptarmigan). During the summer the tundra hosts numerous insects and migratory animals. The ground is nearly completely covered with sedges and short grasses during the short summer. There are also plenty of patches of lichens and mosses. Dwarf woody shrubs flower and produce seeds quickly during the short growing season. The alpine tundra occurs above the timberline on mountain ranges, and may contain many of the same plants as the arctic tundra. Figure 9. Top image: View of the tundra, locality unknown. Image from http://ths.sps.lane.edu/biomes/tundra3/tundra3.html . Bottom image: Caribou, an animal characteristic of the tundra. Image from http://ths.sps.lane.edu/biomes/tundra4/tundra4a.html . Climate, Altitude and Terrestrial Biomes Climate controls biome distribution by an altitudinal gradient and a latitudinal gradient. With increases of either altitude or latitude, cooler and drier conditions occur. Cooler conditions can cause aridity since cooler air can hold less water vapor than can warmer air. This is shown by Figure 10. Figure 10. Effect of temperature on precipitation. Image from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates ( www.sinauer.com ) and WH Freeman ( www.whfreeman.com ), used with permission. Deserts can occur in warm areas due to a blockage of air circulation patterns that form a rain shadow, or from atmospheric circulation patters as shown in Figure 11. Warm air rises, producing low pressure areas. Cooler air sinks, producing high pressure areas. The tropics tend to be atmospheric low pressure zones the arctic areas atmospheric highs. Relative humidity is a measure of how much water an air mass at a given temperature can hold. In short, warm air can hold more moisture than can cold air. This basic physical feature of air helps explain the distribution of some of the world's great deserts. The warm, moist air masses in the tropics rise upward in the atmosphere as they heat. The pressure of air rising forces air in the upper atmosphere to flow away north and south. This air at higher elevations is cooler and loses much of its moisture as rainfall. When the air masses begin to descend they heat up and begin to draw moisture from the lands they descend upon, at 30 degrees north and south of the equator. Many of the world's deserts are at approximately 30 degrees latitude, as shown in Figure 11.. Rain shadow deserts also form when cool, dry air masses descend after passing over a tall mountain range, such as the Coast Range and Sierras in California. The Sonoran desert in Arizona (shown in Figure 7) is a doubly caused desert, being at 30 degrees latitude as well as in the rain shadow of California mountains. The Tian Shan desert in China is a typical rain shadow desert, as shown by Figure 12. Figure 11. Top image: Air circulation patterns and the global distribution of wet and dry areas. Image from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates ( www.sinauer.com ) and WH Freeman ( www.whfreeman.com ), used with permission. Bottom image: Rainshadows and deserts. Image from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates ( www.sinauer.com ) and WH Freeman ( www.whfreeman.com ), used with permission. Figure 12. The Turpan Depression in the Tian Shan desert of China, as viewed from space. In this iamge vegetation is red, and basre desert is grey-light blue. Image from http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/deserts/types/ . Aquatic Biomes Conditions in water are generally less harsh than those on land. Aquatic organisms are buoyed by water support, and do not usually have to deal with desiccation. Despite covering 71% of the Earth's surface, areas of the open ocean are a vast aquatic desert containing few nutrients and very little life, as shown by Figure 13. . Clearcut biome distinctions in water, like those on land, are difficult to make. Dissolved nutrients controls many local aquatic distributions. Aquatic communities are classified into: freshwater (inland) communities and marine (saltwater or oceanic) communities. Figure 13. Species diversity and salt concentration. Image from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates ( www.sinauer.com ) and WH Freeman ( www.whfreeman.com ), used with permission. The Marine Biome The marine biome contains more dissolved minerals than the freshwater biome . Over 70% of the Earth's surface is covered in water, by far the vast majority of that being saltwater. There are two basic categories to this biome: benthic and pelagic . Benthic communities (bottom dwellers) are subdivided by depth: the shore/shelf and deep sea. Pelagic communities (swimmers or floaters suspended in the water column) include planktonic (floating) and nektonic (swimming) organisms. The upper 200 meters of the water column is the euphotic zone to which light can penetrate. Coastal Communities Estuaries are bays where rivers empty into the sea. Erosion brings down nutrients and tides wash in salt water; forms nutrient trap. Estuaries have high production for organisms that can tolerate changing salinity. Such organisms are shown in Figure 14. Estuaries are called "nurseries of the sea" because many young marine fish develop in this protected environment before moving as adults into the wide open seas. Figure 14. Brackish water coastal marsh. Image from the Botanical Society of America website http://images.botany.org/set-01/01-187v.jpg . Seashores Rocky shorelines offer anchorage for sessile organisms. Seaweeds are main photosynthesizers and use holdfasts to anchor. Barnacles glue themselves to stone. Oysters and mussels attach themselves by threads. Limpets and periwinkles either hide in crevices or fasten flat to rocks. Sandy beaches and shores are shifting strata. Permanent residents therefore burrow underground. Worms live permanently in tubes. Amphipods and ghost crabs burrow above high tide and feed at night. Coral Reefs Areas of biological abundance in shallow, warm tropical waters. Stony corals have calcium carbonate exoskeleton and may include algae. Most form colonies; may associate with zooxanthellae dinoflagellates. Reef is densely populated with animal life. The Great Barrier Reef of Australia suffers from heavy predation by crown-of-thorns sea star, perhaps because humans have harvested its predator, the giant triton. Oceans Oceans cover about three-quarters of the Earth's surface. Oceanic organisms are placed in either pelagic (open water) or benthic (ocean floor) categories, ash shown in Figure 15. Pelagic division is divided into neritic and three levels of pelagic provinces. Neritic province has greater concentration of organisms because sunlight penetrates; nutrients are found here. Epipelagic zone is brightly lit, has much photosynthetic phytoplankton, that support zooplankton that are food for fish, squid, dolphins, and whales. Mesopelagic zone is semi-dark and contains carnivores; adapted organisms tend to be translucent, red colored, or luminescent; for example: shrimps, squids, lantern and hatchet fishes. The bathypelagic zone is completely dark and largest in size; it has strange-looking fish. Benthic division includes organisms on continental shelf (sublittoral), continental slope (bathyal), and the abyssal plain. Figure 15. Zones within the marine biome. Image from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates ( www.sinauer.com ) and WH Freeman ( www.whfreeman.com ), used with permission. Sublittoral zone harbors seaweed that becomes sparse where deeper; most dependent on slow rain of plankton and detritus from sunlit water above. Bathyal zone continues with thinning of sublittoral organisms. Abyssal zone is mainly animals at soil-water interface of dark abyssal plain; in spite of high pressure, darkness and coldness, many invertebrates thrive here among sea urchins and tubeworms. Thermal vents along oceanic ridges form a very unique community. Molten magma heats seawater to 350oC, reacting with sulfate to form hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Chemosynthetic bacteria obtain energy by oxidizing hydrogen sulfide. The resulting food chain supports a community of tubeworms and clams.   The Freshwater Biome The freshwater biome is subdivided into two zones: running waters and standing waters. Larger bodies of freshwater are less prone to stratification (where oxygen decreases with depth). The upper layers have abundant oxygen, the lowermost layers are oxygen-poor. Mixing between upper and lower layers in a pond or lake occurs during seasonal changes known as spring and fall overturn. Lakes are larger than ponds, and are stratified in summer and winter, as shown in Figure 16. The epilimnion is the upper surface layer. It is warm in summer. The hypolimnion is the cold lower layer. A sudden drop in temperature occurs at the middle of the thermocline. Layering prevents mixing between the lower hypolimnion (rich in nutrients) and the upper epilimnion (which has oxygen absorbed from its surface). The epilimnion warms in spring and cools in fall, causing a temporary mixing. As a consequence, phytoplankton become more abundant due to the increased amounts of nutrients. Figure 16. Lake overturn. Images from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates ( www.sinauer.com ) and WH Freeman ( www.whfreeman.com ), used with permission. Life zones also exist in lakes and ponds. The littoral zone is closest to shore. The limnetic zone is the sunlit body of the lake. Below the level of sunlight penetration is the dark profundal zone. At the soil-water interface we find the benthic zone. The term benthos is applied to animals and other organisms that live on or in the benthic zone. Rapidly flowing, bubbling streams have insects and fish adapted to oxygen-rich water. Slow moving streams have aquatic life more similar to lake and pond life. Community Density and Stability | Back to Top Communities are made up of species adapted to the conditions of that community. Diversity and stability help define a community and are important in environmental studies. Species diversity decreases as we move away from the tropics. Species diversity is a measure of the different types of organisms in a community (also referred to as species richness ). Latitudinal diversity gradient refers to species richness decreasing steadily going away from the equator. A hectare of tropical rain forest contains 40-100 tree species, while a hectare of temperate zone forest contains 10-30 tree species. In marked contrast, a hectare of taiga contains only a paltry 1-5 species! Habitat destruction in tropical countries will cause many more extinctions per hectare than it would in higher latitudes. Environmental stability is greater in tropical areas, where a relatively stable/constant environment allows more different kinds of species to thrive. Equatorial communities are older because they have been less disturbed by glaciers and other climate changes, allowing time for new species to evolve. Equatorial areas also have a longer growing season. The depth diversity gradient is found in aquatic communities. Increasing species richness with increasing water depth. This gradient is established by environmental stability and the increasing availability of nutrients. Community stability refers to the ability of communities to remain unchanged over time. During the 1950s and 1960s, stability was equated to diversity: diverse communities were also stable communities. Mathematical modeling during the 1970s showed that increased diversity can actually increase interdependence among species and lead to a cascade effect when a keystone species is removed. Thus, the relation is more complex than previously thought. Change in Communities Over Time | Back to Top Biological communities, like the organisms that comprise them, can and do change over time. Ecological time focuses on community events that occur over decades or centuries. Geological time focuses on events lasting thousands of years or more. Community succession is the sequential replacement of species by immigration of new species and local extinction of older ones following a disturbance that creates unoccupied habitats for colonization. The initial rapid colonizer species are the pioneer community. Eventually a climax community of more or less stable but slower growing species eventually develops. During succession productivity declines and diversity increases. These trends tend to increase the biomass (total weight of living tissue) in a community. Succession occurs because each community stage prepares the environment for the stage following it. Primary succession begins with bare rock and takes a very long time to occur. Weathering by wind and rain plus the actions of pioneer species such as lichens and mosses begin the buildup of soil. Herbaceous plants, including the grasses, grow on deeper soil and shade out shorter pioneer species. Pine trees or deciduous trees eventually take root and in most biomes will form a climax community of plants that are stabile in the environment. The young produced by climax species can live in that environment, unlike the young produced by successional species. Secondary succession occurs when an environment has been disturbed, such as by fire, geological activity, or human intervention (farming or deforestation in most cases). This form of succession often begins in an abandoned field with soil layers already in place. Compared to primary succession, which must take long periods of time to build or accumulate soil, secondary succession occurs rapidly. The herbaceous pioneering plants give way to pines, which in turn may give way to a hardwood deciduous forest (in the classical old field succession models developed in the eastern deciduous forest biome). Early researchers assumed climax communities were determined for each environment. Today we recognize the outcome of competition among whatever species are present as establishing the climax community. Climax communities tend to be more stable than successional communities. Early stages of succession show the most growth and are most productive. Pioneer communities lack diversity, make poor use of inputs, and lose heat and nutrients. As succession proceeds, species variety increases and nutrients are recycled more. Climax communities make fuller use of inputs and maintain themselves, thus, they are more stable. Human activity (such as clearing a climax forest community to establish a farm field consisting of a cultivated pioneering species, say corn or wheat) replaces climax communities with simpler communities. Communities are composed of species that evolve, so the community must also evolve. Comparing marine communities of 500 million years ago with modern communities shows modern communities composed of quite different organisms. Modern communities also tend to be more complex, although this may be a reflection of the nature of the fossil record as well as differences between biological and fossil species. Disturbance of a Community The basic effect of human activity on communities is community simplification , an overall reduction of species diversity. Agriculture is a purposeful human intervention in which we create a monoculture of a single favored (crop) species such as corn. Most of the agricultural species are derived from pioneering communities. Inadvertent human intervention can simplify communities and produce stressed communities that have fewer species as well as a superabundance of some species. Disturbances favor early successional (pioneer) species that can grow and reproduce rapidly. Ecosystems and Communities | Back to Top Ecosystems include both living and nonliving components. These living, or biotic, components include habitats and niches occupied by organisms. Nonliving, or abiotic, components include soil, water, light, inorganic nutrients, and weather. An organism's place of residence, where it can be found, is its habitat. A niche is is often viewed as the role of that organism in the community, factors limiting its life, and how it acquires food. Producers, a major niche in all ecosystems, are autotrophic, usually photosynthetic, organisms. In terrestrial ecosystems, producers are usually green plants. Freshwater and marine ecosystems frequently have algae as the dominant producers. Consumers are heterotrophic organisms that eat food produced by another organism. Herbivores are a type of consumer that feeds directly on green plants (or another type of autotroph). Since herbivores take their food directly from the producer level, we refer to them as primary consumers. Carnivores feed on other animals (or another type of consumer) and are secondary or tertiary consumers. Omnivores, the feeding method used by humans, feed on both plants and animals. Decomposers are organisms, mostly bacteria and fungi that recycle nutrients from decaying organic material. Decomposers break down detritus, nonliving organic matter, into inorganic matter. Small soil organisms are critical in helping bacteria and fungi shred leaf litter and form rich soil. Even if communities do differ in structure, they have some common uniting processes such as energy flow and matter cycling , shown in Figure 17. Energy flows move through feeding relationships. The term ecological niche refers to how an organism functions in an ecosystem. Food webs , food chains , and food pyramids are three ways of representing energy flow. Producers absorb solar energy and convert it to chemical bonds from inorganic nutrients taken from environment. Energy content of organic food passes up food chain; eventually all energy is lost as heat, therefore requiring continual input. Original inorganic elements are mostly returned to soil and producers; can be used again by producers and no new input is required. Figure 17. The flow of energy through an ecosystem. Image from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates ( www.sinauer.com ) and WH Freeman ( www.whfreeman.com ), used with permission. Energy flow in ecosystems, as with all other energy, must follow the two laws of thermodynamics. Recall that the first law states that energy is neither created nor destroyed, but instead changes from one form to another (potential to kinetic). The second law mandates that when energy is transformed from one form to another, some usable energy is lost as heat. Thus, in any food chain, some energy must be lost as we move up the chain. The ultimate source of energy for nearly all life is the Sun. Recently, scientists discovered an exception to this once unchallenged truism: communities of organisms around ocean vents where food chain begins with chemosynthetic bacteria that oxidize hydrogen sulfide generated by inorganic chemical reactions inside the Earth's crust. In this special case, the source of energy is the internal heat engine of the Earth. Food chains indicate who eats whom in an ecosystem. Represent one path of energy flow through an ecosystem. Natural ecosystems have numerous interconnected food chains. Each level of producer and consumers is a trophic level. Some primary consumers feed on plants and make grazing food chains; others feed on detritus. The population size in an undisturbed ecosystem is limited by the food supply, competition, predation, and parasitism. Food webs help determine consequences of perturbations: if titmice and vireos fed on beetles and earthworms, insecticides that killed beetles would increase competition between birds and probably increase predation of earthworms, etc. The trophic structure of an ecosystem forms an ecological pyramid. The base of this pyramid represents the producer trophic level. At the apex is the highest level consumer, the top predator. Other pyramids can be recognized in an ecosystem. A pyramid of numbers is based on how many organisms occupy each trophic level. The pyramid of biomass is calculated by multiplying the average weight for organisms times the number of organisms at each trophic level. An energy pyramid illustrates the amounts of energy available at each successive trophic level. The energy pyramid always shows a decrease moving up trophic levels because: Only a certain amount of food is captured and eaten by organisms on the next trophic level. Some of food that is eaten cannot be digested and exits digestive tract as undigested waste. Only a portion of digested food becomes part of the organism's body; rest is used as source of energy. Substantial portion of food energy goes to build up temporary ATP in mitochondria that is then used to synthesize proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, fuel contraction of muscles, nerve conduction, and other functions. Only about 10% of the energy available at a particular trophic level is incorporated into tissues at the next level. Thus, a larger population can be sustained by eating grain than by eating grain-fed animals since 100 kg of grain would result in 10 human kg but if fed to cattle, the result, by the time that reaches the human is a paltry 1 human kg! A food chain is a series of organisms each feeding on the one preceding it. There are two types of food chain: decomposer and grazer. Grazer food chains begin with algae and plants and end in a carnivore . Decomposer chains are composed of waste and decomposing organisms such as fungi and bacteria. This is shown in Figure 18. Figure 18. Energy flow and the relative porportions of various levels in the food chain. Images from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates ( www.sinauer.com ) and WH Freeman ( www.whfreeman.com ), used with permission. Food chains are simplifications of complex relationships. A food web is a more realistic and accurate depiction of energy flow. Food webs are networks of feeding interactions among species. The food pyramid provides a detailed view of energy flow in an ecosystem. The first level consists of the producers (usually plants). All higher levels are consumers. The shorter the food chain the more energy is available to organisms. Most humans occupy a top carnivore role, about 2% of all calories available from producers ever reach the tissues of top carnivores. Leakage of energy occurs between each feeding level. Most natural ecosystems therefore do not have more than five levels to their food pyramids. Large carnivores are rare because there is so little energy available to them atop the pyramid. Food generation by producers varies greatly between ecosystems. Net primary productivity (NPP) is the rate at which producer biomass is formed. Tropical forests and swamps are the most productive terrestrial ecosystems. Reefs and estuaries are the most productive aquatic ecosystems. All of these productive areas are in danger from human activity. Humans redirect nearly 40% of the net primary productivity and directly or indirectly use nearly 40% of all the land food pyramid. This energy is not available to natural populations. Learning Objectives | Back to Top Be able to describe the major terrestrial biomes and the types of plants and animals occuring there. Relate the efect of increasing altitude as one goes up a mountain to biome changes sen as one moves north of the equator toward the polar regions. Distinguish the different regions within the marine ecosystems. Be able to describe a food chain in detail, with some indication of the relative porportions of organisms at each trophic level.

Tropical rainforest

What name is given to the huge growths of algae sometimes seen in polluted lakes and rivers?

Biomes and Ecozones - A Research Guide for Students A Research Guide for Students         Biomes and Ecozones - General Resources Biomes . A biome is a large, distinctive complex of plant communities created and maintained by climate. How many biomes are there? Biomes . Lots of color photographs of Terrestrial Biomes, Un-Biome: Polar / Alpine, Tundra, Boreal Forest (Taiga), Temperate Forest, Grasslands (Steppes), Woodland (Chaparral), Desert, Tropical Deciduous Forest and Savannah, Tropical Rain Forest, and Temperate Rain Forest. Biomes . Web pages developed by some 70 Grade 9 students at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon. Each page deals with one biome under these categories: Animals, Plants, Climate, and Health Issues. Biomes - Habitats from EnchantedLearning.com. Site provides information on: Arctic Biome, Desert Biome, Chaparral or Scrub Taiga = Coniferous Forests, Grassland, Tropical Rainforest, Pond, Ocean, Antarctic, Tundra, Cave, City, Temperate Deciduous Forest, Savanna, Prairie, Freshwater, Marsh, Swamp, Intertidal Zone, and Coral Reef. You can also print out a monthly Biomes Calendar . Biomes of the World from TeachersFirst.com. An on-line research project for middle school or advanced upper elementary students. Categories include: Coniferous Forest, Deciduous Forest, Rainforest, Fresh Water, Tundra, Ocean, Savannah, and Desert. Biomes of the World from MBGnet. Click on Rainforest, Tundra, Taiga, Desert, Temperate, or Grasslands to see details of each Biome. See also Freshwater Ecosystems (Rivers & Streams, Ponds & Lakes, Wetlands), and Marine Ecosystems (Shorelines, Temperate Oceans, Tropical Oceans). Canadian Atlas Online: Ecozones . Canada contains 15 terrestrial and 5 maritime ecozones, arranged here as follows: Arctic and Taiga, Pacific and Western Mountains, Central Plains, Boreal Shield, Mixedwood Plains, and Atlantic. Site is not very user-friendly for younger students. Canada's Ecozones . Canadian Biodiversity Website from Redpath Museum, McGill University. Canadian Patterns of Biodiversity: Canada's Land and Species, Canada's Species . Includes color photos, maps: Plants, Sponges, Molluscs, Insects, Crustaceans, Fungi, Fish, Amphibians and Reptiles, Mammals, Birds, Species at Risk. Earth Floor . Site includes information on commonly found Biomes: Arctic Tundra Biome, Mid-Latitude Deciduous Forest Biome, Desert Biome, Tropical Rainforest Biome, Tropical Savannah Biome, and Taiga Biome. A map shows the locations of these biomes in different colors. Ecosystem Management . Parks Canada Environmental Conservation Programs. Within national parks, efforts are directed at maintaining ecosystems in as natural a state as possible. Menu: Ecosystem Integrity , Ecosystem Monitoring, Ecosystem Fragmentation, Ecosystem Restoration, Ecosystem Protection, and Ecosystem-Based Management. See also National Parks of Canada . Ecosystems at the Montreal Biodome : Tropical Forest, Laurentian Forest, St. Lawrence Marine Ecosystem, and Polar World of the Arctic and Antarctic. Introduction to Biomes . Biomes are the major regional groupings of plants and animals discernible at a global scale. Mission: Biomes . Coniferous Forest, Temperate Deciduous Forest, Desert, Grassland, Rainforest, Shrubland, and Tundra. Includes a Mission: Biomes Vocabulary . The Seven Natural Wonders of the World . Contents: Mount Everest, The Great Barrier Reef, The Grand Canyon, Victoria Falls, The Harbor of Rio de Janeiro, Paricutin Volcano, and The Northern Lights. The Sierra Club: 21 Ecoregions . Tailored to the particular needs of each ecosystem, 21 regional plans aim to restore the ecological health of the planet through concrete local action. Terrestrial Ecozones of Canada . The 15 Canadian Terrestrial Ecozones are: Taiga Cordillera, Boreal Cordillera, Pacific Maritime, Montane Cordillera, Boreal Plains, Taiga Plains, Prairie, Taiga Shield, Boreal Shield, Hudson Plains, Mixedwood Plains, Atlantic Maritime, Southern Arctic, Northern Arctic, and Arctic Cordillera. (Slow loading). World Biomes . A biome is a large geographical area of distinctive plant and animal groups which are adapted to that particular environment. Major biomes include Tundra, Deciduous Forest, Savanna, Taiga, Chaparral, Rainforest, Grasslands, Desert, and Alpine. World Biomes.com . Covers 5 of the major world biomes: Aquatic, Desert, Forest, Grasslands, and Tundra. Site gives a definition of a biome, provides a Map of World Biomes , and a very informative FAQ section with answers to 20 Frequently Asked Questions. The World's Biomes . Over the past several decades, increasing human activity has rapidly destroyed or polluted many ecological habitats throughout the world. It is important to preserve all types of biomes as each houses many unique forms of life.         Alpine or Mountain Biomes Alpine . In Latin the word for 'high mountain' is 'alpes'. Alpine biomes are found in the mountain regions all around the world. They are usually at an altitude of about 10,000 feet or more. Alpine Climate . The Alpine biome is one of the coldest biomes in the world. It is so cold because of its high altitudes. Alpine Links take you to other Websites about Alpine Biomes. (Pop-up ads). Mountain Biome . Mountains cover about 20% of the Earth's surface and are found on all continents and in all oceans. Mountain Biomes . Diagram showing a mountain biome with vegetation and animals similar to global biomes but over much smaller areas.         Aquatic, Tidal, Estuarine (Estuary), Marine, Ocean, or Water Biomes Aquatic: The Wild Blue Yonder . Water is the common link among the five biomes and it makes up the largest part of the biosphere, covering nearly 75% of the Earth’s surface. Aquatic Biomes . There are two types of aquatic biomes: marine regions and freshwater regions. Site includes Aquatic Biome Images. Aquatic Wildlife . Photographs of Fish, Crabs, Mudskippers, and Star Fish. Discover the Seashore . A Fascinating Place, The Intertidal: A Land between the Tides, An Incredible Wealth of Life, Find the Seashore Habitats, Investigate the Species of the Rocky Shore, Species of the Sandy Beach, and Species of the Sand Dunes, and more. Freshwater Biome includes inland bodies of water called ponds, lakes, wetlands, rivers and streams. Fresh Water from TeachersFirst.com. Interesting information about fresh water, e.g. "The place where fresh and salt-water meet are called estuaries" plus links to Web resources related to water biomes, e.g. Amazon River, Shorelines, Water: From Sky to Sea, Colorado River Report, Half Barrel Pond, All Along a River, Living Lakes, Freshwater Ecosystem, Life in a Pond, etc. Freshwater Biome . The freshwater biome includes inland bodies of water called ponds, lakes, wetlands, rivers and streams. Freshwater Ecosystems : Rivers & Streams, Ponds & Lakes, Wetlands. The Great Barrier Reef from the Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Heritage. The Great Barrier Reef provides habitats for many diverse forms of marine life. There are an estimated 1500 species of fish and more than 300 species of hard, reef-building corals. More than 4000 mollusc species and over 400 species of sponges have been identified. Tsunami FAQ from Pacific Tsunami Museum. Tsunami Safety Rules from International Tsunami Information Center, Honolulu, HI. See also Tsunami Library - includes Overviews, Glossary, Great Waves, Historical Events, Online Documents, FAQs, Fact Sheets, Research Efforts, Tsunami Links, Videos Available for Order, Pacific Tsunami Warning Center Bulletins for current tsunami events. U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program . Includes photographs: Beluga, Bottlenose Dolphins, Common Dolphins, Dall's Porpoise, Killer Whales, Pinnipeds, California Sea Lions, Seals, and more.         Chaparral Biomes Chaparral . The chaparral biome is found in most of the continents - the west coast of the United States, the west coast of South America, the Cape Town area of South Africa, the western tip of Australia and the coastal areas of the Mediterranean. The chaparral biome has many different types of terrain. Chaparral . Location, Weather: Chaparral is characterized as being very hot and dry, Plants: Most of the plants have large, hard leaves, which hold moisture, Animals, People and the Chaparral. Shrubland Biome - Earth Observatory Experiments . Shrublands include regions such as chaparral, woodland and savanna. Shrublands are the areas that are located in west coastal regions between 30° and 40° North and South latitude.         Desert Biomes Desert . Learn about Hot and Dry, and Cold Deserts. Most Hot and Dry Deserts are near the Tropic of Cancer or the Tropic of Capricorn. Cold Deserts are near the Arctic part of the world. Desert Animals & Wildlife from Desert USA. Desert Animal Survival . Desert Plants & Wildflowers . Desert Environment & Geology: Rocks, Gems & Minerals . People & Cultures of the Southwest . Desert Biome . Deserts are areas that have experienced extreme droughts leaving large bodies of sand and rock. They occupy about 20% of the Earth's surface and can be found on all continents. Desert Biomes . Information on Arid, and Semi-Arid Desert, as well as Coastal and Cold Deserts. Includes Map of World Biomes, and Images of Desert Biomes. The Desert Biome . Deserts have a varied species of animals that have adapted to the harsh climate of the desert. Topics covered: Climate, Animals, Plants, and Health Issues. Desert Topics . What is a desert like? Types of deserts. What causes deserts? Deserts of the world. Desert plants. Desert animals. Desert at night. Plus desert links. Deserts . Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth’s surface and occur where rainfall is less than 50 cm per year. Sahara Crosser's Corner . Art Gallery - a glimpse of what the Sahara looks like. Ecozones of Canada Ecozones of Canada from Environment Canada. Canada has a mosaic of distinctive ecosystems, many of which are unique in the world. There are 20 major ecosystems or ecozones in Canada: 5 marine ecozones and 15 terrestrial ecozones. Ecozones . Ecozone. Ecosystem. Ecosphere. What’s the difference between all these “ecowords”? EcoZones, EcoRegions, and EcoDistricts . Canada is grouped according to broad ecological similarities into 15 EcoZones. The EcoZone framework is divided into a total of 194 EcoRegions (217 polygons). EcoRegions are further subdivided into EcoDistricts known also as Land Resource Areas. Each EcoDistrict is characterized by homogeneous biophysical and climatic conditions.         Grassland or Savanna Biomes Grassland Biome . In North America grasslands are also called plains or prairies. In Asia they are called steppes. In South America: pampas, llanos, or cerrados. In Africa grasslands are called savannahs or velds, and in Australia they are called rangelands. Grassland Biomes are unaltered areas of land where grass is the dominant plant life. Includes: Map of World Biomes, Images of Grassland Biomes, short description of categories: praries, steppe, and savanna. Grasslands are characterized as lands dominated by grasses rather than large shrubs or trees. There are two main divisions of grasslands: tropical grasslands, called savannas, and temperate grasslands. Grasslands . Grassland biomes are large, rolling terrains of grasses, flowers and herbs. Information on Grassland Plants, Animals and Climate. Regions covered include: Steppes of Eurasia, North American Prairie, and the Pampas of South America. Grasslands . The Evergreen Project. What are grasslands like? Types of grasslands, Grasslands of the world, Grasslands Plants, Grasslands Animals, and Links. Savanna . A savanna is a rolling grassland, dotted with trees, which can be found between a tropical rainforest and desert biome.         Temperate, Boreal, Coniferous, Deciduous Forest, Taiga, or Woodland Biomes Boreal Forests, or Taiga represent the largest terrestial biome. Seasons are divided into short, moist, and moderately warm summers, and long, cold, dry winters. The length of the growing season in boreal forests is 130 days. The Common Conifers of Southeast Alaska . Forest Facts. The temperate rain forest of the panhandle of Alaska is widely known for its lush vegetation. See also Plants, Animals, Fish and Birds of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. Coniferous Forest Biome - Earth Observatory Experiments . Between the tundra to the north and the deciduous forest to the south lies the large area of coniferous forest. Coniferous Forest from TeachersFirst.com. "Coniferous means cone bearing." Description of a coniferous forest plus links to Web resources on coniferous forest. Deciduous Forest from TeachersFirst.com. Deciduous forests consist of trees that do not bear cones. Description of a deciduous forest plus links to Web resources on deciduous forest. Discover Rainforests . Rainforest in Canada! Where? The Rainforest Recipe, What Does It Look Like? Rainforests around the World, It's in the Leaves, Discover Rainforests Habitats, and more. Evergreen coniferous forests, which are also called taiga, begin where tundra gives way to trees. Rainfall in this biome varies from 12 to 33 inches a year. Forest Biome . Forests can be divided into five main categories: coniferous forest, deciduous forest, mixed leaved forest, Mediterranean forest, and tropical rainforests. Forest Biomes . Information on Boreal, or Taiga biomes, and Temperate Deciduous Forest. Includes Images of Forest Biomes. Ocean-Born Forests . This ecosystem stretches along the Pacific Coast from Oregon to Alaska; other temperate rain forests are found in several isolated areas throughout the world. What defines a rain forest quite simply is rain--lots of it. Taiga . Where is the Taiga located? Taiga Facts. Taiga Plants. Taiga Animals. Taiga Gallery. Taiga Links. Taiga . The taiga is the biome of the needleleaf forest. Taiga is the Russian word for forest and is the largest biome in the world. It stretches over Eurasia and North America. Taiga Animal Printouts . Description of a taiga biome plus information and pictures about mammals, birds, and insects found in cold taiga biomes: Ant, Arctic Fox, Arctic Hare, Arctic Wolf, Badger, Bald Eagle, Beaver, Black Bear, Brown Bear, Canada Goose, Caribou, Dall Sheep, Deer, Earthworm, Ermine, Fox, Gray Wolf, Great Horned Owl, Husky, Lemming, Lynx, Malamute, Moose, Musk Ox, Muskrat, Red-Tailed Hawk, Reindeer, Scorpion, Short-Tailed Weasel, Snow Goose, Snowy Owl, Squirrel, Weasel, White-Tailed Deer, Wolf, Wolverine, and Woodland Caribou. Temperate Deciduous Forest is a forest in which the leaves fall off the trees when the winter comes. This biome is found in three separate regions in the northern hemisphere. Temperate Deciduous Forest Biome - Earth Observatory Experiments . Temperate deciduous forests are located in the mid-latitude areas which means that they are found between the polar regions and the tropics. Temperate Forests . What is a Temperate Forest like? Where are they located? What colors are certain leaves in the fall? Autumn Leaf Scrapbook, Forest Animals, and Temperate Links. Temperate Forests occur in eastern North America, northeastern Asia, and western and central Europe. Well-defined seasons with a distinct winter characterize this forest biome.         Tropical Rainforest Biomes Exploring the Tropics . Contents include: Are All Tropical Forests, Rain Forests? Tropical Rain Forest Layers, Effects of Elevation on Climate and Vegetation, Plant Adaptations to the Tropical Rain Forest, Plant and Animal Interactions, Biological Diversity, Economic and Interesting Plants of the Tropics, People of the Tropical Rain Forest, Causes of Destruction, What You Can Do, and Learn More about Tropical Rain Forests. How Rainforests Work from How Stuff Works. Contents include: What is a Rainforest? The Forest for the Trees, All Creatures, Great and Small, and Deforestation. Passport to the Rainforest . GEOsystem: What are rainforests, and why are they found where they are? ECOsystem: A gallery of images and information on the trees, plants, birds, animals and insects of the rainforest. Researchers: Meet Brazilian, North American, and other scientists who study rainforests. Rainforest . Two types of Rainforests: Temperate and Tropical. Where are Rainforests located? What are Rainforests like? Exploring the Tropical Rainforest. Tropical Plants. Tropical Animals. Rainforest Links. Rainforest Biome - Earth Observatory Experiments . There are two types of rainforests, tropical and temperate. Tropical rainforests are found closer to the equator where it is warm. Temperate rainforests are found near the cooler coastal areas further north or south of the equator. Tropical, or Rainforest . The rainforest is the most ecologically rich of the world's biomes. Rainforests are generally found at the equatorial level of the planet. Daylight in the rainforest lasts for 12 hours. There is no winter. Tropical Forest at the Montreal Biodome, a reproduction of a tropical rainforest in South America, measuring 2,600m² and populated by thousands of plants and animals, is the Biodome's largest ecosystem. Tropical Forests occur near the equator, within the area bounded by latitudes 23.5 ° N and 23.5 ° S. One of the major characteristics of tropical forests is their distinct seasonality: winter is absent, and only two seasons are present - rainy and dry. Tropical Rainforest . The tropical rain forest is classified as Af meaning tropical forest The A is given to tropical climates that are moist for all months which have average temperatures above 18 ° Celsius. The f stands for sufficient precipitation for all months. The annual precipitation of a rain forest is greater than 1500 mm. Tropical Rainforests from TeachersFirst.com. "Tropical rainforests are located along the equator." Description of a tropical rainforest plus links to Web resources on tropical rainforests. The Wild Habitat: The Rainforest . The rainforest is hot, humid, dark, and damp. It is home to many plants and animals. Learn more about the Baboon (Papio hamadryas), Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), Jaguar (Panthera onca), Orangutan (Pongo pgymaues), Tapir (Tapirus tapirus), and Tiger (Panthera tigris).        

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What was the name of the dioxin-containing defoliant used during the Vietnam war by the USA army?

Agent Orange - Vietnam War - HISTORY.com Agent Orange A+E Networks Introduction Agent Orange was a powerful mixture of chemical defoliants used by U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest cover for North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, as well as crops that might be used to feed them. The U.S. program of defoliation, codenamed Operation Ranch Hand, sprayed more than 19 million gallons of herbicides over 4.5 million acres of land in Vietnam from 1961 to 1972. Agent Orange, which contained the chemical dioxin, was the most commonly used of the herbicide mixtures, and the most effective. It was later revealed to cause serious health issues–including tumors, birth defects, rashes, psychological symptoms and cancer–among returning U.S. servicemen and their families as well as among the Vietnamese population. Google Operation Ranch Hand and Agent Orange From 1961 to 1972, the U.S. military conducted a large-scale defoliation program aimed at destroying the forest and jungle cover used by enemy North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops fighting against U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in the Vietnam War . U.S. aircraft were deployed to spray powerful mixtures of herbicides around roads, rivers, canals and military bases, as well as on crops that might be used to supply enemy troops. During this process, crops and water sources used by the non-combatant peasant population of South Vietnam could also be hit. In all, Operation Ranch Hand deployed more than 19 million gallons of herbicides over 4.5 million acres of land. Did You Know? The controversy over Agent Orange and its effects has persisted for more than four decades. As late as June 2011, debate continued over whether so-called "Blue Water Navy" veterans (those who served aboard deep-sea vessels during the Vietnam War) should receive the same Agent Orange-related benefits as other veterans who served on the ground or on inland waterways. The most commonly used, and most effective, mixture of herbicides used was Agent Orange, named for the orange stripe painted on the 55-gallon drums in which the mixture was stored. It was one of several “Rainbow Herbicides” used, along with Agents White, Purple, Pink, Green and Blue. U.S. planes sprayed some 11 million to 13 million gallons of Agent Orange in Vietnam between January 1965 and April 1970. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Agent Orange contained “minute traces” of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), more commonly known as dioxin. Through studies done on laboratory animals, dioxin has been shown to be highly toxic even in minute doses; human exposure to the chemical could be associated with serious health issues such as muscular dysfunction, inflammation, birth defects, nervous system disorders and even the development of various cancers. Agent Orange: Veteran Health Issues and Legal Battle Questions regarding Agent Orange arose in the United States after an increasing number of returning Vietnam veterans and their families began to report a range of afflictions, including rashes and other skin irritations, miscarriages, psychological symptoms, Type-2 diabetes, birth defects in children and cancers such as Hodgkin’s disease, prostate cancer and leukemia. In 1979, a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of 2.4 million veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange during their service in Vietnam. Five years later, in an out-of-court-settlement, seven large chemical companies that manufactured the herbicide agreed to pay $180 million in compensation to the veterans or their next of kin. Various challenges to the settlement followed, including lawsuits filed by some 300 veterans, before the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed it in 1988. By that time, the settlement had risen to some $240 million including interest. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Agent Orange Act, which mandated that some diseases associated with defoliants (including non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, soft tissue sarcomas and chloracne) be treated as the result of wartime service and helped codify the VA’s response to veterans with conditions related to their exposure to Agent Orange. Effects of Agent Orange on Vietnam In addition to the massive environmental impact of the U.S. defoliation program in Vietnam, that nation has reported that some 400,000 people were killed or maimed as a result of exposure to herbicides like Agent Orange. In addition, Vietnam claims half a million children have been born with serious birth defects, while as many 2 million people are suffering from cancer or other illness caused by Agent Orange. In 2004, a group of Vietnamese citizens filed a class-action lawsuit against more than 30 chemical companies, including the same ones that settled with the U.S. veterans in 1984. The suit, which sought billions of dollars worth of damages, claimed that Agent Orange and its poisonous effects left a legacy of health problems and that its use constituted a violation of international law. In March 2005, a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York , dismissed the suit; another U.S. court rejected a final appeal in 2008. Tags

Agent Orange

CITES is an international agreement on which environmental problem?

1000+ images about Agent Orange / Vietnam on Pinterest | Blood pressure, Air force and Vietnam A local Vietnam veteran wants others who served in the war to know about the Agent Orange Registry. The Department of Veterans Affairs screens for exposure to agent orange. Many vets don't show symptons until later in life. See More

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What prevents the earth's atmosphere from floating out into space?

NOAA/NASA SciJinks :: Why does the atmosphere not drift off into space? Why does the atmosphere not drift off into space? The answer in a word is... Gravity Fortunately for us, Earth’s gravity is strong enough to hold onto its atmosphere. Mars, for example, is less than half Earth’s size and around one-tenth Earth’s mass. Less mass means less gravitational pull. Mars’ atmosphere is only about 1/100th as dense as Earth’s. And, by the way, it is mostly CO2. The air at the bottom of the atmosphere is under a lot more weight than the air nearer the top. Like the acrobat at the bottom of a stack of acrobats, the air at the bottom of the atmosphere is under a lot more weight than the air nearer the top. That means, the air nearer Earth’s surface is squished by the air above it, and is thus denser. The higher you go in the atmosphere, the thinner the air becomes. Ninety-nine percent of the air is in the lowest 30 kilometers (19 miles) of the atmosphere. Yes, Earth’s atmosphere has weight. So we, here at the surface, at the bottom of the “stack,” have about 14.7 pounds of air pressing down on every square inch of our bodies! Fortunately, we’re used to it. We evolved down here, so our bodies can handle it. Higher in the atmosphere we begin to have problems. Even at 3,000 — 4,500 meters (around 10 — 15,000 feet) altitude, the air becomes thin enough that most people have trouble getting enough oxygen. If Earth were the size of a beach ball, the breathable atmosphere would be as thin as paper. Seeing our atmosphere from space shows us how thin and fragile it is. "Many astronauts have reported seeing that delicate, thin blue aura at the horizon of the daylit hemisphere - that represents the thickness of the entire atmosphere - and immediately, unbidden, contemplating its fragility and vulnerability. They worry about it. They have reason to worry.” Carl Sagan, Billions & Billions If each acrobat weighs 100 pounds, how much weight does each acrobat hold up? Is there any wonder the bottom acrobat is starting to look a little squashed?

Gravity

Which of the emissions from cars are acidic?

Atmosphere - Weather Science - Quatr.us Quatr.us > Physics > Weather > Atmosphere November 2016 - The atmosphere is the air that is wrapped all around a planet . Not all planets have atmospheres. In order to have an atmosphere, the planet has to have enough gravity to hold on to light atoms like hydrogen and helium and keep them from floating away into space. That means that the planet has to have a lot of mass . Because the force of gravity is stronger near the planet and gets weaker as you get further away, the atmosphere is thicker close to the ground and gradually gets thinner as you go further out into space . There is no sharp edge to the atmosphere. Earth, our own planet, has an atmosphere. When the Earth first formed, about four and a half billion years ago, Earth's atmosphere was almost entirely made of hydrogen and helium atoms, because they were the lightest atoms and floated to the top. But the Earth was still so hot, and the Sun heated the Earth so much, that most of the hydrogen and helium atoms ended up drifting off into space . A volcano in Costa Rica Soon after that, about 4.4 billion years ago , the Earth cooled down a lot. But there were still a lot of volcanoes that shot out steam , carbon dioxide , and ammonia. This created a new atmosphere made mostly of carbon dioxide and water , with some nitrogen . Then about three billion years ago , early prokaryotic cells , one of the earliest forms of life on Earth, began to use photosynthesis to get food for themselves. They made their food out of what was available - sunlight , carbon dioxide , and water . And they excreted (pooped out) what they didn't need - mainly oxygen . At first most of these oxygen atoms bonded with other atoms to form molecules , like this iron that has turned red by combining with oxygen. Iron that has turned red because of oxygen in the air After almost a billion years of millions of cells shooting out oxygen, everything that oxygen could join with had enough oxygen, and the leftovers began to pile up in the atmosphere. Quickly there got to be a lot of oxygen in the atmosphere, or in the air. By 2.2 billion years ago , the atmosphere was about 20 percent oxygen. We can see this early oxygen in old rocks, where about three billion years ago the iron in the rocks begins to be red from combining with the oxygen in the air (rusting). All this oxygen poisoned many kinds of early cells and they died off. But other cells evolved to use oxygen for their energy, and these cells also benefited from the development of an ozone layer, a layer of one kind of oxygen high in the atmosphere that keeps most of the Sun's ultraviolet light from reaching the Earth and causing sunburns. Since that time, the levels of these atoms in the air have changed from time to time, even though the atmosphere has continued to have a lot of oxygen in it. About 500 million years ago , the atmosphere was about 7 percent carbon dioxide . That was good for plants . About 300 million years ago , carbon dioxide was about where it is now, less than 1 percent. At about the same time, oxygen went up to about 35% of the atmosphere. Then carbon dioxide went up again, so that about 100 million years ago , the atmosphere was about 3% carbon dioxide. Big forests of giant ferns grew up because of all the carbon dioxide in the air, and the Earth got so warm that dinosaurs could live near the South Pole. Oxygen levels have also gone up and down over the last two billion years, though we don't understand the changes as well. Today, Earth's atmosphere, or air, is about 78 percent nitrogen (mostly from the ammonia shot out by volcanoes ), 21 percent oxygen (from photosynthesizing cells, mainly one-celled algae in the ocean), and less than one percent each of argon, carbon dioxide, and water. But because people are burning so much oil and coal that are made of carbon , we are releasing a lot more carbon dioxide into the air, and the percentage of carbon dioxide is going up. Right now the percentage of carbon dioxide is higher than it has been any time in the last 650,000 years (since the earliest people were beginning to leave Africa and travel around the Earth), and it is still going up quickly. This will cause the Earth to get warmer . Nobody knows exactly what this will mean for plants and animals on Earth, or for us.

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Which quarry in the Italian region of Tuscany is renowned for the quality of its marble?

Tuscany Travel Guide Share The sunny Italian region of Tuscany provides infinite allure for travelers. Artists, winemakers, monks and merchants make their home in the rustic medieval hilltop hamlets, rolling hills of olives and wine, bucolic farmlands strewn with poppies and sunflowers, and marvelous cities such as Florence. Read on to discover our favorite Tuscan treasures. Florence – The Streets Less Traveled The large crowds that visit Florence in the summer can make it feel a bit like Disneyland. To find real Florentine flavor and space to breathe, cross one of the three bridges over the Arno River to the district. Less crowded than the other side, its medieval backstreets are a labyrinth of picturesque lanes, alleyways, nooks and crannies. While you should definitely try to see attractions like Pitti Palace , the lovely Boboli Garden and the lesser-known Bardini Gardens beyond it, when you get to Oltrarno, leave the map behind and just wander. Let yourself be surprised by narrow lanes that open onto a piazza, antique shops and artisan studios where contemporary craftsmen continue Florentine traditions such as sculpture, leathercraft, metalwork, woodwork, goldsmithing and bookbinding. Superb family-style trattorias feature fresh and simple ingredients—and are mostly undiscovered by tourists. Practice your Italian in small markets, cafés and gelaterias as you sample local specialties and explore piazzas like Santo Spirito and Piazza Pitti. Florence – Medieval Church with a Breathtaking View Signs lead the way to a medieval hilltop church beyond Oltrarno and the old city walls of Florence. The story of San Miniato al Monte goes back to 250 A.D., when St. Minias—an Armenian prince turned Christian hermit—was beheaded for his faith. Legend has it that St. Minias carried his own head over the Arno River and made his way up the hillside that overlooks Florence, where he laid himself to rest. The church was built in his honor in 1013, with an adjoining monastery erected around it. Michelangelo looked after the church during the Siege of Florence (1530), devising a plan of defense that included placing two cannons on top of the bell tower and hanging monks’ mattresses from its walls to absorb the impact from incoming cannonballs. Meticulously planned, the church is filled with fascinating symbolism , geometry and zodiacs (its façade resembles an owl). Impressive frescoes can be found inside and out. The adjoining gift shop sells honey, soap and liqueurs made by the monks. On summer weekdays, the monks accompany mass with Gregorian chants in the crypt at 5:30 p.m. Day or night, regardless of the season, the view is outstanding. Arezzo – A Medieval Pot of Gold Southeast of Florence, Arezzo presides on a hill overlooking four valleys. A haven of goldsmiths and jewelers, it’s also home to boutique shops and beautiful Renaissance and Romanesque architecture of red brick, stucco and stone. Monuments, churches and museums like the Casa di Giorgio Vasari provide historical and artistic interest, while small alleyways, piazzas, quiet streets and the Corso Italia—a pedestrian-only avenue to the old city center­—make it a great, uncrowded place to explore on foot. The steeply graded Piazza Grande in the old town marks the center of this ancient commune and features a town hall that dates back to the 6th century. Take a seat at one of the surrounding cafés for a cool drink, gelato or panini. Pop into the town’s tavernas and trattorias to sample local specialties like acquacotta (peasant bread soup made with porcini mushrooms), ribollita (a bean and vegetable soup) and the famous Chianina steak (aka Bistecca Fiorentina), paired with one of the area’s fantastic wines. Summer events in Arezzo provide great souvenir shopping and entertainment. On the first Sunday of the first full weekend of each month, an antique fair is staged on the Piazza Grande. Spilling over to adjacent streets, hundreds of stalls offer everything from wrought-iron implements, cooking utensils and furniture to art prints, paintings, books and handblown glass. In June (on the third Sunday) and September (on the first Sunday), the piazza transforms into a medieval square that hosts the annual Joust of the Saracens , a knights’ tournament held here since the Middle Ages. Vinci – Home of the Master Find all things da Vinci in this little town. In addition to the Leonardiano Museum (filled with the legend’s models and plans), you can visit La Casa Natale di Leonardo , the olive farm where Italy’s most celebrated Renaissance man was born. Artists still thrive in this area, including the brothers of Fratelli Taccini , who have a studio just south of Vinci. The three siblings— Alessandro, Fulvio and Vittorio —carry on the legacy of their father. Blending traditional, modern, Tuscan and Italian sensibilities in their incredible ceramics and artwork, they have been honored with exhibits at the Vatican and around the globe. Take a tour of the studio or sign up for a class at the Fratelli Taccini pottery school. Taking place in the brothers’ bottega (workshop), the training includes everything you need to know to create paintings, ceramics and sculpture, such as using a potter’s wheel and working with modeling clay. Choose a partial-day class or dive in with a weekend course. Sinalunga – The Hill Town Less Traveled Just 30 minutes from Siena on the border of Umbria, Sinalunga is perched atop a hill like many Tuscan towns, but has a working-class appearance that makes many pass it by. As a result, it’s still quite charming. Piazza Garibaldi hosts a weekly Tuesday market and is home to a stuccoed church and Bar L’angolo , where men congregate to play cards, sip espresso and enjoy outstanding gelato. Just south of town, Locanda dell’Amorosa is a Tuscan fairytale with its long, cypress-lined driveway leading up to a 14th-century hamlet that’s now a luxury hotel. It makes a great base for exploring Tuscany, but you may not want to leave the pebbled courtyard and stunning surroundings, which are populated by grapevines and olive trees. When you get tired, take a nap in the manor house among its period artworks and antiques. Finish the day with a garden-grown supper on the covered terrace. Catellina in Chianti – Tuscan Castle Castello La Leccia was already in existence in 1077 when 16 owners claimed rights to this hilltop paradise. Bombed during World War II, the castle’s medieval tower was partially destroyed, along with an 18th-century wing of the villa. Since then, the great-grandchildren of owner Giuliano Daddi have infused new life into this incredible piece of Tuscan history through meticulous reconstruction. A tree-lined driveway sets the stage and delivers guests to the castle’s perch, which enjoys a stunning 360° view of the Tuscan valley. It’s hard to resist sitting on the pebbled terrace surrounded by roses, looking over olive groves and vineyards or strolling through the manicured garden, taking in the sweet smell of jasmine. You can also lounge by the pool with a book from the castle shelves, and tour the estate’s winery in the afternoon for a fascinating history and a sample of the farm’s bounty. At the table, wine and olive oil that are sustainably grown and harvested onsite are served with traditional Tuscan cuisine. Twelve elegant, spotless rooms feature wooden floors and beamed ceilings—but it’s the outstanding views and warm hospitality that elevate Castello La Leccia to Tuscan perfection. Photo courtesy of Castello La Leccia. Monteriggioni – Isolated Mountain Fortress Along the backroads of Tuscany between Florence and Rome, you’ll find olive orchards, wild poppies and the walled village of Monteriggioni . Built in the 13th century by the Siennese as a military outpost along the Florentine border, Monteriggioni’s massive walls and 14 towers still stand. Walk through narrow, winding alleys past rustic houses and the public gardens that were once the primary food source of the inhabitants of the town, and imagine what life was like for the soldiers, farmers and artisans who once lived here. Monteriggioni’s heritage is placed on display during the annual Medieval Festival in mid to late July. With amazing period costumes, performers, music, demonstrations and food, the festival fills the town’s piazza. Photo courtesy of Relais La Costa . Carrara – The Italian Marble Mecca North of Pisa in the shadow of the Apuan Alps, Carrara is renowned for its white marble. Home to marble mines for over 2,000 years, it is here that Michelangelo spent years of his life personally quarrying stone for his sculptures, including David and the Pietà in Florence. Emperor Augustus even refashioned Rome from brick to marble, using the finely grained, hard stone that could withstand weather and discoloring. In front of the home where Michelangelo lived in Carrara, the Cathedral of St. Andrew is made entirely of this exquisite white marble. Sculpture studios and sculpture schools dot the town. To discover the genesis of all this grandeur, take a 4×4 jeep tour to see the fantastic Fantiscritti Mines . It’s not far from town, but you’ll need to navigate hairpin turns to get there. In addition to exploring the small, outdoor museum with its marble-working tools, you can tour the huge mine chambers that are the size of cathedrals. Within the soaring walls of the quarry, you’ll learn how the cutting and pulling of marble blocks has turned into an art form. The setting is so visually compelling, it has served as the backdrop for fashion shows as well as Lamborghini and Maserati ads. Travel Tips: Tuscany Since Tuscany is such a popular destination, a mind-boggling amount of information exists for visitors. We’ve narrowed it down to eight great tips that get you on the right track. Read on for pointers on how to dress, where to eat, what to say and where to stay on a summer journey to Tuscany. Late is Great Although its neighbor, Switzerland, shines in punctuality, Italy is the relaxed, carefree opposite. Do not expect timely trains or buses, and leave yourself extra time when you take public transportation to special events and appointments. During the summer, Italians tend to dine later—lunch around 1:00 p.m. and dinner after 8:00 p.m. Restaurants are often closed between meal services, unless they’re located in a popular tourist area. Italians generally enjoy leisurely dining. Waiters typically won’t interrupt you with a bill, so you’ll need to request one. In the hot summer months, Italian piazzas come to life late in the evening when locals enjoy the social scene. Take the Wheel To get to Tuscany’s small towns, driving is the only way to go—unless you’re planning a hiking or biking tour. You’ll need a good map or GPS; review road rules and signs   before taking the wheel. The modern toll highways, called Autostradas (A), are the fastest way to get between major cities, while Provincial (SP), regional (SR) and state highways (SS) are often more scenic. The winding Via Cassia   (SR2) and Via Chiantigiana (SR222) in Chianti are great examples. Driving and parking in cities like Florence , Siena and even ancient medieval towns can pose a challenge due to pedestrian-only zones, narrow passageways, one-way streets and limited traffic zones (ZTL) that require special permits. To get around this, use a car park outside of town (see parking maps for Florence and Siena ) and walk in, or drive to a rail station and take the train or a cab into town. Speak the Language Outside of large cities (and even in some parts of them), Italians may give you a blank stare if you speak English. If you speak a little Italian—even using a few key phrases with hand gestures—you may get a more welcome reception from locals. Take a phrase book or download a translation app for your smartphone, and you can generally make your way around most places and have a unique cultural-immersion experience, to boot. If you want to download an app, try the SayHi Universal Voice Translator , which translates whatever you speak into your iPhone®, iPod touch® or iPad® so that someone else can hear it. Rent A Villa or Farmhouse Many travelers dream of spending time in the Tuscan campagna (countryside). A great way to do this is by renting a private residence. An agriturismo is a working vineyard or farm , where owners live onsite and rent out rooms or apartments . Many offer all meals or some meals (full board or half board). Tastings and tours of the farm may also be included. If you prefer your own plot of land to share with family and friends, book a private villa. Owners of villas rent out suites or the entire villa to one party, normally for weeklong periods. Villas typically consist of a kitchen, living room, bedrooms, bathrooms and outdoor areas; owners usually do not live onsite. You can choose a villa located on a vineyard, one with a pool , or one with special services like wine tasting, private excursions, concerts, cooking classes or a private chef. Regional Cuisine With an abundance of fabulous regional dining at your fingertips, you’ll want to get a taste of the real Italy at the right places. The Guida alle Osterie d’Itali lists simple, honest Italian trattorias and osterias known for regional cuisine with warm, casual ambience. Now in its 17th edition, this guide focuses on locales that best portray local flavor and character, with an emphasis on quality, value and artisanal tradition. Formerly available only in Italian, the new edition, Osterie & Locande d’Italia , comes in English and includes accommodation listings that reflect Italy’s old-fashioned hospitality. It’s a great resource when you’re on the road. Monastic Retreats If you’re looking for an unusual overnight, try an Italian monastery . These historic centers often offer inexpensive accommodation to both pilgrims and secular travelers. Rather than luxury, monasteries offer spiritual simplicity as practiced by the monks, often within superb scenery and spectacular ancient buildings. Options include: Foresteria del Monastero di Camaldoli: Located east of Florence; 11th-century Benedictine monastery; borders a national park Foresteria del Santuario della Verna: Located east of Florence; built in the 13th-century; run by Franciscan friars If you want to visit a monastery, but don’t want to stay overnight, try these: Monte Oliveto Maggiore: Located south of Sienna; be sure to catch the Gregorian chants Sant’Antimo: Located south of Montalcino; two-bell tower What to Wear Italians are notoriously fashionable and tend to dress more formally than Americans—especially in the city. In the heat of the Tuscan summer, women should leave the jeans at home and stick with lightweight, light-colored capris , casual dresses , skirts , shorts , cotton blouses and nice tees . It’s a good idea to bring a cardigan for cool nights and overzealous air-conditioners. Men should pack lightweight pants and long shorts in breathable fabrics, along with short-sleeved collared shirts . As always, good walking shoes will make your trip much more enjoyable. Respect the Culture When visiting Italy’s religious attractions, visitors should be respectful, dress modestly and cover up. Even if guards aren’t present to enforce the rules, parishioners at some churches may find it offensive if you wear shorts, tank tops and sleeveless clothing. “Church appropriate” means shoulders, thighs, midriffs and cleavage should be covered. Hemlines should fall to the knees or lower. If you want to wear a sleeveless dress or top, pack a lightweight shawl or cardigan (in a tote ) to put on. Pack lightweight capris or a knee-length skirt if you plan to visit a church. Ready to Go? Don’t forget to consult our free packing guides and destination guides before you pack your bags.

Carrara

What is the name given to the geological time period of 363-290 million years ago during which coal measures were formed?

ITALY - Phase 2 (Italy 1/Italian Lakes), and Phase 4 (Italy 2/the Ligurian Coast, Elba, Corsica & Florence) — Monique's Reflections June 3 to July 4, 2014 French and Italian Rivieras, Plus Elba and Corsica, and Florence Independent + GCT cruise-tour Click photos to enlarge and see captions    Italian flag PHASE 2: During Italy’s first round, we stayed in Stresa, a lovely Italian city in the Piedmont region, in northern Italy. Across from our delightful hotel on the shore of Lake Maggiore, we could see what was the Swiss part of the Apennine Mountains, the southern tip of the Alps, which both countries share. We absolutely loved all three lakes, their shores lined with a plethora of elegant and obviously very expensive homes of all sizes and periods, surrounded by mountains, including the islands present on all three lakes. Trivia: The handsome – and rich -- George Clooney, owns such a house on a shore of Lake Como.  But he didn’t have the good taste to ask us in for a drink. Stresa - Isola Bella island, on Lake Maggiore Lake Borromeo has all three of the Borromean Islands: the biggest is called Isola Madre, and is almost completely covered with gardens; the best-known one, Isola Bella, is home to the Borromeo Palace and gardens which are the epitome of luxury and opulence, and bears the name of the famous Milanese banking family who has owned all three islands since the 1400s; and the smallest, Isola dei Pescatori (Fishermen’s Island), remains the small fishing village it has been since the first millennium. It became a favorite destination after Napoleon visit’s in 1797. When the Simplon tunnel, built beneath the Simplon Pass in the Alps, opened in 1906, international travel to the area from France and Switzerland became easier and Stresa flourished.  Trivia:  The current Borromeo family has married into the Agnelli family, of Fiat reputation, and I heard they still have a hard time making ends meet. Stresa - Hotel Verbano, Isola  Pescatore The smallest Fishermen’s Island is also the home of the Hotel Verbano which has two claims to fame. The first one is that it’s where Mussolini, de Gaulle and Churchill met in 1939 before the onset of WWII (with a photo of the document they all signed); the second one is that it’s where I had arranged, before we left the US, to take Robin out for dinner on his 70thbirthday, which fell the day after we got to Stresa. The hotel had its own shuttle boat pick us up on the beach of our hotel, and we found on it other people in the same celebratory mood: one for their 25th wedding anniversary, and the other a young Irish couple who had just gotten engaged the hour before! Stresa - Borromeo Palace, Isola Bella, on Lake Maggiore Although crowded, Isola Bella was a real gem. The Italian guide who took us around the Borromeo Palace was knowledgeable and funny. The Borromeo’s family motto, Humilitas – a Latin word that needs no translation --, present everywhere, from a carving in the lawn, to furniture and ceilings, instantly became a cause for amused smiles as endless opulence and visible signs of immense wealth unfolded during our visit. Stresa - Gardens of the Borromeo Palace, Isola Bella. on Lake Maggiore The pièce de résistance, however, was the gardens. The sprinkling rain present when we started their visit soon stopped and I was able to enjoy some great photo ops. Not the least of which were two or three white peacocks, obviously trained to show off for the tourists, which displayed their tails in all directions, gracefully spinning around to offer their audience their best sides. Truly a feast for the eyes. The trip to Lake Como included visiting the city of Bellaggio, nicknamed “the Pearl of Lake Como,” which we reached by hydrofoil. Dating back to the Roman Empire, the city is located at the tip of the peninsula which separates the two arms of Lake Como, and is nothing but picturesque climbing old narrow streets and stairs. The Rockefeller Foundation has operated its Bellaggio Center on Lake Como since 1960 through two main programs: residencies and conferences.  Bellaggio, on Lake Como  We loved Stresa and the Lakes so much that I would have been just as happy staying there for the duration, and swimming daily in Lake Maggiore. But on we went to France to meet our base group in Cannes, via Lake Orta -- another little jewel of the Lakes region -- and the northern city of Torino, capital of the Piedmont region. Orta - San Giulio island From Orta, a local ferry took us to San Giulio Island, a 900-ft long island dating back to the fifth century, whose basilica, built in the 1840’s, became a Benedictine Monastery in 1976. The cloistered Benedictine order prevents nuns from having any contact with the outside.  Trivia: When we saw, from our boat, a nun rushing in when we came in sight of the garden where she was working, we couldn’t help but wonder how on earth a cloistered convent could function in such a highly touristic area. Northern Italy is the economic heart of the country (finance, fashion, etc. based in Milan, capital of the Lombardia region), prides itself in being the most sophisticated, and looks down on southerners harking from Rome and Naples. In turn, Southerners think Northerners are snobs and don’t know how to live. Northerners betray their northern genes by having a lot of blond and blue-eyed people, as opposed to the dark-haired and –eyed people found in the south. Torino - Palazzo Carignano, and Museo del Risorgimento (Military Museum) The urban area of Turin amounts to well over a million people, and was Italy’s first capital in 1861, in the valley of the river Po. Its origin goes back to the first century, with Roman and medieval influences evident in its palaces, forts and towers. Because of its annexation by the French Empire in 1802, the city has the airiness and urban layout of many European cities, including Paris, with arcades, large tree-lined avenues and elegant squares. Robin went by himself to enjoy Turin’s not-famous-enough Egyptian Museum, which is the second largest in the world after Cairo. He was very impressed, and I was sorry to miss it, but it was on my first “downtime day”.  Trivia: Italy’s capital was moved from Turin to Florence in 1865, and finally to Rome in 1870. Torino - Side wall of the Cinema Museum building However, I felt sufficiently refreshed in the afternoon to walk with him to the Cinema Museum. For a cinema lover like me, it was a true pleasure. Housed in the Mole Antonelliana Tower (completed in 1889 and 167.5 meters high), the space was originally intended to be a synagogue. This museum, now the 13th most visited one in Italy, is the brainchild of the art historian and collector Maria Adriana Polo, and is operated by the Foundation she created. Along the exhibition path of about 35,000 square feet on five levels, there are myriad little nooks around the ground floor of the central five-story high space, each showing different elements of the motion picture film industry, starting with pre-modern optical devices such as magic lanterns, and all phases of making a film. The fourth level was gallery after gallery of famous-movie posters.is marked the end of our stay in Torino. PHASE 3 started the next day, with going to Cannes by coach, to join the main group and subsequently sightsee on the French Riviera (See the June 2014 Paris and the French Riviera travelogue) before all boarding our ship for the cruise along the Ligurian Coast of the Mediterranean, also called the Italian Riviera. Santa Margherita Ligure The last and 4th PHASE took us from Nice down the Italian Riviera,  where our first stop was Santa Margherita Ligure, 22 miles southeast of Genoa, in the Italian region of Liguria. After many invasions and attacks, including other Italian city-states like Venice, and also Napoleon (of course…), Santa Margherita Ligure became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Italy in 1861. It has been a renowned tourist area since WWII. Its lovely port was a delight, as well as stunning examples of trompe-l’oeil -- a painting technique which makes the surface appear three-dimensional -- on many of the town’s buildings. Portofino, Italy, cinque terre region However, the pearl of the region, and very close to Santa Margherita, was the well-known village and port of Portofino, our destination the next afternoon. The approach to the bay/port from the ferry was just stunning. We were greeted in style by a symphony of glorious colors, both from the clear water and the buildings. A real aphrodisiac for a photographer. Again, our Director took the group on a walking tour up a steep hill to reach the castle, while I wisely stayed in town, and feasted my eyes on the sights, camera on hand, and taking it all in. Portovenere, cinque terre region That evening, we sailed to Porto Venere, our starting point the next morning to explore the long-awaited Cinque Terre region. Literally meaning “five villages,” this world-famous area is a cluster of terraces and houses carved intorocky cliffs which drop dramatically to the sea. We were supposed to see all of them from the water, but it was too windy (though very sunny) and the boats couldn’t go out. We did travel by train to visit two of these villages, only two of which are reachable by road (which is very time-consuming) since only the train or a boat service all of them (there is no car traffic possible or allowed in any of them).  Vernazza, Cinque Terre region In the morning, our coach took us to La Spezia, where we walked to the train station in the center of town. We took a train (all 20 of us; a bit tricky, but we all made it into and out of the train) to the last stop, Vernazza, which we visited on foot, downhill for a change, and again with endless photo ops. After climbing back up to the station, we all took take another train to our second village, Monterosso. Both equally beautiful, charming and as typical of the traditional Italian visual lore as you can all imagine. All five villages are part of the Cinque Terre National Park, and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Vernazza and Monterosso are the oldest of the five, dating back to the 11th century. The other three were more recent and built when they were under Genoan control. Fishing was always the main occupation and industry of these islands, until tourism took over in the 1970’s. A walking trail connects all five villages, as well as a ferry service (weather allowing).  Monterrosso, Cinque Terre region We learned of the tragic flood, caused by a landslide after much rain, which, in 2011, nearly wiped out Cinque Terre. There are two photos in the corresponding photo gallery which show one of the piazzas in the village of Monterosso after the flood, and the following year after it was re-built. The villagers are very proud of how fast and well they recovered from this awful disaster, to allow the return of tourists who are their bread and butter.  Trivia: While waiting an unusual amount of time for our train in Vernazza, pressed against a mob of people huddled on the platform, we discovered the reason for the delay: a German tourist, running after a gypsy who had just stolen her bag at one of the other stops, had fallen on the tracks and been killed by the oncoming train. This threw a damper on the elated mood of the day, and we made it back to our hotel with mixed feelings.  Lucca streets  Speaking of gypsies, they are an egregious problem in Italy, usually coming from Romania. They work tourists’ crowds, and our guide was good at warning us of their presence. One of our own group got his wallet stolen the first day we went out as a group. They have gotten more sophisticated, and operate in groups of three, dressed like tourists so they blend better. It appears that the Italian government’s attempts to help them settle are ignored by a population whose culture, because of centuries of history, prefers a vagrant, nomad life to a settled, self-supporting one.  Another source of social/economic pressure in Italy comes from the steady and daily influx of refugees from Africa (Italy is the closest country) via Libya. The south of Italy is particularly affected, even though it’s the poorest and least equipped to deal with it.  The next morning, we headed for Lucca, a Tuscan walled medieval city dating back to the Etruscans and the Roman era, whose walls, designed by Leonardo da Vinci, were never breached. The original Etruscan settlement became a Roman colony in 180BC. The second largest Italian city-state (after Venice), it remained independent over the centuries. Until, guess-who (I am getting embarrassed) conquered it in 1805, and installed his sister Elisa Bonaparte in what was later named the Ducal Palace. That same building now houses the Lucca City Hall, on the largest square of the city named after Napoleon by his sister. It remained a French possession until 1847 when it became part of Tuscany, and later of the Italian state.  Lucca - One of its original city walls, ramparts built in the 16th and 17th centuries Trivia: the Etruscan civilization developed after 800BC. Its origins are mostly lost in prehistory. Since historians have no literature, no original texts of religion or philosophy, much of what is known about this civilization today is derived from grave goods and tomb findings.  Giacomo Puccini, the opera composer (La Bohème, Madama Butterfly ) was born in Lucca, and Puccini Festival concerts are held on Piazza Napoleone every summer. They were setting up the bleachers when we were there, for the beginning of the season the next day. The Old Town within the walls is still where everything happens and is in Lucca, where no auto traffic is permitted outside of a small bus system running as a shuttle on given routes until 8:00PM. People have to walk or ride bikes, and car parks are available only outside the walls.  Lucca - Piazza del Anfiteatro The main attraction and center of Lucca’s social life and entertainment is the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, where used to stand an amphitheater going back to the first century AD. It became a plaza in the Middle ages, used for markets, games, in various buildings. It’s only in the 1800’s that an Italian architect turned it into the wide-open, elliptical space it is now, lined with medieval houses, shops, cafés and restaurants, and housing in the upper levels (photo).  I have to admit that, in Lucca as in most other places (except sites like in Florence), I skipped going into the many churches peppering every town, city and village we visited in Italy. Although I love architecture, monuments, sculpture, history and archaeology, I quickly feel saturated with churches in general, especially the Renaissance art variety – which I don’t care for. The two combined kept me out of those dark spaces, thus giving me a chance to rest outside, on a shady bench.  Carrara - Marble quarries cut into the mountainside In the afternoon of that same day, we headed by coach to the town of Carrara, famous worldwide for its apparently endless supply of marble in its deep quarries. These are accessible through tunnels carved horizontally into the mountain, with several level of caves being dug upward into the mountain innards. Its white or blue-grey marble of very high quality was first used in the times of Ancient Rome. Carrara marble is much imitated in the world, but if it’s truly white, you know it’s Carrara. The following are a few of the famous statues that were made of this unique marble: Rome’s Pantheon; Michelangelo’s David; Siena’s Duomo; Harvard’s Medical School buildings; Chicago’s Aon Center; King Edward VII Memorial in Birmingham, England. Carrara - Tour of the Fantiscritti underground marble quarry in Carrara We had a guided tour at the Fanticristti quarry whose own shuttle buses took us down to the end of dark, ground-level tunnels, emerging in a cavernous, lunar landscape of white, stark, damp and cold marble walls stretching several hundred feet in all directions. The main cave was truly astounding. The temperature of around 65F is constant throughout the year – like all underground caves. We had to wear yellow hard hats, which added to the eerie lunar atmosphere. I was so awed by the visual impact of the space, and so busy taking photos, that I really didn’t pay enough attention to the very learned and informative discourse of our guide. I wish I had because I could then tell you how high, deep, long and wide that cavern was. But, too bad: you’ll have to make do with the photos. Or resort to Google to learn more! Bastia - Sailing into the port During the night, our ship sailed to Corsica, where we woke up in the port of Bastia, the northernmost city, to a landscape that was identical to what we had left the night before. But, once again, we had to switch language, since we were back in France! Though it wasn’t always that way, as I soon found out. Very few people in the US or in our hemisphere, know of Corsica. It’s an island famous mostly because that’s where Napoleon (again!) was born in 1769, in its southern capital of Ajaccio. It is 114 miles long and 52 miles wide, and is the most mountainous island in the Mediterranean. Situated north of the Italian island of Sardinia, it was historically always Italian, until 1769 when it was purchased from the Republic of Genoa by France. Trivia: Biographies of the Italian Christopher Columbus show him born in Genoa. However, he was actually born in Calvi in 1451, at a time when Calvi was under the rule of the Genoa City-state. But now you all know better. What I found fascinating as a French person was to find out that Corsica is really much more Italian than French. As, indeed, it has been for centuries. Their location and history indicate that it would make more sense if it were part of Italy. However, Corsicans don’t want to hear about being part of either country, because their nationalism is so fierce that they actually only want independence. It seems that they want the subsidies from the French mainland, but refuse to obey any of the French laws and prefer their own self-managed anarchy to order (they have their own Sicilian-style mafia).  There is a 20/80 love-hate relationship between Corsica and France, similar to that between Sicily and Italy. Bastia, Corsica Corsica’s main industry is tourism, and huge ferries ply the Mediterranean daily between several Corsican cities and Naples, Italy, as well as various places on the French Riviera – such as Nice where our ship was docked. Again, our walking tour took us to places and sights so very similar to the Italian sites we had visited, the sky was the same blue, so was the water as clear, old ruins from the same period were scattered on the shores and through the countryside. Except that I knew I was in France when I rushed into an empty restaurant in mid-afternoon to answer an urgent call of nature (no time to ask anyone, if you see what I mean), and was reprimanded when I got out because I hadn’t said “Bonjour” and asked if I could use the facilities. FYI: not the same in Paris or cities, where one can just go into a busy café, look for the sign “Toilettes” and head straight down (since they are always downstairs!). Trivia: Despite their reputation for being if not rude, at least unfriendly, the French have a social rule for any verbal exchange with anyone, that is to start with a friendly (or not) “Bonjour!” Then, and only then, can you proceed with the reason for your contact. I am so used to the American way of entering a store or an office to ask a question -- which is going straight to the point -- that over the many years, I had forgotten the importance of such preliminary ritual in a non-personal setting. St. Florent, Corsica - View of the port from the citadel We then were treated to the small village of St. Florent, a gem on the northwestern coast of the island, whose port might be the prettiest we’ve seen. After another walking tour of the old town and lovely port, Paolo treated us to a game of bocce ball (called pétanque in French) on a town court surrounded by the typical platanes (plane trees) found on most roads andtowns in France, with players volunteering from our group, on one of the shaded and lazy squares typical of the south. (He had brought his own set of boules and carried them in his gear the whole day!). I painlessly cheered them on while sipping a citron pressé (which we call home-made lemonade in the U.S.) After just an hour or two of sailing during the night, the next day was our discovery of the Italian island of Elba, with the main city of Portoferraio, so called because of its abundant iron mines (from ferrum, the Latin word for iron). Located 50 miles east of Corsica, Elba is the third largest of the Tuscan Archipelago, after Sicily and Sardinia (with French Corsica stuck among them). Also harking from Etruscan and Roman times, it is the only remnant of the stretch of land which used to connect southern Italy to Corsica. Portoferraio, Elba - Martello Tower and Sea Gate, in the Medici Castle It was a revelation for me. All I knew of Elba is that Napoleon had allegedly chosen that island for his 1814 exile because from there he could see his hometown of Ajaccio in Corsica. It’s famous for its beaches, archeological findings and military fortresses. The water was, indeed, stunning in its clarity and the shade of its blue. Which made me understand why Italians say they don’t have to go to the Caribbean Islands because they have their own in the Mediterranean. This quickly became obvious to us as we drove and walked (…) around the town This year of 2014 is marked by Elba’s celebration of the 200th anniversary of Napoleon ’s exile on the island. The Teatro dei Vigilanti is in an 18th-century church which was later transformed into a cultural theater, under the auspices of Napoleon (he wasn’t always bad, after all, right?).  It was abandoned, then restored, then abandoned again and finally permanently rehabilitated into a beautiful venue for concerts and plays in the mid-1980’s.. Volterra - Piazza del Priori After our last night, following the Captain’s Farewell dinner on the ship, we docked in Livorno, the town from where Florence is accessible from the sea. On the way to Florence, however, had been planned a very special treat. In the past, this stop used to be the famous city of Pisa, but past passengers had remarked that they’d have rather less time fighting the mobs of tourists to see the famous leaning tower, and more time to discover the unique town of Volterra. Our consensus was that it was a wise move to alter this year’s itinerary accordingly. Volterra - Abbey of San Giusto Like most of the towns we had previously visited in Tuscany, Volterra’s origins date back to the Etruscan, Roman, Medieval and Renaissance eras. A little jewel of superb ancient architecture, narrow winding streets lined with shops and restaurants, it felt truly magical to us. And a city almost solely built of stone, with stunning views of the surrounding valley below. We could have cheerfully stayed two lazy days strolling around. Its fame is due to the craft of alabaster-carving, a yellow-grey sandstone found nearby during the Miocene period, leading to the carving craft which has made it famous for centuries. There is numerous proofs that Etruscans used it a lot, while there is none covering the Medieval and Renaissance eras. However, the craft was “resurrected’ in the 18th century, because it’s easier to carve than marble, and ideal for intricate classic sculpture work. A visit to a large alabaster workshop gave us the opportunity to watch the owner demonstrate the creation of a vase from a rough chunk of stone. Volterra - Parade of archers in honor of the winner of the Archery championship Trivia: we happened to be there the day of the parade honoring the winner (female, mind you, not bad for chauvinistic Italy) of the Crossbow Tournament, marching through the streets of the old town to the Town Hall, to a medieval tune played on period instruments, and wearing period costumes. Florence American Cemetery and Memori After a great lunch in a local restaurant (with pasta to die for), we headed by coach to Florence, the last stage of our adventure. Outside of the city limits, our coach stopped at the impressive and moving American Cemetery and Memorial, commemorating all the Americans who died in Italy in WWII. Our hotel was in the center of the city, and we could walk everywhere. And that we did (…) We had been there two years ago, but so briefly because of the horrific crowds that we needed those four days to get really acquainted. This time, it was also hot and dry but less crowded, though gypsies were as ubiquitous as in other tourist sites. All walking tours were guided either by our own Paolo (who was born there, and rightfully oozing with pride for his city), or free-lance guides. One such lady did a wonderful job of the main highlights of the city, very articulate, and a fountain of knowledge. This time, we had a chance to truly admire again the Duomo, or cathedral, with its glorious doors, Campanile and Baptistery, and very famous dome, designed by the Italian architect Brunelleschi. We had more time for the Ponte Vecchio, and enjoyed several of the famed churches and monuments dating back to the Renaissance Medici family.   Trivia: The Duomo is the third largest church in the world, after St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The Ponte Vecchio is the only bridge in Florence which was not destroyed during WWII. Florence - Il Duomo cathedral Florence’s total urban area comprises 1.6 million inhabitants, is the capital city of Tuscany and the province of Florence, with the Arno river flowing through it.  Considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, it has been called “the Athens of the Middle Ages”. From 1865 to 1871, it was the capital city of the recently established Kingdom of Italy. A good part of its history revolves around and was under the control of the powerful and wealthy Medici family, whose statue of its first ruler, Cosimo I, stands in a variety of poses and places throughout the city. Outside of its production of fine leather, Florence’s main industry is tourism. Florence - Basilica of San Lorenzo Of Florence’s many churches, we admired Santa Maria Novella; the Basilica of Santa Croce – the burial place of famous Italians such as Galileo, Machiavelli, Rossini, and, of course, Michelangelo; and the Basilica of San Lorenzo, including the Medici Chapels, next to the Medici Palace. Florence - Details of the original DAVID by Michelangelo, at the Accademia Museum Trivia: Michelangelos’ real name was Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, born on March 6, 1475 and died on February 18, 1564, a very ripe age for that era. We didn’t visit the Uffizi Gallery (the equivalent of Paris’s Louvre) because of the need to reserve tickets way in advance, but we did visit the Accademia Gallery. This small museum houses the original sculpture of Michelangelo’s David, a masterpiece sculpted in one single block of marble. The details of his anatomy (I am talking about the veins on his hands, though the rest of it wasn’t bad either) are absolutely astounding. The other part of the museum held an awesome collection/exhibition of ancient musical instruments, going back to the 16th and 17th centuries. Robin drooled in front of the Amati and Stradivarius cellos safely ensconced in glass display case. Florence - Housing part of the murate complex Having Paolo, a native Florence person, as a guide provided us with a treat that would have gone unnoticed with somebody else: the Le Murate Complex. The buildings originally were a convent built in 1424, then transformed into a prison in 1845 and used as such until 1985, to be finally rehabilitated in the 1990’s. At that time, it was turned into a cultural and housing complex which has become a main center of art and contemporary music, essential to Florence’s night life. Renzo Piano, the famous Italian architect who also designed the Pompidou Museum in Paris, the Morgan Library in New York City, and the Maison Hermès in Tokyo, conceived and directed the restoration project. Managed by the Foundation of the same name, the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights moved its European headquarters from Rome to the Le Murate Center two years ago, in a brand new space. Trivia: As proof that Italians know so well how to enjoy life and its varied pleasures, an Italian-made and more luxurious than usual coach had an espresso machine for passengers to help themselves as they board. The whole idea is decadent, but sublime. Even for one who doesn’t like or drink coffee.  Florence - The Ponte Vecchio Born in Florence, the Italian poet Dante, of Divine Comedy fame, started a modernist movement by changing from Latin to the Tuscan vernacular for his many works. He wanted to make them available to and understandable by all, thus switched to every day language in his area. Which is why the Italian spoken in Tuscany eventually became the official Italian language.  On the fifth day, we flew back to Minneapolis, via Amsterdam on an uneventful flight. Our flights are always uneventful, and we aren’t complaining. I couldn’t even estimate how many miles we covered in these four weeks, especially in Italy, whether on foot or in coaches, ship, ferry or train. At the end of this, the probably most physically demanding of all our trips and cruises, I was  exhausted and glad to go home. But we had a great time, and will treasure the memories of those sights and sites that we probably never will see again.   Arrivederci!

i don't know

Which is further north, the tropic of cancer or the tropic of Capricorn?

The Equator, Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn By Matt Rosenberg Updated August 31, 2016. Three of the most significant imaginary lines running across the surface of the Earth are the equator, the Tropic of Cancer, and the Tropic of Capricorn. While the equator is the longest line of latitude on the Earth (the line where the Earth is widest in an east-west direction), the tropics are based on the sun's position in relation to the Earth at two points of the year. All three lines of latitude are significant in their relationship between the Earth and the sun. The Equator The equator is located at zero degrees latitude . The equator runs through Indonesia, Ecuador, northern Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , and Kenya, among other countries . It is 24,901.55 miles (40,075.16 kilometers) long. On the equator, the sun is directly overhead at noon on the two equinoxes - near March and September 21. The equator divides the planet into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. On the equator, the length of day and night are equal every day of the year - day is always twelve hours long and night is always twelve hours long. continue reading below our video Overview of the Four Seasons The Tropic of Cancer and The Tropic of Capricorn The Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn each lie at 23.5 degrees latitude. The Tropic of Cancer is located at 23.5° North of the equator and runs through Mexico, the Bahamas, Egypt, Saudi Arabia , India, and southern China. The Tropic of Capricorn lies at 23.5° South of the equator and runs through Australia, Chile, southern Brazil (Brazil is the only country that passes through both the equator and a tropic), and northern South Africa . The tropics are the two lines where the sun is directly overhead at noon on the two solstices - near June and December 21. The sun is directly overhead at noon on the Tropic of Cancer on June 21 (the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of winter in the Southern Hemisphere) and the sun is directly overhead at noon on the Tropic of Capricorn on December 21 (the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of summer in the Southern Hemisphere). The reason for the location of the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5° north and south respectively is due to the axial tilt of the Earth. The Earth is titled 23.5 degrees from the plane of the Earth's revolution around the sun each year. The area bounded by the Tropic of Cancer on the north and Tropic of Capricorn on the south is known as the "tropics." This area does not experience seasons because the sun is always high in the sky. Only higher latitudes, north of the Tropic of Cancer and south of the Tropic of Capricorn, experience significant seasonal variation in climate. Realize, however, that areas in the tropics can be cold. The peak of Mauna Kea on the big island of Hawaii stands nearly 14,000 feet above sea level, and snow is not unusual. If you live north of the Tropic of Cancer or south of the Tropic of Capricorn, the sun will never be directly overhead. In the United States, for example, Hawaii is the only location in the country that is south of the Tropic of Cancer, and it is thus the only location in the United States where the sun will be directly overhead in the summer.. Prime Meridian While the equator divides the Earth into Northern and Southern Hemispheres , it is the Prime Meridian at zero degrees longitude and the line of longitude opposite the Prime Meridian (near the International Date Line ) at 180 degrees longitude that divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres . The Eastern Hemisphere consists of Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia while the Western Hemisphere includes North and South America . Some geographers place the boundaries between the hemispheres at 20° West and 160° East so as to not run through Europe and Africa. Unlike the equator and the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, the Prime Meridian and all lines of longitude are completely imaginary lines and have no significance with regard to the Earth or to its relationship with the sun.

Tropic of Cancer

What name is given to your angular distance on the Earth's surface relative to the equator?

Tropic of Cancer - Overview and Geography By Amanda Briney Updated November 30, 2016. The Tropic of Cancer is a line of latitude circling the Earth at approximately 23.5° north of the equator. It is the northernmost point on Earth where the sun's rays can appear directly overhead at local noon. It is also one of the five major degree measures or circles of latitude dividing the Earth (the others are the Tropic of Capricorn, the equator, the Arctic Circle and the Antarctic Circle). The Tropic of Cancer is significant to Earth's geography because, in addition to being the northernmost point where the sun's rays are directly overhead, it also marks the northern boundary of tropics , which is the region that extends from the equator north to the Tropic of Cancer and south to the Tropic of Capricorn. Some of the Earth's largest countries and/or cities are at or near the Tropic of Cancer. For example, the line passes through United States' state of Hawaii, portions of Central America, northern Africa, and the Sahara Desert and is near Kolkata , India. continue reading below our video Overview of the Four Seasons It should also be noted that because of the greater amount of land in the Northern Hemisphere the Tropic of Cancer passes through more cities than the equivalent Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere . Naming of the Tropic of Cancer At the June or summer solstice (around June 21) when the Tropic of Cancer was named, the sun was pointed in the direction of the constellation Cancer, thus giving the new line of latitude the name the Tropic of Cancer. However, because this name was assigned over 2,000 years ago, the sun is no longer in the constellation Cancer. It is instead located in the constellation Taurus today. For most references though, it is easiest to understand the Tropic of Cancer with its latitudinal location of 23.5°N. Significance of the Tropic of Cancer In addition to being used to divide the Earth into different parts for navigation and marking the northern boundary of the tropics, the Tropic of Cancer is also significant to the Earth's amount of solar insolation and the creation of seasons . Solar insolation is the amount of incoming solar radiation on the Earth. It varies over the Earth's surface based on the amount of direct sunlight hitting the equator and tropics and spreads north or south from there. Solar insolation is most at the subsolar point (the point on Earth that is directly beneath the Sun and where the rays hit at 90 degrees to the surface) which migrates annually between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn because of the Earth's axial tilt. When the subsolar point is at the Tropic of Cancer, it is during the June solstice and this is when the northern hemisphere receives the most solar insolation. During the June solstice, because the amount of solar insolation is greatest at the Tropic of Cancer, the areas north of the tropic in the northern hemisphere also receive the most solar energy which keeps it warmest and creates summer. In addition, this is also when the areas at latitudes higher than the Arctic Circle receive 24 hours of daylight and no darkness. By contrast, the Antarctic Circle receives 24 hours of darkness and lower latitudes have their winter season because of low solar insolation, less solar energy and lower temperatures. Click here to see a simple map showing the location of the Tropic of Cancer. Reference

i don't know

Which landlocked Asian country is described as the world's 'highest rubbish dump' because of all the refuse left behind by expeditions?

Asia Times Online :: Letters     Letters      Please provide your name or a pen name, and your country of residence. Lengthy letters run the risk of being cut. Please note: This Letters page is intended primarily for readers to comment on ATol articles or related issues. It should not be used as a forum for readers to debate with each other. The Edge is the place for that. The editors do not mind publishing one or two responses to a reader's letter, but will, at their discretion, direct debaters away from the Letters page. Letters 2013 [Re Jeju port rises to territorial challenge , Dec 19, 2013] Sung Chan Kim and Seok-ho Kang swiftly concludes the obvious as a response to China's initiative in the South Asia Sea. They are too quick to pat themselves on the back. The construction of a military industrial port on Jeju was quickly understood from the very germ of the idea. In other words, South Korea had China very much in its cross hairs. Now that Beijing is flexing crudely its geopolitical muscle, South Korea rushes into to proclaim to the world see how prescient we were to anticipate China's moves. Stuff and nonsense, since Seoul and its US protector's project initially was a red flag to a resurgent China. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Dec 20, '13) [Re China vs US 'sea-to-shining-sea' , Dec 18, '13] Letďż˝s see. US Vice President Joe Biden was in China a couple weeks ago; coincidentally, Apple Inc announced a tentative partnership with China Mobile, thereby greatly increasing the devices companyďż˝s potential customer base. Seems both the Americans and the Chinese understand very well that (geo)politics largely serves economics. On the other hand, the countries that fail to fully grasp this relationship will likely be left holding an empty bag once the economic train has left the station. (But I suppose they all can feel good about themselves by patting one another on the back.) John Chen USA (Dec 20, '13) [Re Uyghurs shot dead in Xinjiang violence , Dec 19, '13] I do not know what type of veil would be used by a Uyghur Chinese woman though there are Muslim fundamentalists who cover their whole face except for the pair of eyes. If this was the case, the police have the right to lift the veil to identify the person. The police chief, Memet Sidiq, must have known the tradition as he himself is a Uyghur Chinese. Besides, attacking police is never allowed in any country, not even in the US. This is the third article submitted by RFA's Uyghur Service on this issue. They have made Asia Times Online a forum to justify their violent acts. Wendy Cai United States (Dec 20, '13) Some time next year the US will "officially" withdraw its armed forces from Afghanistan. I doubt that we'll see the last commanding Amerikan general cross a bridge behind a tank like the Soviets did in 1989, or see TV images of hapless Amerikans and luckless Afghans climbing desperately onto fleeing helicopters from the Kabul Embassy roof a la Saigon 1975. Of course, the Empire is not about to abandon a 13 year war without some kind of intelligence and military presence remaining behind, if for no other reason than to act as a figleaf to mask the debacle. But make no mistake about it; the Empire has been decisively defeated, if not humiliated, by the ragtag Afghan insurgency and its not-so-invisible supporters. The humiliation comes not so much for the fact that the allegedly mightiest military machine in the history of planet earth was unable to quell a fifth rate insurrection in the Third World (Vietnam had already proven that was possible) as from the fact that our alleged most important regional allies, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, betrayed, manipulated and subverted every move we made in Afghanistan, with impunity, gall and, in the case of Pakistan, an open hand demanding ever more money, weapons and political support. They played Uncle Sam for the sucker he still very much is. Both Muslim countries actively funded, supported and trained the Taliban and mujahadin fighters throughout the conflict, all the time pretending to assist the US and its NATO stooges in suppressing the rebellion against Washington's puppet government in Kabul. In Pakistan's case, this meant accepting US money while it helped the Taliban kill Amerikan soldiers, train its own anti-Indian guerilla forces in Kashimir, augment its nuclear weapons program and prepare for a post-Amerikan Kabul government firmly beholden to Islamabad. Saudi Arabia, with its own agenda of cementing Afghanistan as a bulwark against Shi'a Iran and establishing a Central Asian bridgehead of Wahhabi fanaticism, continues to frustrate US intelligence efforts to root out al-Qaeda cells in the Arabian peninsula, promotes American hatred in all the madrasas worldwide it funds, and relays intelligence from Amerika to the selected al-Qaedists it supports. Both countries consider Amerika as the infidel crusader state that sooner or later will skeedaddle from the Middle East, just like their European predecessors did. They also know that Judgment Day looms for those Afghans foolish enough to have thrown in their lot with the feckless, here-today-gone-tomorrow, treacherous imperialists. Proof of this is what will happen in 2014 when al those poor Afghans who actively supported Western democratizing reforms will face lethal retribution from the victorious Taliban. Too bad these Afghans didn't ask the South Vietnamese how well their relationship with Amerika worked out. So no Muslim country will play honest with the US, who they consider little better than raping, pillaging crusader-dogs who will scurry out of Dodge with their tails between their legs when the going gets tough. Indeed, history is littered with the names of countries we've abandoned when our short attention span has been diverted, making us perhaps the most unreliable ally in history. Not to mention the most gullible. H Campbell Texas (Dec 20, '13) [Re Canberra risks more by crossing China , Dec 16, '13] We know Brendan P O'Reilly is a China-based writer and educator from Seattle, however at the risk of nitpicking, I must inform Brendan that Australia does not have cattle ranches, we have cattle stations. Next Brendan posits: "In the (highly unlikely) event of a war in the East China Sea, would Australian marines...". Brendan, Australia doesn't have marines - lots of SAS and commandos, but no marines. Yes it is nitpicking I know, but corrections are sometimes necessary to prevent false impressions being formed. The rest of the article quite correctly highlights a clueless conservative government with the diplomacy skills of a sledge hammer. Ian C Purdie Sydney, Australia (Dec 18, '13) Pope Francis felt the need recently to announce he was "no Marxist". I guess this is because some knuckle dragging Neoconderthals here in the Empire didn't take too kindly to his denunciation of Amerikan Kapitalism and thus they characterized him as some kind of hippie revolutionary with long hair and wearing a toga and sandals. Mind you, these types are typically right wing WASPs who have an aversion to Catholics in the first place and are certain Jesus will return bedecked with Rolexes, Gucci shoes an Armani three piece and several accounts with Goldman Sachs. Their vision of Christianity cherrypicks "their" Bibles to make predatory financial practices positively divine, not to mention condoning aggressive war, gun violence and naked imperialism. Camels passing through needles' eyes and sharing fish and loaves with freeloading sermon attendees are scriptural inconveniences not highlighted in their hypocritical version of the faith. But the fact is that Christianity is merely religious Marxism and Marxism political Christianity, essentially opposite sides of the same coin. Though for political reasons this equation has in the past been seldom emphasized or even discussed to a mass audience, church intellectuals have grappled for centuries with the growing chasm between a faith that exalts poverty and sacrifice and a secular world that worships mammon and self-aggrandizement. Marxism appealed to many churchmen as a political method to implement their faith, most especially in Latin America during the 80s in the liberation theology movement. Pope Francis, who seems to appreciate more than most recent popes just how far his church has strayed to The Dark Side, has made a concerted effort to walk the walk of sincere humility, which has already ruffled the feathers of many in his flock content with the status quo ante of insincere faith, meaningless ecclesiastic ritual, indifference to social injustice, hypocrisy about economic inequality and the neglect of personal despair. So his guarded but unmistakable condemnation of the philosophy that the Empire has been built on, a philosophy that has justified and encouraged genocide, enslavement, war, impoverishment, famine, depression and ecoslaughter, has not surprisingly been met with defensive opprobrium by the erstwhile defenders of the indefensible here in Wonderland. What stings for these extremist demagogues of the airwaves is that the words of disapproval come not from a secular liberal they can dismiss out of hand by simply branding them as such, but from someone recognized by millions as being a personal spokesman of God Himself. But by labeling him a "Marxist," the neoconmen reduce the Pope to a secular level that does not merit the protection of religious sanctity; ergo, he becomes fair game to their usual litany of mouth-foaming calumny that excites and delights their hordes of white trash evolutionary rejects. The day will come when Amerika embraces Marxism as the only rational alternative to the thoroughly evil and corrupt version of kapitalism practiced here, but only after God has passed a severe judgment on our transgressions and sins. And despite the travails experienced so far here in the Empire, we ain't seen nuthin' yet. H Campbell Texas (Dec 17, '13) [Re Kim the petulant strikes out and Dissent in North Korea , Dec 16, '13] Isn't it time to put pop psychology aside? As a Russian Tatiana Gabroussenko would do better to study Soviet history for clues behind a settling of scores. Too much ink has been spilled in the press about Jang Song-thaek's execution, with much speculation and wild guessing. His end has provided politicians with the occasion to grandstand and revive Cold War rhetoric. (At least Kim Jong-eun hasn't got drones to do his bidding secretly.) South Korea's President Park Geun-hye , as well as US Secretary of State John Kerry, fret over Kim Jong-eun launching a military strike, thereby renewing the unfinished Korean War. Gabroussenko pleads for the common man in North Korea. And yet, US and South Korean policy say is aggressive towards North Korea and its ill founded sanctions have done more to harm the health and safety of the ordinary North Korean by, above all, denying him food. DeTrani talks of dissent. But what do the CIA analysts truly know of dissent in the DPRK after spending billions in intelligence speculation and proffering wild conclusions? Even the Chinese were taken aback by Jang's dismissal and death. Let's get real. Since the death of Jang, Kim Jong-eun has appeared twice in public. And even before that he has done things like honoring North Korean sailors by personally laying a wreath. The young marshal is very much in control, and what's more, if Robert Carlin is right, he moves more in the public space. Isn't that a sign that Kim is more open towards reforms, albeit modest? And that like his grandfather and father he would welcome more opportunities to engage diplomatically with the US. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Dec 17, '13) [Re South Korea's Chomskyite flunkeys , Dec 13, '13] I write to express surprise at your inclusion of the above article by Sung-Yoon Lee. It is very unusual that an article in Asia Times so comprehensively fails to live up to the high standards you have set yourself. The author may be correct in his appreciation of the political forces in South Korea, its relations with the North, its security organs and the lawmaker accused of treason; or he may not. There is nothing in the article to help the reader form a judgement on this question. It offers polemic but no evidence or argument. Geoff Bamford (Dec 16, '13) [Re South Korea's Chomskyite flunkeys , Dec 13, '13] It would do Asia Times Online's readership well to listen to Robert Carlin's interview on the Korea Society podcast. Forty years covering North Korea, his analysis has feet on the ground. It is good to recall that when the young Kim Jung-eun donned the mantle of authority, US media and analysts predicted that it was only a matter of time before his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, his mentor, would push his nephew aside. Well, the best laid projections have a way to go awry. The young marshal assiduously courted the military to consolidate power, thereby out-circling Jang, with the outcome we now know. As for Sung-Yoon Lee's dismissal of "Chomskyite flunkeys," he neglects reality. One only has to look at who is in President Park's inner circle as advisers. A goodly majority are formed in the US with close ties to American intelligence agencies. South Korea is not only in sync but in tow with Washington's policy. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Dec 16, '13) The WonderNews media is saturated with all kinds of stories; sex scandals, marital woes, movie reviews, political snafus, dogs dressed like firefighters, etc., etc., ad ridiculum. Naturally, not all are of the same import or significance, ranging from the silly to the mundane to the marginally relevant. But just try to find a mention of the impending first soft landing of a man made vehicle on the lunar surface for 40 years. Go ahead. Just try. The motivations for excluding China's space exploration triumph from the media may be sundry and valid, of course. Why, there's just so many OTHER stories out there that 'merikans would prefer hearing about other than our foremost global rival trumping what was once an exclusive domain of the Empire. Perhaps the corporate media-whores don't want to trigger another "sputnik" crisis that we would be ill equipped to meet like we did the first one. Maybe the fact our space program is in tatters and dependent on foreign powers would be highlighted by announcing another nation's success where we once trod. Or just maybe the imperial eclipse that Wonderlanders see occurring each day, store closing by factory shutdown by government paralysis, would be magnified way too much by China's shadow engulfing our once proud hegemony. Whatever the precise rationale, the fact remains that selective cherry-picking of news to continue the myth of Empire is an ongoing process that ignores or minimizes the progress of other nations while our own slips beneath the waves. The recent death of Nelson Mandela demonstrated anew how the US media can develop severe cases of Alzheimer's when it comes to unpleasant facts about the Empire's Cold War hypocrisy; while the US government condemned apartheid in its two-faced public rhetoric, Amerika's clandestine military and intelligence support for the apartheid regime enabled it to survive well past its natural expiration date. But nary a noise was made about that history on this side of the pond come Mandela nostalgia time. The examples go on and on; crocodile tears by the US government over Martin Luther King while the the history of the FBI's persecution of him goes unmentioned (not to mention its coverup of his assassination), deep-sixing inconvenient facts about 9-11 that give the lie to the Official Myth, forgetting about our active support of Saddam Hussein during the 80s, failing to talk about our financing and training of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, ignoring our assistance to Pol Pot's murderous Khmer Rouge; the list goes on and on of things the Wonderpublic is kept in the dark about in our cherry-picked universe. I have no doubt they won't even inform us when the Chinese turn out the lights and foreclose on the whole wreck of a country. H Campbell Texas (Dec 16, '13) [Re Expanding scandal of the Nobel Peace Prize , Dec 11, '13] Thanks to Fredrik S Heffermehl for an honest and robust investigation into the issues and problems of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. Almost everyone would agree that at least some of the committee's selection were questionable. Yet I can't help but think that Heffermeh's quest to align the Peace Prize with the late Alfred Nobel's purpose is utterly Quixotic. The late Alfred Nobel didn't do much himself to establish the prestigious and universal recognition. He devoted the last few of his years to running Bofors and turning it into a major manufacturer of arms and ammunition. We learned that during this time he was also associating with pacifists. If he had simply given his fortune to a pacifist organization, and perhaps even spend time to supervise the operation of the prize, then we wouldn't have this "expanding scandal" now. Fact is Nobel handed over the control to the Norwegians. A few terse lines in his will isn't exactly sufficient to guarantee proper management for his prize. I also strongly believe, if somehow Heffermeh's quest was successful, the powers that be will waste no time in diminishing the Nobel Peace Prize's stature. The inconvenient truth is that the movers and shakers of the world do not believe in pacifism, particularly global disarmament. Yes everyone loves peace but they care less when peace of faraway lands are concerned. In fact most peoples support the establishment of a standing army and view "the abolition or reduction of standing armies " (as stated in Nobel's will) a silly ideal. It would be easy enough to smear the Nobel Peace Prize and even the late Alfred Nobel himself, if it were to begin awarding prizes according to the pacifism ideal. For example, the International Peace Bureau (which Heffermehl approves of, presumably) awarded the 2013 Sean MacBride Peace Prize to Chelsea (Bradley) Manning. One shudders to imagine how the mainstream (especially the US) media will destroy Nobel's name and legacy if a similar laureate was selected. "Merchant of Death's "Peace" Prize given to Tranny Traitor" C Chin Hong Kong (Dec 13, '13) [Re Why the Jews left their Arab lands , Dec 11, '13] Grosso modo Dr David Bensoussan is right. Not all Arab Jews however have left the land of their birth. Jews remain in Morocco and Tunisia albeit in small numbers. They maintain synagogues and schools. On the other hand, the creation of the state of Israel hastened the exodus of Jews. As for Algeria, as Bensoussan points out, Jews, did not welcome French citizenship because for them, a secular state challenged religious laws; it was imposed on them in 1870 by decree by Cremiuex as a gesture to civilize his 'benighted' coreligionists. As French, Jews fled Algeria en masse in 1962 when Algeria became independent. The status of dhimmi, it has to be said, applied to "people of the book" - Jews and Christians, in the main. Discrimination in dress and taxes did not mean that these two communities say had no authority when it came to marriage, litigation, burial and the like. As dhimmi some Jews and Christians did manage to rise to positions of authority in Arabs lands - think of Joseph in the Bible. The massive flight of Jews is directly traceable to the establishment of Israel. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Dec 12, '13) [Re Nelson Mandela 1918-2013 , Dec 6, '13] The passing of Nelson Mandela marks the end of an era where self sacrifice in the name of a greater good was not an unknown virtue. Predictably, Wonderlanders are falling over themselves to sing praise and hosannas for the icon of anti-apartheid struggle. But one has to be amused to see the likes of Ted Cruz, yet another brain-dead redneck in the Texas Republican mold, lauding Mandela as a beacon of liberty, when his party did everything it could to marginalize, ignore and vilify the black South Africans' struggle during Reagan's reign of error. In fact, while Mandela did not stand on a rooftop and shout it out to the world, he was very critical and skeptical about the Empire's so-called affection for freedom and democracy. Indeed, his best buddy from our hemisphere was none other than Fidel Castro, whose support for Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) was unwavering from the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. And Fidel didn't just talk the support talk; he walked the support walk by sending Cuban soldiers to Angola and Namibia to sight the apartheid Afrikaaners, training ANC fighters, and providing intelligence, logistics and weapons to liberation movements throughout southern Africa. That friendship was not based on the ideology of communism, though Mandela's ANC worked closely with the Communist Party of South Africa, but rather the ideology of national liberation from imperial capitalism, Anglo-Saxon hegemony and the oppression of the Third World by the Euro-Amerikans. Mandela accepted the assistance from the Soviet bloc and China because he was fighting for his people's freedom, whereas Reagan's anti-commie goons couldn't wait to put Mandela on their terrorist list. They were in love with apartheid as the best way to keep the blacks from going Red and the white racist regime was in keeping with the neoconmen's love affair with brutal dictatorships that vomited liberty-loving rhetoric while torturing freedom fighters and murdering its civilians. The simple fact is Amerika and its naked imperialism was Mandela's enemy, foe and adversary. He represented all those victimized by the Empire and its relentless quest for racist hegemony. That the Empire is embracing him for representing all the virtues we babble about insincerely is not an irony, it is an insult. H Campbell Texas (Dec 10, '13) [Re: The dead's envy for the living Nov 27, '13] It appears that Spengler is still following the Lyndon LaRouche mode of scholarship: make up a bunch of nonsense, defend it with more nonsense. There is no evidence that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon, let alone a Holocaust of the Jews. After all, Iran has the largest Jewish population in the Middle East. Lester Ness [Re South Korea's free speech problem , Dec 5, '13] Geoffrey Fattig has a point that South Korean society is too litigious, however many societies have similar speech and libel codes like Britain. Asian societies are very concerned about face, so this might explain these laws. Fattig's claims about the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) are disingenuous at best and do not tell the whole story about the UPP. Lee Seok-ki, one of the leaders of the UPP, is currently on trial for treason against South Korea. Lee was secretly taped at a meeting of 130 leftists in Seoul calling for violence against the government; his defense is he was taped illegally and it all was a big joke. Lee headed a revolutionary organization aimed at using violence to aid North Korea in a time of war. About twenty percent of South Korean society have pro-North Korean feeling. The South Korean Assembly has never been able to pass a bill in favor of North Korean human rights. The South Korean military recently said they believe the North will start a war in the next three years. This might seem crazy; however, every year the North grows weaker and the South gets stronger and more information about the outside world floods into North Korea, which weakens the North even more. Dennis O'Connell USA (Dec 9, '13) [Re South Korea's free speech problem , Dec 5, '13] The Park Chung-hee apple hasn't fallen from the Yushin tree. His daughter, now president of the Republic of Korea, has taken a leaf out of her father's authoritarian book. As such, as Geoffrey Fattig notes the trend of President Park Geun-hye's government is to pursue a policy of blind obedience to anti-democratic tendencies. Any boast by her ministers that South Korea is a vibrant democracy ring hollow. Nakamura Junzo [Re Forwarding the American way , Dec 4, '13] Dear Colonel Manners, It's been over 220 days now since Ed Snowden dropped the Prism bomb on the world stirring waves of outrage and indignation, but few actually barked up the right tree. But kudos, you alone seem to understand the NSA's real strategy, to quote: "that there's surveillance gold just beyond the horizon". You understand that it is not practical (fiscally impossible) to hire hundreds of millions of elves listening in on phone calls or watching screens of emails just so to catch a terrorist or two. The obvious modus operandi is to store each and all such info-bits, then pick out target persona to spy on. In that mode, a mere few thousand agents can harvest innumerable kings' ransoms. What is the gold to look for? Dirty laundries of these targets to blackmail or destroy them with, much as the way Berlusconi and Strauss-Kahn were done in. Who knows, the NSA might already has had plenty of goodies on Merkel and Dousseff, judging from the intensity of their anger. Such gold mining might also have already resulted in dirty laundry currencies used in driving protesters and traitors into streets around the world, to stir chaos and destructions against their own countries. You know, regime changes! What a weapon of choice. Hoi Wong USA (Dec 6, '13) There are two documents held sacred here in Wonderland, and both for identical reasons. Both embody the values and virtues, in theory at least, of what it means to be an Amerikan. Both are considered to be rooted firmly in divine will, though the more ancient one is considered the non-secular progenitor of its more recent secular version. Both are considered to be written by inspired men who now reside in the pantheon of heroes, saints and patriots. Perhaps most significant is the fact that the words in each are considered immutable, infallible and not subject to human tampering by modern man. Both the Christian Bible and the US constitution are regularly cited by pundits, politicians and the public as justifications for this or that incident, act, law or war. Chapter and verse are routinely quoted verbatim to make unilateral unprovoked war seem like patriotism, capital punishment an act of Old Testament justice, persecuting the disenfranchised the fulfillment of New Testament prophecy and the right of the insane to own weapons an unassailable defense of civil liberty. Of course, such tortured manipulations of the written word used the same documents to defend slavery, the denial of suffrage to women and the white man's genocide of the red man, events either since corrected or simply not spoken of in civilized company. But what I find fascinating is how these words written by men on paper made by men and bound together by men somehow acquire the status of the insuperable and the immortal. The words themselves cannot be questioned, though their interpretations will vary, depending on how godly and 'merikan one is. In the case of the Bible, the common though misguided conviction among WonderKristians is that the "Bible" is the unalterable Word of God Himself, handed down through the actions of the Holy Spirit to holy men who somehow wrote down words that survived intact and unchanged through centuries of translations of wildly varying competence, poor inscription, verbal transmissions, personal opinions, cultural disconnects, dogmatic disputes, ecclesiastic power plays and political shenanigans. Of course, there are several problems with this totally bogus assumption, not the least of which are the myriad bibles that abound worldwide and that differ significantly from church to church, not only in wording but even in the recognized canon texts contained therein. So who decides which version is the "right" one? In truth, there is no such thing as the inerrant Word of God preserved in the human-touched form of a "Bible", never has been and never will be. Every bible is, however, an imperfect instrument created by sincere men intended to preserve and promote a sincere truth. What that truth is will depend on the reader and their relationship with God, and no one else on earth is involved in that process, least of all pulpit pounding neocons. In similar fashion, the constitution was created by Englishmen who rose in rebellion against a sovereign who treated them unfairly. Whatever their motivations, they inscribed on paper fundamental rights they believed were drawn directly from the "Bible's" implicit message that justice and freedom from inequity belonged to those who worshipped God. In the spirit of the then prevailing Enlightenment, a cultural and intellectual milieu whose origins specifically eschewed religious affiliations, the new founding document secularized and winnowed the essentials of this biblical message into a form that could apply uniformly to all faiths and men. That was the theory at least. Alas, just like the lofty ideals in the Bible, the execution of such essentials exposed the weaknesses and hypocrisies of man, most especially white, land- and slave-owning WASPs. The literal words of the Constitution meant something different to each special interest group in the nascent republic, and the struggle over how these words conflicted with the words in the Bible would lead inevitably to bloody civil war. This struggle continues to this day, though the relative import of the Bible in an increasingly secular world has somewhat faded. Still, fights over abortion, gay rights, same sex marriages and the ongoing culture wars have their roots in how both documents are used to negotiate the dynamic cultural space that is Wonderland. Sadly, predetermined agendas on both sides of the ideological fence make the actual words themselves irrelevant, but perhaps they always were. Words will always be used to mean what people what them to mean. H Campbell Texas (Dec 5, '13) [Re: Kim Jong-eun's powerful uncle 'sacked' , Dec 4] Even if the young marshal's uncle has gotten the ax, analysts are engaging in speculation. This rush to judgment based on rarefied air comes up with stock predictions that the DPRK is on the edge of instability before slipping into extinction. As usual, such predictions remain wish fulfillment. A more troubling bit of news is found below the 38 parallel in South Korea. Not only is the Park government seething with a constitutional crisis owing to Mme. Park's recent election, but now her government is preparing to all the Chinese telecommunication giant built military installations. Ironic as this may seem, the potential sway of China on the entire Korean peninsula seemingly restores the old Imperial Chinese vassal states. Junzo Nakamura Guam (Dec 5, '13) [Re Has Abe overreached on China's ADIZ? , Dec 3, '13] Why blame Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for overreacting when all indications point to Chinese president Xi Jinping's determination to impose China's version of "Mare Nostrum" in the East China Sea? Nakamura Junzo Guam [Re Simon Abbott's Letter Dec 2, '13] Simon, I have been an avid reader of ATol for over a decade now, also a sometime contributor to these columns. Curiously, I have never been a devotee of David Goldman's work, in fact I can't ever recollect any writer ever defending David's work here. Possibly this is because of those very reasons you have already outlined. However, I do know David Goldman has become institutionalized on ATol, much like the newsreader you grew up with - who has always been here since the beginning of time. All I know for sure is David's column isn't compulsory reading, it isn't my cup of tea, so I don't read his columns. They certainly don't detract from this fine, informative publication though, nothing is ever perfect. Ian C Purdie Sydney Australia (Dec 4, '13) [Re: US diplomatic iceberg spotted near China , Nov 29, 2013] Big-power geopolitics at play at the East China Sea - nothing more, nothing less. The US Asia pivot is aimed at containing China has emboldened countries like Japan, whose heightened aggression has in turn given cause for Chinese assertiveness. Though only time will tell who emerges victorious from this chess game, I suspect in 10 to 15 years America will wish it hadn't initiated the pivot and had instead endeavored to maintain the status quo. But then again, we may all have been turned into nuclear ash already, rendering inconsequential this little geopolitical drama. John Chen USA (Dec 3, '13) [Re The dead's envy for the living , Nov 27, '13] By and large the coverage quality of your editorial content is of a high standard. Your contributors, for the most part, represent an important and generally well-informed foil to the superficial Western-centric rubbish pedaled by the majority of what we now call Mainstream Media. But there are exceptions. Notably the Spengler column. The idea of adding weight and credibility to one's editorial output by purporting (albeit with tongue in cheek) to channel a distinguished dead academic is distinctly "dodgy" at the best of times. But regardless of one's attitude to this kind of literary conceit, it is difficult to consider David Goldman's work anything other than self-serving highly-questionable propaganda for the most part, and at times nothing much more than downright racial supremacy. (One only has to look at the comments to his work over the months. Though I am loathe quote comment columns - full, as they often are, of the most awful rubbish and often the haunt of nasty-minded "trolls" - the general level of reaction to this column is consistently and effectively calling into question most of what he writes without resorting to vile calumny. ) I understand that you have a publication to fill. I understand you wish to keep the broad coverage and open-door policy as regards the expression of opinions and welcome a wide range of contributors. Perfectly right and proper. But I urge you to consider carefully whether or not continuing to publish stuff of this nature actually contributes much to the quality and reputation of your organ! Especially considering the pride of place it seems to get on the website. Personally, I consider your publishing of journalistic hogwash of this standard seriously damages the whole gravitas of your publication. And this opinion is consistently echoed in the comment columns. Simon Abbott (Dec 2, '13) [Re US diplomatic iceberg spotted near China , Nov 27, '13] Get over it; power politics is a reality. I've been to and lived all over China and Southeast Asia. The way the Chinese "mock" the citizens of Southeast Asia and anyone else they consider beneath them is atrocious. I see it everywhere I go in the world and where there are Chinese people with their newly found arrogance. Unless the Chinese people understand and accept the truth about what has been done to their own people, they will always try to find a scapegoat for anything that is not pleasant in their "middle kingdom" of arrogance and isolation. What did you expect the US to do? You play you win, you play you lose, what you risk is what you value. I wish China would understand what is at stake here. Too many actors would rather blow it up than give it up - the world that is. Joseph Giramma (Dec 2, '13) [Re The dead's envy for the living , Nov 27, '13] Spengler likes to rewrite history. In this case he portrays Jews as lily-white in their treatment of others, and Iranians as deepest black. The truth is that of course every ethnic group has been treated badly and in turn has treated others badly. As to the birth-rate, Israeli publications often worry about the low birth rate among Israelis as contrasted to the high birth rate among Palestinians. Furthermore, it is not surprising that a nation, such as Iran, being strangled by economic sanctions would have a dropping birth rate. Oh Spengler, Spengler, you betray such stupidity in your anger. Lou Vignates USA (Dec 2, '13) [Re Imran Khan blocks NATO supply lines , Nov 25, '13] Cricketer Imran Khan has found a political bone to chew on since his loosely confederated political party failed at recent elections to win power. His attempt to block NATO supply lines to Afghanistan lacks traction other than a means to steal the thunder from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, which is unlikely to succeed. What counts is what is he willing to give to promise domestic Taliban for internal peace. Khan belongs to the feudal elite; has a lifestyle the Taliban find abhorrent; and his style of government is anything but "democratic". Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Nov 26, '13) [Re B-H Levy and the destruction of Libya , Nov 20, '13] He is a scion of wealth and privilege. Perhaps that fact gives Bernard-Henri Levy purchase to shine the light of his intelligence onto bringing change in Arab lands. This only goes to show that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Nov 22, '13) [Re Kerry, Karzai agree pact before jirga Nov 21, '13] Secretary of Fate John Kerry is taking great pains to assure the WonderPublic that our just concluded deal with our stooges in Afghanistan contains no "apologies" from the Empire for the rapes, murders, thefts and crimes against that ravaged country's citizens. To do so would be admitting what everyone outside Wonderland knows, that the Empire is a criminal state dedicated to spreading misery, hate and oppression around the globe. But Wonderlanders themselves have to believe that killing brown babies, maiming civilian men, women and children for life, wrecking economies and in general making life a living hell are small prices to pay for spreading "democracy" and "freedom". The corollary motto for this philosophy would be along the lines of making omelettes (democracy) by having to break eggs (nations), and who's going to apologize to those eggs if such a tasty product results? The fact is that the omelette thus created is bitter, sour and rancid, but who cares if all those eggs are made overseas in some brown country we can't pronounce or find on a map? Apologizing for being a bad cook is out of the question, it's the thought that counts, not the thousand of lives squandered. But if it gives the Afghan people any comfort, the cook is paying a price also. The cook's employees are returning home broken shells themselves, suicidal, homicidal, neurotic, psychotic, addicted, delusional, dysfunctional. The cooking skills they learned in the cauldron of the Graveyard of Empire don't translate very well over here, and adjustment to an environment where wanton violations of people are routine is tough, real tough. And the head chef himself is embattled on all fronts, with his kitchen in hock to his Chinese lenders and hordes of GOP critics about the mousy menu he offers in the way of health care. He should offer plenty of apologies to his own citizens for his unending string of lies, disinformation and frauds but don't hold your breath for those either. Saying "sorry" is not the Amerikan way, because we're always convinced God's on our side, and He never apologizes. Well, except maybe for George W Bush. God, what was he thinking? H Campbell Texas (Nov 22, '13) The current rift between the Empire and Iran is full of ironies, inconsistencies and untruths, ranging from the cooperation shown between the two over a myriad of issues like Iran-Contra, stability in Afghanistan and Iraq and the suppression of al-Qaeda. But Iran continues to portray to its citizenry Uncle Sam as the Great Satan and the focus of all evil in the world, while the US persists in characterizing Iran's leadership as evildoers and malignant terrorists. To a certain extent both are playing to their masses for political benefits, but at the same time we should not make such depictions to be mere exercises in lumpenproletariat PR. What is ironic in this mutual cartoonization is that the concept of a Devil/Satan/Lucifer that both relish in portraying the other as was born in ancient Persia, the forerunners of modern Iran. Zoroastrianism was that empire's religion, and departed from other mid eastern paganisms in that it allotted the universe to just two deities, a supreme good and a supreme bad. When Judah, the birthplace of modern Judaism, was sent into exile by the conquering Babylonians, its citizens became exposed to a cornucopia of polytheistic religions, but Zoroastrianism, the faith and national creed of the Persians that liberated the Judaeans from their Babylonian captivity, had syncretistic influences on the returnees. Gradually the idea of the monotheistic Yahweh of Judah and extinct Israel having an adversary in the fashion of Zoroastrianism took hold, but in an undefined and ambiguous way, lest such an opponent's powers interfere with the non-negotiable omnipotence of the Lord God. It was not until Christianity arrogated to itself the inheritance of Judaism that the personification of evil in the form of an individual spirit called Satan took firm root, despite the fact that the Hebrew Scriptures the early Christians swore to be their guidance had no such supremely evil entity identified. Inevitably, church doctrine, apocryphal commentary and cultural myth-making sculpted the pitchfork-and-horns caricature that now so grips not only the Christian zeitgeist but also that of Islam, a faith that considered itself the perfecting of its cruder and more primitive antecedents, Judaism and Christianity. That the Christian "New" Testament did not provide much justification for this imagery mattered not a whit, since much of what developed as Christianity, such as Christmas celebrated on a pagan holiday, had little support in the new scriptures either. So we have the present situation today that both Iran and the US cling to this fictitious portrayal of evil as a product of a syncretistic process begun in ancient Persia, continued in resurrected Judea and polished to a hone by the Christians and Muslims that followed. The fact that a Satan cannot exist in a universe controlled by an omnipotent God does not deter his believers in clinging to a convenient bogeyman that can symbolize everything both sides hate and reject. Iran needs a Devil it can blame for all its economic woes, while Wonderland's Satan hides behind every Third Worlder who we imagine "hates us for our freedoms", thus making our subsequent crimes against them morally justified. Hardy Campbell Texas (Nov 21, '13) The recent gaffes, bloopers and embarrassments of the O'Blame-inator's doofus maladministration should be taken as manifestations of just how impotent the US presidency really is. It appears that Obama is clueless, blind, deaf, in the dark and out of the loop, but by now and on this the 50th anniversary of JFK's removal from office, the real clue to the WonderPublic should be that this is exactly what the president is supposed to be. In order to assess why this is and how it came about, consider president Dwight D Eisenhower's somewhat cryptic departing message he made when he left the White House in 1961. His warning about the hidden dangers to the republic of the vast and growing military-industrial complex was more than the departing musings of an elder statesman. Indeed, in light of what happened to his immediate successor, it may well have been the clarion call for righting a tilting ship, that unless the democracy resisted the corrupting influences of local pork-jobs and chasing red ghosts in faraway jungles, real lasting damage would occur. JFK's assassination, followed by the interconnected disasters of Vietnam and Watergate, signaled real shifts in the political power base with few understanding that that was happening. Traumatic events were very distracting pea-under-shell games designed to deflect the attention of the confused and scared public from what was really happening during the turbulent 60s and 70s. Intimidated by the culture wars, civil rights, women's lib, dead soldiers, resigning presidents, costly oil, financial scandals, nuclear Armageddon, drug "wars" and commie advances from Afghanistan to Yemen. the US Sheep failed to see how venal politicians were becoming and how worthless the entire charade of democracy had become. Or maybe by that point none of that mattered, only the "security" and "prosperity" offered by the consummate front man for the Empire, Ronnie Reagan, who understood exactly what his role was supposed to be. Subsequent presidents, by now forewarned by JFK's and Nixon's fates about bucking the real power base in the Empire and seeing how well Ronnie was rewarded for his compliant bootlicking, meekly acquiesced to their current roles of cheerleaders, White House renters and figureheads. The machinery of Empire doesn't need them except to act as scapegoats or lightning rods, jobs that could just as easily be handled by farm animals or pieces of metal, so let's not be surprised when Obama says he wasn't told about ObamaCare's failures or what really happened at Benghazi or why Wall Street ignores him completely. The president of the United States has become as irrelevant as the country he distracts. H Campbell Texas (Nov 20, '13) [Re Centrist sinkholes , Nov 15, '13] Chan Akya concludes that "There are no centrists anywhere." Except in China, Brazil, Indonesia, and maybe India. Most of the world, including most of North America and Europe, says, "Thank god for the rational, cautious centrists in China." China is the one big sea anchor keeping the global ship somewhat stable in our stormy times. Floyd (Nov 18, '13) 'Tis the season to watch folly, tra la la la ... With the 50th anniversary of the JFK murder looming next week, the WonderSphere is all atwitter with documentaries, docudramas, forensic analyses, flashbacks, talking heads and a plethora of wistful "what if" reminisces. The hagiography attendant with such nonsense very much resembles the selective cherry-picking of information used to whitewash the entire assassination cover-up. In Wonderland, it's not that information to refute the official myths isn't available, it's just not talked about, debated or pounded down the public's throat, very much in keeping with the philosophy here that if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hype it up into a major ecological catastrophe, does that tree ever exist in the first place? So the boomers prattle on and on about what "hope" and "vision" Kennedy offered, without mentioning his sleeping with Stasi agents, mob molls and prostitutes. They poo pooh his responsibility for the Bay of Pigs, gloss over his indifference to civil rights, inflate casual remarks about leaving Vietnam into done-deal factual history, neglect his murderous vendetta against Castro, ignore his double dealing over Laos, don't dare talk about his involvement in Diem's murder just weeks before his own, and turn his histrionic overreaction to Soviet missiles in Cuba into some bizarre demonstration of macho courage. Did I mention how his father rigged the election for his son's election in the first place, or the media's collusion in keeping JFK's bigamy a secret, or how he wanted to nuke the Chinese? In parallel with this very blinkered perspective on a man who by all standards was reckless, irresponsible and fickle is the media's distortion of all the evidence that points to a conspiracy that killed him. Recently I watched a program that took great pains to show that from a forensics standpoint, the "Magic Bullet" theory is very plausible, thus showing that Oswald killed JFK. All they did was show that someone killed JFK, but by no means did they link Oswald to that act. In fact, I find it interesting that things that tend to refute or question this whole Oswald-as-the-Lone-Gunmen idea is discretely ignored, like the footage that had a reporter ask the Dallas police about reports Oswald had talked with the FBI just a week before the assassination. Indeed, we now know that J Edgar Hoover had already assured his boss Robert Kennedy immediately afterwards that only one man was involved and that he had been apprehended, a remarkably instantaneous act of investigation, accusation and indictment if ever I heard one. It seems Hoover neglected to mention Oswald's visit to the Dallas FBI headquarters. But messy details like these are rarely emphasized or mentioned, lost as they are in all the frenzied efforts to solidify the Official Lie. Contrast all this hooh hah with the deafening silence over the 9-11 Conspiracy that the media has actively participated in for the last 12 years. Despite the overwhelming evidence that contradicts or at least challenges the Official Lie about that massive fraud, the Amerikan Sheep have blindly decided that one major coup d'etat in their lifetime is enough. It helps, of course, that the subject of that regime change was a good looking plutocrat whose charm and charisma literally let him get away with murder before his past caught up with him. Hardy Campbell (Nov 18, '13) Texas [Re US digs a security black hole , If today's featured piece by Tom Engelhardt on the NSA global spying operation is even minimally true, why would Asia Times Online stick with Facebook (a tool of the NSA) as the only means to post a comment? Yigal Joseph (Nov 14, '13) [Editor's note: the writer does not propose a valid alternative.] Recently CNN's top medical reporter, an MD himself, has made a stark reversal of his previous hardline stance against legalizing marijuana and all the mythic ills associated with this plant. (Reader's alert: I am not now or ever have been a pot smoker.) He realizes that he was a victim of the Empire's propaganda, cherrypicking of data and just plain lies about cannabis' effects on people. So what else does is new? That Mary Jane has been demonized for decades by the government for its own ends is a given; the criminalization of a benign drug while malignant alcohol and nicotine are ages-old tax earners should be a scandal in its own right. That it is not and that we continue to legalize the use of two substances that kill thousands each year (contrasted to Ganja, which has never killed anyone) says all one needs to know about capitalism and its treatment of human beings. But arresting minority people who puff on joints fills jails up faster than carjackings or homicides, and Lord knows the politicians love building penitentiaries to show how tough they are on manufactured "crime". Indeed, the scandal gets even worse when one considers the medical benefits of pot, which are just now being revealed in more enlightened societies. Everything from cancer to seizures have been shown as susceptible to treatment by the magic plant, and the legalization of pot for medicinal purposes is increasing apace, with some countries like Uruguay on the verge of across-the-board legalization. Such developments scare those with vested interests in profiting from criminalization, like police departments, the DEA, border patrols, etc. Not to mention organized crime groups like the CIA would feel a minor pinch in their illegal contraband profits, though heroin and cocaine will continue to be their major drug earners. Rest assured that the day will come when pot does become fully and universally legal here, but we will be the very last nation where that will happen, and only because economics forces us to, not because people could be helped by it or because Amerika finally decides to live up to its mendacious promise of "freedom" and the pursuing of happiness. H Campbell Texas (Nov 14, '13) Although the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979-1981 "officially"' ended the day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as Imperial President, in many ways the USA is still hostage to the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). Humiliated by a Third World country that we had been accustomed of thinking as Amerika's reliable friend, ally, proxy and ex pat playground in the hostile Middle East, the Empire, irreconcilably opposed to any true form of sovereign independence from its hegemonic diktats, has thrown the CIA Book of Dirty Tricks at the IRI for the last 34 years. Notwithstanding this increasingly futile effort, six presidents have suffered varying degrees of political heartburn because of our failure to effect IRI regime change or regime behavior. One, Carter, lost his political life because of that indigestion and his successor, Reagan, should by all reasonable standards have suffered a similar fate by impeachment because he swallowed the Iran-Contra enchilada whole. Bushes 1 and 2, simpletons that they both were, wisely shied away from biting that habanero-pepper stuffed ambush, perhaps because us real as well as fake Texans know the dangers of consuming such tempting explosives. It is worth noting that, for all his bluff and bluster about the IRI, terrorism and the Axis of Evil, even with his armies sandwiching Iran from both sides, Bush 2 carefully refrained from exacerbating tensions with the ayatollahs. Even touching a hot chili can leave nasty burns. Despite the latest post-Carter Dumbocrat president's rhetoric about the IRI and on-off bravado about nuclear red lines, in a world where Amerikan hegemony is becoming quaint nostalgia, our erstwhile "allies" and not-so-allies have been quietly negotiating non-dollar transactions, nuke technology transfers, sanctions busting smuggling and intelligence sharing with Iran to circumvent, weaken and ultimately to destroy the Empire's deteriorating grip. Washington has been continuously frustrated by its inability to change its imprisonment to old ideas about our hegemonic status, ideas that, prior to 1979, was taken a given by all Wonderlanders. But after the Revolution, and in its immediate wake the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and the Iran-Iraq War, the world turned its back on those unchallenged days, unleashing new forces of liberation from the old Anglo-Saxon model of imperial domination. The faked attacks on the US on 9-11 were designed specifically to reverse that trend under the rubric of national security, but alas, those who tries to stop the Big Wheel of History from turning, usually wind getting their derrieres handed to them, as the twin debacles in the Middle East confirm. So we remain hostages to the IRI; the US, sitting in the dark, hands bound, blindfolded, waiting for the ayatollahs' next move. H Campbell [Re Intelligence scandals, Seoul-style The ascension of Park Geun-hye to the South Korean presidency has fostered a climate marked by her father's dictatorial "Yushin" spirit. It is worthwhile to look at her inner circle - people who cut their teeth in the shadow of US intelligence agencies when they lived, studied, and worked in the US. An opening to Pyongyang is the last thing the current government wants, and woe to the parties and public sentiment hungering for a detente. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Nov 13, '13) [Re Glow of talks flattens nuclear reality , Nov 8, '13] I wonder how commentators like Victor Kotsev can claim that one of, if not the "thorniest and most explosive issues in the Middle East" is some alleged nuclear ambitions attributed to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty-signee Iran (a known target of Western oil-lust since before World War 1, a victim of a US/UK anti-democratic coup in 1953, aggressed upon continuously by the US since 1979, but with an history of non-aggression in the last 200 years or so). The actual known, obvious but deliberately ignored "thorniest and most explosive issue in the Middle East" is land theft by force including mass-murder, perpetrated by aggressive, invading, now illegally squatting Zionists. Proof #1; Ben-Gurion(1936-39): "We ... are the attackers and the Arabs are those defending ... [they] own the land ..." Proof #2: "Let me emphasize at this point the position of the United States of America on the settlements is that we consider them... to be illegitimate," US Vice President John Kerry after discussions with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Perhaps some better sense of proportion is required. A final quote from Dr Kevin Barrett: "And the whole truth - that the entire Zionist occupation of Palestine is illegitimate - will never pass the lips of American leaders." People who cannot acknowledge the truth make themselves liars. Aletheia Switzerland (Nov 12, '13) [Re Shared goals draw India and Russia closer , Nov 6, '13] Former ambassador and ATol contributor MK Bhadrakumar would most likely concur with this author that Indian (foreign) policies are handicapped/blinded by an over-obsession with China. At the end of the day, the one question that India needs to figure out is whether the country wishes to be an independently powerful nation. John Chen USA (Nov 8, '13) [Re Tiananmen crash linked to Xinjiang raid , Nov 7, '13] It should come as no surprise to Chinese authorities that repression of a subject people's national aspiration brings highly publicized acts of desperation. The Turkmens (Uyghur) choice of Tiananmen sparked memories globally of China's own brutal suppression of Han desire for a more open, more democratic society. American readers might have forgotten that the iron fist of rule of a colonial people found an outlet more than 60 years ago when five Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire in the well of congress. Admittedly, the car crash in Tiananmen was an act of desperation, but it is also an omen of more violence to come. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Nov 8, '13) 2013 is the anniversary of many historic events, but perhaps none has had the impact on Wonderland as the one that occurred on December 23, 1913. The centennial of this event fast approaches, and I wonder with what fanfare the Federal Reserve will celebrate its founding. The rationale for creating this consortium of banks was ostensibly to stabilize and economy roiled by successive panics, most notably the one in 1907. But the reality was much more sinister; by centralizing monetary policy with a global network of international financiers, most who had no interest in Yankee flag waving, the US made itself a convenient half way house for European money that would soon need refuge an ocean away from its soon-to-be-war torn shores. Six months and five days after the Fed's birth, the assassination of an Austrian archduke provided the real justification for the Fed's existence, as Amerika soon found itself profiting from panicky industrialists, aristocrats and bankers in the Old Country. The resultant boom carried over into peace, and with all that money lying around the suckers went fat and happy to their slaughter in 1929. The "Peace Bubble" that burst was just the first of many that the Fed would actively promote in the years to come, as it grew farther and farther away from its original mandate of minimizing intervention and being the agency of last resort. Instead, it became increasingly aggressive in inflating bubbles as the best (and soon to be only) way of invigorating an increasingly moribund economy that saw real wage increases stagnate and then flatline. In parallel with this activity, the US government found that sinking deeper into debt was the only way to keep the twitching corpse of an economy from flatlining itself. The marriage of the two, Fed bubbling and US debt, created a monstrous hybrid with debt itself as a bubble that had everyone convinced mainlining cyanide was just the cure for hemlock poisoning. And the Fed is back at it again post-mortgage-bust, pouring billions in funny money into an economy that refuses to defy death any longer. One hundred years of the Fed, one hundred and one years from the Panic of 1907 to the Implosion of 2008, and how is the US better off with the Fed? Not a whit, of course, but plutocrats around the globe will toast the Fed with champagne. H Campbell Texas (Nov 7, '13) Among the cornucopia of myths that have enabled the Empire to delude itself for lo these many years are the ones about the poor, class, race, welfare and dependency. The wealthiest country on earth has the largest income gaps, does the least to lift people out of poverty of any industrialized nation, practices class warfare with the vitriolic fervor of jihad, and creates mainstream propaganda that demonizes, ostracizes and humiliates the poor. All this is the result of generations of so-called Protestant work ethics that have made the reaping of the fruits of one's labor synonymous with lifting-by-bootstraps independence, risk taking entrepreneurship and Darwinian wheat-and-chaff winnowing by good ol' 'merikan competition. Amerika supposedly grew rich by instilling such virtues in its citizenry. And like all WonderMyths, most of that is just poppycock, moonshine and freshly deposited unicorn stool. What the mythmakers don't ever mention is the real history of how Amerika transferred wealth created by the British to the native-born landed gentry who preposterously called themselves "revolutionaries" but who were actually just glorified welfare recipients of French and Spanish largesse. As for the "sweat of the brow" myth that Wonderlanders like to praise as the surest way to prosperity, little is said of how much of that early Amerikan wealth was created by enslaving Africans, engendering a reverse welfare mentality whereby the only ones sweating at the the brow were horsewhipped blacks while the lily white plantation owners sat on verandas sipping mint juleps and whistling "Dixie". That romantic nostalgia for rich whites depending on poor blacks for their wealth has now infected not only the Deep South but the entire Republican party, who now represent a white supremacy movement thinly coated with the patina of capitalism and democracy. Their repeated denunciations of government welfare as creating a "dependence mentality" is just code for their extracting revenge for the Civil War defeat, Jim Crow being marginalized by minority civil rights and a 21st century "black" president. They actually have nothing against dependency on the taxpayer doling out free goodies, since they regularly give tax breaks, rigged contracts and protective legislation for big corporations, special interests and the military. The code phrases used to disguise this kind of welfare typically include "free enterprise", "national security", "protecting the farmer" and "making Amerika competitive again" to rationalize their welfare agendas. The difference is that the rich are entitled to get richer because they are in a superior class, which is a result of divine ordination, good genes and a savvy politician in your back pocket (translation: I'm white and you're not). The irony of all this is that the majority of poor in the Empire are white, who consistently vote for the same GOPers who pound into their white trash brains that they can't really be poor welfare cheats because only blacks and Hispanics qualify for that description. As the Empire swirls around the flushed toilet bowl of history, some myths will be clung to more fervently than others, since these constitute the essence of Wonderism. Among the last will be the conviction that Amerika is a rich country because we "earned" that wealth. But that lie is so big it might just clog that historic plumbing. H Campbell (Nov 6, '13) [Re No quick fix for China's mistress culture , Oct 29, '13] Why are people so often surprised when human beings act like the other primates? Lester Ness Kunming China (Nov 4, '13) The good news for the National Security Agency is that it can spy on everyone anytime. The bad news for the NSA is that it can spy on everyone anytime. The temptation to do so is so overwhelming that not to do so would imply that the US is not in control of its destiny, which of course it isn't. Its doom has been preordained and already in the history books of the future. The sobering fact is that even if they had a billion monkeys locked away in front of a billion screens sifting through the billions of bytes of information illegally gathered, the country's fate would not be altered in the slightest. History should be a wake up call to this effect, with the Stasi and East Germany the poster children of mass spying providing nothing but the illusion of state preservation. Despite and because of a vast infrastructure of snooping, surveillance and eavesdropping, the GDR grew fat and lazy with the self-created image of security which made their collapse appear so sudden and unpredictable to outsiders. In point of fact, we here in the Empire had become so accustomed to granting the East Germans this status because our own security was based on similar societal controls. The Dirty Little Secret of Amerika is that it has had pervasive media, communications and domestic spying activities since J Edgar Hoover anointed himself defender of WonderValues and the CIA's priorities shifted from battling commies to creating criminal empires. The cautionary tale of the Stasi is lost, of course, on those convinced that 9-11 could have been prevented "If only" and that our current freedom from subsequent al Qaeda "attacks" is solely due to the NSA's watchdogginess. That group evidently contains a majority of Amerikans who have decided that Big Brother will always respect your own dirty little secrets as long as you keep that turbaned phantom out of your house. It didn't work that way with the East Germans, and it won't work for us either. As for the government, they will continue to lie and deceive its citizens and allies about its spying because, frankly, they can. But the real lesson the German communists should be teaching the NSA and its masters is that you may see every leaf in the forest but precisely because of that you will not see the tree trunks crashing down on you. H Campbell Texas (Nov 4, '13) [Re No quick fix for China's mistress culture ,Oct 29, '13] "The Chinese tradition of maintaining mistresses is based on what good Christians would refer to as adultery - a sin; yet in China it is mere custom - a habit". Every human being sees betraying their wife as a sin, not only you highly civilized Christians, so do we Chinese. I do admit some of us, especially rich people, maintain mistresses. But how can that be our habit? Can you deny that no Christian men do this? I'm just a very ordinary Chinese and can't speak English well, but every time I see articles from foreign media, they are all negative. If something is the truth - we admit it. We dump our poor quality merchandize all over the world, our food is not safe, our air is not clean. But why make up things to humiliate our people? Why do you hate us? Someone saw a Chinese eat a dog, then all the media spreads the word: Chinese don't keep dogs as pets, they take them as food. We are not that democratic and most of us don't read English, so most of us don't connect with people from the rest of the world on the Internet very often. But when they do, I bet they feel as I do. Tobby China (Oct 31, '13) In Drones row turns out to be Kubuki theater [Oct 25] the author write, "Pakistan's prime minister again publicly demanded an end to controversial US drone strikes ... secret documents reveal long-time collusion with the CIA-led targeted assassination program." Secretly, President Obama is wise enough to know that such "demands" are for Pakistani domestic consumption for political expediency. The people of the US should demand an end to CIA assassinations without any trial in any court of law, because this goes against the principles of justice for which we are, allegedly, fighting. Often, targets for assassination are not terrorists, but falsely labeled so by local opponents of these persons, so that US drones may be used to eliminate their opposition. Often, this has resulted in the murder of innocent men, women and children. This is, in-effect, state-sponsored terrorism by the US. It is not acceptable for US power to be used for this purpose in this cowardly way! Daniel N Russell Alaska USA (Oct 28, '13) A recent study concluded Amerikans aren't very well ejeekcated. We rank near the bottom in all the significant categories used to measure a nation's potential to handle the challenges of the future, such as reading, writing, problem solving and even rudimentary math. This is only news to those still waiting on the Kaiser to surrender any day now. But juxtaposed with this regurgitation of past surveys comes the news of yet more school murders within a span of two days and separated by a thousand miles, both perpetrated by teens against popular teachers. This too is becoming so old hat that Wonderland high school homicide will soon rank up there with the cesium atom as reliable ways to set your clocks by. The two situations, abysmal education and an ever-threatening school environment, sums up the deteriorating state of Empire to a T. Way back when, when the first news of US students looking up at the likes of India and Poland in the global scholastic rankings appeared in the US press, the pundits pens' were a'scratchin' all sorts of explanatory, rationalizing drivel, among the most popular the logic that immigrants from those smarter countries would wind up here anyway so we would always be ahead of the brain drain curve. That, of course, presupposed all sorts of things, among them the relative safety and stability of Wonderland that would attract Third Worlders to our benign shores. Now, with the First Economic Crisis in our rear view mirrors and the Second looming at the edge of the cliff ahead of us, coupled with the ongoing and relentless brutality that these "new" Americans are throwing their children into, the prospects of that hopeful logic continuing grows dimmer with each shooting and government shutdown. With the rest of the world's better educated children taking the few jobs left to non-machines, Wonderlanders will be reduced to yet more squabbling , scapegoating and minority bashing as we ramble off the precipice. The prospect of illiterate rednecks having to sneak into countries like China and Indonesia seeking menial work can only seem fitting to the Olympian gods who value hubris, arrogance and the conviction of divine ordination above all other human failings. Hardy Campbell Texas, USA (Oct 28, '13) Poor Obama. No one to bomb. ObamaCare all screwed up. He'd like to add the government shutdown ending as a triumph but he knows he just kicked that can down the road. And to add to his woes he gets lectured in his own house about his war criminal activities as a dromemeister, and by a teenager no less, the charming Malala Yousafszai. All that may pale by comparison to the announcement by Riyadh that it is undergoing a "fundamental" change in its relationship with Washington. The Saudis, furious at Obama for his mangling of the Syrian crisis, have decided to ignore the writings on the wall no longer. The decades old tacit agreement between the theocratic regime and the Amerikans has rested on the premise that the US would guarantee that Middle East oil supplies were reliable and secure, while the ruling bin Saud family could repress its people, spread its radical Islamist agenda around the world and ignore Wonderlanders' stern lectures to everyone else on the planet that democracy and free speech were the only way to go. But with the US poised to become a major oil producer again, and with Iran and Amerika making cooing noises to each other, the Saudis are seeing the fundamentals of that previously ironclad arrangement eroding as Washington finds itself lurching from political paralysis to economic coma. It took the Arabs awhile but they are now waking up and smelling the sweet fragrance of multipolarism in all its emerging glory. The tottering of an Amerikan hegemony founded on fading economic prowess and ineffective military supremacy has opened the way for a whole host of mini-powers to emerge, with money and crafty diplomacy as their segue to influence rather than bluff, bluster and brute force. The Saudis see no reason why they shouldn't enter the same game as the Iranians, who have had a 30 year head start, or the Chinese, who are now barely disguising their intention to supplant the Ameirkans once and for all. Of course, the Saudis have long had the backing of Tel Aviv, who likewise share Riyadh's vision of a post-Amerikan universe. Now both are taking more active measures to compete with Iran for prestige, political pull and as a model for the future of the Middle East. Significantly, all those mentioned besides the Saudis either have or are trying diligently to acquire nuclear weapons as the easiest way to punch their ticket on the Respectability Express. It remains to be seen if Riyadh will rely exclusively on its billfold or will seek to join the increasingly crowded club of nuke states. Though I'm not a betting man, I wouldn't decline to wager on the Saudis funding some vacations for North Korean and Pakistani physicists in the near future. H Campbell Texas (Oct 25, '13) "Recent revelations about the lack of preparedness, poor motivation and slovenly work habits of those men and women manning Amerika's nuclear missile silos" [letter, October 21, Hardy Campbell]. This is actually good news for ordinary Americans! The rest of humanity, too! Hopefully, such people fill the National Security Agency, Homeland Security, all the other organs of state security. Imagine how bad life would be if the spies and torturers actually worked hard and effectively! As Arnold Toynbee once wrote, "only inefficiency, incompetence and corruption made the Roman Empire tolerable". The same is becoming true of the US. Lester Ness Kunming China (Oct 23, '13) Trust is an abstract notion that cannot be quantified or measured in concrete terms. It is more of an emotion, a feeling and desire to place some measure of oneďż˝s destiny in anotherďż˝s hands. Oneďż˝s trustworthiness is a reflection of character, personality and integrity, all similarly nebulous concepts that nevertheless are essential ingredients to defining humanity. This is true of nations as well as individual people. Trust between nations is, in theory at least, independent of things like culture, religion, language and ideology. It bases self-interest on the mutual recognition that benefits accrue to both sides when each trusts the other to carry out obligations founded on treaties, international law and respect for human rights. Since our founding, the USA has prided itself on the notion that we are a trustworthy country that keeps its word and respects the rights of others. Of course, by believing that you could not be further from the truth if you were sitting on Pluto sipping daiquiris in your long johns. The unpleasant truth is that Amerika has consistently lied, betrayed and reneged on almost all its international obligations since its inception. From our documented Founding Father pledge to consider all men equal, which excluded all those not white, male and landed, to our treaties with native Americans, which invariably were violated by the white man, to our abandonment of South Vietnam and our mutual assistance guarantee, to our multiple infringements of agreed biochemical weapons prohibitions (yes, Virginia, despite Obomberďż˝s hypocrisy, we have plenty), to the current pooh-poohing of the very UN laws prohibiting unilateral war that the US itself created, Wonderland has shown itself feckless, self-centered and two faced whenever trust-based relationships interfered with conquering a country, enslaving an economy or slaughtering a people. The point Putin made in the NY Times about international law being the only thing restraining the likes of Iran from guaranteeing their security with nukes highlights the petard the US has hoisted itself upon. It wants the world to obey ITS version of international law even when that defies the consensus will of the planet and expects the world to ďż˝trustďż˝ us to do the right thing, when time after time we have demonstrated that we are incapable of doing anything like the right thing. Iran's charade of "negotiation" is based on their intrinsic knowledge that the Empire will break whatever treaty it signs at the drop of a turban. Trust is the one thing no self-respecting country should ever grant the USA, because we only understand how to use that as a weapon of mass deception. H Campbell Texas (Oct 23, '13) Recent revelations about the lack of preparedness, poor motivation and slovenly work habits of those men and women manning Amerika's nuclear missile silos will doubtless pass quietly and quickly beneath a WonderRadar more attuned to financial fiscal showdowns, celebrity shenanigans or titillating political scandal. Naturally, the Pentagon was quick to assure those who were awake that everything was fine and hunky dory with those deliverers of Armageddon rotting away in their underground holes. "Just a few bad apples" would probably be the quick and easy way to brush off any systemwide criticism of a defense posture that froze the Cold War in stasis for decades. And if it were just a relatively small group of so-called elite personnel that needed re-training or discharge and replacement with real conscientious crackerjacks, that would be one thing, even though we are talking here about people with their fingers literally on buttons that would end humanity. In an effort to placate the congressional fuddie duddies concerned about an Accidental Armageddon, heads have rolled in the Pentagon's unique way of rearranging incompetence. and denying accountability. But unfortunately for Wonderland, all the chickens have come home to hatch, the product of 50 years of appalling educational standards, a deteriorating economy, fissiparous families, an instant self-gratification generation, and a get-rich-quick-with-no-effort mentality born of Wall Street's brazen larceny, the US government's craven capitulation to predatory Amerikan Kapitalism and plain ol' Amerikan Greed. So the truth is that these nuke warriors and their incompetence are repeated throughout the WonderScape, in virtually every aspect of education, society, politics, science, industry and government. And the synergy that connects these falling dominoes ultimately affects our civil and industrial infrastructure, our ability to manufacture, to innovate, to trade and to prosper. Of course, if the personnel standards of the "nuketeers" erode much more we may not have to worry about any of that. Hardy Campbell Texas, USA (Oct 21, '13) [Ref: Turkey counters US' Middle East strategy , Oct 16, '13] Contrary to the article's view, Turkey is actually in the most precarious period of its modern history, after the establishment of the Republic by Kemal Ataturk in 1924. The gist of this article is a possible Turkey-Kurdish alliance which could harm US influence or strategy in the region. There is one premise of the argument hanging in the air: the alliance with the Kurds. What does this alliance consist of? It consists of a definitive solution of the Turkish Kurdish problem. In what effective way Turkey can make this happen? The only one is if Turkey is ready to acknowledge a Kurdish identity separate from the Turkish one. If the analyst believes that can be accomplished, then we may have a loose confederation between the two entities where Islam and a common past may create a lasting state partnership. Is this possible? Under Recep Tayyip Erdogan's initiative this is not on the agenda. Any other possible solution is a palliative which can only push the can down the road. The sequel of this effort is to create a grand coalition with the Iraqi Kurdistan and following that an understanding with the Syrian Kurds. We must keep in mind that the Syrian conundrum is not resolved yet and the Syrian Kurds will have to reach out for their future with the new Syrian reality after Bashar Al-Assad or with Assad's heirs under certain circumstances. It is more than obvious under the conditions on the ground in Syria that the Salafists, jihadist and the rest of the al-Qaeda affiliates are totally opposed to a Kurdish entity and identity as all aspirants for a Caliphate adamantly believe. In addition there is an internationally recognized Kurdish state entity and identity in Northern Iraq. How can this be reconciled with the extremist views of total denial of a Kurdish identity? Furthermore, a Turkish agreement with Northern Iraqi Kurdistan is already a de facto recognition of this separate ethnic identity which must be incorporated into any agreement with the Kurds of Turkey. But even if all these questions are answered there is a second lacuna to be filled in. In what way will this grand coalition Between Turkey and the Kurds harm US influence? The Kurds of north Iraq owe their semi-independence to the US and they cannot in any way trust Turkey more than the US. It is purely a fantasy to think that they will turn their back to their liberators and entrust their future to their historic enemy. Even more, if and when such a grand alliance takes place Turkey as a multinational entity must be very careful about its dealing with the states of the region and must keep a very visible profile for the international community. If that happens, then Turkey will be established as a democratic and cohesive state with meaningful clout in the region. It would have transformed the whole concept of state building in a region beset by artificially built state entities. This is not harmful for US interests but rather a helping hand to its strategic interests, to stabilize the region. The region though is too volatile and under various threats which are just unfolding but with an already clear pattern: ethnic and sectarian divides and states under threat for failure. Even the Gulf Monarchies and Saudi Arabia are in a transition period which cannot last for too long. Last but not least Turkey itself is on the brink of becoming the target of extremist who are thriving in Syria. Lately a number of well-known Turkish analysts have taken up this threat which is endogenous for an Islamic state and government as the one ruling Turkey. The Syrian and Iraqi al-Qaeda are fighting in the north of Syria the Kurds and are threatening Turkey for its intention to cut access for aid to them. Most of the fighting brigades there have renounced the SNF and are following their own agenda, to establish the Caliphate of the Levant from Iraq to Lebanon, an agenda which Turkey, as a Sunni country, has to endorse or reject with the ensuing repercussions for itself. The future of Turkey and its efforts to become a regional power is open to the vagaries of the Muslim world and the outcome is as yet unknown. As far as US influence goes there are no powers or emerging superpowers around with a better historical record to substitute the" bad" West with the "good" X, Y or Z. Nicholas A Biniaris Hellas (Oct 18, '13) As a daily observer of Wonderland, I am in a bit of a conundrum: is Amerika clinically psychotic or just plain stupid? Arguments can be made for either position, of course, and there is often a fine line between the two mental states. The lunacy side of the debate has many merits; the classic definition of insanity being repeating the same behavior repeatedly and expecting differing results seems like it should be part of our national anthem in fact. ("Oh say can you see, that we're doing exactly what he we did before, with no prospect for success, unless we are dreaming ... ") But stupidity shares many of the same qualities as lunacy, and may be defined as the mis-ability to apply knowledge in a fashion that damages the knowledge recipient. The recent cascade of political events in Washington would embarrass the citizens of the fictional Wonderland, to be sure, but they would certainly appreciate the addled logic of the GOP to indulge in an exercise of spitefulness even though they knew they had no chance of success. Point to stupidity. The abysmally low poll numbers of Congress would seem to indicate that the Amerikan people want the fools fired for incompetence, but the public's knowledge of that demonstrated incompetence is never reflected in tossing incompetent incumbents' out of office. Point to insanity. The battle between the two swings back and forth; after innumerable examples of government lying about everything from WMDs to spying on citizens, is the public's willingness to believe the next set of obvious lies just mule-faced dumb or babbling crazy? Is it stupid or nuts that the official fairy tale of 9-11 has gone virtually unchallenged by the media despite the reams of contradictory evidence? Was O'Bomber daft or an imbecile for considering yet another Empire-deflating Middle East adventure? The 2003 documentary The Corporation posited that companies behave just like sociopathic people, with their application of ruthless capitalism making social destruction a necessary and natural byproduct of their psychosis. Since the US is intrinsically a capitalist state that puts profit above all other human considerations and has repeatedly shown its willingness to impoverish vast swathes of its citizenry in favor of enriching the ultrawealthy, its similar categorization as a clinically psychotic state seems fully merited. Then again, you might call it just plain stupid that we're allowing the Fed to inflate another massive financial bubble with every new "QE X" that we all know will blow up in our faces sooner rather than later. It's a tossup really. And whoever does the autopsy on Uncle Sam will find little support one way or another when his brain is plopped into a pickle jar. But the fact he ran off a cliff buck naked while frothing at the mouth about "Freedom" and "Democracy" might be a clue. H Campbell Texas (Oct 17, '13) If there's one thing you can count on here in Wonderland, it's the guarantee from "experts" or wannanbes that "blank" as we know it will cease to exist if "blank" happens. The blanks can be filled in with any number of situations. Take the VCR when it became commercially available in the 70s; Hollywood was terrified that the recording device would wreck the movie industry beyond repair; in fact, quite the opposite happened. Or Vietnam, which the Cold Warriors of the 60s insisted had to be defended at all costs lest all of Asia go Red; when we abandoned that wretched place, the commies couldn't wait to start fighting each other. If ObamaCare isn't stopped, dogs and cats will start co-habitating. And we needn't mention the Marxist-Muslim-Terrorist scenarios the Right fashioned out of whole cloth when the O'Bomber was elected. Hmm ... maybe the jury's still out on that one. But the fact is that hyperbole, bombastic rhetoric and overblown exaggerated apocalyptic propaganda are as Amerikan as fruit filled pastries lauded as the most magnificent divine food baked by God Himself. Perhaps it's because we're a capitalist society that sells products using these same instruments, seducing customers with siren songs that promise everything from easy sex to instant weight loss. Maybe it's because we subscribe to a religion that promises eternal life and endless bliss. Or maybe it's due to our inherent belief that the very act of saying something must necessarily make it so. Whatever the case may be, Wonderlanders have a habit of crying Wolf and shouting how the sky is falling down with very little provocation. So it is with Iran and its impending acquisition of nukes; every neocon nutjob this side of the FOX Network works overtime proclaiming how civilization will end the day Iran gets The Bomb. In cahoots with these miscreants, Tel Aviv's pimps dole out political "donations" while sounding the clarion about mushroom clouds, terrorism, mad ayatollahs and "red lines." But the fact remains that we have tolerated nuclear North Korea and nuclear Pakistan for a long time now, and both nations harbor and actively support anti-Amerikan terrorists with arguably less rational actors than Tehran has. The difference, of course, is that neither south and far east Asian country challenges Israel's quest for Zionist Utopia, which an unintimidateable Iran certainly would. So for all the arbitrary deadlines and mythic threats, Iran possessing nukes would actually make the region safer, more predictable and less susceptible to the kind of destabilizing fiascoes the Zionist and Anglo-Saxon Empires have made their foreign policy hobbies. Believe me, a Nuclear Iran would shut up that dark hued imbecile in the White House from making silly hollow bluffs, would make the Jews less brazen in their criminal activities and would make the Empire think twice about its next misbegotten imperialist adventure. Come to think of it, if we were smart we'd just give 'em some of our nukes right now. H Campbell Texas (Oct 16, '13) [Re: Homeland Security set for next Wall Street collapse , Oct 11, '13] A widely-circulating conspiracy theory has it that major current global events are the design by some nefarious cabal aiming for world domination, both financial and political. Let's hope that's just all rumor, since any such scheme is doomed to failure, attended by unimaginable consequences. As the Bard would caution, "'tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard." Or as my less-celebrated but all-knowing parakeet likes to say, "'Tis possible to be too smart." John Chen USA (Oct 15, '13) [Re Old game, new enemy: China by John Pilger, Oct 11, '13] If there is any obsession is not Obamaďż˝s but the authorďż˝s - his obsession with the military perspective. The military consideration is superficial and psychological while economics will be the real determinant. Diplomatically considered, China has not committed any act that results in the concerted condemnation of the international community, certainly not at the UN; therefore, China has no no reason to react with military force. Salient to China is that it is an immense country, still poor, but has grown faster than most other countries by wide margins for more than 30 years. China absolutely has no incentive to use force to upset this extremely favorable circumstance for its comprehensive national development; after it is much more developed, most of its objectives will be achieved by gestures without execution. The greatest trump card over Japan will be the Chinese consumers' animosity against Japan, per se. The winning of any hypothetical war will never be needed. China will easily roil up such animosity to the extent where vandalism against Japanese products in China will prevail over selfish consumer behavior. Japan is extremely vulnerable in the long run. Trade erosion will hurt Japan far more than China due to the difference in size, thus extent of dependency, and because Japanese goods are far more branded, conspicuous, and targetable. As long as Chinese (and Korean) animosity against Japan does not abate, Abenomics will be a mirage; and when augmented at will, losses will be greater than Abenomics. How long will Japan endure before it negotiates? Social advancement in the US, in the amelioration of racism, has tremendous impact on US foreign policy. The US will no longer be willing to revert back to virulent racism - the only means to contain China. A defeated China will be either a festering wound or a bankrupting obligation to the US, and there is already a festering wound in the Middle East called Islam. If the two festering wounds were to combine, the havoc that they will cause will completely dwarf any rock in the East China Sea, or the consequence of allowing China to have them. There are only certain real lines that China will have to cross, to send matters to the visceral dimension, for conflict with the US to occur. The world is not a chessboard with pieces. Two pieces are so immense that they will buckle the board. Jeff Church USA (Oct 15, '13) The thing about superpowerdom is that, when it's over, nobody has the cojones to tell the aged, decrepit and toothless remnants of Empire that it's time to head to the elephant's graveyard, lie down on the piles of bones and just fall asleep forever. Instead, the spectacle everyone has to endure is the skeletal cadaver's pathetic gestures that once terrified the planet now generating stifled yawns. It's been that way for some time now for Amerika AKA (quoting one Cold War wag's description of the Soviet Union) "Upper Volta with missiles." OK, maybe that needs to be updated to be "Burkina Faso with drones" but you get the picture. Of all the reasons for imperial decline that future history books will cite, perhaps the most counterproductive and self-defeating will be the use of embargoes, trade restrictions and licensing denials in order to punish adversaries, prevent dual use military/civilian technology transfers and maintain the illusion of Amerikan techno-hegemony. In almost every case of application, the persistent and stubborn policies have ended in defeat. The embargoes against Cuba and Iran, far from overturning the regimes we aimed to change, solidified the legitimacy of those anti-imperialist regimes and bolstered the development of indigenous medical, financial, industrial and nuclear industries. The almost obsessive draconian controls mandated by US technology export rules that intend to deny "sensitive" dual use technologies to the rest of the planet has managed to erode Amerikan industrial market share while creating foreign competition that didn't exist previously, all the while failing utterly to provide an iota of added security to the Empire. Consequently, previous Amerikan monopolies in computer hardware, communication equipment, space technology, etc., have been shattered into gigabytes, never to return to profit the Empire. The logic of trying to stuff genies back into bottles in the era of the internet, instant knowledge transfer and a thriving industrial espionage business (that the CIA and NSA are fully engaged in for their own profit) seems so addle-headed that it could only have been created in the bowels of Wonderland. Of course, if you're an arrogant full-of-yourself Wonderlander, convinced you're God's gift and that the rest of the world is merely leasing the land they reside on from us, it's easy to understand why you would think you could get away with it. You would believe in your heart of hearts that anything created or devised by 'merikans is simply too complex and too uniquely 'merikan to ever wind up in the hands of heathen Europeans, Chinese or worse. The stark reality that the rest of the globe is finding that it can get along very well without the wheezing, possessive Uncle Sam, thank you very much. They are willing to give us directions to the pachyderm cemetery though, doubtless using their own GPS satellites. Hardy Campbell Texas (Oct 11, '13) Of all the canards the Empire has used to justify its aggressive imperialism, the myth and propaganda concerning its space program has been the most transparently false. In the wake of the Soviet launch of Sputnik, a frightened WonderPublic demanded that the US prevent space from turning Red and having commie bombs rain down on our capitalist heads. While the Pentagon furiously mounted a frustrating attempt to match Soviet space accomplishments, president John F Kennedy initiated a PR campaign to make Amerika's space program seem like the modern equivalent of Columbus' voyages to the New World, an act of bold exploration intended to expand human horizons with only the most benign of intentions. This was intended to mask the real intent of the "Race to the Moon" which was to develop dual use space technologies that would be useful in a future conflict with the USSR. The militarization of space was always the driving force behind any and all US investment in manned flight, and once we reached the moon and the Russians showed complete indifference to emulating our expensive TV adventure, the Apollo program withered away while the Pentagon quietly went about its business populating earth's orbit with battlefield communications and reconnaissance satellites, satellite-killing weapons, orbiting weapon platforms, navigation devices and a plethora of equipment designed to achieve the "Full Spectrum Dominance" so cherished by the late 20th century neo-conmen. To this day the US public is treated to the visual extravaganzas provided by Mars walkers and interplanetary probes while hearing nothing of the Pentagon's preparations for D-Day with Beijing. The PRC, however, is plugging along with its determination to deny the world's last imperialist nation with the hyperatmospheric hegemony it seeks at lower altitudes. China's space accomplishments receive little fanfare or attention here, perhaps because it is unnerving to think that the world's largest communist country is matching us satellite by manned space walk in a domain we once thought exclusively white, Anglo-Saxon and 'merikan. Significantly, even the Europeans, ostensibly on "our" side, have grown wary and weary of US unilateralism and have drifted farther away from complete reliance on Amerikan space techno-monopolies. With the Empire's decay and inevitable collapse on the nearing horizon, it will be interesting to see to what extent the Empire uses space weaponry to intimidate its Chinese rivals from competing for complete space dominance. And make no mistake about it; for the pentagonuts space is a zero-sum game where "sharing" and "cooperation" are non-starters. Whoever wins the heavens wins the earth, and the last card in the WonderDeck will be the one labeled "War in Space." It is fitting that JFK used space as an analogy with the oceans traversed by the early explorers, who in their "peaceful" wake brought war, conquest and death. H Campbell Texas (Oct 9, '13) [Re The dangers of North Korea fatigue , Oct 8, '13] Joseph R DeTrani seeks to put the blame on North Korea. He appeals to the past - the days off the Bill Clinton administration - but seems to forget how the Bush and Obama administrations pushed Pyongyang to test nuclear devices and advanced rocketry, let alone the US's aggressive joint military exercises with South Korea and the long list of sanctions. It is little wonder that North Korea responds in unexpected ways. And when it expresses a willingness to return to the six-party talks, it is accused of bad faith. DeTrani's piece is a restatement of Washington's demands; there is little latitude for a meeting the basic needs of diplomacy. Saying this, on North Korea Washington is in diplomatic ghetto it has enclosed itself within with no exit. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Oct 9, '13) [Re Netanyahu pours scorn on Rouhani, Israel , Oct 2, '13] Israel is trying very hard to move the focus of the world on Iran and Syria so that it's land-grabbing activities in Palestine can continue unabated. The UN should turn it's attention to the nuclear stockpiles of Israel by sending in an International Atomic Energy Agency team and forcing it to sign on to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Wendy Cai United States (Oct 4, '13) [Re Korean democracy at a crossroads , Oct 3, '13 At a recent gathering at the Korea Society, South Korean Ambassador for International Security, Chung Min-lee, waxed lyrically on the Korean peninsula and strategic risk. The ambassador as his title suggests advises President Park Geun-hye on security affairs. Asked about the internal witch hunt, as Geoffrey Fertig outlines, Lee took offense. Not only that, he responded with undiplomatic vehemence that one could only conclude that the question touched a raw nerve of truth. To South Korean hands, it has become obvious that Park is more hardline than the man she replaced at the Blue House. Old habits die hard it seems, and the ones she learnt during the Yushin years have still left traces. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Oct 4, '13) [Re Netanyahu pours scorn on Rouhani , Oct 2, '13] You have to feel sorry for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. US President Barack Obama's brief telephone conversation with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has put Israel's Iran strategy "on the ropes". More to the point, Netanyahu has been saying that Iran will produce a nuclear bomb within moments since the early 1990s, and the world is still waiting for the prediction to become true. Not only that, just before flying off to New York to speak at the UN, the Israeli secret services discovered an Iranian spy in its midst. How convenient! Netanyahu's meeting with Obama at the White House make for good photos, but he left empty handed. Suddenly, US interests veer off from Israel's. And Israel has few choices short of war. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Oct 3, '13) As the 21st century Prussia, the Amerikan Empire is rightly identified with war, but not just the wars of violent explosions and videogame pyrotechnics against nation states. The best known of these non- state wars are still being fought against Poverty, Cancer, Drugs and the latest, Terrorism. In each case, trillions of dollars have been expended over decades, with a concurrent expansion of the medical industry, insurance companies, government agencies, security organs and last but definitely not least, the military. In every case, the "enemy" has not only not been defeated but has grown ever stronger and affected ever more people, with a corresponding increase in the financial and political powers of those entities created to wage war against them. This snake-chasing-its-tail synergy guarantees tax payer dollars being recycled from the pockets of Joe Main Street to the numbered Swiss bank accounts of Reginald Wall Street. And what's to show for it? Lots actually, and all of it bad. Cancer rates have exploded, especially among the young whose bodies are ill equipped to deal with pervasive pollution, toxic foods and immunity compromising medicines handed out like candy by quack doctors. The ranks of the impoverished have likewise exponentially expanded with a deteriorating bubble economy and a vanishing middle class. The War on Drugs may be the most farcical of all, with the US government mouthing platitudes about "Just Say No" abstinence while the CIA actively supports the narcotics and cocaine industries and politicians and Wall Street banks get fat on laundered drug money. Did anyone noticed that heroin production increased after the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 just like cocaine production in South America multiplied after the laughable "Plan Colombia" was launched by Clinton? So for the newest fraud war, against phantom "terrorists," it should come as no surprise that the plutocratic class has once again lined its wallets with more recycled loot, much of it generated by the collusion of drug kingpins, their CIA/Pentagon protectors, banks, arms smugglers, embargo busting corporations, and security and defense contractors. All the while the "enemy's" ranks of enraged brown people whose families and lives have been destroyed swell anew every day all around the globe. The bottom line is that Wonderland never had any intention to "win" any of these wars, only mouthing the rhetoric that its duped citizens want to hear. Perpetuating war in all its forms is the only card left in the imperial deck, the only justification for its continued existence. More cancer victims, more poor, more drugs and more terrorists is the gameplan of Empire. H Campbell Texas (Oct 3, '13) The word "exceptional" has been bandied about quite a lot lately. The OBomber used it to justify his illegal aggression against Syria. Vladimir Putin used it to rebut the O'Bombingator's rationale. Of course, the mirage of Amerikan exceptionalism making us unique on the planet and thus inherently superior in our value system to anyone else on earth has long been considered a bedrock of our collective ideology, justifying innumerable interventions, wars, embargoes and subversions in the name of "democracy," "human rights" and "freedom". It is worthwhile, however, to consider that another race has long harbored such pretensions to exclusiveness and exemption from the rules of civilized intercourse. The Jewish people have long prescribed to the idea of their being a "Chosen People", a race selected and favored by God Almighty before all others. This firm belief has enabled them to weather multiple storms of persecution, mass slaughter and discrimination wherever they have immigrated and settled, convinced that someday they would be delivered by a vengeful messiah who would restore them to their deserved status. The formation of the state of Israel in 1948 and its subsequent Zionist expansion has persuaded many, including evangelical neocon WonderChristians who have decided that Amerika's fate is inextricably bound with the artificial state, that such a day is nigh. There are two ironies at work here, the first being that a Christian's belief is founded on a Jew's death and resurrection that the Jews themselves deny as heresy and blasphemy. The second is that the very name "Israel" is false and deliberately intends to mislead the vast majority of ignorant pseudo-Christians living in Wonderland into believing there is a connection with the modern Middle Eastern state and the ancient Israel of the Jewish and Old Testament scriptures. This is important to many Anglo-Saxon "Zionist Christians" who are convinced that Amerikan exceptionalism is a direct and divinely ordained result of our national white race's descent from the exiled Ten Lost Tribes of that ancient Israel. The intent to obfuscate and deceive only becomes apparent when one understands that the Jews living in modern Israel today are NOT descendants of that ancient state. Instead, the majority are descended from the ancient sister state of Judah, which consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the rootstock of modern Judaism. But even if US Christians recognized that deception, they would probably be OK with that, convinced as they are that the real state of Israel exists on the North Amerikan continent anyway and that they are soul brothers of their misguided Judah cohorts in the false state of Israel, who will "see the light" when the real one and true Christian Messiah returns. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, their religious ideology compels them to seek an Armageddon that will accompany such a return and that will cleanse earth in preparation of the Dual Chosen People's final and just rewards. What neither group appreciates as they jointly rape and pillage the planet with their exceptionalist, imperialist pretentions and noble sounding justifications towards this apocalyptic end is that both ancient states they pretend to emulate perished for the same reasons, their defiance of God's will. Both modern successors of Israel and Judah are pursuing a repetition of their ancient predecessor states' doomed fates, and in this they will surely succeed beyond their wildest dreams. H Campbell Promised Land of Texas (Oct 2, '13) In the recent post by Dieter Neumann, Libya: Still Gaddafi's fault? [September 28, 2013], he made the argument that a few minutes on a web search reveals interesting facts about the signatories to a recently published letter to [US Secretary of State] John Kerry. Had Dieter Neumann however spend a bit more time than a few minutes on his web search he would hopefully have realized that JMW Consulting is not the same company as JMW Consultants. His attack on our company's client list is therefore based on incorrect information. You can read more about our company and client list on www.jmwconsulting.dk Alexander Kjaerum Senior Associate JMW Consulting (Oct 1, '13) The so-called ďż˝War on Terrorďż˝ has defined the Amerikan Empire for the foreseeable future. To most Wonderlanders with the memory span of a potted petunia, that conflict began in 2001 with the artfully crafted false flag fraud of 9-11 and the alleged "jihad" of militant Islam. The potted flower crowd conveniently forgets the greatest act of terror perpetrated on Amerikan soil prior to 9-11, however. On closer examination, the amnesia and subsequent muted response may be easy to explain. Timothy McVeigh's brutal car bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995 killed 168 people and wounded 600 others. Though there were frantic attempts by many white Anglo-Saxons to pin the blame on Iraqis seeking revenge for Desert Storm in 1991, eventually the FBI "found their man" in the conveniently solitary frame of the ex-Gulf War veteran McVeigh, whose rationale for the mass murderings was supposedly his seeking revenge for the FBI's mass killings in Waco in 1993. The case was made that he represented the classic "Lone Gunman" vital to the anti-conspiracy theory conspiracists, a fall guy unconnected to anyone else in keeping with an Amerikan death history rife with stand-alone patsies, from Leon Czolgosz to Lee Harvey Oswald to Sirhan Sirhan. Though one other man was implicated in assisting McVeigh in his heinous crime, the FBI successfully defused any concerns of a nationwide anti-government or white supremacist movement to afflict the Empire with an orchestrated campaign of mass terror. This in spite of the widespread reports of vigilante anti-federal government groups stockpiling weapons and training for domestic Armageddon, many financed by wealthy right wingers vehemently opposed to the Clinton presidency. Consequently, there was no subsequent formation of a Department of Homeland Security, no airport fondlings or silly multi-colored terror alerts; the FBI confidently leaned back and said, once again, no worries, just a nutjob "Lone Gunmen" responsible and it won't happen again. When it did, on a vaster and more visible scale on a crisp September day 6 years later (and precisely 3 months to the day after McVeigh's execution), the reaction was altogether different. "Lone Gunmen" culpabilities wouldn't do the trick anymore, not if your goal was global domination. FBI "business as usual" would no longer suffice. No, in order to create the perpetual police state that could justify attacking anyone anyplace and anytime in the planet, a much more ambitious bunch of fall guys were needed, this time using a government-created fake conspiracy theory concocted to cover-up the real conspiracy of 9-11. Sure, there were holes so large in this flimsily contrived theory about Al Qaeda and bin Laden and 19 hijackers that you could have flown three jetliners through them, but the shocked and eager to be secured public was all too willing to swallow fabrications about cave dwelling madmen conducting the most audacious raid in history. I dare say if Bush and cronies had sworn the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Sasquatch was at the controls of those planes, anyone questioning such accusations would have been tarred-and-feathered as traitors. In similar though less adept fashion, the O'Bomber has tried to create his own puny conspiracy theory about Assad using chemical weapons, but with no burning buildings as a backdrop, the less convincing-by-the-day prez has met a stonewall of indifference and skepticism. Despite his best efforts to pull at the heartstrings of human rights loving 'merikans, our dusky, athletic dictator has failed to hurdle the increasingly high bar raised by the WonderPublic to swallow government lies. Maybe what he needed was a photo of a gassed Easter Bunny. Hardy Campbell Houston TX (Sep 30, '13) [Re Dangers in North Korean dual-track strategy , Sep 27, '13] Niklas Swanstrom's analysis, like most "critical judgments" about North Korea, lacks any historical filter to put matters in place. North Korea is willing to talk to the US, but the Obama administration is deaf to Pyongyang's openness. Perhaps, Washington could learn something from its "diplomatic breakthrough" with Iran after 34 years, in changing its tone. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Sep 30, '13) [Re: Obama: A hapless and wandering minstrel , Sep 26, '13] One of the primary reasons for the Obama administration's inability to execute its Syria plan rested on one factor: the poor state of the US economy. In poll after poll, the American people gave overwhelming precedence to domestic economic issues over yet another military adventure abroad. By the same token, one can rather safely conclude that the three most important determinants of President Obama's legacy will be: the economy, the economy, the economy. John Chen USA (Sep 30, '13) [Re The real North Korean threat , Sep 26, '13] Emanuel Pastreich's analysis would have been strengthened if he had placed creeping desertification in an historical context. Where is the reference to draconian sanctions which could and would help North Korea to arrest the threatening spread of deserts? Where is the reference to denying North Koreans food aid that in times of famine and bad weather would have stopped the need for them to strip trees of bark for food? Nakamura Junzo Guam (Sep 27, '13) The all too predictable vilification of Bashar al-Assad in the inept crawl up to Obomber's planned attack on Syria included, of course, comparison, if not equation, of the embattled leader to Adolf Hitler, history's favorite embodiment of evil. This all too common equivalence is used namby pamby here in Wonderland in political campaigns, an easy sell in a country whose depth and grasp of history seldom extends beyond the cartoon images Hollywood or the pathetic history channels on cable provide. But if we examine such accusations of Hitlerian behavior, one must question just which of the two leaders resembles the Austrian corporal the most. Hitler's claim to infamy was cemented by his unprovoked aggression against Poland which initiated the Second World War. So between Obama and Assad, who was threatening war against who? Defenders of the Tanned Hawaiian-Kenyan will claim humanitarian justification of protecting Syrian civilians for explaining Obama's threats, which is fine as long as we acknowledge that Hitler used the same humanitarian rationale for war as the protection of ethnic Germans in Danzig from Polish "persecution." That Hitler's excuse was bogus should not prevent an objective observer admitting that no there is no "smoking gun" evidence that Assad was responsible for the alleged chemical attacks, thus making Obama's excuse potentially just as bogus. Indeed, based on the puny circumstantial evidence provided to date, in an Amerikan court of law Assad would walk out a free man. Unfortunately for the planet, Obama has arrogated to himself the same all pervasive powers to render judgment and execution that Hitler himself implemented in his drive for world conquest. Indeed, Obama had the Hitlerian gall to speak for the whole world when he baldly claimed that "the world" had set a red line, not himself. Maybe that's what the voices in OBomber's head told him. While Assad battles a CIA funded insurgency (itself an illegal act of war), and civilians naturally are victims of the chaotic violence engulfing Syria, Obama is himself cold bloodedly murdering Afghan and Pakistani civilians willy nilly with his "collaterally damaging" drones, cruise missile strikes and black op death squads. So if we are comparing which hands are redder with Muslim blood, well, I daresay that it's a draw, but at least Assad is fighting a civil war. Obama's murders are just plain rotten imperialism. And while the dictator Assad undoubtedly has his horrid prisoner camps and the monster Hitler had his mass extermination camps, the "peace loving democrat" Obama is still the caretaker and defender of Gitmo and countless secret prisons around the globe where illegal detentions, torture and death are routine. Pretty even steven there too. In another sense Obama definitely resembles Hitler more than Assad. Hitler was ultimately one-upped by his mortal enemy, Russia's leader Stalin. Obama's already two down to Russia's Putin. In the end, though, it will be history that judges which criminal tyrant Obama most closely resembles. Hardy Campbell Texas (Sep 26, '13) Every time I think Amerikans cannot bring the image of their nation down any further, well, dadgum, I’m proven wrong yet again. The most recent evidence concerned three GOP, uh, let’s call them dunderheads (the precise Texas word I want to use actually describes the stick used to measure the level of ordure in latrines). The trio of evolutionary failures, Congress-creatures Bachmann from Minnesota, Gohmert from Texas and King from Iowa, took a tour of Egypt in order to demonstrate just how ignorant, venal and stupid Wonderlanders can be. In the case of Bachmann, a woman who never ran across a preposterously insane idea she didn’t want to adopt as her first born, her lunacy and wide–eyed psychosis should have prohibited her from ever leaving the safe confines of a stateside mental institution. Instead, there she was, grandstanding in front of Egyptian media, lauding the overthrow of Egyptian democracy by a brutal US approved coup while at the same time urging her Arab listeners to pursue hallowed Amerikan ideals and principles. Of course, if they had, those present at the press conference would have tarred and feathered the idiot then and there and then run her out of Cairo on a mangey camel. Gohmert, a hayseed redneck and congenital imbecile that makes Bachmann look like Steven Hawking, drones on and on about founding fathers and Amerikan values that Egyptians need to mimic, while King ostentatiously pulls out a copy of the constitution he says he carries around with all the time, not mentioning he does that in order to wipe his derriere when he needs to defecate more Republican lies. This laughably pathetic incident, occurring on the heels of O’Bomber’s Syrian bravado and humiliating stepdown, must affirm, as if there was any doubt, that the Empire is on its last legs. The combination of outrageously arrogant yet sublimely clueless leaders, the pretense of superpowerdom with nothing but guns and missiles to show for it, the steady deterioration of its national economy and the timidity and cowardice shown in the face of true stalwart leaders like Putin, all mark the road to imperial decline, failure and ultimate collapse. The patient Egyptians, who have seen the likes of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Ramses the Second and Napoleon Bonaparte come and go like the desert dust, have seen it all before and recognize the signs of imperial decay all too well. They know their pyramids will remain, but what will be left of the Empire except the image of these mentally challenged congress people and their frothing mouths? H Campbell Texas (Sep 25, '13) [Re Soviet lessons for China in Xinjiang , Sep 23, '13] It is possible that the Soviet experience in Central Asia might prove useful to the Chinese. Yet, differences in history, culture and experience remain extreme. The Soviets never tried to overwhelm through massive implantations of Russians. China does, to the point of overwhelming the Uyghurs so much that they feel that they feel strangers in their own land. China is pursuing the same policy it has in Tibet. It will brook no autonomous entity in a land once ruled by warlords. China would do better to look at how Chiang Kai-shek made efforts to include east Turkmen into a more comfortable cultural sphere in pre-communist China. So, it buys off the elite and suppresses Turkmen aspirations for the majority of the population who suffer under forced Sinization. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Sep 24, '13) Wow. That senile old fraud John McCain really knows how to stick it to Putin! His tit-for-tat op ed posted on a Russian website rebutting Vladimir's piece in the NY Times accused him of cozying up to bloodthirsty tyrants. That's showin' 'im, Johnny Boy! And you can legitimately use your deteriorating, Alzheimer's riddled and thoroughly rotted brain as an excuse for forgetting all the bloodthirsty tyrants your Empire has coddled, propped up and pampered over the last 70 years or so. Or maybe the list is too depressing for you to memorize? Lemme give you a taste of "our" repressive dictators so you can start writing your apology op ed; Trujillo, Diem, Batista, Pinochet, Somoza, Duvalier, SADDAM HUSSEIN!, POL POT!, Marcos, Suharto, Mobutu, Ceausescu, all the right wing military junta caudillos that ran Latin America in the 80s, Mubarak, Shah Reza Pahlavi, the leaders of the apartheid regime of South Africa up to our present day support for that Zionist madman Benjamin Nutjobyahoo of Israel. I mean, sheesh, guy, your senility must give you massive cojones to point a finger at anyone in that department. But Johnny Boy's hypocrisy didn't stop there, no sirree. He then pillories Russia for being a "resource only"-economy that will eventually go belly up, this coming from a "man" who was instrumental in wrecking our financial-voodoo-only economy with his coddling of Wall Street deregulations. And then, in an act of supreme ingratitude or amnesia, he derides Russia's standing in the world. What, in comparison with a kowboy Wonderland that shoots first then shoots again in defiance of morality and international opinion? You mean, that kind of standing? No wonder the Russians want no part of an Amerikan concept of international prestige, the kind the Empire equates with bombs, terror and wanton slaughter. Instead of thanking Putin for yanking our collective national nutsack out of the glowing embers of the Middle East, he attacks a Russian leader who stands by the principles of international security and law that once we actually believed (more or less.) The old saw about keeping your mouth shut and letting people suspect you're a decrepit doddering old fool instead of opening your mangy mouth and removing all doubt reverberates loudly here. But McCain would need assistance in hearing even that sound. H Campbell Texas (Sep 23, '13) [Re Syria diplomacy helps shuffle global order , Sep 20, '13] President Obama hasn't quite lost his mojo. He seized another life line from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. A serious misstep in Syria is suddenly rearranging the patterns in the Middle East. Although no meeting is scheduled for these two presidents to meet at the UN General Assembly, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has requested a meeting with Rouhani at the UN. So, away from the public's eye this opening might provide the cover for a meeting. So in the end, Obama's place in history is being given another chance by two adversaries. Such are the vagaries of history! Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Sep 23, '13) [Re US needs cultural weapons for North Korea and UN finds 'unspeakable atrocities' , Sep 19, '13] Brian Min has a point. The US has little interest in culturally opening to North Korea. Might it be too much to look at Dennis Rodman for a lesson in cultural diplomacy? The former NBA star is now trying to arrange an NBA All Stars game in North Korea in 2014. Should he pull that off, how could the Obama administration wipe the egg off its face? Joshua Lipes rosary of North Korea's human-rights awfulness is an exercise in moral high dudgeon orchestrated by the US with assistance by South Korea. The immediate effect was Pyongyang's rescinding at the last minute the invitation to a US envoy seeking the release of the imprisoned Kenneth Bae. So much for Kenneth Bae's human rights? And so much for the Obama administration's ukase of our way or the highway. It is not interested in talking to the DPRK. Consequently, Rodman's "basketball diplomacy" is a way to engage Pyongyang and possibly to soften its hardline on human rights. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Sep 20, '13) [Re: US plays Monopoly; Russia plays chess ,Sep 16, '13] American geopolitical planners may suffer from blinding hubris and over-ambition, but they're not dumb. That said, world domination via the use of hard power has been tried before, and never realized. To be sure, there is a Grand Canyon-size gap between wisdom and intelligence (as in the everyday perception of human IQ), and the US has been repeating the mistakes of past empires. The way things seem to be heading, it may be time to start thinking about joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's Silk Road caravan. John Chen USA (Sep 18, '13) September 11 has come and gone again, with all the requisite memorials, lamentations and teeth gnashings that we Wonderlanders have made part of our national mythology and ritual. Of course, that date is preserved in world lore as commemorating the so-called "al-Qaeda" attacks of 2001, but for another country, 9/11 is memorialized for altogether different reasons. That nation, Chile, recalls the events of September 11, 1973, when a CIA orchestrated military coup overthrew the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende, who died in the takeover rather than be captured and tortured by the brutal Amerikan assisted thugs of the new right wing and fanatically anti-communist Pinochet regime. Perhaps it is with some irony that this, the 40th anniversary of said tragedy, also marks the frustration of the O'Bomber administration's latest attempts at orchestrating its own overthrow of a foreign government, this time under the transparently false rubric of humanitarian concern over chemical weapons against poor wide-eyed and very photogenic Syrian children. Maybe if the that tall traitor sitting in the Oval Office had brushed up on his Regime Change 101 primer, he would have taken a few pages out of another interventionist's playbook, that of Richard Nixon, who used a combination of economic subversion, false propaganda, Latin American military pressure and selective bribery to orchestrate Allende's downfall with the Empire's involvement discrete and in the shadows. Nixon, the master of dirty tricks, was already at that time feeling the first soon-to-be-hot breezes of Watergate on his conniving neck, but when his end came (ironically enough due to Nixon's own act of auto-regime-change), scarcely anyone made his involvement in destroying Chilean democracy a reason for impeaching him, so artfully had he concealed his paw prints. O'Bomber, on the other hand, showed all the deft manipulative skills of a double-arm amputee juggling hand grenades in Times Square at high noon. Such is the sad state of Amerikan incompetence in virtually everything these days that the only thing we're capable of is playing the Bomb First and Don't Think Ever of Consequences foreign policy. When a superpower has nothing left in its arsenal of persuasion but weapons, the headstone on that Empire is already ready for planting in the Cemetery of HasBeens. H Campbell Texas (Sep 18, '13) [Re Philippines under the neo-colonial boot , Sep 13, '13] Much has been written about the imbalance and self-interest motives of the US in the Philippines and as a Filipino by birth and an American citizen by choice, I feel a certain obligation to voice my views, if nothing more but to inject another perspective in the debate. Given the emotions enveloped in that subject it is almost counter intuitive to disapprove expressions of patriotism, particularly when such condemnations are directed against a former colonizer that the US once was but unfortunately for me, therein lies my argument. To view the actions of the latter solely from the experience of the past would be to ignore the realities of the present that confront the Philippines, which overall, makes certain arguments of those who condemn the US unsubstantial and weak. The fact is, the Philippines even today is hardly independent and debatably a republic with the majority of its populace still focused on daily survival, despite almost 70 years of so-called independence. Consider that from the very early age, children are taught the country is rich yet all they see and experience is a life of deprivation, poverty and hardship; which begs the simplest of questions, why that is? Since being given its independence, it has consistently shown an unwillingness - maybe an incapacity - to rationally govern itself by its near-total submission to another colonizer (the Roman Catholic Church) which provokes equally substantial questions but more significantly, diminishes criticism about American intent. But to be clear: what exactly is the disagreement? That the US is more attentive on serving its own interests than those of the Philippines? Forgive the hubris, but shouldn’t a government be only loyal to its own citizen’s interest? For any citizen of any country to expect more from that principle is to expect what never was and never will be. In addition, the US could only serve its own national interests as it expects all other governments to do likewise; if only because that is what equal sovereigns do. Given that context, I have difficulty understanding how the Arroyo administration, for instance, was able to purposely give away 90% of the country’s share to two corporations in the oil exploitation called the Malampaya Project - absent some personal quid pro quo, how else could one makes sense of that unequal share? Stealth seems to typify the Philippine government's modus operandi when it comes to doling its natural resources and vital interest, almost always to the detriment of its citizens. In fact that agreement alone should have rang bells and been seen as a traitorous if not a criminal act for the massive harm it inflicted upon the country and its people, both in image and reality. Yet no one associated in that arrangement, as far as has been reported, has been held to account, as if nothing of any consequence had occurred - which makes one wonder: where are the educated minds particularly from those so-called elite institutions of learning? How about those patriots who are always ready to pounce on the US for not serving the Philippines interests more diligently? And then there’s the Catholic Church and its priests who alone could legitimize and give merit to any public demonstration of outcry or support. The same church as in the days of colonial Spain still determines the quality of life for the country and makes definitive dictates as to the meaning of truth. More consequentially for the country, its definition must be imposed on everyone. Despite this inordinate influence, no one seems troubled enough to challenge its far-reaching impact on the country’s development and the impeding effect on citizens' lives. And if one can visualize the image that condition elicits and everything else that defines the character and nature of Filipino life, one inevitably head-butts existential questions; What am I doing here? Why am I staying in the country? The fact that the government sees nothing immoral about finding jobs for its citizens overseas instead of creating jobs at home to keep families united, should awaken even a sleeping mind. But considering the millennium of immersion in the righteousness of suffering as a will from the heavens, and a sanctifying grace to be saved, what poor soul would dare complain? Moreover, when elections for public office are seen as a vehicle for self-aggrandizement and promotion of personal interests rather than shared common interesst; where public service is about comfort and privileges , the inexorable question becomes: Is there still a republic? It is unquestionable that weakness invites aggression. In a society that believes in kneeling as a position of strength and in hope as a plan, the complexity of the problem becomes overwhelming to the point of discouragement. Given that reality, it seems almost inevitable that developed countries, the US included, would try to do in the Philippines what its own government is decidedly doing to its people. Oni Sioson Connecticut, USA (Sep 17, '13) An open letter to President Barack “Yes We Can” Obama Dear President Obama, 1) Tsar Vladimir Putin (then a Prime Minister of Russia) invaded the Republic of Georgia in August 2008, after Shikashvili's thugs in Georgia murdered less than 2000 South Ossetians and destroyed a few homes and buildings. Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion, without any UN Security Council resolution and without bothering to even ask for the approval of the Russian Duma. He dismembered Georgia and did not give a damn about the world's public opinion. Yet absurdly Putin now demands UNSC resolutions to punish the Nazi regime of Bashar al-Assad, and so are the participants of the 13th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)! 2) You have let the long-suffering people of Syria down by not bombing the forces of the fascist sectarian mafia of Assad so far, even after the mass murder of over 120,000 Syrians, largely by the Assad Nazi regime using all categories of mass murder weapons. Instead, your reluctance made Putin and others in the League of Backers of Mass Murder in Syria, who provide weapons for the mass murderers and all political and propaganda covers, look very gutsy and smart. 3) Geneva II is only a victory for Putin, Iran, China , and Hezbollah, not for peace and certainly not for the wellbeing of the Syrian people, especially when for more than two years so far you have refused to offer the Syrian rebels effective weapons to fight, and you prevent others from doing so. 4) You no longer have any credibility in Egypt, in Syria, in Palestine, in Turkey, or among millions of Arabs who counted on your help in these countries (Egypt, Syria, Palestine). 5) You seem to be doing only what is good for settlers-colonial New Khazaria in Palestine (aka Israel), ignoring that fact that it has a huge nuclear, chemical, and biological arsenals that endanger not only all peoples of the Middle East, but also Europe as well. You do not even dare to bring that subject up. What a tragedy indeed! Your AIPAC-charted actions in Palestine, in Syria, in Egypt, and elsewhere in the Middle East totally discredit your policy and you personally and create serious dangers and instabilities in Turkey, in Jordan, in Egypt, and eventually in your milking cows yards – the petrodollar fiefdoms of the GCC. You are making Putin, Assad, Ayatollahs’ Iran, China, and Hezbollah look better and better to so many millions in the Near East! You can do much more than just appease and please AIPAC, Netanyahu, colonial New Khazaria in Palestine and its fifth column in the US. Under your Zionist-charted, reluctant, and intimidated tactics and actions, the US is losing all credibility and leverage among the overwhelming majority of Arabs, Turks, and 1.4 billion Sunni Muslims everywhere. What is wrong with you sir, and with your incompetent advisers? Zack A Jalamani California, USA (Sep 17, '13) [Re Cheers and jeers greet Obama's bear hug , September 12, 2013] Despite all the noise coming from opponents and proponents of President Obama's Syrian policy, certain inconvenient facts are indisputable. Fact one: before the bombs start falling, diplomacy must be the way forward not an afterthought. The US response to Syria, besides international control of its chemical weapons must go further. Creative diplomacy akin to the diplomacy that ended the several-decades long Lebanese civil war should be undertaken. The Russians can bring President Bashar Al-Assad to the table and the US can bring the rebels to the table. Fact two: you have the tale of two presidents. The last time chemical weapons were used in the Middle East was in the 1980s by Iraq's Saddam Hussein against the Kurds and Iranians causing thousands of casualties. President Reagan, a supporter of Saddam, aided and abetted Saddam's efforts to use chemical weapons, as recent declassified documents indicate. Furthermore, Reagan prevented the UN from acting. In reversal of such grotesque policy, President Obama, unlike his predecessor, wisely decided on calling on the congress and the international community to take action to prevent the use of such weapons outlawed by international agreements. And, he must be commended for his prudent and resolute handling of this very complicated problem. Fact three: calling on the Congress for authorization to act is in the furtherance of the Administration's belief, especially his vice president Joe Biden, who has enunciated often that for any military action to be successful it must have the backing of the American people. Lastly, diplomacy must be given a chance to work for no one should want to risk the unintended consequences of the alternative. Fariborz S Fatemi USA (Sep 16, '13) [Re Cheers and jeers greet Obama's bear hug , September 12, 2013] Oh my what an uproar Vladimir Putin created here in the Empire. His op-ed piece in the NY Times criticizing Amerikan bellicosity and first-resort to violence has sparked the predictable knee jerk reaction from a country that thinks itself immune to international criticism, especially from a former KGB officer running Russia like his personal fiefdom. But again, as with the Benard Manning and Edward Snowden affairs, Wonderlanders are quick to string up the messenger rather than pay attention to the message. It's just far easier to pillory the purveyor of unpleasant tidings than to fix the inherent deficiencies that made the message necessary in the first place. But the fact remains that Putin pretty much nailed it on the proverbial head, which made the article all the more stinging for the neocons, who are so accustomed to being the ones wagging fingers and acting morally superior. He accused the O'Bomber of undermining international law with his fictitious and arbitrary "red lines" and then questioned the whole premise of the tanned Bush-clone's foreign policy, which basically consists of us "exceptional" Amerikans deciding unilaterally what is moral and humane and just and right and not giving a tinker's damn about any other country's opinions. What is more telling than all of the details in Putin's piece is the fact he wrote it in the first place, in the still frothing wake of the chemical weapons diplomacy he instigated and the Snowden fiasco preceding that. It's really like rubbing the Empire's and the Obombingnator's face in the fresh diplo-dung we've just soiled ourselves with. Naturally, Amerikans would have preferred Putin demurely slinking into the background after he pulled our chestnuts out of the fire, and accepting our strained begrudging gratitude gracefully and in silence. But Putin and Russia have had quite enough of that "silent partner" cow caca and listening to the Empire's sanctimonious and hypocritical two-faced lecturing about freedom and human rights, when we are so quick to throw brown human lives away for some arbitrarily decided "red lines" and manufactured crises. The New Russia will flex its muscles carefully and astutely, preserving the balance of power through the support of the very same international norms of civilized behavior the US itself promulgated and endorsed when it was Top Dog so many years ago. Putin will also avoid the Bull-in-the-China-Shop diplomacy of the bumbling stumbling O'Bomber-Kerry Keystone Kop duo. Wonderlanders truly interested in avoiding such humbling debacles in the future had well heed the Russian's cautionary words, but a betting man will profit handsomely if he put all his money on the "Next Bogus Middle East Crisis" square. H Campbell Houston TX USA (Sep 16, '13) It is too early to tell just where Obama will rank in the list of Worst Presidents Ever, but every day he inches closer to the top spot. This will inevitably happen despite all the accolades and historic precedents that his election generated, including his preposterous Peace Prize (which the Swedes will be blushing red about for quite some time), his lofty Kingesque rhetoric and the fervent desire of the blinded Left to show up the neocons with their earthly savior. The ongoing and as yet unresolved fiasco over Syria may well be the cherry that tops his Failure as Prez Pie, though I suspect that in his remaining three years he has screw-ups, scandals, coverups and a financial Megameltdown still ahead of him. But imagine a president who manages to make Vladamir Putin (!) look like a paladin for peace, alienates even his core constituents with tardy, convoluted and illogical rationale for intervention, follows up the Edward Snowden revelations about his hypocritical lying with yet more bald faced lies about "slam dunk" evidence that Bashar Al-Assad ordered the gas attacks, dismisses the UN with a level of contempt that only Dumbya Bush (his soul brother) would admire, and seemingly is ready to defy the overwhelming will of the Amerikan people, most of the planet as well as the usually divided Congress. It would appear to be workings of a madman at first blush, until one considers where Obama's paymasters reside. That Tel Aviv and its black ops in the Mossad stand to benefit from a US intervention into yet another quagmire is beyond doubt. What is less certain is the implementation of said miscreants in carrying out the chemical attacks in cahoots with contracted mercenaries posing as Assad's henchmen. It would not be the first "false flag" operation conducted by the Zionists, as anyone who has not drunk the WonderAid about 9-11 can attest. Once the US commits to a "limited" air war (just like LBJ did in 1965, remember?), it will be a piece of cake for the Mossad to manufacture a Gulf-of-Tonkinish incident with Iran that Obama will use as justification for full scale war with the anti-imperialists in Tehran. Of course, at that point articles of impeachment will already be in front of an increasingly irate Congress, with effigies of the Obamanable Stooge lighting up lampposts from New York to San Diego, but Obama's Jewish bosses will have their conflagration, which suits their bank accounts and their fantasies about a ThirdTemple just fine. I never thought I would see a worse president than that village idiot Bush but evidently genetic research is capable nowadays of splicing together the genes of a pathological liar, a soulless serial killer and a smooth-talking politician; I give you Barack Insane Obama. Hardy Campbell Texas (Sep 11, '13) [Re Cambodia: Social media fuels new politics , Aug 6, '13] Recent alarming election results have highlighted some deep-seated popular discontent towards the performance of the Cambodian government and the way it may have failed to address pressing fundamental economic, social and governance issues that have negatively impacted on the daily life of the people. Known for its disciplined organization, the Cambodian People's Party is now faced with unprecedented and daunting challenges to effectively respond, adapt and move ahead to swiftly reform itself and the government to regain the needed credibility and confidence of the people. The depth, breadth and pace of reforms need to be assessed within the time binding constraints of the next five years and way beyond. This requires a strong political will to tackle and promote a mindset of change within the party and the government. As severe as this set back can be for the CPP, it also provides an unprecedented historical opportunity to rise to the challenge and lay out a new economic, cultural and social foundation that will make Cambodia become an economic powerhouse, relevant to the region and to the world, where our Angkorian forefathers and the generations to come will be proud of. Mindset change is hard but possible if it is well designed and can touch the hearts and minds of the people. Lee Kuan Yew had done it very successfully for Singapore and Emperor Meiji for Japan. Both had created unprecedented sustainable prosperity for their nations and could be viewed as the equivalent of the 20th century Jayavarman VII. The main challenge, however, remains within ourselves, as the famed scientist Albert Einstein rightly said: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them". Neither should we also fall into the temptation of “change to remain unchanged” as cosmetic change is not change but just a way to perpetuate our usual habits, values and mindset, which have proven to be rather ineffective in addressing the toughest economic and societal issues. Well-intended policies were conceived, unfortunately they fell short due to the absence of urgency, weak implementation and coordination, weak accountability as political correctness has been rewarded more than results, which has resulted in widespread ineptitude in many line ministries. Cambodia today mainly leans towards a donor-influenced mindset, whose agenda is just to maintain Cambodia’s Third World status. In comparison, let us look back in perspective to the Sangkum Reas Niyum era of (as he was then) Prince Norodom Sihanouk who displayed real leadership, wisdom and transformed the country into an economic powerhouse in the 1960s within Southeast Asia as well as project its soft power onto the global political arena by being a founder member of the NAM (Non Aligned Movement) and sat as equal among the great statesmen of those times the like of Nasser, Nehru and Sukarno. Whoever holds the reins of power in the next decade could use a bolder vision to set a new path of development for the country. Is there a leader cut out for such a challenge? David Vichet Van A Simple Khmer Citizen (Sep 9, '13) Killing Syrian civilians to punish Bashar Al-Assad for killing Syrian civilians is madness pure and simple.Why is this not the central meme? Phil Mosley Australia (Sep 9, '13) The murder of a young Aussie here in DeathLand by three bored WonderTeens has predictably stirred the momentary ire and horror that such an act fully merits. But in a country where the recent butchery of toddlers registered similar outcries for reform and gun control and the like, only to dissipate in the usual cascade of liberal hand wringing and congressional GOP stonewalling, our inherent love of violence will kick in, almost like clockwork, to relativize the tragedy, focus on some new similar horror, then slide into the river of Denial, Amnesia and Thank-God-It-Wasn’t-My-Child relief. And usually we’ll be starting anew war in Non-Amerika to get us concentrating on the real priorities, killing brown children “over there.” The fate of the three sociopaths remains unknown at this time, but they’ll doubtless be grateful that they haven’t been branded “terrorists” like the Chechens of Boston Marathon infamy, simply because they don’t have funny sounding names or heathen religions. What won’t help their case is the blithe statement one made that the motivation for the killing was sheer boredom and the desire to see that relieved by shooting the young man in the back. That is a definite no-no in a country that typically rationalizes our murderous warmongering ways with some convoluted expression of absurdist righteousness, such as justifying the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqis by saying we fought Saddam for the protection and safety of the Iraqi people, or the self-defense ploy used recently in Florida to acquit a man who shot an unarmed black teenager. By making the case of Us vs Them, Good vs Perceived Imaginary Threat, Wonderlanders can nod approvingly and quickly process the surreal rape of logic and sanity into something fungible, pliable and completely sensible. Worse for the miscreants, though, such a confession makes the nihilism that resides in every Amerikan bosom spasm and twitch with envy. The desire to slaughter and destroy resides so snugly inside DeathLanders that it should be little wonder that every week a new TV show or movie comes out concerning the end of the world with all its attendant death and destruction. Similarly unsurprising should be the non-revelation that the most popular book in the Holy Gospel is the one where the progenitor inspiration for all such nihilist entertainment originated, the Apocalypse of St, John the Divine, where carnage, retribution and violent punishment are meted out in bucketloads of blood. Are we surprised that we sit on the largest collection of planet killing nukes and biological weapons? By making us see ourselves in them, the three alleged murderers have condemned themselves a hundredfold. Amerikans don’t like to be reminded that we are not the most violent, murderous, terroristic, warmongering nation in the history of the globe for nothing. Hardy Campbell Texas (Sep 9, '13) Saudi rulers must feel in a real pickle these days. On the international side, their military allies in Egypt are bracing for incipient civil war, their rebel allies in Syria are being gassed with impunity, little neighbor Qatar and its Al Jazeera TV network is making a real pest of itself in resisting Saudi bids for regional influence, the US fracking boom threatens to erode their control of Amerika’s addiction to oil, Iran’s nuclear program continues apace, Yemen to the south teeters on the precipice, their army of occupation and repression in Bahrain continue to aggravate Sunni-Shi'ite tensions and the Al Qaeda movement they and the CIA created has gone rogue, splintering into a thousand hydra’s heads, each with their own definition of Islamic purity with some proliferating in Riyadh's backyard. Domestically, the situation may be even more dire. Disgruntled Saudi youth who connected to the cyberuniverse are easily circumventing all the old style regime organs of suppressing dissent, "immorality" and calls for pluralism. With the old example of the Shah and the new examples of the Arab spring as historical wake up calls for those who refuse to smell the coffee, the aging Wahhabists in Riyadh are undoubtedly hunkering down to weather what they hope is a passing storm. Alas, for them, what will be passing is their geriatric derrieres as the old guard pushes up cacti one by one, leaving a whole host of unresolved questions to their younger successors, including a suffocating morality state, rigidly controlled gender relations, mounting debt, depleted oil reserves, the increasing radicalization of homegrown Islamists, the deteriorating health of Saudi youth reared on Western cholesterol, persistent unemployment in an oil industry still dominated by expats and most ominous of all, the tottering and impending collapse of their foremost Anglo-Saxon ally, the Empire. Wonderland, always eager to point fingers at repressive regimes worldwide that don't meet our standards of human rights and civil liberties, have naturally always and hypocritically turned a blind eye to the theo-Stalinist regime in Riyadh, even ignoring all the blatant and transparent ties of the royal family to al-Qaeda, the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, the Sudanese government and every hatred-spewing madrasa from Albania to Zanzibar. The good news for the Saudis is that the one state with the most to lose if the conservative, US-tied regime falls is Israel, which has supplied the Saudi state with surreptitious intelligence, training and assistance for 30 years or so and relies on Riyadh to keep the lid on the simmering Palestinian pot. But even the Chosen People cannot stop the big wheel of history turning. Hardy Campbell Texas (Sep 6, '13) [Re Bo breaks from script , but sticks to role, Sep 3, '13] "Western-style democracy with all its trappings might be a goal" -Francisco Sisci Present-day politics in the US is not a good advertisement for "Western-style democracy." Congress is the most despised institution in the US, less popular than cockroaches or warts, and for many good reasons. Any day now, congress and the president are likely to give us another war, kill a vast number of Syrian civilians, against the wishes of most Americans. They have been doing this since at least 1950. In that time, no change for the better has come from electoral politics. The biggest change in US society in my lifetime was the Civil Rights movement. It did not grow out of electoral politics. Lester Ness Kunming China (Sep 6, '13) General Martin Dempsey's refusal of US Secretary of State John Kerry's invitation to participate in Kerry's dissimulation that an attack against Syria is not an act of war requiring congressional authorization is priceless. US Senator Rand Paul claims such an attack must be approved by congress with a decision that is binding on President Barack Obama and wants Obama to indicate as much before any vote. Dempsey's "no thanks" in such a context during testimony before congress intended by Obama should have a devastating effect on Obama's ability to get congressional approval if enough people take note of it. I did not think that anyone would be able to outdo Representative Zoe Lofgren's recent retort in an interview that if such an attack against Washington, DC would be viewed as an act of war, then such an attack against Syria should also be viewed as an act of war. I was hoping that Paul would express the foregoing thought if Kerry allowed Paul to reply. Instead of the rapacious and insatiable Kerry allowing Paul to reply, Kerry turned to Dempsey and invited to him to fall into a trap. Dempsey, a man in the mold of Calvin Coolidge whom Dempsey resembles slightly, let Kerry and Obama both fall into a pit from which no one should be able to emerge, assuming there is a shred of decency, rationality and humanity left in the US. Dempsey would not be where he is were he not approved by the US' Israeli masters, and his refusal to participate in Kerry's deception is most probably going to cost him quite a bit at the hands of this country's Zionist and Israeli puppet masters. I am taking public note of this in the hopes of protecting and liberating him from his and this country's Israeli overseers in the hope we can get him to become the first US president who is free from Zionist or Israeli control in over 80 years. Adam Albrett Fairfax, VA USA (Sep 6, '13) [Re Pet projects put Kim on a slippery slope , Sep 3, '13] Kim Jong-eun can do nothing right, according to Joon-ho Kim. Even though South Korea has its ear to the ground, like the US, it is wandering in the dark when it comes to North Korea. Building a water park for the people, is not an occasion for ironic comment. Had Kim looked at the days of Evita and Juan Peron, Evita built amusement parks for the Argentines. Evita also instituted a program of distributing milk to the people, too. Alas, the US, South Korea and others sneer at any projects undertaken in the North and cynically, they are denying the import of milk and milk products to the people of North Korea. Standing on the high horse of false morality is rather distasteful, don't you think? Nakamura Junzo Guam (Sep 4, '13) [Re Life loses value in the Middle East , Aug 29, '13] Ramzy Baroud provided inaccurate statistics about the number of Palestinians civilians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. Baroud stated: "According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, 1,417 Palestinians were killed during the Israeli 2008-09 war on Gaza, out of which 926 were civilians, including 313 children. The Israeli rights group B'Tselem puts the number at 1,385, with 318 minors killed" According to Israel Defense Forces sources, over 1,000 Palestinian casualties were Hamas fighters. While Baroud did mention casualties by both sides in Egypt, he failed to provide statistics for Israeli casualties and the trauma to Israel's children resulting from the thousand of rockets launched at Israeli towns by Hamas from Gaza. The anti-Israeli narrative in Baroud's essay is propaganda. Larry Shapiro California, USA (Sep 4, '13) It is reassuring that some in the Syrian opposition and many Syrians interviewed in the street by Arab TV media are opposed to a US or Western attack against Syria, even though their opposition may be due to considerations other than the need to act in accordance with international law which would prohibit such an attack. US President Obama's legal justification for attacking Syria is based on the illegitimate, widely discredited and unacceptable preventive war doctrine and is the same legal justification Israel (whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is clamoring for an attack) used to justify the 1967 war in which Syria lost control of the Golan Heights, the Palestinians lost control of Gaza and the West Bank, Egypt lost control of the Sinai and many other illegal acts since then and the (Zionist-controlled) US has used to justify attacking Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. Given the foregoing, is it not surprising that Free Syrian Army Chief-of-Staff Salim Idrees and Free Syrian Army Strategic Advisor and Spokesman Luay al-Miqdadi and others of their ilk are confident that the US Congress will support Obama. It is almost certain that their handlers have manipulated them yet again and gotten them to act against their best interests and the best interests of Syria, Arabs, Muslims and humanity in general. You would think that they would be expressing the hope that Congress would not support Obama. What Syrian in their right mind would give approval for an attack whose illegitimate "legal" justification is the same as that used by Syria's Israeli enemy to seize the Golan Heights in 1967. Given that Syrian opposition leaders have tried repeatedly to discredit the Syrian regime's resistance credentials against Israel, you would think that they would be extra careful not to do anything to validate or launder their enemy's criminal actions which they may have a much more difficult time opposing if they continue down this path of cheerleading for an attack with the same foolishness of an innocent person cheering for their own execution, except that much more than one person, or even one country or one people, is at stake. Were the US Congress to support Obama, it would be doing nothing more than validating or availing itself of a thoroughly illegitimate Israeli alternative reality legal doctrine that past Zionist-controlled US administrations and the Israeli pariah that controls them have invoked. Given the foregoing characterization and the clarity with which the issue has been presented, I am not sure that Congress will support Obama once international law gets a fair hearing despite Obama's best efforts to keep it out and given that responsibility to protect is not a credibly available avenue for justifying any attack. The FSA's Idrees said "yes," when he was asked by al-Arabiya whether he would welcome a US or Western attack on Syria. He said "yes" even though the legal justification for the attack is essentially the same as the illegitimate legal justification for the Israeli attacks on Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran and Tunisia. When Idrees was asked whether he would welcome Israeli entity participation in an attack against the regime, he said "no" because it occupies Syrian territory (not because it is also an enemy of the Arab and Muslim worlds and humanity and occupies Palestine). Does he mean to say that he would welcome an attack were it not occupying Syrian territory and even though it is occupying all of Palestine? The Syrian opposition and all who desire a just world order should not be validating or availing themselves of illegitimate and discredited Israeli alternative reality legal doctrines or the recently fabricated doctrine of "responsibility to protect" (R2P). R2P, assuming such a doctrine is needed and is properly formulated, should not be available to those with "unclean hands", especially those who intend to benefit illegitimately from invoking R2P. Until I started reading Asia Time Online again a few days ago I had not read it since the time a letter from a reader was published claiming that a preventive war act that is unacceptable under international law would become acceptable merely by claiming self-defense. Unfortunately, it appears that the reader doesn't understand that anticipatory self-defense with, among other things, has strict limits on the imminent nature of the threat and proportionality is the self-defense outer limit of international law that makes preventive war unacceptable. A limited attack as envisioned by Obama is not only disproportionate it is illegal. If the foregoing is hard to fathom, maybe it will help to be reminded that simply saying something was done in self-defense doesn't make it so and that until the Israeli-controlled US started its illegal and widely condemned wars, the international pariah that is Israel was in the entire world. Adam Albrett Virginia, USA (Sep 3, '13) The year 2013 is the anniversary of many events both large and small. It is also the centenary of the end of a historical epoch. 1913 marked the last year before the Great War broke out. It thus represents the termination point of the pre-modern era to the present "modern" era, an era bookended with a hot world war and the present day increasingly chilly one. The pre-modern era can reasonably be adjudged to have begun in the year 1453 when the Last Roman Empire in Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks (thereby making 2013 yet another anniversary.) Sadly, it remains a historical fact that it is wars that represent the major turning points in history, not scientific discoveries or religious conversions or great works of art. Wars shape our lives, our deaths and our ideas about life and death; they affirm our humanity by our inhumanity. It is the most human of institutions. Hard on the heels of the traumatic end of 2000 years of Roman grandeur was a series of events that had the most profound implications for the pre-modern era, the innovation of the printing press by Guttenberg in 1454 and the "discovery" of the New World by Columbus in 1492. The domino effect of these three events brought the world to 1913, a year where the exhausted remnants of the Ottoman Empire lay a smoldering, ready for ignition anew. It was the last year where the ideas of authoritarian dynasties that hearkened back to the dawn of civilization would seem like the natural and divinely inspired order of things, the last year that the idea of glorious, chivalric and pristine wars could be fought, the last year that the awful and awesome promise of technology did not threaten mass extinctions. Today, 2013 is just another brick in the wall that humanity had built since the world lost its mind in 1914. This year finds the splintered pieces of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East splintering anew, with the potential to ignite another wider conflagration, just as the Austrians counted on limiting their little war with Serbia to the barbarous recesses of the Balkans. Perhaps Obama, like the Emperor Franz Josef, is just hoping to teach Assad a lesson by waging "limited" air war on Syria. He should read his history books about how imperial Russia perceived Austria Hungary's "little war" and pray Putin does not emulate Nicholas II. H Campbell Texas (Sep 3, '13) [Re Obama set for holy Tomahawk war , Aug 27, '13] American history repeats itself over and over again. The supposed atrocity: sinking of the USS Maine to get us to attack Spain. Dirty bird Lyndon B Johnson's attack on our navy to get us to escalate the Vietnam war. The sinking of the RMS Lusitania... and on and on forever. The actors have different names, even different shades of facial color, but the lies and rotten behavior remain the same. And enough of the American public will swallow the whole rotten mess to support yet another attack on another country. Lou Vignates USA (Aug 29, '13) [Re Syrians to be losers - again , Aug 26, '13] As President Barack Obama weighs his military options for "punishing" Syria for the use of Sarin gas, it is useful to recall a much overlooked UN report on the use of bio-chemical weapons in Syria. The UN established that both sides in the Syrian conflict have resorted to the use of such weapons. So, it is not unreasonable to suppose that it was very much in the interests of the Syrians rebels of all stripes to use them when UN inspectors were coming to investigate areas where the deadly gas was allegedly used. The Obama White House has taken it on faith that the Assad government did, even though it admits that it is on faith alone that they have come to this conclusion. We ask the question of "cui bono?" Who benefits? The rebels, of course, the more especially since they think Obama is dragging his feet on aiding them with the weapons he is not furnishing them. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Aug 29, '13) The US is apparently on the verge of another great mischief in the Middle East, 10 years after the "pretextual war" in Iraq via the WMD hoax. Mr Kerry sounds so much like the then Secretary of State Collin Powell who lied to the whole world about the "compelling and irrefutable evidence." Contrary to Kerry, there is little doubt the Syrian rebels have used gas attack, as confirmed by a member of the UN commission of inquiry, Carlo del Ponte, both in May and now. But, truth is the first casualty of war and America's impending new military gambit with unknown consequences fits the rogue superpower's pattern of warmongering, which has more than once backfired on Washington. Kaveh L Afrasiabi United States (Aug 29, '13) Can some clued-in ATol reader tell me why the US and its Western stooges are getting their panties in a wad about chemical weapons in Syria? Several months ago the reincarnation of Dumbya Bush stood in front of cameras and proclaimed the use of such weapons a "red line" that Assad did not want to cross, as if the deaths of thousands of civilians wasn't enough of a "red line" of some new Wonderish definition of decency and "legitimate" war behavior. This somber proclamation coming from a president, mind you, that has the blood of hundreds if not thousands of innocent victims killed by his drone wars, his continued illegal occupation of Afghanistan and his black op assassination squads. But those deaths, inflicted by chemical explosions or projectiles propelled by explosive chemicals, are in some way "acceptable" deaths as opposed to those induced by non-explosive chemicals. Evidently chemicals that cause bodies to be disintegrated into a thousand incinerated pieces are preferable to ones that merely asphyxiate or paralyze the nervous system but nonetheless leaves the corpse intact. Maybe Obama has something against leaving enough body parts around for a decent burial (or autopsy). That would explain why we never got to see Osama bin Laden's body, wouldn't it? All this angst and hand wringing from a country whose chemical weapon Agent Orange still plagues Vietnam and thousands of US veterans and whose effects are to this day disavowed. All this hoohah from a country that poisoned its own troops with chemical weapons demolitions during the First Gulf War. All this anxiety about chemicals from a country where every day hundreds of companies are allowed to pollute air and groundwater with toxic chemicals that generate fat profits and condemn poor people to a lifetime of health problems and premature funerals. But the fact that the US has some quirky kind of sensitivity about chemical weapons can't be denied, judging from the kind of biased and contrived intelligence used in past so-called "red line" episodes, such as the alleged and subsequently discredited CIA "yellow rain" incidents during the Cold War and the erroneous CIA conclusion in 1998 that Sudan had a chemical weapons plant that we then cruise missile destroyed, only to discover later on that it was just a pharmaceutical drug plant churning out medicine. Oops (the secret CIA motto, by the way.) And don't be surprised after we drop some bombs and kill more innocent brown people that the CIA will 'fess up and admit they got the Syrian chemical attacks wrong too. Double motto. Perhaps it's the image of Western Front Anglo-Saxons choking in clouds of mustard gas in World War I that's got the spooks in the CIA spooked. Or maybe because anyone else using chemical weapons threatens our monopoly on hideous instruments of lethality. But the image of an indignant Don Obama dripping from head to toe with innocent blood and his befuddled Sancho Panza Joe Biden getting sanctimonious about Syrian chemical weapons surely must set a new standard of hypocrisy even the Anglo-Saxons will have trouble surpassing. But I am confident they will. H Campbell Texas (Aug 29, '13) Hardy Campbell, perhaps you could enlighten us on the history of socialism and how that system has benefited humanity economically/socially? Human systems aren't immutable, my friend; they evolve and adapt over time as demanded by changing circumstances (or they risk being discarded by history). During the height of the Cold War, who could have imagined die-hard socialist countries one day turning capitalistic? Maybe capitalism can mutate as well? As a fellow ATol reader, my advice to you is to get out of Texas and go see what's happening around the world, lest you become the allegorical frog living at the bottom of a well. John Chen USA (Aug 26, '13) For further debate on this, we direct writers to The Edge - ATol So Manning gets 35 years and Snowden gets indefinite Russian winters as the Obamanable President's revenge. The irony of the Obaminator's government making people's private lives more transparent through his universal snooping while he cloaks himself in ever more opaque cocoons of secrecy may escape most people. Before the word "terrorist" became an abused member of the WonderLexicon, there was government snooping of organized crime bosses, politicians, communists, civil rights activists, drug lords, tax evaders, religious leaders, Hollywood stars, ie, anyone with a pulse that could someday upset the status quo. And that was in the days when snooping was much more difficult in a no-Facebook, Internetless world. Nowadays, the snoopers are like kids in a cyber-candy store. And like a child who has raided the cookie jar without permission, our NSA Snoop Dogs blithely confess to multiple transgressions of what they sneeringly refer to as "court"-approved surveillance. Amazing they haven't croaked of cyberdiabetes. The gullible rubes called Amerikans live in a fantasy world where the idea of "privacy" has become a rhetorical sacred bedrock of our so-called democracy, while, in truth, the US government always considered privacy as a theoretical concept, like freedom and civil liberties, that best resides as ink stains on a piece of yellowing paper, to be trotted out in the real world only for special bamboozling occasions, like elections, war rallies and similar mob-quelling rubbish. Watergate exposed some of what had been going on for decades, but the American public gullibly believed that all those subsequent late 70s CIA hearings and institutional "reforms" fixed the problem permanently and we could all return to the Wonderland of Ike-in-the-WH, Tail Finned Cars and juke box dancing at the malt shop. In truth, the real snooping hadn't even gotten started yet. The rapid evolution of computers and all sorts of electronic gizmos during the 80s made the spying business easier, quicker and less obvious. At the same time, the cycle of financial balloons inflated to mask a deteriorating economy began in earnest, and make no mistake that the scions of Wall Street and the clandestine organs of national security profited enormously from the confluence of these parallel developments, often in collusion. But every weapon has a two edged blade, and in the case of the cybercrooks in the SEC, NSA, CIA, FBI, DEA, DIA, etc., that dual sharpness sliced important veins when Assange, Manning and Snowden cut through the veil of secrecy with their acts of patriotism and honor. Mind you, nothing like 9/11 exposing arteries were severed, but still, to those accustomed to working at midnight with no accountability, the cuts stung as matter of pride. Someone had to pay, so the trio of political dissidents have been persecuted accordingly. Uncle Joe would be proud of his dusky pupil. They shouldn't gloat too loudly or too long, however. The trio represents only the tippy tip of a vanguard with their fingers on their keyboards, ready to short out electric grids, financial markets, weapons systems, worldwide webs and data bases at a stroke. Good thing Obama's de-criminalizing smokers of Mary Jane; their place in the overcrowded penal system will rapidly be replaced with the avengers of the Hero Manning. H Campbell Texas (Aug 26, '13) So the CIA has finally decided to "tell all" about Area 51, the long suspected government secret facility in the Nevada desert. Of course, the "revelation" did not include aliens or wrecked spacecraft from the Pleiades, just the oft suspected base for spy plane testing during the Cold War. And that supposedly will put an end to such outrageous speculation that the US government would hide such things from its democratic citizenry. Which is why any sane person knows the CIA is still hiding something out there because the CIA ALWAYS lies, especially when they've been forced to admit a previous lie. It's just a CIA knee jerk reaction more than anything else, a compulsion to deceive forged over 60 years of clandestine no-accountability criminal endeavors, from smuggling Nazis to training right wing death squads to peddling heroin and cocaine to rigging elections to political smear campaigns to planting false evidence to false flag operations to the routine kidnappings, tortures, assassinations, smuggling, embargo-busting, illegal surveillance, break-ins, cover-ups and theft. But it's also a tried and true CIA strategy also; confess to a smaller lie to coverup a still bigger lie. So why this sudden need to spill the obvious from these mendacious murderers, especially about a site that has been confined to fringe groups convinced of alien visitations and conspiracies? On the subject of extraterrestrials, I am agnostic; I do not discount the possibility nor does the existing "evidence" convince me. But when the government is seen to be expending propaganda capital about something so innocuous I have to wonder and recall other odd incidences. Before the filming of the 1996 blockbuster Independence Day, the director consulted the military about the script, which included Area 51 as an essential plot device. The brass said they were all or the script and the way it depicted the heroic wing boys of the Air Force but they also insisted that all reference to Area 51 had to be removed. The director naturally refused as the plot would fall apart otherwise, so the Pentagon-types refused support and walked out. Mind you, this occurred when the official government position about Area 51 was that it was pure fiction and the stuff of tin-foil alien abductee fantasies, so why give a fiction mention of it a second thought? To paraphrase Scripture, "The Truth flees when no fiction pursues." Maybe more to the point, now we understand that it was not the Pentagon but the CIA who were the real masters of Area 51, something which can also be said of many many institutions, corporations and educational systems in Wonderland. Making the case that the CIA has its tentacles ensnaring virtually every aspect of Amerikan society, politics and economics would not be a stretch by any means. And don't look for shock on my face if it's ever disclosed that the CIA is also peddling weapons and drugs to alien gangsters from the stars. Hardy Campbell Texas (Aug 32, '13) At the risk of indulging in a polemical debate with John Chen [Letter August 20], there are some critical points here that bear further elaboration. I live in a capitalist society and have done so all my life. The national ideology has provided me with a comfortable living and pleasant lifestyle (which includes sweating in the Texas heat whenever I get a chance.) From this selfish perspective capitalism cannot be surpassed. And for a long time I drank the same KoolAid (disguised as an occasional beer) that Chen enjoys, the myth that the engine of capitalism which would profit the innovative go-getter individual personally and society as a whole in the form of jobs, homes and provision for a family (the "Amerikan Dream.") But after seeing for the last 40 years the deterioration of our wealth creating industries, the slow but inexorable strangulation of the middle class, the corresponding explosion of obscene wealth by the 1%ers, the pervasive expansion of poverty, functional illiteracy, Third World conditions, collapsing health care, illegal wars, corporate crimes, economic Ponzification and political corruption on a scale that would embarrass Zimbabwe, I finally had to take the blinders off that every Wonderlander is fitted with at birth and had to recognize that capitalism is a Darwinian evolutionary process where the genes of capitalism, self-interest and personal profit, eventually must mutate capitalism from the do-gooding social kitten of Pollyannish WonderMythology into a ferocious predator. On the African savannah, evolution makes the predator's teeth sharper and its jaws stronger, not for the good of the savannah's other animal inhabitants but for the good of the predator's digestive system. Likewise, with the evolution of technology and communication, capitalism's equivalent of better meat-shredding teeth and jaws are such innovations as collateralized derivatives, which have mutated from their benign origins into a ruthless economy-killing machine. But while many may suffer in the "savannah" of the ravaged Amerikan economy, the few predators who have "innovated" prosper mightily. And in an age where the rate of mutation is accelerated a billionfold by technology, these mutated beasts are evolving more rapidly, more ruthlessly and beyond any institutional control. Chen posits a world where these monsters can be controlled, where the cookie jar can be sealed tight from the predator's claws. The Warrens and Bhararas of the world will supposedly make the savannah prowlers tamer and more "responsible." But responsible to whom? The bankers and financial wizards on Wall Street are primarily responsible to themselves and their shareholders; there is no secret codicil that makes them beholden to "society" or even "government", which they suborn anyway with well-oiled propaganda about democracy, personal freedom, innovation and oodles of campaign "donations." The responsibility of the capitalist is ultimately to themselves and no one else. Chen is right about one thing, though, capitalism relies on innovation, but not the social-benefiting kind he envisions. No, the kind of innovation the capitalist thrives on is the kind that steals more opaquely, cheats more deceitfully and is easier to disavow when the claws smash open the cookie jar. H Campbell Relatively Cool Texas (Aug 22, '13) An underlying condition in the Muslim Brotherhood's (MB) implacable resistance to its ouster is resentment - resentment on the part of the winners for being ousted in the first place. And yet, the anti-MB elements do not regret for finding themselves on the side of the generals for finding themselves in a new-old situation when they thought they had clipped the wings of military power and now find that it has come back to dominate Egypt again. The Brotherhood over played its hand from the word go. Since it cannot entertain the idea of a separation of mosque and state, and since it thought its victory at the polls gave it a blank check to reinstate a version of a Caliphate, it has had a rude awakening. Still, the military has eventually to come up with a way to reintegrate the MB into the political sphere so that it can evolve in a more open way to value opinions other than its own - opinions that are open to the outside world, the rights of Christians and women, and an openness to a secular society. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Aug 22, '13) Appreciate your comment, Hardy Campbell [August 19]; it was an interesting one from an interesting individual. Through the years, I have expressed in my ATol letters an antipathy for unfettered capitalism, as well as my belief that a mix of socialist and capitalist practices would probably produce the best long-term economic outcomes. Interestingly, your entire second paragraph points to a deficiency of proper supervision as a prime underlying cause for the financial/economic fiascos enumerated. While no one knows how far officials like US Attorney Preet Bharara and Senator Elizabeth Warren can go in helping Wall Street behave more responsibly, their efforts certainly represent a step in the right direction. And for all its myriad flaws, capitalism encourages the expression of creativity and propels economic growth in general; the challenge lies in guiding the system so it doesn't get out of control or way ahead of itself. By the way, I don't drink the socialist or capitalist Kool-Aid, just an occasional beer here and there…. Cheers, Campbell; don't let the Texas heat get to you, and don't get too hung up on ideology. John Chen USA (Aug 21, '13) In regards to Nakamura Junzo's letter [August 19] about North Korean defectors, he wonders why the number of defectors is so low if North Korea is so "demonic". The entire country of North Korea is a prison camp, its takes a security pass to travel to the next town in North Korea. China will not grant asylum to North Koreans but will arrest them and deport them back to North Korea where they will face death in a North Korean gulag. North Koreans have to travel the length of China, through Laos and hope to find a path to South Korea in Thailand. Several months ago Laos arrested nine North Koreans and returned them to North Korea to face the gulag hell. Recent reports have North Korea sending kidnap squads to China to grab defectors. Also China is increasing the barbed wire fencing along the North Korean border. In 2011 there were 2,700 defectors, in 2012 after Kim Jong-eun took power that number fell to 1,500. Anyone who follows events in North Korea knows that Jong-eun is not a reformer - his plan is to increase control over the people in the North. He has greatly increased the security of the North Korean-Chinese border. He closed the Kaesong Industrial Park throwing 54,000 North Koreans out of work and destroying the economy of the third largest city in the North, however he now realizes he made a mistake and is trying to reopen Kaesong, but it may not work or it could take several years to reemploy all 54,000 workers. I would love to know what Nakamura Junzo admires so much in North Korea, is it the starvation the torture or could it be the complete lack of freedom? I have no idea, however, I am a believer in Karma and a persons beliefs and actions have consequences. Dennis O'Connell USA (Aug 21, '13) John Chen's letter [August 16] commenting on how wonderful capitalism is when regulated properly made me snicker. It may be naivete on his part or just plain pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking, but the idea of restrained capitalism is akin to the theory of virginal ladies of the evening; sounds tempting and wunderbar until you get down to the practical details. Perhaps Mr Chen does not comprehend how capitalism works or perhaps he's just drank so much of the Kool Aid he figures he should own stock in the company that brews the poison. I would suggest he watch the movie Wall Street (1987) to start with, then move on to reading about the Great Depression of the 1930s, the S&L scandals of the 80s, Black Monday of '87, the dot com bust, the Asian currency crisis, the LTCM fiasco and if he still needs convincing, the whole sordid mortgage meltdown of 2007-09. In each instance, governments said all the right things about regulation and fair play and all that other rot, but when push came to shove and they saw all those tax dollars flowing in and everyone living the high life chasing one Ponzi scheme after another, they too got caught up in the euphoria of sudden easy wealth and stood to one side, lest they be accused of being wealth-depriving party-poopers. In all cases there was plenty of regulations and regulators, just little will to regulate. And that is the seductive genius and evil of capitalism that makes the Chens of the world sing its praises by cherrypicking their memories and artfully forgetting unpleasantness to suit their rose colored and surreal Pollyanna worldview The truth is that capitalism will always promise what the Chens want to hear, anything to get at those suckers. "Regulate me and I will spread prosperity throughout," is what the ravenous lion coos to its lion tamer, purring with feline charm how nice and behaved he'll be when his cage is opened in front of an audience of fat, plump spectators. But whereas Chen and his ilk insist that letting the lion out on a leash with an experienced lion tamer is just what the economy needs to prosper, the lion knows otherwise; once the cage is open, he will rip and shred and feast on the lion tamer and all the unsuspecting rubes until he is gorged silly. But the Lion hasn't lied; the prosperity he spread was HIS prosperity in the form of shattered lives and wrecked economies. In Kapitalism, only predators thrive. "You want to regulate me, Chen?" the Lion of Kapitalism will ask while picking his teeth with bone shards. "Sure, sure, whatever you say. My, you're looking well fed today. Please open my cage again, won't you?" Hardy Campbell Texas USA (Aug 19, '13) [Re Anti-North Korea? No, we're pro , Aug 16, '13] "Though not a large or random sample," says it all. One has to raise the following question - why after all these years does the number of defections from the DPRK remain low if the regime is as draconian and demonic as Pyongyanglists make it out to be? Attachment to land is a good answer. Even Koreans originally from North Korea living in the US for more than a half century have a fond attachment to the city, town or village in which their ancestors lived and died. Much change in the DPRK is at a pace that escapes the attention of those who predict regime change. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Aug 19, '13) [Re Skeletons in Indonesia's closet , Aug 9, '13]The disturbing new documentary, The Act of Killing, sets a new standard of horror that few works of fiction could ever hope to match. It describes the making of a film in Indonesia about the ruthless and wholesale massacres of communists, intellectuals and ethnic Chinese in 1965-66, an act that ultimately brought the kleptocrat Suharto into office with the Empire’s blessing. But the part that shakes you to the core is the fact that the “directors” and “actors” in this movie are the some of the worst killers themselves, who have never shied away from publicity about their butcheries and in fact are today still lauded and held in esteem by many, if not most, Indonesians. In their "movie" they gleefully reenact their tortures, rapes, murders and burning of entire villages with serene and proud impunity, only afterwards reflecting with almost embarrassed circumspection how their victims must have felt and how their film should not make their murders seem "cruel" or 'sadistic." Going into this movie having a general knowledge of events in which one million or more people were killed for trying to acquire socioeconomic justice, I halfway expected that the director had to ferret out the perpetrators hiding away in remote parts of Indonesia, embarrassed and loathe to discuss the holocaust they inflicted on their fellow citizens. Nothing could be further from the truth; they were feted and applauded as they toured Indonesian radio and TV promoting their movie and their “achievements”. Perhaps most chilling was a young woman TV host who practically high fived the old killers for doing their patriotic duty slaughtering the Red men, women and children. The film ends with the principal perpetrator vomiting when he visits one of the scenes of his murders, which included decapitation and strangling, then slipping away into the night, a sleepless night that would plague him with the ghosts of his 1000 victims. But maybe one of the other killers framed this best when confronted by the director with what he described as “war crimes.” He asked pointedly, when did the Americans punish those among them that had killed the red Indians in wholesale massacres? The American director had no response, of course, because he knew the answer. As horrific as this movie was, it also made me admire in a grotesque way the honesty of Indonesian society in not sugar coating or ignoring this episode we in the West would classify as "shameful" or "ignominious", instead deciding to show it in its stark horror and saying "Yes, this happened and we did it for the good of our country and we'll do it again if need be". Here in an Empire whose history is stuffed with the brutalities and horrors of slavery, Indian extermination, innumerable slaughters of indigenous peoples fighting for their freedom from Imperial rule, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, My Lai, the napalming of Vietnam, and now the twin rapes of Iraq and Afghanistan with their Abu Graibs, Guantanamos and countless other secret torture camps spread throughout the world, incidents that are glossed over or ignored altogether in public education history classes, I doubt we would find such ruthless honesty or forthright admission of guilt. Certainly we would not hear any willingness to repeat these episodes, but if there's one thing the Empire is good at, it's putting old wine in new bottles and calling it "Chateau de Freedom&Democracy, vintage 20XX." Hardy Campbell USA (Aug 16, '13) Now that the US government is starting to crack down on Wall Street’s flagitious conduct/greed that has cast a mephitic pall over the nation’s economy, there may yet be a bright future for the country. Otherwise, no amount of wealth will ever suffice to fill the Wall Street black hole. As US Attorney Preet Bharara, who is spearheading the government effort, keenly observed, “Capitalism works best when its participants do not lie and cheat. Capitalism works best when its biggest beneficiaries play by the same rules as everyone else.” While capitalism is by no means perfect, when properly supervised, it can work wonderfully. John Chen USA (Aug 16, '13) [Re While officials talk, Israelis build , Aug 15, '13] Pity the poor Palestinians. The US is leaning very hard on them to sell their birthright for a mess of pottage. The Palestine Authority is basically funded by the Americans, truth be told. Secretary of State John Kerry, rhetoric notwithstanding, is giving Israel an easy pass as the US always does. If it is not clear by now, Israel's push to build, build and build illegally on land that is Palestinian is fueled by a reactionary political agenda of Zionism. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Aug 16, '13) The city slicker from New York came to Podunk USA looking to sell some widgets. The first hayseed farmer he met sounded interested in all the promises the salesman made about the wonders of widgets and all the things it could do, but with a twinkle in his eye the old coot pointed to the large wooden statue of an Indian standing on his front porch and said, "Dem widgets o' yores ain't gonna be half iz good as that there wooden Injin". The baffled Yankee examined the statue, finally asking, "OK, I give up. What does this thing do for you?" The redneck wiped his face with a red kerchief and proudly proclaimed, "Dat Injin dun kept away dem Bengal tigers from my farm fo' da las' fiddy yeers. Ain't lost one dadgum chicken, cow o' pig to a single one o' dose varmints." The salesman laughed but the farmer didn't join in. "Old man, you're in the middle of the Midwest. There are no Bengal tigers in the Midwest. Or anywhere else in America." The farmer finally smiled and let out a little chuckle. "Well, see, dere ya go. Best damn tiger chasin' Injin in da country." Like that farmer, the WonderKlowns in the Obama maladministration are convinced that their snooping, spying, surveilling activities have kept their equivalent of the Bengal tiger away. No repetitions of 9/11 or the African embassy bombings, no organized attacks by al-Qaeda in the homeland. All due, of course, to their diligence at snuffing out all those wannabe terrorist cells by listening in to all Amerika's private calls. We take their word for it, naturally, since they have such an enviable track record of telling the truth and being transparent. But not too transparent, lest those malefactors clue in to the ways and means Obama's stooges ferret out the Good Guys and the Bad Guys. Collateral damage, like the constitution, innocent lives and basic civil liberties are just the price we have to pay for our vanished liberties. But in fact, despite all their assurances, the only thing we really have to go on is blind faith in a mendacious government, their oft-broken and deceitful word and our hope and prayers that those Injins on the porch are doing their job. But if we pulled the head off that wooden statue we'd find a red herring nestled within its bosom, the numbers 9/11 engraved on its scales. H Campbell Texas (Aug 15, '13) [Re Defamation and dissent in South Korea , Aug 13, '13] South Korea like its protector the US is using its National Security Agency and intelligence network to influence national policy. Evidence has turned up in the press that Seoul's spy network has been very active in assuring the election of President Park Chung-hee. A tilt leftward would have opened wider avenues toward North Korea - something the Obama administration finds abhorrent. As it turns out, Park is as intransigent toward Pyongyang as her predecessor Lee Myung-bak or even more so. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Aug 14, '13) I admit I have a soft spot for the year 1953. After all, I was born in it. But aside from that personal poignancy, that singular solar revolution was stuffed with historic events, from the death of Stalin the conquest of Mount Everest to the first revolt in the Soviet bloc. In this, the 60th anniversary of all these large and small histories, we are still witnessing repercussions. Perhaps none was more significant than the CIA/MI6 engineered coup that toppled the populist Mossadeq in Iran, an event still remembered with much bitterness in that revolutionary country. The reinstitution of the puffed up peacock Reza Pahlavi to the Persian royal throne seemingly ensured the West of a if not compliant at least anti-communist leader of the largest country in the Middle East, a leader, I might add, mightily interested in acquiring nuclear weapons. So while the Shahenshah disappeared, his ambitions to make Iran a dominant regional, if not global, player, did not. More important for the post-Shah government was that, coupled with their anti-imperialist and Islamic worldview and the ill-conceived and totally botched invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan by the foremost imperialist power, they are now convinced that in order to avoid being "Mossadeqed" a second time nukes provide the only language that old naked imperialist in Stars and Stripes can understand. Which brings us to the other significant event of 1953, the armistice that terminated hostilities in Korea and guaranteed the fragile viability of the Stalinist North, which was left bitterly frustrated that its erstwhile communist allies China and the USSR had abandoned their goal of unifying the Korean nation. Its comatose economy supported by its communist Big Brothers for decades, the leaders of North Korea eventually reached a decision that, in order to prepare for the day when such benign charity ended and to continue their struggle for reunification with the South in the face of 30,000 Amerikan troops facing them across the armistice line, the only recourse for their resource-poor and tiny nation was to acquire nukes themselves. Perhaps anticipating their inclusion in the infamous "Axis of Evil", the North knew that nukes provided them with a slew of advantages unique to such possessors, including protection from attack and a powerful bargaining chip for negotiating with its enemies. Iran, taking a page from that same Surviving the Capitalists manual, decided to not only follow that same path but to ally themselves with the North in order to secure technology and know-how in constructing these weapons and busting Western embargoes. So now 1953 has come full circle; North Korea and Iran, both creatures and rememberers of that fateful year, have a common goal of nuclear-guaranteed independence from the predations of the Anglo-Saxon West. 1953, so dear to me, will always be a likewise bitter reminder to Iran and North Korea of "Never Again." Hardy Campbell Texas (Aug 13, '13) Wonderland is truly a wonderland for rantaholics like me. The Department of Silly Conclusions and Absurd Logic in DC (not to be confused with its 1970s British version which specialized in ambulatory comedy) is churning the dumb stuff out faster than my keyboard can tolerate my frantic pounding. Take the Department of Defense, a term which, in this case, connotes a reaction to mounting criticism on the military's mounting suicide problem among returning vets from the twin abattoirs we call Iraq and GetBleepedistan (325 deaths in 2012). Consequently, the Penta-gone-nutters funded a psychological study which (stop the presses, if you can still find one!) concluded that the problem is not the soul-gutting horror, paralyzing terror and mind-numbing insanity of war that's driving these young men and women to become alcoholics, abuse their loved ones and commit homicide and suicide at dizzying rates. No, heavens no! It's the fragile and brittle state of mind of young adult Wonderlanders that makes these veterans come home and off themselves, a state of mind that existed waaaay before they joined the military. Indeed, carrying this study's curious conclusion a step further, the military probably ADDED years to their lives, keeping them focused on killing foreign brown heathens before they could even think of turning their guns on themselves or other Wonderlanders. Don't be surprised to see the Army make advertising hay out of that wisdom ("Join the Army, See the World and Keep that Gun Out of Your Mouth!") It's as if the Pentagunners had concluded that it's not swimming that gets you wet, it's the water. The study didn't stop there, of course; go for the gold medal of stupidity while you're in that stadium. They also said that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was NOT prevalent among those deceased, as if these psychogurus could divine such details from buried corpses. The driver for such conclusions is the prerequisite that war and war-waging comes out of this pristine and virginal, untouched and unsullied by anything so demeaning as macho warriors turning in multiple tours of duty and then ending their lives when they return home because the military has discarded them like embarrassing trash. If this all smacks of Big Tobacco funding studies that showed smoking was harmless or Big Coal's whore scientists telling us burning smokestacks did not harm the environment, it's because Amerikans have no peers when it comes to hearing what we want to hear and paying someone handsomely to do so. The Pentagon's absurd conclusion naturally whitewashes any blame that the illegal wars these young men fight, which involves destroying homes, murdering old people and children, raping women, taking, selling and distributing narcotics, living in constant fear of snipers or IEDs, accidentally killing your comrades, and leaving poverty stricken families behind stateside, is any way be complicit in making men in the prime of their lives so despair of their internal pain that the grave offers a more attractive alternative. "The wages of sin is Death, " says the Good Book. I'll leave it at that. Hardy Campbell Texas (Aug 9, '13) [Re China and Korea: A change of partners , Aug 7, '13] With so much Chinese capital - human, financial and geopolitical - having been expended on North Korea, it is rather doubtful that China will forsake its old ally in any meaningful way, at least not until such a time when Chinese influence becomes predominant in East Asia (probably not even then). Meanwhile, strengthening China-South Korea relations do not inherently/necessarily contradict the decades-long Sino-North Korean alliance, an abandonment of which would not likely accrue much overall net benefit to either party. John Chen USA (Aug 9, '13) [Re China and Korea: A change of partners? , Aug 7, '13] China established diplomatic and consequently trade relations with South Korea in August 1992, ie, 23 years ago. So, it stands to reason that North Korea has learned to live with that fact. North Korean watchers tend to discount that Pyongyang acts rationally; a sad error in judgment, it stands to reason. On the other hand, China is not "throwing the DPRK to the wolves". Saying this, as good capitalists with a red tinge that the Chinese are, they will trade with Seoul. Nevertheless, trade does not signify that Beijing is going to an ROK Canossa. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Aug 8, '13) Peter Van Buren's article in Asia Times Online, " Welcome to the Post-Constitution " [Aug 6, '13], is required reading. To those American writers who have issued warnings, it is further confirmation of their deepest suspicions and fears; to a majority of Americans, however, it will never be disclosed to them or shared by American news editors. If NSA is KGB and Silicon Valley cyber-hegemons are Stasi, mainstream U.S. news media is Pravda - a fully complicit partner. Having no proof to offer you but only conjecture, I believe that a financial-military coup might have already occurred in America. I'll call it a "soft coup" enabled by all the players, and by a figure-head in the Oval Office who succeeded early in defeating major domestic stumbling blocks to 21st Century American hegemony. President Barack Obama neutralized raging anti-Bush sentiment in 2008 and quickly moved Liberals, Democrats and Progressives to join Republicans in cheering and supporting actions and policies they would find impeachable under former president George W. Bush. President Obama rewarded Wall Street, neocon, and military-intel-industrial complex factions alike - proven winners today against losers, the American people. But cracks are now appearing and some "Obama people" are waking up and catching up (after four years). Why is there an increased military, paramilitary and militarized police presence across America? Surely, it is not because of oil, minerals or natural gas reserves under mid-town Manhattan or the Chicago Loop. It isn't because Bolsheviks are throwing Molotov's into police wagons or Chinese gangs intend to overthrow city councils. It is because there will be deep seated rage and civil unrest when most of "We the People" finally wake-up to their predicament. As Van Buren pointed out, "the enemy is us". If a "soft coup" has occurred, it won't be stopped by anyone in political office, and certainly not stopped by law enforcement acting on behalf of Wall Street and the military when so ordered. Nonetheless, it needs to be revealed gradually. I believe it was and is being inculcated through gradual stages and examples found in Mr. Van Buren's article demonstrate this. "Whistle blowers", wittingly or unwittingly, also serve this purpose. On Friday, April 19 in the Boston area "de facto martial law" was declared and homes were entered and searched without a warrant. It was arguably an extremely disproportionate response which also sent a very strong and unmistakable message to the American people about how combined power of militarized police can wield total control over a population by fiat order. No one blinked or challenged its constitutionality at the time (they cheered instead). Today, however, I find 80% of comments about NSA revelations left by posters at The New York Times and The Guardian mirror right-wing comments by posters at FOX News. "We the People" are finally getting the message that America has become, de facto, a police state. And where were you? And where was I? And who shall we blame? And what do we do now? I once asked myself the question: Does America need to experience a period of tyranny, despotism, totalitarianism, even fascism in order to rediscover its lost identity, lost ideals, lost democracy, lost constitution, lost destiny? Too often, we don't appreciate what we have until we lose it. History will show us the answers in due time. For now, America is going through the fires. Michael T Bucci USA (Aug 8, '13) Futureman called, again at a less than propitious time. I was sitting down to supper when he rang. "Dude, our class in Ancient Amerikan History was debating who was the baddest villain 'in your day' when the question popped up; where's a photo of the feared terrorist Albert Kinda? Can you help us?" "Albert Kinda? Who's that? Never heard of him." "No way! Your country was obsessed with him; 9-11, Iraq, Afghanistan, the war with Pakistan, the Kuala Lumpur Incident. You know, Al Kinda!" "Wait a second. You mean, al-Qaeda? The terrorist organization led by Osama bin Laden?" "Osama bin Who? No, don't know that guy. Our records show that Al Kinda struck fear in the hearts of every Amerikan for 85 years in the 21st century. He made you suspend all your civil liberties, turned you into a police state, made the declaration of martial law in 2019 not only acceptable but demanded by your compatriots. It is kinda curious though." "What?" Futureman hesitated. "It seems our records show that Al was declared dead and buried several times by your media, proclaiming Kinda finished, ineffective, a washed out has-been terrorist. But on multiple occasions he would suddenly become Public Enemy Number one again, the most dangerous threat imaginable, causing massive security alerts around the world, paralyzing the Empire with fear, then just as suddenly, fall of the radar again, accompanied by more 'he's finished, good as dead' stories. What's funny is this dude kept popping up on and off even when he was a really old man. Musta been one bad boy." I wanted to correct my future friend. I wanted to tell him the story I was told, every day, over and over, about the Arab Osama and the vaguely identifiable group he founded, the viciously executed attacks on the US on 9-11, the way "national security" had been drummed into our heads with the "threat" used as an excuse for everything from airport searches to NSA surveillance to insanely costly wars chasing desert shadows. I wanted to tell him 'the Truth' but then I realized no one in the US had the faintest idea anymore what that would look or sound like. The Truth had accompanied Elvis. Hardy Campbell Texas (Aug 8, '13) [Re Welcome to the post-constitution , Aug 6, '13] The WonderMedia is jumping on Mitt Romney's bandwagon these days. You know, the one he lamely launched during the election when he said in a debate with the Obaminator that Russia was Amerika's biggest foe. The future prez deflected his opponent's observation with a reminder of how dire a threat all those turbaned cave dwelling fanatics of al-Qaeda still were and how antediluvian Romney's Cold War reminisces were. Now that Vlad Putin, in his self designated role as Representative of the Rest-of-the-Fed-Up-with-US-Imperialism Planet, has delivered yet another body blow to what's left of the Empire's prestige by granting asylum to the patriot Edward Snowden, all those who chuckled at Romney are making him out to be the sage but doomed prophet who could find no honor (or votes) in his own country. I can't decide if this is funnier than it is pathetic or vice versa. Romney said what he said because it was the opposite of what Obama said, not because he had some geopolitical wisdom squirreled away in his Gucci suit. The image of the rich little Mormon boy crying wolf over the big bad Russian bear (excuse the mixed critter metaphors) while the Iranian chicken thief, the North Korean cattle rustler and the Chinese forecloser are lurking in the corn fields makes me wonder if The MittiGator would know a threat if it ran over him with a brand new Mercedes. Besides, truth be known, the whole world either resents us for our cultural depravity (Europe), is bitter about our long history of exploitation and interventions (Latin America), hates us outright for being Zionist stooges (Middle East) or covets what they think we no longer deserve (Asia, led by Beijing.) That's why Putin is everyone's silent hero outside the US, and also why the US Whore-Media is working overtime to make him out to be a egocentric, petty tyrant, proto-Stalinist and Cold War throwback. It's the same tried and true treatment every foreign leader gets when he thumbs his nose at the Empire. Chavez; dictator. Ahkmadinejad; loony. Kim Jong-il; megalomaniac. Not so much an Axis of Evil as an Axis that Doesn't Run Through Washington Anymore, a trend that should worry a country long accustomed to being kowtowed to rather than doing the kowtowing. Let's see how deeply bends down before Putin when (or if) they have their "summit". H Campbell Texas (Aug 7, '13) Oh when will the ironies end? Edward Snowden finding asylum in "freedom loving" Russia from the persecution of a snooping, prying Empire. Amerika supplying weapons to Syrian "freedom fighters" with known al-Qaeda ties. NATO parlaying with the Taliban to ensure a graceful exit from the Graveyard of Empires. Washington promoting universal "democracy" and "freedom" in a Middle East where its principal bedrock ally, Saudi Arabia, flogs journalists for blogging about freedom and arrests women for the crime of driving. Perhaps taking the cake, the US wagging its finger at China for espionage! All those kettles calling all those pots sooty messes. Indeed, "Do as I say, not as I do" should be the national anthem of most countries, who depend on a high-wire act balancing lofty rhetoric with the dirty business of lying, stealing, spying and killing. Being exposed in public as two-faced, duplicitous lying hypocrites is, of course, an occupational hazard for all governments who know that their public demands safety, security and prosperity but also know that same public doesn't want to know the details of all-pervasive surveillance, torture camps, assassination squads, civilian "collateral damage", secret op black budgets, clandestine drug deals, embargo-busting trade, military corruption, political bribery, rigged elections, corporate/political conspiracies, media subversion, deceitful propaganda, cover-ups and alliances with all sorts of strange bedfellows like organized crime, religious fanatics, terrorists and other erstwhile "enemies". The ugly truth is we all know these things happen even if not exposed for public airing, and we go to bed at night happy not to be confronted with the contradictions society is forced to live with in the name of "national security," "democracy" or "civilization." But when some brave reporter who didn't get the memo about playing it safe with local news pabulum has the cojones to lift the rock of secrecy and shed light on these contradictions, our collective reaction is opprobrium and disgust at such revelations and an airing on talk radio and the internet of our lofty ideals and principles. Once we have vented our ire, we can return to our beds content that the world is a better place for our proclaimed outrage while absolutely nothing changes. Hardy Campbell Houston TX USA (Aug 5, '13) [Re Syrian war reaches explosive stage , Aug 1, '13] How many explosive stages have there been in Syria? The US has too many crises to handle in the Middle East and North Africa. The Obama administration has become gun shy to ramp up its involvement in toppling Bashar al-Assad. In fact, the Syrian president's opponents on the ground are engaging in byzantine warfare among themselves: each proclaiming its own truth and a return to a distant idealized Islamic past. What is more and more obvious is that Assad will win even if the country is reduced to rubble. And that 'epiphany' may explain Viktor Kotsev growing sense that a final explosive stage is nigh. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Aug 1, '13) [Re Manning guilty; war criminals on the loose , Jul 31, '13] Clear-thinking people recognize why the US government went after Bradley Manning so strongly. Those who run the government (including the military leaders) know that they have for decades concealed tons of proof of their misbehavior and corruption. Therefore, these control freaks hate whistleblowers. They know that if the full truth were known by the public, the outrage would rival the greatest hurricane ever known. Manning is a martyr for justice and truth. His prosecutors are evil. Ron Vignates USA (Aug 1, '13) [Re China's generals play good cop, bad cop , Jul 29, '13] I have just read part of the Andrew Chubb article on China's good cop, bad cop media relations. I would be very suspicious of any kind of interpretation coming out of America as regards China and this article which is from the Jamestown Foundation is more than likely a CIA front. I don't think your readers' "investors, executives, diplomats" are being well informed in this instance. They are in my opinion being manipulated. I like Asia Times Online when it isn't been used by the mind-twisting devils of Washington DC. I prefer to read the news from China's media and make up my own mind. I don't need any interpretation. They speak plainly enough and can be judged through the consistency and coherency and comprehensive nature of what they are saying. We are adults. We don't someone else's interpretation of what is being said to us. Right or wrong we fall on our own sword. E Traven Hull, England (Aug 1, '13) Apologies to Lester Ness [Letter, July 30] if I underestimate China's Great Firewall, but it would normally take a 30-second online search to learn that the US-based Freedom House (an organization that monitors human rights globally) is at the forefront of demands to lift the veil of secrecy from the US National Security Agency's overzealous snooping. Making the leap from idle wondering to actual thinking and researching could resolve many of his questions. Ness is understandably grief-stricken by the tragic deaths of children in US drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen. And no doubt he is just as upset by the deaths of children as a result of the actions of other governments and organizations around the world, regardless of the goodwill one earns in many European and Asian parlors and cafes when one emphasizes American misdeeds, or the double bonus points one earns for tracing the death of a Palestinian child directly to an Israeli armed with an American weapon. A couple months ago, David J Kramer, president of Freedom House, submitted a letter jointly with a group of foreign policy experts and former diplomats to President Obama to protest the expansive use of drones in Yemen. Given time, that news may reach those in the shadow of the Great Firewall. But Freedom House is only one organization, and can't do it alone. So I am announcing my founding of Lapdog House, an organization devoted to monitoring the disturbing tendency of some people to hump their foreign host's leg anytime a Westerner criticizes said host. Geoffrey Sherwood New Jersey, USA (Aug 1, '13) The bankruptcy of Detroit,a long anticipated and overdue event, has generated a predictable ripple of resigned shrugs, told-you-so demagoguery and glad-it's-not-my-city relief. Once the very paragon of Amerikan industry, cultural and economic domination, the Motor City was the first to feel the buffeting winds of globalization, Cold War rivalry and the relentless logic of the Kapitalist. Unable and unwilling to cope and adjust to the new challenges from overseas (ironically enough supported by the US in the name of Free World defense), and even despite getting bailed out on several occasions by Uncle Sam, the auto business that made Detroit supreme found itself heading towards extinction. But other cities have survived losing dominant industries, so why did Detroit take the thermonuclear option? Well, to hear the Right Wingers tell it to your face, it was those damned liberal unions (in other words, Democrats) with their fat cat blue collar managers and good-for-nothing assembly line workers making princely sums with high school educations, a perfect example how not letting corporate managers running the show (ie, reduce workers to industrial serfdom) would run a good ol' 'merikan business into the ground. Behind your back and in a midnight whisper, those same rednecks will intimate in Right Wing Code lingo that it was the preponderance of blacks and Hispanics that created a corrupt, welfare mentality that drove the city's finances to ruin. The rest of us, liberals, apathetics and no-nothings, won't be that inquisitory. Instead, we'll just tsk tsk, shake our heads briefly, get into our Japanese or German cars, turn on our Chinese radios and listen to the latest gossip about a sexting politician or a philandering philanderer. It's a perfect strategy when you think about it. Otherwise, one would have to ask oneself; If it can happen to the bedrock of Amerikan industrial might, why can't it happen here? Now you understand why the Kardashians are so popular! Hardy Campbell Texas (Aug 1, '13) [Re The jasmine lesson: Reform beats revolution , Jul 31, '13] "Had Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists managed to crack down on the communists and carry out the necessary reforms in the mainland - as they did in Taiwan, where they landed in 1949 - China could have averted a 30-year depression under Mao." Francesco Sisci is, alas, misinformed; China did not endure "a 30-year depression under Mao". In 1952, the Chinese GDP was 67,900 million yuan, (per capita, 119 yuan); in 1978, the corresponding figures were 364,522 million yuan and 381 yuan, respectively. A growth of 5.4 times in national GDP and 3.3 times in GDP per capita may have been slower than desired (and the road there was very bumpy indeed, with great swings up and down), but these figures hardly add up to "depression". M Henri Day Stockholm (Aug 1, '13) [Re Real change absent in Sino-US relations , Jul 30, '13] Richard Weitz simply restates the obvious: the Obama administration is playing hard ball in Sino-US relations. Thinly veiled in a gossamer fabric of diplomacy, US policy is lacking in cunning - an obvious example is the Obama military doctrine as it applies to the Asia-Pacific rim. One only has to look at attorney general Holder's letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin about Edward Snowden. If anything, Holder's argument lacks any resemblance to truth or to law. President Xi Jinping may be willing to avoid confrontation, but it is only a matter of time. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Jul 31, '13) [Re Beijing boosts controls on online content , Jul 29, '13] "The "Great Firewall" has been strengthened under China's new leadership to better monitor and restrict what its citizens do online, according to a report by US-based watchdog Freedom House." - Radio Free Asia I wonder what Freedom House thinks of the National Security Agency spying on everyone in the US and around the world. Then there are Americans "disappearing" into secret prisons. There is torture, and the droning of dissident US citizens, and even their children, to death. The US government says these practices are legal and moral, and Attorney General Eric Holder has even been known to make jokes, after killing the children of dissidents. What does Freedom House think? Lester Ness (Jul 30, '13) [Re A brewing storm in the Western Pacific , Jul 24, '13] Walden Bello's article tells a lot about the legitimacy of Philippine's territorial claim, or not! Bello said that a map of the Republic of China in 1940 showed China's claim to Nansha and Xisha. The self-proclaimed Filipino admiral Tomas Cloma said he "discovered" the Kalayaan island in 1956 and he later sold the island to the infamous Philippine President Marcos in the 1970 for one peso. Can anyone believe that someone can still discover a new island in the 20th century? Now, legislators like Bello want to bring back US troops to station in Subic Bay and Clark Air Base after the country had a hard time kicking US troops out of these two bases with the help of volcanic ash of Pinatubo. On top of this, Filipino politicians also want to bring another colonialist Japan to its midst. Filipinos do not learn from their past history. The Philippines was a US colony for 40 long years and was another four years under Japanese rule in World War II. Wendy Cai United States (Jul 29, '13) [Re How Iraq will win the Arab Spring , Jul 25, '13] It is difficult to share Riccardo Dugulin's rosy assessment of what is happening in Iraq. For sure, the country is in turmoil - a sorry legacy of Bush's war. Dugulin must read the resurrection of al-Qaeda as a sign of "winning the Arab Spring", and the internecine war between Shi'ites and Sunni will not end in the foreseeable future. Abraham Bi Yiju Messina, Italy (Jul 26, '13) [Re A brewing storm in the Western Pacific , Jul 25] "China's aggressive territorial claims, Washington's "pivot" to Asia, and Japan's hawkish bluster are stirring a volatile brew in the Asia-Pacific." I'm waiting for someone to notice the popular belief among Chinese people that Native Americans are descended from Chinese naval expeditions sent out by Chin Shi Huang, Khubilai Khan, etc. It could inspire chauvinists and xenophobes on either side of the Pacific! Lester Ness Kunming China (Jul 26, '13) [Re Revisiting the Persian cosmopolis , Jul 19, '13] Richard Eaton takes a shot at Islam through the not-quite-so obvious method of omission! The whole thrust of his argument in the article is how wonderful things were (in his eyes) for Southeastern Asia before the advent of the Islamic Era and how Iraq and her neighbors tried to resurrect "Persia" without religion or God being a factor - which again, is an indirect attack on Islam - as if The Faith had no influence on the invading Mongols or the organization of Turkish leadership and that everything developed through spontaneous combustion. If he had remained neutral, there is no way he could have ignored Islam's contributions to the area in terms of resurrecting and organizing the social bureaucracy and infrastructure. To infer that "religion and God" had no role in the development of the region prior to or after the invasions by Crusaders or the Colonialists who came later, is an attack on Islam because it is THE "religion" that he wants to avoid mentioning. He apparently wants to avoid any discussion of Islam's definite contributions but maintain the caricature of it as an Old World, intolerant and violent religion. A supposedly "well-researched" article by a Westerner cannot be considered neutral within the context of today's current relationship between the Eastern and Western worlds. What we are witnessing is the rise of the East and the breaking of the West's shackles upon it and they refuse to go down without a fight; one weapon that's sometimes deployed is "scholarship", or in other words: the manipulation of history. Pulsar Stargrave (Jul 25, '13) In response to Dennis O'Connell's letter [Jul 24, '13], first of all, I was not the one making comparisons with North Korea; Geoffrey Sherwood was holding his country up as a supremely humane role model in contrast to North Korea, and I criticized his letter for glossing over his country's own record, but then O'Connell responded with his usual narrative making America synonymous with "civilization" while forgetting that his country is the one who started this war. If he really thinks of his country like that, then he (and Sherwood) should have just as well written the US is allowed to do anything because it is fighting for civilization and I would not have written anything here. O'Connell is being plainly dishonest when he claims the prisoners at Guantanamo are warriors of "Islamic terror" waging a war on "civilization." Naming Khalid Sheikh Muhammad doesn't change the fact that the majority of the so-called "illegal combatants" were picked up from their own homes and villages that had suddenly become battlefields with residents caught up in the cross-fire; they cannot be equated with German soldiers who were enlisted into a formal army and actually fighting against Allied troops in a war that Germany had started. The only "illegal combatants" here were CIA contractors like Blackwater and DynCorps that weren't enlisted in the US Military but were still engaged in a killing spree against defenseless civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. As for "Islamic terror," O'Connell's country and its allies have been openly backing Islamic terror in Libya and Syria as well as propping up governments like Saudi Arabia's that keep funding and breeding al-Qaeda and other Islamist terrorists around the world. In Afghanistan the US has routinely paid Islamic terror Taliban not to attack its supply convoys coming into the country with money they have then used to procure American weapons from NATO arms depots with the help of rogue Afghan officials. This has been too regular for over a decade not to indicate US complicity at some level. Moreover, the US State Department recently admitted it collaborated with the Pakistani Taliban to kill one of its renegade leaders named Waliur Rehman in a drone attack, for which Washington rewarded that group with $5 million; this is the same terrorist organization that tried to kill Malala Yousufzai, and its leaders make no secret of being based in Afghanistan's Konar and Nuristan provinces; and meanwhile Washington is going to negotiate with the same foes it declared war on in Afghanistan in 2001. Intentionally or unintentionally, Washington has been committing arson and shouting "Fire! Fire!" at the same time. Instead of considering any of that, O'Connell chose to give a lecture on civilization, North Korean gulags and Islamic terror. The point I had been making in my last letter remains: Sherwood and O'Connell passed judgment on another country while diverting attention from their own country's track record and gloss over its penchant for holding and torturing people indefinitely without any charge or trial and without allowing them recourse to any law or court. When I pointed that out, O'Connell justified it with convoluted lines of reasoning. Trent Hawkins Auckland, New Zealand (Jul 25, '13) [Re Trent Hawkins' letter, July 22] Nearly 800 men have been imprisoned in Guantanamo - a mix of the guilty and the innocent. That so many innocents were imprisoned is one of the many examples of the criminality of the George W Bush administration and some members of the US military. Over 600 of the 800 have been released. About 170 remain. So I have to ask: How many North Koreans have been released from political prison camps since they opened for business decades ago? How many visits have been paid by the Red Cross? There are an estimated 1,000 times as many political prisoners, including their children and parents, in North Korea's gulag than there are prisoners in Guantanamo. Yet one-thousand times more ink is gushed writing about Guantanamo. Why does the world seem to care more about 170 Guantanamo inmates than 200,000 innocents in North Korea? That disparity speaks volumes about the depravity that moral relativism engenders. I am glad that many of my fellow Americans have shamed the Bush and Obama administrations into releasing so many of the Guantanamo prisoners who never should have been there in the first place. But I don't let injustices in my home country prevent me from speaking out about injustices that happen to occur in other lands. And I don't succumb to the absurd relativism that equates injustices of vastly different characters and motivations. Geoffrey Sherwood New Jersey, USA (Jul 25, '13) [Re: Trent Hawkins, letter, Jul 22] Trent hit the nail right on the head with his observation of "the global network of secret CIA-run concentration camps". What I think is even far worse, our respective societies and our compliant government's, do not raise one voice in protest, thereby making us all equally complicit and culpable in these horrors. Former president George W Bush was once credited with asking the question "Why do they hate us?". Perhaps those concentration camp policies have now provided at least one answer to that question, the world now having vacated any high moral ground as a civilization. And continuing to occupy that vacuum in so many ways, each and every way, each and every day. Ian C Purdie Sydney, Australia (Jul 25, '13) Editor's note: We direct any further correspondence on this theme to The Edge The way the English language is manipulated, twisted, distorted, spindled and mutilated here in WonderWordistan is a sound to behold. Take the words "coup d'etat". French words universally recognized in the context of Third World dictocracies (ie, quasi-semi-sorta-kinda democratic governments with authoritarian elected officials) as meaning the coerced change of government leaders by the domestic military, they are pregnant with foreign policy implications for ostensible "allies" of the Empire. In order to discourage such merry-go-round behavior in chronically unstable countries, the US long ago passed laws imposing sanctions for such actions. Usually those sanctions, in the form of pecuniary punishment, was against nations we had little interest in one way or another, like the Myanmars and Togos of the world. But the recent overthrow of the Mursi government by the Egyptian army has had the Obama State Department scrambling to avoid the dreaded aid-cutting-off word "coup". Much like the flaming-hoop jumps Clinton administration 19 years ago did to avoid the US-committing word "genocide" to describe the Hutu-led massacres in Rwanda, Obama's minions are microanalyzing the dots over Is and the crosses over Ts to torturously extract some helpful synonym from a taxed Webster's dictionary. The US is loathe to alienate the one Arab country Israel needs as a non-enemy, and eager to let a non-Islamist take over the reins of the most populous Arab country in the world. Yes, democracy is being subverted but hey, that never stopped us here in Wonderland, did it? Besides, a blueprint was provided 21 years ago in Algeria when an Islamic government was on the verge of attaining office only to see the election results overturned with the connivance and assistance of our "democracy (on our terms)" loving Empire. I have no doubt that the White House lawyers will earn their pay and find a way to sweep the whole definition issue under the carpet, and maybe it's a good thing they're getting this practice. Looming on the horizon are word games with Russia (is Snowden a "political refugee" or a "traitor?" ), with China (are Amerika's intelligence activities "normal surveillance" or "spying?"), with Turkey (are Erdogan's opponents "peace loving dissidents" or "proto-terrorist rabble?), with Syria (are the anti-Assad rebels "freedom lovers" or "sectarian Islamists?"), with Iran (are they pursuing "nuclear weapons" or a "substitute for oil?"), the ongoing debate about "enemy noncombatants" and "prisoners of war," and, finally, the poor bamboozled, confused and tongue-tied Amerikan public, who are still groaning under the Fed's "quantitative easing" (or is it a "massive welfare bailout?") Regardless, I have no doubt that Obama will wind up addressing the nation on TV while squatting on a steaming, stinking cow paddy and proudly proclaim it a "gilded porcelain throne" designed and manufactured in the good ol' US of A. Hardy Campbell Texas (Jul 24, '13) [Re Competitive suffering harms Korea debate , Jul 10, '13] In response to Trent Hawkins letter [Jul 23] in which he claims the US in worse than North Korea, please let me disagree. He claims there is a network of CIA-run concentration camps holding thousands of innocent people. The CIA did have black sites that at most held around 200 people in places like Poland until men like like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were transferred to Guantanamo, if Mohammed is your idea of an innocent man you need to buy a new dictionary. The Red Cross visited Guantanamo in June of 2004 the have never visited any Gulag in North Korea in the sixty years since the end of the Korean War. Guantanamo has held 779 prisoners, it holds 166 today. There are thought to be around 200,000 prisoners in the North Korean Gulags, evidently math is not one of your strong points. In the Gulags the prisoners are starved, I would like to know what they would think about forced feeding in Guantanamo, however if was up to me I would not force feed them. The men in Guantanamo are illegal combatants taken in a war, when Islamic terror ends we can release them. We did not give a trial to every German soldier taken prisoner during the war and they were held until the war ended, terrorists today should be treated the same. Men the US released from Guantanamo have rejoined the terrorists in the war against civilization, although Mr Hawkins probably views them as freedom fighters. Also unlike North Korea the US is not holding Mohammed's grandfather and niece, where in North Korea whole families are imprisoned the the alleged crime of one person. Dennis O'Connell USA (Jul 24, '13) [Re China debates how to handle North Korea , Jul 23, '13] The matter of North Korea has generated a seemingly endless flow of words in China, says Ren Xiao. China like Russia does not want to rock the cradle of relations with the US. Nonetheless, differing analyses among Chinese researchers, if they criticize DPRK's latest exercise in brinkmanship with America, may miss the obvious: it is the Obama administration that is pushing a dangerous situation to the limits with Pyongyang, 60 years after an Armistice Agreement that put the Korean War into politico limbo. Washington is pursuing, a smash 'em in the face policy, to put it bluntly, in the Korean peninsula as it is doing in west and central Asia with very poor results. This said, the US war machine is prime pumped for mischief, it goes without saying. An atomic devices put a check on US expansionism in a small way, but not enough for the Obama administration to not give up designs for regime change in the DPRK. Debate over changing China's policy towards China, however, is not persuasive enough: China came to the assistance of North Korea in 1950 for the plain and simple reason of keeping an aggressive US from planting its military along the Yalu. And the end of the Cold War, China's rise as a world power and the like have not changed the strategic geopolitical fundamentals concerning Beijing's support and friendship with Pyongyang, trying as it might be at times. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Jul 24, '13) [Re Competitive suffering harms Korea debate , Jul 10, '13] Geoffrey Sherwood [Letter, Jul 18, '13] made a very interesting comparison between America's heavenly prison system and North Korea's living hell run by a foul, evil regime whose prisons he described in very horrific detail. Very sadly, he never mentioned the global network of secret CIA-run concentration camps where thousands of innocent people are indefinitely held (and perpetually tortured even long after they've been cleared for release) on mere suspicion without any charge or trial and far beyond the reach of any law or court, probably because that would have said a few things about his own country's foul, evil regime that presides over this slap on the face of the due process and other niceties that he boasted about while passing judgment on another country. If only Sherwood's letter had been written at a time when the US was not busy force-feeding Guantanamo prisoners on a hunger strike protesting their inhumane treatment instead of giving them their rights, many of them already driven insane by their conditions, while their families are barred even from having their cases heard in any court. Or are we supposed to believe that a suspected, untried and un-convicted terrorist deserves what exactly what inmates at North Korean prisons are going through? Trent Hawkins Auckland, New Zealand (Jul 23, '13) [Re New reef rift hits China-Philippines ties , Jul 18, '13] The ship that was intentionally run aground in Ren Ai reef since 1999 is not a hospital ship. It was a military ship left there to collect oysters to show that Philippines has possession of the reef. If the Philippines government is sincere, it would have tugged it back to its home port instead of letting it rust over there. Wendy Cai United States (Jul 22, '13) Maybe the greatest pleasure of living in Wonderland is getting up each morning to hear the latest absurdity being publicized in the real-news-phobic media as if it were really worth wasting two seconds about. With wars, famines, riots, injustices and disasters swirling around the world on a constant basis, what topic do the corporate shills of the airwaves decide to prattle about like insipid gossipmongers? Why, the outrage of Dzokhar Tsarnaev appearing on the cover of a magazine, of course! Tsarnaev, the addled wannabe terrorist of recent Boston Marathon bombing infamy, was depicted simply by showing his deadpan face, as publicity for an article where his descent into petty terror was analyzed. But that simple front cover image was fuel for a firestorm of indignation, with successful demands for pulling said publication off newsstands. The affront evidently taken by my fellow countrymen, whose behavior frequently leaves me questioning somebodyďż˝s sanity, is that by putting his picture on the cover of a magazine (a magazine, I might add, noted primarily for reporting news of the entertainment industry) that Tsarnaev was being elevated to the status of a "rock star". Mind you, this cover photo had no sexy ladies hanging off his body, or glitzy Las Vegas skyline in the background, or a grinning Donald Trump slapping his back, just a picture of the alleged terrorist staring blankly forward. I should elaborate on my use of the word "alleged." In the eyes of American jurisprudence ( I know, the very definition of oxymoron), until Messieur Tsarnaev is convicted by his peers, in the eyes of the law, he is an innocent man. Needless to say, in the court of public opinion, his conviction is a done deal, yet another example of Americans not walking their much ballyhooed respect-for-law-and-order walk. What is perhaps most distressing is that all the sturm-und-dranging about a mere photo distracts from the praiseworthy intent of the magazine's article, which attempts to uncover the motivation for a middle class young man to embark on such a reckless and ill conceived adventure into murder and mayhem. Such introspection is, admittedly, positively un-Wonderish, since exposing any ills of society is considered heretical or worse, unpatriotic. But until Wonderlanders can figure out why their pristine society seems to bring out the violent worst in people, photos on music mag covers will be the very least of our worries. Hardy Campbell Texas (Jul 22, '13) The recent acquittal of an Hispanic in Florida accused of murdering a young hoodied black man sparked concerns among white media hysteria-hypers that "blacks' would riot, a la the Rodney King upheavals of 1992. Of course, aside from isolated sporadic marches and placard-waving, nothing of the sort transpired. That may seem a bit odd, seeing how the King riots ignited because white policemen were acquitted for just beating a black man, not killing him, but, as the saying goes, that was then. In that 21-year time period, racism has skillfully moved from in-your-face Jim Crow intimidation to far subtler, below-the-media-radar suggestion, so much so that a nominally black man could become president. In Wonderland, perception is not just important, it is everything; with no causus belli of overt discriminatory practices, and with political opportunities for blacks seemingly limitless, the days of rage and racial angst seemed to be over. Yet, creeping back into black consciousnesses are some nasty realities; the Supreme Court recently ruled that states with long legacies of racism no longer need to have their unique and often blatantly discriminating voting rights rules sanctioned by the federal government. This ruling almost immediately ignited a flurry of laws intended to marginalize minority voting, my own dear crackerhead state of Texas leading the way. Make no mistake about it, the Republicans fully intend to limit non-whites voting in the next presidential election. One Supreme Court Justice ( a Southerner who voted for the ruling, I might add) averred that "times have changed." Well, yes, if you mean by that the clock continues to literally advance forward, whereas these redneck Repudiants would dearly like that clock to figuratively move backward, and they fully intend to see that it does. On a more intimate scale, mostly white jury decisions like the aforementioned one occasionally shock blacks into a realization that a dark hued president who acts like a white Republican may not be the harbinger of better racial times that they had hoped, and that, as the French say, "Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose." No better demonstration of that is needed than this; the same week the Florida Hispanic man was acquitted for using his gun to defend himself by killing the black man, a black woman in the same state was convicted of firing a gun into the air to fend off her abusive husband. Apparently air molecules are white people in the Sinshine State. H Campbell Texas (Jul 19, '13) [Re Competitive suffering harms Korea debate , Jul 10, '13] John Feffer shouldn't be concerned about the poor fools who think there is any comparison between American and North Korean prison systems. His writings and speeches admirably inform the uneducated, the mis-educated, and the genuinely curious, about the living Hell on earth that is North Korea. If another dunderhead ever challenges him with the inane question "yeah, but what about the injustices of the American prison system?" he only needs to point out that while the vast majority of American inmates get due process, limited jail time for their crimes, three-square meals per day, access to libraries, exercise equipment, Internet, etc, in North Korea, political prisoners get no due process, are nearly all tortured physically and mentally, and often have three generations of their families incarcerated with them. How foul, how evil is a regime that intentionally imprisons the children and parents of the men and women accused of political crimes? Feffer mentions the book Escape from Camp 14, by Blaine Harden, a riveting tale of a young man, Shin In Geun, who was born in a North Korean political prison camp, reported his own mother's escape plans to a prison guard, for which he was rewarded with a front-row seat at her execution. Shin eventually accomplished the unthinkable - an escape - 300 miles [483 kilometers] overland to China, and thence to South Korea and America. Shin describes how everyone in the camps lose all semblance of humanity. They are reduced to their basest animal motives, betraying parents and siblings by reporting their every indiscretion, all for the reward of a few extra morsels of food. In contrast, here in New Jersey, in one of the state prisons, one of the popular activities is debating teams. Every year, kids from public and parochial schools trudge into this prison to debate, and more often than not, lose to, the prisoners. Is there any debating, singing, acting, or educating going on in a North Korean political prison? And how absurdly idiotic is the comparison of the absolute numbers or the percentage of population in prisons in America versus North Korea? Charles Jenkins, the US Army sergeant who defected to North Korea in 1965 and stayed there 40 years, describes North Korea succinctly as "a giant, demented prison". If the entire nation of North Korea is not, as Jenkins claims, one enormous hellhole of a prison, then what would you call a place where those who try to flee its insanity are shot or imprisoned if they are unable to offer the border guards a large enough bribe to allow them to cross into China? Geoffrey Sherwood New Jersey, USA (Jul 18, '13) "Dude, you know what time it is?" I muttered into the TimePhone." "Oh sorry, easy to lose track of time when we're debating ancient history. That's why I'm calling," Futureman breathlessly said. "We're having some serious debates about 'The American Dream.' What was it, how was it defined, what it meant to the Empire when it disappeared. Can you help?" As someone who saw his parents lose their jobs, their home and their love, I naturally had an opinion on that subject. But it was a sensitive topic to be indulging in at 3 am. "Not sure I can give you a scientific definition. I guess most Americans thought it consisted of buying a house, having a steady income, putting your kids through school and being able to retire comfortably." "Really? Is that all? That's not at all the prevalent view nowadays. Many here swear that the Dream meant America would conquer the world with drone-warriors. Others thought it meant bringing the Gospel to the rest of the galaxy. Frankly, I thought the Dream meant making everyone pay for the right to breathe air and see sunlight. Wouldn't that be a capitalist's dream? After all, your country was the embodiment of capitalism, right?" As he was wont to do, Futureman was getting annoying. "Drone-whats? Gospel-galaxy? Pay for air? What are you smoking in the future? No, man, Americans grew up thinking we had an inherent right to prosperity, if you worked hard and saved, you should be able to buy property, raise a family, and enjoy America's bounty and wealth. Butďż˝" Futureman realized he had stepped into some historic doodoo. "Buddy, forgive me if I'm bringing back painful memories. We know you just went through the 2008 Correction, and the 2017 Economic Chernobyl is just around the corner. But we here in the Future are trying to come to grips with understanding how the richest nation on earth could squander its heritage so thoroughly. I guess we had to come up with some pretty bizarre scenarios of the 'Dream' to explain how you overreached so badly. How were we to know it simply meant making your family happy?" I was wide awake now. I remembered things much clearer now. I could see the day my father lost his assembly line job to a Chinese firm. I could still smell the barbecue cooking when the sheriff came to foreclose our home. I tasted my tears when my parents divorced over hospital bills, credit card charges and empty bank accounts. I saw my friends march off to die in God forsaken countries for God-Only-Knows reasons. What I couldn't recall was the last thing I ever bought that was made in America. Yeah, that's story wasn't as sexy as alien evangelicals or Terminator patriots, I had to admit, nor as convincing an explanation for the Empire's demise. So who was I to spoil a party? "Sorry, Futureman. What I just told you was all cow caca. The truth is, Amerika's Dream consisted of creating a mutant race of hybridized lizard-ape-fish-men who we would enslave to do all the manual work, fight all our wars without pity and defecate gold bullion after feeding them nothing but quotations from the Constitution. " Futureman was ecstatic. "I knew it! Fantastic! Let me write this all downďż˝fish-menďż˝gold urineďż˝defecating on the Constitution. Got it! We'll spend months on this. Thanks again, buddy! Bye for now." I went back to sleep. I think I dreamt about fish sandwiches. H Campbell Texas (Jul 18, '13) [Re China plots strategic coup in the Pacific , Jul 15, '13] "Unless the US upholds treaty obligations, the region will soon resemble the Chinese system of vassal states under the Ching Dynasty." Actually, the region does resemble the Qing system of vassal kingdoms, but with the US as overlord. Lester Ness Kunming China (Jul 17, '13) The only system that can be described as similar to the Chinese "once-in-a-decade transition of power" practice is Plato's rotational ruler ideal: "Those who have come through all our practical and intellectual tests with distinction must be brought to their final trial ... and when their turn comes they will, in rotation ... do their duty as Rulers ... when they have brought up successors like themselves to take their place as Guardians, they will depart ... (<540a-b> in The Republic, translated by Desmond Lee (1974), Penguin Classics, p.354). A comparison shows that three common features and two pragmatic variations can be found between the Chinese system and Plato's ideal. And this system, if well institutionalized, can achieve an advantage that democracy can produce - regular and peaceful handover of authority. Before coming to power, Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping and many other Politburo members had gone through certain types of party school training programs and been posted in rotation among several local administrative and/or functional ministerial positions as a sort of on-the-job training. Although the Chinese curriculum is not exactly the same as Plato's mathematics (10 years), dialectic (five years) and the post-dialectic "military or other office" apprenticeship (15 years) (<524d-540a> in Lee (1974) p.331-54), the fundamental principle is the same, namely, that only purposively trained (for statecraft) people can become rulers of the state. The second common feature is that the rulers lead the state "in rotation" which in modern term means "tenure". In mainland China, as imposed by Deng Xiaoping and subsequently stipulated in the constitution and certain administrative directives, there is a maximum limit of 10 years (two terms of five years each) for an officer to hold a particular position. It has been a national anticipation that when the tenure comes to the end, the rulers in Beijing have to step down and retire. Hu Jintao's complete retirement from both the state presidency and chairmanship of the party's Central Military Commission in 2012 indicates that the practice has been institutionalized. One of the main duties of the rulers is to bring up, assess and select their successors. Here is the third common feature between the Chinese system and Plato's ideal. The selection of rulers is in no doubt arbitrary but there have been some signs of institutionalization in place: promotion on merit, age limits and good track records in local governments. So far, authority has been handed over to the persons without kinship to their predecessors. It seems meritocracy is working. The arrangement that potential rulers are openly recruited in mainland China can be deemed as the first pragmatic variation from Plato's ideal. While Plato proposes a caste system for his "Guardian herd" (<459e> in Lee (1974) p240), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) membership is open to all citizens. It provides socio-political upward mobility opportunity to the general public which is in line with the functional purpose of the two thousand years long Chinese tradition of civil service examination system. The satisfaction of the national aspiration for socio-political mobility through open and fair competition is a key factor for social stability, and even legitimacy. Nevertheless, the second pragmatic variation from the Platonic model that the Chinese rulers are allowed to hold private property and have family has become the source of rampant corruption. Plato who understands the weakness of human greed explicitly prohibits his ideal rulers from having private property and family (<416d-e> in Lee (1974) p184). Unfortunately, it is impractical and unrealistic. Therefore, it will be a great challenge for Xi Jin-ping to strike a balance between property ownership and declaration of assets so as to put corruption under control. The present political succession system in Beijing can be viewed as a pragmatic and experimental implementation of Plato's ideal in a large scale that it has been institutionalized as a huge human resources management system for public administration, political training as well as selection of rulers. Through this system, the CCP has not only remolded the state into an open-yet-authoritarian state, but also succeeded in managing mainland China as a gigantic business conglomerate. This system is far from perfect, nor in good shape, but it has been initiated and working smoothly. While many academics and analysts focus on democratization and choose to ignore this system, it is already an elephant in the room. Researchers need a realistic and thorough understanding of this system so as to ascertain how the "new nomos of the earth" may evolve with such a non-democratic China emerging in the world arena. Keith K C Hui (Jul 17, '13) [Re Mali and China's 'Western' foreign policy , Jul 12, '13]" ... If Western foreign policy can be summarized as a combination of a cooperative approach towards global governance through the United Nations and other regional organizations and an adherence and promotion of human rights and freedom of speech ... ". Yes, indeed, if it were so - but alas, most of us, unlike Pollath, live in the real world, in which "Western foreign policy" definitely cannot be summarized in the manner he does above, but rather by the interminable wars of foreign aggression and coups d'etats that have been so in evidence since 1947. M Henri Day Stadshagsvagen Stockholm (Jul 15, '13) [Re: Dennis O'Connell, letter, Jul 1, 13] While criticizing Maliha Masood for saying "the US is to blame for Pakistan's problems," Dennis O'Connell himself has done exactly the same thing vice versa, along with making false assertions that could not withstand any serious scrutiny. In his letters he shows a chronic inability to rise above petty blame games against other countries, propose actual solutions to the problems he writes on, or accept responsibility for things that are truly the US' own fault, or even afford basic decency and politeness when disagreeing with others. The whole mess in South and Central Asia is one that the United States made but O'Connell is glossing over that in favor of criticizing countries like Pakistan for reacting to a reality created by his own country. Preeti Kaur Paris, France (Jul 15, '13) [Re Competitive suffering harms Korea debate , Jul 10, '13] John Feffer's sudden epiphany is worth noting. North Korea's prison camps deserves the attention that he and others present. Yet, there is a truth in comparing them with America's prison industrial complex: the US prides itself as a beacon of democracy and a model of universal export. And yet, it has the largest prison system in the world that houses its poor, its racial minorities and immigrants, while allowing its bankers and industrialists to go free with barely a slap on the wrist for the harm they do to the country's, nay the global, economic system. America prides itself on civil liberties, yet whistleblowers are prosecuted under the 1917 Espionage Act. Its citizenry is tracked in a manner that would put East Germany's Stasi to shame. And North Korean experts crow about corruption in the DPRK, the buying and selling of offices and privileges in the US overshadows the malfeasance. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Jul 11, '13) [Re Egyptian nightmare for Erdogan , Jul 3, '13] History sometimes has a lesson for us today. 53 years ago, student protests in Turkey - that started small - forced general Adnan Menderes from power. Viktor Kotsev is right in saying that the danger of a military coup is nary impossible today. Yet, the large demonstrations through Turkey reveal discontent against the erosion of secular Turkey as prime minister Erdogan shows an authoritarian footprint in governing with a Islam cast. Although Erdogan has clipped Turkish military wings, hurt feelings and latent discontent among the soldier caste fester under the surface. Should Morsi be removed, thanks to popular sentiment encouraging the Egyptian military to intervene on the side of the more than million who want the president's ouster, that would prove provide a powerful jolt to the Turks. Of course, Erdogan will try to mate the popular will repressively, and repression will feed discontent which might destabilize the present government. As a result the Turkish military, albeit chastened, would seize the opportunity to back popular forces to eject Erdogan from power. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Jul 8, '13) In An assault on hope in Pakistan [Jul 1, 13], Maliha Masood seems to blame all of Pakistan's problems on being in the "clutches of US foreign policy." She also claims Pakistan is held hostage by a minority of evil minded anarchists, she should know they are Islamist's not anarchists. She also equates the US using drones to kill terrorists with the Taliban killing innocent tourists. What most people who blame the US for killing civilians in drone attacks fail to realize is that the civilians are the relatives of the terrorists. So what are the evil clutches of US policy that she hopes Pakistan can escape from, well the US would like a democracy for Afghanistan. What does Pakistan want or should I say the Pakistani ISI want, a Taliban government that will aid them in their war with India. The problems of Pakistan are with the government and the elites of Pakistan. In Pakistan hardly anyone pays their taxes, so what little money they have they spend on war and nuclear weapons. They can not afford to educate their children so they allow the Saudi wahabists to poison their children's minds before they can learn to think for themselves. Hatred of the US has been encoded in the Pakistani DNA since the 1960s, as they blame the US for losing their wars to India which they started. A simple lie in 1979 was all it took for a Pakistani mob to burn the US embassy to the ground. The US has given Pakistan billions of dollars and they respond by aiding our enemies and using our money to kill Americans, and the Washington response is to give them more money in the hopes that they will kill less of us or kill us more slowly. Masood seems to think the US should end it drone strikes and I guess send jazz musicians to Pakistan. Who are these Islamist terrorists that are backed by the Pakistani ISI, they are the type of men that board a bus and shoot a 15-year-old girl in head for having the audacity to think she is a human being and has a right to an education. Masood needs to escape the clutches of the communist left that dominate US college campuses and have convinced her the US is to blame for Pakistan's problems. Those men that boarded that bus will not be stopped by jazz even if Lisa Simpson had stood up next to Malala Yousafzai and played a jazz duet. Those men will only be stopped by force and with the Pakastani elite freeing itself from the clutches of evil they have surrendered to. Dennis O'Connell USA (Jul 3, '13) Obama pooh-poohed the idea that he would be "scrambling fighters" to pursue a "29-year-old hacker". Indeed, it would more likely be drones. Lester Ness Kunming China (Jul 1, '13) [Re Xinjiang death toll higher than reported , Jun 28, '13] Regardless of a burial shroud count, anonymous reports and statements from RFA (Radio Free Asia), the current death toll of Han people from the Lukeqing incident stands at eight migrant construction workers. If the death toll rises from among the 21 injured, then chances are there will only be more Uygur deaths. Photographs circulated from Lukeqing township (Lukqun) clearly show two captured Uygur attackers in T-shirts emblazened with the banner of the Uygur ETIM (East Turkestan Islamic Movement), a party "closely affiliated" with the WUC (World Uygur Congress) and listed as a terrorist movement by the governments of China, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, the US State Department, the EU and the United Nations. Any comment from RFA or the WUC as to why the Lukeqing attackers are wearing the ETIM insignia or murdering their own people would be of interest. Aussie in China Hami, Xinjiang (Jul 1, '13) [Re 27 die in fresh Xinjiang violence , Jun 27, 13] Text messages were flowing throughout the region just after the attack and before any official response from the authorities. What happened is pretty much in line with what has so far been reported. The communication clampdown in the area is in order to stem the rumor mill and decrease the chances of an escalation in violence and not to initiate a cover-up as some might have people believe. When the dust settles it will be found that the majority of police and civilians murdered on Wednesday in Lukeqing were ethnic Uyghurs as was in the case in April in Bachu county when 11 of the 15 murdered police and community workers were ethnic Uyghurs. So, what has the WUC [World Uyghur Congress] and RFA [Radio Free Asia] have to say about covering up the fact that Uyghurs are killing Uyghur police and Uyghur civilians and the likely result that some Uyghurs lives here are about to get harder?. Apparently,not much! They might lose their US government funding. Tony Wiffler Hami, Xinjiang (Jun 28, '13) [Re: Chinaďż˝s rise to hegemony , Jun 25, '13] As Chairman Mao was fond of saying, "If no one causes me harm, I harm no one. But if someone harms me, I'll be sure to reciprocate." That precept encapsulates rather nicely the Chinese mindset and the Han Chinese history. But let's not worry so much about what China may or may not become in a few decades, since the Middle Kingdom still faces a multitude of formidable challenges and much uncertainty ahead. Instead, the discussion should revolve more around ways in which the US, by far the most powerful country now and for the foreseeable future, can more responsibly utilize its leadership position to make the world a better and safer place for everyone, as America's actions will influence greatly not only China's but other nations' development paths going forward. John Chen USA (Jun 27, '13) [Re Our man in Quito , Jun 24, '13] Poor Obama. His persecution of yet another political dissident, the hero Snowden, is developing into quite the diplomatic embarrassment for our once-Tefloned Commander-in-Thief. Seems like everybody and their brother is ready to give Uncle Sam the middle finger "You're Number One" salute these days, even piss-ant countries like Ecuador, the unlikely new sanctuary for lovers of transparent government and freedom of expression. The list of humiliations keeps accumulating for our much pilloried prez. What to make of Obama's deteriorating legacy? Perhaps his recent visit to Europe symbolizes with irony the direction Obama's place in history is headed. Hailed as a deeply tanned tanned JFK by Berliners what seems like a century ago, his latest visit to the Brandenburg Gate, the once famous dividing line between liberal capitalist West Germany and oppressive communist East Germany, was much less of an ego boost for our graying president. This time around, the modest crowds of Germans, vastly reduced from his adoring coming-out party throng, were much less willing to accommodate protestations of national security needs as justification for illegal wiretaps, surveillance and general snooping. Indeed, perhaps more than a few of the Berliner crowd saw our beleaguered Obama in terms of another, far less adored national leader, one who once plied his trade just a few blocks away from Obama's speech-making podium not more than 24 years ago. That man, Erich Honecker, leader of the German Democratic Republic, AKA East Germany, from 1971 to 1989, also used the rubric of "national security" as the palliative excuse to justify his Stasi stooges' use of surveillance, infiltration, co-opting of friends and family as spies and informants and the use of disinformation, lies and planted stories. Of course, the Stasi walking in the footsteps of the loathsome Gestapo made such behavior seem benign by comparison, and the GDR was quick to point out that such steps were necessary to prevent a return to the bad old days of German fascism, as manifested in their cross border brothers in the FRG.Of course, Honecker's bogeymen weren't turbaned Arabs squirreled away in remote desert caves, rather Gucci-suited capitalists on Wall Street and beer-swilling politicians in Bonn, but for him the threat to his regime's survival was just as dire. So Honecker went on a massive borrowing spree from those very same Wall Streeters to keep afloat his sinking economy. But failing to see the disappearing forest for all the trees his Stasi were cutting down would finally cost Honecker his precious experiment in German communism. He had ignored all the signs and warnings and kept touting manufactured statistics and delusional predictions of prosperity and socialist paradise until the very end. The parallels between Honecker and Obama, which would once have been outlandish, now bear noting; persecuting dissidents, snooping on their populace, relying on borrowing from foreigners, putting your trust in Wall Street, believing your own propaganda, sending your security forces around the world to squash dissent, and mouthing meaningless platitudes before ever more skeptical audiences of once fawning but now disappointed fans. It remains to be seen if Amerikans have the gumption to mount their own Wende, but it seems a safe bet Obama's likeness will appear in a Tussaud's Hall of Infamy some day, nestled between the likes of Honecker, Bush, Somoza and countless other petty tinpot dictators. H Campbell Texas (Jun 26, '13) [Re Is Egypt on the verge of civil war? , Jun 25, '13] Should Egypt slip into civil war, the army is ready to step in "manu military." And there should be no doubt about that! It is interesting to note that, even though the Muslim Brotherhood enjoys "popularity," its style of governing has brought about disappointment in what it can do in a civil society. On the verge of a downward spiral in governing, President Mohammed Morsi has twisted and turned to US winds. Ultimately, the army is biding its time when it can once again step into well worn shoes of ruling Egypt. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Ital (Jun 26, '13) Is it not outrageous that "surprise" was the word most associated with the presidential election just held in Iran. What is really surprising is that after spending $1.3 trillion a year on national security and all the months of commentary about the election, mostly fiction, by the so-called "experts" in the media, think tanks and the Congress of the US, they all still do not know what they do not know. And, that is why the election of the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, came as a surprise. Further, witness the ignorance, as the aforementioned, and even some in the US administration, tried to create doubts about the legitimacy of the Iranian president's election. The Iranian people proved them wrong by showing up (over 70%) and overwhelmingly voting for change. The lack of knowledge about what goes on in Iran because of lack of relations, is astounding. President Obama, much to his credit, has tried to open a dialogue but he has been blocked by intransigence from Iran and in the US, by the neocons and the Israel-can-do-no-wrong crowd in the media, think tank and the Congress. Like President Nixon who overcame the powerful China lobby to create an opening to China, the president must redouble his efforts to overcome the same type of obstruction. President Obama fortunately has a great asset right here in the US, [spokesman for the former nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani and once the Iranian ambassador to Germany] Sayed Hossein Mousavian. He was Iranian president-elect's deputy when Hassan Rouhani was Iran's nuclear negotiator. This is an opportunity that the US must not overlook. It is not in America's national interest to allow this estrangement of over 30 years to go on. Relations which are so important in gaining knowledge are also vital concerning US national security interests in the Middle East, ie, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syrian, energy resources, just to name a few. Real diplomacy must become the core American interest vis-a-vis Iran. For decades, it has been anything but that. Precisely more punishing sanctions beget more obstinancy and resistance and this terrible cycle continues. Now more than ever, the US must reach out to Iran, accelerate its diplomacy and constructively engage the country. This important moment must not be squandered by both sides, like others before it. Fariborz S Fatemi USA (Jun 25, '13) [Re Koreas roiled by great power shifts , Jun 21, '13] Sukjoon Yoon's analysis rests on South Korea's ability to escape the toehold the US has on Seoul. South Korea President Park Geun-hye's upcoming visit to Beijing might provide a clue in which direction will she steer Seoul's ship of state. Listening to a podcast of the New York-based Korea Society blue ribbon panel of diplomats and scholar on whether Northeast Asia, former KS president Evans Revere couldn't have bee more fulsome off praise of Park and how she "clicked" with president Obama: he suggested that US-South Korea identity of views will not substantially differ from ex-president Lee Myung-bak's. On the other hand, North Korea is showing more nuance in approaching the US. It is willing to talk, to return to the six-party talks in Beijing. However, Pyongyang is expressing no mea maxima culpa in its statements. Dialectically, it points out that the coin of contention has two faces: the US has to own up to its determining role in destabilizing the divided Korean peninsula. North Korea's new "face" can only please China, since it is causing discomfort for Obama in the same way the US president's doctrine pinpricks China. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Jun 25, '13) Oh what a joyous time to be from Iran. Your football team has just qualified for its first World Cup in 16 years. You have just elected a "moderate" cleric to take over from the Persian George Bush AKA Akhmed I'm-Just-Being-Bad. Your Hezbollah proxies are routing the "liberal" West's Syrian rebel darlings. Oil prices are up. China and Russia are warming to you being the perennial burr under the WonderSaddle. You're building ever greater trade links with an Asia increasingly aware of how old and wrinkled that dude across the Pacific has become. Your supplies to the Afghan Taliban have been just adequate enough to make Tio Sam howl in frustration and prepare to rush for the exits in 2014. Your nuke program makes steady progress. Amerika's twin wars in your backyard has immensely expanded your influence and power, while simultaneously weakening your principal adversary. Indeed, despite all the huffing and puffing of that tired, old Big Bad Yankee Wolf, your country is humming along so well that Wonderland's fave comic, Jon Stewart, is making a film about your sometimes baffling nation. He may even make being Iranian chic and trendy. It's really the least we can do for you, Tehran. That the 30-year embargo/sanctions regime of Crying-Uncle Sam is a miserable, even laughable, failure, would make the ghost of Mao opine that the Paper Tiger of his day has degenerated into a modern Soggy Wet Noodle Fetal Kitten. The latest demonstration of the impotence of the failing Empire was the little publicized announcement by the State Department that "several" (like almost all) of our trading partners have been exempted from trade sanctions that would otherwise be imposed on countries actively doing business with the Islamic Republic of Stick-a-Finger-in-the-Great-Satan's-Eyeball-istan. These exemptions did not even bother to require limits to the amount of trade (mostly in petroleum), since everyone knows the embargo is worthy of a Jon Stewart comedy sketch (if one appears in his movie, you betcha I'll take the credit.) Every week it seems a new improved, tighter sanctions regime is announced, a so-called tightening of the screws that has all the enormous pressure of a marshmallow barrage on down feathers. Frankly, as a Wonderlander myself, it's kind of pathetic to see my country carry this grudge to the point of making itself look like a bitter old man who is willing to take it to the grave. Alas, Amerika is history's Ultimate Sore Loser; it took 25 years to grudgingly get over the Vietnamese butt whipping and we still have beefs with Cuba and Iran. In the meantime, here's one football fan eagerly anticipating an Iranian-US showdown in Brazil 2014. Let the games begin! H Campbell USA (Jun 21, '13) [Re Obama's Monica moment , Jun 14, 2013] Make no mistake, though there are many variables, one sticks out plain and simple. Further arming the rebels is not about helping them in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad. It is about sending a message to Iran by looking tough. Instead of sending weapons, America should be accelerating its diplomacy. Diplomacy is the only way forward. The reality is, the US has been sending weapons through proxies for a number of years, by enabling Qatar and Saudi Arabia to do that job. What are the results? What will a few more weapons achieve? All the talk about ending the horrible bloodshed is nothing more than crocodile tears for more weapons will only add to the list of dead and dying. It is not enough to keep repeating the mantra of the self appointed "experts" that "Assad must be forced to negotiate and more arms will bring that about." Wrong. It is the rebels who are too weak and too disorganized and refuse to come to negotiate. The United States, as their godfather, must bring them to the table. Only then through diplomacy can there be hope for stopping the carnage. The best example for doing that is the Lebanese model. After decades of civil war, the warring factions finally agreed to share power. There, outside powers stopped their meddling, allowing the parties to reach a resolution. The President must listen to his inner angel not the war lovers in the congress, media and think tanks. He must continue to advocate for a pragmatic, common sense, resolution of this civil war. The people of the United States do not want, and will not tolerate another war in the Middle east. What is next? What if regional powers start sending their volunteers to fight? Every action will bring on a reaction. That will be the future, unless the diplomats are allowed to work for peace. Fariborz S Fatemi McLean, VA USA (Jun 18, '13) [Re Rank row puts full stop to Korean talks , Jun 14, '13] Anyone familiar with the two Koreas knows that rank counts, protocol matters. When Kim Dae-jung went to the North, Kim Jong-il accompanied him to his guest house. Why? The North Korean Kim deferred to the centuries old custom of paying respect to an "older brother". On the other hand when South Korea president Roh Moo-hyun traveled to Pyongyang to meet Kim, he was not accorded the same honor. Why? For the simple reason he was by age younger than the North Korean leader and so was considered a "younger brother". Much praise has been heaped on South Korean President Park Geun-hye for her tact, yet such a simple matter of rank torpedoed an important step in the meeting of minds of the two Koreas. Thus, we may wonder if this was not intentional. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Jun 17, '13) [Re Obama's Monica moment , Jun 16, 2013] Obama's efforts to divert our attention only emphasize how deceitful he is. This is par for the course for recent US administrations. This is why the distrust of their own government is growing day by day among loyal citizens of the US. This distrust gets a boost from the lack of trust the federal government shows toward its own citizens: eg, the recently revealed massive spying on all citizens of the US. One of the effects of lack of trust is passive resistance. Lou Vignates (Jun 17, '13) [Re Obama's Monica moment , Jun 16, 2013] The patriot Snowden and his colleague Manning are the vanguard of a new movement that will ultimately destroy the political Old School of smoke-filled backroom double-dealings and back-stabbings, the kind of education the Obamanable Snowman received an advanced degree in on his way to the presidency. The majority of Amerikan politicians matriculated there, where their secret machinations that screwed their constituencies time and time again were concocted in the dark and with little chance of public exposure. But in the Age of the Internet and Computer Hacker, true democracy has a chance to fight back, by unmasking the lies, hypocrisies and duplicities that would in the past remained buried and inaccessible to the world. But in this transition between the corrupt Old School and untested but invigorated New School, naturally the reactionary response to change is to invoke shibboleths like "national security" and "endangered American lives" in their defense of the indefensible. Of course, the only security and endangerment issues revolve around the Old Schooler's careers gorging at the public trough. And that is why the Obamanation was selected by his CIA handlers as the perfect "New" Old Schooler to deal with the upstart New Schoolers; he would be the ideal young front man to protect his shady, cloaked, midnight machinations with bankers, corporate CEOs, Israeli lobbyists, Chinese financiers and Middle East despots. But bless his Kenyan, Muslim, socialist heart, like the little Dutch boy who tried plugging all those leaks, Barack-to-the-Future can't cope with those modern technogeeks who still believe in transparent government, free speech and all those other rudiments of democracy the prez is so keen to liquidate. Yes, Obama will have his petty little vindictive victories over the Snowdens and Mannings, for the time being. But the day will come when virtually all the lies will be unearthed almost as soon as they are uttered, and there will be so many Snowdens and Mannings that not enough Guantanamos or Polish gulags can be built fast enough. It would be fitting if Obama asked Putin to rent out Siberia to take up the slack. But if he did, it would be all over the Internet before he could shout "First Amendment". H Campbell Texas (Jun 17, '13) [Re Religious divides cost Arabs dearly , Jun 12, '13] While it is of course understandable to hail Arab nationalism in view of the present sorry situation of growing religious sectarianism, it should not be forgotten that Arab nationalism shares one unwelcome trait with all sorts of nationalism - namely the tendency to put down those not belonging to the respective nation. In parts of the Arab world, especially in the Mashreq, there are various ethnic groups which are not Arab at all. For instance in Syria, the historical home of Arab nationalism, there are Kurds, Turkomen etc. The Arab nationalist Baathi regime has in the past denied them equal cultural rights as for the official use and teaching of their language. This has contributed to their actual position with regards to the rebellion there. While the Turkomen seem to have taken the sides of the - mostly - Sunni rebels, probably because the Turkish government supports them, the most farsighted Kurdish organization, the PYD [Democratic Union Party], takes an neutral stand because they know that the majority of the rebels are as anti-Kurdish as is, (or at least has been) the government. There are many more examples to be cited (eg the Berbers in Algeria). So it is clear that "Arab nationalism" is a double-edged sword against religious sectarianism. Dr Anton Holberg Germany (Jun 14, '13) [Re: Digital Blackwater rules , Jun 11, '13] Digital Blackwater rules. Kinda brings to mind this quote by founding father James Madison in a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1798:"It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad." Then again, perhaps it's also a universal truth that governments in general like to know what their citizens are up to. John Chen USA (Jun 13, '13) In the new movie Now You See Me, a quartet of magicians, hypnotists and psychics team up to rob a bank and bilk a billionaire. They do this using the standard tricks of the magician's trade; deception, misdirection, and making their audience think they see what they expect to see. It's a delightful Hollywood escapade and at first blush appears to be just a summer fantasy with no connection to reality. Except the Amerikan public is being shown the same kind of smoke and mirrors, now-you-see-the-prosperity mirage from the talented team of Swami Obama and his Decepticons. The Swami appeared in a puff of smoke in 2007, dazzled the crowd with his Mask of Change and promises of multiple rabbits out of the hat in the future. The WonderVoters saw what they wanted to see; a tall well groomed black man eager to right wrongs and slay the dragons of injustice, inequality and war. Indeed, even six years into his presidency, even after witnessing the perpetrators of the greatest heist in history receive a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card from the Swami, even after seeing him renege on almost every campaign promise, even after not only continuing but reinforcing the most draconian of policies of his reviled predecessor, many of his hypnotized audience members walk around in a zombielike trance, parroting all the stale, tired and thoroughly discredited mantras of the deluded left, waiting for his command to wake up and forget all his lies, propaganda and disinformation. The hypnosis works so well that, despite the creeping Sovietization of the Amerikan body politic, with our own Cuban/European CIA gulags, growing lists of political prisoners, torture hotels, and a muzzled, intimidated and supine media, Amerikans are still willing to send their children to die in desert sands in the name of "defending our freedoms," convinced that the Swami will somehow stick their mangled bodies back together again just like the sawn-in-half girl. The gullible rubes that are the WonderElectorate continue to swallow the concocted economic statistics, the rose-glassed vision of the future and the relentless dismantling of their constitutional liberties, all the while convinced that milk and honey flow from his very lips. Not to mention Obama's penchant for slipping out of neocon nooses and mushrooming scandals with the dexterity of a ...(dare I say it?) Houdini. I'd say the Obaminator deserves recognition of his magician skills by Hollywood, perhaps with a film called "Now You Vote for Me." H Campbell Texas (Jun 12, '13) [Re Humble pie for Xi on Sunnylands menu , Jun 6] Even a perfunctory perusal of America's development history suggests that the US really isn't in a position to cast the first stone when it comes to industrial espionage and intellectual property theft. But in the next seven, eight years, as long as the US and China don't engage in a large-scale trade war, or Russia, China and the US don't come to blows militarily, the world should be able to withstand and get through any kind of crisis. Beyond that, once the Chinese economy re-orients to a more consumption-based one and the overall world energy supply becomes more abundant, a historically unprecedented and multi-decade period of global prosperity will likely ensue, with the key to achieving that outcome being some level of international cooperation, especially among the major powers. And while the world will probably look considerably different then, it should at least be more stable. John Chen USA (Jun 10, '13) [Re China's Uyghurs have nowhere to turn , Jun 5] China won't take a page out of Chang Kai Shek's (Jiang Jieshi) playbook on treating the Uyghurs as an equal yellow star in the national flag. For Beijing, Xinxiang is like 19th century America - it wants to clean the homeland of the Uyghurs so that the Han Chinese can settle and exploit it. China's ultimate goal is to enclose the Eastern Turkmen into ghettoes or reservations, a policy it is pursuing in Tibet as well. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Jun 10, '13) [Re Petty burglars of the Malacca Strait , Jun 4, '13] The Indian people have been living in dire poverty for several thousand years because most of their leaders and politicians are selfish, stupid, and inhumane. How can human beings enjoy a wealthy life while a half a billion other country fellows live in pre-historic conditions. Sony Tran Melbourne, Australia (Jun 7, '13) [Re Crash this year or next? A collapse of the US stock market in late 2014 or in 2015 would likely take at least two years for the economy to get back on its heels, in the process greatly compromising the prospect of a Democrat remaining in the White House beyond 2016. On the other hand, a stock-market crash later this year would allow the economy some time to heal, potentially enabling economic green shoots to appear before the next presidential election, and boosting Democratic Party doyenne/Stakhanovite Hillary Clinton's chances of becoming the first female American president. Needless to say, neither crash scenario would be pleasant; but then again, whoever believes that life is a beach? John Chen USA (Jun 7, '13) [Re North Korea common ground for US, China , Jun 4, '13] There is also ground to oppose China and the US. Two matters come immediately to mind: computer hacking and the South China Sea. Like a tongue searching a sore tooth, the Obama administration has been going after Beijing incessantly. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Jun 5, '13) Already Sunnis are turning away from the cowboy rebels trying to upend the Assad regime. The US, UK and France's footprints are sloshing through the same mud they left in Libya. If anything the Western powers can only the mindless mayhem that is staring them in the face in Iraq and Afghanistan. This time, there will be no Sykes-Picot Agreement on how to divide the spoils among themselves, for there are too many interested parties with the Arabs, Americans and Europeans jockeying for influence. Consequently, on the ground, the wild West show is losing its audience. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Jun 5, '13) [Re Naming a nameless war , May 29, '13] Professor Andrew J Bacevich makes an excellent point when he points out how the West takes for granted the fact that Islam is one of the Abrahanic religions. I watched a very telling video the other day of a conservative Muslim student in a calm but deep exchange with the late atheist Christopher Hitchens. The young Muslim student elaborated on how moral absolutes constitute the pillars of harmony, order, and a super natural calling to seek what is unknown to our senses. The student cited some examples of moral depravation to which Hitchens responded with the usual babble about how Christians murdered thousands in the Inquisition or how Muslims behead the unbelievers. Both gross exaggerations out of historical context. At the end of the day conservative religious people should find in conservative Muslims their greatest allies. And to quote Peter Kreeft: "A Moslem knows exactly where he stands. To a world more and more confused, Islam comes with a sword that cuts through the Gordian Knot of modern malaise in a single stroke." Should not we all aspire to cut through the filth of post-modernism? Now, this is where I disagree with professor Bacevich: It is inaccurate to say that the United States or Europe is at war with Islam. In fact, even after the September 11, 2001 attacks universally hated president George W Bush separated the faith of Islam from the actions of al-Qaeda. Western media in general is very careful when referring to Islam because of the West's history of racism that gave us slavery, the Holocaust, and other hideous crimes perpetrated against humanity. We cannot incite the masses against a minority. You have to admit that every time there are isolated events like the events at the Boston Marathon, there is some right-wing paranoia and some segments of American society scream to get a loser, scared young boy tried as an "enemy combatant", cheapening the label enemy combatant and trivializing it. Our courts can do the job. In the US we jail more people than China and execute more people than anywhere else in the world. So just like Bill Maher said, these "terrorists" decided to mess with the "wrong, peace loving Christian people". This new "war" just shows a sequence of isolated events. I am sure they will find a name for it. Going back to the ancient times, political forces used religion to expand and conquer. Because if you tell me that some of the medieval Christian generals or some of the Muslim conquerors were pious, compassionate people then my goodness, where has compassion gone? Today's forces are tempted to use religion again to "rape and plunder." Follow the politics. It's all political now. Ysais Martinez (May 30, '13) [Re Six-party soap opera set to restart , May 28, '13] A soap opera indeed! There maybe stock characters in this on going melodrama, but little sentimentality. The six parties have not met in six years, it is good to point out. Nor should we lose sight of the upcoming visit to the White House of China's President Xi Jinping. Pressured insistently by the Obama administration to do something with Beijing's "troublesome neighbor" North Korea, Xi can say that he has done his part, even though Washington is turning up the heat on Chinese computer hacking and pretensions to "ownership" of the seas. Still, no one really believes that Pyongyang's return heralds a new opening. Nakamura Junzo Guam (May 29, '13) [Re Chinese premiere Li Keqiang in Islamabad , May 23, '13] Some in the Pakistani media may be reading a little too much into the lengths of visits by the Chinese premier to India and to Pakistan. Assessed in another way, two all-weather friends simply donďż˝t need to spend as much time together to hash things out. While the relationship with India is no doubt extremely important to China (and vice versa), Chinese investment in Pakistan will likely increase drastically once the country attains greater political and economic stability. Incidentally, what does seem a bit curious is the length of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent visit to China (five days). John Chen USA (May 29, '13) [Re Obama narrows scope of war on terror , May 24, 13] Now Jim Lobe could be right in his suggestion that US President Barack Obama's speech indicated a narrowing of the scope of the war on terror, but I do wonder. Obama's rhetoric is very engaging and enables the listener to hear what he wants to hear. Don't get me wrong. I like Barack Obama, but I was fooled the first time I voted for him, thinking he would stage a progressive swing from the neo-conservative direction of the Bush administration. I was so weary of Bush's propaganda and deception that I fell for Obama's line. Therefore, I am not so sure we will see a dramatic turn in Obama's "terror" policy, just as I'm certain that the American people won't get relief from Wall Street's unethical activities. Jim Southern California USA (May 29, '13) [Re US moves toward full Iran trade embargo , May 23, '13] Once again, those fools in Washington have put Israel's welfare above the welfare of our United States. Antagonizing Muslim governments is most definitely not in the interests of our beloved US. To do this on behalf of the aggressive, racist Israel is doubly stupid. Lou Vignates USA (May 24, '13) [Re Tokyo, Seoul hold 'ugly' nuclear option , May 23, '13] Dr Azad has left the US out of his equation. The Obama administration has put the kibosh on South Korea's plans for nuclear weapons. The US nuclear umbrella protects South Korea and Japan. As for Japan, nuclear arms raises not only a constitutional matter but would reinforce Tokyo's decision to retreat from peaceful use of the atom. The Abe government prefers to talk to North Korea instead. The Park government and the Obama administration would do well to follow the Japanese prime minister's lead to reduce tensions. Nakamura Junzo Guam (May 24, '13) [Re Japan tips its hand via North Korea , May 21, '13] Japan announced a year or two ago that it would re-engage with North Korea as a handslap to South Korea over a territorial dispute on uninhabited islands. Pyongyang's nuclear test shelved that initiative. Now with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe back in power, reconnecting with the DPRK is on track. In a way, China's ham-handed tack towards Japan has something led to the awakening of a more aggressive Japanese nationalism and firming up of a more independent foreign policy. Nakamura Junzo Guam (May 21, '13) [Re Snaking the Scotch , May 6, '13] Spengler writes, "Fortunately, the Church of Scotland document represents an increasingly marginalized view in the Christian world ďż˝ the covenant between God and the Jewish people was never abolished. It is not surprising that the authors of the Church of Scotland occupy a fringe position in the Christian world." There are two issues here of note: 1. So what? Fortunate for whom? "Fortunately" implies approval. and what about the 600+ Gods of India? Do they approve? Why is it fortunate that His God is on His side and happens to share his political convictions? Is it hubris or perhaps it's an example of religious bigotry to imply one's own God is so important and "true" that other Gods are "marginalized". 2. The Christian world contains a substantial number of non-Christians so they may well not respect this "covenant" thus falsifying Spengler's claim of such a view being marginal for example though a minority, the Muslim God does not agree with this covenant and Europe (with its millions of Muslims) is part of the Christian world. If Spengler meant to say "Christian Churches" or "Christianity" rather than "Christian world" I am sure he is capable of such precision so we can take his words at face value - factually and morally unsound - rather than an example of verbal duplicity, trying to pretend that his view is the only "proper" one without actually saying so. Jon Lonergan Australia (May 21, '13) [Re: Catfight - and it's US vs EU , May 17] Well most Australians are still awaiting the promised, munificent benefits accruing from the much vaunted Australia/USA free trade treaty concluded in 2004. The only thing I can discern, from Australian Senate inquiries, is that Australian businesses continue to still be royally screwed on prices of many products from Adobe, Microsoft and others, as just one single instance. Many business leaders claim it is vastly cheaper to send an employee armed only with a credit card to the US, buy up whatever is necessary, and then return on the very next available flight. Software can be downloaded very cheaply online, but not to Australia, which is either blocked or has a drastic price differential from the US. Free trade? Canadian friends warned me long before the agreement was concluded, and based upon their own personal experience, that such agreements invariably prove to be one sided, always in favor of the US. Quelle surprise? Ian C Purdie Australia (May 21, '13) [Re Chinese opinion jars with policy on Korea , May 17, '13]A single swallow does not a spring make, it this is good to remember when we are talking of China-DPRK relations. As Niklas Swanstrom and Kelly Chen surely know, Chinese analysts and leaders have many opinions. Yet, when policy matters, democratic centralism applies. Beijing may make a swipe at Pyongyang for not listening to the suggestions of an older brother, but from there to a change in policy direction is an entirely different matter. MIT/Harvard's John Park who religiously tracks China/DPRK relations shows on the contrary China is building firmer and firmer party relations with the North Korean Workers Party. Western analysts seem to discount that China may say one thing to lure, say, the US into the forest, while maintaining its decades old policy to support the DPRK as it did when it intervened in the Korean War. Nakamura Junzo Guam (May 21, '13) Oh how much one must rejoice in the Irony of Vunderland USA. Now the Reptileicans are denouncing Obama for being "like Bush and Cheney" in his duplicity, disinformation and deception over the myriad scandals raining down on the White House. The Party of Frankenstein apparently now sees the two-headed Bush-Cheney monster that they created in an entirely different and less favorable light, now that it is single-headed and a clone is spinning much the same fantasies. Payback, as the saying goes, is a canine lady. But they should be viewing Obama's imitation of his predecessor as the ultimate compliment. The Bush-Cheney dictatorship managed to squeeze dozens of big and small scandals into their eight-year Reign of Error, earning the contempt of their liberal enemies but the generous gratitude of bankers, corporations and neocon tycoons. So Obama replicating this formula of personal profit should surprise no one except those Wonderlanders still smoking the funny weed of Amerikan democracy. So while the bite of canine ladies can sting, that pain is nothing compared to the hoisting of petards of your own making and design. H Campbell Texas (May 17, '13) [Re: Electronic blindness , May 13] "Incentivizing speculation is a prominent flaw in current (inflationist) central bank doctrine." Brings to mind a sagacious advice once offered by Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain and one of the finest individuals ever produced by this country: "There are two times in a man's life when he should not speculate - when he can't afford it, and when he can." Interestingly, with the dollar being the global reserve currency and with the American economy suffering severe structural imbalances (not to mention a monumental amount of debt), the US uniquely fulfills both conditions simultaneously. John Chen USA (May 17, '13) [Re Course correction costs Korea dearly , An Austrian deal for North Korea and In Tehran, all eyes are on North Korea May 15, '13] It doesn't occur to Joseph R DeTrani that it is time for the US to also change course and seek meaningful dialogue with the DPRK. Although he may find comfort in the occasional Chinese commentary "scalding" North Korea, the plain fact is that Beijing is not going to abandon support for Kim Jong-eun. From another angle, suddenly the Japanese are renewing contact with North Korea. And South Korea is trying to come to some understanding with Pyongyang. So, it looks as though Kim Jong-eun's "course chance", his martial threats, have borne some fruit. Ronnie Blewer's thoughts on a neutralized North Korea are interesting but a-historical. Is he suggesting that South Korea should embrace neutrality, as well? Oddly enough, his suggestion reminds one of the Soviet Union's gambit of turning a divided Germany into a united Germany on the Austrian model. Finally, Giorgio Cafiero and Shawn VL take a more measured and thoughtful approach on North Korea. Ultimately as in dealing with Pyongyang, as they say, only a sustained diplomatic approach with Tehran can bear good fruit. Nakamura Junzo Guam (May 16, '13) " Glasnost by stealth in North Korea ", [May 13, '13] on one hand, is an exercise in wishful thinking. See, North Koreans are becoming like us! To me, it recalls Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu predicting that Iran's nuclear bomb is just around the corner. And he's been saying this since the early 1990s! North Korea is changing. Yet, the need to earn hard cash abroad has more to do with onerous US and UN sanctions than imitating Soviet glasnost. It was not that long ago, everyone saw the DPRK's collapse. If anything, Pyongyang has turned Western market "magic" on its head for its own purposes. Abraham Bin Jiyu Messina, Italy (May 14, '13) [Re US criticism stirs China's military pride , May 10, '13]Given the military history of the last 60 years, China has more reason to fear a US attack than vice versa. Lester Ness Kunming China (May 14, '13) [Re US hoist by its own pivot petard , May 10, '13] The Obama doctrine has as its objective the protection of clients in East and southeast Asia. As China challenges America's long standing hegemony, it has found ways to turn the tables on Washington. Beijing's whimsical attempt to stoke the fires of Okinawan nationalism, is a case in point. Of course China, too, is vulnerable in this games of bluster: were Japan on its toes, it could bang the drums for Tibet's independence as well as bolster the demands of the oppressed Uyghur in Xinjiang province. . Nakamura Junzo Guam (May 13, '13) [Re US criticism stirs China's military pride , May 10, '13] Most US complaints about China that I hear or read seem to grow out of the perception that China is not as poor or weak or compliant is it ought to be. Given the military history of the last 60 years, China has more reason to fear a US attack than vice versa. Lester Ness Kunming China (May 13, '13) [Re: Decade after Iraq, hawks reunite over Syria and And then there was one , May 8, '13] Sadly, most of the current major global events are driven by greed and racial/religious hatred - tribalism and the survival instinct allowed to run amuck. Humanity may very well be getting "smarter", but unfortunately, not any wiser. Today the guns are in our hands pointed at our "enemies"; tomorrow our "enemies" vengefully hold the guns at our children. And humans are supposedly the most intelligent life form. John Chen USA (May 10, '13) [Reply to the Rev Foster's letter, May 8)] Replying to my May 6 essay ( Snaking the Scots ), the Reverend Sally Foster Fulton notes that the Church of Scotland's "Inheritance of Abraham" report "is not the considered opinion of the Church of Scotland and will only become so if it is ratified by the General Assembly." It is to be hoped that the General Assembly will exercise better judgment than the authors of the report. Contrary to Reverend Fulton's representations, the report does in fact call into question the legitimacy of the State of Israel as well as the Jewish religion itself. It supports, for example, the so-called "right of return," namely the demand that Israel admit the nearly 5 million descendants of the 700,000 or so Arabs who fled the Jewish sector during the 1948 War of Independence. Never before or since have descendants of refugees acquired refugee status. The report does not mention the 800,000 Jews expelled from Arab countries after Israel's Independence, in one of many population exchanges after World War, a tendentious omission, to say the least. Palestinian Arab leaders reject the Israeli formation-"two states for two peoples"-and demand "right of return" because they do not accept the idea of a Jewish state. In rejecting the biblical relationship between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, the Church of Scotland report goes as far to assert that the Bible itself is a falsification, for example: "Munib Younan has pointed to the widely accepted view of scholars that the idealized biblical conquest narratives were put into their present form only centuries later, with the writers 'intent on justifying their own status in the land on the basis of nationalistic perspectives.'" The report adds, "Jesus offered a radical critique of Jewish specialness and exclusivism. ďż˝The promise to Abraham about land is fulfilled through the impact of Jesus, not by restoration of land to the Jewish people." Well might one ask: If the Bible is falsified, as the Church of Scotland report alleges, what promise to Abraham did Jesus fulfill? The fact that the report is self-contradictory, to be sure, makes it no less offensive. Fortunately, the Church of Scotland document represents an increasingly marginalized view in the Christian world. Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, for example, emphasized that the covenant between God and the Jewish people was never abolished. It is not surprising that the authors of the Church of Scotland occupy a fringe position in the Christian world. Spengler (David P Goldman) (May 10, '13) [Re Snaking the Scotch , May 6, '13] I write with concern about coverage regarding the report "The Inheritance of Abraham", which is being presented to the General Assembly of the Church for Scotland later this month. It is not the considered opinion of the Church of Scotland and will only become so if it is ratified by the General Assembly. Nowhere in the report does it state, as suggested by several media reports, that the Church denies the right of Israel to exist. The report is a theological reflection that explores the idea that biblical authority can be used to give a people, any people, divine right to a land. We concluded after careful study of scripture that this is not the case. The Church of Scotland would never and is not now attacking Judaism and the intent of the report must not be misinterpreted as such. Nor is the report denying Israel's right to exist, but any group's divine right to land. To reach that conclusion is not the same as denigrating the Jewish people or denying the right of Israel as a state to exist. A good friend speaks the truth in love, and the truth is there can be no peace without justice. The current policies of the state of Israel, including the continued occupation and the extension of the settlements mean that justice is still to come. The Church of Scotland is called to speak out against injustice. Whether people are being exploited by pay-day loan companies, through low wages and poor conditions, because of benefit changes here in Britain or because of the actions of the powerful in places across the world, the Church of Scotland seeks to support just and peaceful solutions. With this in mind, The Church of Scotland will continue to work for freedom and justice for all who live in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This report is a sincere contribution to the on-going search for a way forward that brings love-informed justice to a land that is sacred to so many. Rev Sally Foster Fulton Church and Society Council Church of Scotland (May 8, '13) [Re Irrational rhetoric fuels illegal wars , May 2, 2013] The neo-con talking heads in the congress, media and think tanks, time and time again, continue to show that when it comes to foreign policy - this time Syria - they seldom know what they don't know. Yet that has never prevented them from shooting off their mouths. Just a few examples: "Red line against chemical weapons cannot be a dotted line," (Rogers R-MI); "US should be arming the rebels using air strikes," (McCain, R-AZ); "Syria is going to become a failed state by the end of the year unless the US intervenes," (Graham, R-SC). Is there no shame? No end to hypocrisy? Has nothing been learned from the wars of choice in Iraq and Afghanistan supported by the same people who want a repeat in Syria? It seems, there has been a massive and collective amnesia. As if, the last 10 years did not happen. As if their US$3 trillion wars with their agonizing death and destruction that drove the United States to the verge of bankruptcy, did not happen. And as if Vietnam did not happen. It all starts with a clamor "to do something." And then, to supply weapons and advisers and trainers for the use of same, etc. And then before long, the body bags start coming home. Where were the "red lines" in the 1980s when Saddam supported by the neo-con hero, President Reagan, was gassing the Kurds in Iraq? And, using chemical warfare against Iran. Killing thousands and causing horrifying injuries to thousands more. What happened to the condemnation by the UN and the international community? And, what happened to the condemnation for the role of the Germans, the French and the English in enabling Saddam to wage his chemical warfare? It should be abundantly clear that Syria cannot be resolved by US intervention nor by more arms that will only cause more bloodshed, more refugees and more chaos with many unintended consequences. The Syrian tragedy has turned into a vicious civil war with many outside actors carrying out their own deadly agendas. Only aggressive diplomacy bringing together all factions involved, internal and external, is the answer. The best example to follow is the late 1980s agreement that ended the Lebanese civil war of many decades. All parties in that conflict, internal and external, agreed to a power sharing solution. By no means perfect, but it brought peace. Syria badly needs the same political solution. Despite the noise coming from the naysayers, the president's deliberative policy, by not rushing to judgment and allowing diplomacy to work, is the right course. The alternative is too horrible to contemplate. Fariborz S Fatemi McLean, VA USA (May 6, '13) [Re: A post-history strip-tease , April 26 2012]. Escobar is a master of the complex as well as of minute detail. He can overwhelm you by both aspects of his trade. His latest article is a masterpiece of both. Unfortunately it is more of an exercise in confusion rather than a description or a prophesy. Or perhaps it is a structure of that which he tries to discuss: a post-modern historical convolution through which billions of emotionally and intellectually pre-modern people try to conduct their lives. It is more than obvious that what we understand and what Escobar tells us about the world is incongruent with our ability to analyze reality. Intellectuals of any color or persuasion have taken over the task of informing us about the world in a manner which is either esoteric or too technical for the man in the street. Globalization, neo-liberalism, socialization and the Asian or Chinese Consensus versus the corrupt and imperialistic Washingtonian one, are terms which carry foreboding meanings but are actually too opaque to point to the direction of a satisfactory explanation for the sorry state of affairs of our environment and our lives. History is neither linear nor benevolent. It is neither progressive nor regressive; it is an outcome of too many factors some of which are beyond our explanatory powers, at least for now. If the world to come is a Mad Max world, a Hobbesian all against all or of religious fundamentalism we can just accept that these nightmares are not open to analytical interpretation but perhaps to psychoanalysis. Man is a creature of habit as well as an agent of the Least Action. The power of inertia rules the physical world as well as the human condition. For the last three centuries we have exceeded the measure of change and self- transformation. What has happened was a "progressivistic" avalanche which is going on with an ever increasing impetus. We can adapt but are we able to withstand the pressure of a man-made contraction of time as a conscious act for defining our self-identity? Unfortunately, as Thucydides observed about the Athenian democracy, those who are convinced that change and "progress" are humanity's call are also the ones who create the greatest catastrophes, as in the Athenian expedition to Syracuse. The ancient world believed in a physical order which should be respected as an ethical measure. We believe that man is the measure of all things, as Anaxagoras taught. The issue is an epistemological one but it can be observed in the policies and practices of governments and individuals. In both cases we are doomed to venture to the unknown. The past is history but the term has not kept its original meaning which in Hellenic is knowledge. This dichotomy between the past and knowledge is crucial for the measure, if there is any, of our lives and our future. What Escobar is trying to say is more or less that the bad and the ugly are destroying the environment, our lives and our security. They destroy all the good, as the welfare state and have initiated a post-man culture. Even if this is true, and it isn't, what we are doing is nothing more than what we have done over the last 5,000 years. The stark difference is just one: suicide, the suicide of the species. This is what must frighten us. If it doesn't, than we are a self-conscious species preparing subconsciously our extinction. Nicholas A Biniaris Hellas (May 2, '13) [Re Breaking out the Bush Korea playbook , Apr 26, '13] The Boston Marathon bombings have pushed the crisis on the Korean peninsula off the front pages. However in the back pages, the Obama administration is trying to set the Chinese monkey up to snag the North Korean tiger. The New York Times alerted us to the presence of a senior Chinese North Korean analyst in Washington for "discussions". And General Martin E Dempsey was in Beijing to bring the Chinese around to the US standpoint. As Conn Hallinan suggests neither China nor North Korea is really taken in by America's ultimate object of regime change in Pyongyang. In fact, in a podcast of Dr John Park's remarks at the Korea Society, the Harvard/MIT DPRK/China watcher gave strong evidence that China is helping to strengthen party to party ties with North Korea, as a countermeasure to US designs. President Obama wants no discussions with Kim Jung-eun that will end in US concessions. As such, like George W Bush, Obama has painted himself into a corner. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Apr 29, '13) Two explosions are in the WonderNews these days. One caused three deaths with hundreds injured, and relatively little property damage, while the other caused hundreds of deaths and injuries and millions of dollars in property damage. Guess which one is garnering the most attention and generating the most angst and conservative furor? If you guessed the former, give yourself a pat on the back for knowing the Amerikan schizospsyche well. The murder of innocent bystanders at the Boston Marathon using homemade explosives by two disaffected Chechen-Americans has captivated a people who have long since been inured to mass murders by disaffected Anglo-Saxon boys toting second amendment supporting AR-15s, but when the perpetrators are hard-to-pronounce Muslims from a foreign land, well, all that inurement goes out the window, subsumed by good ol' 'merikan xenophobia, Islamophobia and terrorophobia. The hue and cry denouncing all things sounding like Chechnya (including calumny heaped upon the poor Czech Republic) and the inevitable national security hand wringing among the neocons contrasts with the excuse making, rationalization and relative silence from the media whores concerning the far greater tragedy in the town of West, Texas. The massive explosion at its recklessly overstocked fertilizer plant exposed tons of legal loopholes and fox-watching-the-hen-house "safeguards" that needlessly and callously exposed its citizens to peril, but good ol' Rick Perry, our Republican governor who can't count to three but has plenty of corporate campaign contributors, has already defended his administration's lax oversight as being in the "best interests" of Texans (who one stock in the company, no doubt.) Once again the capitalist priority of profit over human health, safety and welfare triumphs with nary a whimper of protest from the long victimized prols, while the relatively puny casualty count of Boston consumes the WonderPsyche with exaggerated terror and fear. What Amerikans should fear is the economic system that counts their lives as mere statistics to be sacrificed at the whim of our corporate plantation owners. H Campbell Texas (Apr 29, '13) [Re Israel, Palestine indicate peace bid , Apr 25, '13] An indication is like the will of the wisp. If the US can pull a three-way meeting, more power to the Obama administration. Remember Madrid and the Oslo Peace Accords? These unraveled as soon as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu took office. If Israel and Turkey have trouble reaching a rapprochement of sorts, how likely is it that the proposed Israel-Palestine confab will fall apart even before it begins. Look at the six-party talks in Beijing. They have been moribund since 2007. So what makes Viktor Kotsev think the US has a steel spine to broker a peace deal and a viable two state solution along 19667 borders? Nakamura Junzo Guam (Apr 25, '13) [Re: Orwell does America , Apr 23, '13] Let's hope the theory put forth by Pepe Escobar is not true, because if it is, then those in power are naively deluding themselves if they think sowing chaos and strife will somehow make the world safer for future generations. Wittingly or unwittingly, major current global events/trends are pointing to a day of infamy when humans will once again bring war and carnage upon themselves - "brother to brother, blood to blood, self against self". All, one might ask, for what? John Chen USA (Apr 25, '13) [Re: How Bowie mania buries Thatcherism , April 17] Did Margaret Thatcher cackle from the grave when she heard President Barack Obama say that her death meant the loss "of one of the world's great champions of freedom and liberty"? Few working girls break the glass ceiling as they move up to professonal pimp marketing inequality and injustice in equal measure as she did. She became a city girl (City of London), loved on foreign streets (Wall St)and all as a result of forcefully attacking the working class and subordinating citizens into a lower form of wage slavery or no job at all. Just as the Codrington Library of all Souls College was built from slave labor on Caribbean plantations, so perhaps a room for fixing LIBOR can be named after her: Maggie's Money Market Fiddling Fund Salon. It's no surprise that her home town, Grantham, overwhelmingly voted down a statue of her there. It would be like placing a statue of "General" George Armstrong Custer on Sand Creek where many women, and children and old men were massacred under his leadership. Does The Lost Souls Choir sing Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land on her behalf? The Iron Lady was no iron chancellor forging a nation out of lost principalities, small kingdoms and forced amputations of other countries using blood and steel. However, to give the lady her due, she was an iron maiden. Her passing on reminds me of Burns' line, "We're bought and sold for English gold - Such a parcel of rogues in a nation." (from Robert Burns' Fareweel to a'Our Scottish Fame) Doug Baker Vallejo, CA USA (Apr 21, '13) Despite all the white noise and cynicism concerning peace between the Palestinians/Israel and Iran controversy, there is hope. See Israel watches the show beyond Almaty April 9, 2013. When the President of the United States traveled to Israel recently, the prime minister of that country, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke of "historic compromises in relation to the Palestinians." And on April 9, in a meeting with the US Secretary of State, the prime minister spoke of his determination "not only to resume the peace process with the Palestinians, but to make a serious effort to end this conflict once and for all," But when the prime minister first came to office several years ago, he showed his disdain for a two-state solution by ignoring all advice in favor of a two state solution, including his top national security advisers (current and former) by carrying out a furious settlement expansion. And, then showing his disdain for facts, the prime minister continued his hysterical claims of threats from Iran, again not supported by his national security advisers nor average Israelis. During his visit to America, the prime minister had the temerity with arrogance and hubris, to hector the president of the United States, cheered on by his acolytes in the media, think tanks and Congress. So what changed? Perhaps, an election that was to be a coronation but turned out to be almost the prime minister's defeat. Or, perhaps it finally dawned on the prime minister the devastating effect of future demographics on his desire for a "Jewish state". Or perhaps, the prime minister finally figured out that he wasted several valuable years by ignoring peace with the Palestinians - a quest that he could have continued by building on the works of former prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert. Or perhaps, the prime minister saw the error of ignoring the trauma caused by expanding settlements on lands that Palestinians hoped to build their state. Or, perhaps the prime minister wants a legacy - that of a peacemaker. There are many who are skeptical about his conversion. But the prime minister should be given every benefit to help him turn his words into action and redeem his previous years in office. There is no doubt that an overwhelming number of Israeli citizens want peace with their Palestinian brethren. Elections have consequences and those who ignore the wishes of the voters, as the prime minister found out, and as in the United States, his supporters found out, will be doing so at their own peril. Fariborz S Fatemi McLean, VA (Apr 19, '13) [Re Obama-Park summit a critical opportunity , Apr 18, '13] Overall the US and South Korea are on the same page. Scott Harold's suggestions for firming up the US-ROK partnership during the Obama-Park summit run counter to the Obama administration and Park's government for toning down the rhetoric towards North Korea. Harold, on the other hand, looks towards overly firming up a military posture when Washington, if we believe secretary of state Kerry, is to revive the six-party talks. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Apr 19, '13) In After Iraq, the moral abyss still gapes [Apr 5, '13] We are given Adil Shamoo's take on the US invasion of Iraq, where he plays very fast and loose with the facts and the truth, for a man of science to be so cavalier with facts is a disgrace. To set the record straight getting rid of Saddam Hussein is not something the US need apologize for as the man was responsible for over a million deaths and would not be out of place on a list of the most murderous rulers in recent history along with Hitler, Stalin and Mao. Several years ago on the US news show 60 Minutes, Uday Hussein's body double was interviewed and he told a story of how Uday raped and murdered a bride on her wedding day. The sad part is that if you were to make a list of the 1,000 worst crimes of the Hussein family her murder might not make the list. The Iraqi people had over 30 years to rid themselves and the world of Saddam and could not find the courage or will to end their own suffering. The true crime of the Bush administration in Iraq was their extreme incompetence in trying to govern Iraq. On the list of who to blame that Shamoo sites he includes Dan Senor and Kenneth Pollack, who wouldn't be on my top 100 list of people to blame for Iraq. He makes no mention of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld or Tommy Franks who I would assign at least 80% of the blame for the failure in Iraq. He also could have included Paul Bremer, Richard Perle, Paul Wofowitz and General John Abizaid but he names David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal who are not to blame for getting us into Iraq or the insane policies that led to failure. Shamoo claims that Iraqi losses from the war were "more than a million deaths and millions more wounded", that would mean more that one in six Iraqis. Iraq Body Count has the dead at between 104-113 thousand, with probably 80% or more killed by their fellow Iraqis. He also blames the US for a "brain drain that has left the country illiterate, however Wikipedia has Iraq's literacy rate at 84% for males and 64% for females probably better than most of their Arab neighbors. The US failure in Iraq was because of the incredible stupidity of US policies. The US allowed the looting of Iraq to go on for months leading to massive damage to Iraq's infrastructure. The US failed to secure Iraq borders allowing thousand of jihadists and Iranian agents to enter Iraq to spread murder and destruction. The US also failed to secure Ammo depots which allowed easy access to weapons and materials for IEDs. The destruction and disbanding of the Iraq Army and de-Ba'athication of Iraq were policies that insured that civil war would break out in Iraq. You could fill several books with the insane plans the US followed in Iraq, and the planners have never been made to explain their failures. If the Bush administration had tried to destroy Iraq they could not have done a better job than the plan they followed to fix Iraq. If the plan was to make hundreds of billions for the Military-Industrial Complex the plan was an ingenious success. All that being said Shamoo has not a single word of criticism for the Iraq people, the vast majority of killing in Iraq have been by their fellow citizens. The northern area of Iraq under the Kurds escaped this insanity, it is mainly Arab Iraq's Sunni and Shiites killing each other, which they have continued to do, even now that the US is no longer a player. Dennis O'Connell USA (Apr 18, '13) [Re A Chinese nuke umbrella for North Korea? , Apr 15, '13]Professor Tan Qingshan offers an interesting approach to resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff. Immediately two problems come to mind: in the current war of words North Korea has an ace in the hole as a nuclear nation, albeit unrecognized by the US as such. Two, the Obama administration is pursuing a hard line policy of firmness and no concessions. In other words, there is a standoff. Secretary of State John Kerry's recent trip to Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo is nothing more than a toned down version of sanctions and punishments for Pyongyang. Were the Obama administration serious about pursuit of "dialogue" with North Korea, Kerry should have gone to Pyongyang instead. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Apr 16, '13) If we ever want to change the name of the Empire from the currently staid "United States of America", alas, "Wonderland" would be trademarked property of Lewis Carroll's descendants. But as an available alternative, I would advocate changing it to "More-of- the-Same-istan''. That's because the American solution to everything these days is, well, more of the same, that is to say a continuation if not intensification of the same failed policies, agendas and action plans that have been futilely pursued to date. Take the so-called "War on Drugs'', which if it were indeed a real war we would have long ago cravenly capitulated and handed over California, Texas and the Statue of Liberty without a whimper. The standard political "solution" to illegal drugs has been tougher sentences, more prisons and ever more draconian punishments meted out to the non-violent minorities typically persecuted and incarcerated in the Empire. This has merely created a whole slew of cottage industries, ever eager to contribute to political campaigns, led by those with vested interests in maintaining the deteriorating status quo, with a larger %age of our citizens in jail than any other nation on the globe, the price and availability of drugs as prevalent as ever, the legal, judicial and police systems thoroughly corrupted, ever more tax dollars being sucked out of productive use to maintain jailed drug offenders for longer prison terms, and the recycling of inmates and their offspring in and out of the perpetual machine of drug use and social "justice''. But that's only the tip of the More-of-the-Same-istani mentality. Republicans insist on their economy-stimulating fantasy of more tax cutting and entitlement cuts, which will not only force more poor minorities (and increasingly lower class unemployed whites) to find capitalist relief by selling illegal drugs and other criminal enterprises (which logically should make them entrepreneurial Republicans), but will also accelerate the coming class war that Marx so accurately predicted would mark the end stage of capitalism. The status quo maintenance program is observed everywhere; in Afghanistan, where all the mistakes of the Soviets have been copied religiously, the inflation of yet another ready-to-burst financial bubble, courtesy of the quantitative easing blowing machine, the insistence that the collapsed health care industry is fine without Obama's socialist meddling, the continuation of tax incentives for companies to relocate jobs overseas, the resistance to sex education in a country with exploding teen pregnancies, the fervent evangelical belief that creationist education will reverse Amerika's widening educational gulf between it and Third World nations eager to eat our industrial lunch, etc etc ad imperium extinctum. As the sun waves "Bye Bye" to the More-of-the-Same-istan Empire, we can rest assured that all the self-inflicted wounds will continue, each bleeding slice hailed as a tribute to Amerikan liberties, democracy and free enterprise. Hardy Campbell Texas (Apr 16, '13) [Re North Korea: why the world needs a ghoul , Apr 11, '13] The US finds it advantageous to portray the young North Korean leader as an evil man and make him seem treacherous and cruel - characteristics the West expect and admire in its enemies. There is nothing ghoulish about the young Kim Jung-eun. He is holding his own and now the G-8 have woken up and is taking him seriously. The fundamental problem is the big powers and their clients are wanting North Korea to roll over and die. As the record shows, it won't, and Pyongyang is waiting for them to return to a good degree of normality in coming to terms with the DPRK. Until such time, North Korea's leader will be tarred and feather with condescension. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Apr 15, '13) [Re Shale can drive wedge between Russia and China , Apr 9, '13] Whether the so-called shale energy revolution will ultimately gather much net benefit to the US seems far from certain at this point. Sure, all that gas can no doubt translate into a financial bonanza, but much as yet remains unknown about fracking and its potential side effects. Separately, an abundance of available domestic energy may well engender a substantial remora to America's geopolitical ambition/willpower, proving the seminal event that causes the ceding of US global dominance to a competitor. With a diverse array of players/variables/unknowns involved, only time will tell if the much-ballyhooed shale golconda will eventually turn out to be a boon or a bane to this country. John Chen USA (Apr 15, '13) [Re Towards a new Korean war? , Apr 9, '13] In spite of the Obama administration's resort to Orwellian speech, it is taking North Korea's "bluster" seriously. The proof: the canceling of the launch of an ICBM from California. What the Western media failed to report but the Iranian, Chinese and Russian press did was that when the US sent B-2 bombers over South Korea, the Chinese sent troops to its border with North Korea. The Chinese like the North Koreans have not forgotten the lessons of the Korean War and would intervene again if the DPRK were threatened. President Obama's take-no-prisoner policy ironically turns the 28,000 American troops stationed in South Korea into virtual hostages and victims should war break out. By closing down the Kaesong industrial complex, Pyongyang is inflicting greater pain on South Korean chaebols than on its own people given the current economic picture in North Korea. Yes, America has blinked as it should. It doesn't play the game of chicken well. Nakamura Junzo (Apr 15, '13) [Re After Iraq, the moral abyss still gapes , Apr 5, '13] Adil E Shamoo might well believe: "Thanks to these lies, Americans, including our soldiers and civilians serving in Iraq, were convinced Saddam Hussein was linked to the 9/11 attacks and had weapons of mass destruction". Fortunately, yet futilely, we in the Sydney Peace Movement believed none of these lies. Of course our demonstrations, protest marches achieved absolutely nothing. A very courageous senior Intelligence Analyst resigned his position in protest, and to be able to publicly voice his concerns over the lies being disseminated by Australian, British and US governments. Lt Colonel Wilkie is currently an Independent MP in our Australian parliament. Certain opinion pieces in mainstream media still refer to his intelligence analysis days as, being a "minor cipher clerk". Ten years on and the lies are still propagated and being sanitized, while the general public simply yawn and could care even less. Moral decay indeed. Ian C Purdie Sydney, Australia (Apr 15, '13) This is in response to John in KS's letter to the editors of Asia Times on the article Passing the Buck on North Korea [Mar 27, '13]. "No one will never respect the Kim regime until it shows respect for the norms of the modern world. At some point they will recognize that nuclear weapons are not a source of power but of weakness." Coming from an American who has obviously forgotten the crimes against humanity committed by the United States in Asia. The multiple use of nuclear weapons on human beings, civilian residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The only country to have ever done so, and then did it twice to prove to Stalin that they could do it again. The USA is currently the top nuclear armed super power in the world. The United States is in the process of changing out the detonators on their nuclear weapons stockpile. the US is only trying to reduce other countries nuclear stockpiles not it's own. Nuclear Proliferation Treaty violations by the USA are well known. From the movement of Plutonium from the US reserves in new Jersey to Israel back in the 1960's, to the continued transfer of nuclear technology to Israel whom is not an NPT signer, illegal under the law. John of KS your views are so archaic from the 20th century, and do not seem to account for the realities that exist in the 21st century world. of today. "President Obama will never accept a nuclear North Korea, either as a starting or ending point. So if that is the precondition, then any such talks will go nowhere, as in the past, especially because North Korea has a long history of breaking agreements on this issue." North Korea is already a nuclear power, regardless of the lying US president. John of KS you are either a liar or very very naive. Bob Van den Broeck North America (Apr 15, '13) [Re The South also rises , Apr 5, '13] The marvelous review by Pepe Escobar of Vijay Prashad's The Poorer Nations underscores the fact that the BRICS (in tandem, the Global South and emerging nations) are fashioning solutions and alternatives to Western neoliberal hegemony but are doing so in a neoliberal manner. As Escobar put it: "And they are not the embryo of a revolutionary shift in the world order." I believe there will come a new "paradigm" (Escobar's "revolutionary shift") but while BRICS have the advantage now of building upon the old while side-stepping its pitfalls, the "new" will emerge from a part of the world that can advance its already advanced global position (though a very negative one today). In order to advance itself, it will by necessity be forced into a "revolutionary shift" which won't be desired and will be vehemently (if not violently) resisted. The "shift" won't be engineered by competing world powers, geo-strategists, military generals, think-tanks, industrial moguls, billionaires or, quite frankly, anyone. It will be brought about by defeat and a subsequent traumatic realization of failure (what "went around" did "come around"). From such dark devastation often arises vision, and "vision" takes us into the next paradigm. I believe, in less than half a generation, there will be a "new" America, a better America. At that time, she will no longer be a financial or military hegemon. But she will bring to the world a higher plane because she will ascend from being the most materialistic nation in history to one that will usher in the next "evolutionary leap", one that will not and cannot be measured in materialistic terms! But, as the world watches and maneuvers, she first must go through the fires. Michael T Bucci (Apr 8, '13) [Re Buddhism turns violent in Myanmar , Apr 2] Surely it was premature of Western parliamentarians to eulogize democracy advocate and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, given Myanmar's unresolved sectarian and ethnic problems. This is the lady who when asked about the the treatment of the Rohingya people by the Myanmar authorities rhetorically replied, "are they Burmese?" Aung San Suu Kyi's pandering to Myanmar's Buddhist majority demeans her democratization campaign. Her house arrest, long lasting though it was, pales into insignificance compared with the plight of many of her many fellow countrymen who have been rendered homeless by the continuing violence. Fetishizing democracy is folly. All too often, democracies have resorted to rendition, torture, cyber warfare, assassination, terrorism and war. We've got to start practicing what we preach. Yugo Kovach Dorset, UK (Apr 4, '13) [ Korean cloud obscures Almaty , April 2, 2013] Despite the dissimilarities between the issues, North Korea may indirectly take the pressure off Iran in the current round of talks in Almaty. Even though the Obama administration sees more bluster than action in the escalating rhetoric coming from Pyongyang, its own military games with its South Korea ally has heightened the danger of a false step that might lead to war. The sudden appearance of two B-2 bombers over the skies of South Korea strikes one as something out of Andre Gide's Caves of the Vatican - a gratuitous act with the sole purpose of eliciting a knee-jerk reaction. Washington is indeed taking North Korea seriously, although it says it isn't. So, the crisis in the divided Korean Peninsula might lead to a more flexible approach to Iran and a recognition that its pursuit of nuclear power is for peaceful uses only. Junzo Nakamura (Apr 3, '13) [Re Bilderberg strikes again , May 10, 2005] This article by Pepe. Look at the date? Spot on and an outstanding piece of work. Back to today. March 2013 and what have we seen? Libya gone, Afghanistan a mess and Syria on the brink of collapsing. Iran in the line up for a false flag invasion of Western imperialism. This view comes from from an Englishman who lost his Uncle on board the HMS Prince of Wales in 1941 when he was just 18-years-old. My uncle and his shipmates who were part of Force Z died for a lie. The lie that brought America into the war by an offering of Pearl Harbor. Control by the few who now control us all. The days of sovereign countries are coming to an end. The rape of Cyprus by the IMF and the European central bank shows us what are the new weapons of mass destruction. These weapons will soon be deployed to the arsenal of all central banks and the people will not have a clue until they have been hit by them. We have in our midst, a power more evil and more destructive than any tyrant the world has ever know. This evil has by stealth entered the highest level of Governments and commerce and most NGOs. Like thieves in the night they have crept into the media and taken control. Propaganda tells us why terrorism has to be smashed whilst pulling the terrorists strings. Why so called rogue states need to be removed for the good of the world. The line so blurred that we have become the bad guys. Pepe got it right. I wish you all well. Please, educate your people to the truth before its too late. Billy Ashton (Apr 2, '13) In " Passing the Buck on North Korea " [March 28, 13] the authors basically argue that some kind of negotiations with the US are the ultimate goal of North Korea. China, they argue, is a weakened partner. "The North Koreans do not want security assurances, diplomatic recognition and trade normalization from the Chinese but from the Americans." Even more critical of US actions are the ever-idiotic opinions of Junzo Nakamura [letter, Mar 29], this time saying that "At the present time, the US is pushing the war envelope hard." As an American who follows affairs in Asia very closely, I really wonder if any of these people have the ability to deal with reality. Things are pretty simple. The goals of the USA have nothing to do with war-mongering in the Korean peninsula or a take-over of North Korea. The primary goal is simply peaceful relationships among neighboring Asian countries. The other related goal is the reduction of nuclear weaponry in the world, including in the US (where President Obama is making some headway). President Obama will never accept a nuclear North Korea, either as a starting or ending point. So if that is the precondition, then any such talks will go nowhere, as in the past, especially because North Korea has a long history of breaking agreements on this issue. On the other hand, North Korea does not need to resort to militant posturing if all it wants is direct negotiations with the US on issues of security, trade, etc. All it needs to do as behave in a grown-up manner, knock off the bellicose talk, and simply say what it wants, in calm and peaceful tones. The world has never respected the Kim regime. Since the founder Kim Il-sung's era, the Kim rulers have lived in a bubble of self-importance, stoked up lately by its nuclear capabilities. In the 1970s the "Collected Writings" of the founder were paraded around the world to national libraries of many countries, where they were accepted with a kind smile but then buried out of sight in a back-room shelf along with the "collected writings" of other dangerous egomaniacs like Stalin. No one will never respect the Kim regime until it shows respect for the norms of the modern world. At some point they will recognize that nuclear weapons are not a source of power but of weakness. John in KS (Apr 2, '13)

Nepal

What name is given to the layer of the atmosphere closest to the surface of the Earth?

Asia Times Online :: Letters     Letters      Please provide your name or a pen name, and your country of residence. Lengthy letters run the risk of being cut. Please note: This Letters page is intended primarily for readers to comment on ATol articles or related issues. It should not be used as a forum for readers to debate with each other. The Edge is the place for that. The editors do not mind publishing one or two responses to a reader's letter, but will, at their discretion, direct debaters away from the Letters page. Letters 2013 [Re Jeju port rises to territorial challenge , Dec 19, 2013] Sung Chan Kim and Seok-ho Kang swiftly concludes the obvious as a response to China's initiative in the South Asia Sea. They are too quick to pat themselves on the back. The construction of a military industrial port on Jeju was quickly understood from the very germ of the idea. In other words, South Korea had China very much in its cross hairs. Now that Beijing is flexing crudely its geopolitical muscle, South Korea rushes into to proclaim to the world see how prescient we were to anticipate China's moves. Stuff and nonsense, since Seoul and its US protector's project initially was a red flag to a resurgent China. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Dec 20, '13) [Re China vs US 'sea-to-shining-sea' , Dec 18, '13] Letďż˝s see. US Vice President Joe Biden was in China a couple weeks ago; coincidentally, Apple Inc announced a tentative partnership with China Mobile, thereby greatly increasing the devices companyďż˝s potential customer base. Seems both the Americans and the Chinese understand very well that (geo)politics largely serves economics. On the other hand, the countries that fail to fully grasp this relationship will likely be left holding an empty bag once the economic train has left the station. (But I suppose they all can feel good about themselves by patting one another on the back.) John Chen USA (Dec 20, '13) [Re Uyghurs shot dead in Xinjiang violence , Dec 19, '13] I do not know what type of veil would be used by a Uyghur Chinese woman though there are Muslim fundamentalists who cover their whole face except for the pair of eyes. If this was the case, the police have the right to lift the veil to identify the person. The police chief, Memet Sidiq, must have known the tradition as he himself is a Uyghur Chinese. Besides, attacking police is never allowed in any country, not even in the US. This is the third article submitted by RFA's Uyghur Service on this issue. They have made Asia Times Online a forum to justify their violent acts. Wendy Cai United States (Dec 20, '13) Some time next year the US will "officially" withdraw its armed forces from Afghanistan. I doubt that we'll see the last commanding Amerikan general cross a bridge behind a tank like the Soviets did in 1989, or see TV images of hapless Amerikans and luckless Afghans climbing desperately onto fleeing helicopters from the Kabul Embassy roof a la Saigon 1975. Of course, the Empire is not about to abandon a 13 year war without some kind of intelligence and military presence remaining behind, if for no other reason than to act as a figleaf to mask the debacle. But make no mistake about it; the Empire has been decisively defeated, if not humiliated, by the ragtag Afghan insurgency and its not-so-invisible supporters. The humiliation comes not so much for the fact that the allegedly mightiest military machine in the history of planet earth was unable to quell a fifth rate insurrection in the Third World (Vietnam had already proven that was possible) as from the fact that our alleged most important regional allies, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, betrayed, manipulated and subverted every move we made in Afghanistan, with impunity, gall and, in the case of Pakistan, an open hand demanding ever more money, weapons and political support. They played Uncle Sam for the sucker he still very much is. Both Muslim countries actively funded, supported and trained the Taliban and mujahadin fighters throughout the conflict, all the time pretending to assist the US and its NATO stooges in suppressing the rebellion against Washington's puppet government in Kabul. In Pakistan's case, this meant accepting US money while it helped the Taliban kill Amerikan soldiers, train its own anti-Indian guerilla forces in Kashimir, augment its nuclear weapons program and prepare for a post-Amerikan Kabul government firmly beholden to Islamabad. Saudi Arabia, with its own agenda of cementing Afghanistan as a bulwark against Shi'a Iran and establishing a Central Asian bridgehead of Wahhabi fanaticism, continues to frustrate US intelligence efforts to root out al-Qaeda cells in the Arabian peninsula, promotes American hatred in all the madrasas worldwide it funds, and relays intelligence from Amerika to the selected al-Qaedists it supports. Both countries consider Amerika as the infidel crusader state that sooner or later will skeedaddle from the Middle East, just like their European predecessors did. They also know that Judgment Day looms for those Afghans foolish enough to have thrown in their lot with the feckless, here-today-gone-tomorrow, treacherous imperialists. Proof of this is what will happen in 2014 when al those poor Afghans who actively supported Western democratizing reforms will face lethal retribution from the victorious Taliban. Too bad these Afghans didn't ask the South Vietnamese how well their relationship with Amerika worked out. So no Muslim country will play honest with the US, who they consider little better than raping, pillaging crusader-dogs who will scurry out of Dodge with their tails between their legs when the going gets tough. Indeed, history is littered with the names of countries we've abandoned when our short attention span has been diverted, making us perhaps the most unreliable ally in history. Not to mention the most gullible. H Campbell Texas (Dec 20, '13) [Re Canberra risks more by crossing China , Dec 16, '13] We know Brendan P O'Reilly is a China-based writer and educator from Seattle, however at the risk of nitpicking, I must inform Brendan that Australia does not have cattle ranches, we have cattle stations. Next Brendan posits: "In the (highly unlikely) event of a war in the East China Sea, would Australian marines...". Brendan, Australia doesn't have marines - lots of SAS and commandos, but no marines. Yes it is nitpicking I know, but corrections are sometimes necessary to prevent false impressions being formed. The rest of the article quite correctly highlights a clueless conservative government with the diplomacy skills of a sledge hammer. Ian C Purdie Sydney, Australia (Dec 18, '13) Pope Francis felt the need recently to announce he was "no Marxist". I guess this is because some knuckle dragging Neoconderthals here in the Empire didn't take too kindly to his denunciation of Amerikan Kapitalism and thus they characterized him as some kind of hippie revolutionary with long hair and wearing a toga and sandals. Mind you, these types are typically right wing WASPs who have an aversion to Catholics in the first place and are certain Jesus will return bedecked with Rolexes, Gucci shoes an Armani three piece and several accounts with Goldman Sachs. Their vision of Christianity cherrypicks "their" Bibles to make predatory financial practices positively divine, not to mention condoning aggressive war, gun violence and naked imperialism. Camels passing through needles' eyes and sharing fish and loaves with freeloading sermon attendees are scriptural inconveniences not highlighted in their hypocritical version of the faith. But the fact is that Christianity is merely religious Marxism and Marxism political Christianity, essentially opposite sides of the same coin. Though for political reasons this equation has in the past been seldom emphasized or even discussed to a mass audience, church intellectuals have grappled for centuries with the growing chasm between a faith that exalts poverty and sacrifice and a secular world that worships mammon and self-aggrandizement. Marxism appealed to many churchmen as a political method to implement their faith, most especially in Latin America during the 80s in the liberation theology movement. Pope Francis, who seems to appreciate more than most recent popes just how far his church has strayed to The Dark Side, has made a concerted effort to walk the walk of sincere humility, which has already ruffled the feathers of many in his flock content with the status quo ante of insincere faith, meaningless ecclesiastic ritual, indifference to social injustice, hypocrisy about economic inequality and the neglect of personal despair. So his guarded but unmistakable condemnation of the philosophy that the Empire has been built on, a philosophy that has justified and encouraged genocide, enslavement, war, impoverishment, famine, depression and ecoslaughter, has not surprisingly been met with defensive opprobrium by the erstwhile defenders of the indefensible here in Wonderland. What stings for these extremist demagogues of the airwaves is that the words of disapproval come not from a secular liberal they can dismiss out of hand by simply branding them as such, but from someone recognized by millions as being a personal spokesman of God Himself. But by labeling him a "Marxist," the neoconmen reduce the Pope to a secular level that does not merit the protection of religious sanctity; ergo, he becomes fair game to their usual litany of mouth-foaming calumny that excites and delights their hordes of white trash evolutionary rejects. The day will come when Amerika embraces Marxism as the only rational alternative to the thoroughly evil and corrupt version of kapitalism practiced here, but only after God has passed a severe judgment on our transgressions and sins. And despite the travails experienced so far here in the Empire, we ain't seen nuthin' yet. H Campbell Texas (Dec 17, '13) [Re Kim the petulant strikes out and Dissent in North Korea , Dec 16, '13] Isn't it time to put pop psychology aside? As a Russian Tatiana Gabroussenko would do better to study Soviet history for clues behind a settling of scores. Too much ink has been spilled in the press about Jang Song-thaek's execution, with much speculation and wild guessing. His end has provided politicians with the occasion to grandstand and revive Cold War rhetoric. (At least Kim Jong-eun hasn't got drones to do his bidding secretly.) South Korea's President Park Geun-hye , as well as US Secretary of State John Kerry, fret over Kim Jong-eun launching a military strike, thereby renewing the unfinished Korean War. Gabroussenko pleads for the common man in North Korea. And yet, US and South Korean policy say is aggressive towards North Korea and its ill founded sanctions have done more to harm the health and safety of the ordinary North Korean by, above all, denying him food. DeTrani talks of dissent. But what do the CIA analysts truly know of dissent in the DPRK after spending billions in intelligence speculation and proffering wild conclusions? Even the Chinese were taken aback by Jang's dismissal and death. Let's get real. Since the death of Jang, Kim Jong-eun has appeared twice in public. And even before that he has done things like honoring North Korean sailors by personally laying a wreath. The young marshal is very much in control, and what's more, if Robert Carlin is right, he moves more in the public space. Isn't that a sign that Kim is more open towards reforms, albeit modest? And that like his grandfather and father he would welcome more opportunities to engage diplomatically with the US. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Dec 17, '13) [Re South Korea's Chomskyite flunkeys , Dec 13, '13] I write to express surprise at your inclusion of the above article by Sung-Yoon Lee. It is very unusual that an article in Asia Times so comprehensively fails to live up to the high standards you have set yourself. The author may be correct in his appreciation of the political forces in South Korea, its relations with the North, its security organs and the lawmaker accused of treason; or he may not. There is nothing in the article to help the reader form a judgement on this question. It offers polemic but no evidence or argument. Geoff Bamford (Dec 16, '13) [Re South Korea's Chomskyite flunkeys , Dec 13, '13] It would do Asia Times Online's readership well to listen to Robert Carlin's interview on the Korea Society podcast. Forty years covering North Korea, his analysis has feet on the ground. It is good to recall that when the young Kim Jung-eun donned the mantle of authority, US media and analysts predicted that it was only a matter of time before his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, his mentor, would push his nephew aside. Well, the best laid projections have a way to go awry. The young marshal assiduously courted the military to consolidate power, thereby out-circling Jang, with the outcome we now know. As for Sung-Yoon Lee's dismissal of "Chomskyite flunkeys," he neglects reality. One only has to look at who is in President Park's inner circle as advisers. A goodly majority are formed in the US with close ties to American intelligence agencies. South Korea is not only in sync but in tow with Washington's policy. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Dec 16, '13) The WonderNews media is saturated with all kinds of stories; sex scandals, marital woes, movie reviews, political snafus, dogs dressed like firefighters, etc., etc., ad ridiculum. Naturally, not all are of the same import or significance, ranging from the silly to the mundane to the marginally relevant. But just try to find a mention of the impending first soft landing of a man made vehicle on the lunar surface for 40 years. Go ahead. Just try. The motivations for excluding China's space exploration triumph from the media may be sundry and valid, of course. Why, there's just so many OTHER stories out there that 'merikans would prefer hearing about other than our foremost global rival trumping what was once an exclusive domain of the Empire. Perhaps the corporate media-whores don't want to trigger another "sputnik" crisis that we would be ill equipped to meet like we did the first one. Maybe the fact our space program is in tatters and dependent on foreign powers would be highlighted by announcing another nation's success where we once trod. Or just maybe the imperial eclipse that Wonderlanders see occurring each day, store closing by factory shutdown by government paralysis, would be magnified way too much by China's shadow engulfing our once proud hegemony. Whatever the precise rationale, the fact remains that selective cherry-picking of news to continue the myth of Empire is an ongoing process that ignores or minimizes the progress of other nations while our own slips beneath the waves. The recent death of Nelson Mandela demonstrated anew how the US media can develop severe cases of Alzheimer's when it comes to unpleasant facts about the Empire's Cold War hypocrisy; while the US government condemned apartheid in its two-faced public rhetoric, Amerika's clandestine military and intelligence support for the apartheid regime enabled it to survive well past its natural expiration date. But nary a noise was made about that history on this side of the pond come Mandela nostalgia time. The examples go on and on; crocodile tears by the US government over Martin Luther King while the the history of the FBI's persecution of him goes unmentioned (not to mention its coverup of his assassination), deep-sixing inconvenient facts about 9-11 that give the lie to the Official Myth, forgetting about our active support of Saddam Hussein during the 80s, failing to talk about our financing and training of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, ignoring our assistance to Pol Pot's murderous Khmer Rouge; the list goes on and on of things the Wonderpublic is kept in the dark about in our cherry-picked universe. I have no doubt they won't even inform us when the Chinese turn out the lights and foreclose on the whole wreck of a country. H Campbell Texas (Dec 16, '13) [Re Expanding scandal of the Nobel Peace Prize , Dec 11, '13] Thanks to Fredrik S Heffermehl for an honest and robust investigation into the issues and problems of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. Almost everyone would agree that at least some of the committee's selection were questionable. Yet I can't help but think that Heffermeh's quest to align the Peace Prize with the late Alfred Nobel's purpose is utterly Quixotic. The late Alfred Nobel didn't do much himself to establish the prestigious and universal recognition. He devoted the last few of his years to running Bofors and turning it into a major manufacturer of arms and ammunition. We learned that during this time he was also associating with pacifists. If he had simply given his fortune to a pacifist organization, and perhaps even spend time to supervise the operation of the prize, then we wouldn't have this "expanding scandal" now. Fact is Nobel handed over the control to the Norwegians. A few terse lines in his will isn't exactly sufficient to guarantee proper management for his prize. I also strongly believe, if somehow Heffermeh's quest was successful, the powers that be will waste no time in diminishing the Nobel Peace Prize's stature. The inconvenient truth is that the movers and shakers of the world do not believe in pacifism, particularly global disarmament. Yes everyone loves peace but they care less when peace of faraway lands are concerned. In fact most peoples support the establishment of a standing army and view "the abolition or reduction of standing armies " (as stated in Nobel's will) a silly ideal. It would be easy enough to smear the Nobel Peace Prize and even the late Alfred Nobel himself, if it were to begin awarding prizes according to the pacifism ideal. For example, the International Peace Bureau (which Heffermehl approves of, presumably) awarded the 2013 Sean MacBride Peace Prize to Chelsea (Bradley) Manning. One shudders to imagine how the mainstream (especially the US) media will destroy Nobel's name and legacy if a similar laureate was selected. "Merchant of Death's "Peace" Prize given to Tranny Traitor" C Chin Hong Kong (Dec 13, '13) [Re Why the Jews left their Arab lands , Dec 11, '13] Grosso modo Dr David Bensoussan is right. Not all Arab Jews however have left the land of their birth. Jews remain in Morocco and Tunisia albeit in small numbers. They maintain synagogues and schools. On the other hand, the creation of the state of Israel hastened the exodus of Jews. As for Algeria, as Bensoussan points out, Jews, did not welcome French citizenship because for them, a secular state challenged religious laws; it was imposed on them in 1870 by decree by Cremiuex as a gesture to civilize his 'benighted' coreligionists. As French, Jews fled Algeria en masse in 1962 when Algeria became independent. The status of dhimmi, it has to be said, applied to "people of the book" - Jews and Christians, in the main. Discrimination in dress and taxes did not mean that these two communities say had no authority when it came to marriage, litigation, burial and the like. As dhimmi some Jews and Christians did manage to rise to positions of authority in Arabs lands - think of Joseph in the Bible. The massive flight of Jews is directly traceable to the establishment of Israel. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Dec 12, '13) [Re Nelson Mandela 1918-2013 , Dec 6, '13] The passing of Nelson Mandela marks the end of an era where self sacrifice in the name of a greater good was not an unknown virtue. Predictably, Wonderlanders are falling over themselves to sing praise and hosannas for the icon of anti-apartheid struggle. But one has to be amused to see the likes of Ted Cruz, yet another brain-dead redneck in the Texas Republican mold, lauding Mandela as a beacon of liberty, when his party did everything it could to marginalize, ignore and vilify the black South Africans' struggle during Reagan's reign of error. In fact, while Mandela did not stand on a rooftop and shout it out to the world, he was very critical and skeptical about the Empire's so-called affection for freedom and democracy. Indeed, his best buddy from our hemisphere was none other than Fidel Castro, whose support for Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) was unwavering from the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. And Fidel didn't just talk the support talk; he walked the support walk by sending Cuban soldiers to Angola and Namibia to sight the apartheid Afrikaaners, training ANC fighters, and providing intelligence, logistics and weapons to liberation movements throughout southern Africa. That friendship was not based on the ideology of communism, though Mandela's ANC worked closely with the Communist Party of South Africa, but rather the ideology of national liberation from imperial capitalism, Anglo-Saxon hegemony and the oppression of the Third World by the Euro-Amerikans. Mandela accepted the assistance from the Soviet bloc and China because he was fighting for his people's freedom, whereas Reagan's anti-commie goons couldn't wait to put Mandela on their terrorist list. They were in love with apartheid as the best way to keep the blacks from going Red and the white racist regime was in keeping with the neoconmen's love affair with brutal dictatorships that vomited liberty-loving rhetoric while torturing freedom fighters and murdering its civilians. The simple fact is Amerika and its naked imperialism was Mandela's enemy, foe and adversary. He represented all those victimized by the Empire and its relentless quest for racist hegemony. That the Empire is embracing him for representing all the virtues we babble about insincerely is not an irony, it is an insult. H Campbell Texas (Dec 10, '13) [Re: The dead's envy for the living Nov 27, '13] It appears that Spengler is still following the Lyndon LaRouche mode of scholarship: make up a bunch of nonsense, defend it with more nonsense. There is no evidence that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon, let alone a Holocaust of the Jews. After all, Iran has the largest Jewish population in the Middle East. Lester Ness [Re South Korea's free speech problem , Dec 5, '13] Geoffrey Fattig has a point that South Korean society is too litigious, however many societies have similar speech and libel codes like Britain. Asian societies are very concerned about face, so this might explain these laws. Fattig's claims about the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) are disingenuous at best and do not tell the whole story about the UPP. Lee Seok-ki, one of the leaders of the UPP, is currently on trial for treason against South Korea. Lee was secretly taped at a meeting of 130 leftists in Seoul calling for violence against the government; his defense is he was taped illegally and it all was a big joke. Lee headed a revolutionary organization aimed at using violence to aid North Korea in a time of war. About twenty percent of South Korean society have pro-North Korean feeling. The South Korean Assembly has never been able to pass a bill in favor of North Korean human rights. The South Korean military recently said they believe the North will start a war in the next three years. This might seem crazy; however, every year the North grows weaker and the South gets stronger and more information about the outside world floods into North Korea, which weakens the North even more. Dennis O'Connell USA (Dec 9, '13) [Re South Korea's free speech problem , Dec 5, '13] The Park Chung-hee apple hasn't fallen from the Yushin tree. His daughter, now president of the Republic of Korea, has taken a leaf out of her father's authoritarian book. As such, as Geoffrey Fattig notes the trend of President Park Geun-hye's government is to pursue a policy of blind obedience to anti-democratic tendencies. Any boast by her ministers that South Korea is a vibrant democracy ring hollow. Nakamura Junzo [Re Forwarding the American way , Dec 4, '13] Dear Colonel Manners, It's been over 220 days now since Ed Snowden dropped the Prism bomb on the world stirring waves of outrage and indignation, but few actually barked up the right tree. But kudos, you alone seem to understand the NSA's real strategy, to quote: "that there's surveillance gold just beyond the horizon". You understand that it is not practical (fiscally impossible) to hire hundreds of millions of elves listening in on phone calls or watching screens of emails just so to catch a terrorist or two. The obvious modus operandi is to store each and all such info-bits, then pick out target persona to spy on. In that mode, a mere few thousand agents can harvest innumerable kings' ransoms. What is the gold to look for? Dirty laundries of these targets to blackmail or destroy them with, much as the way Berlusconi and Strauss-Kahn were done in. Who knows, the NSA might already has had plenty of goodies on Merkel and Dousseff, judging from the intensity of their anger. Such gold mining might also have already resulted in dirty laundry currencies used in driving protesters and traitors into streets around the world, to stir chaos and destructions against their own countries. You know, regime changes! What a weapon of choice. Hoi Wong USA (Dec 6, '13) There are two documents held sacred here in Wonderland, and both for identical reasons. Both embody the values and virtues, in theory at least, of what it means to be an Amerikan. Both are considered to be rooted firmly in divine will, though the more ancient one is considered the non-secular progenitor of its more recent secular version. Both are considered to be written by inspired men who now reside in the pantheon of heroes, saints and patriots. Perhaps most significant is the fact that the words in each are considered immutable, infallible and not subject to human tampering by modern man. Both the Christian Bible and the US constitution are regularly cited by pundits, politicians and the public as justifications for this or that incident, act, law or war. Chapter and verse are routinely quoted verbatim to make unilateral unprovoked war seem like patriotism, capital punishment an act of Old Testament justice, persecuting the disenfranchised the fulfillment of New Testament prophecy and the right of the insane to own weapons an unassailable defense of civil liberty. Of course, such tortured manipulations of the written word used the same documents to defend slavery, the denial of suffrage to women and the white man's genocide of the red man, events either since corrected or simply not spoken of in civilized company. But what I find fascinating is how these words written by men on paper made by men and bound together by men somehow acquire the status of the insuperable and the immortal. The words themselves cannot be questioned, though their interpretations will vary, depending on how godly and 'merikan one is. In the case of the Bible, the common though misguided conviction among WonderKristians is that the "Bible" is the unalterable Word of God Himself, handed down through the actions of the Holy Spirit to holy men who somehow wrote down words that survived intact and unchanged through centuries of translations of wildly varying competence, poor inscription, verbal transmissions, personal opinions, cultural disconnects, dogmatic disputes, ecclesiastic power plays and political shenanigans. Of course, there are several problems with this totally bogus assumption, not the least of which are the myriad bibles that abound worldwide and that differ significantly from church to church, not only in wording but even in the recognized canon texts contained therein. So who decides which version is the "right" one? In truth, there is no such thing as the inerrant Word of God preserved in the human-touched form of a "Bible", never has been and never will be. Every bible is, however, an imperfect instrument created by sincere men intended to preserve and promote a sincere truth. What that truth is will depend on the reader and their relationship with God, and no one else on earth is involved in that process, least of all pulpit pounding neocons. In similar fashion, the constitution was created by Englishmen who rose in rebellion against a sovereign who treated them unfairly. Whatever their motivations, they inscribed on paper fundamental rights they believed were drawn directly from the "Bible's" implicit message that justice and freedom from inequity belonged to those who worshipped God. In the spirit of the then prevailing Enlightenment, a cultural and intellectual milieu whose origins specifically eschewed religious affiliations, the new founding document secularized and winnowed the essentials of this biblical message into a form that could apply uniformly to all faiths and men. That was the theory at least. Alas, just like the lofty ideals in the Bible, the execution of such essentials exposed the weaknesses and hypocrisies of man, most especially white, land- and slave-owning WASPs. The literal words of the Constitution meant something different to each special interest group in the nascent republic, and the struggle over how these words conflicted with the words in the Bible would lead inevitably to bloody civil war. This struggle continues to this day, though the relative import of the Bible in an increasingly secular world has somewhat faded. Still, fights over abortion, gay rights, same sex marriages and the ongoing culture wars have their roots in how both documents are used to negotiate the dynamic cultural space that is Wonderland. Sadly, predetermined agendas on both sides of the ideological fence make the actual words themselves irrelevant, but perhaps they always were. Words will always be used to mean what people what them to mean. H Campbell Texas (Dec 5, '13) [Re: Kim Jong-eun's powerful uncle 'sacked' , Dec 4] Even if the young marshal's uncle has gotten the ax, analysts are engaging in speculation. This rush to judgment based on rarefied air comes up with stock predictions that the DPRK is on the edge of instability before slipping into extinction. As usual, such predictions remain wish fulfillment. A more troubling bit of news is found below the 38 parallel in South Korea. Not only is the Park government seething with a constitutional crisis owing to Mme. Park's recent election, but now her government is preparing to all the Chinese telecommunication giant built military installations. Ironic as this may seem, the potential sway of China on the entire Korean peninsula seemingly restores the old Imperial Chinese vassal states. Junzo Nakamura Guam (Dec 5, '13) [Re Has Abe overreached on China's ADIZ? , Dec 3, '13] Why blame Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for overreacting when all indications point to Chinese president Xi Jinping's determination to impose China's version of "Mare Nostrum" in the East China Sea? Nakamura Junzo Guam [Re Simon Abbott's Letter Dec 2, '13] Simon, I have been an avid reader of ATol for over a decade now, also a sometime contributor to these columns. Curiously, I have never been a devotee of David Goldman's work, in fact I can't ever recollect any writer ever defending David's work here. Possibly this is because of those very reasons you have already outlined. However, I do know David Goldman has become institutionalized on ATol, much like the newsreader you grew up with - who has always been here since the beginning of time. All I know for sure is David's column isn't compulsory reading, it isn't my cup of tea, so I don't read his columns. They certainly don't detract from this fine, informative publication though, nothing is ever perfect. Ian C Purdie Sydney Australia (Dec 4, '13) [Re: US diplomatic iceberg spotted near China , Nov 29, 2013] Big-power geopolitics at play at the East China Sea - nothing more, nothing less. The US Asia pivot is aimed at containing China has emboldened countries like Japan, whose heightened aggression has in turn given cause for Chinese assertiveness. Though only time will tell who emerges victorious from this chess game, I suspect in 10 to 15 years America will wish it hadn't initiated the pivot and had instead endeavored to maintain the status quo. But then again, we may all have been turned into nuclear ash already, rendering inconsequential this little geopolitical drama. John Chen USA (Dec 3, '13) [Re The dead's envy for the living , Nov 27, '13] By and large the coverage quality of your editorial content is of a high standard. Your contributors, for the most part, represent an important and generally well-informed foil to the superficial Western-centric rubbish pedaled by the majority of what we now call Mainstream Media. But there are exceptions. Notably the Spengler column. The idea of adding weight and credibility to one's editorial output by purporting (albeit with tongue in cheek) to channel a distinguished dead academic is distinctly "dodgy" at the best of times. But regardless of one's attitude to this kind of literary conceit, it is difficult to consider David Goldman's work anything other than self-serving highly-questionable propaganda for the most part, and at times nothing much more than downright racial supremacy. (One only has to look at the comments to his work over the months. Though I am loathe quote comment columns - full, as they often are, of the most awful rubbish and often the haunt of nasty-minded "trolls" - the general level of reaction to this column is consistently and effectively calling into question most of what he writes without resorting to vile calumny. ) I understand that you have a publication to fill. I understand you wish to keep the broad coverage and open-door policy as regards the expression of opinions and welcome a wide range of contributors. Perfectly right and proper. But I urge you to consider carefully whether or not continuing to publish stuff of this nature actually contributes much to the quality and reputation of your organ! Especially considering the pride of place it seems to get on the website. Personally, I consider your publishing of journalistic hogwash of this standard seriously damages the whole gravitas of your publication. And this opinion is consistently echoed in the comment columns. Simon Abbott (Dec 2, '13) [Re US diplomatic iceberg spotted near China , Nov 27, '13] Get over it; power politics is a reality. I've been to and lived all over China and Southeast Asia. The way the Chinese "mock" the citizens of Southeast Asia and anyone else they consider beneath them is atrocious. I see it everywhere I go in the world and where there are Chinese people with their newly found arrogance. Unless the Chinese people understand and accept the truth about what has been done to their own people, they will always try to find a scapegoat for anything that is not pleasant in their "middle kingdom" of arrogance and isolation. What did you expect the US to do? You play you win, you play you lose, what you risk is what you value. I wish China would understand what is at stake here. Too many actors would rather blow it up than give it up - the world that is. Joseph Giramma (Dec 2, '13) [Re The dead's envy for the living , Nov 27, '13] Spengler likes to rewrite history. In this case he portrays Jews as lily-white in their treatment of others, and Iranians as deepest black. The truth is that of course every ethnic group has been treated badly and in turn has treated others badly. As to the birth-rate, Israeli publications often worry about the low birth rate among Israelis as contrasted to the high birth rate among Palestinians. Furthermore, it is not surprising that a nation, such as Iran, being strangled by economic sanctions would have a dropping birth rate. Oh Spengler, Spengler, you betray such stupidity in your anger. Lou Vignates USA (Dec 2, '13) [Re Imran Khan blocks NATO supply lines , Nov 25, '13] Cricketer Imran Khan has found a political bone to chew on since his loosely confederated political party failed at recent elections to win power. His attempt to block NATO supply lines to Afghanistan lacks traction other than a means to steal the thunder from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, which is unlikely to succeed. What counts is what is he willing to give to promise domestic Taliban for internal peace. Khan belongs to the feudal elite; has a lifestyle the Taliban find abhorrent; and his style of government is anything but "democratic". Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Nov 26, '13) [Re B-H Levy and the destruction of Libya , Nov 20, '13] He is a scion of wealth and privilege. Perhaps that fact gives Bernard-Henri Levy purchase to shine the light of his intelligence onto bringing change in Arab lands. This only goes to show that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Nov 22, '13) [Re Kerry, Karzai agree pact before jirga Nov 21, '13] Secretary of Fate John Kerry is taking great pains to assure the WonderPublic that our just concluded deal with our stooges in Afghanistan contains no "apologies" from the Empire for the rapes, murders, thefts and crimes against that ravaged country's citizens. To do so would be admitting what everyone outside Wonderland knows, that the Empire is a criminal state dedicated to spreading misery, hate and oppression around the globe. But Wonderlanders themselves have to believe that killing brown babies, maiming civilian men, women and children for life, wrecking economies and in general making life a living hell are small prices to pay for spreading "democracy" and "freedom". The corollary motto for this philosophy would be along the lines of making omelettes (democracy) by having to break eggs (nations), and who's going to apologize to those eggs if such a tasty product results? The fact is that the omelette thus created is bitter, sour and rancid, but who cares if all those eggs are made overseas in some brown country we can't pronounce or find on a map? Apologizing for being a bad cook is out of the question, it's the thought that counts, not the thousand of lives squandered. But if it gives the Afghan people any comfort, the cook is paying a price also. The cook's employees are returning home broken shells themselves, suicidal, homicidal, neurotic, psychotic, addicted, delusional, dysfunctional. The cooking skills they learned in the cauldron of the Graveyard of Empire don't translate very well over here, and adjustment to an environment where wanton violations of people are routine is tough, real tough. And the head chef himself is embattled on all fronts, with his kitchen in hock to his Chinese lenders and hordes of GOP critics about the mousy menu he offers in the way of health care. He should offer plenty of apologies to his own citizens for his unending string of lies, disinformation and frauds but don't hold your breath for those either. Saying "sorry" is not the Amerikan way, because we're always convinced God's on our side, and He never apologizes. Well, except maybe for George W Bush. God, what was he thinking? H Campbell Texas (Nov 22, '13) The current rift between the Empire and Iran is full of ironies, inconsistencies and untruths, ranging from the cooperation shown between the two over a myriad of issues like Iran-Contra, stability in Afghanistan and Iraq and the suppression of al-Qaeda. But Iran continues to portray to its citizenry Uncle Sam as the Great Satan and the focus of all evil in the world, while the US persists in characterizing Iran's leadership as evildoers and malignant terrorists. To a certain extent both are playing to their masses for political benefits, but at the same time we should not make such depictions to be mere exercises in lumpenproletariat PR. What is ironic in this mutual cartoonization is that the concept of a Devil/Satan/Lucifer that both relish in portraying the other as was born in ancient Persia, the forerunners of modern Iran. Zoroastrianism was that empire's religion, and departed from other mid eastern paganisms in that it allotted the universe to just two deities, a supreme good and a supreme bad. When Judah, the birthplace of modern Judaism, was sent into exile by the conquering Babylonians, its citizens became exposed to a cornucopia of polytheistic religions, but Zoroastrianism, the faith and national creed of the Persians that liberated the Judaeans from their Babylonian captivity, had syncretistic influences on the returnees. Gradually the idea of the monotheistic Yahweh of Judah and extinct Israel having an adversary in the fashion of Zoroastrianism took hold, but in an undefined and ambiguous way, lest such an opponent's powers interfere with the non-negotiable omnipotence of the Lord God. It was not until Christianity arrogated to itself the inheritance of Judaism that the personification of evil in the form of an individual spirit called Satan took firm root, despite the fact that the Hebrew Scriptures the early Christians swore to be their guidance had no such supremely evil entity identified. Inevitably, church doctrine, apocryphal commentary and cultural myth-making sculpted the pitchfork-and-horns caricature that now so grips not only the Christian zeitgeist but also that of Islam, a faith that considered itself the perfecting of its cruder and more primitive antecedents, Judaism and Christianity. That the Christian "New" Testament did not provide much justification for this imagery mattered not a whit, since much of what developed as Christianity, such as Christmas celebrated on a pagan holiday, had little support in the new scriptures either. So we have the present situation today that both Iran and the US cling to this fictitious portrayal of evil as a product of a syncretistic process begun in ancient Persia, continued in resurrected Judea and polished to a hone by the Christians and Muslims that followed. The fact that a Satan cannot exist in a universe controlled by an omnipotent God does not deter his believers in clinging to a convenient bogeyman that can symbolize everything both sides hate and reject. Iran needs a Devil it can blame for all its economic woes, while Wonderland's Satan hides behind every Third Worlder who we imagine "hates us for our freedoms", thus making our subsequent crimes against them morally justified. Hardy Campbell Texas (Nov 21, '13) The recent gaffes, bloopers and embarrassments of the O'Blame-inator's doofus maladministration should be taken as manifestations of just how impotent the US presidency really is. It appears that Obama is clueless, blind, deaf, in the dark and out of the loop, but by now and on this the 50th anniversary of JFK's removal from office, the real clue to the WonderPublic should be that this is exactly what the president is supposed to be. In order to assess why this is and how it came about, consider president Dwight D Eisenhower's somewhat cryptic departing message he made when he left the White House in 1961. His warning about the hidden dangers to the republic of the vast and growing military-industrial complex was more than the departing musings of an elder statesman. Indeed, in light of what happened to his immediate successor, it may well have been the clarion call for righting a tilting ship, that unless the democracy resisted the corrupting influences of local pork-jobs and chasing red ghosts in faraway jungles, real lasting damage would occur. JFK's assassination, followed by the interconnected disasters of Vietnam and Watergate, signaled real shifts in the political power base with few understanding that that was happening. Traumatic events were very distracting pea-under-shell games designed to deflect the attention of the confused and scared public from what was really happening during the turbulent 60s and 70s. Intimidated by the culture wars, civil rights, women's lib, dead soldiers, resigning presidents, costly oil, financial scandals, nuclear Armageddon, drug "wars" and commie advances from Afghanistan to Yemen. the US Sheep failed to see how venal politicians were becoming and how worthless the entire charade of democracy had become. Or maybe by that point none of that mattered, only the "security" and "prosperity" offered by the consummate front man for the Empire, Ronnie Reagan, who understood exactly what his role was supposed to be. Subsequent presidents, by now forewarned by JFK's and Nixon's fates about bucking the real power base in the Empire and seeing how well Ronnie was rewarded for his compliant bootlicking, meekly acquiesced to their current roles of cheerleaders, White House renters and figureheads. The machinery of Empire doesn't need them except to act as scapegoats or lightning rods, jobs that could just as easily be handled by farm animals or pieces of metal, so let's not be surprised when Obama says he wasn't told about ObamaCare's failures or what really happened at Benghazi or why Wall Street ignores him completely. The president of the United States has become as irrelevant as the country he distracts. H Campbell Texas (Nov 20, '13) [Re Centrist sinkholes , Nov 15, '13] Chan Akya concludes that "There are no centrists anywhere." Except in China, Brazil, Indonesia, and maybe India. Most of the world, including most of North America and Europe, says, "Thank god for the rational, cautious centrists in China." China is the one big sea anchor keeping the global ship somewhat stable in our stormy times. Floyd (Nov 18, '13) 'Tis the season to watch folly, tra la la la ... With the 50th anniversary of the JFK murder looming next week, the WonderSphere is all atwitter with documentaries, docudramas, forensic analyses, flashbacks, talking heads and a plethora of wistful "what if" reminisces. The hagiography attendant with such nonsense very much resembles the selective cherry-picking of information used to whitewash the entire assassination cover-up. In Wonderland, it's not that information to refute the official myths isn't available, it's just not talked about, debated or pounded down the public's throat, very much in keeping with the philosophy here that if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hype it up into a major ecological catastrophe, does that tree ever exist in the first place? So the boomers prattle on and on about what "hope" and "vision" Kennedy offered, without mentioning his sleeping with Stasi agents, mob molls and prostitutes. They poo pooh his responsibility for the Bay of Pigs, gloss over his indifference to civil rights, inflate casual remarks about leaving Vietnam into done-deal factual history, neglect his murderous vendetta against Castro, ignore his double dealing over Laos, don't dare talk about his involvement in Diem's murder just weeks before his own, and turn his histrionic overreaction to Soviet missiles in Cuba into some bizarre demonstration of macho courage. Did I mention how his father rigged the election for his son's election in the first place, or the media's collusion in keeping JFK's bigamy a secret, or how he wanted to nuke the Chinese? In parallel with this very blinkered perspective on a man who by all standards was reckless, irresponsible and fickle is the media's distortion of all the evidence that points to a conspiracy that killed him. Recently I watched a program that took great pains to show that from a forensics standpoint, the "Magic Bullet" theory is very plausible, thus showing that Oswald killed JFK. All they did was show that someone killed JFK, but by no means did they link Oswald to that act. In fact, I find it interesting that things that tend to refute or question this whole Oswald-as-the-Lone-Gunmen idea is discretely ignored, like the footage that had a reporter ask the Dallas police about reports Oswald had talked with the FBI just a week before the assassination. Indeed, we now know that J Edgar Hoover had already assured his boss Robert Kennedy immediately afterwards that only one man was involved and that he had been apprehended, a remarkably instantaneous act of investigation, accusation and indictment if ever I heard one. It seems Hoover neglected to mention Oswald's visit to the Dallas FBI headquarters. But messy details like these are rarely emphasized or mentioned, lost as they are in all the frenzied efforts to solidify the Official Lie. Contrast all this hooh hah with the deafening silence over the 9-11 Conspiracy that the media has actively participated in for the last 12 years. Despite the overwhelming evidence that contradicts or at least challenges the Official Lie about that massive fraud, the Amerikan Sheep have blindly decided that one major coup d'etat in their lifetime is enough. It helps, of course, that the subject of that regime change was a good looking plutocrat whose charm and charisma literally let him get away with murder before his past caught up with him. Hardy Campbell (Nov 18, '13) Texas [Re US digs a security black hole , If today's featured piece by Tom Engelhardt on the NSA global spying operation is even minimally true, why would Asia Times Online stick with Facebook (a tool of the NSA) as the only means to post a comment? Yigal Joseph (Nov 14, '13) [Editor's note: the writer does not propose a valid alternative.] Recently CNN's top medical reporter, an MD himself, has made a stark reversal of his previous hardline stance against legalizing marijuana and all the mythic ills associated with this plant. (Reader's alert: I am not now or ever have been a pot smoker.) He realizes that he was a victim of the Empire's propaganda, cherrypicking of data and just plain lies about cannabis' effects on people. So what else does is new? That Mary Jane has been demonized for decades by the government for its own ends is a given; the criminalization of a benign drug while malignant alcohol and nicotine are ages-old tax earners should be a scandal in its own right. That it is not and that we continue to legalize the use of two substances that kill thousands each year (contrasted to Ganja, which has never killed anyone) says all one needs to know about capitalism and its treatment of human beings. But arresting minority people who puff on joints fills jails up faster than carjackings or homicides, and Lord knows the politicians love building penitentiaries to show how tough they are on manufactured "crime". Indeed, the scandal gets even worse when one considers the medical benefits of pot, which are just now being revealed in more enlightened societies. Everything from cancer to seizures have been shown as susceptible to treatment by the magic plant, and the legalization of pot for medicinal purposes is increasing apace, with some countries like Uruguay on the verge of across-the-board legalization. Such developments scare those with vested interests in profiting from criminalization, like police departments, the DEA, border patrols, etc. Not to mention organized crime groups like the CIA would feel a minor pinch in their illegal contraband profits, though heroin and cocaine will continue to be their major drug earners. Rest assured that the day will come when pot does become fully and universally legal here, but we will be the very last nation where that will happen, and only because economics forces us to, not because people could be helped by it or because Amerika finally decides to live up to its mendacious promise of "freedom" and the pursuing of happiness. H Campbell Texas (Nov 14, '13) Although the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979-1981 "officially"' ended the day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as Imperial President, in many ways the USA is still hostage to the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). Humiliated by a Third World country that we had been accustomed of thinking as Amerika's reliable friend, ally, proxy and ex pat playground in the hostile Middle East, the Empire, irreconcilably opposed to any true form of sovereign independence from its hegemonic diktats, has thrown the CIA Book of Dirty Tricks at the IRI for the last 34 years. Notwithstanding this increasingly futile effort, six presidents have suffered varying degrees of political heartburn because of our failure to effect IRI regime change or regime behavior. One, Carter, lost his political life because of that indigestion and his successor, Reagan, should by all reasonable standards have suffered a similar fate by impeachment because he swallowed the Iran-Contra enchilada whole. Bushes 1 and 2, simpletons that they both were, wisely shied away from biting that habanero-pepper stuffed ambush, perhaps because us real as well as fake Texans know the dangers of consuming such tempting explosives. It is worth noting that, for all his bluff and bluster about the IRI, terrorism and the Axis of Evil, even with his armies sandwiching Iran from both sides, Bush 2 carefully refrained from exacerbating tensions with the ayatollahs. Even touching a hot chili can leave nasty burns. Despite the latest post-Carter Dumbocrat president's rhetoric about the IRI and on-off bravado about nuclear red lines, in a world where Amerikan hegemony is becoming quaint nostalgia, our erstwhile "allies" and not-so-allies have been quietly negotiating non-dollar transactions, nuke technology transfers, sanctions busting smuggling and intelligence sharing with Iran to circumvent, weaken and ultimately to destroy the Empire's deteriorating grip. Washington has been continuously frustrated by its inability to change its imprisonment to old ideas about our hegemonic status, ideas that, prior to 1979, was taken a given by all Wonderlanders. But after the Revolution, and in its immediate wake the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and the Iran-Iraq War, the world turned its back on those unchallenged days, unleashing new forces of liberation from the old Anglo-Saxon model of imperial domination. The faked attacks on the US on 9-11 were designed specifically to reverse that trend under the rubric of national security, but alas, those who tries to stop the Big Wheel of History from turning, usually wind getting their derrieres handed to them, as the twin debacles in the Middle East confirm. So we remain hostages to the IRI; the US, sitting in the dark, hands bound, blindfolded, waiting for the ayatollahs' next move. H Campbell [Re Intelligence scandals, Seoul-style The ascension of Park Geun-hye to the South Korean presidency has fostered a climate marked by her father's dictatorial "Yushin" spirit. It is worthwhile to look at her inner circle - people who cut their teeth in the shadow of US intelligence agencies when they lived, studied, and worked in the US. An opening to Pyongyang is the last thing the current government wants, and woe to the parties and public sentiment hungering for a detente. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Nov 13, '13) [Re Glow of talks flattens nuclear reality , Nov 8, '13] I wonder how commentators like Victor Kotsev can claim that one of, if not the "thorniest and most explosive issues in the Middle East" is some alleged nuclear ambitions attributed to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty-signee Iran (a known target of Western oil-lust since before World War 1, a victim of a US/UK anti-democratic coup in 1953, aggressed upon continuously by the US since 1979, but with an history of non-aggression in the last 200 years or so). The actual known, obvious but deliberately ignored "thorniest and most explosive issue in the Middle East" is land theft by force including mass-murder, perpetrated by aggressive, invading, now illegally squatting Zionists. Proof #1; Ben-Gurion(1936-39): "We ... are the attackers and the Arabs are those defending ... [they] own the land ..." Proof #2: "Let me emphasize at this point the position of the United States of America on the settlements is that we consider them... to be illegitimate," US Vice President John Kerry after discussions with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Perhaps some better sense of proportion is required. A final quote from Dr Kevin Barrett: "And the whole truth - that the entire Zionist occupation of Palestine is illegitimate - will never pass the lips of American leaders." People who cannot acknowledge the truth make themselves liars. Aletheia Switzerland (Nov 12, '13) [Re Shared goals draw India and Russia closer , Nov 6, '13] Former ambassador and ATol contributor MK Bhadrakumar would most likely concur with this author that Indian (foreign) policies are handicapped/blinded by an over-obsession with China. At the end of the day, the one question that India needs to figure out is whether the country wishes to be an independently powerful nation. John Chen USA (Nov 8, '13) [Re Tiananmen crash linked to Xinjiang raid , Nov 7, '13] It should come as no surprise to Chinese authorities that repression of a subject people's national aspiration brings highly publicized acts of desperation. The Turkmens (Uyghur) choice of Tiananmen sparked memories globally of China's own brutal suppression of Han desire for a more open, more democratic society. American readers might have forgotten that the iron fist of rule of a colonial people found an outlet more than 60 years ago when five Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire in the well of congress. Admittedly, the car crash in Tiananmen was an act of desperation, but it is also an omen of more violence to come. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Nov 8, '13) 2013 is the anniversary of many historic events, but perhaps none has had the impact on Wonderland as the one that occurred on December 23, 1913. The centennial of this event fast approaches, and I wonder with what fanfare the Federal Reserve will celebrate its founding. The rationale for creating this consortium of banks was ostensibly to stabilize and economy roiled by successive panics, most notably the one in 1907. But the reality was much more sinister; by centralizing monetary policy with a global network of international financiers, most who had no interest in Yankee flag waving, the US made itself a convenient half way house for European money that would soon need refuge an ocean away from its soon-to-be-war torn shores. Six months and five days after the Fed's birth, the assassination of an Austrian archduke provided the real justification for the Fed's existence, as Amerika soon found itself profiting from panicky industrialists, aristocrats and bankers in the Old Country. The resultant boom carried over into peace, and with all that money lying around the suckers went fat and happy to their slaughter in 1929. The "Peace Bubble" that burst was just the first of many that the Fed would actively promote in the years to come, as it grew farther and farther away from its original mandate of minimizing intervention and being the agency of last resort. Instead, it became increasingly aggressive in inflating bubbles as the best (and soon to be only) way of invigorating an increasingly moribund economy that saw real wage increases stagnate and then flatline. In parallel with this activity, the US government found that sinking deeper into debt was the only way to keep the twitching corpse of an economy from flatlining itself. The marriage of the two, Fed bubbling and US debt, created a monstrous hybrid with debt itself as a bubble that had everyone convinced mainlining cyanide was just the cure for hemlock poisoning. And the Fed is back at it again post-mortgage-bust, pouring billions in funny money into an economy that refuses to defy death any longer. One hundred years of the Fed, one hundred and one years from the Panic of 1907 to the Implosion of 2008, and how is the US better off with the Fed? Not a whit, of course, but plutocrats around the globe will toast the Fed with champagne. H Campbell Texas (Nov 7, '13) Among the cornucopia of myths that have enabled the Empire to delude itself for lo these many years are the ones about the poor, class, race, welfare and dependency. The wealthiest country on earth has the largest income gaps, does the least to lift people out of poverty of any industrialized nation, practices class warfare with the vitriolic fervor of jihad, and creates mainstream propaganda that demonizes, ostracizes and humiliates the poor. All this is the result of generations of so-called Protestant work ethics that have made the reaping of the fruits of one's labor synonymous with lifting-by-bootstraps independence, risk taking entrepreneurship and Darwinian wheat-and-chaff winnowing by good ol' 'merikan competition. Amerika supposedly grew rich by instilling such virtues in its citizenry. And like all WonderMyths, most of that is just poppycock, moonshine and freshly deposited unicorn stool. What the mythmakers don't ever mention is the real history of how Amerika transferred wealth created by the British to the native-born landed gentry who preposterously called themselves "revolutionaries" but who were actually just glorified welfare recipients of French and Spanish largesse. As for the "sweat of the brow" myth that Wonderlanders like to praise as the surest way to prosperity, little is said of how much of that early Amerikan wealth was created by enslaving Africans, engendering a reverse welfare mentality whereby the only ones sweating at the the brow were horsewhipped blacks while the lily white plantation owners sat on verandas sipping mint juleps and whistling "Dixie". That romantic nostalgia for rich whites depending on poor blacks for their wealth has now infected not only the Deep South but the entire Republican party, who now represent a white supremacy movement thinly coated with the patina of capitalism and democracy. Their repeated denunciations of government welfare as creating a "dependence mentality" is just code for their extracting revenge for the Civil War defeat, Jim Crow being marginalized by minority civil rights and a 21st century "black" president. They actually have nothing against dependency on the taxpayer doling out free goodies, since they regularly give tax breaks, rigged contracts and protective legislation for big corporations, special interests and the military. The code phrases used to disguise this kind of welfare typically include "free enterprise", "national security", "protecting the farmer" and "making Amerika competitive again" to rationalize their welfare agendas. The difference is that the rich are entitled to get richer because they are in a superior class, which is a result of divine ordination, good genes and a savvy politician in your back pocket (translation: I'm white and you're not). The irony of all this is that the majority of poor in the Empire are white, who consistently vote for the same GOPers who pound into their white trash brains that they can't really be poor welfare cheats because only blacks and Hispanics qualify for that description. As the Empire swirls around the flushed toilet bowl of history, some myths will be clung to more fervently than others, since these constitute the essence of Wonderism. Among the last will be the conviction that Amerika is a rich country because we "earned" that wealth. But that lie is so big it might just clog that historic plumbing. H Campbell (Nov 6, '13) [Re No quick fix for China's mistress culture , Oct 29, '13] Why are people so often surprised when human beings act like the other primates? Lester Ness Kunming China (Nov 4, '13) The good news for the National Security Agency is that it can spy on everyone anytime. The bad news for the NSA is that it can spy on everyone anytime. The temptation to do so is so overwhelming that not to do so would imply that the US is not in control of its destiny, which of course it isn't. Its doom has been preordained and already in the history books of the future. The sobering fact is that even if they had a billion monkeys locked away in front of a billion screens sifting through the billions of bytes of information illegally gathered, the country's fate would not be altered in the slightest. History should be a wake up call to this effect, with the Stasi and East Germany the poster children of mass spying providing nothing but the illusion of state preservation. Despite and because of a vast infrastructure of snooping, surveillance and eavesdropping, the GDR grew fat and lazy with the self-created image of security which made their collapse appear so sudden and unpredictable to outsiders. In point of fact, we here in the Empire had become so accustomed to granting the East Germans this status because our own security was based on similar societal controls. The Dirty Little Secret of Amerika is that it has had pervasive media, communications and domestic spying activities since J Edgar Hoover anointed himself defender of WonderValues and the CIA's priorities shifted from battling commies to creating criminal empires. The cautionary tale of the Stasi is lost, of course, on those convinced that 9-11 could have been prevented "If only" and that our current freedom from subsequent al Qaeda "attacks" is solely due to the NSA's watchdogginess. That group evidently contains a majority of Amerikans who have decided that Big Brother will always respect your own dirty little secrets as long as you keep that turbaned phantom out of your house. It didn't work that way with the East Germans, and it won't work for us either. As for the government, they will continue to lie and deceive its citizens and allies about its spying because, frankly, they can. But the real lesson the German communists should be teaching the NSA and its masters is that you may see every leaf in the forest but precisely because of that you will not see the tree trunks crashing down on you. H Campbell Texas (Nov 4, '13) [Re No quick fix for China's mistress culture ,Oct 29, '13] "The Chinese tradition of maintaining mistresses is based on what good Christians would refer to as adultery - a sin; yet in China it is mere custom - a habit". Every human being sees betraying their wife as a sin, not only you highly civilized Christians, so do we Chinese. I do admit some of us, especially rich people, maintain mistresses. But how can that be our habit? Can you deny that no Christian men do this? I'm just a very ordinary Chinese and can't speak English well, but every time I see articles from foreign media, they are all negative. If something is the truth - we admit it. We dump our poor quality merchandize all over the world, our food is not safe, our air is not clean. But why make up things to humiliate our people? Why do you hate us? Someone saw a Chinese eat a dog, then all the media spreads the word: Chinese don't keep dogs as pets, they take them as food. We are not that democratic and most of us don't read English, so most of us don't connect with people from the rest of the world on the Internet very often. But when they do, I bet they feel as I do. Tobby China (Oct 31, '13) In Drones row turns out to be Kubuki theater [Oct 25] the author write, "Pakistan's prime minister again publicly demanded an end to controversial US drone strikes ... secret documents reveal long-time collusion with the CIA-led targeted assassination program." Secretly, President Obama is wise enough to know that such "demands" are for Pakistani domestic consumption for political expediency. The people of the US should demand an end to CIA assassinations without any trial in any court of law, because this goes against the principles of justice for which we are, allegedly, fighting. Often, targets for assassination are not terrorists, but falsely labeled so by local opponents of these persons, so that US drones may be used to eliminate their opposition. Often, this has resulted in the murder of innocent men, women and children. This is, in-effect, state-sponsored terrorism by the US. It is not acceptable for US power to be used for this purpose in this cowardly way! Daniel N Russell Alaska USA (Oct 28, '13) A recent study concluded Amerikans aren't very well ejeekcated. We rank near the bottom in all the significant categories used to measure a nation's potential to handle the challenges of the future, such as reading, writing, problem solving and even rudimentary math. This is only news to those still waiting on the Kaiser to surrender any day now. But juxtaposed with this regurgitation of past surveys comes the news of yet more school murders within a span of two days and separated by a thousand miles, both perpetrated by teens against popular teachers. This too is becoming so old hat that Wonderland high school homicide will soon rank up there with the cesium atom as reliable ways to set your clocks by. The two situations, abysmal education and an ever-threatening school environment, sums up the deteriorating state of Empire to a T. Way back when, when the first news of US students looking up at the likes of India and Poland in the global scholastic rankings appeared in the US press, the pundits pens' were a'scratchin' all sorts of explanatory, rationalizing drivel, among the most popular the logic that immigrants from those smarter countries would wind up here anyway so we would always be ahead of the brain drain curve. That, of course, presupposed all sorts of things, among them the relative safety and stability of Wonderland that would attract Third Worlders to our benign shores. Now, with the First Economic Crisis in our rear view mirrors and the Second looming at the edge of the cliff ahead of us, coupled with the ongoing and relentless brutality that these "new" Americans are throwing their children into, the prospects of that hopeful logic continuing grows dimmer with each shooting and government shutdown. With the rest of the world's better educated children taking the few jobs left to non-machines, Wonderlanders will be reduced to yet more squabbling , scapegoating and minority bashing as we ramble off the precipice. The prospect of illiterate rednecks having to sneak into countries like China and Indonesia seeking menial work can only seem fitting to the Olympian gods who value hubris, arrogance and the conviction of divine ordination above all other human failings. Hardy Campbell Texas, USA (Oct 28, '13) Poor Obama. No one to bomb. ObamaCare all screwed up. He'd like to add the government shutdown ending as a triumph but he knows he just kicked that can down the road. And to add to his woes he gets lectured in his own house about his war criminal activities as a dromemeister, and by a teenager no less, the charming Malala Yousafszai. All that may pale by comparison to the announcement by Riyadh that it is undergoing a "fundamental" change in its relationship with Washington. The Saudis, furious at Obama for his mangling of the Syrian crisis, have decided to ignore the writings on the wall no longer. The decades old tacit agreement between the theocratic regime and the Amerikans has rested on the premise that the US would guarantee that Middle East oil supplies were reliable and secure, while the ruling bin Saud family could repress its people, spread its radical Islamist agenda around the world and ignore Wonderlanders' stern lectures to everyone else on the planet that democracy and free speech were the only way to go. But with the US poised to become a major oil producer again, and with Iran and Amerika making cooing noises to each other, the Saudis are seeing the fundamentals of that previously ironclad arrangement eroding as Washington finds itself lurching from political paralysis to economic coma. It took the Arabs awhile but they are now waking up and smelling the sweet fragrance of multipolarism in all its emerging glory. The tottering of an Amerikan hegemony founded on fading economic prowess and ineffective military supremacy has opened the way for a whole host of mini-powers to emerge, with money and crafty diplomacy as their segue to influence rather than bluff, bluster and brute force. The Saudis see no reason why they shouldn't enter the same game as the Iranians, who have had a 30 year head start, or the Chinese, who are now barely disguising their intention to supplant the Ameirkans once and for all. Of course, the Saudis have long had the backing of Tel Aviv, who likewise share Riyadh's vision of a post-Amerikan universe. Now both are taking more active measures to compete with Iran for prestige, political pull and as a model for the future of the Middle East. Significantly, all those mentioned besides the Saudis either have or are trying diligently to acquire nuclear weapons as the easiest way to punch their ticket on the Respectability Express. It remains to be seen if Riyadh will rely exclusively on its billfold or will seek to join the increasingly crowded club of nuke states. Though I'm not a betting man, I wouldn't decline to wager on the Saudis funding some vacations for North Korean and Pakistani physicists in the near future. H Campbell Texas (Oct 25, '13) "Recent revelations about the lack of preparedness, poor motivation and slovenly work habits of those men and women manning Amerika's nuclear missile silos" [letter, October 21, Hardy Campbell]. This is actually good news for ordinary Americans! The rest of humanity, too! Hopefully, such people fill the National Security Agency, Homeland Security, all the other organs of state security. Imagine how bad life would be if the spies and torturers actually worked hard and effectively! As Arnold Toynbee once wrote, "only inefficiency, incompetence and corruption made the Roman Empire tolerable". The same is becoming true of the US. Lester Ness Kunming China (Oct 23, '13) Trust is an abstract notion that cannot be quantified or measured in concrete terms. It is more of an emotion, a feeling and desire to place some measure of oneďż˝s destiny in anotherďż˝s hands. Oneďż˝s trustworthiness is a reflection of character, personality and integrity, all similarly nebulous concepts that nevertheless are essential ingredients to defining humanity. This is true of nations as well as individual people. Trust between nations is, in theory at least, independent of things like culture, religion, language and ideology. It bases self-interest on the mutual recognition that benefits accrue to both sides when each trusts the other to carry out obligations founded on treaties, international law and respect for human rights. Since our founding, the USA has prided itself on the notion that we are a trustworthy country that keeps its word and respects the rights of others. Of course, by believing that you could not be further from the truth if you were sitting on Pluto sipping daiquiris in your long johns. The unpleasant truth is that Amerika has consistently lied, betrayed and reneged on almost all its international obligations since its inception. From our documented Founding Father pledge to consider all men equal, which excluded all those not white, male and landed, to our treaties with native Americans, which invariably were violated by the white man, to our abandonment of South Vietnam and our mutual assistance guarantee, to our multiple infringements of agreed biochemical weapons prohibitions (yes, Virginia, despite Obomberďż˝s hypocrisy, we have plenty), to the current pooh-poohing of the very UN laws prohibiting unilateral war that the US itself created, Wonderland has shown itself feckless, self-centered and two faced whenever trust-based relationships interfered with conquering a country, enslaving an economy or slaughtering a people. The point Putin made in the NY Times about international law being the only thing restraining the likes of Iran from guaranteeing their security with nukes highlights the petard the US has hoisted itself upon. It wants the world to obey ITS version of international law even when that defies the consensus will of the planet and expects the world to ďż˝trustďż˝ us to do the right thing, when time after time we have demonstrated that we are incapable of doing anything like the right thing. Iran's charade of "negotiation" is based on their intrinsic knowledge that the Empire will break whatever treaty it signs at the drop of a turban. Trust is the one thing no self-respecting country should ever grant the USA, because we only understand how to use that as a weapon of mass deception. H Campbell Texas (Oct 23, '13) Recent revelations about the lack of preparedness, poor motivation and slovenly work habits of those men and women manning Amerika's nuclear missile silos will doubtless pass quietly and quickly beneath a WonderRadar more attuned to financial fiscal showdowns, celebrity shenanigans or titillating political scandal. Naturally, the Pentagon was quick to assure those who were awake that everything was fine and hunky dory with those deliverers of Armageddon rotting away in their underground holes. "Just a few bad apples" would probably be the quick and easy way to brush off any systemwide criticism of a defense posture that froze the Cold War in stasis for decades. And if it were just a relatively small group of so-called elite personnel that needed re-training or discharge and replacement with real conscientious crackerjacks, that would be one thing, even though we are talking here about people with their fingers literally on buttons that would end humanity. In an effort to placate the congressional fuddie duddies concerned about an Accidental Armageddon, heads have rolled in the Pentagon's unique way of rearranging incompetence. and denying accountability. But unfortunately for Wonderland, all the chickens have come home to hatch, the product of 50 years of appalling educational standards, a deteriorating economy, fissiparous families, an instant self-gratification generation, and a get-rich-quick-with-no-effort mentality born of Wall Street's brazen larceny, the US government's craven capitulation to predatory Amerikan Kapitalism and plain ol' Amerikan Greed. So the truth is that these nuke warriors and their incompetence are repeated throughout the WonderScape, in virtually every aspect of education, society, politics, science, industry and government. And the synergy that connects these falling dominoes ultimately affects our civil and industrial infrastructure, our ability to manufacture, to innovate, to trade and to prosper. Of course, if the personnel standards of the "nuketeers" erode much more we may not have to worry about any of that. Hardy Campbell Texas, USA (Oct 21, '13) [Ref: Turkey counters US' Middle East strategy , Oct 16, '13] Contrary to the article's view, Turkey is actually in the most precarious period of its modern history, after the establishment of the Republic by Kemal Ataturk in 1924. The gist of this article is a possible Turkey-Kurdish alliance which could harm US influence or strategy in the region. There is one premise of the argument hanging in the air: the alliance with the Kurds. What does this alliance consist of? It consists of a definitive solution of the Turkish Kurdish problem. In what effective way Turkey can make this happen? The only one is if Turkey is ready to acknowledge a Kurdish identity separate from the Turkish one. If the analyst believes that can be accomplished, then we may have a loose confederation between the two entities where Islam and a common past may create a lasting state partnership. Is this possible? Under Recep Tayyip Erdogan's initiative this is not on the agenda. Any other possible solution is a palliative which can only push the can down the road. The sequel of this effort is to create a grand coalition with the Iraqi Kurdistan and following that an understanding with the Syrian Kurds. We must keep in mind that the Syrian conundrum is not resolved yet and the Syrian Kurds will have to reach out for their future with the new Syrian reality after Bashar Al-Assad or with Assad's heirs under certain circumstances. It is more than obvious under the conditions on the ground in Syria that the Salafists, jihadist and the rest of the al-Qaeda affiliates are totally opposed to a Kurdish entity and identity as all aspirants for a Caliphate adamantly believe. In addition there is an internationally recognized Kurdish state entity and identity in Northern Iraq. How can this be reconciled with the extremist views of total denial of a Kurdish identity? Furthermore, a Turkish agreement with Northern Iraqi Kurdistan is already a de facto recognition of this separate ethnic identity which must be incorporated into any agreement with the Kurds of Turkey. But even if all these questions are answered there is a second lacuna to be filled in. In what way will this grand coalition Between Turkey and the Kurds harm US influence? The Kurds of north Iraq owe their semi-independence to the US and they cannot in any way trust Turkey more than the US. It is purely a fantasy to think that they will turn their back to their liberators and entrust their future to their historic enemy. Even more, if and when such a grand alliance takes place Turkey as a multinational entity must be very careful about its dealing with the states of the region and must keep a very visible profile for the international community. If that happens, then Turkey will be established as a democratic and cohesive state with meaningful clout in the region. It would have transformed the whole concept of state building in a region beset by artificially built state entities. This is not harmful for US interests but rather a helping hand to its strategic interests, to stabilize the region. The region though is too volatile and under various threats which are just unfolding but with an already clear pattern: ethnic and sectarian divides and states under threat for failure. Even the Gulf Monarchies and Saudi Arabia are in a transition period which cannot last for too long. Last but not least Turkey itself is on the brink of becoming the target of extremist who are thriving in Syria. Lately a number of well-known Turkish analysts have taken up this threat which is endogenous for an Islamic state and government as the one ruling Turkey. The Syrian and Iraqi al-Qaeda are fighting in the north of Syria the Kurds and are threatening Turkey for its intention to cut access for aid to them. Most of the fighting brigades there have renounced the SNF and are following their own agenda, to establish the Caliphate of the Levant from Iraq to Lebanon, an agenda which Turkey, as a Sunni country, has to endorse or reject with the ensuing repercussions for itself. The future of Turkey and its efforts to become a regional power is open to the vagaries of the Muslim world and the outcome is as yet unknown. As far as US influence goes there are no powers or emerging superpowers around with a better historical record to substitute the" bad" West with the "good" X, Y or Z. Nicholas A Biniaris Hellas (Oct 18, '13) As a daily observer of Wonderland, I am in a bit of a conundrum: is Amerika clinically psychotic or just plain stupid? Arguments can be made for either position, of course, and there is often a fine line between the two mental states. The lunacy side of the debate has many merits; the classic definition of insanity being repeating the same behavior repeatedly and expecting differing results seems like it should be part of our national anthem in fact. ("Oh say can you see, that we're doing exactly what he we did before, with no prospect for success, unless we are dreaming ... ") But stupidity shares many of the same qualities as lunacy, and may be defined as the mis-ability to apply knowledge in a fashion that damages the knowledge recipient. The recent cascade of political events in Washington would embarrass the citizens of the fictional Wonderland, to be sure, but they would certainly appreciate the addled logic of the GOP to indulge in an exercise of spitefulness even though they knew they had no chance of success. Point to stupidity. The abysmally low poll numbers of Congress would seem to indicate that the Amerikan people want the fools fired for incompetence, but the public's knowledge of that demonstrated incompetence is never reflected in tossing incompetent incumbents' out of office. Point to insanity. The battle between the two swings back and forth; after innumerable examples of government lying about everything from WMDs to spying on citizens, is the public's willingness to believe the next set of obvious lies just mule-faced dumb or babbling crazy? Is it stupid or nuts that the official fairy tale of 9-11 has gone virtually unchallenged by the media despite the reams of contradictory evidence? Was O'Bomber daft or an imbecile for considering yet another Empire-deflating Middle East adventure? The 2003 documentary The Corporation posited that companies behave just like sociopathic people, with their application of ruthless capitalism making social destruction a necessary and natural byproduct of their psychosis. Since the US is intrinsically a capitalist state that puts profit above all other human considerations and has repeatedly shown its willingness to impoverish vast swathes of its citizenry in favor of enriching the ultrawealthy, its similar categorization as a clinically psychotic state seems fully merited. Then again, you might call it just plain stupid that we're allowing the Fed to inflate another massive financial bubble with every new "QE X" that we all know will blow up in our faces sooner rather than later. It's a tossup really. And whoever does the autopsy on Uncle Sam will find little support one way or another when his brain is plopped into a pickle jar. But the fact he ran off a cliff buck naked while frothing at the mouth about "Freedom" and "Democracy" might be a clue. H Campbell Texas (Oct 17, '13) If there's one thing you can count on here in Wonderland, it's the guarantee from "experts" or wannanbes that "blank" as we know it will cease to exist if "blank" happens. The blanks can be filled in with any number of situations. Take the VCR when it became commercially available in the 70s; Hollywood was terrified that the recording device would wreck the movie industry beyond repair; in fact, quite the opposite happened. Or Vietnam, which the Cold Warriors of the 60s insisted had to be defended at all costs lest all of Asia go Red; when we abandoned that wretched place, the commies couldn't wait to start fighting each other. If ObamaCare isn't stopped, dogs and cats will start co-habitating. And we needn't mention the Marxist-Muslim-Terrorist scenarios the Right fashioned out of whole cloth when the O'Bomber was elected. Hmm ... maybe the jury's still out on that one. But the fact is that hyperbole, bombastic rhetoric and overblown exaggerated apocalyptic propaganda are as Amerikan as fruit filled pastries lauded as the most magnificent divine food baked by God Himself. Perhaps it's because we're a capitalist society that sells products using these same instruments, seducing customers with siren songs that promise everything from easy sex to instant weight loss. Maybe it's because we subscribe to a religion that promises eternal life and endless bliss. Or maybe it's due to our inherent belief that the very act of saying something must necessarily make it so. Whatever the case may be, Wonderlanders have a habit of crying Wolf and shouting how the sky is falling down with very little provocation. So it is with Iran and its impending acquisition of nukes; every neocon nutjob this side of the FOX Network works overtime proclaiming how civilization will end the day Iran gets The Bomb. In cahoots with these miscreants, Tel Aviv's pimps dole out political "donations" while sounding the clarion about mushroom clouds, terrorism, mad ayatollahs and "red lines." But the fact remains that we have tolerated nuclear North Korea and nuclear Pakistan for a long time now, and both nations harbor and actively support anti-Amerikan terrorists with arguably less rational actors than Tehran has. The difference, of course, is that neither south and far east Asian country challenges Israel's quest for Zionist Utopia, which an unintimidateable Iran certainly would. So for all the arbitrary deadlines and mythic threats, Iran possessing nukes would actually make the region safer, more predictable and less susceptible to the kind of destabilizing fiascoes the Zionist and Anglo-Saxon Empires have made their foreign policy hobbies. Believe me, a Nuclear Iran would shut up that dark hued imbecile in the White House from making silly hollow bluffs, would make the Jews less brazen in their criminal activities and would make the Empire think twice about its next misbegotten imperialist adventure. Come to think of it, if we were smart we'd just give 'em some of our nukes right now. H Campbell Texas (Oct 16, '13) [Re: Homeland Security set for next Wall Street collapse , Oct 11, '13] A widely-circulating conspiracy theory has it that major current global events are the design by some nefarious cabal aiming for world domination, both financial and political. Let's hope that's just all rumor, since any such scheme is doomed to failure, attended by unimaginable consequences. As the Bard would caution, "'tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard." Or as my less-celebrated but all-knowing parakeet likes to say, "'Tis possible to be too smart." John Chen USA (Oct 15, '13) [Re Old game, new enemy: China by John Pilger, Oct 11, '13] If there is any obsession is not Obamaďż˝s but the authorďż˝s - his obsession with the military perspective. The military consideration is superficial and psychological while economics will be the real determinant. Diplomatically considered, China has not committed any act that results in the concerted condemnation of the international community, certainly not at the UN; therefore, China has no no reason to react with military force. Salient to China is that it is an immense country, still poor, but has grown faster than most other countries by wide margins for more than 30 years. China absolutely has no incentive to use force to upset this extremely favorable circumstance for its comprehensive national development; after it is much more developed, most of its objectives will be achieved by gestures without execution. The greatest trump card over Japan will be the Chinese consumers' animosity against Japan, per se. The winning of any hypothetical war will never be needed. China will easily roil up such animosity to the extent where vandalism against Japanese products in China will prevail over selfish consumer behavior. Japan is extremely vulnerable in the long run. Trade erosion will hurt Japan far more than China due to the difference in size, thus extent of dependency, and because Japanese goods are far more branded, conspicuous, and targetable. As long as Chinese (and Korean) animosity against Japan does not abate, Abenomics will be a mirage; and when augmented at will, losses will be greater than Abenomics. How long will Japan endure before it negotiates? Social advancement in the US, in the amelioration of racism, has tremendous impact on US foreign policy. The US will no longer be willing to revert back to virulent racism - the only means to contain China. A defeated China will be either a festering wound or a bankrupting obligation to the US, and there is already a festering wound in the Middle East called Islam. If the two festering wounds were to combine, the havoc that they will cause will completely dwarf any rock in the East China Sea, or the consequence of allowing China to have them. There are only certain real lines that China will have to cross, to send matters to the visceral dimension, for conflict with the US to occur. The world is not a chessboard with pieces. Two pieces are so immense that they will buckle the board. Jeff Church USA (Oct 15, '13) The thing about superpowerdom is that, when it's over, nobody has the cojones to tell the aged, decrepit and toothless remnants of Empire that it's time to head to the elephant's graveyard, lie down on the piles of bones and just fall asleep forever. Instead, the spectacle everyone has to endure is the skeletal cadaver's pathetic gestures that once terrified the planet now generating stifled yawns. It's been that way for some time now for Amerika AKA (quoting one Cold War wag's description of the Soviet Union) "Upper Volta with missiles." OK, maybe that needs to be updated to be "Burkina Faso with drones" but you get the picture. Of all the reasons for imperial decline that future history books will cite, perhaps the most counterproductive and self-defeating will be the use of embargoes, trade restrictions and licensing denials in order to punish adversaries, prevent dual use military/civilian technology transfers and maintain the illusion of Amerikan techno-hegemony. In almost every case of application, the persistent and stubborn policies have ended in defeat. The embargoes against Cuba and Iran, far from overturning the regimes we aimed to change, solidified the legitimacy of those anti-imperialist regimes and bolstered the development of indigenous medical, financial, industrial and nuclear industries. The almost obsessive draconian controls mandated by US technology export rules that intend to deny "sensitive" dual use technologies to the rest of the planet has managed to erode Amerikan industrial market share while creating foreign competition that didn't exist previously, all the while failing utterly to provide an iota of added security to the Empire. Consequently, previous Amerikan monopolies in computer hardware, communication equipment, space technology, etc., have been shattered into gigabytes, never to return to profit the Empire. The logic of trying to stuff genies back into bottles in the era of the internet, instant knowledge transfer and a thriving industrial espionage business (that the CIA and NSA are fully engaged in for their own profit) seems so addle-headed that it could only have been created in the bowels of Wonderland. Of course, if you're an arrogant full-of-yourself Wonderlander, convinced you're God's gift and that the rest of the world is merely leasing the land they reside on from us, it's easy to understand why you would think you could get away with it. You would believe in your heart of hearts that anything created or devised by 'merikans is simply too complex and too uniquely 'merikan to ever wind up in the hands of heathen Europeans, Chinese or worse. The stark reality that the rest of the globe is finding that it can get along very well without the wheezing, possessive Uncle Sam, thank you very much. They are willing to give us directions to the pachyderm cemetery though, doubtless using their own GPS satellites. Hardy Campbell Texas (Oct 11, '13) Of all the canards the Empire has used to justify its aggressive imperialism, the myth and propaganda concerning its space program has been the most transparently false. In the wake of the Soviet launch of Sputnik, a frightened WonderPublic demanded that the US prevent space from turning Red and having commie bombs rain down on our capitalist heads. While the Pentagon furiously mounted a frustrating attempt to match Soviet space accomplishments, president John F Kennedy initiated a PR campaign to make Amerika's space program seem like the modern equivalent of Columbus' voyages to the New World, an act of bold exploration intended to expand human horizons with only the most benign of intentions. This was intended to mask the real intent of the "Race to the Moon" which was to develop dual use space technologies that would be useful in a future conflict with the USSR. The militarization of space was always the driving force behind any and all US investment in manned flight, and once we reached the moon and the Russians showed complete indifference to emulating our expensive TV adventure, the Apollo program withered away while the Pentagon quietly went about its business populating earth's orbit with battlefield communications and reconnaissance satellites, satellite-killing weapons, orbiting weapon platforms, navigation devices and a plethora of equipment designed to achieve the "Full Spectrum Dominance" so cherished by the late 20th century neo-conmen. To this day the US public is treated to the visual extravaganzas provided by Mars walkers and interplanetary probes while hearing nothing of the Pentagon's preparations for D-Day with Beijing. The PRC, however, is plugging along with its determination to deny the world's last imperialist nation with the hyperatmospheric hegemony it seeks at lower altitudes. China's space accomplishments receive little fanfare or attention here, perhaps because it is unnerving to think that the world's largest communist country is matching us satellite by manned space walk in a domain we once thought exclusively white, Anglo-Saxon and 'merikan. Significantly, even the Europeans, ostensibly on "our" side, have grown wary and weary of US unilateralism and have drifted farther away from complete reliance on Amerikan space techno-monopolies. With the Empire's decay and inevitable collapse on the nearing horizon, it will be interesting to see to what extent the Empire uses space weaponry to intimidate its Chinese rivals from competing for complete space dominance. And make no mistake about it; for the pentagonuts space is a zero-sum game where "sharing" and "cooperation" are non-starters. Whoever wins the heavens wins the earth, and the last card in the WonderDeck will be the one labeled "War in Space." It is fitting that JFK used space as an analogy with the oceans traversed by the early explorers, who in their "peaceful" wake brought war, conquest and death. H Campbell Texas (Oct 9, '13) [Re The dangers of North Korea fatigue , Oct 8, '13] Joseph R DeTrani seeks to put the blame on North Korea. He appeals to the past - the days off the Bill Clinton administration - but seems to forget how the Bush and Obama administrations pushed Pyongyang to test nuclear devices and advanced rocketry, let alone the US's aggressive joint military exercises with South Korea and the long list of sanctions. It is little wonder that North Korea responds in unexpected ways. And when it expresses a willingness to return to the six-party talks, it is accused of bad faith. DeTrani's piece is a restatement of Washington's demands; there is little latitude for a meeting the basic needs of diplomacy. Saying this, on North Korea Washington is in diplomatic ghetto it has enclosed itself within with no exit. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Oct 9, '13) [Re Netanyahu pours scorn on Rouhani, Israel , Oct 2, '13] Israel is trying very hard to move the focus of the world on Iran and Syria so that it's land-grabbing activities in Palestine can continue unabated. The UN should turn it's attention to the nuclear stockpiles of Israel by sending in an International Atomic Energy Agency team and forcing it to sign on to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Wendy Cai United States (Oct 4, '13) [Re Korean democracy at a crossroads , Oct 3, '13 At a recent gathering at the Korea Society, South Korean Ambassador for International Security, Chung Min-lee, waxed lyrically on the Korean peninsula and strategic risk. The ambassador as his title suggests advises President Park Geun-hye on security affairs. Asked about the internal witch hunt, as Geoffrey Fertig outlines, Lee took offense. Not only that, he responded with undiplomatic vehemence that one could only conclude that the question touched a raw nerve of truth. To South Korean hands, it has become obvious that Park is more hardline than the man she replaced at the Blue House. Old habits die hard it seems, and the ones she learnt during the Yushin years have still left traces. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Oct 4, '13) [Re Netanyahu pours scorn on Rouhani , Oct 2, '13] You have to feel sorry for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. US President Barack Obama's brief telephone conversation with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has put Israel's Iran strategy "on the ropes". More to the point, Netanyahu has been saying that Iran will produce a nuclear bomb within moments since the early 1990s, and the world is still waiting for the prediction to become true. Not only that, just before flying off to New York to speak at the UN, the Israeli secret services discovered an Iranian spy in its midst. How convenient! Netanyahu's meeting with Obama at the White House make for good photos, but he left empty handed. Suddenly, US interests veer off from Israel's. And Israel has few choices short of war. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Oct 3, '13) As the 21st century Prussia, the Amerikan Empire is rightly identified with war, but not just the wars of violent explosions and videogame pyrotechnics against nation states. The best known of these non- state wars are still being fought against Poverty, Cancer, Drugs and the latest, Terrorism. In each case, trillions of dollars have been expended over decades, with a concurrent expansion of the medical industry, insurance companies, government agencies, security organs and last but definitely not least, the military. In every case, the "enemy" has not only not been defeated but has grown ever stronger and affected ever more people, with a corresponding increase in the financial and political powers of those entities created to wage war against them. This snake-chasing-its-tail synergy guarantees tax payer dollars being recycled from the pockets of Joe Main Street to the numbered Swiss bank accounts of Reginald Wall Street. And what's to show for it? Lots actually, and all of it bad. Cancer rates have exploded, especially among the young whose bodies are ill equipped to deal with pervasive pollution, toxic foods and immunity compromising medicines handed out like candy by quack doctors. The ranks of the impoverished have likewise exponentially expanded with a deteriorating bubble economy and a vanishing middle class. The War on Drugs may be the most farcical of all, with the US government mouthing platitudes about "Just Say No" abstinence while the CIA actively supports the narcotics and cocaine industries and politicians and Wall Street banks get fat on laundered drug money. Did anyone noticed that heroin production increased after the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 just like cocaine production in South America multiplied after the laughable "Plan Colombia" was launched by Clinton? So for the newest fraud war, against phantom "terrorists," it should come as no surprise that the plutocratic class has once again lined its wallets with more recycled loot, much of it generated by the collusion of drug kingpins, their CIA/Pentagon protectors, banks, arms smugglers, embargo busting corporations, and security and defense contractors. All the while the "enemy's" ranks of enraged brown people whose families and lives have been destroyed swell anew every day all around the globe. The bottom line is that Wonderland never had any intention to "win" any of these wars, only mouthing the rhetoric that its duped citizens want to hear. Perpetuating war in all its forms is the only card left in the imperial deck, the only justification for its continued existence. More cancer victims, more poor, more drugs and more terrorists is the gameplan of Empire. H Campbell Texas (Oct 3, '13) The word "exceptional" has been bandied about quite a lot lately. The OBomber used it to justify his illegal aggression against Syria. Vladimir Putin used it to rebut the O'Bombingator's rationale. Of course, the mirage of Amerikan exceptionalism making us unique on the planet and thus inherently superior in our value system to anyone else on earth has long been considered a bedrock of our collective ideology, justifying innumerable interventions, wars, embargoes and subversions in the name of "democracy," "human rights" and "freedom". It is worthwhile, however, to consider that another race has long harbored such pretensions to exclusiveness and exemption from the rules of civilized intercourse. The Jewish people have long prescribed to the idea of their being a "Chosen People", a race selected and favored by God Almighty before all others. This firm belief has enabled them to weather multiple storms of persecution, mass slaughter and discrimination wherever they have immigrated and settled, convinced that someday they would be delivered by a vengeful messiah who would restore them to their deserved status. The formation of the state of Israel in 1948 and its subsequent Zionist expansion has persuaded many, including evangelical neocon WonderChristians who have decided that Amerika's fate is inextricably bound with the artificial state, that such a day is nigh. There are two ironies at work here, the first being that a Christian's belief is founded on a Jew's death and resurrection that the Jews themselves deny as heresy and blasphemy. The second is that the very name "Israel" is false and deliberately intends to mislead the vast majority of ignorant pseudo-Christians living in Wonderland into believing there is a connection with the modern Middle Eastern state and the ancient Israel of the Jewish and Old Testament scriptures. This is important to many Anglo-Saxon "Zionist Christians" who are convinced that Amerikan exceptionalism is a direct and divinely ordained result of our national white race's descent from the exiled Ten Lost Tribes of that ancient Israel. The intent to obfuscate and deceive only becomes apparent when one understands that the Jews living in modern Israel today are NOT descendants of that ancient state. Instead, the majority are descended from the ancient sister state of Judah, which consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the rootstock of modern Judaism. But even if US Christians recognized that deception, they would probably be OK with that, convinced as they are that the real state of Israel exists on the North Amerikan continent anyway and that they are soul brothers of their misguided Judah cohorts in the false state of Israel, who will "see the light" when the real one and true Christian Messiah returns. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, their religious ideology compels them to seek an Armageddon that will accompany such a return and that will cleanse earth in preparation of the Dual Chosen People's final and just rewards. What neither group appreciates as they jointly rape and pillage the planet with their exceptionalist, imperialist pretentions and noble sounding justifications towards this apocalyptic end is that both ancient states they pretend to emulate perished for the same reasons, their defiance of God's will. Both modern successors of Israel and Judah are pursuing a repetition of their ancient predecessor states' doomed fates, and in this they will surely succeed beyond their wildest dreams. H Campbell Promised Land of Texas (Oct 2, '13) In the recent post by Dieter Neumann, Libya: Still Gaddafi's fault? [September 28, 2013], he made the argument that a few minutes on a web search reveals interesting facts about the signatories to a recently published letter to [US Secretary of State] John Kerry. Had Dieter Neumann however spend a bit more time than a few minutes on his web search he would hopefully have realized that JMW Consulting is not the same company as JMW Consultants. His attack on our company's client list is therefore based on incorrect information. You can read more about our company and client list on www.jmwconsulting.dk Alexander Kjaerum Senior Associate JMW Consulting (Oct 1, '13) The so-called ďż˝War on Terrorďż˝ has defined the Amerikan Empire for the foreseeable future. To most Wonderlanders with the memory span of a potted petunia, that conflict began in 2001 with the artfully crafted false flag fraud of 9-11 and the alleged "jihad" of militant Islam. The potted flower crowd conveniently forgets the greatest act of terror perpetrated on Amerikan soil prior to 9-11, however. On closer examination, the amnesia and subsequent muted response may be easy to explain. Timothy McVeigh's brutal car bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995 killed 168 people and wounded 600 others. Though there were frantic attempts by many white Anglo-Saxons to pin the blame on Iraqis seeking revenge for Desert Storm in 1991, eventually the FBI "found their man" in the conveniently solitary frame of the ex-Gulf War veteran McVeigh, whose rationale for the mass murderings was supposedly his seeking revenge for the FBI's mass killings in Waco in 1993. The case was made that he represented the classic "Lone Gunman" vital to the anti-conspiracy theory conspiracists, a fall guy unconnected to anyone else in keeping with an Amerikan death history rife with stand-alone patsies, from Leon Czolgosz to Lee Harvey Oswald to Sirhan Sirhan. Though one other man was implicated in assisting McVeigh in his heinous crime, the FBI successfully defused any concerns of a nationwide anti-government or white supremacist movement to afflict the Empire with an orchestrated campaign of mass terror. This in spite of the widespread reports of vigilante anti-federal government groups stockpiling weapons and training for domestic Armageddon, many financed by wealthy right wingers vehemently opposed to the Clinton presidency. Consequently, there was no subsequent formation of a Department of Homeland Security, no airport fondlings or silly multi-colored terror alerts; the FBI confidently leaned back and said, once again, no worries, just a nutjob "Lone Gunmen" responsible and it won't happen again. When it did, on a vaster and more visible scale on a crisp September day 6 years later (and precisely 3 months to the day after McVeigh's execution), the reaction was altogether different. "Lone Gunmen" culpabilities wouldn't do the trick anymore, not if your goal was global domination. FBI "business as usual" would no longer suffice. No, in order to create the perpetual police state that could justify attacking anyone anyplace and anytime in the planet, a much more ambitious bunch of fall guys were needed, this time using a government-created fake conspiracy theory concocted to cover-up the real conspiracy of 9-11. Sure, there were holes so large in this flimsily contrived theory about Al Qaeda and bin Laden and 19 hijackers that you could have flown three jetliners through them, but the shocked and eager to be secured public was all too willing to swallow fabrications about cave dwelling madmen conducting the most audacious raid in history. I dare say if Bush and cronies had sworn the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Sasquatch was at the controls of those planes, anyone questioning such accusations would have been tarred-and-feathered as traitors. In similar though less adept fashion, the O'Bomber has tried to create his own puny conspiracy theory about Assad using chemical weapons, but with no burning buildings as a backdrop, the less convincing-by-the-day prez has met a stonewall of indifference and skepticism. Despite his best efforts to pull at the heartstrings of human rights loving 'merikans, our dusky, athletic dictator has failed to hurdle the increasingly high bar raised by the WonderPublic to swallow government lies. Maybe what he needed was a photo of a gassed Easter Bunny. Hardy Campbell Houston TX (Sep 30, '13) [Re Dangers in North Korean dual-track strategy , Sep 27, '13] Niklas Swanstrom's analysis, like most "critical judgments" about North Korea, lacks any historical filter to put matters in place. North Korea is willing to talk to the US, but the Obama administration is deaf to Pyongyang's openness. Perhaps, Washington could learn something from its "diplomatic breakthrough" with Iran after 34 years, in changing its tone. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Sep 30, '13) [Re: Obama: A hapless and wandering minstrel , Sep 26, '13] One of the primary reasons for the Obama administration's inability to execute its Syria plan rested on one factor: the poor state of the US economy. In poll after poll, the American people gave overwhelming precedence to domestic economic issues over yet another military adventure abroad. By the same token, one can rather safely conclude that the three most important determinants of President Obama's legacy will be: the economy, the economy, the economy. John Chen USA (Sep 30, '13) [Re The real North Korean threat , Sep 26, '13] Emanuel Pastreich's analysis would have been strengthened if he had placed creeping desertification in an historical context. Where is the reference to draconian sanctions which could and would help North Korea to arrest the threatening spread of deserts? Where is the reference to denying North Koreans food aid that in times of famine and bad weather would have stopped the need for them to strip trees of bark for food? Nakamura Junzo Guam (Sep 27, '13) The all too predictable vilification of Bashar al-Assad in the inept crawl up to Obomber's planned attack on Syria included, of course, comparison, if not equation, of the embattled leader to Adolf Hitler, history's favorite embodiment of evil. This all too common equivalence is used namby pamby here in Wonderland in political campaigns, an easy sell in a country whose depth and grasp of history seldom extends beyond the cartoon images Hollywood or the pathetic history channels on cable provide. But if we examine such accusations of Hitlerian behavior, one must question just which of the two leaders resembles the Austrian corporal the most. Hitler's claim to infamy was cemented by his unprovoked aggression against Poland which initiated the Second World War. So between Obama and Assad, who was threatening war against who? Defenders of the Tanned Hawaiian-Kenyan will claim humanitarian justification of protecting Syrian civilians for explaining Obama's threats, which is fine as long as we acknowledge that Hitler used the same humanitarian rationale for war as the protection of ethnic Germans in Danzig from Polish "persecution." That Hitler's excuse was bogus should not prevent an objective observer admitting that no there is no "smoking gun" evidence that Assad was responsible for the alleged chemical attacks, thus making Obama's excuse potentially just as bogus. Indeed, based on the puny circumstantial evidence provided to date, in an Amerikan court of law Assad would walk out a free man. Unfortunately for the planet, Obama has arrogated to himself the same all pervasive powers to render judgment and execution that Hitler himself implemented in his drive for world conquest. Indeed, Obama had the Hitlerian gall to speak for the whole world when he baldly claimed that "the world" had set a red line, not himself. Maybe that's what the voices in OBomber's head told him. While Assad battles a CIA funded insurgency (itself an illegal act of war), and civilians naturally are victims of the chaotic violence engulfing Syria, Obama is himself cold bloodedly murdering Afghan and Pakistani civilians willy nilly with his "collaterally damaging" drones, cruise missile strikes and black op death squads. So if we are comparing which hands are redder with Muslim blood, well, I daresay that it's a draw, but at least Assad is fighting a civil war. Obama's murders are just plain rotten imperialism. And while the dictator Assad undoubtedly has his horrid prisoner camps and the monster Hitler had his mass extermination camps, the "peace loving democrat" Obama is still the caretaker and defender of Gitmo and countless secret prisons around the globe where illegal detentions, torture and death are routine. Pretty even steven there too. In another sense Obama definitely resembles Hitler more than Assad. Hitler was ultimately one-upped by his mortal enemy, Russia's leader Stalin. Obama's already two down to Russia's Putin. In the end, though, it will be history that judges which criminal tyrant Obama most closely resembles. Hardy Campbell Texas (Sep 26, '13) Every time I think Amerikans cannot bring the image of their nation down any further, well, dadgum, I’m proven wrong yet again. The most recent evidence concerned three GOP, uh, let’s call them dunderheads (the precise Texas word I want to use actually describes the stick used to measure the level of ordure in latrines). The trio of evolutionary failures, Congress-creatures Bachmann from Minnesota, Gohmert from Texas and King from Iowa, took a tour of Egypt in order to demonstrate just how ignorant, venal and stupid Wonderlanders can be. In the case of Bachmann, a woman who never ran across a preposterously insane idea she didn’t want to adopt as her first born, her lunacy and wide–eyed psychosis should have prohibited her from ever leaving the safe confines of a stateside mental institution. Instead, there she was, grandstanding in front of Egyptian media, lauding the overthrow of Egyptian democracy by a brutal US approved coup while at the same time urging her Arab listeners to pursue hallowed Amerikan ideals and principles. Of course, if they had, those present at the press conference would have tarred and feathered the idiot then and there and then run her out of Cairo on a mangey camel. Gohmert, a hayseed redneck and congenital imbecile that makes Bachmann look like Steven Hawking, drones on and on about founding fathers and Amerikan values that Egyptians need to mimic, while King ostentatiously pulls out a copy of the constitution he says he carries around with all the time, not mentioning he does that in order to wipe his derriere when he needs to defecate more Republican lies. This laughably pathetic incident, occurring on the heels of O’Bomber’s Syrian bravado and humiliating stepdown, must affirm, as if there was any doubt, that the Empire is on its last legs. The combination of outrageously arrogant yet sublimely clueless leaders, the pretense of superpowerdom with nothing but guns and missiles to show for it, the steady deterioration of its national economy and the timidity and cowardice shown in the face of true stalwart leaders like Putin, all mark the road to imperial decline, failure and ultimate collapse. The patient Egyptians, who have seen the likes of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Ramses the Second and Napoleon Bonaparte come and go like the desert dust, have seen it all before and recognize the signs of imperial decay all too well. They know their pyramids will remain, but what will be left of the Empire except the image of these mentally challenged congress people and their frothing mouths? H Campbell Texas (Sep 25, '13) [Re Soviet lessons for China in Xinjiang , Sep 23, '13] It is possible that the Soviet experience in Central Asia might prove useful to the Chinese. Yet, differences in history, culture and experience remain extreme. The Soviets never tried to overwhelm through massive implantations of Russians. China does, to the point of overwhelming the Uyghurs so much that they feel that they feel strangers in their own land. China is pursuing the same policy it has in Tibet. It will brook no autonomous entity in a land once ruled by warlords. China would do better to look at how Chiang Kai-shek made efforts to include east Turkmen into a more comfortable cultural sphere in pre-communist China. So, it buys off the elite and suppresses Turkmen aspirations for the majority of the population who suffer under forced Sinization. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Sep 24, '13) Wow. That senile old fraud John McCain really knows how to stick it to Putin! His tit-for-tat op ed posted on a Russian website rebutting Vladimir's piece in the NY Times accused him of cozying up to bloodthirsty tyrants. That's showin' 'im, Johnny Boy! And you can legitimately use your deteriorating, Alzheimer's riddled and thoroughly rotted brain as an excuse for forgetting all the bloodthirsty tyrants your Empire has coddled, propped up and pampered over the last 70 years or so. Or maybe the list is too depressing for you to memorize? Lemme give you a taste of "our" repressive dictators so you can start writing your apology op ed; Trujillo, Diem, Batista, Pinochet, Somoza, Duvalier, SADDAM HUSSEIN!, POL POT!, Marcos, Suharto, Mobutu, Ceausescu, all the right wing military junta caudillos that ran Latin America in the 80s, Mubarak, Shah Reza Pahlavi, the leaders of the apartheid regime of South Africa up to our present day support for that Zionist madman Benjamin Nutjobyahoo of Israel. I mean, sheesh, guy, your senility must give you massive cojones to point a finger at anyone in that department. But Johnny Boy's hypocrisy didn't stop there, no sirree. He then pillories Russia for being a "resource only"-economy that will eventually go belly up, this coming from a "man" who was instrumental in wrecking our financial-voodoo-only economy with his coddling of Wall Street deregulations. And then, in an act of supreme ingratitude or amnesia, he derides Russia's standing in the world. What, in comparison with a kowboy Wonderland that shoots first then shoots again in defiance of morality and international opinion? You mean, that kind of standing? No wonder the Russians want no part of an Amerikan concept of international prestige, the kind the Empire equates with bombs, terror and wanton slaughter. Instead of thanking Putin for yanking our collective national nutsack out of the glowing embers of the Middle East, he attacks a Russian leader who stands by the principles of international security and law that once we actually believed (more or less.) The old saw about keeping your mouth shut and letting people suspect you're a decrepit doddering old fool instead of opening your mangy mouth and removing all doubt reverberates loudly here. But McCain would need assistance in hearing even that sound. H Campbell Texas (Sep 23, '13) [Re Syria diplomacy helps shuffle global order , Sep 20, '13] President Obama hasn't quite lost his mojo. He seized another life line from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. A serious misstep in Syria is suddenly rearranging the patterns in the Middle East. Although no meeting is scheduled for these two presidents to meet at the UN General Assembly, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has requested a meeting with Rouhani at the UN. So, away from the public's eye this opening might provide the cover for a meeting. So in the end, Obama's place in history is being given another chance by two adversaries. Such are the vagaries of history! Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Sep 23, '13) [Re US needs cultural weapons for North Korea and UN finds 'unspeakable atrocities' , Sep 19, '13] Brian Min has a point. The US has little interest in culturally opening to North Korea. Might it be too much to look at Dennis Rodman for a lesson in cultural diplomacy? The former NBA star is now trying to arrange an NBA All Stars game in North Korea in 2014. Should he pull that off, how could the Obama administration wipe the egg off its face? Joshua Lipes rosary of North Korea's human-rights awfulness is an exercise in moral high dudgeon orchestrated by the US with assistance by South Korea. The immediate effect was Pyongyang's rescinding at the last minute the invitation to a US envoy seeking the release of the imprisoned Kenneth Bae. So much for Kenneth Bae's human rights? And so much for the Obama administration's ukase of our way or the highway. It is not interested in talking to the DPRK. Consequently, Rodman's "basketball diplomacy" is a way to engage Pyongyang and possibly to soften its hardline on human rights. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Sep 20, '13) [Re: US plays Monopoly; Russia plays chess ,Sep 16, '13] American geopolitical planners may suffer from blinding hubris and over-ambition, but they're not dumb. That said, world domination via the use of hard power has been tried before, and never realized. To be sure, there is a Grand Canyon-size gap between wisdom and intelligence (as in the everyday perception of human IQ), and the US has been repeating the mistakes of past empires. The way things seem to be heading, it may be time to start thinking about joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's Silk Road caravan. John Chen USA (Sep 18, '13) September 11 has come and gone again, with all the requisite memorials, lamentations and teeth gnashings that we Wonderlanders have made part of our national mythology and ritual. Of course, that date is preserved in world lore as commemorating the so-called "al-Qaeda" attacks of 2001, but for another country, 9/11 is memorialized for altogether different reasons. That nation, Chile, recalls the events of September 11, 1973, when a CIA orchestrated military coup overthrew the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende, who died in the takeover rather than be captured and tortured by the brutal Amerikan assisted thugs of the new right wing and fanatically anti-communist Pinochet regime. Perhaps it is with some irony that this, the 40th anniversary of said tragedy, also marks the frustration of the O'Bomber administration's latest attempts at orchestrating its own overthrow of a foreign government, this time under the transparently false rubric of humanitarian concern over chemical weapons against poor wide-eyed and very photogenic Syrian children. Maybe if the that tall traitor sitting in the Oval Office had brushed up on his Regime Change 101 primer, he would have taken a few pages out of another interventionist's playbook, that of Richard Nixon, who used a combination of economic subversion, false propaganda, Latin American military pressure and selective bribery to orchestrate Allende's downfall with the Empire's involvement discrete and in the shadows. Nixon, the master of dirty tricks, was already at that time feeling the first soon-to-be-hot breezes of Watergate on his conniving neck, but when his end came (ironically enough due to Nixon's own act of auto-regime-change), scarcely anyone made his involvement in destroying Chilean democracy a reason for impeaching him, so artfully had he concealed his paw prints. O'Bomber, on the other hand, showed all the deft manipulative skills of a double-arm amputee juggling hand grenades in Times Square at high noon. Such is the sad state of Amerikan incompetence in virtually everything these days that the only thing we're capable of is playing the Bomb First and Don't Think Ever of Consequences foreign policy. When a superpower has nothing left in its arsenal of persuasion but weapons, the headstone on that Empire is already ready for planting in the Cemetery of HasBeens. H Campbell Texas (Sep 18, '13) [Re Philippines under the neo-colonial boot , Sep 13, '13] Much has been written about the imbalance and self-interest motives of the US in the Philippines and as a Filipino by birth and an American citizen by choice, I feel a certain obligation to voice my views, if nothing more but to inject another perspective in the debate. Given the emotions enveloped in that subject it is almost counter intuitive to disapprove expressions of patriotism, particularly when such condemnations are directed against a former colonizer that the US once was but unfortunately for me, therein lies my argument. To view the actions of the latter solely from the experience of the past would be to ignore the realities of the present that confront the Philippines, which overall, makes certain arguments of those who condemn the US unsubstantial and weak. The fact is, the Philippines even today is hardly independent and debatably a republic with the majority of its populace still focused on daily survival, despite almost 70 years of so-called independence. Consider that from the very early age, children are taught the country is rich yet all they see and experience is a life of deprivation, poverty and hardship; which begs the simplest of questions, why that is? Since being given its independence, it has consistently shown an unwillingness - maybe an incapacity - to rationally govern itself by its near-total submission to another colonizer (the Roman Catholic Church) which provokes equally substantial questions but more significantly, diminishes criticism about American intent. But to be clear: what exactly is the disagreement? That the US is more attentive on serving its own interests than those of the Philippines? Forgive the hubris, but shouldn’t a government be only loyal to its own citizen’s interest? For any citizen of any country to expect more from that principle is to expect what never was and never will be. In addition, the US could only serve its own national interests as it expects all other governments to do likewise; if only because that is what equal sovereigns do. Given that context, I have difficulty understanding how the Arroyo administration, for instance, was able to purposely give away 90% of the country’s share to two corporations in the oil exploitation called the Malampaya Project - absent some personal quid pro quo, how else could one makes sense of that unequal share? Stealth seems to typify the Philippine government's modus operandi when it comes to doling its natural resources and vital interest, almost always to the detriment of its citizens. In fact that agreement alone should have rang bells and been seen as a traitorous if not a criminal act for the massive harm it inflicted upon the country and its people, both in image and reality. Yet no one associated in that arrangement, as far as has been reported, has been held to account, as if nothing of any consequence had occurred - which makes one wonder: where are the educated minds particularly from those so-called elite institutions of learning? How about those patriots who are always ready to pounce on the US for not serving the Philippines interests more diligently? And then there’s the Catholic Church and its priests who alone could legitimize and give merit to any public demonstration of outcry or support. The same church as in the days of colonial Spain still determines the quality of life for the country and makes definitive dictates as to the meaning of truth. More consequentially for the country, its definition must be imposed on everyone. Despite this inordinate influence, no one seems troubled enough to challenge its far-reaching impact on the country’s development and the impeding effect on citizens' lives. And if one can visualize the image that condition elicits and everything else that defines the character and nature of Filipino life, one inevitably head-butts existential questions; What am I doing here? Why am I staying in the country? The fact that the government sees nothing immoral about finding jobs for its citizens overseas instead of creating jobs at home to keep families united, should awaken even a sleeping mind. But considering the millennium of immersion in the righteousness of suffering as a will from the heavens, and a sanctifying grace to be saved, what poor soul would dare complain? Moreover, when elections for public office are seen as a vehicle for self-aggrandizement and promotion of personal interests rather than shared common interesst; where public service is about comfort and privileges , the inexorable question becomes: Is there still a republic? It is unquestionable that weakness invites aggression. In a society that believes in kneeling as a position of strength and in hope as a plan, the complexity of the problem becomes overwhelming to the point of discouragement. Given that reality, it seems almost inevitable that developed countries, the US included, would try to do in the Philippines what its own government is decidedly doing to its people. Oni Sioson Connecticut, USA (Sep 17, '13) An open letter to President Barack “Yes We Can” Obama Dear President Obama, 1) Tsar Vladimir Putin (then a Prime Minister of Russia) invaded the Republic of Georgia in August 2008, after Shikashvili's thugs in Georgia murdered less than 2000 South Ossetians and destroyed a few homes and buildings. Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion, without any UN Security Council resolution and without bothering to even ask for the approval of the Russian Duma. He dismembered Georgia and did not give a damn about the world's public opinion. Yet absurdly Putin now demands UNSC resolutions to punish the Nazi regime of Bashar al-Assad, and so are the participants of the 13th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)! 2) You have let the long-suffering people of Syria down by not bombing the forces of the fascist sectarian mafia of Assad so far, even after the mass murder of over 120,000 Syrians, largely by the Assad Nazi regime using all categories of mass murder weapons. Instead, your reluctance made Putin and others in the League of Backers of Mass Murder in Syria, who provide weapons for the mass murderers and all political and propaganda covers, look very gutsy and smart. 3) Geneva II is only a victory for Putin, Iran, China , and Hezbollah, not for peace and certainly not for the wellbeing of the Syrian people, especially when for more than two years so far you have refused to offer the Syrian rebels effective weapons to fight, and you prevent others from doing so. 4) You no longer have any credibility in Egypt, in Syria, in Palestine, in Turkey, or among millions of Arabs who counted on your help in these countries (Egypt, Syria, Palestine). 5) You seem to be doing only what is good for settlers-colonial New Khazaria in Palestine (aka Israel), ignoring that fact that it has a huge nuclear, chemical, and biological arsenals that endanger not only all peoples of the Middle East, but also Europe as well. You do not even dare to bring that subject up. What a tragedy indeed! Your AIPAC-charted actions in Palestine, in Syria, in Egypt, and elsewhere in the Middle East totally discredit your policy and you personally and create serious dangers and instabilities in Turkey, in Jordan, in Egypt, and eventually in your milking cows yards – the petrodollar fiefdoms of the GCC. You are making Putin, Assad, Ayatollahs’ Iran, China, and Hezbollah look better and better to so many millions in the Near East! You can do much more than just appease and please AIPAC, Netanyahu, colonial New Khazaria in Palestine and its fifth column in the US. Under your Zionist-charted, reluctant, and intimidated tactics and actions, the US is losing all credibility and leverage among the overwhelming majority of Arabs, Turks, and 1.4 billion Sunni Muslims everywhere. What is wrong with you sir, and with your incompetent advisers? Zack A Jalamani California, USA (Sep 17, '13) [Re Cheers and jeers greet Obama's bear hug , September 12, 2013] Despite all the noise coming from opponents and proponents of President Obama's Syrian policy, certain inconvenient facts are indisputable. Fact one: before the bombs start falling, diplomacy must be the way forward not an afterthought. The US response to Syria, besides international control of its chemical weapons must go further. Creative diplomacy akin to the diplomacy that ended the several-decades long Lebanese civil war should be undertaken. The Russians can bring President Bashar Al-Assad to the table and the US can bring the rebels to the table. Fact two: you have the tale of two presidents. The last time chemical weapons were used in the Middle East was in the 1980s by Iraq's Saddam Hussein against the Kurds and Iranians causing thousands of casualties. President Reagan, a supporter of Saddam, aided and abetted Saddam's efforts to use chemical weapons, as recent declassified documents indicate. Furthermore, Reagan prevented the UN from acting. In reversal of such grotesque policy, President Obama, unlike his predecessor, wisely decided on calling on the congress and the international community to take action to prevent the use of such weapons outlawed by international agreements. And, he must be commended for his prudent and resolute handling of this very complicated problem. Fact three: calling on the Congress for authorization to act is in the furtherance of the Administration's belief, especially his vice president Joe Biden, who has enunciated often that for any military action to be successful it must have the backing of the American people. Lastly, diplomacy must be given a chance to work for no one should want to risk the unintended consequences of the alternative. Fariborz S Fatemi USA (Sep 16, '13) [Re Cheers and jeers greet Obama's bear hug , September 12, 2013] Oh my what an uproar Vladimir Putin created here in the Empire. His op-ed piece in the NY Times criticizing Amerikan bellicosity and first-resort to violence has sparked the predictable knee jerk reaction from a country that thinks itself immune to international criticism, especially from a former KGB officer running Russia like his personal fiefdom. But again, as with the Benard Manning and Edward Snowden affairs, Wonderlanders are quick to string up the messenger rather than pay attention to the message. It's just far easier to pillory the purveyor of unpleasant tidings than to fix the inherent deficiencies that made the message necessary in the first place. But the fact remains that Putin pretty much nailed it on the proverbial head, which made the article all the more stinging for the neocons, who are so accustomed to being the ones wagging fingers and acting morally superior. He accused the O'Bomber of undermining international law with his fictitious and arbitrary "red lines" and then questioned the whole premise of the tanned Bush-clone's foreign policy, which basically consists of us "exceptional" Amerikans deciding unilaterally what is moral and humane and just and right and not giving a tinker's damn about any other country's opinions. What is more telling than all of the details in Putin's piece is the fact he wrote it in the first place, in the still frothing wake of the chemical weapons diplomacy he instigated and the Snowden fiasco preceding that. It's really like rubbing the Empire's and the Obombingnator's face in the fresh diplo-dung we've just soiled ourselves with. Naturally, Amerikans would have preferred Putin demurely slinking into the background after he pulled our chestnuts out of the fire, and accepting our strained begrudging gratitude gracefully and in silence. But Putin and Russia have had quite enough of that "silent partner" cow caca and listening to the Empire's sanctimonious and hypocritical two-faced lecturing about freedom and human rights, when we are so quick to throw brown human lives away for some arbitrarily decided "red lines" and manufactured crises. The New Russia will flex its muscles carefully and astutely, preserving the balance of power through the support of the very same international norms of civilized behavior the US itself promulgated and endorsed when it was Top Dog so many years ago. Putin will also avoid the Bull-in-the-China-Shop diplomacy of the bumbling stumbling O'Bomber-Kerry Keystone Kop duo. Wonderlanders truly interested in avoiding such humbling debacles in the future had well heed the Russian's cautionary words, but a betting man will profit handsomely if he put all his money on the "Next Bogus Middle East Crisis" square. H Campbell Houston TX USA (Sep 16, '13) It is too early to tell just where Obama will rank in the list of Worst Presidents Ever, but every day he inches closer to the top spot. This will inevitably happen despite all the accolades and historic precedents that his election generated, including his preposterous Peace Prize (which the Swedes will be blushing red about for quite some time), his lofty Kingesque rhetoric and the fervent desire of the blinded Left to show up the neocons with their earthly savior. The ongoing and as yet unresolved fiasco over Syria may well be the cherry that tops his Failure as Prez Pie, though I suspect that in his remaining three years he has screw-ups, scandals, coverups and a financial Megameltdown still ahead of him. But imagine a president who manages to make Vladamir Putin (!) look like a paladin for peace, alienates even his core constituents with tardy, convoluted and illogical rationale for intervention, follows up the Edward Snowden revelations about his hypocritical lying with yet more bald faced lies about "slam dunk" evidence that Bashar Al-Assad ordered the gas attacks, dismisses the UN with a level of contempt that only Dumbya Bush (his soul brother) would admire, and seemingly is ready to defy the overwhelming will of the Amerikan people, most of the planet as well as the usually divided Congress. It would appear to be workings of a madman at first blush, until one considers where Obama's paymasters reside. That Tel Aviv and its black ops in the Mossad stand to benefit from a US intervention into yet another quagmire is beyond doubt. What is less certain is the implementation of said miscreants in carrying out the chemical attacks in cahoots with contracted mercenaries posing as Assad's henchmen. It would not be the first "false flag" operation conducted by the Zionists, as anyone who has not drunk the WonderAid about 9-11 can attest. Once the US commits to a "limited" air war (just like LBJ did in 1965, remember?), it will be a piece of cake for the Mossad to manufacture a Gulf-of-Tonkinish incident with Iran that Obama will use as justification for full scale war with the anti-imperialists in Tehran. Of course, at that point articles of impeachment will already be in front of an increasingly irate Congress, with effigies of the Obamanable Stooge lighting up lampposts from New York to San Diego, but Obama's Jewish bosses will have their conflagration, which suits their bank accounts and their fantasies about a ThirdTemple just fine. I never thought I would see a worse president than that village idiot Bush but evidently genetic research is capable nowadays of splicing together the genes of a pathological liar, a soulless serial killer and a smooth-talking politician; I give you Barack Insane Obama. Hardy Campbell Texas (Sep 11, '13) [Re Cambodia: Social media fuels new politics , Aug 6, '13] Recent alarming election results have highlighted some deep-seated popular discontent towards the performance of the Cambodian government and the way it may have failed to address pressing fundamental economic, social and governance issues that have negatively impacted on the daily life of the people. Known for its disciplined organization, the Cambodian People's Party is now faced with unprecedented and daunting challenges to effectively respond, adapt and move ahead to swiftly reform itself and the government to regain the needed credibility and confidence of the people. The depth, breadth and pace of reforms need to be assessed within the time binding constraints of the next five years and way beyond. This requires a strong political will to tackle and promote a mindset of change within the party and the government. As severe as this set back can be for the CPP, it also provides an unprecedented historical opportunity to rise to the challenge and lay out a new economic, cultural and social foundation that will make Cambodia become an economic powerhouse, relevant to the region and to the world, where our Angkorian forefathers and the generations to come will be proud of. Mindset change is hard but possible if it is well designed and can touch the hearts and minds of the people. Lee Kuan Yew had done it very successfully for Singapore and Emperor Meiji for Japan. Both had created unprecedented sustainable prosperity for their nations and could be viewed as the equivalent of the 20th century Jayavarman VII. The main challenge, however, remains within ourselves, as the famed scientist Albert Einstein rightly said: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them". Neither should we also fall into the temptation of “change to remain unchanged” as cosmetic change is not change but just a way to perpetuate our usual habits, values and mindset, which have proven to be rather ineffective in addressing the toughest economic and societal issues. Well-intended policies were conceived, unfortunately they fell short due to the absence of urgency, weak implementation and coordination, weak accountability as political correctness has been rewarded more than results, which has resulted in widespread ineptitude in many line ministries. Cambodia today mainly leans towards a donor-influenced mindset, whose agenda is just to maintain Cambodia’s Third World status. In comparison, let us look back in perspective to the Sangkum Reas Niyum era of (as he was then) Prince Norodom Sihanouk who displayed real leadership, wisdom and transformed the country into an economic powerhouse in the 1960s within Southeast Asia as well as project its soft power onto the global political arena by being a founder member of the NAM (Non Aligned Movement) and sat as equal among the great statesmen of those times the like of Nasser, Nehru and Sukarno. Whoever holds the reins of power in the next decade could use a bolder vision to set a new path of development for the country. Is there a leader cut out for such a challenge? David Vichet Van A Simple Khmer Citizen (Sep 9, '13) Killing Syrian civilians to punish Bashar Al-Assad for killing Syrian civilians is madness pure and simple.Why is this not the central meme? Phil Mosley Australia (Sep 9, '13) The murder of a young Aussie here in DeathLand by three bored WonderTeens has predictably stirred the momentary ire and horror that such an act fully merits. But in a country where the recent butchery of toddlers registered similar outcries for reform and gun control and the like, only to dissipate in the usual cascade of liberal hand wringing and congressional GOP stonewalling, our inherent love of violence will kick in, almost like clockwork, to relativize the tragedy, focus on some new similar horror, then slide into the river of Denial, Amnesia and Thank-God-It-Wasn’t-My-Child relief. And usually we’ll be starting anew war in Non-Amerika to get us concentrating on the real priorities, killing brown children “over there.” The fate of the three sociopaths remains unknown at this time, but they’ll doubtless be grateful that they haven’t been branded “terrorists” like the Chechens of Boston Marathon infamy, simply because they don’t have funny sounding names or heathen religions. What won’t help their case is the blithe statement one made that the motivation for the killing was sheer boredom and the desire to see that relieved by shooting the young man in the back. That is a definite no-no in a country that typically rationalizes our murderous warmongering ways with some convoluted expression of absurdist righteousness, such as justifying the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqis by saying we fought Saddam for the protection and safety of the Iraqi people, or the self-defense ploy used recently in Florida to acquit a man who shot an unarmed black teenager. By making the case of Us vs Them, Good vs Perceived Imaginary Threat, Wonderlanders can nod approvingly and quickly process the surreal rape of logic and sanity into something fungible, pliable and completely sensible. Worse for the miscreants, though, such a confession makes the nihilism that resides in every Amerikan bosom spasm and twitch with envy. The desire to slaughter and destroy resides so snugly inside DeathLanders that it should be little wonder that every week a new TV show or movie comes out concerning the end of the world with all its attendant death and destruction. Similarly unsurprising should be the non-revelation that the most popular book in the Holy Gospel is the one where the progenitor inspiration for all such nihilist entertainment originated, the Apocalypse of St, John the Divine, where carnage, retribution and violent punishment are meted out in bucketloads of blood. Are we surprised that we sit on the largest collection of planet killing nukes and biological weapons? By making us see ourselves in them, the three alleged murderers have condemned themselves a hundredfold. Amerikans don’t like to be reminded that we are not the most violent, murderous, terroristic, warmongering nation in the history of the globe for nothing. Hardy Campbell Texas (Sep 9, '13) Saudi rulers must feel in a real pickle these days. On the international side, their military allies in Egypt are bracing for incipient civil war, their rebel allies in Syria are being gassed with impunity, little neighbor Qatar and its Al Jazeera TV network is making a real pest of itself in resisting Saudi bids for regional influence, the US fracking boom threatens to erode their control of Amerika’s addiction to oil, Iran’s nuclear program continues apace, Yemen to the south teeters on the precipice, their army of occupation and repression in Bahrain continue to aggravate Sunni-Shi'ite tensions and the Al Qaeda movement they and the CIA created has gone rogue, splintering into a thousand hydra’s heads, each with their own definition of Islamic purity with some proliferating in Riyadh's backyard. Domestically, the situation may be even more dire. Disgruntled Saudi youth who connected to the cyberuniverse are easily circumventing all the old style regime organs of suppressing dissent, "immorality" and calls for pluralism. With the old example of the Shah and the new examples of the Arab spring as historical wake up calls for those who refuse to smell the coffee, the aging Wahhabists in Riyadh are undoubtedly hunkering down to weather what they hope is a passing storm. Alas, for them, what will be passing is their geriatric derrieres as the old guard pushes up cacti one by one, leaving a whole host of unresolved questions to their younger successors, including a suffocating morality state, rigidly controlled gender relations, mounting debt, depleted oil reserves, the increasing radicalization of homegrown Islamists, the deteriorating health of Saudi youth reared on Western cholesterol, persistent unemployment in an oil industry still dominated by expats and most ominous of all, the tottering and impending collapse of their foremost Anglo-Saxon ally, the Empire. Wonderland, always eager to point fingers at repressive regimes worldwide that don't meet our standards of human rights and civil liberties, have naturally always and hypocritically turned a blind eye to the theo-Stalinist regime in Riyadh, even ignoring all the blatant and transparent ties of the royal family to al-Qaeda, the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, the Sudanese government and every hatred-spewing madrasa from Albania to Zanzibar. The good news for the Saudis is that the one state with the most to lose if the conservative, US-tied regime falls is Israel, which has supplied the Saudi state with surreptitious intelligence, training and assistance for 30 years or so and relies on Riyadh to keep the lid on the simmering Palestinian pot. But even the Chosen People cannot stop the big wheel of history turning. Hardy Campbell Texas (Sep 6, '13) [Re Bo breaks from script , but sticks to role, Sep 3, '13] "Western-style democracy with all its trappings might be a goal" -Francisco Sisci Present-day politics in the US is not a good advertisement for "Western-style democracy." Congress is the most despised institution in the US, less popular than cockroaches or warts, and for many good reasons. Any day now, congress and the president are likely to give us another war, kill a vast number of Syrian civilians, against the wishes of most Americans. They have been doing this since at least 1950. In that time, no change for the better has come from electoral politics. The biggest change in US society in my lifetime was the Civil Rights movement. It did not grow out of electoral politics. Lester Ness Kunming China (Sep 6, '13) General Martin Dempsey's refusal of US Secretary of State John Kerry's invitation to participate in Kerry's dissimulation that an attack against Syria is not an act of war requiring congressional authorization is priceless. US Senator Rand Paul claims such an attack must be approved by congress with a decision that is binding on President Barack Obama and wants Obama to indicate as much before any vote. Dempsey's "no thanks" in such a context during testimony before congress intended by Obama should have a devastating effect on Obama's ability to get congressional approval if enough people take note of it. I did not think that anyone would be able to outdo Representative Zoe Lofgren's recent retort in an interview that if such an attack against Washington, DC would be viewed as an act of war, then such an attack against Syria should also be viewed as an act of war. I was hoping that Paul would express the foregoing thought if Kerry allowed Paul to reply. Instead of the rapacious and insatiable Kerry allowing Paul to reply, Kerry turned to Dempsey and invited to him to fall into a trap. Dempsey, a man in the mold of Calvin Coolidge whom Dempsey resembles slightly, let Kerry and Obama both fall into a pit from which no one should be able to emerge, assuming there is a shred of decency, rationality and humanity left in the US. Dempsey would not be where he is were he not approved by the US' Israeli masters, and his refusal to participate in Kerry's deception is most probably going to cost him quite a bit at the hands of this country's Zionist and Israeli puppet masters. I am taking public note of this in the hopes of protecting and liberating him from his and this country's Israeli overseers in the hope we can get him to become the first US president who is free from Zionist or Israeli control in over 80 years. Adam Albrett Fairfax, VA USA (Sep 6, '13) [Re Pet projects put Kim on a slippery slope , Sep 3, '13] Kim Jong-eun can do nothing right, according to Joon-ho Kim. Even though South Korea has its ear to the ground, like the US, it is wandering in the dark when it comes to North Korea. Building a water park for the people, is not an occasion for ironic comment. Had Kim looked at the days of Evita and Juan Peron, Evita built amusement parks for the Argentines. Evita also instituted a program of distributing milk to the people, too. Alas, the US, South Korea and others sneer at any projects undertaken in the North and cynically, they are denying the import of milk and milk products to the people of North Korea. Standing on the high horse of false morality is rather distasteful, don't you think? Nakamura Junzo Guam (Sep 4, '13) [Re Life loses value in the Middle East , Aug 29, '13] Ramzy Baroud provided inaccurate statistics about the number of Palestinians civilians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. Baroud stated: "According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, 1,417 Palestinians were killed during the Israeli 2008-09 war on Gaza, out of which 926 were civilians, including 313 children. The Israeli rights group B'Tselem puts the number at 1,385, with 318 minors killed" According to Israel Defense Forces sources, over 1,000 Palestinian casualties were Hamas fighters. While Baroud did mention casualties by both sides in Egypt, he failed to provide statistics for Israeli casualties and the trauma to Israel's children resulting from the thousand of rockets launched at Israeli towns by Hamas from Gaza. The anti-Israeli narrative in Baroud's essay is propaganda. Larry Shapiro California, USA (Sep 4, '13) It is reassuring that some in the Syrian opposition and many Syrians interviewed in the street by Arab TV media are opposed to a US or Western attack against Syria, even though their opposition may be due to considerations other than the need to act in accordance with international law which would prohibit such an attack. US President Obama's legal justification for attacking Syria is based on the illegitimate, widely discredited and unacceptable preventive war doctrine and is the same legal justification Israel (whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is clamoring for an attack) used to justify the 1967 war in which Syria lost control of the Golan Heights, the Palestinians lost control of Gaza and the West Bank, Egypt lost control of the Sinai and many other illegal acts since then and the (Zionist-controlled) US has used to justify attacking Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. Given the foregoing, is it not surprising that Free Syrian Army Chief-of-Staff Salim Idrees and Free Syrian Army Strategic Advisor and Spokesman Luay al-Miqdadi and others of their ilk are confident that the US Congress will support Obama. It is almost certain that their handlers have manipulated them yet again and gotten them to act against their best interests and the best interests of Syria, Arabs, Muslims and humanity in general. You would think that they would be expressing the hope that Congress would not support Obama. What Syrian in their right mind would give approval for an attack whose illegitimate "legal" justification is the same as that used by Syria's Israeli enemy to seize the Golan Heights in 1967. Given that Syrian opposition leaders have tried repeatedly to discredit the Syrian regime's resistance credentials against Israel, you would think that they would be extra careful not to do anything to validate or launder their enemy's criminal actions which they may have a much more difficult time opposing if they continue down this path of cheerleading for an attack with the same foolishness of an innocent person cheering for their own execution, except that much more than one person, or even one country or one people, is at stake. Were the US Congress to support Obama, it would be doing nothing more than validating or availing itself of a thoroughly illegitimate Israeli alternative reality legal doctrine that past Zionist-controlled US administrations and the Israeli pariah that controls them have invoked. Given the foregoing characterization and the clarity with which the issue has been presented, I am not sure that Congress will support Obama once international law gets a fair hearing despite Obama's best efforts to keep it out and given that responsibility to protect is not a credibly available avenue for justifying any attack. The FSA's Idrees said "yes," when he was asked by al-Arabiya whether he would welcome a US or Western attack on Syria. He said "yes" even though the legal justification for the attack is essentially the same as the illegitimate legal justification for the Israeli attacks on Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran and Tunisia. When Idrees was asked whether he would welcome Israeli entity participation in an attack against the regime, he said "no" because it occupies Syrian territory (not because it is also an enemy of the Arab and Muslim worlds and humanity and occupies Palestine). Does he mean to say that he would welcome an attack were it not occupying Syrian territory and even though it is occupying all of Palestine? The Syrian opposition and all who desire a just world order should not be validating or availing themselves of illegitimate and discredited Israeli alternative reality legal doctrines or the recently fabricated doctrine of "responsibility to protect" (R2P). R2P, assuming such a doctrine is needed and is properly formulated, should not be available to those with "unclean hands", especially those who intend to benefit illegitimately from invoking R2P. Until I started reading Asia Time Online again a few days ago I had not read it since the time a letter from a reader was published claiming that a preventive war act that is unacceptable under international law would become acceptable merely by claiming self-defense. Unfortunately, it appears that the reader doesn't understand that anticipatory self-defense with, among other things, has strict limits on the imminent nature of the threat and proportionality is the self-defense outer limit of international law that makes preventive war unacceptable. A limited attack as envisioned by Obama is not only disproportionate it is illegal. If the foregoing is hard to fathom, maybe it will help to be reminded that simply saying something was done in self-defense doesn't make it so and that until the Israeli-controlled US started its illegal and widely condemned wars, the international pariah that is Israel was in the entire world. Adam Albrett Virginia, USA (Sep 3, '13) The year 2013 is the anniversary of many events both large and small. It is also the centenary of the end of a historical epoch. 1913 marked the last year before the Great War broke out. It thus represents the termination point of the pre-modern era to the present "modern" era, an era bookended with a hot world war and the present day increasingly chilly one. The pre-modern era can reasonably be adjudged to have begun in the year 1453 when the Last Roman Empire in Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks (thereby making 2013 yet another anniversary.) Sadly, it remains a historical fact that it is wars that represent the major turning points in history, not scientific discoveries or religious conversions or great works of art. Wars shape our lives, our deaths and our ideas about life and death; they affirm our humanity by our inhumanity. It is the most human of institutions. Hard on the heels of the traumatic end of 2000 years of Roman grandeur was a series of events that had the most profound implications for the pre-modern era, the innovation of the printing press by Guttenberg in 1454 and the "discovery" of the New World by Columbus in 1492. The domino effect of these three events brought the world to 1913, a year where the exhausted remnants of the Ottoman Empire lay a smoldering, ready for ignition anew. It was the last year where the ideas of authoritarian dynasties that hearkened back to the dawn of civilization would seem like the natural and divinely inspired order of things, the last year that the idea of glorious, chivalric and pristine wars could be fought, the last year that the awful and awesome promise of technology did not threaten mass extinctions. Today, 2013 is just another brick in the wall that humanity had built since the world lost its mind in 1914. This year finds the splintered pieces of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East splintering anew, with the potential to ignite another wider conflagration, just as the Austrians counted on limiting their little war with Serbia to the barbarous recesses of the Balkans. Perhaps Obama, like the Emperor Franz Josef, is just hoping to teach Assad a lesson by waging "limited" air war on Syria. He should read his history books about how imperial Russia perceived Austria Hungary's "little war" and pray Putin does not emulate Nicholas II. H Campbell Texas (Sep 3, '13) [Re Obama set for holy Tomahawk war , Aug 27, '13] American history repeats itself over and over again. The supposed atrocity: sinking of the USS Maine to get us to attack Spain. Dirty bird Lyndon B Johnson's attack on our navy to get us to escalate the Vietnam war. The sinking of the RMS Lusitania... and on and on forever. The actors have different names, even different shades of facial color, but the lies and rotten behavior remain the same. And enough of the American public will swallow the whole rotten mess to support yet another attack on another country. Lou Vignates USA (Aug 29, '13) [Re Syrians to be losers - again , Aug 26, '13] As President Barack Obama weighs his military options for "punishing" Syria for the use of Sarin gas, it is useful to recall a much overlooked UN report on the use of bio-chemical weapons in Syria. The UN established that both sides in the Syrian conflict have resorted to the use of such weapons. So, it is not unreasonable to suppose that it was very much in the interests of the Syrians rebels of all stripes to use them when UN inspectors were coming to investigate areas where the deadly gas was allegedly used. The Obama White House has taken it on faith that the Assad government did, even though it admits that it is on faith alone that they have come to this conclusion. We ask the question of "cui bono?" Who benefits? The rebels, of course, the more especially since they think Obama is dragging his feet on aiding them with the weapons he is not furnishing them. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Aug 29, '13) The US is apparently on the verge of another great mischief in the Middle East, 10 years after the "pretextual war" in Iraq via the WMD hoax. Mr Kerry sounds so much like the then Secretary of State Collin Powell who lied to the whole world about the "compelling and irrefutable evidence." Contrary to Kerry, there is little doubt the Syrian rebels have used gas attack, as confirmed by a member of the UN commission of inquiry, Carlo del Ponte, both in May and now. But, truth is the first casualty of war and America's impending new military gambit with unknown consequences fits the rogue superpower's pattern of warmongering, which has more than once backfired on Washington. Kaveh L Afrasiabi United States (Aug 29, '13) Can some clued-in ATol reader tell me why the US and its Western stooges are getting their panties in a wad about chemical weapons in Syria? Several months ago the reincarnation of Dumbya Bush stood in front of cameras and proclaimed the use of such weapons a "red line" that Assad did not want to cross, as if the deaths of thousands of civilians wasn't enough of a "red line" of some new Wonderish definition of decency and "legitimate" war behavior. This somber proclamation coming from a president, mind you, that has the blood of hundreds if not thousands of innocent victims killed by his drone wars, his continued illegal occupation of Afghanistan and his black op assassination squads. But those deaths, inflicted by chemical explosions or projectiles propelled by explosive chemicals, are in some way "acceptable" deaths as opposed to those induced by non-explosive chemicals. Evidently chemicals that cause bodies to be disintegrated into a thousand incinerated pieces are preferable to ones that merely asphyxiate or paralyze the nervous system but nonetheless leaves the corpse intact. Maybe Obama has something against leaving enough body parts around for a decent burial (or autopsy). That would explain why we never got to see Osama bin Laden's body, wouldn't it? All this angst and hand wringing from a country whose chemical weapon Agent Orange still plagues Vietnam and thousands of US veterans and whose effects are to this day disavowed. All this hoohah from a country that poisoned its own troops with chemical weapons demolitions during the First Gulf War. All this anxiety about chemicals from a country where every day hundreds of companies are allowed to pollute air and groundwater with toxic chemicals that generate fat profits and condemn poor people to a lifetime of health problems and premature funerals. But the fact that the US has some quirky kind of sensitivity about chemical weapons can't be denied, judging from the kind of biased and contrived intelligence used in past so-called "red line" episodes, such as the alleged and subsequently discredited CIA "yellow rain" incidents during the Cold War and the erroneous CIA conclusion in 1998 that Sudan had a chemical weapons plant that we then cruise missile destroyed, only to discover later on that it was just a pharmaceutical drug plant churning out medicine. Oops (the secret CIA motto, by the way.) And don't be surprised after we drop some bombs and kill more innocent brown people that the CIA will 'fess up and admit they got the Syrian chemical attacks wrong too. Double motto. Perhaps it's the image of Western Front Anglo-Saxons choking in clouds of mustard gas in World War I that's got the spooks in the CIA spooked. Or maybe because anyone else using chemical weapons threatens our monopoly on hideous instruments of lethality. But the image of an indignant Don Obama dripping from head to toe with innocent blood and his befuddled Sancho Panza Joe Biden getting sanctimonious about Syrian chemical weapons surely must set a new standard of hypocrisy even the Anglo-Saxons will have trouble surpassing. But I am confident they will. H Campbell Texas (Aug 29, '13) Hardy Campbell, perhaps you could enlighten us on the history of socialism and how that system has benefited humanity economically/socially? Human systems aren't immutable, my friend; they evolve and adapt over time as demanded by changing circumstances (or they risk being discarded by history). During the height of the Cold War, who could have imagined die-hard socialist countries one day turning capitalistic? Maybe capitalism can mutate as well? As a fellow ATol reader, my advice to you is to get out of Texas and go see what's happening around the world, lest you become the allegorical frog living at the bottom of a well. John Chen USA (Aug 26, '13) For further debate on this, we direct writers to The Edge - ATol So Manning gets 35 years and Snowden gets indefinite Russian winters as the Obamanable President's revenge. The irony of the Obaminator's government making people's private lives more transparent through his universal snooping while he cloaks himself in ever more opaque cocoons of secrecy may escape most people. Before the word "terrorist" became an abused member of the WonderLexicon, there was government snooping of organized crime bosses, politicians, communists, civil rights activists, drug lords, tax evaders, religious leaders, Hollywood stars, ie, anyone with a pulse that could someday upset the status quo. And that was in the days when snooping was much more difficult in a no-Facebook, Internetless world. Nowadays, the snoopers are like kids in a cyber-candy store. And like a child who has raided the cookie jar without permission, our NSA Snoop Dogs blithely confess to multiple transgressions of what they sneeringly refer to as "court"-approved surveillance. Amazing they haven't croaked of cyberdiabetes. The gullible rubes called Amerikans live in a fantasy world where the idea of "privacy" has become a rhetorical sacred bedrock of our so-called democracy, while, in truth, the US government always considered privacy as a theoretical concept, like freedom and civil liberties, that best resides as ink stains on a piece of yellowing paper, to be trotted out in the real world only for special bamboozling occasions, like elections, war rallies and similar mob-quelling rubbish. Watergate exposed some of what had been going on for decades, but the American public gullibly believed that all those subsequent late 70s CIA hearings and institutional "reforms" fixed the problem permanently and we could all return to the Wonderland of Ike-in-the-WH, Tail Finned Cars and juke box dancing at the malt shop. In truth, the real snooping hadn't even gotten started yet. The rapid evolution of computers and all sorts of electronic gizmos during the 80s made the spying business easier, quicker and less obvious. At the same time, the cycle of financial balloons inflated to mask a deteriorating economy began in earnest, and make no mistake that the scions of Wall Street and the clandestine organs of national security profited enormously from the confluence of these parallel developments, often in collusion. But every weapon has a two edged blade, and in the case of the cybercrooks in the SEC, NSA, CIA, FBI, DEA, DIA, etc., that dual sharpness sliced important veins when Assange, Manning and Snowden cut through the veil of secrecy with their acts of patriotism and honor. Mind you, nothing like 9/11 exposing arteries were severed, but still, to those accustomed to working at midnight with no accountability, the cuts stung as matter of pride. Someone had to pay, so the trio of political dissidents have been persecuted accordingly. Uncle Joe would be proud of his dusky pupil. They shouldn't gloat too loudly or too long, however. The trio represents only the tippy tip of a vanguard with their fingers on their keyboards, ready to short out electric grids, financial markets, weapons systems, worldwide webs and data bases at a stroke. Good thing Obama's de-criminalizing smokers of Mary Jane; their place in the overcrowded penal system will rapidly be replaced with the avengers of the Hero Manning. H Campbell Texas (Aug 26, '13) So the CIA has finally decided to "tell all" about Area 51, the long suspected government secret facility in the Nevada desert. Of course, the "revelation" did not include aliens or wrecked spacecraft from the Pleiades, just the oft suspected base for spy plane testing during the Cold War. And that supposedly will put an end to such outrageous speculation that the US government would hide such things from its democratic citizenry. Which is why any sane person knows the CIA is still hiding something out there because the CIA ALWAYS lies, especially when they've been forced to admit a previous lie. It's just a CIA knee jerk reaction more than anything else, a compulsion to deceive forged over 60 years of clandestine no-accountability criminal endeavors, from smuggling Nazis to training right wing death squads to peddling heroin and cocaine to rigging elections to political smear campaigns to planting false evidence to false flag operations to the routine kidnappings, tortures, assassinations, smuggling, embargo-busting, illegal surveillance, break-ins, cover-ups and theft. But it's also a tried and true CIA strategy also; confess to a smaller lie to coverup a still bigger lie. So why this sudden need to spill the obvious from these mendacious murderers, especially about a site that has been confined to fringe groups convinced of alien visitations and conspiracies? On the subject of extraterrestrials, I am agnostic; I do not discount the possibility nor does the existing "evidence" convince me. But when the government is seen to be expending propaganda capital about something so innocuous I have to wonder and recall other odd incidences. Before the filming of the 1996 blockbuster Independence Day, the director consulted the military about the script, which included Area 51 as an essential plot device. The brass said they were all or the script and the way it depicted the heroic wing boys of the Air Force but they also insisted that all reference to Area 51 had to be removed. The director naturally refused as the plot would fall apart otherwise, so the Pentagon-types refused support and walked out. Mind you, this occurred when the official government position about Area 51 was that it was pure fiction and the stuff of tin-foil alien abductee fantasies, so why give a fiction mention of it a second thought? To paraphrase Scripture, "The Truth flees when no fiction pursues." Maybe more to the point, now we understand that it was not the Pentagon but the CIA who were the real masters of Area 51, something which can also be said of many many institutions, corporations and educational systems in Wonderland. Making the case that the CIA has its tentacles ensnaring virtually every aspect of Amerikan society, politics and economics would not be a stretch by any means. And don't look for shock on my face if it's ever disclosed that the CIA is also peddling weapons and drugs to alien gangsters from the stars. Hardy Campbell Texas (Aug 32, '13) At the risk of indulging in a polemical debate with John Chen [Letter August 20], there are some critical points here that bear further elaboration. I live in a capitalist society and have done so all my life. The national ideology has provided me with a comfortable living and pleasant lifestyle (which includes sweating in the Texas heat whenever I get a chance.) From this selfish perspective capitalism cannot be surpassed. And for a long time I drank the same KoolAid (disguised as an occasional beer) that Chen enjoys, the myth that the engine of capitalism which would profit the innovative go-getter individual personally and society as a whole in the form of jobs, homes and provision for a family (the "Amerikan Dream.") But after seeing for the last 40 years the deterioration of our wealth creating industries, the slow but inexorable strangulation of the middle class, the corresponding explosion of obscene wealth by the 1%ers, the pervasive expansion of poverty, functional illiteracy, Third World conditions, collapsing health care, illegal wars, corporate crimes, economic Ponzification and political corruption on a scale that would embarrass Zimbabwe, I finally had to take the blinders off that every Wonderlander is fitted with at birth and had to recognize that capitalism is a Darwinian evolutionary process where the genes of capitalism, self-interest and personal profit, eventually must mutate capitalism from the do-gooding social kitten of Pollyannish WonderMythology into a ferocious predator. On the African savannah, evolution makes the predator's teeth sharper and its jaws stronger, not for the good of the savannah's other animal inhabitants but for the good of the predator's digestive system. Likewise, with the evolution of technology and communication, capitalism's equivalent of better meat-shredding teeth and jaws are such innovations as collateralized derivatives, which have mutated from their benign origins into a ruthless economy-killing machine. But while many may suffer in the "savannah" of the ravaged Amerikan economy, the few predators who have "innovated" prosper mightily. And in an age where the rate of mutation is accelerated a billionfold by technology, these mutated beasts are evolving more rapidly, more ruthlessly and beyond any institutional control. Chen posits a world where these monsters can be controlled, where the cookie jar can be sealed tight from the predator's claws. The Warrens and Bhararas of the world will supposedly make the savannah prowlers tamer and more "responsible." But responsible to whom? The bankers and financial wizards on Wall Street are primarily responsible to themselves and their shareholders; there is no secret codicil that makes them beholden to "society" or even "government", which they suborn anyway with well-oiled propaganda about democracy, personal freedom, innovation and oodles of campaign "donations." The responsibility of the capitalist is ultimately to themselves and no one else. Chen is right about one thing, though, capitalism relies on innovation, but not the social-benefiting kind he envisions. No, the kind of innovation the capitalist thrives on is the kind that steals more opaquely, cheats more deceitfully and is easier to disavow when the claws smash open the cookie jar. H Campbell Relatively Cool Texas (Aug 22, '13) An underlying condition in the Muslim Brotherhood's (MB) implacable resistance to its ouster is resentment - resentment on the part of the winners for being ousted in the first place. And yet, the anti-MB elements do not regret for finding themselves on the side of the generals for finding themselves in a new-old situation when they thought they had clipped the wings of military power and now find that it has come back to dominate Egypt again. The Brotherhood over played its hand from the word go. Since it cannot entertain the idea of a separation of mosque and state, and since it thought its victory at the polls gave it a blank check to reinstate a version of a Caliphate, it has had a rude awakening. Still, the military has eventually to come up with a way to reintegrate the MB into the political sphere so that it can evolve in a more open way to value opinions other than its own - opinions that are open to the outside world, the rights of Christians and women, and an openness to a secular society. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Aug 22, '13) Appreciate your comment, Hardy Campbell [August 19]; it was an interesting one from an interesting individual. Through the years, I have expressed in my ATol letters an antipathy for unfettered capitalism, as well as my belief that a mix of socialist and capitalist practices would probably produce the best long-term economic outcomes. Interestingly, your entire second paragraph points to a deficiency of proper supervision as a prime underlying cause for the financial/economic fiascos enumerated. While no one knows how far officials like US Attorney Preet Bharara and Senator Elizabeth Warren can go in helping Wall Street behave more responsibly, their efforts certainly represent a step in the right direction. And for all its myriad flaws, capitalism encourages the expression of creativity and propels economic growth in general; the challenge lies in guiding the system so it doesn't get out of control or way ahead of itself. By the way, I don't drink the socialist or capitalist Kool-Aid, just an occasional beer here and there…. Cheers, Campbell; don't let the Texas heat get to you, and don't get too hung up on ideology. John Chen USA (Aug 21, '13) In regards to Nakamura Junzo's letter [August 19] about North Korean defectors, he wonders why the number of defectors is so low if North Korea is so "demonic". The entire country of North Korea is a prison camp, its takes a security pass to travel to the next town in North Korea. China will not grant asylum to North Koreans but will arrest them and deport them back to North Korea where they will face death in a North Korean gulag. North Koreans have to travel the length of China, through Laos and hope to find a path to South Korea in Thailand. Several months ago Laos arrested nine North Koreans and returned them to North Korea to face the gulag hell. Recent reports have North Korea sending kidnap squads to China to grab defectors. Also China is increasing the barbed wire fencing along the North Korean border. In 2011 there were 2,700 defectors, in 2012 after Kim Jong-eun took power that number fell to 1,500. Anyone who follows events in North Korea knows that Jong-eun is not a reformer - his plan is to increase control over the people in the North. He has greatly increased the security of the North Korean-Chinese border. He closed the Kaesong Industrial Park throwing 54,000 North Koreans out of work and destroying the economy of the third largest city in the North, however he now realizes he made a mistake and is trying to reopen Kaesong, but it may not work or it could take several years to reemploy all 54,000 workers. I would love to know what Nakamura Junzo admires so much in North Korea, is it the starvation the torture or could it be the complete lack of freedom? I have no idea, however, I am a believer in Karma and a persons beliefs and actions have consequences. Dennis O'Connell USA (Aug 21, '13) John Chen's letter [August 16] commenting on how wonderful capitalism is when regulated properly made me snicker. It may be naivete on his part or just plain pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking, but the idea of restrained capitalism is akin to the theory of virginal ladies of the evening; sounds tempting and wunderbar until you get down to the practical details. Perhaps Mr Chen does not comprehend how capitalism works or perhaps he's just drank so much of the Kool Aid he figures he should own stock in the company that brews the poison. I would suggest he watch the movie Wall Street (1987) to start with, then move on to reading about the Great Depression of the 1930s, the S&L scandals of the 80s, Black Monday of '87, the dot com bust, the Asian currency crisis, the LTCM fiasco and if he still needs convincing, the whole sordid mortgage meltdown of 2007-09. In each instance, governments said all the right things about regulation and fair play and all that other rot, but when push came to shove and they saw all those tax dollars flowing in and everyone living the high life chasing one Ponzi scheme after another, they too got caught up in the euphoria of sudden easy wealth and stood to one side, lest they be accused of being wealth-depriving party-poopers. In all cases there was plenty of regulations and regulators, just little will to regulate. And that is the seductive genius and evil of capitalism that makes the Chens of the world sing its praises by cherrypicking their memories and artfully forgetting unpleasantness to suit their rose colored and surreal Pollyanna worldview The truth is that capitalism will always promise what the Chens want to hear, anything to get at those suckers. "Regulate me and I will spread prosperity throughout," is what the ravenous lion coos to its lion tamer, purring with feline charm how nice and behaved he'll be when his cage is opened in front of an audience of fat, plump spectators. But whereas Chen and his ilk insist that letting the lion out on a leash with an experienced lion tamer is just what the economy needs to prosper, the lion knows otherwise; once the cage is open, he will rip and shred and feast on the lion tamer and all the unsuspecting rubes until he is gorged silly. But the Lion hasn't lied; the prosperity he spread was HIS prosperity in the form of shattered lives and wrecked economies. In Kapitalism, only predators thrive. "You want to regulate me, Chen?" the Lion of Kapitalism will ask while picking his teeth with bone shards. "Sure, sure, whatever you say. My, you're looking well fed today. Please open my cage again, won't you?" Hardy Campbell Texas USA (Aug 19, '13) [Re Anti-North Korea? No, we're pro , Aug 16, '13] "Though not a large or random sample," says it all. One has to raise the following question - why after all these years does the number of defections from the DPRK remain low if the regime is as draconian and demonic as Pyongyanglists make it out to be? Attachment to land is a good answer. Even Koreans originally from North Korea living in the US for more than a half century have a fond attachment to the city, town or village in which their ancestors lived and died. Much change in the DPRK is at a pace that escapes the attention of those who predict regime change. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Aug 19, '13) [Re Skeletons in Indonesia's closet , Aug 9, '13]The disturbing new documentary, The Act of Killing, sets a new standard of horror that few works of fiction could ever hope to match. It describes the making of a film in Indonesia about the ruthless and wholesale massacres of communists, intellectuals and ethnic Chinese in 1965-66, an act that ultimately brought the kleptocrat Suharto into office with the Empire’s blessing. But the part that shakes you to the core is the fact that the “directors” and “actors” in this movie are the some of the worst killers themselves, who have never shied away from publicity about their butcheries and in fact are today still lauded and held in esteem by many, if not most, Indonesians. In their "movie" they gleefully reenact their tortures, rapes, murders and burning of entire villages with serene and proud impunity, only afterwards reflecting with almost embarrassed circumspection how their victims must have felt and how their film should not make their murders seem "cruel" or 'sadistic." Going into this movie having a general knowledge of events in which one million or more people were killed for trying to acquire socioeconomic justice, I halfway expected that the director had to ferret out the perpetrators hiding away in remote parts of Indonesia, embarrassed and loathe to discuss the holocaust they inflicted on their fellow citizens. Nothing could be further from the truth; they were feted and applauded as they toured Indonesian radio and TV promoting their movie and their “achievements”. Perhaps most chilling was a young woman TV host who practically high fived the old killers for doing their patriotic duty slaughtering the Red men, women and children. The film ends with the principal perpetrator vomiting when he visits one of the scenes of his murders, which included decapitation and strangling, then slipping away into the night, a sleepless night that would plague him with the ghosts of his 1000 victims. But maybe one of the other killers framed this best when confronted by the director with what he described as “war crimes.” He asked pointedly, when did the Americans punish those among them that had killed the red Indians in wholesale massacres? The American director had no response, of course, because he knew the answer. As horrific as this movie was, it also made me admire in a grotesque way the honesty of Indonesian society in not sugar coating or ignoring this episode we in the West would classify as "shameful" or "ignominious", instead deciding to show it in its stark horror and saying "Yes, this happened and we did it for the good of our country and we'll do it again if need be". Here in an Empire whose history is stuffed with the brutalities and horrors of slavery, Indian extermination, innumerable slaughters of indigenous peoples fighting for their freedom from Imperial rule, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, My Lai, the napalming of Vietnam, and now the twin rapes of Iraq and Afghanistan with their Abu Graibs, Guantanamos and countless other secret torture camps spread throughout the world, incidents that are glossed over or ignored altogether in public education history classes, I doubt we would find such ruthless honesty or forthright admission of guilt. Certainly we would not hear any willingness to repeat these episodes, but if there's one thing the Empire is good at, it's putting old wine in new bottles and calling it "Chateau de Freedom&Democracy, vintage 20XX." Hardy Campbell USA (Aug 16, '13) Now that the US government is starting to crack down on Wall Street’s flagitious conduct/greed that has cast a mephitic pall over the nation’s economy, there may yet be a bright future for the country. Otherwise, no amount of wealth will ever suffice to fill the Wall Street black hole. As US Attorney Preet Bharara, who is spearheading the government effort, keenly observed, “Capitalism works best when its participants do not lie and cheat. Capitalism works best when its biggest beneficiaries play by the same rules as everyone else.” While capitalism is by no means perfect, when properly supervised, it can work wonderfully. John Chen USA (Aug 16, '13) [Re While officials talk, Israelis build , Aug 15, '13] Pity the poor Palestinians. The US is leaning very hard on them to sell their birthright for a mess of pottage. The Palestine Authority is basically funded by the Americans, truth be told. Secretary of State John Kerry, rhetoric notwithstanding, is giving Israel an easy pass as the US always does. If it is not clear by now, Israel's push to build, build and build illegally on land that is Palestinian is fueled by a reactionary political agenda of Zionism. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Aug 16, '13) The city slicker from New York came to Podunk USA looking to sell some widgets. The first hayseed farmer he met sounded interested in all the promises the salesman made about the wonders of widgets and all the things it could do, but with a twinkle in his eye the old coot pointed to the large wooden statue of an Indian standing on his front porch and said, "Dem widgets o' yores ain't gonna be half iz good as that there wooden Injin". The baffled Yankee examined the statue, finally asking, "OK, I give up. What does this thing do for you?" The redneck wiped his face with a red kerchief and proudly proclaimed, "Dat Injin dun kept away dem Bengal tigers from my farm fo' da las' fiddy yeers. Ain't lost one dadgum chicken, cow o' pig to a single one o' dose varmints." The salesman laughed but the farmer didn't join in. "Old man, you're in the middle of the Midwest. There are no Bengal tigers in the Midwest. Or anywhere else in America." The farmer finally smiled and let out a little chuckle. "Well, see, dere ya go. Best damn tiger chasin' Injin in da country." Like that farmer, the WonderKlowns in the Obama maladministration are convinced that their snooping, spying, surveilling activities have kept their equivalent of the Bengal tiger away. No repetitions of 9/11 or the African embassy bombings, no organized attacks by al-Qaeda in the homeland. All due, of course, to their diligence at snuffing out all those wannabe terrorist cells by listening in to all Amerika's private calls. We take their word for it, naturally, since they have such an enviable track record of telling the truth and being transparent. But not too transparent, lest those malefactors clue in to the ways and means Obama's stooges ferret out the Good Guys and the Bad Guys. Collateral damage, like the constitution, innocent lives and basic civil liberties are just the price we have to pay for our vanished liberties. But in fact, despite all their assurances, the only thing we really have to go on is blind faith in a mendacious government, their oft-broken and deceitful word and our hope and prayers that those Injins on the porch are doing their job. But if we pulled the head off that wooden statue we'd find a red herring nestled within its bosom, the numbers 9/11 engraved on its scales. H Campbell Texas (Aug 15, '13) [Re Defamation and dissent in South Korea , Aug 13, '13] South Korea like its protector the US is using its National Security Agency and intelligence network to influence national policy. Evidence has turned up in the press that Seoul's spy network has been very active in assuring the election of President Park Chung-hee. A tilt leftward would have opened wider avenues toward North Korea - something the Obama administration finds abhorrent. As it turns out, Park is as intransigent toward Pyongyang as her predecessor Lee Myung-bak or even more so. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Aug 14, '13) I admit I have a soft spot for the year 1953. After all, I was born in it. But aside from that personal poignancy, that singular solar revolution was stuffed with historic events, from the death of Stalin the conquest of Mount Everest to the first revolt in the Soviet bloc. In this, the 60th anniversary of all these large and small histories, we are still witnessing repercussions. Perhaps none was more significant than the CIA/MI6 engineered coup that toppled the populist Mossadeq in Iran, an event still remembered with much bitterness in that revolutionary country. The reinstitution of the puffed up peacock Reza Pahlavi to the Persian royal throne seemingly ensured the West of a if not compliant at least anti-communist leader of the largest country in the Middle East, a leader, I might add, mightily interested in acquiring nuclear weapons. So while the Shahenshah disappeared, his ambitions to make Iran a dominant regional, if not global, player, did not. More important for the post-Shah government was that, coupled with their anti-imperialist and Islamic worldview and the ill-conceived and totally botched invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan by the foremost imperialist power, they are now convinced that in order to avoid being "Mossadeqed" a second time nukes provide the only language that old naked imperialist in Stars and Stripes can understand. Which brings us to the other significant event of 1953, the armistice that terminated hostilities in Korea and guaranteed the fragile viability of the Stalinist North, which was left bitterly frustrated that its erstwhile communist allies China and the USSR had abandoned their goal of unifying the Korean nation. Its comatose economy supported by its communist Big Brothers for decades, the leaders of North Korea eventually reached a decision that, in order to prepare for the day when such benign charity ended and to continue their struggle for reunification with the South in the face of 30,000 Amerikan troops facing them across the armistice line, the only recourse for their resource-poor and tiny nation was to acquire nukes themselves. Perhaps anticipating their inclusion in the infamous "Axis of Evil", the North knew that nukes provided them with a slew of advantages unique to such possessors, including protection from attack and a powerful bargaining chip for negotiating with its enemies. Iran, taking a page from that same Surviving the Capitalists manual, decided to not only follow that same path but to ally themselves with the North in order to secure technology and know-how in constructing these weapons and busting Western embargoes. So now 1953 has come full circle; North Korea and Iran, both creatures and rememberers of that fateful year, have a common goal of nuclear-guaranteed independence from the predations of the Anglo-Saxon West. 1953, so dear to me, will always be a likewise bitter reminder to Iran and North Korea of "Never Again." Hardy Campbell Texas (Aug 13, '13) Wonderland is truly a wonderland for rantaholics like me. The Department of Silly Conclusions and Absurd Logic in DC (not to be confused with its 1970s British version which specialized in ambulatory comedy) is churning the dumb stuff out faster than my keyboard can tolerate my frantic pounding. Take the Department of Defense, a term which, in this case, connotes a reaction to mounting criticism on the military's mounting suicide problem among returning vets from the twin abattoirs we call Iraq and GetBleepedistan (325 deaths in 2012). Consequently, the Penta-gone-nutters funded a psychological study which (stop the presses, if you can still find one!) concluded that the problem is not the soul-gutting horror, paralyzing terror and mind-numbing insanity of war that's driving these young men and women to become alcoholics, abuse their loved ones and commit homicide and suicide at dizzying rates. No, heavens no! It's the fragile and brittle state of mind of young adult Wonderlanders that makes these veterans come home and off themselves, a state of mind that existed waaaay before they joined the military. Indeed, carrying this study's curious conclusion a step further, the military probably ADDED years to their lives, keeping them focused on killing foreign brown heathens before they could even think of turning their guns on themselves or other Wonderlanders. Don't be surprised to see the Army make advertising hay out of that wisdom ("Join the Army, See the World and Keep that Gun Out of Your Mouth!") It's as if the Pentagunners had concluded that it's not swimming that gets you wet, it's the water. The study didn't stop there, of course; go for the gold medal of stupidity while you're in that stadium. They also said that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was NOT prevalent among those deceased, as if these psychogurus could divine such details from buried corpses. The driver for such conclusions is the prerequisite that war and war-waging comes out of this pristine and virginal, untouched and unsullied by anything so demeaning as macho warriors turning in multiple tours of duty and then ending their lives when they return home because the military has discarded them like embarrassing trash. If this all smacks of Big Tobacco funding studies that showed smoking was harmless or Big Coal's whore scientists telling us burning smokestacks did not harm the environment, it's because Amerikans have no peers when it comes to hearing what we want to hear and paying someone handsomely to do so. The Pentagon's absurd conclusion naturally whitewashes any blame that the illegal wars these young men fight, which involves destroying homes, murdering old people and children, raping women, taking, selling and distributing narcotics, living in constant fear of snipers or IEDs, accidentally killing your comrades, and leaving poverty stricken families behind stateside, is any way be complicit in making men in the prime of their lives so despair of their internal pain that the grave offers a more attractive alternative. "The wages of sin is Death, " says the Good Book. I'll leave it at that. Hardy Campbell Texas (Aug 9, '13) [Re China and Korea: A change of partners , Aug 7, '13] With so much Chinese capital - human, financial and geopolitical - having been expended on North Korea, it is rather doubtful that China will forsake its old ally in any meaningful way, at least not until such a time when Chinese influence becomes predominant in East Asia (probably not even then). Meanwhile, strengthening China-South Korea relations do not inherently/necessarily contradict the decades-long Sino-North Korean alliance, an abandonment of which would not likely accrue much overall net benefit to either party. John Chen USA (Aug 9, '13) [Re China and Korea: A change of partners? , Aug 7, '13] China established diplomatic and consequently trade relations with South Korea in August 1992, ie, 23 years ago. So, it stands to reason that North Korea has learned to live with that fact. North Korean watchers tend to discount that Pyongyang acts rationally; a sad error in judgment, it stands to reason. On the other hand, China is not "throwing the DPRK to the wolves". Saying this, as good capitalists with a red tinge that the Chinese are, they will trade with Seoul. Nevertheless, trade does not signify that Beijing is going to an ROK Canossa. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Aug 8, '13) Peter Van Buren's article in Asia Times Online, " Welcome to the Post-Constitution " [Aug 6, '13], is required reading. To those American writers who have issued warnings, it is further confirmation of their deepest suspicions and fears; to a majority of Americans, however, it will never be disclosed to them or shared by American news editors. If NSA is KGB and Silicon Valley cyber-hegemons are Stasi, mainstream U.S. news media is Pravda - a fully complicit partner. Having no proof to offer you but only conjecture, I believe that a financial-military coup might have already occurred in America. I'll call it a "soft coup" enabled by all the players, and by a figure-head in the Oval Office who succeeded early in defeating major domestic stumbling blocks to 21st Century American hegemony. President Barack Obama neutralized raging anti-Bush sentiment in 2008 and quickly moved Liberals, Democrats and Progressives to join Republicans in cheering and supporting actions and policies they would find impeachable under former president George W. Bush. President Obama rewarded Wall Street, neocon, and military-intel-industrial complex factions alike - proven winners today against losers, the American people. But cracks are now appearing and some "Obama people" are waking up and catching up (after four years). Why is there an increased military, paramilitary and militarized police presence across America? Surely, it is not because of oil, minerals or natural gas reserves under mid-town Manhattan or the Chicago Loop. It isn't because Bolsheviks are throwing Molotov's into police wagons or Chinese gangs intend to overthrow city councils. It is because there will be deep seated rage and civil unrest when most of "We the People" finally wake-up to their predicament. As Van Buren pointed out, "the enemy is us". If a "soft coup" has occurred, it won't be stopped by anyone in political office, and certainly not stopped by law enforcement acting on behalf of Wall Street and the military when so ordered. Nonetheless, it needs to be revealed gradually. I believe it was and is being inculcated through gradual stages and examples found in Mr. Van Buren's article demonstrate this. "Whistle blowers", wittingly or unwittingly, also serve this purpose. On Friday, April 19 in the Boston area "de facto martial law" was declared and homes were entered and searched without a warrant. It was arguably an extremely disproportionate response which also sent a very strong and unmistakable message to the American people about how combined power of militarized police can wield total control over a population by fiat order. No one blinked or challenged its constitutionality at the time (they cheered instead). Today, however, I find 80% of comments about NSA revelations left by posters at The New York Times and The Guardian mirror right-wing comments by posters at FOX News. "We the People" are finally getting the message that America has become, de facto, a police state. And where were you? And where was I? And who shall we blame? And what do we do now? I once asked myself the question: Does America need to experience a period of tyranny, despotism, totalitarianism, even fascism in order to rediscover its lost identity, lost ideals, lost democracy, lost constitution, lost destiny? Too often, we don't appreciate what we have until we lose it. History will show us the answers in due time. For now, America is going through the fires. Michael T Bucci USA (Aug 8, '13) Futureman called, again at a less than propitious time. I was sitting down to supper when he rang. "Dude, our class in Ancient Amerikan History was debating who was the baddest villain 'in your day' when the question popped up; where's a photo of the feared terrorist Albert Kinda? Can you help us?" "Albert Kinda? Who's that? Never heard of him." "No way! Your country was obsessed with him; 9-11, Iraq, Afghanistan, the war with Pakistan, the Kuala Lumpur Incident. You know, Al Kinda!" "Wait a second. You mean, al-Qaeda? The terrorist organization led by Osama bin Laden?" "Osama bin Who? No, don't know that guy. Our records show that Al Kinda struck fear in the hearts of every Amerikan for 85 years in the 21st century. He made you suspend all your civil liberties, turned you into a police state, made the declaration of martial law in 2019 not only acceptable but demanded by your compatriots. It is kinda curious though." "What?" Futureman hesitated. "It seems our records show that Al was declared dead and buried several times by your media, proclaiming Kinda finished, ineffective, a washed out has-been terrorist. But on multiple occasions he would suddenly become Public Enemy Number one again, the most dangerous threat imaginable, causing massive security alerts around the world, paralyzing the Empire with fear, then just as suddenly, fall of the radar again, accompanied by more 'he's finished, good as dead' stories. What's funny is this dude kept popping up on and off even when he was a really old man. Musta been one bad boy." I wanted to correct my future friend. I wanted to tell him the story I was told, every day, over and over, about the Arab Osama and the vaguely identifiable group he founded, the viciously executed attacks on the US on 9-11, the way "national security" had been drummed into our heads with the "threat" used as an excuse for everything from airport searches to NSA surveillance to insanely costly wars chasing desert shadows. I wanted to tell him 'the Truth' but then I realized no one in the US had the faintest idea anymore what that would look or sound like. The Truth had accompanied Elvis. Hardy Campbell Texas (Aug 8, '13) [Re Welcome to the post-constitution , Aug 6, '13] The WonderMedia is jumping on Mitt Romney's bandwagon these days. You know, the one he lamely launched during the election when he said in a debate with the Obaminator that Russia was Amerika's biggest foe. The future prez deflected his opponent's observation with a reminder of how dire a threat all those turbaned cave dwelling fanatics of al-Qaeda still were and how antediluvian Romney's Cold War reminisces were. Now that Vlad Putin, in his self designated role as Representative of the Rest-of-the-Fed-Up-with-US-Imperialism Planet, has delivered yet another body blow to what's left of the Empire's prestige by granting asylum to the patriot Edward Snowden, all those who chuckled at Romney are making him out to be the sage but doomed prophet who could find no honor (or votes) in his own country. I can't decide if this is funnier than it is pathetic or vice versa. Romney said what he said because it was the opposite of what Obama said, not because he had some geopolitical wisdom squirreled away in his Gucci suit. The image of the rich little Mormon boy crying wolf over the big bad Russian bear (excuse the mixed critter metaphors) while the Iranian chicken thief, the North Korean cattle rustler and the Chinese forecloser are lurking in the corn fields makes me wonder if The MittiGator would know a threat if it ran over him with a brand new Mercedes. Besides, truth be known, the whole world either resents us for our cultural depravity (Europe), is bitter about our long history of exploitation and interventions (Latin America), hates us outright for being Zionist stooges (Middle East) or covets what they think we no longer deserve (Asia, led by Beijing.) That's why Putin is everyone's silent hero outside the US, and also why the US Whore-Media is working overtime to make him out to be a egocentric, petty tyrant, proto-Stalinist and Cold War throwback. It's the same tried and true treatment every foreign leader gets when he thumbs his nose at the Empire. Chavez; dictator. Ahkmadinejad; loony. Kim Jong-il; megalomaniac. Not so much an Axis of Evil as an Axis that Doesn't Run Through Washington Anymore, a trend that should worry a country long accustomed to being kowtowed to rather than doing the kowtowing. Let's see how deeply bends down before Putin when (or if) they have their "summit". H Campbell Texas (Aug 7, '13) Oh when will the ironies end? Edward Snowden finding asylum in "freedom loving" Russia from the persecution of a snooping, prying Empire. Amerika supplying weapons to Syrian "freedom fighters" with known al-Qaeda ties. NATO parlaying with the Taliban to ensure a graceful exit from the Graveyard of Empires. Washington promoting universal "democracy" and "freedom" in a Middle East where its principal bedrock ally, Saudi Arabia, flogs journalists for blogging about freedom and arrests women for the crime of driving. Perhaps taking the cake, the US wagging its finger at China for espionage! All those kettles calling all those pots sooty messes. Indeed, "Do as I say, not as I do" should be the national anthem of most countries, who depend on a high-wire act balancing lofty rhetoric with the dirty business of lying, stealing, spying and killing. Being exposed in public as two-faced, duplicitous lying hypocrites is, of course, an occupational hazard for all governments who know that their public demands safety, security and prosperity but also know that same public doesn't want to know the details of all-pervasive surveillance, torture camps, assassination squads, civilian "collateral damage", secret op black budgets, clandestine drug deals, embargo-busting trade, military corruption, political bribery, rigged elections, corporate/political conspiracies, media subversion, deceitful propaganda, cover-ups and alliances with all sorts of strange bedfellows like organized crime, religious fanatics, terrorists and other erstwhile "enemies". The ugly truth is we all know these things happen even if not exposed for public airing, and we go to bed at night happy not to be confronted with the contradictions society is forced to live with in the name of "national security," "democracy" or "civilization." But when some brave reporter who didn't get the memo about playing it safe with local news pabulum has the cojones to lift the rock of secrecy and shed light on these contradictions, our collective reaction is opprobrium and disgust at such revelations and an airing on talk radio and the internet of our lofty ideals and principles. Once we have vented our ire, we can return to our beds content that the world is a better place for our proclaimed outrage while absolutely nothing changes. Hardy Campbell Houston TX USA (Aug 5, '13) [Re Syrian war reaches explosive stage , Aug 1, '13] How many explosive stages have there been in Syria? The US has too many crises to handle in the Middle East and North Africa. The Obama administration has become gun shy to ramp up its involvement in toppling Bashar al-Assad. In fact, the Syrian president's opponents on the ground are engaging in byzantine warfare among themselves: each proclaiming its own truth and a return to a distant idealized Islamic past. What is more and more obvious is that Assad will win even if the country is reduced to rubble. And that 'epiphany' may explain Viktor Kotsev growing sense that a final explosive stage is nigh. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Aug 1, '13) [Re Manning guilty; war criminals on the loose , Jul 31, '13] Clear-thinking people recognize why the US government went after Bradley Manning so strongly. Those who run the government (including the military leaders) know that they have for decades concealed tons of proof of their misbehavior and corruption. Therefore, these control freaks hate whistleblowers. They know that if the full truth were known by the public, the outrage would rival the greatest hurricane ever known. Manning is a martyr for justice and truth. His prosecutors are evil. Ron Vignates USA (Aug 1, '13) [Re China's generals play good cop, bad cop , Jul 29, '13] I have just read part of the Andrew Chubb article on China's good cop, bad cop media relations. I would be very suspicious of any kind of interpretation coming out of America as regards China and this article which is from the Jamestown Foundation is more than likely a CIA front. I don't think your readers' "investors, executives, diplomats" are being well informed in this instance. They are in my opinion being manipulated. I like Asia Times Online when it isn't been used by the mind-twisting devils of Washington DC. I prefer to read the news from China's media and make up my own mind. I don't need any interpretation. They speak plainly enough and can be judged through the consistency and coherency and comprehensive nature of what they are saying. We are adults. We don't someone else's interpretation of what is being said to us. Right or wrong we fall on our own sword. E Traven Hull, England (Aug 1, '13) Apologies to Lester Ness [Letter, July 30] if I underestimate China's Great Firewall, but it would normally take a 30-second online search to learn that the US-based Freedom House (an organization that monitors human rights globally) is at the forefront of demands to lift the veil of secrecy from the US National Security Agency's overzealous snooping. Making the leap from idle wondering to actual thinking and researching could resolve many of his questions. Ness is understandably grief-stricken by the tragic deaths of children in US drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen. And no doubt he is just as upset by the deaths of children as a result of the actions of other governments and organizations around the world, regardless of the goodwill one earns in many European and Asian parlors and cafes when one emphasizes American misdeeds, or the double bonus points one earns for tracing the death of a Palestinian child directly to an Israeli armed with an American weapon. A couple months ago, David J Kramer, president of Freedom House, submitted a letter jointly with a group of foreign policy experts and former diplomats to President Obama to protest the expansive use of drones in Yemen. Given time, that news may reach those in the shadow of the Great Firewall. But Freedom House is only one organization, and can't do it alone. So I am announcing my founding of Lapdog House, an organization devoted to monitoring the disturbing tendency of some people to hump their foreign host's leg anytime a Westerner criticizes said host. Geoffrey Sherwood New Jersey, USA (Aug 1, '13) The bankruptcy of Detroit,a long anticipated and overdue event, has generated a predictable ripple of resigned shrugs, told-you-so demagoguery and glad-it's-not-my-city relief. Once the very paragon of Amerikan industry, cultural and economic domination, the Motor City was the first to feel the buffeting winds of globalization, Cold War rivalry and the relentless logic of the Kapitalist. Unable and unwilling to cope and adjust to the new challenges from overseas (ironically enough supported by the US in the name of Free World defense), and even despite getting bailed out on several occasions by Uncle Sam, the auto business that made Detroit supreme found itself heading towards extinction. But other cities have survived losing dominant industries, so why did Detroit take the thermonuclear option? Well, to hear the Right Wingers tell it to your face, it was those damned liberal unions (in other words, Democrats) with their fat cat blue collar managers and good-for-nothing assembly line workers making princely sums with high school educations, a perfect example how not letting corporate managers running the show (ie, reduce workers to industrial serfdom) would run a good ol' 'merikan business into the ground. Behind your back and in a midnight whisper, those same rednecks will intimate in Right Wing Code lingo that it was the preponderance of blacks and Hispanics that created a corrupt, welfare mentality that drove the city's finances to ruin. The rest of us, liberals, apathetics and no-nothings, won't be that inquisitory. Instead, we'll just tsk tsk, shake our heads briefly, get into our Japanese or German cars, turn on our Chinese radios and listen to the latest gossip about a sexting politician or a philandering philanderer. It's a perfect strategy when you think about it. Otherwise, one would have to ask oneself; If it can happen to the bedrock of Amerikan industrial might, why can't it happen here? Now you understand why the Kardashians are so popular! Hardy Campbell Texas (Aug 1, '13) [Re The jasmine lesson: Reform beats revolution , Jul 31, '13] "Had Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists managed to crack down on the communists and carry out the necessary reforms in the mainland - as they did in Taiwan, where they landed in 1949 - China could have averted a 30-year depression under Mao." Francesco Sisci is, alas, misinformed; China did not endure "a 30-year depression under Mao". In 1952, the Chinese GDP was 67,900 million yuan, (per capita, 119 yuan); in 1978, the corresponding figures were 364,522 million yuan and 381 yuan, respectively. A growth of 5.4 times in national GDP and 3.3 times in GDP per capita may have been slower than desired (and the road there was very bumpy indeed, with great swings up and down), but these figures hardly add up to "depression". M Henri Day Stockholm (Aug 1, '13) [Re Real change absent in Sino-US relations , Jul 30, '13] Richard Weitz simply restates the obvious: the Obama administration is playing hard ball in Sino-US relations. Thinly veiled in a gossamer fabric of diplomacy, US policy is lacking in cunning - an obvious example is the Obama military doctrine as it applies to the Asia-Pacific rim. One only has to look at attorney general Holder's letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin about Edward Snowden. If anything, Holder's argument lacks any resemblance to truth or to law. President Xi Jinping may be willing to avoid confrontation, but it is only a matter of time. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Jul 31, '13) [Re Beijing boosts controls on online content , Jul 29, '13] "The "Great Firewall" has been strengthened under China's new leadership to better monitor and restrict what its citizens do online, according to a report by US-based watchdog Freedom House." - Radio Free Asia I wonder what Freedom House thinks of the National Security Agency spying on everyone in the US and around the world. Then there are Americans "disappearing" into secret prisons. There is torture, and the droning of dissident US citizens, and even their children, to death. The US government says these practices are legal and moral, and Attorney General Eric Holder has even been known to make jokes, after killing the children of dissidents. What does Freedom House think? Lester Ness (Jul 30, '13) [Re A brewing storm in the Western Pacific , Jul 24, '13] Walden Bello's article tells a lot about the legitimacy of Philippine's territorial claim, or not! Bello said that a map of the Republic of China in 1940 showed China's claim to Nansha and Xisha. The self-proclaimed Filipino admiral Tomas Cloma said he "discovered" the Kalayaan island in 1956 and he later sold the island to the infamous Philippine President Marcos in the 1970 for one peso. Can anyone believe that someone can still discover a new island in the 20th century? Now, legislators like Bello want to bring back US troops to station in Subic Bay and Clark Air Base after the country had a hard time kicking US troops out of these two bases with the help of volcanic ash of Pinatubo. On top of this, Filipino politicians also want to bring another colonialist Japan to its midst. Filipinos do not learn from their past history. The Philippines was a US colony for 40 long years and was another four years under Japanese rule in World War II. Wendy Cai United States (Jul 29, '13) [Re How Iraq will win the Arab Spring , Jul 25, '13] It is difficult to share Riccardo Dugulin's rosy assessment of what is happening in Iraq. For sure, the country is in turmoil - a sorry legacy of Bush's war. Dugulin must read the resurrection of al-Qaeda as a sign of "winning the Arab Spring", and the internecine war between Shi'ites and Sunni will not end in the foreseeable future. Abraham Bi Yiju Messina, Italy (Jul 26, '13) [Re A brewing storm in the Western Pacific , Jul 25] "China's aggressive territorial claims, Washington's "pivot" to Asia, and Japan's hawkish bluster are stirring a volatile brew in the Asia-Pacific." I'm waiting for someone to notice the popular belief among Chinese people that Native Americans are descended from Chinese naval expeditions sent out by Chin Shi Huang, Khubilai Khan, etc. It could inspire chauvinists and xenophobes on either side of the Pacific! Lester Ness Kunming China (Jul 26, '13) [Re Revisiting the Persian cosmopolis , Jul 19, '13] Richard Eaton takes a shot at Islam through the not-quite-so obvious method of omission! The whole thrust of his argument in the article is how wonderful things were (in his eyes) for Southeastern Asia before the advent of the Islamic Era and how Iraq and her neighbors tried to resurrect "Persia" without religion or God being a factor - which again, is an indirect attack on Islam - as if The Faith had no influence on the invading Mongols or the organization of Turkish leadership and that everything developed through spontaneous combustion. If he had remained neutral, there is no way he could have ignored Islam's contributions to the area in terms of resurrecting and organizing the social bureaucracy and infrastructure. To infer that "religion and God" had no role in the development of the region prior to or after the invasions by Crusaders or the Colonialists who came later, is an attack on Islam because it is THE "religion" that he wants to avoid mentioning. He apparently wants to avoid any discussion of Islam's definite contributions but maintain the caricature of it as an Old World, intolerant and violent religion. A supposedly "well-researched" article by a Westerner cannot be considered neutral within the context of today's current relationship between the Eastern and Western worlds. What we are witnessing is the rise of the East and the breaking of the West's shackles upon it and they refuse to go down without a fight; one weapon that's sometimes deployed is "scholarship", or in other words: the manipulation of history. Pulsar Stargrave (Jul 25, '13) In response to Dennis O'Connell's letter [Jul 24, '13], first of all, I was not the one making comparisons with North Korea; Geoffrey Sherwood was holding his country up as a supremely humane role model in contrast to North Korea, and I criticized his letter for glossing over his country's own record, but then O'Connell responded with his usual narrative making America synonymous with "civilization" while forgetting that his country is the one who started this war. If he really thinks of his country like that, then he (and Sherwood) should have just as well written the US is allowed to do anything because it is fighting for civilization and I would not have written anything here. O'Connell is being plainly dishonest when he claims the prisoners at Guantanamo are warriors of "Islamic terror" waging a war on "civilization." Naming Khalid Sheikh Muhammad doesn't change the fact that the majority of the so-called "illegal combatants" were picked up from their own homes and villages that had suddenly become battlefields with residents caught up in the cross-fire; they cannot be equated with German soldiers who were enlisted into a formal army and actually fighting against Allied troops in a war that Germany had started. The only "illegal combatants" here were CIA contractors like Blackwater and DynCorps that weren't enlisted in the US Military but were still engaged in a killing spree against defenseless civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. As for "Islamic terror," O'Connell's country and its allies have been openly backing Islamic terror in Libya and Syria as well as propping up governments like Saudi Arabia's that keep funding and breeding al-Qaeda and other Islamist terrorists around the world. In Afghanistan the US has routinely paid Islamic terror Taliban not to attack its supply convoys coming into the country with money they have then used to procure American weapons from NATO arms depots with the help of rogue Afghan officials. This has been too regular for over a decade not to indicate US complicity at some level. Moreover, the US State Department recently admitted it collaborated with the Pakistani Taliban to kill one of its renegade leaders named Waliur Rehman in a drone attack, for which Washington rewarded that group with $5 million; this is the same terrorist organization that tried to kill Malala Yousufzai, and its leaders make no secret of being based in Afghanistan's Konar and Nuristan provinces; and meanwhile Washington is going to negotiate with the same foes it declared war on in Afghanistan in 2001. Intentionally or unintentionally, Washington has been committing arson and shouting "Fire! Fire!" at the same time. Instead of considering any of that, O'Connell chose to give a lecture on civilization, North Korean gulags and Islamic terror. The point I had been making in my last letter remains: Sherwood and O'Connell passed judgment on another country while diverting attention from their own country's track record and gloss over its penchant for holding and torturing people indefinitely without any charge or trial and without allowing them recourse to any law or court. When I pointed that out, O'Connell justified it with convoluted lines of reasoning. Trent Hawkins Auckland, New Zealand (Jul 25, '13) [Re Trent Hawkins' letter, July 22] Nearly 800 men have been imprisoned in Guantanamo - a mix of the guilty and the innocent. That so many innocents were imprisoned is one of the many examples of the criminality of the George W Bush administration and some members of the US military. Over 600 of the 800 have been released. About 170 remain. So I have to ask: How many North Koreans have been released from political prison camps since they opened for business decades ago? How many visits have been paid by the Red Cross? There are an estimated 1,000 times as many political prisoners, including their children and parents, in North Korea's gulag than there are prisoners in Guantanamo. Yet one-thousand times more ink is gushed writing about Guantanamo. Why does the world seem to care more about 170 Guantanamo inmates than 200,000 innocents in North Korea? That disparity speaks volumes about the depravity that moral relativism engenders. I am glad that many of my fellow Americans have shamed the Bush and Obama administrations into releasing so many of the Guantanamo prisoners who never should have been there in the first place. But I don't let injustices in my home country prevent me from speaking out about injustices that happen to occur in other lands. And I don't succumb to the absurd relativism that equates injustices of vastly different characters and motivations. Geoffrey Sherwood New Jersey, USA (Jul 25, '13) [Re: Trent Hawkins, letter, Jul 22] Trent hit the nail right on the head with his observation of "the global network of secret CIA-run concentration camps". What I think is even far worse, our respective societies and our compliant government's, do not raise one voice in protest, thereby making us all equally complicit and culpable in these horrors. Former president George W Bush was once credited with asking the question "Why do they hate us?". Perhaps those concentration camp policies have now provided at least one answer to that question, the world now having vacated any high moral ground as a civilization. And continuing to occupy that vacuum in so many ways, each and every way, each and every day. Ian C Purdie Sydney, Australia (Jul 25, '13) Editor's note: We direct any further correspondence on this theme to The Edge The way the English language is manipulated, twisted, distorted, spindled and mutilated here in WonderWordistan is a sound to behold. Take the words "coup d'etat". French words universally recognized in the context of Third World dictocracies (ie, quasi-semi-sorta-kinda democratic governments with authoritarian elected officials) as meaning the coerced change of government leaders by the domestic military, they are pregnant with foreign policy implications for ostensible "allies" of the Empire. In order to discourage such merry-go-round behavior in chronically unstable countries, the US long ago passed laws imposing sanctions for such actions. Usually those sanctions, in the form of pecuniary punishment, was against nations we had little interest in one way or another, like the Myanmars and Togos of the world. But the recent overthrow of the Mursi government by the Egyptian army has had the Obama State Department scrambling to avoid the dreaded aid-cutting-off word "coup". Much like the flaming-hoop jumps Clinton administration 19 years ago did to avoid the US-committing word "genocide" to describe the Hutu-led massacres in Rwanda, Obama's minions are microanalyzing the dots over Is and the crosses over Ts to torturously extract some helpful synonym from a taxed Webster's dictionary. The US is loathe to alienate the one Arab country Israel needs as a non-enemy, and eager to let a non-Islamist take over the reins of the most populous Arab country in the world. Yes, democracy is being subverted but hey, that never stopped us here in Wonderland, did it? Besides, a blueprint was provided 21 years ago in Algeria when an Islamic government was on the verge of attaining office only to see the election results overturned with the connivance and assistance of our "democracy (on our terms)" loving Empire. I have no doubt that the White House lawyers will earn their pay and find a way to sweep the whole definition issue under the carpet, and maybe it's a good thing they're getting this practice. Looming on the horizon are word games with Russia (is Snowden a "political refugee" or a "traitor?" ), with China (are Amerika's intelligence activities "normal surveillance" or "spying?"), with Turkey (are Erdogan's opponents "peace loving dissidents" or "proto-terrorist rabble?), with Syria (are the anti-Assad rebels "freedom lovers" or "sectarian Islamists?"), with Iran (are they pursuing "nuclear weapons" or a "substitute for oil?"), the ongoing debate about "enemy noncombatants" and "prisoners of war," and, finally, the poor bamboozled, confused and tongue-tied Amerikan public, who are still groaning under the Fed's "quantitative easing" (or is it a "massive welfare bailout?") Regardless, I have no doubt that Obama will wind up addressing the nation on TV while squatting on a steaming, stinking cow paddy and proudly proclaim it a "gilded porcelain throne" designed and manufactured in the good ol' US of A. Hardy Campbell Texas (Jul 24, '13) [Re Competitive suffering harms Korea debate , Jul 10, '13] In response to Trent Hawkins letter [Jul 23] in which he claims the US in worse than North Korea, please let me disagree. He claims there is a network of CIA-run concentration camps holding thousands of innocent people. The CIA did have black sites that at most held around 200 people in places like Poland until men like like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were transferred to Guantanamo, if Mohammed is your idea of an innocent man you need to buy a new dictionary. The Red Cross visited Guantanamo in June of 2004 the have never visited any Gulag in North Korea in the sixty years since the end of the Korean War. Guantanamo has held 779 prisoners, it holds 166 today. There are thought to be around 200,000 prisoners in the North Korean Gulags, evidently math is not one of your strong points. In the Gulags the prisoners are starved, I would like to know what they would think about forced feeding in Guantanamo, however if was up to me I would not force feed them. The men in Guantanamo are illegal combatants taken in a war, when Islamic terror ends we can release them. We did not give a trial to every German soldier taken prisoner during the war and they were held until the war ended, terrorists today should be treated the same. Men the US released from Guantanamo have rejoined the terrorists in the war against civilization, although Mr Hawkins probably views them as freedom fighters. Also unlike North Korea the US is not holding Mohammed's grandfather and niece, where in North Korea whole families are imprisoned the the alleged crime of one person. Dennis O'Connell USA (Jul 24, '13) [Re China debates how to handle North Korea , Jul 23, '13] The matter of North Korea has generated a seemingly endless flow of words in China, says Ren Xiao. China like Russia does not want to rock the cradle of relations with the US. Nonetheless, differing analyses among Chinese researchers, if they criticize DPRK's latest exercise in brinkmanship with America, may miss the obvious: it is the Obama administration that is pushing a dangerous situation to the limits with Pyongyang, 60 years after an Armistice Agreement that put the Korean War into politico limbo. Washington is pursuing, a smash 'em in the face policy, to put it bluntly, in the Korean peninsula as it is doing in west and central Asia with very poor results. This said, the US war machine is prime pumped for mischief, it goes without saying. An atomic devices put a check on US expansionism in a small way, but not enough for the Obama administration to not give up designs for regime change in the DPRK. Debate over changing China's policy towards China, however, is not persuasive enough: China came to the assistance of North Korea in 1950 for the plain and simple reason of keeping an aggressive US from planting its military along the Yalu. And the end of the Cold War, China's rise as a world power and the like have not changed the strategic geopolitical fundamentals concerning Beijing's support and friendship with Pyongyang, trying as it might be at times. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Jul 24, '13) [Re Competitive suffering harms Korea debate , Jul 10, '13] Geoffrey Sherwood [Letter, Jul 18, '13] made a very interesting comparison between America's heavenly prison system and North Korea's living hell run by a foul, evil regime whose prisons he described in very horrific detail. Very sadly, he never mentioned the global network of secret CIA-run concentration camps where thousands of innocent people are indefinitely held (and perpetually tortured even long after they've been cleared for release) on mere suspicion without any charge or trial and far beyond the reach of any law or court, probably because that would have said a few things about his own country's foul, evil regime that presides over this slap on the face of the due process and other niceties that he boasted about while passing judgment on another country. If only Sherwood's letter had been written at a time when the US was not busy force-feeding Guantanamo prisoners on a hunger strike protesting their inhumane treatment instead of giving them their rights, many of them already driven insane by their conditions, while their families are barred even from having their cases heard in any court. Or are we supposed to believe that a suspected, untried and un-convicted terrorist deserves what exactly what inmates at North Korean prisons are going through? Trent Hawkins Auckland, New Zealand (Jul 23, '13) [Re New reef rift hits China-Philippines ties , Jul 18, '13] The ship that was intentionally run aground in Ren Ai reef since 1999 is not a hospital ship. It was a military ship left there to collect oysters to show that Philippines has possession of the reef. If the Philippines government is sincere, it would have tugged it back to its home port instead of letting it rust over there. Wendy Cai United States (Jul 22, '13) Maybe the greatest pleasure of living in Wonderland is getting up each morning to hear the latest absurdity being publicized in the real-news-phobic media as if it were really worth wasting two seconds about. With wars, famines, riots, injustices and disasters swirling around the world on a constant basis, what topic do the corporate shills of the airwaves decide to prattle about like insipid gossipmongers? Why, the outrage of Dzokhar Tsarnaev appearing on the cover of a magazine, of course! Tsarnaev, the addled wannabe terrorist of recent Boston Marathon bombing infamy, was depicted simply by showing his deadpan face, as publicity for an article where his descent into petty terror was analyzed. But that simple front cover image was fuel for a firestorm of indignation, with successful demands for pulling said publication off newsstands. The affront evidently taken by my fellow countrymen, whose behavior frequently leaves me questioning somebodyďż˝s sanity, is that by putting his picture on the cover of a magazine (a magazine, I might add, noted primarily for reporting news of the entertainment industry) that Tsarnaev was being elevated to the status of a "rock star". Mind you, this cover photo had no sexy ladies hanging off his body, or glitzy Las Vegas skyline in the background, or a grinning Donald Trump slapping his back, just a picture of the alleged terrorist staring blankly forward. I should elaborate on my use of the word "alleged." In the eyes of American jurisprudence ( I know, the very definition of oxymoron), until Messieur Tsarnaev is convicted by his peers, in the eyes of the law, he is an innocent man. Needless to say, in the court of public opinion, his conviction is a done deal, yet another example of Americans not walking their much ballyhooed respect-for-law-and-order walk. What is perhaps most distressing is that all the sturm-und-dranging about a mere photo distracts from the praiseworthy intent of the magazine's article, which attempts to uncover the motivation for a middle class young man to embark on such a reckless and ill conceived adventure into murder and mayhem. Such introspection is, admittedly, positively un-Wonderish, since exposing any ills of society is considered heretical or worse, unpatriotic. But until Wonderlanders can figure out why their pristine society seems to bring out the violent worst in people, photos on music mag covers will be the very least of our worries. Hardy Campbell Texas (Jul 22, '13) The recent acquittal of an Hispanic in Florida accused of murdering a young hoodied black man sparked concerns among white media hysteria-hypers that "blacks' would riot, a la the Rodney King upheavals of 1992. Of course, aside from isolated sporadic marches and placard-waving, nothing of the sort transpired. That may seem a bit odd, seeing how the King riots ignited because white policemen were acquitted for just beating a black man, not killing him, but, as the saying goes, that was then. In that 21-year time period, racism has skillfully moved from in-your-face Jim Crow intimidation to far subtler, below-the-media-radar suggestion, so much so that a nominally black man could become president. In Wonderland, perception is not just important, it is everything; with no causus belli of overt discriminatory practices, and with political opportunities for blacks seemingly limitless, the days of rage and racial angst seemed to be over. Yet, creeping back into black consciousnesses are some nasty realities; the Supreme Court recently ruled that states with long legacies of racism no longer need to have their unique and often blatantly discriminating voting rights rules sanctioned by the federal government. This ruling almost immediately ignited a flurry of laws intended to marginalize minority voting, my own dear crackerhead state of Texas leading the way. Make no mistake about it, the Republicans fully intend to limit non-whites voting in the next presidential election. One Supreme Court Justice ( a Southerner who voted for the ruling, I might add) averred that "times have changed." Well, yes, if you mean by that the clock continues to literally advance forward, whereas these redneck Repudiants would dearly like that clock to figuratively move backward, and they fully intend to see that it does. On a more intimate scale, mostly white jury decisions like the aforementioned one occasionally shock blacks into a realization that a dark hued president who acts like a white Republican may not be the harbinger of better racial times that they had hoped, and that, as the French say, "Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose." No better demonstration of that is needed than this; the same week the Florida Hispanic man was acquitted for using his gun to defend himself by killing the black man, a black woman in the same state was convicted of firing a gun into the air to fend off her abusive husband. Apparently air molecules are white people in the Sinshine State. H Campbell Texas (Jul 19, '13) [Re Competitive suffering harms Korea debate , Jul 10, '13] John Feffer shouldn't be concerned about the poor fools who think there is any comparison between American and North Korean prison systems. His writings and speeches admirably inform the uneducated, the mis-educated, and the genuinely curious, about the living Hell on earth that is North Korea. If another dunderhead ever challenges him with the inane question "yeah, but what about the injustices of the American prison system?" he only needs to point out that while the vast majority of American inmates get due process, limited jail time for their crimes, three-square meals per day, access to libraries, exercise equipment, Internet, etc, in North Korea, political prisoners get no due process, are nearly all tortured physically and mentally, and often have three generations of their families incarcerated with them. How foul, how evil is a regime that intentionally imprisons the children and parents of the men and women accused of political crimes? Feffer mentions the book Escape from Camp 14, by Blaine Harden, a riveting tale of a young man, Shin In Geun, who was born in a North Korean political prison camp, reported his own mother's escape plans to a prison guard, for which he was rewarded with a front-row seat at her execution. Shin eventually accomplished the unthinkable - an escape - 300 miles [483 kilometers] overland to China, and thence to South Korea and America. Shin describes how everyone in the camps lose all semblance of humanity. They are reduced to their basest animal motives, betraying parents and siblings by reporting their every indiscretion, all for the reward of a few extra morsels of food. In contrast, here in New Jersey, in one of the state prisons, one of the popular activities is debating teams. Every year, kids from public and parochial schools trudge into this prison to debate, and more often than not, lose to, the prisoners. Is there any debating, singing, acting, or educating going on in a North Korean political prison? And how absurdly idiotic is the comparison of the absolute numbers or the percentage of population in prisons in America versus North Korea? Charles Jenkins, the US Army sergeant who defected to North Korea in 1965 and stayed there 40 years, describes North Korea succinctly as "a giant, demented prison". If the entire nation of North Korea is not, as Jenkins claims, one enormous hellhole of a prison, then what would you call a place where those who try to flee its insanity are shot or imprisoned if they are unable to offer the border guards a large enough bribe to allow them to cross into China? Geoffrey Sherwood New Jersey, USA (Jul 18, '13) "Dude, you know what time it is?" I muttered into the TimePhone." "Oh sorry, easy to lose track of time when we're debating ancient history. That's why I'm calling," Futureman breathlessly said. "We're having some serious debates about 'The American Dream.' What was it, how was it defined, what it meant to the Empire when it disappeared. Can you help?" As someone who saw his parents lose their jobs, their home and their love, I naturally had an opinion on that subject. But it was a sensitive topic to be indulging in at 3 am. "Not sure I can give you a scientific definition. I guess most Americans thought it consisted of buying a house, having a steady income, putting your kids through school and being able to retire comfortably." "Really? Is that all? That's not at all the prevalent view nowadays. Many here swear that the Dream meant America would conquer the world with drone-warriors. Others thought it meant bringing the Gospel to the rest of the galaxy. Frankly, I thought the Dream meant making everyone pay for the right to breathe air and see sunlight. Wouldn't that be a capitalist's dream? After all, your country was the embodiment of capitalism, right?" As he was wont to do, Futureman was getting annoying. "Drone-whats? Gospel-galaxy? Pay for air? What are you smoking in the future? No, man, Americans grew up thinking we had an inherent right to prosperity, if you worked hard and saved, you should be able to buy property, raise a family, and enjoy America's bounty and wealth. Butďż˝" Futureman realized he had stepped into some historic doodoo. "Buddy, forgive me if I'm bringing back painful memories. We know you just went through the 2008 Correction, and the 2017 Economic Chernobyl is just around the corner. But we here in the Future are trying to come to grips with understanding how the richest nation on earth could squander its heritage so thoroughly. I guess we had to come up with some pretty bizarre scenarios of the 'Dream' to explain how you overreached so badly. How were we to know it simply meant making your family happy?" I was wide awake now. I remembered things much clearer now. I could see the day my father lost his assembly line job to a Chinese firm. I could still smell the barbecue cooking when the sheriff came to foreclose our home. I tasted my tears when my parents divorced over hospital bills, credit card charges and empty bank accounts. I saw my friends march off to die in God forsaken countries for God-Only-Knows reasons. What I couldn't recall was the last thing I ever bought that was made in America. Yeah, that's story wasn't as sexy as alien evangelicals or Terminator patriots, I had to admit, nor as convincing an explanation for the Empire's demise. So who was I to spoil a party? "Sorry, Futureman. What I just told you was all cow caca. The truth is, Amerika's Dream consisted of creating a mutant race of hybridized lizard-ape-fish-men who we would enslave to do all the manual work, fight all our wars without pity and defecate gold bullion after feeding them nothing but quotations from the Constitution. " Futureman was ecstatic. "I knew it! Fantastic! Let me write this all downďż˝fish-menďż˝gold urineďż˝defecating on the Constitution. Got it! We'll spend months on this. Thanks again, buddy! Bye for now." I went back to sleep. I think I dreamt about fish sandwiches. H Campbell Texas (Jul 18, '13) [Re China plots strategic coup in the Pacific , Jul 15, '13] "Unless the US upholds treaty obligations, the region will soon resemble the Chinese system of vassal states under the Ching Dynasty." Actually, the region does resemble the Qing system of vassal kingdoms, but with the US as overlord. Lester Ness Kunming China (Jul 17, '13) The only system that can be described as similar to the Chinese "once-in-a-decade transition of power" practice is Plato's rotational ruler ideal: "Those who have come through all our practical and intellectual tests with distinction must be brought to their final trial ... and when their turn comes they will, in rotation ... do their duty as Rulers ... when they have brought up successors like themselves to take their place as Guardians, they will depart ... (<540a-b> in The Republic, translated by Desmond Lee (1974), Penguin Classics, p.354). A comparison shows that three common features and two pragmatic variations can be found between the Chinese system and Plato's ideal. And this system, if well institutionalized, can achieve an advantage that democracy can produce - regular and peaceful handover of authority. Before coming to power, Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping and many other Politburo members had gone through certain types of party school training programs and been posted in rotation among several local administrative and/or functional ministerial positions as a sort of on-the-job training. Although the Chinese curriculum is not exactly the same as Plato's mathematics (10 years), dialectic (five years) and the post-dialectic "military or other office" apprenticeship (15 years) (<524d-540a> in Lee (1974) p.331-54), the fundamental principle is the same, namely, that only purposively trained (for statecraft) people can become rulers of the state. The second common feature is that the rulers lead the state "in rotation" which in modern term means "tenure". In mainland China, as imposed by Deng Xiaoping and subsequently stipulated in the constitution and certain administrative directives, there is a maximum limit of 10 years (two terms of five years each) for an officer to hold a particular position. It has been a national anticipation that when the tenure comes to the end, the rulers in Beijing have to step down and retire. Hu Jintao's complete retirement from both the state presidency and chairmanship of the party's Central Military Commission in 2012 indicates that the practice has been institutionalized. One of the main duties of the rulers is to bring up, assess and select their successors. Here is the third common feature between the Chinese system and Plato's ideal. The selection of rulers is in no doubt arbitrary but there have been some signs of institutionalization in place: promotion on merit, age limits and good track records in local governments. So far, authority has been handed over to the persons without kinship to their predecessors. It seems meritocracy is working. The arrangement that potential rulers are openly recruited in mainland China can be deemed as the first pragmatic variation from Plato's ideal. While Plato proposes a caste system for his "Guardian herd" (<459e> in Lee (1974) p240), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) membership is open to all citizens. It provides socio-political upward mobility opportunity to the general public which is in line with the functional purpose of the two thousand years long Chinese tradition of civil service examination system. The satisfaction of the national aspiration for socio-political mobility through open and fair competition is a key factor for social stability, and even legitimacy. Nevertheless, the second pragmatic variation from the Platonic model that the Chinese rulers are allowed to hold private property and have family has become the source of rampant corruption. Plato who understands the weakness of human greed explicitly prohibits his ideal rulers from having private property and family (<416d-e> in Lee (1974) p184). Unfortunately, it is impractical and unrealistic. Therefore, it will be a great challenge for Xi Jin-ping to strike a balance between property ownership and declaration of assets so as to put corruption under control. The present political succession system in Beijing can be viewed as a pragmatic and experimental implementation of Plato's ideal in a large scale that it has been institutionalized as a huge human resources management system for public administration, political training as well as selection of rulers. Through this system, the CCP has not only remolded the state into an open-yet-authoritarian state, but also succeeded in managing mainland China as a gigantic business conglomerate. This system is far from perfect, nor in good shape, but it has been initiated and working smoothly. While many academics and analysts focus on democratization and choose to ignore this system, it is already an elephant in the room. Researchers need a realistic and thorough understanding of this system so as to ascertain how the "new nomos of the earth" may evolve with such a non-democratic China emerging in the world arena. Keith K C Hui (Jul 17, '13) [Re Mali and China's 'Western' foreign policy , Jul 12, '13]" ... If Western foreign policy can be summarized as a combination of a cooperative approach towards global governance through the United Nations and other regional organizations and an adherence and promotion of human rights and freedom of speech ... ". Yes, indeed, if it were so - but alas, most of us, unlike Pollath, live in the real world, in which "Western foreign policy" definitely cannot be summarized in the manner he does above, but rather by the interminable wars of foreign aggression and coups d'etats that have been so in evidence since 1947. M Henri Day Stadshagsvagen Stockholm (Jul 15, '13) [Re: Dennis O'Connell, letter, Jul 1, 13] While criticizing Maliha Masood for saying "the US is to blame for Pakistan's problems," Dennis O'Connell himself has done exactly the same thing vice versa, along with making false assertions that could not withstand any serious scrutiny. In his letters he shows a chronic inability to rise above petty blame games against other countries, propose actual solutions to the problems he writes on, or accept responsibility for things that are truly the US' own fault, or even afford basic decency and politeness when disagreeing with others. The whole mess in South and Central Asia is one that the United States made but O'Connell is glossing over that in favor of criticizing countries like Pakistan for reacting to a reality created by his own country. Preeti Kaur Paris, France (Jul 15, '13) [Re Competitive suffering harms Korea debate , Jul 10, '13] John Feffer's sudden epiphany is worth noting. North Korea's prison camps deserves the attention that he and others present. Yet, there is a truth in comparing them with America's prison industrial complex: the US prides itself as a beacon of democracy and a model of universal export. And yet, it has the largest prison system in the world that houses its poor, its racial minorities and immigrants, while allowing its bankers and industrialists to go free with barely a slap on the wrist for the harm they do to the country's, nay the global, economic system. America prides itself on civil liberties, yet whistleblowers are prosecuted under the 1917 Espionage Act. Its citizenry is tracked in a manner that would put East Germany's Stasi to shame. And North Korean experts crow about corruption in the DPRK, the buying and selling of offices and privileges in the US overshadows the malfeasance. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Jul 11, '13) [Re Egyptian nightmare for Erdogan , Jul 3, '13] History sometimes has a lesson for us today. 53 years ago, student protests in Turkey - that started small - forced general Adnan Menderes from power. Viktor Kotsev is right in saying that the danger of a military coup is nary impossible today. Yet, the large demonstrations through Turkey reveal discontent against the erosion of secular Turkey as prime minister Erdogan shows an authoritarian footprint in governing with a Islam cast. Although Erdogan has clipped Turkish military wings, hurt feelings and latent discontent among the soldier caste fester under the surface. Should Morsi be removed, thanks to popular sentiment encouraging the Egyptian military to intervene on the side of the more than million who want the president's ouster, that would prove provide a powerful jolt to the Turks. Of course, Erdogan will try to mate the popular will repressively, and repression will feed discontent which might destabilize the present government. As a result the Turkish military, albeit chastened, would seize the opportunity to back popular forces to eject Erdogan from power. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Jul 8, '13) In An assault on hope in Pakistan [Jul 1, 13], Maliha Masood seems to blame all of Pakistan's problems on being in the "clutches of US foreign policy." She also claims Pakistan is held hostage by a minority of evil minded anarchists, she should know they are Islamist's not anarchists. She also equates the US using drones to kill terrorists with the Taliban killing innocent tourists. What most people who blame the US for killing civilians in drone attacks fail to realize is that the civilians are the relatives of the terrorists. So what are the evil clutches of US policy that she hopes Pakistan can escape from, well the US would like a democracy for Afghanistan. What does Pakistan want or should I say the Pakistani ISI want, a Taliban government that will aid them in their war with India. The problems of Pakistan are with the government and the elites of Pakistan. In Pakistan hardly anyone pays their taxes, so what little money they have they spend on war and nuclear weapons. They can not afford to educate their children so they allow the Saudi wahabists to poison their children's minds before they can learn to think for themselves. Hatred of the US has been encoded in the Pakistani DNA since the 1960s, as they blame the US for losing their wars to India which they started. A simple lie in 1979 was all it took for a Pakistani mob to burn the US embassy to the ground. The US has given Pakistan billions of dollars and they respond by aiding our enemies and using our money to kill Americans, and the Washington response is to give them more money in the hopes that they will kill less of us or kill us more slowly. Masood seems to think the US should end it drone strikes and I guess send jazz musicians to Pakistan. Who are these Islamist terrorists that are backed by the Pakistani ISI, they are the type of men that board a bus and shoot a 15-year-old girl in head for having the audacity to think she is a human being and has a right to an education. Masood needs to escape the clutches of the communist left that dominate US college campuses and have convinced her the US is to blame for Pakistan's problems. Those men that boarded that bus will not be stopped by jazz even if Lisa Simpson had stood up next to Malala Yousafzai and played a jazz duet. Those men will only be stopped by force and with the Pakastani elite freeing itself from the clutches of evil they have surrendered to. Dennis O'Connell USA (Jul 3, '13) Obama pooh-poohed the idea that he would be "scrambling fighters" to pursue a "29-year-old hacker". Indeed, it would more likely be drones. Lester Ness Kunming China (Jul 1, '13) [Re Xinjiang death toll higher than reported , Jun 28, '13] Regardless of a burial shroud count, anonymous reports and statements from RFA (Radio Free Asia), the current death toll of Han people from the Lukeqing incident stands at eight migrant construction workers. If the death toll rises from among the 21 injured, then chances are there will only be more Uygur deaths. Photographs circulated from Lukeqing township (Lukqun) clearly show two captured Uygur attackers in T-shirts emblazened with the banner of the Uygur ETIM (East Turkestan Islamic Movement), a party "closely affiliated" with the WUC (World Uygur Congress) and listed as a terrorist movement by the governments of China, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, the US State Department, the EU and the United Nations. Any comment from RFA or the WUC as to why the Lukeqing attackers are wearing the ETIM insignia or murdering their own people would be of interest. Aussie in China Hami, Xinjiang (Jul 1, '13) [Re 27 die in fresh Xinjiang violence , Jun 27, 13] Text messages were flowing throughout the region just after the attack and before any official response from the authorities. What happened is pretty much in line with what has so far been reported. The communication clampdown in the area is in order to stem the rumor mill and decrease the chances of an escalation in violence and not to initiate a cover-up as some might have people believe. When the dust settles it will be found that the majority of police and civilians murdered on Wednesday in Lukeqing were ethnic Uyghurs as was in the case in April in Bachu county when 11 of the 15 murdered police and community workers were ethnic Uyghurs. So, what has the WUC [World Uyghur Congress] and RFA [Radio Free Asia] have to say about covering up the fact that Uyghurs are killing Uyghur police and Uyghur civilians and the likely result that some Uyghurs lives here are about to get harder?. Apparently,not much! They might lose their US government funding. Tony Wiffler Hami, Xinjiang (Jun 28, '13) [Re: Chinaďż˝s rise to hegemony , Jun 25, '13] As Chairman Mao was fond of saying, "If no one causes me harm, I harm no one. But if someone harms me, I'll be sure to reciprocate." That precept encapsulates rather nicely the Chinese mindset and the Han Chinese history. But let's not worry so much about what China may or may not become in a few decades, since the Middle Kingdom still faces a multitude of formidable challenges and much uncertainty ahead. Instead, the discussion should revolve more around ways in which the US, by far the most powerful country now and for the foreseeable future, can more responsibly utilize its leadership position to make the world a better and safer place for everyone, as America's actions will influence greatly not only China's but other nations' development paths going forward. John Chen USA (Jun 27, '13) [Re Our man in Quito , Jun 24, '13] Poor Obama. His persecution of yet another political dissident, the hero Snowden, is developing into quite the diplomatic embarrassment for our once-Tefloned Commander-in-Thief. Seems like everybody and their brother is ready to give Uncle Sam the middle finger "You're Number One" salute these days, even piss-ant countries like Ecuador, the unlikely new sanctuary for lovers of transparent government and freedom of expression. The list of humiliations keeps accumulating for our much pilloried prez. What to make of Obama's deteriorating legacy? Perhaps his recent visit to Europe symbolizes with irony the direction Obama's place in history is headed. Hailed as a deeply tanned tanned JFK by Berliners what seems like a century ago, his latest visit to the Brandenburg Gate, the once famous dividing line between liberal capitalist West Germany and oppressive communist East Germany, was much less of an ego boost for our graying president. This time around, the modest crowds of Germans, vastly reduced from his adoring coming-out party throng, were much less willing to accommodate protestations of national security needs as justification for illegal wiretaps, surveillance and general snooping. Indeed, perhaps more than a few of the Berliner crowd saw our beleaguered Obama in terms of another, far less adored national leader, one who once plied his trade just a few blocks away from Obama's speech-making podium not more than 24 years ago. That man, Erich Honecker, leader of the German Democratic Republic, AKA East Germany, from 1971 to 1989, also used the rubric of "national security" as the palliative excuse to justify his Stasi stooges' use of surveillance, infiltration, co-opting of friends and family as spies and informants and the use of disinformation, lies and planted stories. Of course, the Stasi walking in the footsteps of the loathsome Gestapo made such behavior seem benign by comparison, and the GDR was quick to point out that such steps were necessary to prevent a return to the bad old days of German fascism, as manifested in their cross border brothers in the FRG.Of course, Honecker's bogeymen weren't turbaned Arabs squirreled away in remote desert caves, rather Gucci-suited capitalists on Wall Street and beer-swilling politicians in Bonn, but for him the threat to his regime's survival was just as dire. So Honecker went on a massive borrowing spree from those very same Wall Streeters to keep afloat his sinking economy. But failing to see the disappearing forest for all the trees his Stasi were cutting down would finally cost Honecker his precious experiment in German communism. He had ignored all the signs and warnings and kept touting manufactured statistics and delusional predictions of prosperity and socialist paradise until the very end. The parallels between Honecker and Obama, which would once have been outlandish, now bear noting; persecuting dissidents, snooping on their populace, relying on borrowing from foreigners, putting your trust in Wall Street, believing your own propaganda, sending your security forces around the world to squash dissent, and mouthing meaningless platitudes before ever more skeptical audiences of once fawning but now disappointed fans. It remains to be seen if Amerikans have the gumption to mount their own Wende, but it seems a safe bet Obama's likeness will appear in a Tussaud's Hall of Infamy some day, nestled between the likes of Honecker, Bush, Somoza and countless other petty tinpot dictators. H Campbell Texas (Jun 26, '13) [Re Is Egypt on the verge of civil war? , Jun 25, '13] Should Egypt slip into civil war, the army is ready to step in "manu military." And there should be no doubt about that! It is interesting to note that, even though the Muslim Brotherhood enjoys "popularity," its style of governing has brought about disappointment in what it can do in a civil society. On the verge of a downward spiral in governing, President Mohammed Morsi has twisted and turned to US winds. Ultimately, the army is biding its time when it can once again step into well worn shoes of ruling Egypt. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Ital (Jun 26, '13) Is it not outrageous that "surprise" was the word most associated with the presidential election just held in Iran. What is really surprising is that after spending $1.3 trillion a year on national security and all the months of commentary about the election, mostly fiction, by the so-called "experts" in the media, think tanks and the Congress of the US, they all still do not know what they do not know. And, that is why the election of the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, came as a surprise. Further, witness the ignorance, as the aforementioned, and even some in the US administration, tried to create doubts about the legitimacy of the Iranian president's election. The Iranian people proved them wrong by showing up (over 70%) and overwhelmingly voting for change. The lack of knowledge about what goes on in Iran because of lack of relations, is astounding. President Obama, much to his credit, has tried to open a dialogue but he has been blocked by intransigence from Iran and in the US, by the neocons and the Israel-can-do-no-wrong crowd in the media, think tank and the Congress. Like President Nixon who overcame the powerful China lobby to create an opening to China, the president must redouble his efforts to overcome the same type of obstruction. President Obama fortunately has a great asset right here in the US, [spokesman for the former nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani and once the Iranian ambassador to Germany] Sayed Hossein Mousavian. He was Iranian president-elect's deputy when Hassan Rouhani was Iran's nuclear negotiator. This is an opportunity that the US must not overlook. It is not in America's national interest to allow this estrangement of over 30 years to go on. Relations which are so important in gaining knowledge are also vital concerning US national security interests in the Middle East, ie, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syrian, energy resources, just to name a few. Real diplomacy must become the core American interest vis-a-vis Iran. For decades, it has been anything but that. Precisely more punishing sanctions beget more obstinancy and resistance and this terrible cycle continues. Now more than ever, the US must reach out to Iran, accelerate its diplomacy and constructively engage the country. This important moment must not be squandered by both sides, like others before it. Fariborz S Fatemi USA (Jun 25, '13) [Re Koreas roiled by great power shifts , Jun 21, '13] Sukjoon Yoon's analysis rests on South Korea's ability to escape the toehold the US has on Seoul. South Korea President Park Geun-hye's upcoming visit to Beijing might provide a clue in which direction will she steer Seoul's ship of state. Listening to a podcast of the New York-based Korea Society blue ribbon panel of diplomats and scholar on whether Northeast Asia, former KS president Evans Revere couldn't have bee more fulsome off praise of Park and how she "clicked" with president Obama: he suggested that US-South Korea identity of views will not substantially differ from ex-president Lee Myung-bak's. On the other hand, North Korea is showing more nuance in approaching the US. It is willing to talk, to return to the six-party talks in Beijing. However, Pyongyang is expressing no mea maxima culpa in its statements. Dialectically, it points out that the coin of contention has two faces: the US has to own up to its determining role in destabilizing the divided Korean peninsula. North Korea's new "face" can only please China, since it is causing discomfort for Obama in the same way the US president's doctrine pinpricks China. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Jun 25, '13) Oh what a joyous time to be from Iran. Your football team has just qualified for its first World Cup in 16 years. You have just elected a "moderate" cleric to take over from the Persian George Bush AKA Akhmed I'm-Just-Being-Bad. Your Hezbollah proxies are routing the "liberal" West's Syrian rebel darlings. Oil prices are up. China and Russia are warming to you being the perennial burr under the WonderSaddle. You're building ever greater trade links with an Asia increasingly aware of how old and wrinkled that dude across the Pacific has become. Your supplies to the Afghan Taliban have been just adequate enough to make Tio Sam howl in frustration and prepare to rush for the exits in 2014. Your nuke program makes steady progress. Amerika's twin wars in your backyard has immensely expanded your influence and power, while simultaneously weakening your principal adversary. Indeed, despite all the huffing and puffing of that tired, old Big Bad Yankee Wolf, your country is humming along so well that Wonderland's fave comic, Jon Stewart, is making a film about your sometimes baffling nation. He may even make being Iranian chic and trendy. It's really the least we can do for you, Tehran. That the 30-year embargo/sanctions regime of Crying-Uncle Sam is a miserable, even laughable, failure, would make the ghost of Mao opine that the Paper Tiger of his day has degenerated into a modern Soggy Wet Noodle Fetal Kitten. The latest demonstration of the impotence of the failing Empire was the little publicized announcement by the State Department that "several" (like almost all) of our trading partners have been exempted from trade sanctions that would otherwise be imposed on countries actively doing business with the Islamic Republic of Stick-a-Finger-in-the-Great-Satan's-Eyeball-istan. These exemptions did not even bother to require limits to the amount of trade (mostly in petroleum), since everyone knows the embargo is worthy of a Jon Stewart comedy sketch (if one appears in his movie, you betcha I'll take the credit.) Every week it seems a new improved, tighter sanctions regime is announced, a so-called tightening of the screws that has all the enormous pressure of a marshmallow barrage on down feathers. Frankly, as a Wonderlander myself, it's kind of pathetic to see my country carry this grudge to the point of making itself look like a bitter old man who is willing to take it to the grave. Alas, Amerika is history's Ultimate Sore Loser; it took 25 years to grudgingly get over the Vietnamese butt whipping and we still have beefs with Cuba and Iran. In the meantime, here's one football fan eagerly anticipating an Iranian-US showdown in Brazil 2014. Let the games begin! H Campbell USA (Jun 21, '13) [Re Obama's Monica moment , Jun 14, 2013] Make no mistake, though there are many variables, one sticks out plain and simple. Further arming the rebels is not about helping them in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad. It is about sending a message to Iran by looking tough. Instead of sending weapons, America should be accelerating its diplomacy. Diplomacy is the only way forward. The reality is, the US has been sending weapons through proxies for a number of years, by enabling Qatar and Saudi Arabia to do that job. What are the results? What will a few more weapons achieve? All the talk about ending the horrible bloodshed is nothing more than crocodile tears for more weapons will only add to the list of dead and dying. It is not enough to keep repeating the mantra of the self appointed "experts" that "Assad must be forced to negotiate and more arms will bring that about." Wrong. It is the rebels who are too weak and too disorganized and refuse to come to negotiate. The United States, as their godfather, must bring them to the table. Only then through diplomacy can there be hope for stopping the carnage. The best example for doing that is the Lebanese model. After decades of civil war, the warring factions finally agreed to share power. There, outside powers stopped their meddling, allowing the parties to reach a resolution. The President must listen to his inner angel not the war lovers in the congress, media and think tanks. He must continue to advocate for a pragmatic, common sense, resolution of this civil war. The people of the United States do not want, and will not tolerate another war in the Middle east. What is next? What if regional powers start sending their volunteers to fight? Every action will bring on a reaction. That will be the future, unless the diplomats are allowed to work for peace. Fariborz S Fatemi McLean, VA USA (Jun 18, '13) [Re Rank row puts full stop to Korean talks , Jun 14, '13] Anyone familiar with the two Koreas knows that rank counts, protocol matters. When Kim Dae-jung went to the North, Kim Jong-il accompanied him to his guest house. Why? The North Korean Kim deferred to the centuries old custom of paying respect to an "older brother". On the other hand when South Korea president Roh Moo-hyun traveled to Pyongyang to meet Kim, he was not accorded the same honor. Why? For the simple reason he was by age younger than the North Korean leader and so was considered a "younger brother". Much praise has been heaped on South Korean President Park Geun-hye for her tact, yet such a simple matter of rank torpedoed an important step in the meeting of minds of the two Koreas. Thus, we may wonder if this was not intentional. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Jun 17, '13) [Re Obama's Monica moment , Jun 16, 2013] Obama's efforts to divert our attention only emphasize how deceitful he is. This is par for the course for recent US administrations. This is why the distrust of their own government is growing day by day among loyal citizens of the US. This distrust gets a boost from the lack of trust the federal government shows toward its own citizens: eg, the recently revealed massive spying on all citizens of the US. One of the effects of lack of trust is passive resistance. Lou Vignates (Jun 17, '13) [Re Obama's Monica moment , Jun 16, 2013] The patriot Snowden and his colleague Manning are the vanguard of a new movement that will ultimately destroy the political Old School of smoke-filled backroom double-dealings and back-stabbings, the kind of education the Obamanable Snowman received an advanced degree in on his way to the presidency. The majority of Amerikan politicians matriculated there, where their secret machinations that screwed their constituencies time and time again were concocted in the dark and with little chance of public exposure. But in the Age of the Internet and Computer Hacker, true democracy has a chance to fight back, by unmasking the lies, hypocrisies and duplicities that would in the past remained buried and inaccessible to the world. But in this transition between the corrupt Old School and untested but invigorated New School, naturally the reactionary response to change is to invoke shibboleths like "national security" and "endangered American lives" in their defense of the indefensible. Of course, the only security and endangerment issues revolve around the Old Schooler's careers gorging at the public trough. And that is why the Obamanation was selected by his CIA handlers as the perfect "New" Old Schooler to deal with the upstart New Schoolers; he would be the ideal young front man to protect his shady, cloaked, midnight machinations with bankers, corporate CEOs, Israeli lobbyists, Chinese financiers and Middle East despots. But bless his Kenyan, Muslim, socialist heart, like the little Dutch boy who tried plugging all those leaks, Barack-to-the-Future can't cope with those modern technogeeks who still believe in transparent government, free speech and all those other rudiments of democracy the prez is so keen to liquidate. Yes, Obama will have his petty little vindictive victories over the Snowdens and Mannings, for the time being. But the day will come when virtually all the lies will be unearthed almost as soon as they are uttered, and there will be so many Snowdens and Mannings that not enough Guantanamos or Polish gulags can be built fast enough. It would be fitting if Obama asked Putin to rent out Siberia to take up the slack. But if he did, it would be all over the Internet before he could shout "First Amendment". H Campbell Texas (Jun 17, '13) [Re Religious divides cost Arabs dearly , Jun 12, '13] While it is of course understandable to hail Arab nationalism in view of the present sorry situation of growing religious sectarianism, it should not be forgotten that Arab nationalism shares one unwelcome trait with all sorts of nationalism - namely the tendency to put down those not belonging to the respective nation. In parts of the Arab world, especially in the Mashreq, there are various ethnic groups which are not Arab at all. For instance in Syria, the historical home of Arab nationalism, there are Kurds, Turkomen etc. The Arab nationalist Baathi regime has in the past denied them equal cultural rights as for the official use and teaching of their language. This has contributed to their actual position with regards to the rebellion there. While the Turkomen seem to have taken the sides of the - mostly - Sunni rebels, probably because the Turkish government supports them, the most farsighted Kurdish organization, the PYD [Democratic Union Party], takes an neutral stand because they know that the majority of the rebels are as anti-Kurdish as is, (or at least has been) the government. There are many more examples to be cited (eg the Berbers in Algeria). So it is clear that "Arab nationalism" is a double-edged sword against religious sectarianism. Dr Anton Holberg Germany (Jun 14, '13) [Re: Digital Blackwater rules , Jun 11, '13] Digital Blackwater rules. Kinda brings to mind this quote by founding father James Madison in a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1798:"It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad." Then again, perhaps it's also a universal truth that governments in general like to know what their citizens are up to. John Chen USA (Jun 13, '13) In the new movie Now You See Me, a quartet of magicians, hypnotists and psychics team up to rob a bank and bilk a billionaire. They do this using the standard tricks of the magician's trade; deception, misdirection, and making their audience think they see what they expect to see. It's a delightful Hollywood escapade and at first blush appears to be just a summer fantasy with no connection to reality. Except the Amerikan public is being shown the same kind of smoke and mirrors, now-you-see-the-prosperity mirage from the talented team of Swami Obama and his Decepticons. The Swami appeared in a puff of smoke in 2007, dazzled the crowd with his Mask of Change and promises of multiple rabbits out of the hat in the future. The WonderVoters saw what they wanted to see; a tall well groomed black man eager to right wrongs and slay the dragons of injustice, inequality and war. Indeed, even six years into his presidency, even after witnessing the perpetrators of the greatest heist in history receive a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card from the Swami, even after seeing him renege on almost every campaign promise, even after not only continuing but reinforcing the most draconian of policies of his reviled predecessor, many of his hypnotized audience members walk around in a zombielike trance, parroting all the stale, tired and thoroughly discredited mantras of the deluded left, waiting for his command to wake up and forget all his lies, propaganda and disinformation. The hypnosis works so well that, despite the creeping Sovietization of the Amerikan body politic, with our own Cuban/European CIA gulags, growing lists of political prisoners, torture hotels, and a muzzled, intimidated and supine media, Amerikans are still willing to send their children to die in desert sands in the name of "defending our freedoms," convinced that the Swami will somehow stick their mangled bodies back together again just like the sawn-in-half girl. The gullible rubes that are the WonderElectorate continue to swallow the concocted economic statistics, the rose-glassed vision of the future and the relentless dismantling of their constitutional liberties, all the while convinced that milk and honey flow from his very lips. Not to mention Obama's penchant for slipping out of neocon nooses and mushrooming scandals with the dexterity of a ...(dare I say it?) Houdini. I'd say the Obaminator deserves recognition of his magician skills by Hollywood, perhaps with a film called "Now You Vote for Me." H Campbell Texas (Jun 12, '13) [Re Humble pie for Xi on Sunnylands menu , Jun 6] Even a perfunctory perusal of America's development history suggests that the US really isn't in a position to cast the first stone when it comes to industrial espionage and intellectual property theft. But in the next seven, eight years, as long as the US and China don't engage in a large-scale trade war, or Russia, China and the US don't come to blows militarily, the world should be able to withstand and get through any kind of crisis. Beyond that, once the Chinese economy re-orients to a more consumption-based one and the overall world energy supply becomes more abundant, a historically unprecedented and multi-decade period of global prosperity will likely ensue, with the key to achieving that outcome being some level of international cooperation, especially among the major powers. And while the world will probably look considerably different then, it should at least be more stable. John Chen USA (Jun 10, '13) [Re China's Uyghurs have nowhere to turn , Jun 5] China won't take a page out of Chang Kai Shek's (Jiang Jieshi) playbook on treating the Uyghurs as an equal yellow star in the national flag. For Beijing, Xinxiang is like 19th century America - it wants to clean the homeland of the Uyghurs so that the Han Chinese can settle and exploit it. China's ultimate goal is to enclose the Eastern Turkmen into ghettoes or reservations, a policy it is pursuing in Tibet as well. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Jun 10, '13) [Re Petty burglars of the Malacca Strait , Jun 4, '13] The Indian people have been living in dire poverty for several thousand years because most of their leaders and politicians are selfish, stupid, and inhumane. How can human beings enjoy a wealthy life while a half a billion other country fellows live in pre-historic conditions. Sony Tran Melbourne, Australia (Jun 7, '13) [Re Crash this year or next? A collapse of the US stock market in late 2014 or in 2015 would likely take at least two years for the economy to get back on its heels, in the process greatly compromising the prospect of a Democrat remaining in the White House beyond 2016. On the other hand, a stock-market crash later this year would allow the economy some time to heal, potentially enabling economic green shoots to appear before the next presidential election, and boosting Democratic Party doyenne/Stakhanovite Hillary Clinton's chances of becoming the first female American president. Needless to say, neither crash scenario would be pleasant; but then again, whoever believes that life is a beach? John Chen USA (Jun 7, '13) [Re North Korea common ground for US, China , Jun 4, '13] There is also ground to oppose China and the US. Two matters come immediately to mind: computer hacking and the South China Sea. Like a tongue searching a sore tooth, the Obama administration has been going after Beijing incessantly. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Jun 5, '13) Already Sunnis are turning away from the cowboy rebels trying to upend the Assad regime. The US, UK and France's footprints are sloshing through the same mud they left in Libya. If anything the Western powers can only the mindless mayhem that is staring them in the face in Iraq and Afghanistan. This time, there will be no Sykes-Picot Agreement on how to divide the spoils among themselves, for there are too many interested parties with the Arabs, Americans and Europeans jockeying for influence. Consequently, on the ground, the wild West show is losing its audience. Abraham Bin Yiju Messina, Italy (Jun 5, '13) [Re Naming a nameless war , May 29, '13] Professor Andrew J Bacevich makes an excellent point when he points out how the West takes for granted the fact that Islam is one of the Abrahanic religions. I watched a very telling video the other day of a conservative Muslim student in a calm but deep exchange with the late atheist Christopher Hitchens. The young Muslim student elaborated on how moral absolutes constitute the pillars of harmony, order, and a super natural calling to seek what is unknown to our senses. The student cited some examples of moral depravation to which Hitchens responded with the usual babble about how Christians murdered thousands in the Inquisition or how Muslims behead the unbelievers. Both gross exaggerations out of historical context. At the end of the day conservative religious people should find in conservative Muslims their greatest allies. And to quote Peter Kreeft: "A Moslem knows exactly where he stands. To a world more and more confused, Islam comes with a sword that cuts through the Gordian Knot of modern malaise in a single stroke." Should not we all aspire to cut through the filth of post-modernism? Now, this is where I disagree with professor Bacevich: It is inaccurate to say that the United States or Europe is at war with Islam. In fact, even after the September 11, 2001 attacks universally hated president George W Bush separated the faith of Islam from the actions of al-Qaeda. Western media in general is very careful when referring to Islam because of the West's history of racism that gave us slavery, the Holocaust, and other hideous crimes perpetrated against humanity. We cannot incite the masses against a minority. You have to admit that every time there are isolated events like the events at the Boston Marathon, there is some right-wing paranoia and some segments of American society scream to get a loser, scared young boy tried as an "enemy combatant", cheapening the label enemy combatant and trivializing it. Our courts can do the job. In the US we jail more people than China and execute more people than anywhere else in the world. So just like Bill Maher said, these "terrorists" decided to mess with the "wrong, peace loving Christian people". This new "war" just shows a sequence of isolated events. I am sure they will find a name for it. Going back to the ancient times, political forces used religion to expand and conquer. Because if you tell me that some of the medieval Christian generals or some of the Muslim conquerors were pious, compassionate people then my goodness, where has compassion gone? Today's forces are tempted to use religion again to "rape and plunder." Follow the politics. It's all political now. Ysais Martinez (May 30, '13) [Re Six-party soap opera set to restart , May 28, '13] A soap opera indeed! There maybe stock characters in this on going melodrama, but little sentimentality. The six parties have not met in six years, it is good to point out. Nor should we lose sight of the upcoming visit to the White House of China's President Xi Jinping. Pressured insistently by the Obama administration to do something with Beijing's "troublesome neighbor" North Korea, Xi can say that he has done his part, even though Washington is turning up the heat on Chinese computer hacking and pretensions to "ownership" of the seas. Still, no one really believes that Pyongyang's return heralds a new opening. Nakamura Junzo Guam (May 29, '13) [Re Chinese premiere Li Keqiang in Islamabad , May 23, '13] Some in the Pakistani media may be reading a little too much into the lengths of visits by the Chinese premier to India and to Pakistan. Assessed in another way, two all-weather friends simply donďż˝t need to spend as much time together to hash things out. While the relationship with India is no doubt extremely important to China (and vice versa), Chinese investment in Pakistan will likely increase drastically once the country attains greater political and economic stability. Incidentally, what does seem a bit curious is the length of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent visit to China (five days). John Chen USA (May 29, '13) [Re Obama narrows scope of war on terror , May 24, 13] Now Jim Lobe could be right in his suggestion that US President Barack Obama's speech indicated a narrowing of the scope of the war on terror, but I do wonder. Obama's rhetoric is very engaging and enables the listener to hear what he wants to hear. Don't get me wrong. I like Barack Obama, but I was fooled the first time I voted for him, thinking he would stage a progressive swing from the neo-conservative direction of the Bush administration. I was so weary of Bush's propaganda and deception that I fell for Obama's line. Therefore, I am not so sure we will see a dramatic turn in Obama's "terror" policy, just as I'm certain that the American people won't get relief from Wall Street's unethical activities. Jim Southern California USA (May 29, '13) [Re US moves toward full Iran trade embargo , May 23, '13] Once again, those fools in Washington have put Israel's welfare above the welfare of our United States. Antagonizing Muslim governments is most definitely not in the interests of our beloved US. To do this on behalf of the aggressive, racist Israel is doubly stupid. Lou Vignates USA (May 24, '13) [Re Tokyo, Seoul hold 'ugly' nuclear option , May 23, '13] Dr Azad has left the US out of his equation. The Obama administration has put the kibosh on South Korea's plans for nuclear weapons. The US nuclear umbrella protects South Korea and Japan. As for Japan, nuclear arms raises not only a constitutional matter but would reinforce Tokyo's decision to retreat from peaceful use of the atom. The Abe government prefers to talk to North Korea instead. The Park government and the Obama administration would do well to follow the Japanese prime minister's lead to reduce tensions. Nakamura Junzo Guam (May 24, '13) [Re Japan tips its hand via North Korea , May 21, '13] Japan announced a year or two ago that it would re-engage with North Korea as a handslap to South Korea over a territorial dispute on uninhabited islands. Pyongyang's nuclear test shelved that initiative. Now with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe back in power, reconnecting with the DPRK is on track. In a way, China's ham-handed tack towards Japan has something led to the awakening of a more aggressive Japanese nationalism and firming up of a more independent foreign policy. Nakamura Junzo Guam (May 21, '13) [Re Snaking the Scotch , May 6, '13] Spengler writes, "Fortunately, the Church of Scotland document represents an increasingly marginalized view in the Christian world ďż˝ the covenant between God and the Jewish people was never abolished. It is not surprising that the authors of the Church of Scotland occupy a fringe position in the Christian world." There are two issues here of note: 1. So what? Fortunate for whom? "Fortunately" implies approval. and what about the 600+ Gods of India? Do they approve? Why is it fortunate that His God is on His side and happens to share his political convictions? Is it hubris or perhaps it's an example of religious bigotry to imply one's own God is so important and "true" that other Gods are "marginalized". 2. The Christian world contains a substantial number of non-Christians so they may well not respect this "covenant" thus falsifying Spengler's claim of such a view being marginal for example though a minority, the Muslim God does not agree with this covenant and Europe (with its millions of Muslims) is part of the Christian world. If Spengler meant to say "Christian Churches" or "Christianity" rather than "Christian world" I am sure he is capable of such precision so we can take his words at face value - factually and morally unsound - rather than an example of verbal duplicity, trying to pretend that his view is the only "proper" one without actually saying so. Jon Lonergan Australia (May 21, '13) [Re: Catfight - and it's US vs EU , May 17] Well most Australians are still awaiting the promised, munificent benefits accruing from the much vaunted Australia/USA free trade treaty concluded in 2004. The only thing I can discern, from Australian Senate inquiries, is that Australian businesses continue to still be royally screwed on prices of many products from Adobe, Microsoft and others, as just one single instance. Many business leaders claim it is vastly cheaper to send an employee armed only with a credit card to the US, buy up whatever is necessary, and then return on the very next available flight. Software can be downloaded very cheaply online, but not to Australia, which is either blocked or has a drastic price differential from the US. Free trade? Canadian friends warned me long before the agreement was concluded, and based upon their own personal experience, that such agreements invariably prove to be one sided, always in favor of the US. Quelle surprise? Ian C Purdie Australia (May 21, '13) [Re Chinese opinion jars with policy on Korea , May 17, '13]A single swallow does not a spring make, it this is good to remember when we are talking of China-DPRK relations. As Niklas Swanstrom and Kelly Chen surely know, Chinese analysts and leaders have many opinions. Yet, when policy matters, democratic centralism applies. Beijing may make a swipe at Pyongyang for not listening to the suggestions of an older brother, but from there to a change in policy direction is an entirely different matter. MIT/Harvard's John Park who religiously tracks China/DPRK relations shows on the contrary China is building firmer and firmer party relations with the North Korean Workers Party. Western analysts seem to discount that China may say one thing to lure, say, the US into the forest, while maintaining its decades old policy to support the DPRK as it did when it intervened in the Korean War. Nakamura Junzo Guam (May 21, '13) Oh how much one must rejoice in the Irony of Vunderland USA. Now the Reptileicans are denouncing Obama for being "like Bush and Cheney" in his duplicity, disinformation and deception over the myriad scandals raining down on the White House. The Party of Frankenstein apparently now sees the two-headed Bush-Cheney monster that they created in an entirely different and less favorable light, now that it is single-headed and a clone is spinning much the same fantasies. Payback, as the saying goes, is a canine lady. But they should be viewing Obama's imitation of his predecessor as the ultimate compliment. The Bush-Cheney dictatorship managed to squeeze dozens of big and small scandals into their eight-year Reign of Error, earning the contempt of their liberal enemies but the generous gratitude of bankers, corporations and neocon tycoons. So Obama replicating this formula of personal profit should surprise no one except those Wonderlanders still smoking the funny weed of Amerikan democracy. So while the bite of canine ladies can sting, that pain is nothing compared to the hoisting of petards of your own making and design. H Campbell Texas (May 17, '13) [Re: Electronic blindness , May 13] "Incentivizing speculation is a prominent flaw in current (inflationist) central bank doctrine." Brings to mind a sagacious advice once offered by Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain and one of the finest individuals ever produced by this country: "There are two times in a man's life when he should not speculate - when he can't afford it, and when he can." Interestingly, with the dollar being the global reserve currency and with the American economy suffering severe structural imbalances (not to mention a monumental amount of debt), the US uniquely fulfills both conditions simultaneously. John Chen USA (May 17, '13) [Re Course correction costs Korea dearly , An Austrian deal for North Korea and In Tehran, all eyes are on North Korea May 15, '13] It doesn't occur to Joseph R DeTrani that it is time for the US to also change course and seek meaningful dialogue with the DPRK. Although he may find comfort in the occasional Chinese commentary "scalding" North Korea, the plain fact is that Beijing is not going to abandon support for Kim Jong-eun. From another angle, suddenly the Japanese are renewing contact with North Korea. And South Korea is trying to come to some understanding with Pyongyang. So, it looks as though Kim Jong-eun's "course chance", his martial threats, have borne some fruit. Ronnie Blewer's thoughts on a neutralized North Korea are interesting but a-historical. Is he suggesting that South Korea should embrace neutrality, as well? Oddly enough, his suggestion reminds one of the Soviet Union's gambit of turning a divided Germany into a united Germany on the Austrian model. Finally, Giorgio Cafiero and Shawn VL take a more measured and thoughtful approach on North Korea. Ultimately as in dealing with Pyongyang, as they say, only a sustained diplomatic approach with Tehran can bear good fruit. Nakamura Junzo Guam (May 16, '13) " Glasnost by stealth in North Korea ", [May 13, '13] on one hand, is an exercise in wishful thinking. See, North Koreans are becoming like us! To me, it recalls Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu predicting that Iran's nuclear bomb is just around the corner. And he's been saying this since the early 1990s! North Korea is changing. Yet, the need to earn hard cash abroad has more to do with onerous US and UN sanctions than imitating Soviet glasnost. It was not that long ago, everyone saw the DPRK's collapse. If anything, Pyongyang has turned Western market "magic" on its head for its own purposes. Abraham Bin Jiyu Messina, Italy (May 14, '13) [Re US criticism stirs China's military pride , May 10, '13]Given the military history of the last 60 years, China has more reason to fear a US attack than vice versa. Lester Ness Kunming China (May 14, '13) [Re US hoist by its own pivot petard , May 10, '13] The Obama doctrine has as its objective the protection of clients in East and southeast Asia. As China challenges America's long standing hegemony, it has found ways to turn the tables on Washington. Beijing's whimsical attempt to stoke the fires of Okinawan nationalism, is a case in point. Of course China, too, is vulnerable in this games of bluster: were Japan on its toes, it could bang the drums for Tibet's independence as well as bolster the demands of the oppressed Uyghur in Xinjiang province. . Nakamura Junzo Guam (May 13, '13) [Re US criticism stirs China's military pride , May 10, '13] Most US complaints about China that I hear or read seem to grow out of the perception that China is not as poor or weak or compliant is it ought to be. Given the military history of the last 60 years, China has more reason to fear a US attack than vice versa. Lester Ness Kunming China (May 13, '13) [Re: Decade after Iraq, hawks reunite over Syria and And then there was one , May 8, '13] Sadly, most of the current major global events are driven by greed and racial/religious hatred - tribalism and the survival instinct allowed to run amuck. Humanity may very well be getting "smarter", but unfortunately, not any wiser. Today the guns are in our hands pointed at our "enemies"; tomorrow our "enemies" vengefully hold the guns at our children. And humans are supposedly the most intelligent life form. John Chen USA (May 10, '13) [Reply to the Rev Foster's letter, May 8)] Replying to my May 6 essay ( Snaking the Scots ), the Reverend Sally Foster Fulton notes that the Church of Scotland's "Inheritance of Abraham" report "is not the considered opinion of the Church of Scotland and will only become so if it is ratified by the General Assembly." It is to be hoped that the General Assembly will exercise better judgment than the authors of the report. Contrary to Reverend Fulton's representations, the report does in fact call into question the legitimacy of the State of Israel as well as the Jewish religion itself. It supports, for example, the so-called "right of return," namely the demand that Israel admit the nearly 5 million descendants of the 700,000 or so Arabs who fled the Jewish sector during the 1948 War of Independence. Never before or since have descendants of refugees acquired refugee status. The report does not mention the 800,000 Jews expelled from Arab countries after Israel's Independence, in one of many population exchanges after World War, a tendentious omission, to say the least. Palestinian Arab leaders reject the Israeli formation-"two states for two peoples"-and demand "right of return" because they do not accept the idea of a Jewish state. In rejecting the biblical relationship between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, the Church of Scotland report goes as far to assert that the Bible itself is a falsification, for example: "Munib Younan has pointed to the widely accepted view of scholars that the idealized biblical conquest narratives were put into their present form only centuries later, with the writers 'intent on justifying their own status in the land on the basis of nationalistic perspectives.'" The report adds, "Jesus offered a radical critique of Jewish specialness and exclusivism. ďż˝The promise to Abraham about land is fulfilled through the impact of Jesus, not by restoration of land to the Jewish people." Well might one ask: If the Bible is falsified, as the Church of Scotland report alleges, what promise to Abraham did Jesus fulfill? The fact that the report is self-contradictory, to be sure, makes it no less offensive. Fortunately, the Church of Scotland document represents an increasingly marginalized view in the Christian world. Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, for example, emphasized that the covenant between God and the Jewish people was never abolished. It is not surprising that the authors of the Church of Scotland occupy a fringe position in the Christian world. Spengler (David P Goldman) (May 10, '13) [Re Snaking the Scotch , May 6, '13] I write with concern about coverage regarding the report "The Inheritance of Abraham", which is being presented to the General Assembly of the Church for Scotland later this month. It is not the considered opinion of the Church of Scotland and will only become so if it is ratified by the General Assembly. Nowhere in the report does it state, as suggested by several media reports, that the Church denies the right of Israel to exist. The report is a theological reflection that explores the idea that biblical authority can be used to give a people, any people, divine right to a land. We concluded after careful study of scripture that this is not the case. The Church of Scotland would never and is not now attacking Judaism and the intent of the report must not be misinterpreted as such. Nor is the report denying Israel's right to exist, but any group's divine right to land. To reach that conclusion is not the same as denigrating the Jewish people or denying the right of Israel as a state to exist. A good friend speaks the truth in love, and the truth is there can be no peace without justice. The current policies of the state of Israel, including the continued occupation and the extension of the settlements mean that justice is still to come. The Church of Scotland is called to speak out against injustice. Whether people are being exploited by pay-day loan companies, through low wages and poor conditions, because of benefit changes here in Britain or because of the actions of the powerful in places across the world, the Church of Scotland seeks to support just and peaceful solutions. With this in mind, The Church of Scotland will continue to work for freedom and justice for all who live in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This report is a sincere contribution to the on-going search for a way forward that brings love-informed justice to a land that is sacred to so many. Rev Sally Foster Fulton Church and Society Council Church of Scotland (May 8, '13) [Re Irrational rhetoric fuels illegal wars , May 2, 2013] The neo-con talking heads in the congress, media and think tanks, time and time again, continue to show that when it comes to foreign policy - this time Syria - they seldom know what they don't know. Yet that has never prevented them from shooting off their mouths. Just a few examples: "Red line against chemical weapons cannot be a dotted line," (Rogers R-MI); "US should be arming the rebels using air strikes," (McCain, R-AZ); "Syria is going to become a failed state by the end of the year unless the US intervenes," (Graham, R-SC). Is there no shame? No end to hypocrisy? Has nothing been learned from the wars of choice in Iraq and Afghanistan supported by the same people who want a repeat in Syria? It seems, there has been a massive and collective amnesia. As if, the last 10 years did not happen. As if their US$3 trillion wars with their agonizing death and destruction that drove the United States to the verge of bankruptcy, did not happen. And as if Vietnam did not happen. It all starts with a clamor "to do something." And then, to supply weapons and advisers and trainers for the use of same, etc. And then before long, the body bags start coming home. Where were the "red lines" in the 1980s when Saddam supported by the neo-con hero, President Reagan, was gassing the Kurds in Iraq? And, using chemical warfare against Iran. Killing thousands and causing horrifying injuries to thousands more. What happened to the condemnation by the UN and the international community? And, what happened to the condemnation for the role of the Germans, the French and the English in enabling Saddam to wage his chemical warfare? It should be abundantly clear that Syria cannot be resolved by US intervention nor by more arms that will only cause more bloodshed, more refugees and more chaos with many unintended consequences. The Syrian tragedy has turned into a vicious civil war with many outside actors carrying out their own deadly agendas. Only aggressive diplomacy bringing together all factions involved, internal and external, is the answer. The best example to follow is the late 1980s agreement that ended the Lebanese civil war of many decades. All parties in that conflict, internal and external, agreed to a power sharing solution. By no means perfect, but it brought peace. Syria badly needs the same political solution. Despite the noise coming from the naysayers, the president's deliberative policy, by not rushing to judgment and allowing diplomacy to work, is the right course. The alternative is too horrible to contemplate. Fariborz S Fatemi McLean, VA USA (May 6, '13) [Re: A post-history strip-tease , April 26 2012]. Escobar is a master of the complex as well as of minute detail. He can overwhelm you by both aspects of his trade. His latest article is a masterpiece of both. Unfortunately it is more of an exercise in confusion rather than a description or a prophesy. Or perhaps it is a structure of that which he tries to discuss: a post-modern historical convolution through which billions of emotionally and intellectually pre-modern people try to conduct their lives. It is more than obvious that what we understand and what Escobar tells us about the world is incongruent with our ability to analyze reality. Intellectuals of any color or persuasion have taken over the task of informing us about the world in a manner which is either esoteric or too technical for the man in the street. Globalization, neo-liberalism, socialization and the Asian or Chinese Consensus versus the corrupt and imperialistic Washingtonian one, are terms which carry foreboding meanings but are actually too opaque to point to the direction of a satisfactory explanation for the sorry state of affairs of our environment and our lives. History is neither linear nor benevolent. It is neither progressive nor regressive; it is an outcome of too many factors some of which are beyond our explanatory powers, at least for now. If the world to come is a Mad Max world, a Hobbesian all against all or of religious fundamentalism we can just accept that these nightmares are not open to analytical interpretation but perhaps to psychoanalysis. Man is a creature of habit as well as an agent of the Least Action. The power of inertia rules the physical world as well as the human condition. For the last three centuries we have exceeded the measure of change and self- transformation. What has happened was a "progressivistic" avalanche which is going on with an ever increasing impetus. We can adapt but are we able to withstand the pressure of a man-made contraction of time as a conscious act for defining our self-identity? Unfortunately, as Thucydides observed about the Athenian democracy, those who are convinced that change and "progress" are humanity's call are also the ones who create the greatest catastrophes, as in the Athenian expedition to Syracuse. The ancient world believed in a physical order which should be respected as an ethical measure. We believe that man is the measure of all things, as Anaxagoras taught. The issue is an epistemological one but it can be observed in the policies and practices of governments and individuals. In both cases we are doomed to venture to the unknown. The past is history but the term has not kept its original meaning which in Hellenic is knowledge. This dichotomy between the past and knowledge is crucial for the measure, if there is any, of our lives and our future. What Escobar is trying to say is more or less that the bad and the ugly are destroying the environment, our lives and our security. They destroy all the good, as the welfare state and have initiated a post-man culture. Even if this is true, and it isn't, what we are doing is nothing more than what we have done over the last 5,000 years. The stark difference is just one: suicide, the suicide of the species. This is what must frighten us. If it doesn't, than we are a self-conscious species preparing subconsciously our extinction. Nicholas A Biniaris Hellas (May 2, '13) [Re Breaking out the Bush Korea playbook , Apr 26, '13] The Boston Marathon bombings have pushed the crisis on the Korean peninsula off the front pages. However in the back pages, the Obama administration is trying to set the Chinese monkey up to snag the North Korean tiger. The New York Times alerted us to the presence of a senior Chinese North Korean analyst in Washington for "discussions". And General Martin E Dempsey was in Beijing to bring the Chinese around to the US standpoint. As Conn Hallinan suggests neither China nor North Korea is really taken in by America's ultimate object of regime change in Pyongyang. In fact, in a podcast of Dr John Park's remarks at the Korea Society, the Harvard/MIT DPRK/China watcher gave strong evidence that China is helping to strengthen party to party ties with North Korea, as a countermeasure to US designs. President Obama wants no discussions with Kim Jung-eun that will end in US concessions. As such, like George W Bush, Obama has painted himself into a corner. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Apr 29, '13) Two explosions are in the WonderNews these days. One caused three deaths with hundreds injured, and relatively little property damage, while the other caused hundreds of deaths and injuries and millions of dollars in property damage. Guess which one is garnering the most attention and generating the most angst and conservative furor? If you guessed the former, give yourself a pat on the back for knowing the Amerikan schizospsyche well. The murder of innocent bystanders at the Boston Marathon using homemade explosives by two disaffected Chechen-Americans has captivated a people who have long since been inured to mass murders by disaffected Anglo-Saxon boys toting second amendment supporting AR-15s, but when the perpetrators are hard-to-pronounce Muslims from a foreign land, well, all that inurement goes out the window, subsumed by good ol' 'merikan xenophobia, Islamophobia and terrorophobia. The hue and cry denouncing all things sounding like Chechnya (including calumny heaped upon the poor Czech Republic) and the inevitable national security hand wringing among the neocons contrasts with the excuse making, rationalization and relative silence from the media whores concerning the far greater tragedy in the town of West, Texas. The massive explosion at its recklessly overstocked fertilizer plant exposed tons of legal loopholes and fox-watching-the-hen-house "safeguards" that needlessly and callously exposed its citizens to peril, but good ol' Rick Perry, our Republican governor who can't count to three but has plenty of corporate campaign contributors, has already defended his administration's lax oversight as being in the "best interests" of Texans (who one stock in the company, no doubt.) Once again the capitalist priority of profit over human health, safety and welfare triumphs with nary a whimper of protest from the long victimized prols, while the relatively puny casualty count of Boston consumes the WonderPsyche with exaggerated terror and fear. What Amerikans should fear is the economic system that counts their lives as mere statistics to be sacrificed at the whim of our corporate plantation owners. H Campbell Texas (Apr 29, '13) [Re Israel, Palestine indicate peace bid , Apr 25, '13] An indication is like the will of the wisp. If the US can pull a three-way meeting, more power to the Obama administration. Remember Madrid and the Oslo Peace Accords? These unraveled as soon as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu took office. If Israel and Turkey have trouble reaching a rapprochement of sorts, how likely is it that the proposed Israel-Palestine confab will fall apart even before it begins. Look at the six-party talks in Beijing. They have been moribund since 2007. So what makes Viktor Kotsev think the US has a steel spine to broker a peace deal and a viable two state solution along 19667 borders? Nakamura Junzo Guam (Apr 25, '13) [Re: Orwell does America , Apr 23, '13] Let's hope the theory put forth by Pepe Escobar is not true, because if it is, then those in power are naively deluding themselves if they think sowing chaos and strife will somehow make the world safer for future generations. Wittingly or unwittingly, major current global events/trends are pointing to a day of infamy when humans will once again bring war and carnage upon themselves - "brother to brother, blood to blood, self against self". All, one might ask, for what? John Chen USA (Apr 25, '13) [Re: How Bowie mania buries Thatcherism , April 17] Did Margaret Thatcher cackle from the grave when she heard President Barack Obama say that her death meant the loss "of one of the world's great champions of freedom and liberty"? Few working girls break the glass ceiling as they move up to professonal pimp marketing inequality and injustice in equal measure as she did. She became a city girl (City of London), loved on foreign streets (Wall St)and all as a result of forcefully attacking the working class and subordinating citizens into a lower form of wage slavery or no job at all. Just as the Codrington Library of all Souls College was built from slave labor on Caribbean plantations, so perhaps a room for fixing LIBOR can be named after her: Maggie's Money Market Fiddling Fund Salon. It's no surprise that her home town, Grantham, overwhelmingly voted down a statue of her there. It would be like placing a statue of "General" George Armstrong Custer on Sand Creek where many women, and children and old men were massacred under his leadership. Does The Lost Souls Choir sing Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land on her behalf? The Iron Lady was no iron chancellor forging a nation out of lost principalities, small kingdoms and forced amputations of other countries using blood and steel. However, to give the lady her due, she was an iron maiden. Her passing on reminds me of Burns' line, "We're bought and sold for English gold - Such a parcel of rogues in a nation." (from Robert Burns' Fareweel to a'Our Scottish Fame) Doug Baker Vallejo, CA USA (Apr 21, '13) Despite all the white noise and cynicism concerning peace between the Palestinians/Israel and Iran controversy, there is hope. See Israel watches the show beyond Almaty April 9, 2013. When the President of the United States traveled to Israel recently, the prime minister of that country, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke of "historic compromises in relation to the Palestinians." And on April 9, in a meeting with the US Secretary of State, the prime minister spoke of his determination "not only to resume the peace process with the Palestinians, but to make a serious effort to end this conflict once and for all," But when the prime minister first came to office several years ago, he showed his disdain for a two-state solution by ignoring all advice in favor of a two state solution, including his top national security advisers (current and former) by carrying out a furious settlement expansion. And, then showing his disdain for facts, the prime minister continued his hysterical claims of threats from Iran, again not supported by his national security advisers nor average Israelis. During his visit to America, the prime minister had the temerity with arrogance and hubris, to hector the president of the United States, cheered on by his acolytes in the media, think tanks and Congress. So what changed? Perhaps, an election that was to be a coronation but turned out to be almost the prime minister's defeat. Or, perhaps it finally dawned on the prime minister the devastating effect of future demographics on his desire for a "Jewish state". Or perhaps, the prime minister finally figured out that he wasted several valuable years by ignoring peace with the Palestinians - a quest that he could have continued by building on the works of former prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert. Or perhaps, the prime minister saw the error of ignoring the trauma caused by expanding settlements on lands that Palestinians hoped to build their state. Or, perhaps the prime minister wants a legacy - that of a peacemaker. There are many who are skeptical about his conversion. But the prime minister should be given every benefit to help him turn his words into action and redeem his previous years in office. There is no doubt that an overwhelming number of Israeli citizens want peace with their Palestinian brethren. Elections have consequences and those who ignore the wishes of the voters, as the prime minister found out, and as in the United States, his supporters found out, will be doing so at their own peril. Fariborz S Fatemi McLean, VA (Apr 19, '13) [Re Obama-Park summit a critical opportunity , Apr 18, '13] Overall the US and South Korea are on the same page. Scott Harold's suggestions for firming up the US-ROK partnership during the Obama-Park summit run counter to the Obama administration and Park's government for toning down the rhetoric towards North Korea. Harold, on the other hand, looks towards overly firming up a military posture when Washington, if we believe secretary of state Kerry, is to revive the six-party talks. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Apr 19, '13) In After Iraq, the moral abyss still gapes [Apr 5, '13] We are given Adil Shamoo's take on the US invasion of Iraq, where he plays very fast and loose with the facts and the truth, for a man of science to be so cavalier with facts is a disgrace. To set the record straight getting rid of Saddam Hussein is not something the US need apologize for as the man was responsible for over a million deaths and would not be out of place on a list of the most murderous rulers in recent history along with Hitler, Stalin and Mao. Several years ago on the US news show 60 Minutes, Uday Hussein's body double was interviewed and he told a story of how Uday raped and murdered a bride on her wedding day. The sad part is that if you were to make a list of the 1,000 worst crimes of the Hussein family her murder might not make the list. The Iraqi people had over 30 years to rid themselves and the world of Saddam and could not find the courage or will to end their own suffering. The true crime of the Bush administration in Iraq was their extreme incompetence in trying to govern Iraq. On the list of who to blame that Shamoo sites he includes Dan Senor and Kenneth Pollack, who wouldn't be on my top 100 list of people to blame for Iraq. He makes no mention of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld or Tommy Franks who I would assign at least 80% of the blame for the failure in Iraq. He also could have included Paul Bremer, Richard Perle, Paul Wofowitz and General John Abizaid but he names David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal who are not to blame for getting us into Iraq or the insane policies that led to failure. Shamoo claims that Iraqi losses from the war were "more than a million deaths and millions more wounded", that would mean more that one in six Iraqis. Iraq Body Count has the dead at between 104-113 thousand, with probably 80% or more killed by their fellow Iraqis. He also blames the US for a "brain drain that has left the country illiterate, however Wikipedia has Iraq's literacy rate at 84% for males and 64% for females probably better than most of their Arab neighbors. The US failure in Iraq was because of the incredible stupidity of US policies. The US allowed the looting of Iraq to go on for months leading to massive damage to Iraq's infrastructure. The US failed to secure Iraq borders allowing thousand of jihadists and Iranian agents to enter Iraq to spread murder and destruction. The US also failed to secure Ammo depots which allowed easy access to weapons and materials for IEDs. The destruction and disbanding of the Iraq Army and de-Ba'athication of Iraq were policies that insured that civil war would break out in Iraq. You could fill several books with the insane plans the US followed in Iraq, and the planners have never been made to explain their failures. If the Bush administration had tried to destroy Iraq they could not have done a better job than the plan they followed to fix Iraq. If the plan was to make hundreds of billions for the Military-Industrial Complex the plan was an ingenious success. All that being said Shamoo has not a single word of criticism for the Iraq people, the vast majority of killing in Iraq have been by their fellow citizens. The northern area of Iraq under the Kurds escaped this insanity, it is mainly Arab Iraq's Sunni and Shiites killing each other, which they have continued to do, even now that the US is no longer a player. Dennis O'Connell USA (Apr 18, '13) [Re A Chinese nuke umbrella for North Korea? , Apr 15, '13]Professor Tan Qingshan offers an interesting approach to resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff. Immediately two problems come to mind: in the current war of words North Korea has an ace in the hole as a nuclear nation, albeit unrecognized by the US as such. Two, the Obama administration is pursuing a hard line policy of firmness and no concessions. In other words, there is a standoff. Secretary of State John Kerry's recent trip to Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo is nothing more than a toned down version of sanctions and punishments for Pyongyang. Were the Obama administration serious about pursuit of "dialogue" with North Korea, Kerry should have gone to Pyongyang instead. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Apr 16, '13) If we ever want to change the name of the Empire from the currently staid "United States of America", alas, "Wonderland" would be trademarked property of Lewis Carroll's descendants. But as an available alternative, I would advocate changing it to "More-of- the-Same-istan''. That's because the American solution to everything these days is, well, more of the same, that is to say a continuation if not intensification of the same failed policies, agendas and action plans that have been futilely pursued to date. Take the so-called "War on Drugs'', which if it were indeed a real war we would have long ago cravenly capitulated and handed over California, Texas and the Statue of Liberty without a whimper. The standard political "solution" to illegal drugs has been tougher sentences, more prisons and ever more draconian punishments meted out to the non-violent minorities typically persecuted and incarcerated in the Empire. This has merely created a whole slew of cottage industries, ever eager to contribute to political campaigns, led by those with vested interests in maintaining the deteriorating status quo, with a larger %age of our citizens in jail than any other nation on the globe, the price and availability of drugs as prevalent as ever, the legal, judicial and police systems thoroughly corrupted, ever more tax dollars being sucked out of productive use to maintain jailed drug offenders for longer prison terms, and the recycling of inmates and their offspring in and out of the perpetual machine of drug use and social "justice''. But that's only the tip of the More-of-the-Same-istani mentality. Republicans insist on their economy-stimulating fantasy of more tax cutting and entitlement cuts, which will not only force more poor minorities (and increasingly lower class unemployed whites) to find capitalist relief by selling illegal drugs and other criminal enterprises (which logically should make them entrepreneurial Republicans), but will also accelerate the coming class war that Marx so accurately predicted would mark the end stage of capitalism. The status quo maintenance program is observed everywhere; in Afghanistan, where all the mistakes of the Soviets have been copied religiously, the inflation of yet another ready-to-burst financial bubble, courtesy of the quantitative easing blowing machine, the insistence that the collapsed health care industry is fine without Obama's socialist meddling, the continuation of tax incentives for companies to relocate jobs overseas, the resistance to sex education in a country with exploding teen pregnancies, the fervent evangelical belief that creationist education will reverse Amerika's widening educational gulf between it and Third World nations eager to eat our industrial lunch, etc etc ad imperium extinctum. As the sun waves "Bye Bye" to the More-of-the-Same-istan Empire, we can rest assured that all the self-inflicted wounds will continue, each bleeding slice hailed as a tribute to Amerikan liberties, democracy and free enterprise. Hardy Campbell Texas (Apr 16, '13) [Re North Korea: why the world needs a ghoul , Apr 11, '13] The US finds it advantageous to portray the young North Korean leader as an evil man and make him seem treacherous and cruel - characteristics the West expect and admire in its enemies. There is nothing ghoulish about the young Kim Jung-eun. He is holding his own and now the G-8 have woken up and is taking him seriously. The fundamental problem is the big powers and their clients are wanting North Korea to roll over and die. As the record shows, it won't, and Pyongyang is waiting for them to return to a good degree of normality in coming to terms with the DPRK. Until such time, North Korea's leader will be tarred and feather with condescension. Nakamura Junzo Guam (Apr 15, '13) [Re Shale can drive wedge between Russia and China , Apr 9, '13] Whether the so-called shale energy revolution will ultimately gather much net benefit to the US seems far from certain at this point. Sure, all that gas can no doubt translate into a financial bonanza, but much as yet remains unknown about fracking and its potential side effects. Separately, an abundance of available domestic energy may well engender a substantial remora to America's geopolitical ambition/willpower, proving the seminal event that causes the ceding of US global dominance to a competitor. With a diverse array of players/variables/unknowns involved, only time will tell if the much-ballyhooed shale golconda will eventually turn out to be a boon or a bane to this country. John Chen USA (Apr 15, '13) [Re Towards a new Korean war? , Apr 9, '13] In spite of the Obama administration's resort to Orwellian speech, it is taking North Korea's "bluster" seriously. The proof: the canceling of the launch of an ICBM from California. What the Western media failed to report but the Iranian, Chinese and Russian press did was that when the US sent B-2 bombers over South Korea, the Chinese sent troops to its border with North Korea. The Chinese like the North Koreans have not forgotten the lessons of the Korean War and would intervene again if the DPRK were threatened. President Obama's take-no-prisoner policy ironically turns the 28,000 American troops stationed in South Korea into virtual hostages and victims should war break out. By closing down the Kaesong industrial complex, Pyongyang is inflicting greater pain on South Korean chaebols than on its own people given the current economic picture in North Korea. Yes, America has blinked as it should. It doesn't play the game of chicken well. Nakamura Junzo (Apr 15, '13) [Re After Iraq, the moral abyss still gapes , Apr 5, '13] Adil E Shamoo might well believe: "Thanks to these lies, Americans, including our soldiers and civilians serving in Iraq, were convinced Saddam Hussein was linked to the 9/11 attacks and had weapons of mass destruction". Fortunately, yet futilely, we in the Sydney Peace Movement believed none of these lies. Of course our demonstrations, protest marches achieved absolutely nothing. A very courageous senior Intelligence Analyst resigned his position in protest, and to be able to publicly voice his concerns over the lies being disseminated by Australian, British and US governments. Lt Colonel Wilkie is currently an Independent MP in our Australian parliament. Certain opinion pieces in mainstream media still refer to his intelligence analysis days as, being a "minor cipher clerk". Ten years on and the lies are still propagated and being sanitized, while the general public simply yawn and could care even less. Moral decay indeed. Ian C Purdie Sydney, Australia (Apr 15, '13) This is in response to John in KS's letter to the editors of Asia Times on the article Passing the Buck on North Korea [Mar 27, '13]. "No one will never respect the Kim regime until it shows respect for the norms of the modern world. At some point they will recognize that nuclear weapons are not a source of power but of weakness." Coming from an American who has obviously forgotten the crimes against humanity committed by the United States in Asia. The multiple use of nuclear weapons on human beings, civilian residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The only country to have ever done so, and then did it twice to prove to Stalin that they could do it again. The USA is currently the top nuclear armed super power in the world. The United States is in the process of changing out the detonators on their nuclear weapons stockpile. the US is only trying to reduce other countries nuclear stockpiles not it's own. Nuclear Proliferation Treaty violations by the USA are well known. From the movement of Plutonium from the US reserves in new Jersey to Israel back in the 1960's, to the continued transfer of nuclear technology to Israel whom is not an NPT signer, illegal under the law. John of KS your views are so archaic from the 20th century, and do not seem to account for the realities that exist in the 21st century world. of today. "President Obama will never accept a nuclear North Korea, either as a starting or ending point. So if that is the precondition, then any such talks will go nowhere, as in the past, especially because North Korea has a long history of breaking agreements on this issue." North Korea is already a nuclear power, regardless of the lying US president. John of KS you are either a liar or very very naive. Bob Van den Broeck North America (Apr 15, '13) [Re The South also rises , Apr 5, '13] The marvelous review by Pepe Escobar of Vijay Prashad's The Poorer Nations underscores the fact that the BRICS (in tandem, the Global South and emerging nations) are fashioning solutions and alternatives to Western neoliberal hegemony but are doing so in a neoliberal manner. As Escobar put it: "And they are not the embryo of a revolutionary shift in the world order." I believe there will come a new "paradigm" (Escobar's "revolutionary shift") but while BRICS have the advantage now of building upon the old while side-stepping its pitfalls, the "new" will emerge from a part of the world that can advance its already advanced global position (though a very negative one today). In order to advance itself, it will by necessity be forced into a "revolutionary shift" which won't be desired and will be vehemently (if not violently) resisted. The "shift" won't be engineered by competing world powers, geo-strategists, military generals, think-tanks, industrial moguls, billionaires or, quite frankly, anyone. It will be brought about by defeat and a subsequent traumatic realization of failure (what "went around" did "come around"). From such dark devastation often arises vision, and "vision" takes us into the next paradigm. I believe, in less than half a generation, there will be a "new" America, a better America. At that time, she will no longer be a financial or military hegemon. But she will bring to the world a higher plane because she will ascend from being the most materialistic nation in history to one that will usher in the next "evolutionary leap", one that will not and cannot be measured in materialistic terms! But, as the world watches and maneuvers, she first must go through the fires. Michael T Bucci (Apr 8, '13) [Re Buddhism turns violent in Myanmar , Apr 2] Surely it was premature of Western parliamentarians to eulogize democracy advocate and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, given Myanmar's unresolved sectarian and ethnic problems. This is the lady who when asked about the the treatment of the Rohingya people by the Myanmar authorities rhetorically replied, "are they Burmese?" Aung San Suu Kyi's pandering to Myanmar's Buddhist majority demeans her democratization campaign. Her house arrest, long lasting though it was, pales into insignificance compared with the plight of many of her many fellow countrymen who have been rendered homeless by the continuing violence. Fetishizing democracy is folly. All too often, democracies have resorted to rendition, torture, cyber warfare, assassination, terrorism and war. We've got to start practicing what we preach. Yugo Kovach Dorset, UK (Apr 4, '13) [ Korean cloud obscures Almaty , April 2, 2013] Despite the dissimilarities between the issues, North Korea may indirectly take the pressure off Iran in the current round of talks in Almaty. Even though the Obama administration sees more bluster than action in the escalating rhetoric coming from Pyongyang, its own military games with its South Korea ally has heightened the danger of a false step that might lead to war. The sudden appearance of two B-2 bombers over the skies of South Korea strikes one as something out of Andre Gide's Caves of the Vatican - a gratuitous act with the sole purpose of eliciting a knee-jerk reaction. Washington is indeed taking North Korea seriously, although it says it isn't. So, the crisis in the divided Korean Peninsula might lead to a more flexible approach to Iran and a recognition that its pursuit of nuclear power is for peaceful uses only. Junzo Nakamura (Apr 3, '13) [Re Bilderberg strikes again , May 10, 2005] This article by Pepe. Look at the date? Spot on and an outstanding piece of work. Back to today. March 2013 and what have we seen? Libya gone, Afghanistan a mess and Syria on the brink of collapsing. Iran in the line up for a false flag invasion of Western imperialism. This view comes from from an Englishman who lost his Uncle on board the HMS Prince of Wales in 1941 when he was just 18-years-old. My uncle and his shipmates who were part of Force Z died for a lie. The lie that brought America into the war by an offering of Pearl Harbor. Control by the few who now control us all. The days of sovereign countries are coming to an end. The rape of Cyprus by the IMF and the European central bank shows us what are the new weapons of mass destruction. These weapons will soon be deployed to the arsenal of all central banks and the people will not have a clue until they have been hit by them. We have in our midst, a power more evil and more destructive than any tyrant the world has ever know. This evil has by stealth entered the highest level of Governments and commerce and most NGOs. Like thieves in the night they have crept into the media and taken control. Propaganda tells us why terrorism has to be smashed whilst pulling the terrorists strings. Why so called rogue states need to be removed for the good of the world. The line so blurred that we have become the bad guys. Pepe got it right. I wish you all well. Please, educate your people to the truth before its too late. Billy Ashton (Apr 2, '13) In " Passing the Buck on North Korea " [March 28, 13] the authors basically argue that some kind of negotiations with the US are the ultimate goal of North Korea. China, they argue, is a weakened partner. "The North Koreans do not want security assurances, diplomatic recognition and trade normalization from the Chinese but from the Americans." Even more critical of US actions are the ever-idiotic opinions of Junzo Nakamura [letter, Mar 29], this time saying that "At the present time, the US is pushing the war envelope hard." As an American who follows affairs in Asia very closely, I really wonder if any of these people have the ability to deal with reality. Things are pretty simple. The goals of the USA have nothing to do with war-mongering in the Korean peninsula or a take-over of North Korea. The primary goal is simply peaceful relationships among neighboring Asian countries. The other related goal is the reduction of nuclear weaponry in the world, including in the US (where President Obama is making some headway). President Obama will never accept a nuclear North Korea, either as a starting or ending point. So if that is the precondition, then any such talks will go nowhere, as in the past, especially because North Korea has a long history of breaking agreements on this issue. On the other hand, North Korea does not need to resort to militant posturing if all it wants is direct negotiations with the US on issues of security, trade, etc. All it needs to do as behave in a grown-up manner, knock off the bellicose talk, and simply say what it wants, in calm and peaceful tones. The world has never respected the Kim regime. Since the founder Kim Il-sung's era, the Kim rulers have lived in a bubble of self-importance, stoked up lately by its nuclear capabilities. In the 1970s the "Collected Writings" of the founder were paraded around the world to national libraries of many countries, where they were accepted with a kind smile but then buried out of sight in a back-room shelf along with the "collected writings" of other dangerous egomaniacs like Stalin. No one will never respect the Kim regime until it shows respect for the norms of the modern world. At some point they will recognize that nuclear weapons are not a source of power but of weakness. John in KS (Apr 2, '13)

i don't know

What name is given to the Earth's single continent, which existed 250 million years ago?

The name of Earth's single, huge continent from over 250 million years ago is (1 point) A.Megaland. B.Pangaea. C.Gondwanaland. D.Laurasia. You have new items in your feed. Click to view. Question and answer The name of Earth's single, huge continent from over 250 million years ago is (1 point) A.Megaland. B.Pangaea. C.Gondwanaland. D.Laurasia. The name of the Earth's single continent was B. Pangaea Get an answer The name of Earth's single, huge continent from over 250 million years ago is (1 point) A.Megaland. B.Pangaea. C.Gondwanaland. D.Laurasia. Original conversation User: The name of Earth's single, huge continent from over 250 million years ago is (1 point) A.Megaland. B.Pangaea. C.Gondwanaland. D.Laurasia. Weegy: The name of the Earth's single continent was B. Pangaea MrG |Points 1812| User: Krystal Weegy: The name of Earth's single, huge continent from over 250 million years ago is B.- Pangaea Expert answered| hhaokok |Points 32|

Pangaea

What component of CFCs causes destruction of ozone?

What Is Pangaea? - Universe Today   Universe Today by Jerry Coffey So, you are curious about what is Pangaea? It was the supercontinent that existed 250 million years ago during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. During the ensuing millenia, plate tectonics slowly moved each continent to its current position on the planet. Each continent is still slowly moving across the face of our world. The breaking up and formation of supercontinents appears to have happened several times over Earth’s history with Pangaea being one among many. The next-to-last one, Pannotia, formed about 600 million years ago during the Proterozoic eon. Pannotia included large amounts of land near the poles and only a relatively small strip near the equator connecting the polar masses. 60 million years after its formation Pannotia broke up, giving rise to the continents of Laurentia, Baltica, and Gondwana. Laurentia would eventually become a large portion of North America, the microcontinent of Avalonia(a small portion of Gondwana) would become the northeastern United States, Nova Scotia, and England. All of these came together at the end of the Ordovician. While this was happening, Gondwana drifted slowly towards the South Pole. These were the early steps in the formation of Pangaea. The next step was the collision of Gondwana with the other land mass. Southern Europe broke free of Gondwana. By late Silurian time, North and South China rifted away from Gondwana and started to head northward across the shrinking Proto-Tethys Ocean. Movement continued slowly until the land masses drifted until their current positions. The list of oceans and microcontinents is too long to include in this article. We have many articles about this full process here on Universe Today. The evidence for Pangaea lies in the fossil records from the period. It includes the presence of similar and identical species on continents that are now great distances apart. Additional evidence for Pangaea is found in the geology of adjacent continents, including matching geological trends between the eastern coast of South America and western Africa. The polar ice cap of the Carboniferous Period covered the southern end of Pangaea. Glacial deposits of the same age and structure are found on many separate continents which would have been together in the continent of Pangaea. We know that the existence of supercontinents has been proven. We know that they have existed at different times in the Earth’s history. Also, we know that the tectonic plates are still moving. Is it possible that there will be another supercontinent someday in the distant future. We have written many articles about Pangaea for Universe Today. Here’s an article about the Continental Drift Theory , and here’s an article about the continental plates. If you’d like more info on Pangaea, check out the Pangaea Interactive Map Game . And here’s a link to NASA’s Continents in Collision: Pangaea Ultima . We’ve also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast all about Plate Tectonics. Listen here, Episode 142: Plate Tectonics . Sources:

i don't know

What does a barometer measure?

What Does a Barometer Measure? | Wonderopolis Wonder of the Day #213 What Does a Barometer Measure? What does a barometer measure? How much pressure does the atmosphere exert on you at all times? How do changes in air pressure signal changes in the weather? Tags: Listen Can you feel the pressure ? It's around you…all the time…everywhere you go. What is it? Atmospheric pressure — often referred to simply as air pressure — is the constant force exerted on you by the weight of little particles of air. These tiny air particles, called air molecules, can't be seen, but they are all around you. They have weight, which means they constantly “push" down on you. If you look straight up in the air, you can imagine a tall column of air above your head reaching all the way to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere . The weight of that column of air is the amount of air pressure exerted on you. If you move to a higher elevation (climb a mountain, for example), the air pressure will be lower. Why? The length of that column of air above you has decreased by the amount of your increase in elevation . As you move to a higher elevation , you may notice that your ears have to “pop." This balances the pressure between the inside and outside of your ear. Since there are fewer air molecules the higher you go, you will also probably need to breathe faster to breathe in more molecules to make up for the deficit . Air molecules also take up space. Because there tends to be a lot of empty space between air molecules, air can either fill a big area or it can be compressed to fit into a smaller area. When it's compressed, air is said to be under high pressure . Earth's atmosphere presses down on you with a force of almost 15 pounds per square inch. You may be wondering why it doesn't feel that heavy or why you're not crushed under the weight. Remember that thing you do called breathing? The air inside your body balances out the pressure from air in the atmosphere , which prevents you from being squished by the pressure of the atmosphere . You don't sense air pressure as a constant force , because the air inside you balances outside pressure and you're used to that feeling. If you watch the weather report frequently, you're sure to hear the weatherman talk about barometric pressure . Weather forecasters use a special tool called a barometer to measure air pressure . Barometers measure atmospheric pressure using mercury , water or air. You'll usually hear forecasters give measurements in either inches of mercury or in millibars (mb). Forecasters use changes in air pressure measured with barometers to predict short-term changes in the weather . Changes in air pressure signal the movement of high- or low- pressure areas of air, called fronts. Air molecules in high pressure areas tend to flow toward low pressure areas. We call this flow of air molecules wind . The larger the difference in pressure between areas, the stronger the winds will be. As weather forecasters monitor air pressure , falling barometer measurements can signal that bad weather is on the way. In general, if a low pressure system is on its way, be prepared for warmer weather with storms and rain. If a high pressure system is coming, you can expect clear skies and cooler temperatures. Wonder Words (18) Test your knowledge Wonder What's Next? We’re about to erupt with excitement. Join us in Wonderopolis tomorrow for a Wonder of the Day that will blow your top! Try It Out How's the weather? Gather together a few friends or family members to check out one or more of the following fun activities: How accurate is the weatherman where you live? Keep track and find out! Over the course of the next week, watch the weather report at the same time each day. Take notes in a journal. Make sure to record predictions for temperature and precipitation. Then make careful observations about the weather on your own. Did the weatherman get it right? How often? Would you like to be a weather forecaster one day? Why or why not? Are you ready to predict the weather? You can be a weather forecaster in the making when you Build Your Own Barometer with just a few simple supplies. Be sure to ask an adult for help. Once you have built your barometer, put it to the test. Can you track changes in atmospheric pressure? Do they predict changes in the weather? Do you think your barometer is accurate? Why or why not? Air pressure can be a hard scientific concept to grasp. After all, air is invisible, which means it's not the easiest thing to observe! Can you see air? If it's really windy outside, you might see the effects of wind, but can you see the wind itself? Not really! Air pressure is the same way. Science tells us that it's always pushing down on us, but it's hard to observe. To see air pressure in action for yourself, you can show your friends and family the amazing power of air pressure with this super-cool Unspillable Water Experiment !

Atmospheric pressure

What is the basic chemical composition of malachite?

How Does a Barometer Work? - YouTube How Does a Barometer Work? Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Sep 28, 2013 A barometer is a very useful invention that is used to measure atmospheric pressure and predict the weather. Category

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What is the term for a fold of the Earth's crust in which the layers of rock dip inwards?

10(l) Crustal Deformation Processes: Folding and Faulting CHAPTER 10: Introduction to the Lithosphere   (l). Crustal Deformation Processes: Folding and Faulting The topographic map illustrated in Figure 10l-1 suggests that the Earth's surface has been deformed. This deformation is the result of forces that are strong enough to move ocean sediments to an eleveation many thousands meters above sea level. In previous lectures, we have discovered that this displacement of rock can be caused by tectonic plate movement and subduction , volcanic activity , and intrusive igneous activity . Figure 10l-1: Topographic relief of the Earth's terrestrial surface and ocean basins. Ocean trenches and the ocean floor have the lowest elevations on the image and are colored dark blue. Elevation is indicated by color. The legend below shows the relationship between color and elevation. (Source: National Geophysical Data Center , National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).   Deformation of rock involves changes in the shape and/or volume of these substances. Changes in shape and volume occur when stress and strain causes rock to buckle and fracture or crumple into folds. A fold can be defined as a bend in rock that is the response to compressional forces. Folds are most visible in rocks that contain layering. For plastic deformation of rock to occur a number of conditions must be met, including: The rock material must have the ability to deform under pressure and heat. The higher the temperature of the rock the more plastic it becomes. Pressure must not exceed the internal strength of the rock. If it does, fracturing occurs. Deformation must be applied slowly. A number of different folds have been recognized and classified by geologists. The simplest type of fold is called a monocline (Figure 10i-2). This fold involves a slight bend in otherwise parallel layers of rock. Figure 10l-2: Monocline fold.   An anticline is a convex up fold in rock that resembles an arch like structure with the rock beds (or limbs) dipping way from the center of the structure (Figure 10l-3). Figure 10l-3: Anticline fold. Note how the rock layers dip away from the center of the fold are roughly symmetrical.   A syncline is a fold where the rock layers are warped downward (Figure 10l-4 and 10l-5). Both anticlines and synclines are the result of compressional stress. Figure 10l-4: Syncline fold. Note how the rock layers dip toward the center of the fold and are roughly symmetrical.   Figure 10l-5: Synclinal folds in bedrock, near Saint-Godard-de-Lejeune, Canada. (Source: Natural Resources Canada - Terrain Sciences Division - Canadian Landscapes ).   More complex fold types can develop in situations where lateral pressures become greater. The greater pressure results in anticlines and synclines that are inclined and asymmetrical (Figure 10l-6). Figure 10l-6: The following illustration shows two anticline folds which are inclined. Also note how the beds on either side of the fold center are asymmetrical.   A recumbent fold develops if the center of the fold moves from being once vertical to a horizontal position (Figure 10l-7). Recumbent folds are commonly found in the core of mountain ranges and indicate that compression and/or shear forces were stronger in one direction. Extreme stress and pressure can sometimes cause the rocks to shear along a plane of weakness creating a fault . We call the combination of a fault and a fold in a rock an overthrust fault . Figure 10l-7: Recumbent fold.   Faults form in rocks when the stresses overcome the internal strength of the rock resulting in a fracture. A fault can be defined as the displacement of once connected blocks of rock along a fault plane. This can occur in any direction with the blocks moving away from each other. Faults occur from both tensional and compressional forces. Figure 10l-8 shows the location of some of the major faults located on the Earth. Figure 10l-8: Location of some of the major faults on the Earth. Note that many of these faults are in mountainous regions (see section 10k ).   There are several different kinds of faults. These faults are named according to the type of stress that acts on the rock and by the nature of the movement of the rock blocks either side of the fault plane. Normal faults occur when tensional forces act in opposite directions and cause one slab of the rock to be displaced up and the other slab down (Figure 10l-9). Figure 10l-9: Animation of a normal fault.   Reverse faults develop when compressional forces exist (Figure 10l-10). Compression causes one block to be pushed up and over the other block. Figure 10l-10: Animation of a reverse fault.   A graben fault is produced when tensional stresses result in the subsidence of a block of rock. On a large scale these features are known as Rift Valleys (Figure 10l-11). Figure 10l-11: Animation of a graben fault.   A horst fault is the development of two reverse faults causing a block of rock to be pushed up (Figure 10l-12). Figure 10l-12: Animation of a horst fault.   The final major type of fault is the strike-slip or transform fault . These faults are vertical in nature and are produced where the stresses are exerted parallel to each other (Figure 10l-13). A well-known example of this type of fault is the San Andreas fault in California.   Figure 10l-13: Transcurrent fault zones on and off the West coast of North America. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey).  

Syncline

Which clouds only occur above 10,000 meters?

Chapter 10 - Deformation, Mountain Building, and Earth's Crust at University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh - StudyBlue Shear Compression Stress & Where it Occurs  rocks or any other object are squeezed or compressed by forces directed toward one another along the same line.  Rock layers tend to be shortened in the direction of stress by folding or fracturing. Occurs along convergent plate boundaries, where plates are colliding into one another. Tension Stress & Where it Occurs  results from forces acting along the same line, but in opposite directions.  Rock layers tend to be lengthened and faulted. Occurs along divergent plate boundaries, where plates are pulling away from each other. Shear Stress & Where it Occurs  forces act parallel to one another in opposite directions.  Rock layers tend to be displaced along closely spaced planes. Occurs along tranform plate boundaries, where plates are sliding past one another. Strain  The deformation that results from stress. The type of strain depends on the type of material (brittle vs. ductile), the rate of stress being applied (rapidly – more likely to fracture), and location (deeper = higher temperature and pressure). Three Types of Strain  the maximum angle and direction of an inclination of a surface. It is measured with a compass at right angles to the direction of the strike. How are Strikes & Dips shown on Geological Maps? Strikes are indicated on geologic maps by a long line oriented in the compass direction of the strike. Dips are indicated on geologic maps by a short line perpendicular to the strike line. Next to the symbols, the angle measurement of the dip is given. Fold  A type of geologic structure where rock layers have been permanently bent by plastic strain. There are two main types of folds - anticlines & synclines. Two Main Types of Folds  Anticline Syncline Anticline Fold an up-arched fold in rock layers that resembles an arch ∩.  The oldest rock layers are in the center at ground surface.  All layers dip away from axis.  Syncline Fold a down-arched fold in rock layers that resembles a smiley face or a U. The youngest rock layers are in the center. All layers dip toward axis.  Anticline/Syncline Fold Axial Planes These folds have an axial plane that connects the maximum curvature points of each layer, separating the anticline from a syncline.  This plane divides the folds in half, with each half being called a limb.  Because folds are often found in alternating anticlines and synclines, the anticline and syncline next to one another share a limb. Fault Plane the flat surface along where the break or shear of a fault occurs.  Hanging Wall Block consists of the rocks hanging above the fault.  In a normal fault, the hanging wall block moves down relative to the footwall block.  Footwall Block consists of the rocks beneath the fault. Dip-Slip Faults  The blocks on opposite sides of the fault move parallel to the direction of dip, meaning they move up or down along the fault plane.  Three Types of Dip-Slip Faults  Normal Fault Thrust Fault Normal Fault  The hanging wall block slides down relative to the footwall block.  The footwall block slides up relative to the hanging wall block.  They result from tension where crust is being stretched and thinned.  Reverse Fault  The hanging wall block slides up relative to the footwall block and the footwall block slides down relative to the hanging wall block. Formed from compression at convergent plate boundaries where mountains are formed. Thrust Fault  The hanging wall block slides up relative to the footwall block (like in a reverse fault) but the fault has a dip of less than 45 degrees.  Formed from compression at convergent plate boundaries where mountains are formed. Strike-Slip Fault & Types of Strike-Slip Faults  The blocks on opposite sides of the fault move past one another horizontally. They result from shear stress.   They are either right-lateral or left-lateral, depending on which way the opposite block appears to have moved. The San Andreas Fault is a right-lateral strike-slip fault. Transform faults are a type of strike-slip fault where two tectonic plates slide past one another.         Continental Accretion The processes in which continents grow by orogenies, where additions of Earth materials are added along their margins.  Most of the material added to continental margins is eroded older continental crust. Principle of Isostasy  The phenomenon of Earth’s crust floating in the denser mantle.  Where the crust is the thickest (beneath mountains) it sinks farther down into the mantle and at the same time rises higher above the surface to maintain equilibrium below and above the surface.  This is strange because both crust and mantle are solids, but mantle is very hot and behaves like a viscous fluid under tremendous pressure.  Since continental crust stands higher than oceanic crust. Isostatic Rebound  The phenomenon where the crust gets loaded (glacial ice weighing down the surface) and lowers down in the upper mantle, but eventually the crust unloads itself (when vast glaciers melt or deep erosion occurs) which causes it to rise back up until it attains equilibrium with the underlying upper mantle. Mountain Any area of land that stands significantly higher (at least 300 m) from the surrounding country and has a restricted summit area.    Mountain Range Numerous mountains that are arranged in a linear fashion and are related in age and origin. Mountain System 

i don't know

Which gas in the atmosphere can be turned into fertilizer by some microbes?

Fertilizer use responsible for increase in nitrous oxide in atmosphere | Berkeley News Fertilizer use responsible for increase in nitrous oxide in atmosphere By Robert Sanders , Media relations | April 2, 2012 Robert Sanders University of California, Berkeley, chemists have found a smoking gun proving that increased fertilizer use over the past 50 years is responsible for a dramatic rise in atmospheric nitrous oxide, which is a major greenhouse gas contributing to global climate change. The Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station in Tasmania, where air samples have been collected since 1978. These samples show a long-term trend in isotopic composition that confirms that nitrogen-based fertilizer is largely responsible for the 20 percent increase in atmospheric nitrous oxide since the Industrial Revolution. Photo courtesy of CSIRO. Climate scientists have assumed that the cause of the increased nitrous oxide was nitrogen-based fertilizer, which stimulates microbes in the soil to convert nitrogen to nitrous oxide at a faster rate than normal. The new study, reported in the April issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, uses nitrogen isotope data to identify the unmistakable fingerprint of fertilizer use in archived air samples from Antarctica and Tasmania. “Our study is the first to show empirically from the data at hand alone that the nitrogen isotope ratio in the atmosphere and how it has changed over time is a fingerprint of fertilizer use,” said study leader Kristie Boering, a UC Berkeley professor of chemistry and of earth and planetary science. “We are not vilifying fertilizer. We can’t just stop using fertilizer,” she added. “But we hope this study will contribute to changes in fertilizer use and agricultural practices that will help to mitigate the release of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere.” Since the year 1750, nitrous oxide levels have risen 20 percent – from below 270 parts per billion (ppb) to more than 320 ppb. After carbon dioxide and methane, nitrous oxide (N2O) is the most potent greenhouse gas, trapping heat and contributing to global warming. It also destroys stratospheric ozone, which protects the planet from harmful ultraviolet rays. Not surprisingly, a steep ramp-up in atmospheric nitrous oxide coincided with the green revolution that increased dramatically in the 1960s, when inexpensive, synthetic fertilizer and other developments boosted food production worldwide, feeding a burgeoning global population. Tracking the origin of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere, however, is difficult because a molecule from a fertilized field looks identical to one from a natural forest or the ocean if you only measure total concentration. But a quirk of microbial metabolism affects the isotope ratio of the nitrogen the N2O microbes give off, producing a telltale fingerprint that can be detected with sensitive techniques. Archived air from Cape Grim Boering and her colleagues, including former UC Berkeley graduate students Sunyoung Park and Phillip Croteau, obtained air samples from Antarctic ice, called firn air, dating from 1940 to 2005, and from an atmospheric monitoring station at Cape Grim, Tasmania, which has archived air back to 1978. Law Dome, Antarctica. Air trapped in the consolidated snow from this region provides historical air samples going back to 1940. Analysis of N2O levels in the Cape Grim air samples revealed a seasonal cycle, which has been known before. But isotopic measurements by a very sensitive isotope ratio mass spectrometer also displayed a seasonal cycle, which had not been observed before. At Cape Grim, the isotopes show that the seasonal cycle is due both to the circulation of air returning from the stratosphere, where N2O is destroyed after an average lifetime of 120 years, and to seasonal changes in the ocean, most likely upwelling that releases more N2O at some times of year than at others. “The fact that the isotopic composition of N2O shows a coherent signal in space and time is exciting, because now you have a way to differentiate agricultural N2O from natural ocean N2O from Amazon forest emissions from N2O returning from the stratosphere,” Boering said. “In addition, you also now have a way to check whether your international neighbors are abiding by agreements they’ve made to mitigate N2O emissions. It is a tool that, ultimately, we can use to verify whether N2O emissions by agriculture or biofuel production are in line with what they say they are.” Changes in fertilizer use can reduce N2O emissions Limiting nitrous oxide emissions could be part of a first step toward reducing all greenhouse gases and lessening global warming, Boering said, especially since immediately reducing global carbon dioxide emissions is proving difficult from a political standpoint. In particular, reducing nitrous oxide emissions can initially offset more than its fair share of greenhouse gas emissions overall, since N2O traps heat at a different wavelength than CO2 and clogs a “window” that allows Earth to cool off independent of CO2 levels. “On a pound for pound basis, it is really worthwhile to figure how to limit our emissions of N2O and methane,” she said. “Limiting N2O emissions can buy us a little more time in figuring out how to reduce CO2 emissions.” Finding the fingerprint of fertilized microbes Boering was able to trace the source of N2O because bacteria in a nitrogen-rich environment, such as a freshly fertilized field, prefer to use nitrogen-14 (14N), the most common isotope, instead of nitrogen-15 (15N). “Microbes on a spa weekend can afford to discriminate against nitrogen-15, so the fingerprint of N2O from a fertilized field is a greater proportion of nitrogen-14,” Boering said. “Our study is the first to show empirically from the data at hand alone that the nitrogen isotope ratio in the atmosphere and how it has changed over time is a fingerprint of fertilizer use.” Just as telling is the isotope ratio of the central nitrogen atom in the N-N-O molecule. By measuring the nitrogen isotope ratio overall, the isotope ratio in the central nitrogen atom, and contrasting these with the oxygen-18/oxygen-16 isotope ratio, which has not changed over the past 65 years, they were able to paint a consistent picture pointing at fertilizer as the major source of increased atmospheric N2O . The isotope ratios also revealed that fertilizer use has caused a shift in the way soil microbes produce N2O. The relative output of bacteria that produce N2O by nitrification grew from 13 to 23 percent worldwide, while the relative output of bacteria that produce N2O by denitrification – typically in the absence of oxygen – dropped from 87 to 77 percent. Although the numbers themselves are uncertain, these are the first numerical estimates of these global trends over time, made possible by the unique archived air dataset of this study. One approach, for example, is to time fertilizer application to avoid rain, because wet and happy soil microbes can produce sudden bursts of nitrous oxide. Changes in the way fields are tilled, when they are fertilized and how much is used can reduce N2O production. Boering’s studies, which involve analyzing the isotopic fingerprints of nitrous oxide from different sources, could help farmers determine which strategies are most effective. It could also help assess the potential negative impacts of growing crops for biofuels, since some feedstocks may require fertilizer that will generate N2O that offsets their carbon neutrality. “This new evidence of the budget of nitrous oxide allows us to better predict its future changes– and therefore its impacts on climate and stratospheric ozone depletion – for different scenarios of fertilizer use in support of rising populations and increased production for bio-energy,” said coauthor David Etheridge of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research in Aspendale, Victoria. Boering’s colleagues include D. M. Etheridge, P. J. Fraser, P. B. Krummel, R. L. Langenfelds, L. P. Steele and C. M. Trudinger of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research; D. Ferretti of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in Wellington, New Zealand; K-R. Kim of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Seoul National University in Korea; and T. D. van Ommen of the Australian Antarctic Division in Tasmania. Park is now at Seoul National University, while Croteau is at Aerodyne Research, Inc., in Billerica, Mass. The work was supported by UC Berkeley’s Atmospheric Sciences Center, NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Program, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the Brain 21 Korea Program, a Korean government research grant through Seoul National University, and the Australian government’s Cooperative Research Centres Programme. For more information:

Nitrogen

Which layer of the Earth is believed to be formed of molten iron and nickel?

Slick Solution: How Microbes Will Clean Up the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill - Scientific American Scientific American The Sciences Slick Solution: How Microbes Will Clean Up the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Bacteria and other microbes are the only thing that will ultimately clean up the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico By David Biello on May 25, 2010 Credit: Courtesy of Heimholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) Advertisement | Report Ad The last (and only) defense against the ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is tiny—billions of hydrocarbon-chewing microbes, such as Alcanivorax borkumensis . In fact, the primary motive for using the more than 830,000 gallons of chemical dispersants on the oil slick both above and below the surface of the sea is to break the oil into smaller droplets that bacteria can more easily consume. "If the oil is in very small droplets, microbial degradation is much quicker," says microbial ecologist Kenneth Lee, director of the Center for Offshore Oil, Gas and Energy Research with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, who has been measuring the oil droplets in the Gulf of Mexico to determine the effectiveness of the dispersant use . "The dispersants can also stimulate microbial growth. Bacteria will chew on the dispersants as well as the oil." For decades scientists have pursued genetic modifications that might enhance these microbes' ability to chew up oil spills, whether on land or sea. Even geneticist Craig Venter forecast such an application last week during the unveiling of the world's first synthetic cell , and one of the first patents on a genetically engineered organism was a hydrocarbon-eating microbe, notes microbiologist Ronald Atlas of the University of Louisville. But there are no signs of such organisms put to work outside the lab. "Microbes are available now but they are not effective for the most part," says marine microbiologist Jay Grimes of the University of Southern Mississippi. At this point, there are no man-made microbes that are more effective than naturally occurring ones at utilizing hydrocarbons. The natural world is replete with a host of organisms that combine as a community to decompose oil—and no single microbe, no matter how genetically enhanced, has proved better than this natural defense. "Every ocean we look at, from the Antarctic to the Arctic, there are oil-degrading bacteria," says Atlas, who evaluated genetically engineered microbes and other cleanup ideas in the wake of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in Alaska. "Petroleum has thousands of compounds. It's complex and the communities that feed on it are complex. A superbug fails because it competes with this community that is adapted to the environment." Nor is it easy to help the existing communities of thousands of microbes, such as various species of Vibrio and Pseudomonads, to eat the oil faster—seeding experiments have generally failed. "Microbes are a lot like teenagers, they are hard to control," says marine chemist Chris Reddy of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution . "The concept that nature will eat it all up is not accurate, at least not on the time scale we're worried about." Just like your automobile, these marine-dwelling bacteria and fungi use the hydrocarbons as fuel—and emit the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) as a result. In essence, the microbes break down the ring structures of the hydrocarbons in seaborne oil using enzymes and oxygen in the seawater. The end result is ancient oil turned into modern-day bacterial biomass—populations can grow exponentially in days. "Down in the Gulf of Mexico there is an indigenous population [of microbes] adapted to oil from so much marine traffic and daily spills. Oil is not new," says Lee, who has also been monitoring the plumes of oil beneath the surface . "There are so many natural seeps around the world that if it wasn't for microbes we would have a lot of oil in the oceans." Already, measurements of oxygen depletion of as much as 30 percent in the Gulf of Mexico seawater suggest that the microbes are hard at work eating oil. "I take the 30 percent depletion of oxygen in water near the oil as indicating bacterial degradation," Atlas says. That happens best near the surface, whether at land or sea, where warm-water bacteria such as Thalassolituus oleivorans can thrive; colder, deeper waters inhibit microbial growth. "Metabolism slows by about a factor of two or three for every 10 degree[s] Celsius you drop in temperature," notes biogeochemist David Valentine of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who just received funding from the National Science Foundation to characterize the microbial response to the ongoing oil spill . "The deeper stuff, that's going to happen very slowly because the temperature is so low." Unfortunately, that's exactly where some of the Deepwater Horizon oil seems to be ending up. "They saw the oil at 800 to 1,400 meters depth," says microbial ecologist Andreas Teske of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose graduate student Luke McKay was on the research vessel Pelican that first reported such subsurface plumes—as predicted by small-scale experiments, such as the U.S. Minerals Management Services Project "Deep Spill" . "It is either at the surface or hanging in the water column and possibly sinking down to the sediment." Yet, microbes are the only process to break down the oil deeper in the water, far away from physical processes on the surface such as evaporation or waves. "The deep waters are dominantly microbial" when it comes to oil degradation , although these communities are not as well studied as those at the surface, notes microbial geochemist Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia. "As long as there is oxygen around, it will get chewed up." To understand how the microbes will work and how quickly, however, will require a better understanding of exactly how much oil is out there. "It's a function of size, and we don't know size," Joye says. "We need to know how much oil is leaking out. Without that information we can't begin to make any kind of calculation of potential oxygen demand or anything else." BP now admits that its original estimate of roughly 200,000 gallons per day was far too low without providing an alternative; independent experts have offered estimates as high as four million gallons per day. It is possible to add fertilizers, such as iron, nitrogen and phosphorus, to stimulate the growth of such bacteria, an approach used to speed up microbial activity in the sediment along the Alaska coast after the Exxon-Valdez spill . "We saw a three to five times increase in rate of biodegradation," Atlas says, suggesting the technique might prove effective along the oil-inundated Louisiana coast as well. "It was hundreds of miles of shoreline, the largest bioremediation project ever." But that's strictly onshore. "In the ocean, how do you keep the nutrients with the oil?" Lee asks. "It's much easier to add to soil. That's why you don't see bioremediation in the open ocean." And aerating soils in wetlands can have its own problems; Lee tried tilling oil-soaked wetlands in Nova Scotia where there was limited oxygen to increase microbial activity. "That didn't work. We had large erosion as a result," he says. "If the oil reaches shore, our recommendation was to leave the oil alone and let nature do it." But sediment, whether the muck of Louisiana marshland or the deep ocean seafloor, suffers from a dearth of oxygen. That means it's up to anaerobic microbes— ancient organisms that live via sulfate rather than oxygen—to do the dirty work of consuming the spill. "What occurred in 10 days aerobically, took 365 days to occur anaerobically," says Atlas of the breakdown of oil in the wake of the Amoco Cadiz spill off the coast of France in 1978. Adds Teske: "The heavy components are sinking to the sediment and forming an oily or tarry carpet or getting buried. Then they are much harder to degrade." Such anaerobic environments can develop locally in the seawater itself, thanks to a ready supply of oil and blooming microbes eager to devour it. In deepwater, where there's less mixing with the surface waters to provide fresh supplies of oxygen, a dead zone may result. "It's not exchanging with the atmosphere," Joye notes. "Once the oxygen is gone, how are you going to replace it? It's not going to get mixed up by winter storms." That's bad news for the speedy breakdown of oil as well as for the Lophelia coral and other sessile deepwater life. At the same time, the addition of 130,000 gallons of dispersants deep beneath the surface is having uncertain effects; it may even end up killing the microbes it is meant to help thanks to the fact that Corexit 9527A contains the solvent 2-butoxyethanol, which is a known human carcinogen and toxic to animals and other life. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and others are monitoring whether adding such dispersants ends up boosting microbe-growth and hence dangerously depletes oxygen levels, among other potential environmental ill effects. Nor is it clear how fast the microbial community will respond. "Which microbial communities are the fastest responders?" Teske asks. "That would be interesting to know" and this oil spill may provide the real- world answer. Some research suggests that oil spills may actually feed themselves nitrogen by stimulating the growth of various bacteria that fix the vital nutrient , Joye notes. At the same time, microbial predators such as protozoa tend to dampen the efficiency of would-be oil-eating microbes. Scientists are still working to deploy known oil-eaters, such as Alcanivorax, in the form of booms laced with slow-release fertilizer and the microbes. In experiments such microbial booms ate heavy fuel oil in two months and "the experimental waste water was clean enough to be released back to the sea," says environmental geneticist Peter Golyshin of Bangor University in Wales. But "in the Gulf of Mexico, the amount of oil is simply too big. The oil gets dispersed but there is not enough [nitrogen] and [phosphorus] to feed bacterial growth." Ultimately, it is only microbes that can remove the oil from the ocean. "In the long run, it's biodegradation that removes most of the oil from the environment in these situations," Lee says. Or, as Joye puts it, "They're clever, they're tough, they can basically eat nails…. The microbes have to save us again." Regardless, the oil will linger in the environment for a long time . The microbes break down hydrocarbons in "weeks to months to years, depending on the compounds and concentrations—not hours or days," Atlas notes. "Much of the real tar or asphalt compounds are not readily subject to microbial attack…. Tar tends to persist. Asphalt tends to persist." Adds Valentine: "We wouldn't make roads out of them if the bacteria ate them."

i don't know

What is the collective noun for rhinoceri?

What Is a Group of Snakes Called? What Is a Group of Snakes Called? Tweet A group of snakes is generally called a bed, den, pit or nest, but a group of rattlesnakes is referred to as a rhumba or rumba. It's not entirely clear why it is called a rhumba, but the word comes from a Cuban Spanish term, rumba, which originally meant "party" or "carousel." Terms such as "bed" or "rhumba" are known as collective nouns when they refer to groups of animals. More collective nouns for animal groups: A group of monkeys is often called a tribe or troop, but it can also be called a shrewdness of monkeys. Groups of baboons specifically can be called a flange or congress of baboons, and groups of chimpanzees can be called a harem of chimpanzees. Perhaps appropriately, a group of cockroaches is called an intrusion of cockroaches. A group of rats is often called a pack, but it also can be called a mischief. Crows also have particularly negative collective nouns, including an unkindness of crows, as well as a congress, a conspiracy, a parliament and a murder of crows. Doves have a more positive group of names, including a cote of doves and a piteousness of doves. A group of ants can be called a bike of ants, and a group of bees can be called a grist of bees. Groups of alligators or crocodiles are called congregations, and groups of Komodo dragons are called banks. Both a group of hippopotami and a group of rhinoceri can be called a crash. A group of hippopotami also can be called a bloat. Follow wiseGEEK:

Crash

What type of rock is formed by the rapid cooling of molten lava?

What Is a Group of Snakes Called? What Is a Group of Snakes Called? Tweet A group of snakes is generally called a bed, den, pit or nest, but a group of rattlesnakes is referred to as a rhumba or rumba. It's not entirely clear why it is called a rhumba, but the word comes from a Cuban Spanish term, rumba, which originally meant "party" or "carousel." Terms such as "bed" or "rhumba" are known as collective nouns when they refer to groups of animals. More collective nouns for animal groups: A group of monkeys is often called a tribe or troop, but it can also be called a shrewdness of monkeys. Groups of baboons specifically can be called a flange or congress of baboons, and groups of chimpanzees can be called a harem of chimpanzees. Perhaps appropriately, a group of cockroaches is called an intrusion of cockroaches. A group of rats is often called a pack, but it also can be called a mischief. Crows also have particularly negative collective nouns, including an unkindness of crows, as well as a congress, a conspiracy, a parliament and a murder of crows. Doves have a more positive group of names, including a cote of doves and a piteousness of doves. A group of ants can be called a bike of ants, and a group of bees can be called a grist of bees. Groups of alligators or crocodiles are called congregations, and groups of Komodo dragons are called banks. Both a group of hippopotami and a group of rhinoceri can be called a crash. A group of hippopotami also can be called a bloat. Follow wiseGEEK:

i don't know

What name is given to the rock formations used as a source of water?

USGS Water Science Glossary of Terms A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | K | L | M | N | O | P | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y A acequia--acequias are gravity-driven waterways, similar in concept to a flume. Most are simple ditches with dirt banks, but they can be lined with concrete. They were important forms of irrigation in the development of agriculture in the American Southwest. The proliferation of cotton, pecans and green chile as major agricultural staples owe their progress to the acequia system. acid--a substance that has a pH of less than 7, which is neutral. Specifically, an acid has more free hydrogen ions (H+) than hydroxyl ions (OH-). acre-foot (acre-ft)--the volume of water required to cover 1 acre of land (43,560 square feet) to a depth of 1 foot. Equal to 325,851 gallons or 1,233 cubic meters. alkaline--sometimes water or soils contain an amount of alkali (strongly basic) substances sufficient to raise the pH value above 7.0 and be harmful to the growth of crops. alkalinity--the capacity of water for neutralizing an acid solution. alluvium--deposits of clay, silt, sand, gravel, or other particulate material that has been deposited by a stream or other body of running water in a streambed, on a flood plain, on a delta, or at the base of a mountain. appropriation doctrine--the system for allocating water to private individuals used in most Western states. The doctrine of Prior Appropriation was in common use throughout the arid west as early settlers and miners began to develop the land. The prior appropriation doctrine is based on the concept of "First in Time, First in Right." The first person to take a quantity of water and put it to Beneficial Use has a higher priority of right than a subsequent user. Under drought conditions, higher priority users are satisfied before junior users receive water. Appropriative rights can be lost through nonuse; they can also be sold or transferred apart from the land. Contrasts with Riparian Water Rights. aquaculture--farming of plants and animals that live in water, such as fish, shellfish, and algae. aqueduct--a pipe, conduit, or channel designed to transport water from a remote source, usually by gravity. aquifer--a geologic formation(s) that is water bearing. A geological formation or structure that stores and/or transmits water, such as to wells and springs. Use of the term is usually restricted to those water-bearing formations capable of yielding water in sufficient quantity to constitute a usable supply for people's uses. aquifer (confined)--soil or rock below the land surface that is saturated with water. There are layers of impermeable material both above and below it and it is under pressure so that when the aquifer is penetrated by a well, the water will rise above the top of the aquifer. aquifer (unconfined)--an aquifer whose upper water surface (water table) is at atmospheric pressure, and thus is able to rise and fall. artesian water--groundwater that is under pressure when tapped by a well and is able to rise above the level at which it is first encountered. It may or may not flow out at ground level. The pressure in such an aquifer commonly is called artesian pressure, and the formation containing artesian water is an artesian aquifer or confined aquifer. See flowing well artificial recharge--an process where water is put back into groundwater storage from surface-water supplies such as irrigation, or induced infiltration from streams or wells. B base flow--sustained flow of a stream in the absence of direct runoff. It includes natural and human-induced streamflows. Natural base flow is sustained largely by groundwater discharges. base--a substance that has a pH of more than 7, which is neutral. A base has less free hydrogen ions (H+) than hydroxyl ions (OH-). bedrock--the solid rock beneath the soil and superficial rock. A general term for solid rock that lies beneath soil, loose sediments, or other unconsolidated material. C capillary action--the means by which liquid moves through the porous spaces in a solid, such as soil, plant roots, and the capillary blood vessels in our bodies due to the forces of adhesion, cohesion, and surface tension. Capillary action is essential in carrying substances and nutrients from one place to another in plants and animals. commercial water use--water used for motels, hotels, restaurants, office buildings, other commercial facilities, and institutions. Water for commercial uses comes both from public-supplied sources, such as a county water department, and self-supplied sources, such as local wells. condensation--the process of water vapor in the air turning into liquid water. Water drops on the outside of a cold glass of water are condensed water. Condensation is the opposite process of evaporation . consumptive use--that part of water withdrawn that is evaporated, transpired by plants, incorporated into products or crops, consumed by humans or livestock, or otherwise removed from the immediate water environment. Also referred to as water consumed. conveyance loss--water that is lost in transit from a pipe, canal, or ditch by leakage or evaporation. Generally, the water is not available for further use; however, leakage from an irrigation ditch, for example, may percolate to a groundwater source and be available for further use. cubic feet per second (cfs)--a rate of the flow, in streams and rivers, for example. It is equal to a volume of water one foot high and one foot wide flowing a distance of one foot in one second. One "cfs" is equal to 7.48 gallons of water flowing each second. As an example, if your car's gas tank is 2 feet by 1 foot by 1 foot (2 cubic feet), then gas flowing at a rate of 1 cubic foot/second would fill the tank in two seconds. D desalination--the removal of salts from saline water to provide freshwater. This method is becoming a more popular way of providing freshwater to populations. discharge--the volume of water that passes a given location within a given period of time. Usually expressed in cubic feet per second. domestic water use--water used for household purposes, such as drinking, food preparation, bathing, washing clothes, dishes, and dogs, flushing toilets, and watering lawns and gardens. About 85% of domestic water is delivered to homes by a public-supply facility, such as a county water department. About 15% of the Nation's population supply their own water, mainly from wells. drainage basin--land area where precipitation runs off into streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. It is a land feature that can be identified by tracing a line along the highest elevations between two areas on a map, often a ridge. Large drainage basins, like the area that drains into the Mississippi River contain thousands of smaller drainage basins. Also called a "watershed." drip irrigation--a common irrigation method where pipes or tubes filled with water slowly drip onto crops. Drip irrigation is a low-pressure method of irrigation and less water is lost to evaporation than high-pressure spray irrigation . drawdown--a lowering of the groundwater surface caused by pumping. E effluent--water that flows from a sewage treatment plant after it has been treated. erosion--the process in which a material is worn away by a stream of liquid (water) or air, often due to the presence of abrasive particles in the stream. estuary--a place where fresh and salt water mix, such as a bay, salt marsh, or where a river enters an ocean. evaporation--the process of liquid water becoming water vapor, including vaporization from water surfaces, land surfaces, and snow fields, but not from leaf surfaces. See transpiration evapotranspiration--the sum of evaporation and transpiration . F flood--An overflow of water onto lands that are used or usable by man and not normally covered by water. Floods have two essential characteristics: The inundation of land is temporary; and the land is adjacent to and inundated by overflow from a river, stream, lake, or ocean. flood, 100-year--A 100-year flood does not refer to a flood that occurs once every 100 years, but to a flood level with a 1 percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. flood plain--a strip of relatively flat and normally dry land alongside a stream, river, or lake that is covered by water during a flood. flood stage--The elevation at which overflow of the natural banks of a stream or body of water begins in the reach or area in which the elevation is measured. floodway--The channel of a river or stream and the parts of the floodplain adjoining the channel that are reasonably required to efficiently carry and discharge the flood water or flood flow of a river or stream. flowing well/spring--a well or spring that taps groundwater under pressure so that water rises without pumping. If the water rises above the surface, it is known as a flowing well. freshwater, freshwater--water that contains less than 1,000 milligrams per liter (mg/L) of dissolved solids; generally, more than 500 mg/L of dissolved solids is undesirable for drinking and many industrial uses. G gage height--the height of the water surface above the gage datum (zero point). Gage height is often used interchangeably with the more general term, stage, although gage height is more appropriate when used with a gage reading. gaging station--a site on a stream, lake, reservoir or other body of water where observations and hydrologic data are obtained. The U.S. Geological Survey measures stream discharge at gaging stations. geyser--a geothermal feature of the Earth where there is an opening in the surface that contains superheated water that periodically erupts in a shower of water and steam. giardiasis--a disease that results from an infection by the protozoan parasite Giardia Intestinalis, caused by drinking water that is either not filtered or not chlorinated. The disorder is more prevalent in children than in adults and is characterized by abdominal discomfort, nausea, and alternating constipation and diarrhea. glacier--a huge mass of ice, formed on land by the compaction and recrystallization of snow, that moves very slowly downslope or outward due to its own weight. greywater--wastewater from clothes washing machines, showers, bathtubs, hand washing, lavatories and sinks. groundwater--(1) water that flows or seeps downward and saturates soil or rock, supplying springs and wells. The upper surface of the saturate zone is called the water table. (2) Water stored underground in rock crevices and in the pores of geologic materials that make up the Earth's crust. groundwater, confined--groundwater under pressure significantly greater than atmospheric, with its upper limit the bottom of a bed with hydraulic conductivity distinctly lower than that of the material in which the confined water occurs. groundwater recharge--inflow of water to a groundwater reservoir from the surface. Infiltration of precipitation and its movement to the water table is one form of natural recharge. Also, the volume of water added by this process. groundwater, unconfined--water in an aquifer that has a water table that is exposed to the atmosphere. H hardness--a water-quality indication of the concentration of alkaline salts in water, mainly calcium and magnesium. If the water you use is "hard" then more soap, detergent or shampoo is necessary to raise a lather. headwater(s)--(1) the source and upper reaches of a stream; also the upper reaches of a reservoir. (2) the water upstream from a structure or point on a stream. (3) the small streams that come together to form a river. Also may be thought of as any and all parts of a river basin except the mainstream river and main tributaries. hydroelectric power water use--the use of water in the generation of electricity at plants where the turbine generators are driven by falling water. hydrologic cycle--the cyclic transfer of water vapor from the Earth's surface via evapotranspiration into the atmosphere, from the atmosphere via precipitation back to earth, and through runoff into streams, rivers, and lakes, and ultimately into the oceans. I impermeable layer--a layer of solid material, such as rock or clay, which does not allow water to pass through. industrial water use--water used for industrial purposes in such industries as steel, chemical, paper, and petroleum refining. Nationally, water for industrial uses comes mainly (80%) from self-supplied sources, such as a local wells or withdrawal points in a river, but some water comes from public-supplied sources, such as the county/city water department. infiltration--flow of water from the land surface into the subsurface. injection well--refers to a well constructed for the purpose of injecting treated wastewater directly into the ground. Wastewater is generally forced (pumped) into the well for dispersal or storage into a designated aquifer. Injection wells are generally drilled into aquifers that don't deliver drinking water, unused aquifers, or below freshwater levels. irrigation--the controlled application of water for agricultural purposes through manmade systems to supply water requirements not satisfied by rainfall. Here's a quick look at some types of irrigation systems . irrigation water use--water application on lands to assist in the growing of crops and pastures or to maintain vegetative growth in recreational lands, such as parks and golf courses. K kilogram--one thousand grams. kilowatthour (KWH)--a power demand of 1,000 watts for one hour. Power company utility rates are typically expressed in cents per kilowatt-hour. L leaching--the process by which soluble materials in the soil, such as salts, nutrients, pesticide chemicals or contaminants, are washed into a lower layer of soil or are dissolved and carried away by water. lentic waters--ponds or lakes (standing water). levee--a natural or manmade earthen barrier along the edge of a stream, lake, or river. Land alongside rivers can be protected from flooding by levees. livestock water use--water used for livestock watering, feed lots, dairy operations, fish farming, and other on-farm needs. lotic waters--flowing waters, as in streams and rivers. M maximum contaminant level (MCL)--the designation given by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to water-quality standards promulgated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The MCL is the greatest amount of a contaminant that can be present in drinking water without causing a risk to human health. milligram (mg)--One-thousandth of a gram. milligrams per liter (mg/l)--a unit of the concentration of a constituent in water or wastewater. It represents 0.001 gram of a constituent in 1 liter of water. It is approximately equal to one part per million (PPM). million gallons per day (Mgd)--a rate of flow of water equal to 133,680.56 cubic feet per day, or 1.5472 cubic feet per second, or 3.0689 acre-feet per day. A flow of one million gallons per day for one year equals 1,120 acre-feet (365 million gallons). mining water use--water use during quarrying rocks and extracting minerals from the land. municipal water system--a water system that has at least five service connections or which regularly serves 25 individuals for 60 days; also called a public water system N nephelometric turbidity unit (NTU)--unit of measure for the turbidity of water. Essentially, a measure of the cloudiness of water as measured by a nephelometer. Turbidity is based on the amount of light that is reflected off particles in the water. NGVD--National Geodetic Vertical Datum. (1) As corrected in 1929, a vertical control measure used as a reference for establishing varying elevations. (2) Elevation datum plane previously used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the determination of flood elevations. FEMA current uses the North American Vertical Datum Plane. NGVD of 1929--National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929. A geodetic datum derived from a general adjustment of the first order level nets of the United States and Canada. It was formerly called "Sea Level Datum of 1929" or "mean sea level" in the USGS series of reports. Although the datum was derived from the average sea level over a period of many years at 26 tide stations along the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific Coasts, it does not necessarily represent local mean sea level at any particular place. non-point source (NPS) pollution--pollution discharged over a wide land area, not from one specific location. These are forms of diffuse pollution caused by sediment, nutrients, organic and toxic substances originating from land-use activities, which are carried to lakes and streams by surface runoff. Non-point source pollution is contamination that occurs when rainwater, snowmelt, or irrigation washes off plowed fields, city streets, or suburban backyards. As this runoff moves across the land surface, it picks up soil particles and pollutants, such as nutrients and pesticides. O organic matter--plant and animal residues, or substances made by living organisms. All are based upon carbon compounds. osmosis--the movement of water molecules through a thin membrane. The osmosis process occurs in our bodies and is also one method of desalinating saline water. outfall--the place where a sewer, drain, or stream discharges; the outlet or structure through which reclaimed water or treated effluent is finally discharged to a receiving water body. oxygen demand--the need for molecular oxygen to meet the needs of biological and chemical processes in water. Even though very little oxygen will dissolve in water, it is extremely important in biological and chemical processes. P pH--a measure of the relative acidity or alkalinity of water. Water with a pH of 7 is neutral; lower pH levels indicate increasing acidity, while pH levels higher than 7 indicate increasingly basic solutions.

Aquifer

How long does it take for the Earth to spin once on its axis?

Groundwater Definitions - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation Groundwater Definitions Note: The following definitions are not for regulatory purposes. Aquifer: An underground geological formation able to store and yield water (see artesian, confined, and unconfined aquifers). Artesian (or confined) aquifer: exist where the groundwater is bounded between layers of impermeable substances like clay or dense rock. When tapped by a well, water in confined aquifers is forced up, sometimes above the land surface. Artesian well: A well tapping a confined (or artesian) aquifer. Water in the well rises above the top of the aquifer under artesian pressure, but does not necessarily reach the land surface. When a well in which the water level is above the land surface (see "Pontiometric surface"), a natural flow of water out of the well occurs. When water flows above the land surface the well is defined as a flowing artesian well. Cone of depression: The zone around a well in an unconfined aquifer that is normally saturated, but becomes unsaturated as a well is pumped, leaving an area where the water table dips down to form a cone shape. The shape of the cone is influenced by porosity and the water yield or pumping rate of the well. The land surface overlying the cone of depression is referred to as the area of influence. Confining layer: Geologic material with little or no permeability or hydraulic conductivity. Water does not pass through this layer or the rate of movement is extremely slow. Decommissioning a well: An environmentally sound process of sealing a well that is no longer being used in order to prevent groundwater contamination and harm to people and animals. "Well abandonment" can be a synonymous term unless it is used to describe a situation in which the use of a well is discontinued and the well is ignored or improperly sealed. Drawdown: A lowering of the groundwater level caused by pumping. Groundwater: Water found in the spaces between soil particles and cracks in rocks underground located in the saturation zone. Cracks in rocks can be due to joints, faults, etc. Groundwater is a natural resource that is used for drinking, recreation, industry, and growing crops. Hydraulic conductivity: a measure of a material's capacity to transmit water. It is independent of the thickness of that material. See "Transmissivity" for related definition. Another term for hydraulic conductivity is "coefficient of permeability". Impermeable layer: A layer of material (such as clay) in an aquifer through which water does not pass or passes extremely slowly. Induced recharge: The recharge to an aquifer that occurs when a pumping well creates a cone of depression that lowers an adjacent water table below the level of a stream or lake, causing the stream or lake to lose water to the adjacent groundwater aquifer. Infiltration: Flow of water from the land surface into the subsurface. Infiltration rate: The quantity of water that enters the soil surface in a specified time interval. Often expressed in volume of water per unit of soil surface area per unit of time. Karst: A geologic formation of irregular limestone deposits that dissolve to form sink holes, underground streams, and caverns. Groundwater Mining: Withdrawal (removal) of groundwater over a period of time that exceeds the recharge rate of the supply aquifer. Also referred to as overdraft or mining the aquifer. Monitoring well: A non-pumping well, generally of small diameter, that is used to measure the elevation of a water table or water quality. A piezometer, which is open only at the top and bottom of its casing, is one type of monitoring well. Perched aquifer: Localized zone of saturation above the main water table created by a laterally limited layer of underlying impermeable material. Permeable/Permeability: Capable of transmitting water (porous rock, sediment, or soil); the rate at which water moves through rocks or soil. Permeable layer: A layer of porous material (rock or unconsolidated sediment); in an aquifer, the layer through which water freely passes as it moves through the subsurface. Pore space: Openings between geologic material found underground. Also referred to as void space or interstices. Porosity: The ratio of the volume of void or air spaces in a rock or sediment to the total volume of the rock or sediment. The capacity of rock or soil to hold water varies with the material. For example, saturated small grain sand contains less water than coarse gravel. Potentiometric surface: The potential level to which water will rise above the water level in an aquifer in a well that penetrates a confined aquifer; if the potential level is higher than the land surface, the well will overflow. See "Artesian well" and "Confined aquifer". Pumping test: Evaluation of an aquifer by "stimulation" through controlled pumping and observing the aquifer's "response" (drawdown) in the production and observation wells. See NYSDEC protocol for pumping tests . Also "aquifer test". As opposed to "pump test" which measures the performance of a pump. Recharge: Water added to an aquifer. For example, when rainwater seeps into the ground. Recharge may occur artificially through injection wells or by spreading water over groundwater reservoirs. Recharge rate: The quantity of water per unit of time that replenishes or refills an aquifer. Saturated thickness: Total water-bearing thickness of an aquifer. Saturated zone: Located immediately below the unsaturated zone (see definition below) where the pores are totally saturated with water. Same as "groundwater". Spring: The emergence of groundwater at the land surface, usually at a clearly defined point; it may flow strongly or just ooze or seep out. Transmissivity: A measure of the capability of the entire thickness of an aquifer to transmit water. In other words, it is product of hydraulic conductivity and aquifer thickness. Also "coefficient of transmissivity". Technically defined as the rate of flow at which water is transmitted through a unit width of the saturated thickness an aquifer under a unit hydraulic gradient. In the English Engineering system it is flow in gallons per minute through the vertical section of an aquifer one foot wide and extending the full saturated height of an aquifer under a hydraulic gradient of 1. Unconfined aquifers: An aquifer in which the water table is at or near atmosphere pressure and is the upper boundary of the aquifer. Because the aquifer is not under pressure the water level in a well is the same as the water table outside the well. Unsaturated zone: Located immediately below the land surface where the pores contain both water and air, but are not totally saturated with water. Plant roots can capture the moisture passing through this zone, but it cannot provide water for wells. Also known as the unsaturated zone or vadose zone. Watershed: The land area from which surface runoff drains into a stream, channel, lake, reservoir, or other body of water. Also called a drainage basin, watersheds may encompass an area of millions of square miles or as little as a few acres. They are often considered to be more of a local definition. Wellhead Protection Area Water table: The top of an unconfined aquifer; indicates the level below which soil and rock are saturated with water. See "potentiometric surface" for definition of water level of confined aquifer. Well: A bored, drilled or driven shaft, or a dug hole whose depth is greater than the largest surface dimension and whose purpose is to reach underground water supplies to inject, extract or monitor water. Wellhead protection area: A protected surface and subsurface zone surrounding a well or well field supplying a public water system to keep contaminants from reaching the well water. Wetlands: Lands where water saturation is the dominant factor in determining the nature of soil development and the types of plant and animal communities. Other common names for wetlands are sloughs, ponds, and marshes. All definitions after The Groundwater Foundation. Bureau of Water Resource Management Division of Water

i don't know

What is a very hard, naturally-occurring mineral, of which ruby and sapphire are gem quality varieties?

Ruby and Sapphire: Gems of the Mineral Corundum Home » Gemstones » Ruby and Sapphire Ruby and Sapphire Ruby and sapphire have the same chemical composition and crystal structure - they are both varieties of the mineral corundum Rubies: The most desired variety of corundum is the ruby. The red color is produced by trace amounts of chromium in the mineral. These two beautiful rubies were mined in Madagascar. The one on the left is a 7 x 5 millimeter octagon that weighs about 1.32 carats. The one on the right is an 8 x 6 millimeter oval that weighs about 1.34 carats. Although Asia has been the traditional source of gem corundum for over one thousand years, Africa is poised to become a new primary source. Ruby, Sapphire, and Fancy Sapphire Most people don't realize that ruby and sapphire are both gems of the mineral corundum . Both of these gems have the same chemical composition and the same mineral structure. Trace amounts of impurities determine if a gem corundum will be a brilliant red ruby or a beautiful blue sapphire. It is surprising that "impurities" can produce such wonderful results! Red and blue are just two of the many colors found in gem corundums. Trace amounts of other elements can produce brilliant yellow, orange, green, and purple gems. Red corundums are known as "rubies," blue corundums are known as "sapphires," and corundums of any other color are known as " fancy sapphires ." Corundum produces gems in a spectrum of colors. Related:   Corundum: Mineral Summary What Makes a Ruby? Some gem-quality corundum contains trace amounts of chromium. A very small amount of chromium gives corundum a pink color. Larger amounts of chromium increase the color saturation of the stone and produce a gem with a deeper red color. To be considered a "ruby," a corundum should have a color between orangey red and a slightly purplish red. The most desirable color is a pure vibrant red. Very few specimens of corundum have a natural color within the range required for a ruby. Very few also have the clarity required to produce a nice faceted stone. Long ago, people who prepared gem materials for cutting discovered that heating rubies under controlled conditions can intensify their color. Heating can also cause inclusions to become less visible and improve the clarity of a gem. Most rubies in the market today have been heated to improve their color and clarity. Many of them have had other treatments to improve their appearance. These treatments are normal and expected in the gem trade, but a seller should disclose them to a buyer in advance of a sale. Montana sapphire: The most widely known sapphire locality in North America is Yogo Gulch, Montana, famous for producing deep blue sapphires of excellent quality. Creative Commons photo of a gem from Barnes Jewelry, Helena, Montana, by Montanabw. Corundum as ruby, sapphire, and fancy sapphire: Gem-quality corundum is a highly prized and valuable material. When it is bright red in color, it is called "ruby." When it is deep blue, it is called "sapphire." Gem-quality corundum of any other color is called "fancy sapphire." All of the stones in this photo were mined in Africa. What Makes a Sapphire? Trace amounts of iron and titanium can develop a blue color in corundum. Blue corundums are known as "sapphires." The name "sapphire" is used for corundums that range from light blue to dark blue in color. The blue can range from a violetish blue to a greenish blue. Stones in the middle of this range, with a rich blue color, are the most desirable. Gem-quality corundum occurs in a wide range of other colors, including pink, purple, orange, yellow, and green. These stones are known as "fancy sapphires." It is surprising that a single mineral can produce gemstones of so many different colors. When the color of a sapphire is any color other than blue, the color should be used as a preceding adjective to describe the stone. For example, pink sapphire, yellow sapphire, or green sapphire. Used alone, the word "sapphire" refers only to blue corundum. The color and clarity of blue and fancy sapphires can be altered by heat, radiation, and other treatments. Sometimes pale, milky, cloudy, or translucent stones can be heated to yield stones that are brighter in color and more transparent. If such treatments have been used, sellers should disclose the types of treatments to potential buyers when the stone is presented for sale. Ruby on marble: A ruby crystal on white marble from Jegdalek, Saroby, Afghanistan. This crystal is about 1.6 centimeters in length. Specimen and photo by Arkenstone / www.iRocks.com . Sapphire crystal: A blue, doubly terminated, translucent sapphire crystal from Sri Lanka. Most crystal specimens like this have been transported by streams and show a greater amount of wear. This specimen has not been treated. Heat treatment would likely deepen the color, make it more uniform, and improve the clarity. This crystal is about five centimeters in length. Specimen and photo by Arkenstone / www.iRocks.com . Popularity of Ruby and Sapphire Ruby and sapphire are extremely popular gemstones. Virtually every jewelry store that features colored gemstones in jewelry will have a generous portion of their display dedicated to ruby and sapphire items. Ruby is the most popular red gemstone, and sapphire is the most popular blue gemstone. The pie chart below shows the share of colored stone imports on a dollar value basis that went to the categories of sapphire, ruby, emerald, and all other gemstone varieties during the 2011 calendar year. It shows that sapphire and ruby were the second and third most imported colored stones during that year. A total of $282 million worth of sapphire was imported, and a total of $45 million worth of ruby was imported. Colored stone imports: This chart illustrates the popularity of sapphire and ruby in the United States. The pie represents all colored stones imported into the United States during 2011 on the basis of dollar value. As single gem varieties, sapphire and ruby hold major positions in the import market, accounting for over 35% of all colored stones imported and a total value of approximately $400 million. Data is from the USGS Minerals Yearbook, April 2013. [5] Although the pie chart above does not include domestic colored stone production, it can be considered as nearly complete. The United States Geological Survey estimates that the value of the total domestic production of colored stones of all kinds in the United States during calendar year 2011 was only $11 million. Related:   Emerald: The Most Popular Green Gem Synthetic star ruby: Laboratories have been able to mass-produce synthetic star corundum since the Lindy division of Union Carbide flooded the gem market with them in the 1950s and 1960s. This synthetic red corundum has a visible six-ray star and a faceted back to enhance the base color of the stone. Star sapphire: Some specimens of sapphire and ruby contain a very fine "silk" of fibrous inclusions that parallel the crystallographic axes of the mineral. When these stones are cut into a cabochon with the c-axis of the stone penetrating the base of the stone at right angles, a six-rayed star can be seen floating on the surface of the cabochon. These are known as "star sapphires" or "star rubies," according to their color. Public domain photography by Mitchell Gore. Mining Rubies and Sapphires Most gem-grade corundum forms in metamorphic rocks such as schist or gneiss and igneous rocks such as basalt or syenite. However, gem corundums are rarely mined from the rocks in which they form. Mining small gems from hard rock is possible, but it is very expensive, and many of the gems are broken during the mining process. Fortunately, corundum is very hard and resistant to weathering. In many areas, natural weathering and erosion have liberated the stones and carried them into streams over long periods of geologic time. Today, the gems are mined from these stream sediments. Their high specific gravity relative to other sediment particles often causes currents to concentrate them in small placer deposits. Most rubies and sapphires are produced by washing the gravels of these stream deposits. This work is often done by hand because the deposits are small and irregular in shape and character. These deposits are often located in countries when wages are very low and artisanal mining is prevalent. Noteworthy locations where gem-quality corundums have been produced include Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, China, Australia, Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Malawi. Blue star sapphire: A deep blue star sapphire 8 mm x 6 mm cabochon from Thailand. Inclusions within the stone align with the crystallographic axis to produce the star - which is only clearly visible and centered when the back of the stone is cut at 90 degrees to the c-axis of the crystal. This stone has been heat treated to darken the stone and enhance the visibility of the star. Ruby and Sapphire Information [1] Gems: Their Sources, Descriptions and Identification: Michael O’Donoghue; Elsevier; sixth edition; 873 pages; 2006. [2] Gemstones of the World : Walter Schumann; Sterling Publishing; fifth edition; 320 pages; 2013. [3] Rubies and Sapphires : Fred Ward; Fred Ward Gem Books; 65 pages; 2010. [4] Rock and Gem : Ronald L. Bonewitz; The Smithsonian Institution, Dorling Kindersley Publishing; 360 pages; 2008. [5] 2011 Minerals Yearbook: Gemstones : Donald W. Olson; The United States Geological Survey; 22 pages; 2013. Synthetic Corundum as an Essential Product Rubies and sapphires have been highly sought after in many parts of the world for over one thousand years. Deposits that produce high-quality stones of good color have attracted enormous amounts of attention and have been heavily exploited. As a result, buyers who need large quantities of quality stones are having a harder time finding them in the volumes needed for today's jewelry marketplace. Let's imagine a jewelry manufacturer who wants to create enough matching ruby pendant, ring, and earring sets to supply a large jewelry chain with thousands of stores and a busy internet site. This manufacturer will need at least four nice rubies for each matching set, multiplied by enough sets to supply thousands of stores and a busy internet site. This manufacturer will need millions of rubies, all color-matched into sets and all cut into calibrated shapes and sizes. On the production side, the labor needed to discover, mine, grade, cut, and polish these stones will be enormous. An enormous effort will also be needed on the manufacturing side just to find enough sellers to provide them, confirm their quality, negotiate prices, make large numbers of purchases, and deliver the stones to the manufacturing facility. The problem of sourcing gemstones to meet the needs of a large manufacturing company is so much simpler if the stones themselves are manufactured. This is why laboratories capable of reliably producing synthetic rubies and sapphires of consistent size, color, grade, and appearance have found an important place in the gemstone market. If you go shopping in the United States and look at the ruby and sapphire jewelry offered in many famous-name mall jewelry stores and department stores in the $50 to $500 price range, you will find that many of the jewelry items are made using "created" or "synthetic" rubies and sapphires. The synthetic corundum in this jewelry is perfect in color, has wonderful clarity and is extremely attractive. Many shoppers see the lower price and better appearance of the synthetic materials when compared to natural stones of similar size and opt to purchase the synthetic. It is a logical choice based upon what appeals to the person and what they are willing to pay. They get great appearance at a lower price. Natural gemstones are a finite resource that will become more difficult to obtain and more expensive over time. As a result, buyers will probably see more synthetic stones offered in most jewelry stores and should expect to see the price difference between synthetic stones and natural stones of similar size, color, and quality become greater in the future. Many consumers prefer natural stones, and many also make the decision to purchase synthetic stones. That follows the often-given advice of "buy what you like and can afford."

Corundum

Corundum is a mineral oxide of which metal?

Gemstone Definitions and History Mineralogy is the science or study of minerals including crystalline structure and chemical composition, mineral origin, occurrence, and associations. A mineral is naturally occurring homogeneous solid with a definite, but not fixed, chemical composition, characteristic crystalline structure, usually of an inorganic origin. Naturally occurring rules out products made in laboratory. Even though synthetic gem material has identical chemical, physical, and optical properties to the natural, they are not termed minerals or gems, but rather synthetics or created stones. Homogeneous is of one thing or cannot be physically subdivided into anything simpler. Solid implies material that is neither liquid or gaseous, for example ice is a mineral but water and steam are not. Chemical composition and crystalline structure refer to the atoms or ions that are arranged in a regular array in three-dimensions. Quartz has a fixed chemical composition, SiO2, arranged in a hexagonal pattern and referred to as a pure substance. The mineral group, olivine, has a definite but not fixed composition of (Mg, Fe)2SiO4. A magnesium silicate, Mg2SiO4, is at one extreme, while the iron silicate, Fe2SiO4, is at the other extreme. The iron and magnesium are close enough in size to substitute for one another in the crystal lattice. The more magnesium-rich olivine is known as forsterite and if it is gem quality, termed peridot. A characteristic crystalline structure means there is an internal structural framework in which atoms are arranged in a geometric pattern. Inorganic origin has been a necessary component in past definitions of minerals. However, according to Nickel (1995) a mineral is an element or chemical compound ...formed as a result of geological processes (p. 689). Nickel goes on to clarify ...biogenic substances are chemical compounds produced entirely by biological processes without a geological component (e.g., urinary calculi, oxalate crystals in plant tissues, shells of marine molluscs, etc.) and are not regarded as minerals. However, if geological processes were involved in the genesis of the compound, then the product can be accepted as a mineral. Thus, modern shells of marine molluscs are not mineral but calcite and aragonite constitutents that result from compaction of these marine organisms in limestones are considered mineral. Mineraloid "Crystalline" restricts the material defined as mineral and mostly excludes liquid and organic material. As such, naturally occurring material that is lacking a portion of the mineral definition criteria can be called mineraloid. Opal is a mineraloid because the crystalline structure is not well defined, whereas modern marine shell material and kidney stones are mineraloid because they are biogenic substances or organic in origin. Some gem material, such as pearl and mother-of-pearl, hold a kind of dual citizenship, called mineral by some and mineraloid by others. Although most pearls are created by bivalve mollusks, some are formed in caves as calcium carbonate precipitates around bat bones or some other small grains on the floor of the cave. Classification scheme for minerals and gem materials The system used by gemologists to classify gems includes: group, species, variety, organics, and synthetics (Hurlbut & Kammerling, 1991, pg. 5). The group is two or more chemically related gem species that have similar properties and structures (e.g., feldspars or garnets). The inorganic species are defined by chemical composition and crystalline structure (e.g., albite feldspar or tsavorite garnet, corundum or beryl). Organic gem material species are divided on composition and can include pearl, coral, shell, amber, jet (coal), and ivory. Species are further subdivided into varieties (e.g., moonstone albite feldspar, ruby and sapphire corundum, or emerald and aquamarine beryl). These classifications can be based on color, color distribution, transparency, optical phenomena, or any combination. Examples of subdivisions based on color are: the red variety of corundum is termed ruby, the blue variety is sapphire, and the many other colors of gem quality corundum are termed fancy sapphires, with varieties designated by color (e.g., green sapphire, pink sapphire). The mineral species beryl is found in a deep green variety, emerald; a medium blue variety, aquamarine; a pink variety, morganite; a colorless or "white" variety, goshenite; a yellow variety called golden beryl or heliodor; and a red variety, red beryl. Examples of subdivisions based on color distribution are onyx and agate. Onyx is a black and white, fine-grained variety of chalcedony, a microcrystalline quartz. Agate has many color possibilities with curved or angular banding. Transparency, or the ability of the material to transmit light, can be highly transparent in colorless quartz, medium transparency or translucent as in the reddish chalcedony called carnelian, or a low transparency, that is nearly opaque, in the red variety of quartz called jasper. Gem material can also be subdivided based on optical phenomenon. One example is asterism or the star effect in star ruby, shown by intersecting bands of light on a curved surface. Gems In the U.S., the term "gem" can only be used for natural material, not synthetics. The high value of gems and a demand for perfection lead to synthesizing materials by the end of the nineteenth century. Corundum and spinel were the first gem materials to be created large enough for faceting. Rutile, quartz, alexandrite, and opal are more synthesized gem materials to follow. Industrial grade diamonds were first synthesized in 1953 and gem quality by the 1970s. When the lab created material is identical to the optical, physical, and chemical properties of its natural counterpart it is called synthetic. Lab created materials that mimic natural gems, that is resemble but not contain identical properties, are termed imitations or simulants. Common imitations are lab created glass and plastics, produced to resemble a great number of different gemstones. Another example of an imitation is synthetic cubic zirconia or CZ, originally marketed as a diamond simulant. CZ resembles diamond but does not have the same properties as diamond. A lab created material could be both a synthetic and imitation depending on how the material is marketed, for example purple corundum could be created and termed synthetic purple sapphire or used to resemble purple quartz and termed an amethyst imitation or simulant. Visit the USGS webpage on Synthetic or Simulant from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/gemstones/sp14-95/synthetic.html . Highly Recommended Readings!

i don't know

What is the name of the force which keeps the planets in orbit around the sun?

How do the planets stay in orbit around the sun? | Cool Cosmos   How do the planets stay in orbit around the sun? The Solar System was formed from a rotating cloud of gas and dust which spun around a newly forming star, our Sun, at its center. The planets all formed from this spinning disk-shaped cloud, and continued this rotating course around the Sun after they were formed. The gravity of the Sun keeps the planets in their orbits. They stay in their orbits because there is no other force in the Solar System which can stop them. Continue the conversation on

Gravity

Which planet is named after the Roman god of war?

Why do the planets orbit the sun? (Beginner) - Curious About Astronomy? Ask an Astronomer Why do the planets orbit the sun? (Beginner) (Beginner) >" onclick="window.open(this.href,'win2','status=no,toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,titlebar=no,menubar=no,resizable=yes,width=640,height=480,directories=no,location=no'); return false;" rel="nofollow"> Why do the planets rotate around the Sun? First, please note that "rotate" actually is used to describe an celestial body's spin, and "revolve" is used to describe its orbital motion. For example, the Earth completes one rotation about its axis about every 24 hours, but it completes one revolution around the Sun about every 365 days. Anyway, the basic reason why the planets revolve around, or orbit , the Sun, is that the gravity of the Sun keeps them in their orbits. Just as the Moon orbits the Earth because of the pull of Earth's gravity, the Earth orbits the Sun because of the pull of the Sun's gravity. Why, then, does it travel in an elliptical orbit around the Sun, rather than just getting pulled in all the way? This happens because the Earth has a velocity in the direction perpendicular to the force of the Sun's pull. If the Sun weren't there, the Earth would travel in a straight line. But the gravity of the Sun alters its course, causing it to travel around the Sun, in a shape very near to a circle. This is a little hard to visualize, so let me give you an example of how to visualize an object in orbit around the Earth, and it's analogous to what happens with the Earth and the Sun. Imagine Superman is standing on Mt. Everest holding a football. He throws it as hard as he can, which is incredibly hard because he's Superman. Just like if you threw a football, eventually it will fall back down and hit the ground. But because he threw it so hard, it goes past the horizon before it can fall. And because the Earth is curved, it just keeps on going, constantly "falling," but not hitting the ground because the ground curves away before it can. Eventually the football will come around and smack Superman in the back of the head, which of course won't hurt him at all because he's Superman. That is how orbits work, but objects like spaceships and moons are much farther from the Earth than the football that Superman threw. (We're ignoring air resistance with the football example; actual spacecraft must be well above most of a planet's atmosphere, or air resistance will cause them to spiral downward and eventually crash into the planet's surface.) This same situation can be applied to the Earth orbiting the Sun - except now Superman is standing on the Sun (which he can do because he's Superman) and he throws the Earth. The next question, then, is how did Earth get that velocity, since in real life there's no Superman throwing it. For that, you need to go way back to when the Solar System formed . This page was last updated on January 31, 2016.

i don't know

Which planet is closest to the sun?

Solar System Planets: Order of the 8 (or 9) Planets Solar System Planets: Order of the 8 (or 9) Planets By Robert Roy Britt | January 22, 2016 12:35pm ET MORE The planets of the solar system as depicted by a NASA computer illustration. Orbits and sizes are not shown to scale. Credit: NASA Ever since the discovery of Pluto in 1930, kids grew up learning about the nine planets of our solar system. That all changed starting in the late 1990s, when astronomers began to argue about whether Pluto was a planet. In a highly controversial decision , the International Astronomical Union ultimately decided in 2006 to call Pluto a “dwarf planet,” reducing the list of “real planets” in our solar system to eight.  However, astronomers are now hunting for another planet in our solar system, a true ninth planet , after evidence of its existence was unveiled on Jan. 20, 2016. The so-called "Planet Nine," as scientists are calling it, is about 10 times the mass of Earth and 5,000 times the mass of Pluto. [ Solar System Pictures: A Photo Tour ] If you insist on including Pluto , then that world would come after Neptune on the list; Pluto is truly way out there, and on a wildly tilted, elliptical orbit (two of the several reasons it got demoted). Interestingly, Pluto used to be the eighth planet, actually. More on that below. Terrestrial planets The inner four worlds are called “ terrestrial planets ,” because, like Earth, their surfaces are all rocky. Pluto, too, has a solid surface (and a very frozen one) but has never been grouped with the four terrestrials. Jovian planets The four large outer worlds — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — are known as the “Jovian planets” (meaning “Jupiter-like”) because they are all huge compared to the terrestrial planets, and because they are gaseous in nature rather than having rocky surfaces (though some or all of them may have solid cores, astronomers say). According to NASA , "two of the outer planets beyond the orbit of Mars — Jupiter and Saturn — are known as gas giants; the more distant Uranus and Neptune are called ice giants." This is because, while the first two are dominated by gas, while the last two have more ice. All four contain mostly hydrogen and helium. Dwarf planets The  IAU definition of a full-fledged planet goes like this: A body that circles the sun without being some other object's satellite, is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity (but not so big that it begins to undergo nuclear fusion, like a star) and has "cleared its neighborhood" of most other orbiting bodies. Yeah, that’s a mouthful. The problem for Pluto, besides its small size and offbeat orbit, is that it shares its space with lots of other objects in the Kuiper Belt , beyond Neptune. Still, the demotion of Pluto remains controversial . The IAU planet definition puts other small, round worlds in the dwarf planet category, including the Kuiper Belt objects Eris , Haumea , and Makemake . Also now a dwarf planet is Ceres , a round object in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. Ceres was actually considered a planet when discovered in 1801 and then later deemed to be an asteroid. Some astronomers like to consider Ceres as a 10th planet (not to be confused with Nibiru or Planet X ), but that line of thinking opens up the possibility of there being 13 planets, with more bound to be discovered. The planets Below is a brief overview of the eight primary planets in our solar system , in order from the inner solar system outward: Mercury The closest planet to the sun, Mercury is only a bit larger than Earth's moon. Its day side is scorched by the sun and can reach 840 degrees Fahrenheit (450 Celsius), but on the night side, temperatures drop to hundreds of degrees below freezing. Mercury has virtually no atmosphere to absorb meteor impacts, so its surface is pockmarked with craters, just like the moon. Over its four-year mission, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has revealed views of the planet that have challenged astronomers' expectations. Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye Named for: Messenger of the Roman gods Diameter: 3,031 miles (4,878 km) Orbit: 88 Earth days Venus' southern hemisphere, as seen in the ultraviolet. Credit: ESA Venus The second planet from the sun, Venus is terribly hot, even hotter than Mercury. The atmosphere is toxic. The pressure at the surface would crush and kill you. Scientists describe Venus’ situation as a runaway greenhouse effect. Its size and structure are similar to Earth, Venus' thick, toxic atmosphere traps heat in a runaway "greenhouse effect." Oddly, Venus spins slowly in the opposite direction of most planets. The Greeks believed Venus was two different objects — one in the morning sky and another in the evening. Because it is often brighter than any other object in the sky — except for the sun and moon — Venus has generated many UFO reports. Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye Named for: Roman goddess of love and beauty Diameter: 7,521 miles (12,104 km) Orbit: 225 Earth days An image of the Earth taken by the Russian weather satellite Elektro-L No.1. Credit: NTsOMZ Earth The third planet from the sun, Earth is a waterworld, with two-thirds of the planet covered by ocean. It’s the only world known to harbor life. Earth’s atmosphere is rich in life-sustaining nitrogen and oxygen. Earth's surface rotates about its axis at 1,532 feet per second (467 meters per second) — slightly more than 1,000 mph (1,600 kph) — at the equator. The planet zips around the sun at more than 18 miles per second (29 km per second). Diameter: 7,926 miles (12,760 km) Orbit: 365.24 days Day: 23 hours, 56 minutes Related: Mars researchers are focusing both Earth-based and planet orbiting sensors to better understand sources of methane on the red planet. Image Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute Mars The fourth planet from the sun, is a cold, dusty place. The dust, an iron oxide, gives the planet its reddish cast. Mars shares similarities with Earth: It is rocky, has mountains and valleys, and storm systems ranging from localized tornado-like dust devils to planet-engulfing dust storms. It snows on Mars. And Mars harbors water ice. Scientists think it was once wet and warm, though today it’s cold and desert-like. Mars' atmosphere is too thin for liquid water to exist on the surface for any length of time. Scientists think ancient Mars would have had the conditions to support life, and there is hope that signs of past life — possibly even present biology — may exist on the Red Planet. Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye Named for: Roman god of war Diameter: 4,217 miles (6,787 km) Orbit: 687 Earth days Day: Just more than one Earth day (24 hours, 37 minutes) Related: Close-up of Jupiter's Great Red Spot as seen by a Voyager spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Jupiter The fifth planet from the sun, Jupiter is huge and is the most massive planet in our solar system. It’s a mostly gaseous world, mostly hydrogen and helium. Its swirling clouds are colorful due to different types of trace gases. A big feature is the Great Red Spot, a giant storm which has raged for hundreds of years. Jupiter has a strong magnetic field, and with dozens of moons, it looks a bit like a miniature solar system. Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye Named for: Ruler of the Roman gods Diameter: 86,881 miles (139,822 km) Orbit: 11.9 Earth years The shadow of Saturn's moon Mimas dips onto the planet's rings and straddles the Cassini Division in this natural color image taken as Saturn approaches its August 2009 equinox. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Saturn The sixth planet from the sun is known most for its rings . When Galileo Galilei first studied Saturn in the early 1600s, he thought it was an object with three parts. Not knowing he was seeing a planet with rings, the stumped astronomer entered a small drawing — a symbol with one large circle and two smaller ones — in his notebook, as a noun in a sentence describing his discovery. More than 40 years later, Christiaan Huygens proposed that they were rings. The rings are made of ice and rock. Scientists are not yet sure how they formed. The gaseous planet is mostly hydrogen and helium. It has numerous moons . Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye Named for: Roman god of agriculture Diameter: 74,900 miles (120,500 km) Orbit: 29.5 Earth years Day: About 10.5 Earth hours Related: Near-infrared views of Uranus reveal its otherwise faint ring system, highlighting the extent to which the planet is tilted. Credit: Lawrence Sromovsky, (Univ. Wisconsin-Madison), Keck Observatory Uranus The seventh planet from the sun, Uranus is an oddball. It’s the only giant planet whose equator is nearly at right angles to its orbit — it basically orbits on its side. Astronomers think the planet collided with some other planet-size object long ago, causing the tilt. The tilt causes extreme seasons that last 20-plus years, and the sun beats down on one pole or the other for 84 Earth-years. Uranus is about the same size as Neptune. Methane in the atmosphere gives Uranus its blue-green tint. It has numerous moons and faint rings. Discovery: 1781 by William Herschel (was thought previously to be a star) Named for: Personification of heaven in ancient myth Diameter: 31,763 miles (51,120 km) Orbit: 84 Earth years Neptune’s winds travel at more than 1,500 mph, and are the fastest planetary winds in the solar system. Credit: NASA/JPL Neptune The eighth planet from the sun, Neptune is known for strong winds — sometimes faster than the speed of sound. Neptune is far out and cold. The planet is more than 30 times as far from the sun as Earth. It has a rocky core. Neptune was the first planet to be predicted to exist by using math, before it was detected. Irregularities in the orbit of Uranus led French astronomer Alexis Bouvard to suggest some other might be exerting a gravitational tug. German astronomer Johann Galle used calculations to help find Neptune in a telescope. Neptune is about 17 times as massive as Earth. Discovery: 1846 Pluto and its moons orbit the sun near the edge of our solar system. Learn all about Pluto's weirdly eccentric orbit, four moons and more in this Space.com infographic . Credit: SPACE.com/Karl Tate Pluto (Dwarf Planet) Once the ninth planet from the sun, Pluto is unlike other planets in many respects. It is smaller than Earth's moon. Its orbit carries it inside the orbit of Neptune and then way out beyond that orbit. From 1979 until early 1999, Pluto had actually been the eighth planet from the sun. Then, on Feb. 11, 1999, it crossed Neptune's path and once again became the solar system's most distant planet — until it was demoted to dwarf planet status. Pluto will stay beyond Neptune for 228 years. Pluto’s orbit is tilted to the main plane of the solar system — where the other planets orbit — by 17.1 degrees. It’s a cold, rocky world with only a very ephemeral atmosphere. NASA's New Horizons mission performed history's first flyby of the Pluto system on July 14, 2015. [Related: New Horizons' Pluto Flyby: Latest News, Images and Video ] Discovery: 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh Named for: Roman god of the underworld, Hades Diameter: 1,430 miles (2,301 km) Orbit: 248 Earth years NASA Solar System Exploration: Dwarf Planets Planet Nine Planet Nine orbits the sun  at a distance that is 20 times farther out than the orbit of Neptune. (The orbit of Neptune is 2.7 billion miles from the sun at its closest point.)  The strange world's orbit is about 600 times farther from the sun than the Earth's orbit is from the star. Scientists have not actually seen Planet Nine directly . Its existence was inferred by its gravitational effects on other objects in the Kuiper Belt, a region at the fringe of the solar system that is home to icy objects left over from the birth of the sun and planets.

Mercury

Which two planets take less time than Earth to orbit the sun?

Proxima b: Closest rocky planet to our solar system found - CNN.com READ: Hate your job? NASA wants you to work on Mars Read More Proxima Centauri coexists with a binary star in Alpha Centauri, a well-studied star system that serves as a neighbor to our sun. Proxima b is a mere 4.2 light-years away from our solar system, or 266,000 times the distance between the Earth and the sun, which are 92.96 million miles apart. Previous rocky exoplanet discoveries, like those orbiting ultracool red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 , were previously described as "close" at 40 light-years away. "It's not only the closest terrestrial planet found, it's probably the closest planet outside our solar system that will ever be found because there is no star closer to the solar system than this one," said lead study author Guillem Anglada-Escudé. "The only thing you can hope to find between that is Planet Nine , but that would (require) a solar system object or a brown dwarf that hasn't been discovered," researcher Pedro Amado added. Here is what we know about the planet, as well as the questions that researchers hope to be able to answer. Photos: Weird and wonderful planets beyond our solar system Artist's conception of the binary system with three giant planets discovered, where one star hosts two planets and the other hosts the third. The system represents the smallest-separation binary in which both stars host planets that has ever been observed. Hide Caption 17 of 17 Meet Proxima b Proxima b is a rocky, terrestrial planet with a surface -- unlike a gas giant, such as Jupiter -- that is 1.3 times the size of Earth and orbits its star every 11.2 days. It is in a close orbit of Proxima Centauri: only 5% of the distance between the Earth and the sun. They are even closer together than Mercury and the sun. But because its star is much cooler and fainter than our sun, Proxima b has a temperature that is suitable for liquid water to exist on the surface without evaporating. Researchers estimate that if the planet has an atmosphere, which could be assumed but isn't known, it may be between 86 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (31 to 40 degrees Celsius) on the surface. Without an atmosphere, it could be -22 to -40 degrees Fahrenheit (-30 to -40 degrees Celsius). To put that in perspective, Earth would be -4 degrees (-20 degrees Celsius) if it didn't have an atmosphere, Reiners said. Given the proximity to its star, Proxima b is also subject to less pleasant factors like ultraviolet and X-ray flares that are 100 times the intensity of what Earth receives from the sun. In the paper, researchers estimated it to be 400 times the intensity, but recent research has caused them to create a new estimate, they said. If there is life on the planet, it would be affected by this radiation, but it is pure speculation as to what kind of effect. This infographic compares the orbit of the planet around Proxima Centauri (Proxima b) with the same region of the Solar System. What took so long? If the Alpha Centauri system is well-studied and Proxima Centauri is our sun's cozy star neighbor in the universe, why did it take so long to find Proxima b? It comes down to an understanding of the star this planet orbits, as well as how data collection has evolved during the last 16 years. Proxima Centauri is a low-mass red dwarf star, known as an M-class dwarf, that happens to be close to the bright binary star Alpha Centauri AB, which outshines its cool stepbrother, so to speak. All of these stars are within the faint Centaurus constellation, which can't be seen with the unaided eye. Taking a closer look at new Earth-like planets for the first time M-class dwarves are not well understood in comparison with other types of stars, Reiners said. Because of that, researchers don't know much about the history of these stars or their radiation in the early days. "But within the field of exoplants, [researchers] have recently realized that looking for planets around M dwarves is what is going to be the most spectacular, because you can find these plants in the liquid water zone more easily than other stars," Reiners said. NASA's K2 mission finds more than 100 new planets Because it's an active star, Proxima Centauri can behave in varied ways that mimic the presence of a planet, according to the study. Researchers wanted to observe it for a long period of time, so for the first half of this year, telescopes around the world were pointed at Proxima Centauri. The researchers looked for a "Doppler wobble," or back and forth wobble of Proxima Centauri that would be caused by the gravitational pull of a planet in orbit. This was combined with research, data and published studies of Proxima Centauri dating to 2000. "The significance of the detection went sky high," Anglada-Escudé said. "Statistically, there was no doubt. We have found a planet around Proxima Centauri." What we don't know Exoplanet hunter seeks life on other worlds The research around Proxima b will continue, and the researchers have more questions they want to answer. They don't know whether there is water on the surface or if the planet has an atmosphere, although both are likely. They also don't know whether, like Earth, the planet has a protective magnetic field to help with some of the radiation it receives. Perhaps one of the biggest questions includes the history of the star and the planet. How did they form? "What happened during the formation?" Reiners asked. "Was the star more active than the sun is today, and where during that phase was Proxima b located?" This would indicate whether the plant was rich with water in its early days or started out dry, as well as whether there was any high-energy radiation that could have blasted away an atmosphere during formation of the planet. A view of the southern skies over the ESO 3.6-meter telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile with images of the stars Proxima Centauri (lower right) and the double star Alpha Centauri AB (lower left). There is also some debate over whether this planet is Earth-like, which comes with some connotations. Depending on its formation, perhaps it could be like Venus. Learning the answers to these questions about formation are possible with research. The habitability of a planet like Proxima b is also "a matter of intense debate," according to the study, due to arguments against it: tidal locking, strong stellar magnetic fields, strong flares, and high ultraviolet and X-ray fluxes. But, as they point out, none of those has been proved definitive, either. Growing excitement Researchers have long looked to Alpha Centauri for study. Now, they want us to go there. Programs like Mission Centaur intend to design and build a space mission with a small telescope to point at the star system. It would look for exoplanets by imaging or other techniques that could find more of them around these three stars. Given how long it took us to confirm Proxima b and the fact that the researchers encountered a puzzling extra signal in some of their data and models, it's entirely possible that there are more planets to be found. It is also the target of the Starshot project , which aims to create and send ultra-fast light-driven nanocraft that would reach the system 20 years after launch and beam home images. This is on the list of Breakthrough initiatives, an effort whose board includes Stephen Hawking and Mark Zuckerberg. Join the conversation See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter . Because Proxima b exists outside our solar system, it doesn't change our well-known roster of planets (and we know some of you are still rather upset over Pluto). But it does add to the field of exoplanet research that's underway, some of which hopes to identify Earth-like planets that future telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope and the European Extremely Large Telescope, can use for observation. Many researchers hope that we can actually image these planets in the future, getting an idea of their atmospheric makeup and surface composition, and strive to answer the question of "Are we alone in the universe?" "We know that there are terrestrial planets around stars. The excitement is because it's the nearest one, and we expect to characterize it and maybe visit in a couple of centuries," Anglada-Escudé said.

i don't know

Which planet has a day which lasts eight months?

How Long Is A Day On The Other Planets Of The Solar System? - Universe Today   Universe Today How Long Is A Day On The Other Planets Of The Solar System? Article Updated: 24 Jan , 2016 by Matt Williams Here on Earth, we tend to take time for granted, never suspected that the increments with which we measure it are actually quite relative. The ways in which we measure our days and years, for example, are actually the result of our planet’s distance from the Sun, the time it takes to orbit, and the time it takes to rotate on its axis. The same is true for the other planets in our Solar System. While we Earthlings count on a day being about 24 hours from sunup to sunup, the length of a single day on another planet is quite different. In some cases, they are very short, while in others, they can last longer than years – sometimes considerably! Let’s go over how time works on other planets and see just how long their days can be, shall we? A Day On Mercury: Mercury is the closest planet to our Sun, ranging from 46,001,200 km at perihelion (closest to the Sun) to 69,816,900 km at aphelion (farthest). Since it takes 58.646 Earth days for Mercury to rotate once on its axis – aka. its sidereal rotation period – this means that it takes just over 58 Earth days for Mercury to experience a single day. However, this is not to say that Mercury experiences two sunrises in just over 58 days. Due to its proximity to the Sun and rapid speed with which it circles it, it takes the equivalent of 175.97 Earth days for the Sun to reappear in the same place in the sky. Hence, while the planet rotates once every 58 Earth days, it is roughly 176 days from one sunrise to the next on Mercury. Images of Mercury’s northern polar region, provided by MESSENGER. Credit: NASA/JPL What’s more, it only takes Mercury 87.969 Earth days to complete a single orbit of the Sun (aka. its orbital period). This means a year on Mercury is the equivalent of about 88 Earth days, which in turn means that a single Mercurian (or Hermian) year lasts just half as long as a Mercurian day. What’s more, Mercury’s northern polar regions are constantly in the shade. This is due to it’s axis being tilted at a mere 0.034° (compared to Earth’s 23.4°), which means that it does not experience extreme seasonal variations where days and nights can last for months depending on the season. On the poles of Mercury, it is always dark and shady. So you could say the poles are in a constant state of twilight. A Day On Venus: Also known as “Earth’s Twin”, Venus is the second closest planet to our Sun – ranging from 107,477,000 km at perihelion to 108,939,000 km at aphelion. Unfortunately, Venus is also the slowest moving planet, a fact which is made evident by looking at its poles. Whereas every other planet in the Solar System has experienced flattening at their poles due to the speed of their spin, Venus has experienced no such flattening. Venus has a rotational velocity of just 6.5 km/h (4.0 mph) – compared to Earth’s rational velocity of 1,670 km/h (1,040 mph) – which leads to a sidereal rotation period of 243.025 days. Technically, it is -243.025 days, since Venus’ rotation is retrograde. This means that Venus. rotates in the direction opposite to its orbital path around the Sun. The planet Venus, as imagined by the Magellan 10 mission. Credit: NASA/JPL So if you were above Venus’ north pole and watched it circle around the Sun, you would see it is moving clockwise, whereas its rotation is counter-clockwise. Nevertheless, this still means that Venus takes over 243 Earth days to rotate once on its axis, which means that many, many days pass between one sunrise and the next. This may seem odd, until you consider that a single Venusian (or Cytherean) year works out to 224.701 Earth days. Yes, Venus takes a little more than 224 days to complete a single orbital period, but over 243 days to experience a single day and night cycle. So basically, a single Venusian day is longer than a Venusian year! Good thing Venus has other things in common With Earth, because it is sure isn’t its diurnal cycle! A Day On Earth: When we think of a day on Earth, we tend to think of it as a simple 24 hour interval. In truth, it takes the Earth exactly 23 hours 56 minutes and 4.1 seconds to rotate once on its axis. Meanwhile, on average, a solar day on Earth is 24 hours long, which means it takes that amount of time for the Sun to appear in the same place in the sky. Between these two values, we say a single day and night cycle lasts an even 24. At the same time, there are variations in the length of a single day on the planet based on seasonal cycles. Due to Earth’s axial tilt, the amount of sunlight experienced in certain hemispheres will vary. The most extreme case of this occurs at the poles, where day and night can last for days or months depending on the season. At the North and South Poles during the winter, a single night can last up to six months, which is known as a “polar night”. During the summer, the poles will experience what is called a “midnight sun”, where a day lasts a full 24 hours. So really, days are not as simple as we like to imagine. But compared to the other planets in the Solar System, time management is still easier here on Earth. A Day On Mars: In many respects, Mars can also be called “Earth’s Twin”. In addition to having polar ice caps, seasonal variations , and water (albeit frozen) on its surface, a day on Mars is pretty close to what a day on Earth is. Essentially, Mars takes 24 hours 37 minutes and 22 seconds to complete a single rotation on its axis. This means that a day on Mars is equivalent to 1.025957 days. The seasonal cycles on Mars, which are due to it having an axial tilt similar to Earth’s (25.19° compared to Earth’s 23.4°), are more similar to those we experience on Earth than on any other planet. As a result, Martian days experience similar variations, with the Sun rising sooner and setting later in the summer and then experiencing the reverse in the winter. However, seasonal variations last twice as long on Mars, thanks to Mars’ being at a greater distance from the Sun. This leads to the Martian year being about two Earth years long – 686.971 Earth days to be exact, which works out to 668.5991 Martian days (or Sols). As a result, longer days and longer nights can be expected last much longer on the Red Planet. Something for future colonists to consider! Sunrise at Gale Crater on Mars. Gale is at center top with the mound in the middle, called Mt. Sharp (Aeolis Mons.) A Day On Jupiter: Given the fact that it is the largest planet in the Solar System, one would expect that a day on Jupiter would last a long time. But as it turns out, a Jovian day is officially only 9 hours, 55 minutes and 30 seconds long, which means a single day is less than a third the length of an Earth day. This is due to the gas giant having a very rapid rotational speed, which is 12.6 km/s (45,300 km/h, or 28148.115 mph) at the equator. This rapid rotational speed is also one of the reasons the planet has such violent storms. Note the use of the word officially. Since Jupiter is not a solid body, its upper atmosphere undergoes a different rate of rotation compared to its equator. Basically, the rotation of Jupiter’s polar atmosphere is about 5 minutes longer than that of the equatorial atmosphere. Because of this, astronomers use three systems as frames of reference. System I applies from the latitudes 10° N to 10° S, where its rotational period is the planet’s shortest, at 9 hours, 50 minutes, and 30 seconds. System II applies at all latitudes north and south of these; its period is 9 hours, 55 minutes, and 40.6 seconds. System III corresponds to the rotation of the planet’s magnetosphere, and it’s period is used by the IAU and IAG to define Jupiter’s official rotation (i.e. 9 hours 44 minutes and 30 seconds) Jupiter and Io capturing the Sun. Image Credit: NASA/JPL So if you could, theoretically, stand on the cloud tops of Jupiter (or possibly on a floating platform in geosynchronous orbit), you would witness the sun rising an setting in the space of less than 10 hours from any latitude. And in the space of a single Jovian year, the sun would rise and set a total of about 10,476 times. A Day On Saturn: Saturn’s situation is very similar to that of Jupiter’s. Despite its massive size, the planet has an estimated rotational velocity of 9.87 km/s (35,500 km/h, or 22058.677 mph). As such Saturn takes about 10 hours and 33 minutes to complete a single sidereal rotation, making a single day on Saturn less than half of what it is here on Earth. Here too, this rapid movement of the atmosphere leads to some super storms , not to mention the hexagonal pattern around the planet’s north pole and a vortex storm around its south pole. And, also like Jupiter, Saturn takes its time orbiting the Sun. With an orbital period that is the equivalent of 10,759.22 Earth days (or 29.4571 Earth years), a single Saturnian (or Cronian) year lasts roughly 24,491 Saturnian days. However, like Jupiter, Saturn’s atmosphere rotates at different speed depending on latitude, which requires that astronomers use three systems with different frames of reference. System I encompasses the Equatorial Zone, the South Equatorial Belt and the North Equatorial Belt, and has a period of 10 hours and 14 minutes. System II covers all other Saturnian latitudes, excluding the north and south poles, and have been assigned a rotation period of 10 hr 38 min 25.4 sec. System III uses radio emissions to measure Saturn’s internal rotation rate, which yielded a rotation period of 10 hr 39 min 22.4 sec. This portrait looking down on Saturn and its rings was created from images obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on Oct. 10, 2013. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/G. Ugarkovic Using these various systems, scientists have obtained different data from Saturn over the years. For instance, data obtained during the 1980’s by the Voyager 1 and 2 missions indicated that a day on Saturn was 10 hours 39 minutes and 24 seconds long. In 2004, data provided by the Cassini-Huygens space probe measured the planet’s gravitational field, which yielded an estimate of 10 hours, 45 minutes, and 45 seconds (± 36 sec). In 2007, this was revised by researches at the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, UCLA, which resulted in the current estimate of 10 hours and 33 minutes. Much like with Jupiter, the problem of obtaining accurate measurements arises from the fact that, as a gas giant, parts of Saturn rotate faster than others. A Day On Uranus: When we come to Uranus, the question of how long a day is becomes a bit complicated. One the one hand, the planet has a sidereal rotation period of 17 hours 14 minutes and 24 seconds, which is the equivalent of 0.71833 Earth days. So you could say a day on Uranus lasts almost as long as a day on Earth. It would be true, were it not for the extreme axial tilt this gas/ice giant has going on. With an axial tilt of 97.77°, Uranus essentially orbits the Sun on its side. This means that either its north or south pole is pointed almost directly at the Sun at different times in its orbital period. When one pole is going through “summer” on Uranus, it will experience 42 years of continuous sunlight. When that same pole is pointed away from the Sun (i.e. a Uranian “winter”), it will experience 42 years of continuous darkness. Uranus as seen by NASA’s Voyager 2. Credit: NASA/JPL Hence, you might say that a single day – from one sunrise to the next – lasts a full 84 years on Uranus! In other words, a single Uranian day is the same amount of time as a single Uranian year (84.0205 Earth years). In addition, as with the other gas/ice giants, Uranus rotates faster at certain latitudes. Ergo, while the planet’s rotation is 17 hours and 14.5 minutes at the equator, at about 60° south, visible features of the atmosphere move much faster, making a full rotation in as little as 14 hours. A Day On Neptune: Last, but not least, we have Neptune. Here too, measuring a single day is somewhat complicated. For instance, Neptune’s sidereal rotation period is roughly 16 hours, 6 minutes and 36 seconds (the equivalent of 0.6713 Earth days). But due to it being a gas/ice giant, the poles of the planet rotate faster than the equator. Whereas the planet’s magnetic field has a rotational speed of 16.1 hours, the wide equatorial zone rotates with a period of about 18 hour. Meanwhile, the polar regions rotate the fastest, at a period of 12 hours. This differential rotation is the most pronounced of any planet in the Solar System, and it results in strong latitudinal wind shear. Reconstruction of Voyager 2 images showing the Great Black spot (top left), Scooter (middle), and the Small Black Spot (lower right). Credit: NASA/JPL In addition, the planet’s axial tilt of 28.32° results in seasonal variations that are similar to those on Earth and Mars. The long orbital period of Neptune means that the seasons last for forty Earth years. But because its axial tilt is comparable to Earth’s, the variation in the length of its day over the course of its long year is not any more extreme. As you can see from this little rundown of the different planets in our Solar System, what constitutes a day depends entirely on your frame of reference. In addition to it varying depending on the planet in question, you also have to take into account seasonal cycles and where on the planet the measurements are being taken from. As Einstein summarized, time is relative to the observer. Based on your inertial reference frame, its passage will differ. And when you are standing on a planet other than Earth, your concept of day and night, which is set to Earth time (and a specific time zone) is likely to get pretty confused! We have written many interesting articles about how time is measured on other planets here at Universe Today. For example, here’s How Long Is A Year On The Other Planets? , Which Planet Has the Longest Day? , The Rotation of Venus , How Long Is A Day on Mars? and  How Long Is A Day On Jupiter? . If you are looking for more information, check out Our Solar System at Space.com Astronomy Cast has episodes on all the planets, including Episode 49: Mercury , and Episode 95: Humans to Mars, Part 2 – Colonists Share this: “Since it takes 58.646 Earth days for Mercury to rotate once on its axis – aka. its sidereal rotation period – this means that it takes just over 58 Earth days for Mercury to experience a single sunrise and sunset.” Sorry, Matt, but this is precisely incorrect, and I stopped reading at this point. 1) Sideral = stars; solar = Sol/The Sun. Mercury’s sidereal day/rotation period is indeed 58.646 Earth days. This means that it takes 58.646 Earth days for background stars (NOT the Sun) to rise, set, and then rise again. 2) “Days” are measured from sunrise to sunrise, not sunrise to sunset as you’ve indicated; if you think about the 24hrs of a Terran solar day you will see instantly that this is true. 3) Mercury’s solar day is heavily influenced by the Mercury’s speedy orbit around the sun; while Mercury rotates, it also revolves, leading to a Nabooan solar day of ~176 Earth days. This same effect of rotation + revolution is why sidereal and solar days are different in the first place — Earth’s solar day is ~24hrs, while its sidereal day is ~4min shorter — and is why the stars visible in our night sky locally change from season to season. 4) Finally, the effect of revolution + Mercury’s noticeably elliptical orbit + rotation leads to some bizarre timing when it comes local sunrise, sunset, noon, and midnight in various places on the planet as well. In some places, one ends up with Sol crossing overhead three separate times between local sunrise & sunset; in others “Sunrise” is spread out over weeks (Earth reckoning) as Sol rises above the horizon, then sets completely, then rises again to cross the sky, only to perform the same dance in reverse upon “Sunset” (set, rise again, set again). Thought we maybe discussed this once before, somewhere….

Venus

What is the term for a natural satellite?

Solar System Exploration: Science & Technology: Science Features: Weather, Weather, Everywhere? Weather, Weather, Everywhere?  Weather, Weather, Everywhere? Scientists believe that Jupiter's Great Red Spot is actually a hurricane that has been raging for more than 400 years within the planet's atmosphere. Every planet in our solar system has seasons. But the seasons that occur on other planets are extremely different from the traditional spring, summer, fall and winter weather that we experience here on Earth. Despite what may seem like great variations in temperature, weather and climactic conditions in different places around the globe, in reality there actually is little variation in Earth's overall climate. Why? There are several factors that affect the weather on the planets: the tilt of a planet's axis (which causes the seasons), the shape of its orbit around the sun, the presence or absence of a significant atmosphere, its average distance from the Sun, and the length of its day. The tilt of the Earth is the primary reason for the differences in weather we observe between summer and winter. Earth's axis is tilted about 23 degrees, causing the latitude of the Sun to vary from 23 degrees north of the equator at the beginning of northern summer to 23 degrees south of the equator at the beginning of northern winter. On Earth, that tilt is the primary reason for the differences in weather we observe between summer and winter. Planets with smaller tilts might have smaller weather variations; planets with larger tilts could have more extreme variations. Our orbit is nearly circular, so there is little variation in Earth's overall climate, averaged over both northern and southern hemispheres. But other planets have more elliptical orbits, and therefore their seasonal variations in weather are much different than what we experience. We are much further from the Sun than Mercury or Venus, but closer than the other six planets. Generally, weather variations are more pronounced for those planets closer to the Sun. The terms "summer" and "winter" tend to be Earth-oriented terms but can be applied to the other planets as well. When the North Pole of any planet is tilted toward the sun, astronomers call it the Summer Solstice; when the South Pole is tilted toward the sun it's called the Winter Solstice. So, how do seasons and weather conditions stack up on other planets? Mercury experiences some of the most bizarre conditions. Until the 1960's, it was thought that Mercury's day was the same length as its year, keeping the same face to the Sun, much as the Moon does to Earth. But we now know that Mercury rotates three times during two of its years. With this bizarre 2:3 ratio, Mercury is the only body in the solar system locked into an orbit-to-rotation ratio other than 1:1. This fact and the high eccentricity of Mercury's orbit cause very strange effects if an observer were to stand on Mercury's surface. At some longitudes the observer would see the Sun rise and then gradually increase in apparent size as it slowly moves toward the zenith. At that point the Sun would stop, briefly reverse course, and stop again before resuming its path toward the horizon, and decrease in apparent size. It is the motion of the Sun against the background stars, which varies for an observer on Mercury. Observers at other points on Mercury's surface would see different but equally bizarre motions. That makes it impossible to really tell when one season ends and the next one begins. And, to add to the uniqueness of the planet, temperature variations on Mercury are the most extreme in the solar system, ranging from -280?F at night to 800 degrees F during the day for parts of the surface. And yet near Mercury's poles there is almost no change in temperature, because, in spite of its very long duration between sunrises (176 Earth days), the tilt of its axis is zero, meaning that there are no seasonal variations on Mercury. Furthermore, with essentially no atmosphere, Mercury's weather changes are displayed not as storms in the atmosphere, but as wide swings in surface temperature. Venus has a very small axial tilt -- 3 degrees versus Earth's 23.5 degrees. Its dense, acidic atmosphere produces a runaway greenhouse effect that keeps the surface at around 865 degrees F year-round, which is hot enough to melt lead. Venus also has a smaller orbit than Earth, which makes its seasons shorter, and variations in temperature and conditions extremely slight. Its seasons last a mere 55-58 days, as opposed to 90-93 days on Earth. In fact, circumstances combine to make Venus' seasons shorter than its days: successive sunrises on Venus are separated by 117 Earth days, and Venus rotates backwards, causing the Sun to rise in the west and set in the east. When the Magellan spacecraft made its historic dramatic final fiery descent into Venus' atmosphere on October 11, 1994, it was northern springtime on Venus, while in the peak of northern autumn here on Earth. Mars' winds were strong enough to give the rover Spirit a good cleaning. Mars has one of the highest orbital eccentricities of any planet in our solar system (other than Mercury and Pluto) -- its distance from the Sun varies between 1.38 and 1.67 AU over the Martian year. This large variation, combined with an axial tilt slightly greater than Earth's, gives rise to seasonal changes far greater than we experience here on Earth. On Mars, dramatic dust storms are common due to solar heat, which warms the Martian atmosphere and causes its air to move rapidly, lifting dust off the ground. Because the Martian atmosphere is thin -- about 1% as dense as Earth's at sea level -- only the smallest dust grains hang in the air, and the grains are as fine as smoke. One of the strangest effects of seasons on Mars is the change in atmospheric pressure. During winter the global atmospheric pressure on Mars is 25% lower than during summer. This happens because of the eccentricity of Mars's orbit and a complex exchange of carbon dioxide between the Martian dry-ice polar caps and its CO2 atmosphere. Around the winter solstice when the North Pole is tilted away from the sun, the northern polar cap expands as carbon dioxide in the polar atmosphere freezes. At the other end of the planet the southern polar cap melts, giving CO2 back to the atmosphere. This process reverses half a year later at the summer solstice. But Mars is 10% closer to the Sun in southern summer than it is in northern summer. At the time of the winter solstice the northern polar cap absorbs less CO2 than the southern polar cap absorbs half a year later. The difference is so great that Mars's atmosphere is noticeably thicker during northern winter. Its orbital motion is slowest when it is at aphelion (the farthest point from the Sun) and fastest at perihelion (the closest point to the Sun). This makes Martian seasons vary greatly in duration than those on Earth. Seasons change roughly every six months, with northern spring and fall lasting 171 Earth days, northern summer being 199 days in length, and northern winter being only 146 days. Because of these variations, Martian seasons do not start at the same Earth day each Martian year. Jupiter , like Venus, has an axial tilt of only 3 degrees, so there is literally no difference between the seasons. However, because of its distance from the sun, seasons change more slowly. The length of each season is roughly three years. Jupiter is the fastest spinning planet in our Solar System, which causes the planet to flatten at the poles and bulge at the equator. Also, like Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, Jupiter has a very dense, turbulent atmosphere that can cause dramatic storm activity. For example, the Hubble Space Telescope took a detailed look at a unique cluster of three immense oval-shaped storms that occurred below Jupiter's Great Red Spot, in 1995. Scientists believe that Jupiter's Great Red spot is actually a hurricane that has been raging for more than 400 years within the planet's atmosphere. The temperature on Jupiter also varies widely, because of the different chemical compositions that make up its atmosphere. For example, the highest white clouds are made of crystals of frozen ammonia, and the temperature here is about -220 F (-140 degrees C). Measurements made by ground instruments and spacecraft show that Jupiter's temperature increases with depth below the clouds, and the temperature reaches 70 degrees F (21 degrees C) -- "room temperature" -- at a level where the atmospheric pressure is about 10 times as great as it is on Earth. As you travel further into the interior of Jupiter, the temperature becomes even hotter -- at the planet's core, it is even hotter than the Sun! Cassini captures Saturn's stormy surface. Saturn has an axial tilt of almost 27 degrees, which is slightly larger than that of Mars. But when talking about a gas giant in the outer reaches of the solar system, the concept of seasonal change doesn't quite mean the same as on Earth. Seasonal variations are strong on Saturn and each season lasts more than 7 years. That's a long winter! When the Cassini spacecraft began its revolutionary mission to Saturn and its largest moon, Titan, Saturn was two years into its northern fall season. When it arrived at Saturn in 2004, it will have just become northern winter on the ringed planet. Uranus has a relatively circular orbit, so it remains at about the same distance from the Sun throughout its long year. But the axis of Uranus is tilted by 98 degrees! This causes 21-year-long seasons and unusual weather, although one thing that is certain: it is always cold. For nearly a quarter of the Uranian year (equal to 84 Earth years), the sun shines directly over each pole, leaving the other half of the planet plunged into a long, dark winter. Uranus has a deep atmosphere of mostly hydrogen and helium. Absorption of red light by methane in the atmosphere gives the planet its bluish color. Early visual observers reported Jupiter-like cloud belts on the planet, but when the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by in 1986, Uranus appeared virtually featureless. The Northern Hemisphere of Uranus is just now coming out of the grip of its decades-long winter. As the sunlight reaches some latitudes for the first time in years, it warms the atmosphere and triggers gigantic springtime storms comparable in size to North America with temperatures of 300? F below zero. By the year 2007, the sun will be shining directly over Uranus' equator, which will produce more evenly distributed sunlight and the ability to see features at all latitudes on Uranus. Neptune has an axial tilt of 28.5 degrees, which isn't too much different than Earth's. But this gas giant doesn't really experience appreciable seasonal variation, although its seasons last for more than 40 years! Because Pluto is so far away, virtually nothing is known about its seasons. However, because of its tilt of nearly 120 degrees and the highest eccentricity of any planetary orbit even at its great distance from the Sun, weather variations are expected to be significant -- perhaps enough to result in far greater changes in its atmospheric pressures than even that of Mars. It is possible that the very thin atmosphere of Pluto may entirely freeze and fall as snow to Pluto's surface as it gets farther and farther from the Sun. Extraterrestrial weather and seasons are harsh and may be rather unpredictable. So, as we contemplate the different times of year on Earth, and may lament about the coming of a long, hot summer or a cold harsh winter, take a quick mental tour of our solar system. Suddenly, having to water the garden or scrape ice off of a windshield doesn't seem so bad. Last Updated: 21 January 2014

i don't know

Who was the first man in space?

First man in space - Apr 12, 1961 - HISTORY.com First man in space Publisher A+E Networks On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space. During the flight, the 27-year-old test pilot and industrial technician also became the first man to orbit the planet, a feat accomplished by his space capsule in 89 minutes. Vostok 1 orbited Earth at a maximum altitude of 187 miles and was guided entirely by an automatic control system. The only statement attributed to Gagarin during his one hour and 48 minutes in space was, “Flight is proceeding normally; I am well.” After his historic feat was announced, the attractive and unassuming Gagarin became an instant worldwide celebrity. He was awarded the Order of Lenin and given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Monuments were raised to him across the Soviet Union and streets renamed in his honor. The triumph of the Soviet space program in putting the first man into space was a great blow to the United States, which had scheduled its first space flight for May 1961. Moreover, Gagarin had orbited Earth, a feat that eluded the U.S. space program until February 1962, when astronaut John Glenn made three orbits in Friendship 7. By that time, the Soviet Union had already made another leap ahead in the “space race” with the August 1961 flight of cosmonaut Gherman Titov in Vostok 2. Titov made 17 orbits and spent more than 25 hours in space. To Soviet propagandists, the Soviet conquest of space was evidence of the supremacy of communism over capitalism. However, to those who worked on the Vostok program and earlier on Sputnik (which launched the first satellite into space in 1957), the successes were attributable chiefly to the brilliance of one man: Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. Because of his controversial past, Chief Designer Korolev was unknown in the West and to all but insiders in the USSR until his death in 1966. Born in the Ukraine in 1906, Korolev was part of a scientific team that launched the first Soviet liquid-fueled rocket in 1933. In 1938, his military sponsor fell prey to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s purges, and Korolev and his colleagues were also put on trial. Convicted of treason and sabotage, Korolev was sentenced to 10 years in a labor camp. The Soviet authorities came to fear German rocket advances, however, and after only a year Korolev was put in charge of a prison design bureau and ordered to continue his rocketry work. In 1945, Korolev was sent to Germany to learn about the V-2 rocket, which had been used to devastating effect by the Nazis against the British. The Americans had captured the rocket’s designer, Wernher von Braun, who later became head of the U.S. space program, but the Soviets acquired a fair amount of V-2 resources, including rockets, launch facilities, blueprints, and a few German V-2 technicians. By employing this technology and his own considerable engineering talents, by 1954 Korolev had built a rocket that could carry a five-ton nuclear warhead and in 1957 launched the first intercontinental ballistic missile. That year, Korolev’s plan to launch a satellite into space was approved, and on October 4, 1957, Sputnik 1 was fired into Earth’s orbit. It was the first Soviet victory of the space race, and Korolev, still technically a prisoner, was officially rehabilitated. The Soviet space program under Korolev would go on to numerous space firsts in the late 1950s and early ’60s: first animal in orbit, first large scientific satellite, first man, first woman, first three men, first space walk, first spacecraft to impact the moon, first to orbit the moon, first to impact Venus, and first craft to soft-land on the moon. Throughout this time, Korolev remained anonymous, known only as the “Chief Designer.” His dream of sending cosmonauts to the moon eventually ended in failure, primarily because the Soviet lunar program received just one-tenth the funding allocated to America’s successful Apollo lunar landing program. Korolev died in 1966. Upon his death, his identity was finally revealed to the world, and he was awarded a burial in the Kremlin wall as a hero of the Soviet Union. Yuri Gagarin was killed in a routine jet-aircraft test flight in 1968. His ashes were also placed in the Kremlin wall. Related Videos

Yuri Gagarin

Which was the first space probe to leave the solar system?

Why Yuri Gagarin Remains the First Man in Space, Even Though He Did Not Land Inside His Spacecraft | National Air and Space Museum National Air and Space Museum Get Involved Story Why Yuri Gagarin Remains the First Man in Space, Even Though He Did Not Land Inside His Spacecraft Posted on Mon, April 12 2010 Email Every year as the anniversary of the first human spaceflight approaches, I receive calls inquiring about the validity of Yuri Gagarin’s claim as the first human in space.  The legitimate questions focus on the fact that Gagarin did not land inside his spacecraft.  The reasoning goes that since he did not land inside his spacecraft, he disqualified himself from the record books.  This might seem to be a very reasonable argument, but Gagarin remains the first man in space.  The justification for Gagarin remaining in that position lies in the organization that sets the standards for flight.   Soviet cosmonaut Major Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin, probably on or about April 12, 1961, when he made his orbital space flight in Vostok 1.   The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) is the world's air sports federation.  It was founded in 1905 as a non-governmental and non-profit making international organization to further aeronautical and astronautical activities worldwide.  Among its duties, the FAI certifies and registers records.  Its first records in aviation date back to 1906.  The organization also arbitrates disputes over records.  If nationals from two different countries claim a record, it is the FAI’s job to examine the submitted documentation and make a ruling as to who has accomplished the feat first.  When it was apparent that the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were planning to launch men into space, the FAI specified spaceflight guidelines.  One of the stipulations that the FAI carried over from aviation was that spacecraft pilots, like aircraft pilots should land inside their craft in order for the record to be valid.  In the case of aviation, this made perfect sense.  No one wanted to encourage pilots to sacrifice themselves for an aviation record.  Piloting an aircraft that could not land did nothing to further aeronautical engineering. When Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth on 12 April 1961, the plan had never been for him to land inside his Vostok spacecraft.  His spherical reentry capsule came through the Earth’s atmosphere on a ballistic trajectory.  Soviet engineers had not yet perfected a braking system that would slow the craft sufficiently for a human to survive impact.  They decided to eject the cosmonaut from his craft.  Yuri Gagarin ejected at 20,000 feet and landed safely on Earth.  Soviet engineers had not discussed this shortcoming with Soviet delegates to the FAI prior to his flight.  They prepared their documents for the FAI omitting this fact.  This led everyone to believe that Gagarin had landed inside his spacecraft.  It was not until four months later, when German Titov became the second human to orbit the Earth and the first person to spend a full day in space, when the controversy began to brew.  Titov owned up to ejecting himself.  This led to a special meeting of the delegates to the FAI to reexamine Titov’s spaceflight records.  The conclusion of the delegates was to rework the parameters of human spaceflight to recognize that the great technological accomplishment of spaceflight was the launch, orbiting and safe return of the human, not the manner in which he or she landed.  Gagarin and Titov’s records remained on the FAI books.  Even after Soviet -made models of the Vostok spacecraft  made it clear that the craft had no braking capability, the FAI created the Gagarin Medal that it awards annually to greatest aviation or space achievement of that year. One should keep other examples of a sports federations’ reconsideration of rules in the face of new techniques and technologies in mind when considering the FAI Gagarin decision.  The underwater dolphin kick in freestyle swimming and the introduction of the clap skate in speed skating both caused initial international flaps.  After the respective sports federations voted to accept these changes, that ended the controversy.  Yes, Gagarin did not follow the rules that the FAI established before his flight.  However, as is true with any sports organization, the FAI reserved the right to reexamine and reinterpret its rules in light of new knowledge and circumstances.  Yuri Gagarin remains indisputably the first person in space and the concept that the first cosmonauts had to land inside their spacecraft is a faded artifact of the transition from aviation to spaceflight.  You may also like

i don't know

What is almost halfway through its 10-billion-year life, will expand to become a red giant and then shrink to become a white dwarf?

Formation of Planetary Nebulae Home The Not-so-Ordinary Life of a Typical Star Scattered like diamond chips across the Cosmos, stars look deceptively serene to earthbound observers. However, nothing could be farther from true because each one is a creature of unimaginable violence. Constant and unchanging, the nighttime stellar canopy appears essentially the same to us as it did to the ancient Greeks. But, this perception is misleading because, like people, even stars follow a cycle of birth and death. A star, like our Sun, begins its life as a vast cloud of gas and dust drifting among the apparently empty spaces between the stars. These clouds of sparse material are truly immense and often span hundreds or thousands of light years in all directions. Even though they contain fewer atoms than the best vacuum on Earth, the total amount of material in an interstellar cloud, also known as its mass, is truly astronomical. Most of the stuff in one of these clouds is hydrogen, the simplest and most abundant element in the Universe, but they also contain other, more complex, elements, too. For example, the cloud of dust and gas that formed our Sun must have included material from a previous generation star that blew itself apart. We suspect this because our Sun, and all of its planets including Earth, contain heavy elements that could only have been forged in the heart of a larger, long gone star that went supernova. Stars, like factories, create complex elements from hydrogen and release radiation as a by-product of their creation. The life cycle of a typical star like our Sun. Illustration credit: Wikipedia For billions of years interstellar clouds wander more or less aimlessly between their starry relatives until they receive a gravitational nudge, possibly from a nearby exploding star or the close passing of another galaxy. Significantly, once the cloud is pushed, events take on a life of their own and the material begins to contract inward under its own massive weight. As the dust particles and gas molecules move toward the cloud's center, they inevitably begin bumping into each other. Like rubbing your hands together, this generates heat. Stellar womb- am artist's impression of the central region inside an interstellar cloud where gravity is forging new stars. Illustration credit: M. Kornmesser/ESO Over time, these molecular collisions became more frequent. Eventually, the core of the cloud becomes so squeezed by gravity that pressures exceeded billions of atmospheres and temperatures reach over 50 million degrees. At this temperature, hydrogen nuclei collide with such speed, a thermonuclear reaction, known as fusion, is triggered. Fusion is the same process released when a hydrogen bomb is exploded. However, the amount of energy produced by a star is billions of times greater than any man-made nuclear weapon. When fusion commences, hydrogen is converted into the next heaviest element (helium) and a tremendous amount of energy is released in the form of photons. As the photons rush from the core of the cloud, they push back on the inward pressure of gravity, which is still trying to compress the cloud, until an equilibrium is achieved and the cloud's collapse ceases. Eventually the photons escape into space as visible light and other forms of invisible radiation and the star is born. Thus, a star is a balance between the unrelenting inward pull of gravity and the ongoing thermonuclear explosion pushing back from its core. Phase One- Nothing lasts forever Although, most of a star's volume is comprised of hydrogen, hydrogen can only be fused into helium at its core and all stars eventually deplete their central store of hydrogen. Thus, the balance that creates a star is only temporary. For example, although our Sun is supremely important to our existence, it is only an average star, about halfway through its 10 billion year life-cycle. Stars with less mass require less thermonuclear energy at their cores to counter balance the force of gravity, therefore they are cooler and shine for a longer period of time. Conversely, stars with greater mass than the Sun are hotter because they require more outward force to prevent gravity from squeezing them. Thus, larger stars are brighter and shine for a shorter period of time. Our local star has sufficient mass in its core to fuse 700 million tons of hydrogen into 695 million tons of helium each second for 10 billion years. In the process, 5 billion tons of matter is also converted into energy per second as described by Einstein's famous equation E = mc2. At this rate, the Sun has already converted about 100 Earth-masses of matter into energy. But eventually, all the hydrogen in its core will fused into helium. When this happens, nuclear reactions will cease, the outward force of energy that has supported the star's weight will drop precipitously and the core will begin to compress under the force of gravity that has been patiently waiting all these years. Phase Two- In the Footsteps of Giants As the core collapses, the pressure and temperature within it will increase until the helium begins to fuse into the next heaviest elements, carbon and oxygen- two of the most important elements required for life as we know it. A huge amount of radiation will be released when this occurs - more than the amount released by the fusion of hydrogen. This further increases the pressure pushing back on gravity. The heat of the interior becomes so intense, a layer of hydrogen surrounding the core begins to fuse into helium. This also increases the amount of outward pressure and, combined, both these forces cause the star to grow enormous. Gravity eventually balances this expansion, but only after the star has swollen to the orbit of Venus or possibly even farther out. In the case of our Sun, the planet Mercury will be absorbed along with Venus and Earth may be engulfed or thrown from its current orbit in the process. Since the star has the same amount of material, its heat will be spread over a larger surface area and thus it will be cooler, take on a reddish hue and become a star that is called Red Giant . Red Giant Sun - In about 5 billion years our Sun will swell and possibly consume the Earth. In this artist conception, the distant moon transits the swollen solar disk as seen from our then lifeless, barren planet. Illustration credit: Don Dixon Cosmographia Phase 3- The Long Good-bye As was the case with hydrogen, the amount of helium in the core will eventually become exhausted. When this happens, gravity will cause the surface of the star to suddenly shrink as it simultaneously exerts enormous pressure on the carbon and oxygen core. However, in a star like our Sun, core temperatures will never become sufficient to trigger the fusion of carbon and oxygen into the next heavier elements. It will only succeed in triggering fusion of the helium shell surrounding the core. When thermonuclear reactions within the shell of helium commences, the outward radiation pressure will exceed the inward pull of gravity and the surface of star will expand once again returning the star to its Red Giant size. However, this time, the force of gravity will be insufficient to stop the expansion. So, the outer portions of the star will separate at up to 50 km/sec (over 100,000 miles/hour) and float away from the central region containing the star's core. The ejected gas will begin to visibly glow in harlequin colors as it is ionized by invisible ultraviolet radiation still being released from the star's hot core. As the star's outer surface material departs the core will be progressively exposed. When the core of a star is revealed in this manner, the star is called a white dwarf . These stars are fantastically dense compared to anything on Earth, weighing over a ton per teaspoonful. Over billions of years, the core will slowly cool, cease to release any radiation and become a black dwarf - the corpse of a Sun that once was. If the star had a family of planets, those that weren't devoured or ejected from their solar system during its Red Giant phase will freeze. The Dumbbell nebula (NGC 6853) The Universe is filled with spectacular cosmic displays, but few match the wonder of a planetary nebula. Photo credit: R. Jay GaBany Cosmotography.com The First Planetary About 4,000 years ago an elderly, bloated giant red star, located toward the northern constellation of Vulpecula, gave its last gasp and shed its outer skin exposing its still pulsating heart. It wasn't until the mid-1700s that Charles Messier, the famous French comet hunter, noticed its distant faint fuzzy circular glow and placed it in his catalog to prevent him from mistaking it as a comet during future night sky expeditions. A few years later, the musician turned astronomer named William Herschel gave these objects their name because of their resemblance to planets. Telescopes back then lacked the color definition and clarity of even the most inexpensive instruments available today. So, both Messier and Herschel would most likely be astonished had they lived to enjoy our current view of this planetary nebula. Today, we know Messier's 27th catalog designation as the Dumbbell nebula. Located about 1,200 light years from Earth. At that distance, our sun would appear 100 times fainter than the nebula. We happen to view the Dumbbell along its equator. If our line of site were more to its poles, our impression of the Dumbbell might be that of a ring. The Dumbbell is approximately half a light year in diameter but even at this great distance, the nebula appears quite large- equivalent to about half the diameter of the full Moon. Our galaxy contains over 200 billion stars but only about 3,000 are surrounded by a planetary nebula. Planetary nebulae are usually no larger than a light-year in diameter which is actually enormous if you consider a light-year is almost 6 trillion miles in length. Because a planetary's bubble of gas is constantly expanding, the Dumbbell will only remain visible for around 10,000 years like most other planetary nebulae. Compared to the life of a star, which stretches into billions of years, a planetary nebula only exists for the twinkling of an eye and that helps explain their rarity. Planetary nebulae come is a variety of shapes, no two are exactly identical and this has been a source of ongoing study by astronomers. Only about 20% of the known planetary nebulae have a spherical symmetry. Most, like the Dumbbell nebula, are elliptical or bi-polar with elongated somewhat mirrored structures protruding on opposite sides. The reason why most planetary nebulae are not spherical is not well understood. Several theories have been considered so far. One of them suggests the strange shapes of planetary nebulae might be due to some centrifugal force resulting from the rotation of red giant stars. Another theory proposes the symmetry of the star's wind may be affected by a companion star. However, the most recent theories explaining the shapes of the nebulae attribute their appearance to magnetic fields from the parent star. Perhaps the best explanation for the structures seen within and surrounding the Dumbbell come from a 2008 investigation . The researchers proposed the existence of a jet spawned by an accretion disk, fed by material from a small stellar companion, surrounding the nebula's parent star. Over time, precession, similar to the wobble seen in a spinning top, causes the jet to slew in different directions. As the jet moves, it creates conical shaped structures that give the surrounding nebula its dumbbell appearance. It's also amazing what scientists can learn from studying the colors released by stars, emitted or reflected by nebula. For example, the Dumbbell's teal coloration is released by oxygen atoms while the red hues are emitted by hydrogen when both are struck by the ultraviolet radiation sill being released from the core of the planetary's parent star. A New Beginning The creation of even ordinary stars requires the release of incredible energy, millions of times more powerful than every warhead and bomb in the world's combined nuclear arsenals. Even after its birth, the fury of a star can only be tamed by the relentless force of gravity. From our perspective, safely sequestered by great distance, the twinkling stars of the nighttime sky seem timeless, conjure thoughts of romance and appear dazzling to our eyes. But, as we have discussed, nothing could be farther from the truth. Yet, if it weren't for the life cycle of stars, our existence would be impossible. Like stellar factories, stars transmute the building blocks of everything that surrounds us and in their deaths release a precious cargo of stellar material which may eventually find its way into creatures such as we, ourselves. In this way, instead of an end, every planetary nebula signals a new beginning. Also read:

Sun

Which planet orbits the Sun four times in the time it takes the Earth to go round once?

IRIS Weekly Questions return to top   Q1: How old is our Sun? State its approximate age, and then briefly describe the remainder of its life cycle. (Oct 21-25) Answer: The Sun is approximately 4.57 billion years old. It started out as a protostar and, over time, has matured into a main sequence star. The Sun, being about halfway through its main-sequence stage, will stay in its current state for another 4 to 5 billion years, all the while increasing in temperature, brightness, and size. Then, as the Sun runs out of fuel, it will expand into a red giant before turning into a white dwarf and slowly cooling over billions of years into a black dwarf. To learn more, read this article on physical cosmology by Meredith Bower.   Featured Student Answer: The Sun is approximately 4.5 billion years old. Currently the Sun's life cycle is in the main sequence stage of the stars life. The Sun is still halfway through the main sequence star stage; it should take approximately another 4.5 billion years to complete this stage. When a medium star like the Sun uses up some of its gases, it expands to become a red giant star. At this time, it will expand to cover the orbits of Mercury, Venus, and possibly Earth. It will remain that way for about a billion years. Then, the Sun will lose its outer shell, and the core will shrink to become a white dwarf star, a hot, small star. The white dwarf star will eventually cool and stop shining to become a black dwarf, which does not emit light anymore. -Mr. Egan's class, grade 6 return to top   Q2: Why does the Sun shine? Explain how our star produces energy in the form of light and heat. (Oct 28 - Nov 1) Answer: In short, the Sun shines because it is hot. Our star is made of very hot, highly dense gas primarily comprised of hydrogen and helium. Deep in the Sun's core, where temperatures reach 15,000,000 K (27,000,000 F), four hydrogen atoms fuse together to form one helium atom, a process called nuclear fusion. The mass of the four hydrogen atoms is greater than the mass of the helium atom that they form in the fusion process. This difference in mass is converted into energy, which the Sun radiates equally in all directions. The majority of this solar energy comes in the form of the visible light and infrared (heat) regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.   Featured Student Answers: The sun shines because of the heat and light emitted during the nuclear fusion reactions that take place inside its core. There the temperature and the pressure are very high, so the atoms of hydrogen combine to create helium. The mass of a helium atom is lower than the mass of a hydrogen atom, so the difference of mass is converted into energy, according to Einstein's relation between mass and energy (E=mc2). Fusion reactions are accompanied by high emissions of energy, as there are millions of tones of hydrogen that are transformed into helium every second. This energy causes the sun gas to glow, giving off different kinds of light, like infrared light, ultraviolet light, and visible light. -Ms. Prajea's class, grade 6 and grades 9-12 The sun shines due to its extreme temperature. It is very hot and contains much energy. The sun stays hot because it is powered by the proccess called nuclear fusion located within its core. When hydrogen and helium are fused together, the mass is changed into energy. Stars are made of clouds of dust and gas that pulls inward because of gravity. As the mixture compresses, it gets hotter and hotter until a special reaction occurs. The gas particles join and expand. The process creates energy deep in the center of the star. It is this energy that gives the star heat and light. -Ms. Florio's class, grade 7 return to top   Q3: Our Sun is a G-type main-sequence yellow dwarf star. What does G-type, main-sequence, and dwarf mean, and what is the actual color of our Sun? (Nov 4 - 15) Answer: Stars are classified by their temperature and the spectrum of light that they emit, or in simple terms, their color. Using the Morgan-Keenan system, classification is done using a scale of letters: O, B, A, F, G, K, M, L, T, and Y, with O representing the hottest stars and Y representing the coolest. The hotter stars toward the O end of the scale are more blue and white in color, whereas cooler stars toward the Y end of the scale are more red and brown. Our star, the Sun, is relatively cool with a temperature between 5,200 - 6,000 degrees Kelvin (8,900 - 10,340 degrees Fahrenheit), thus earning a classification of G and a color description of yellow. Stars can be further classified according to their luminosity, or brightness, which is done using a system of Roman numerals I through VII. Because our sun is in its main sequence stage, meaning that it is still converting hydrogen to helium through the process of nuclear fusion, it is placed in class V as a dwarf or main-sequence star. These two classification systems, temperature/color and luminosity, are often represented in a scatter plot of stars called a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. On the diagram below you can see the Sun plotted as a class G magnitude V main-sequence yellow dwarf star. Although our star is classified as a yellow dwarf, its actual color is white. When viewing the Sun through Earth's atmosphere, the shorter wavelengths of light (violet, blue, green) are scattered, leaving us to see only the longer yellow, orange, and red wavelengths. However, if you were to travel into space above Earth's atmosphere, then you would see all the visible wavelengths of the Sun's light that, when mixed together, are seen as white light. Below is a picture representing the actual color of our Sun.   Featured Student Answers: A G-type star is a star classified with G in the Morgan-Keenan system( meaning it has an average surface temeperature of 5300K-6000K, and mass and size are quite close to those of the sun). Main-sequence is the stage in a star's life while it transforms hydrogen into helium in its core by nuclear fusion, producing and emitting energy. The star doesn't grow or become smaller, so it is in an equilibrium stage. The term "dwarf star" refers to a medium star as regarding its mass, size and luminosity. A yellow dwarf is a main sequence star whose colour is convetionally stated as yellow, colour which in reality is yellowish-white. The Sun appeares to be yellow, sometimes orange, or red due to Earth's atmosphere (photons of the lower end of the spectrum- yellow, orange and red are less easily scattered than the ones of the higher spectrum, with short wavelenghts- blue, indigo and violet). The Sun is actually white because the light it emits is a mixture of all the colours of the rainbow. The human eye can't detect this colour even in the absence of the atmosphere, so from space we see it white as well. -Ms. Prajea's class, grades 9-12 Stars are classified depending on temperature, luminosity, and spectrum. Spectral class G means that our Sun has a temperature of 5,000 to 6,000 Kelvins and emits radiation whose electromagnetic spectrum is yellow. It also means that our Sun is in yellow dwarf stage. The main sequence is a group of stars centered around the diagonal of Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. These stars are in constant ratio of temperature to luminosity, and these are also the ones in which fusion of hydrogen turns into helium. The dwarfs are main sequence stars, which belong to the luminosity class V. Depending on the spectral type, there are different colors of dwarfs. Our sun is a GV which means that, it is a yellow dwarf. -Ms. Kafel's class, grades 9-12 return to top   Q4: Does the Sun have a uniform rotation? What is the rotation period of the Sun? For what purpose is the Carrington Rotation system used? (Nov 18 - 22) Answer: The Sun has a north and south pole and rotates on its axis just as Earth does. However, because the Sun is a fluid gaseous body, it does not rotate uniformly as does a solid body like our own rocky planet. By observing the movement of sunspots, scientists have learned that different latitudes of the Sun rotate at different speeds. The Sun rotates faster at the equator and slower at the poles. It takes the Sun only 25 days to rotate at the equator, yet it takes progressively longer, up to 35 days, to rotate at the higher polar latitudes. This is known as differential rotation. Because the Sun has a differential rotation, scientists need a system to compare locations on the Sun over a period of time, especially for the purpose of tracking sunspots. Astronomer Richard Carrington first noted that sunspots rotate every 27.28 days. This rotation period is known as the Carrington rotation and roughly corresponds to rotation at a latitude of 26 degrees, which is the typical latitude of sunspot activity. Beginning on November 9, 1853, the Carrington rotation system numbers each rotation of the Sun with a unique number called the Carrington Rotation Number. As of November 25, 2013, the current Carrington Rotation Number is 2144.   Featured Student Answer: The Sun has a north and south pole, just as Earth does, and rotates on its axis. However, unlike Earth, the entire Sun doesn't rotate at the same rate because the Sun is not solid, but is instead a giant ball of gas and plasma, so different regions of the Sun don't stick together and thus rotate at different rates. This phenomenon, called differential rotation, makes the Sun's rotation period pretty hard to establish. The Sun rotates every 25 days at the equator, and at the poles the Sun rotates every 36 days. This is known as differential rotation. The Carrington rotation system allows us to determine an average period for the Sun's rotation. It refers to comparing the positions of certain regions of the Sun over time. By following sunspots, visibly dark spots on the surface of the Sun caused by magnetic activity, Richard Carrington calculated the rotation period of the Sun relative to the stars as 25.38 days. This means about 27.27 days as seen from Earth, since our planet orbits the Sun. -Ms. Stoica's class, grade 6 return to top   Q5: The Sun is a magnetic, variable star. What does that mean? What produces the Sun's magnetic field? What is a coronal hole? (Dec 2-6) Answer: A variable star is a star that changes brightness as seen from our perspective on Earth. A magnetic star is a star that generates a magnetic field through the differential rotation and convective motions of its electrically charged plasma. Our Sun does both, hence the description magnetic, variable star. First of all, the energy output of our Sun varies by about 0.1 percent over the duration of its solar cycle, resulting in subtle variations in its apparent magnitude (brightness). Secondly, the churning motion of the Sun's convection zone generates magnetic fields that float to the surface (photosphere) and appear as darker (cooler) sunspots, serpentine filaments, and lovely coronal loops. As we learned from question four, the Sun rotates faster at the poles and slower at the equator. Over time, this differential rotation twists the magnetic field lines into knots eventually causing them to break, resulting in violent events such as flares and coronal mass ejections. To learn more about this topic and to see some excellent images of the Sun, visit the American Museum of Natural History website on SunScapes: Our Magnetic Star. Coronal holes are cooler, low density regions of the Sun's outer atmosphere (corona), where the Sun's magnetic field opens up and allows solar wind to escape. Visibly darker than their surroundings, these features can last for a few solar rotations until the magnetic field lines shift once again. Unlike flares and CMEs that occur more frequently during heightened solar activity, coronal holes are more commonly seen when solar activity quietens. To learn more, read this brief article by Karen C. Fox of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, SOHO Views Large Coronal Hole Near the Sun's North Pole.   Featured Student Answers: The Sun is a magnetic star, which means that it has a magnetic field. It is caused by the movement of the plasma in the interior part of the Sun, which is the result of convection. The magnetic field affects the plasma, increasing the pressure without gain in density. That magnetized region expands and reaches the photosphere, consequently creating sunspots and coronal loops. The variable star is a star that is characterized by changes in magnetic fields over the course of a solar cycle during which the magnetic poles interchange their positions. -Ms. Kafel's class, grades 9-12 Coronal holes are areas of the Sun's corona where the magnetic field presents open magnetic field lines (lines of magnetic field emerging from one region that do not return to another region, but extend into space) and solar material. In fact, highly ionized hot coronal plasma is drawn out. Coronal holes are areas where the Sun is darker and colder and the density of plasma is lower than average because some of it flows out. -Ms. Prajea's class, grade 6 return to top   Q6: How long is the solar cycle on average? Where is the Sun in its current cycle? What is the Maunder Minimum? (Dec 9-13) Answer: The solar cycle, also referred to as the sunspot cycle, is an 11-year cycle on average. The end of one cycle and the beginning of the subsequent cycle is marked by the reversal of the Sun's magnetic field. Sunspots are characterized by north and south magnetic poles. In one cycle these poles will have a north-south orientation, but in the following cycle they will have a south-north orientation. This reversal happens at the end of the cycle when solar activity is low and very few, if any, sunspots are formed. This quiet period marking the end of one cycle and the beginning of a new cycle is referred to as solar minimum. In contrast, solar maximum occurs in the middle of the cycle when solar activity is at its peak, meaning that numerous sunspots are present on the surface of the Sun and prominences, flares, and CMEs are much more common. The Sun is currently in the period of solar maximum for solar cycle 24. Solar cycle 24 began in January 2008 and is indicating its peak in 2013. Read these three articles to learn more about solar cycle 24: Backward Sunspot , Solar Cycle 24 Begins , and Twin Peaks . Watch this NASA video to see an animation of the Sun reversing its magnetic poles. Occasionally the solar cycle deviates from its 11-year norm. From 1645 to 1715, a period of about 70 years, the Sun showed very little activity and sunspots were exceptionally rare. This period became known as the Maunder Minimum, named after astronomer Edward Maunder who studied sunspot activity. Interestingly, the Maunder Minimum coincided with the coldest part of the Little Ice Age, a time when Europe and North America experienced extremely cold winters. NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment has made a possible correlation between low sunspot activity and colder winters on Earth. [Information adapted from Maunder Minimum and Little Ice Age articles in Wikipedia.]   Featured Student Answers: The solar cycle lasts 11 years on average, but there exist shorter solar cycles, about 9 years, and longer ones, about 14 years. There are sunspots visible on the Sun almost all the time during the solar maximum. Some are very large and last several weeks. The recording of solar sunspot activity began in 1755. The 24th solar cycle is the current solar cycle and began on January 4, 2008, but there was minimal activity until early 2010. The current predicted and observed size makes this the smallest sunspot cycle since Cycle 14. The Sun went through a period of inactivity in the late 17th century. This was called the Maunder Minimum. Very few sunspots were seen on the Sun from about 1645 to 1715. This period of solar inactivity also corresponds to a climatic period called the Little Ice Age when rivers that are normally ice-free froze and snow fields remained year-round at lower altitudes. -Ms. Prajea's class, grades 9-12 The solar cycle is a periodic change in the Sun's sunspot activity. The cause of these sunspots is that the magnetic poles of the Sun are shifting. The solar cycles have two parts: the solar maximum, and the solar minimum. A solar maximum is when sunspot activity is at its peak and the Sun's magnetic poles are reversing. The solar minimum however is the opposite when there is little or no sunspot activity. Solar cycles have an average duration of about 11 years. Our sun in its current cycle is about half way done. Currently, it is in solar maximum. However in 2013, after several months of surprising calm in solar activity during solar maximum, it was clear that the Sun's activity had flat-lined. This was very surprising since 2011 was a very active year in terms of solar activity. This unexpected calm has lead scientists to hypothesize that 2011 was merely part one of the solar maximum peak, and the second of this double-peaked solar maximum will be in early 2014. -Mr. Egan's class, grade 7 return to top   Q9: What is the South Atlantic Anomaly, and how does it relate to spacecraft and satellites? (Jan 13-17) Answer: Our planet is surrounded by layers of energetic charged particles that are captured from the solar wind and stored in what is called the Van Allen radiation belts. These radiation belts are held in place by Earth's magnetic field and are located in the inner region of Earth's magnetosphere. There is an inner belt, an outer belt, and a transient third radiation belt that was discovered recently by NASA's Van Allen Probes mission. The Van Allen belts are not symmetrically placed around our planet and range in altitudes between 125 and 800 miles. The belts dip closest to Earth's surface in a region off the coast of Brazil in South America termed the South Atlantic Anomaly. Here, in this low lying region, the International Space Station and other satellites in low Earth orbit pass through the radiation belts where for several minutes they are bombarded by the high concentration of charged particles. This can negatively affect data collection and the operation of on-board electronic systems as well as prematurely age computer and other spacecraft components. Astronauts, too, can be affected by the South Atlantic Anomaly and have reported seeing peculiar 'shooting stars' in their visual field while passing through this region.   Featured Student Answers: The South Atlantic Anomaly is where the Van Allen belt is lowest and causes radiation to be the highest with satellites. -Ms. Eden's class, grades 3-5 The South Atlantic Anomaly is an area where Earth's Van Allen belt gets close to the Earth. This relates to spacecraft and satellites by increasing the levels of radiation that they detect. -Ms. Talbert's class, grade 8 The South Atlantic Anomaly is a zone where the inner radiation belt is the closest to the Earth's surface, reaching an altitude of 200 km. Here, the Earth's magnetic field is lower than its normal level. Because of the rarefied magnetic field, the charged particles and the radiations can easily reach lower altitudes. Even though the radiation does not directly affect the Earth, it affects the satellites and the spacecraft. It interferes and causes several damages to the equipment and also affects the health of the astronauts. It harms the retina of the astronauts, and it also disables communication for a short period of time. When the spaceships pass through that zone they need more shielding, and also the telescopes cannot provide images and for their safety they enter a stand-by mode. The International Space Station requires extra shielding to deal with this problem. The Hubble Telescope does not take observations while passing through the South Atlantic Anomaly. Astronauts are also affected by this region which is said to be the cause of peculiar 'shooting stars' seen in the visual field of astronauts. The South Atlantic Anomaly is believed to be the reason for the early failures of the Globalstar network's satellites. -Ms. Stoica's class, grades 9-12 return to top   Q10: The IRIS spacecraft orbits Earth in a sun-synchronous polar orbit so that it can continuously observe the Sun. However, there are times throughout the year that IRIS is unable to see the Sun. Why do you think that is? (Jan 21-29) Answer: The IRIS spacecraft's orbit and altitude determine how long its instruments can view the Sun. The spacecraft orbits between 390 - 420 miles (620 - 670 km) above Earth's surface in what is called a sun-synchronous polar orbit. This means the spacecraft travels around Earth from north to south, passing nearly directly over the poles, in such a way that it crosses the equator at the same local time each day. Earth's axis is tilted 23-degrees, which leads to yearly changes in sun angles that coincide with the seasons. In turn, IRIS's orbit is also inclined (about 98 degrees relative to Earth's orbit around the Sun). Thus, IRIS's orbital path rides the terminator – the ever-moving line that separates the illuminated "day" side of Earth from the dark "night" side of Earth. This path allows the spacecraft's instruments to continuously view the Sun at what we consider sunrise (dawn) or sunset (dusk) 24-hours a day for eight months during the year. However, as Earth travels along the plane of the ecliptic making its annual journey around the Sun, it will routinely eclipse the Sun, temporarily blocking the Sun from IRIS's view. As the spacecraft passes through Earth's shadow, it is unable to make solar observations. This happens during each of the spacecraft's orbits between early November and early February. These eclipse periods can last up to 24 minutes each. Read this article to learn about how the Solar Dynamics Observatory contends with this same issue twice a year: NASA's SDO Observes Earth, Lunar Transits in Same Day If IRIS were to have been launched into a slightly higher altitude orbit, it would not experience any Earth shadowing or eclipse time at all. However, these higher orbits were already too full or reserved for other spacecraft.   Featured Student Answers: IRIS travels in a polar, sun-synchronous orbit, inclined 97.89 degrees to the equator, but not at very high distances above Earth's surface ( 620-670 km) in order to avoid as much as possible Van Allen belts where the radiation is extremely high. Its orbital period is about 97 minutes. The altitude and inclination are combined in such a way that the satellite passes over any given point of the Earth's surface at the same local solar time. It travels around Earth, nearly directly over the poles, and it crosses the equator at the same local time each day. The angle between the orbital plane and the axis Earth-Sun remains almost the same. But the sun-synchronous orbits precess around the Earth's axis, and this axis is not in the plane of the ecliptic, so they don't hold a truly constant angle to the Sun. There might be periods of time, around the summer and winter solstices, when one of Earth's poles is in permanent shadow, when IRIS passes through Earth's shadow (when it passes that pole). For maximizing the time of being in permanent sun, IRIS satellite was launched on 27 June, 2013, immediately after the summer solstice. -Ms. Prajea's class, grades 6 and 9-12 A Sun-synchronous orbit is a geocentric orbit that combines the altitude and the inclination in such a way that an object on that orbit ascends or descends over any Earth latitude at the same local mean solar time. Polar orbit satellite is the orbit that moves north-south direction in a plane perpendicular to the equatorial plane and passing through the poles. So a sun-synchronous polar orbit has an inclination close to 90 degrees and lasts 96-100 minutes. The illumination's angle surface will be nearly the same every time. Its trajectory also enables IRIS to intercept the sun's rays at roughly the same angle at all times. Theoretically, sun-synchronicity would make the sun visible the whole year round, but considering that the Earth is not perfectly spherical, it is not 100% efficient. When IRIS will be located over the North Pole on the winter solstice, hence during polar winter, on the 22nd of December, the sun will not be visible. The same thing will repeat over the South Pole, during the northern hemisphere's summer solstice, on the 22nd of June. Also, occasionally, the moon will obstruct the spacecraft's view of the sun and since IRIS's trajectory is close to the Earth, the moon will appear large enough to block the sun as it would during an eclipse. In conclusion, the IRIS spacecraft's sun-synchronous trajectory enables it to have a clear view of the sun at most times, but certain exceptions will prevent it from being visible for small intervals. -Ms. Stoica's class, grade 6

i don't know

Which is the largest moon in the solar system?

Jupiter's Moon Ganymede - Universe Today   Universe Today by Matt Williams In 1610, Galileo Galilei looked up at the night sky through a telescope of his own design . Spotting Jupiter, he noted the presence of several “luminous objects” surrounding it, which he initially took for stars. In time, he would notice that these “stars” were orbiting the planet, and realized that they were in fact Jupiter’s moons – which would come to be named Io , Europa , Ganymede and Callisto . Of these, Ganymede is the largest, and boasts many fascinating characteristics. In addition to being the largest moon in the Solar System, it is also larger than even the planet Mercury. It is the only satellite in the Solar System known to possess a magnetosphere, has a thin oxygen atmosphere, and (much like its fellow-moons, Europa and Callisto) is believed to have an interior ocean. Discovery and Naming: Though Chinese astronomical records claim that astronomer Gan De may have spotted a moon of Jupiter (probably Ganymede) with the naked eye as early as 365 BCE, Galileo Galilei is credited with making the first recorded observation of Ganymede on January 7th, 1610 using his telescope. Together with Io, Europa and Callisto, he named them the “Medicean Stars” at the time – after his patron, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo de’ Medici. Simon Marius, a German astronomer and contemporary of Galileo’s who claimed to have independently discovered Ganymede, suggested alternative names at the behest of Johannes Kepler. However, the names of Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto – which were all taken from classical mythology – would not come to formally be adopted until the 20th century. Illustration of Jupiter and the Galilean satellites. Credit: NASA Prior to this, the Galilean Moons were named Jupiter I through IV based on their proximity to the planet (with Ganymede designated as Jupiter III). Following the discovery of the moons of Saturn, a naming system based on that of Kepler and Marius was used for Jupiter’s moons. In Greek mythology, Ganymede was the son of King Tros (aka. Ilion), the namesake of the city of Troy (Ilium). Size, Mass and Orbit: With a mean radius of 2634.1 ± 0.3 kilometers (the equivalent of 0.413 Earths), Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System and is even larger than the planet Mercury. However, with a mass of 1.4819 x 10²³ kg (the equivalent of 0.025 Earths), it is only half as massive. This is due to Ganymede’s composition, which consists of water ice and silicate rock (see below). Ganymede’s orbit has a minor eccentricity of 0.0013, with an average distance (semi-major axis) of 1,070,400 km – varying from 1,069,200 km at periapsis to at 1,071,600 km apoapsis. Ganymede takes seven days and three hours to completes a single revolution. Like most known moons, Ganymede is tidally locked, with one side always facing toward the planet. Its orbit is inclined to the Jovian equator, with the eccentricity and inclination changing quasi-periodically due to solar and planetary gravitational perturbations on a timescale of centuries. These orbital variations cause the axial tilt to vary between 0 and 0.33°. Ganymede has a 4:1 orbital resonance with Io and a 2:1 resonance with Europa. Ganymede is the largest satellite in our solar system, larger than Mercury and Pluto, and three-quarters the size of Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL Essentially, this means that Io orbits Jupiter four times (and Europa twice) for every orbit made by Ganymede. The superior conjunction between Io and Europa occurs when Io is at periapsis and Europa is at apoapsis, and the superior conjunction between Europa and Ganymede occurs when Europa is at periapsis. Such a complicated resonance (a 4:2:1 resonance) is called the Laplace Resonance . Composition and Surface Features: With an average density of 1.936 g/cm3, Ganymede is most likely composed of equal parts rocky material and water ice. It is estimated that water ice constitutes 46–50% of the moon’s mass (slightly lower than that of Callisto) with the possibility of some additional volatile ices such as ammonia being present. Ganymede’s surface has an albedo of about 43%, which suggests that water ice makes up a mass fraction of 50-90% the surface. Near-infrared and ultra-violet surveys have also revealed the presence of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and possibly cyanogen, hydrogen sulfate and various organic compounds. More recent data has shown evidence of salts such as magnesium sulfate and possibly sodium sulfate, which may have originated from the subterranean ocean (see below). Ganymede’s interior appears to be fully differentiated, consisting of a solid inner core made of iron, a liquid iron and iron-sulfide outer core, a silicate mantle, and a a spherical shell of mostly ice surrounding the rock shell and the core. The core is believed to measure 500 km in radius, and has a temperature of about 1500 – 1700 K and pressure of up to 10 GPa. Artist’s cut-away representation of the internal structure of Ganymede, with layers shown to scale. Credit: Wikipedia Commons/kelvinsong The most compelling evidence for the existence of a liquid, iron-nickel-rich core is Ganymede’s intrinsic magnetic field. The convection in the liquid iron, which has high electrical conductivity, is the most reasonable model of magnetic field generation.The density of the core is believed to be 5.5 – 6 g/cm³, while the silicate mantle has an estimated density of 3.4 – 3.6 g/cm³. This mantle is composed of silicate materials, most likely chondrites and iron. The outer ice shell is the largest layer of all, measuring an estimated 800 km (497 miles) thick. The precise thicknesses of this and other layers in the interior of Ganymede depends on the assumed composition of silicates and amount of sulfur in the core. Scientists also believe that Ganymede has a thick ocean nestled between two layers of ice – a tetragonal layer between it and the core and a hexagonal layer above it. The presence of this ocean has been confirmed by readings taken by orbiters and through studies of how Ganymede’s aurora behaves. In short, the moon’s auroras are affected by Ganymede’s magnetic field, which in turn is affected by the presence of a large, subsurface salt-water ocean. Ganymede’s surface is a mix of two types of terrain. There’s the very old, highly cratered, and dark regions, and the somewhat younger, lighter regions marked with an extensive array of grooves and ridges. In a way that is similar to Europa, Ganymede’s surface is asymmetric, with the leading hemisphere being brighter than the trailing one. The dark terrain, which comprises about one-third of the surface, is so-colored because the surface ice in these regions contains clays and organic materials. It has been theorized that these have been left behind by impactors, which accords with the fact that impact craters are far more extensive in the areas of dark terrain. Meanwhile, the grooved terrain is believed to be tectonic in nature; which could be due in part to cryovolcanism , but is thought to be mostly the result of tidal heating events. The tidal flexing could have heated the interior and strained the lithosphere, leading to the development of cracks, graben and faults that erased the old, dark terrain on 70% of the surface. Though craters are more common in the darker areas, they are seen all over the surface. Ganymede may have experienced a period of heavy cratering 3.5 to 4 billion years ago similar to that of the Moon. If true, the vast majority of impacts happened in that epoch, whereas the cratering rate has been much smaller since. Craters on Ganymede are also flatter than those on the Moon and Mercury, which is probably due to the relatively weak nature of Ganymede’s icy crust. Ganymede also has polar caps, likely composed of water frost, which were first seen by the Voyager spacecraft. Since the discovery, several theories have been proposed for their formation, ranging from the thermal migration of water vapor to higher latitudes to plasma bombardment turning the ice brighter. Data obtained by the Galileo spacecraft – which noted a very close correspondence between the polar cap boundary and the boundaries of the moon’s magnetic field – suggests that the latter theory is correct. Atmosphere: Similar to Europa, Ganymede has a tenuous oxygen atmosphere. Also similar to Europa is how the atmosphere formed, which involves water ice on the surface being split into hydrogen and oxygen through interaction with UV radiation, the hydrogen being lost to space and the oxygen being retained. The surface pressure of this atmosphere is thought to lie within the range of 0.2–1.2 micro Pascals. Montage showing New Horizons’ views of Ganymede taken by it’s infrared spectrometer and LORRI and LEISA instruments. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University APL/SwRI The presence of this atmosphere also causes an airglow effect, a faint emission of light caused by the interaction of atomic oxygen and energetic particles. This effect is not uniformly distributed (as with Europa), but instead causes bright spots to appear above the polar regions – which could be “polar auroras” – due to the planet’s magnetic field. Additional evidence of the oxygen atmosphere comes from the detection of various gases trapped in the ice on Ganymede. This evidence consisted of the spectroscopic detection of ozone (O³), as well as absorption features that indicated the presence of oxygen gas (O²). Another constituent of the atmosphere is hydrogen, which (despite most being lost to space) still exists at a surface in very minor concentrations. The existence of this neutral atmosphere implies that an ionosphere should exist since oxygen molecules are ionized by the impacts of the energetic electrons coming from the magnetosphere and by solar electromagnetic UV radiation. However, the existence of an ionosphere remains controversial, due to conflicting data gathered by different missions. Magnetosphere: Ganymede is unique among moons in the Solar Systems in that it alone has a magnetosphere. The value of the moon’s permanent magnetic moment is estimated to be 1.3 x 10¹³ T·m³, which is three times larger than the magnetic moment of Mercury. The magnetic dipole is tilted with respect to the rotational axis of Ganymede by 176°, which means that it is directed against the Jovian magnetic moment. The magnetic field of Jupiter and co-rotation enforcing currents. Credit: Wikipedia Commons/Ruslik0 The dipole magnetic field created by this permanent moment has a strength of 719 ± 2 Teslas (nT) at Ganymede’s equator, and roughly twice that at the poles (1440 nT). This magnetic moment also carves a part of space around Ganymede, creating a tiny magnetosphere embedded inside that of Jupiter with a diameter of about 10,525 – 13,156 km. The Ganymedian magnetosphere has a region of closed field lines located below 30° latitude, where charged particles (electrons and ions) are trapped, creating a kind of radiation belt. The main ion species in the magnetosphere is single ionized oxygen, which fits well with Ganymede’s tenuous oxygen atmosphere. The interaction between the Ganymedian magnetosphere and Jovian plasma is in many respects similar to that of the solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere. The plasma co-rotating with Jupiter impinges on the trailing side of the Ganymedian magnetosphere much like the solar wind impinges on the Earth’s magnetosphere. In addition to the intrinsic magnetic moment, Ganymede has an induced dipole magnetic field who’s existence is connected with the variation of the Jovian magnetic field near Ganymede. The induced magnetic field of Ganymede is similar to those of Callisto and Europa, indicating that this moon also has a subsurface water ocean with a high electrical conductivity. Artist’s concept of aurorae on Ganymede. Credit: NASA/ESA However, the existence of Ganymede’s magnetosphere remains a bit of a mystery. On the one hand, its existence is believed to be the result of Ganymede’s a dynamo effect caused by conducting material moving in the core, similar to Earth. However, other bodies that have differentiated metallic cores don’t have magnetospheres, and the relatively small size of Ganymede’s core suggests that it should have cooled sufficiently that fluid motions are no longer possible. One explanation for this incongruity is that the same orbital resonances that may have disrupted the surface also allow the magnetic field to persist. With tidal heating increasing during such resonances, the mantle may have insulated the core, preventing it from cooling. Another explanation is a remnant magnetization of silicate rocks in the mantle, which is possible if the satellite had a more significant dynamo-generated field in the past. Habitability: There is some speculation on the potential habitability of Ganymede’s ocean. An analysis published in 2014 , taking into account the realistic thermodynamics for water and effects of salt, suggests that Ganymede might have a stack of several ocean layers separated by different phases of ice, with the lowest liquid layer adjacent to the rocky mantle below. This is important, since the layer closest to the rocky interior would be subject to heating due to tidal flexing in the mantle. This heat could be transferred into the water via hydrothermal vents , which could provide the necessary heat and energy to sustain life. Combined with oxygenated water, life forms could exist at the core-mantle boundary in the form of extremophiles, in a way that is similar to what is found in Earth’s oceans (and presumed to exist in Europa’s interior ocean). Exploration: Several probes flying by or orbiting Jupiter have explored Ganymede more closely, including four flybys in the 1970s, and multiple passes in the 1990s to 2000s. The first approaches were conducted by the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes, which approached the moon in 1973 and 1974, respectively. These missions returned more specific information on its physical characteristics and resolved features to 400 km (250 mi) on its surface. The next missions came in 1979, when the Voyager 1 and 2 probes passed the moon, refining estimates of its size and revealing its grooved terrain for the first time. In 1995, the Galileo spacecraft orbited Jupiter and went on to make six close flybys between 1996 and 2000. The probe’s findings included the discovery of Ganymede’s magnetic field, the moon’s interior ocean, and a large number of spectral images that showed non-ice compounds on the surface. Artist impression of New Horizons conducting its flyby of Jupiter. Image credit: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL The most recent mission to Ganymede was made by the New Horizons probe in 2007. While en route to Pluto, the probe obtained topographic and composition mapping data of Europa and Ganymede during its flyby of Jupiter. Their are no missions to Ganymede currently in operation, but several missions have been proposed for the coming decades. One such proposal is the joint NASA/ESA Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM), which would explore Jupiter’s moons (including Ganymede) and has a proposed launch date of 2020. The mission would consist of NASA’s Jupiter Europa Orbiter, the ESA’s Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter, and possibly a JAXA Jupiter Magnetospheric Orbiter. The ESA’s contribution was renamed the Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) in 2012, and obtained a launch slot aboard the ESA’s Cosmic Vision science program (scheduled for launch in 2022 or 2024). This may include a partner mission from the Russian Space Research Institute – known as the Ganymede Lander (GL) – and would involve JUICE examining Ganymede from orbit and conducting multiple flybys or Europa and Callisto. A Ganymede orbiter based on the Juno probe was also proposed in 2010 for the Planetary Science Decadal Survey. As part of the committee report presented at the Survey – titled “ Vision and Voyagers for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022 ” – a concept study for a possible Ganymede Orbiter was proposed, which included recommendations on instrumentation. Artist’s concept of the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO), a cancelled program that envisioned sending a spacecraft to inspect Callisto, Ganymede and Europa. Credit: NASA/JPL A canceled proposal for a Ganymede orbiter was the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO), which would have performed a flyby of Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Designed to use nuclear fission for power and an ion engine for propulsion, JIMO would have studied Ganymede in greater detail than an previous orbiter. However, the mission was canceled in 2005 because of budget cuts. Colonization: Ganymede is considered a possible candidate for human settlement – and even terraforming – due to the many advantages it presents. For one, as Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede has a gravitational force of 1.428 m/s2 (the equivalent of 0.146 g) which is comparable to Earth’s Moon. Sufficient enough to limit the effects of muscle and bone degeneration, this lower gravity also means that the moon has a lower escape velocity – which means it would take considerably less fuel for rockets to take off from the surface. What’s more, the presence of a magnetosphere means that colonists would be better shielded from cosmic radiation than on other bodies. The prevalence of water ice means that colonists could also produce breathable oxygen, their own drinking water, and would be able to synthesize rocket fuel. Unfortunately, beyond this, Ganymede presents numerous challenges for colonization. For starters, the presence of a magnetosphere does not shield Ganymede from enough cosmic radiation to ensure human safety, due to the fact that it is overshadowed by Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field. This results in the surface receiving some 8 rem of radiation per day – which is 333 times the average of what Earth-bound organisms experience in a year. Artist’s concept for a future settlement on Ganymede. Credit: futuretimeline.net The dominance of Jupiter’s magnetic field also means that Ganymede’s magnetosphere is not strong enough to retain an atmosphere of sufficient density to sustain human beings. It would also be insufficient to retain much heat. Hence, settlements on the surface would need to be heavily insulated, shielded from radiation, and contain a breathable atmosphere. A possible solution to this, similar to what has been proposed for Europa, would be for colonists to build settlements within the icy mantle, or possibly under the surface of the ice entirely. These embedded (or aquatic habitats) would be shielded from harmful cosmic radiation by the icy mantle. They could also function as conduits between the ocean and the surface, piping water in and processing it into fuel for export. However, such possibilities are still far from realization and in the meantime, exploring Ganymede and deciphering its deeper mysteries remains the priority. And of these, Ganymede has several! Much like the other Galilean moons, Ganymede possesses a wealth of unique and mysterious attributes, many of which still defy comprehension. In addition to being the largest moon in the Solar System, it is the only moon other than Earth (and the gas giants) to have a magnetic field. And of course, there’s the possibility that life could exist beneath its icy crust, possibly in microbial or extreme form. All of these make Ganymede an intriguing prospect for future exploration. We have many interesting articles on Ganymede and Jupiter’s Moons here at Universe Today. Here is a list of the Galilean Moons , as well as Jupiter’s entire system of moons . Here is one about Ganymede’s interior ocean , and how an amateur astronomer made a detailed map of Ganymede . Here’s a list of all the largest moons in the Solar System, and a listing of the largest moons and smallest planets at Solar Views. Universe Today has whole series of podcasts about the Solar System at Astronomy Cast . Share this:

Ganymede

Where, theoretically, might one find objects squeezed to an infinite density?

News | Largest Solar System Moon Detailed in Geologic Map News | February 12, 2014 Largest Solar System Moon Detailed in Geologic Map More than 400 years after its discovery by astronomer Galileo Galilei, the largest moon in the solar system - Jupiter's moon Ganymede - has finally claimed a spot on the map. A group of scientists led by Geoffrey Collins of Wheaton College has produced the first global geologic map of Ganymede, Jupiter's seventh moon. The map combines the best images obtained during flybys conducted by NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft (1979) and Galileo orbiter (1995 to 2003) and is now published by the U. S. Geological Survey as a global map. It technically illustrates the varied geologic character of Ganymede's surface and is the first global, geologic map of this icy, outer-planet moon. The geologic map of Ganymede is available for download at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=pia17902 ). "This map illustrates the incredible variety of geological features on Ganymede and helps to make order from the apparent chaos of its complex surface," said Robert Pappalardo of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "This map is helping planetary scientists to decipher the evolution of this icy world and will aid in upcoming spacecraft observations." The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission is slated to be orbiting Ganymede around 2032. NASA is contributing a U.S.-led instrument and hardware for two European-led instruments for the mission. Since its discovery in January 1610, Ganymede has been the focus of repeated observation, first by Earth-based telescopes, and later by the flyby missions and spacecraft orbiting Jupiter. These studies depict a complex, icy world whose surface is characterized by the striking contrast between its two major terrain types: the dark, very old, highly cratered regions, and the lighter, somewhat younger (but still very old) regions marked with an extensive array of grooves and ridges. According to the scientists who have constructed this map, three major geologic periods have been identified for Ganymede that involve the dominance of impact cratering, then tectonic upheaval, followed by a decline in geologic activity. The map, which illustrates surface features, such as furrows, grooves and impact craters, allows scientists to decipher distinct geologic time periods for an object in the outer solar system for the first time. "The highly detailed, colorful map confirmed a number of outstanding scientific hypotheses regarding Ganymede's geologic history, and also disproved others," said Baerbel Lucchitta, scientist emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Ariz., who has been involved with geologic mapping of Ganymede since 1980. "For example, the more detailed Galileo images showed that cryovolcanism, or the creation of volcanoes that erupt water and ice, is very rare on Ganymede." The Ganymede global geologic map will enable researchers to compare the geologic characters of other icy satellite moons, because almost any type of feature that is found on other icy satellites has a similar feature somewhere on Ganymede. "The surface of Ganymede is more than half as large as all the land area on Earth, so there is a wide diversity of locations to choose from," Collins said. "Ganymede also shows features that are ancient alongside much more recently formed features, adding historical diversity in addition to geographic diversity." Amateur astronomers can observe Ganymede (with binoculars) in the evening sky this month, as Jupiter is in opposition and easily visible. The project was funded by NASA through its Outer Planets Research and Planetary Geology and Geophysics Programs. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is managed by the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. News Media Contact

i don't know

Which is the largest moon of Saturn?

Titan, Largest Moon of Saturn, Explained (Infographic) Find out the facts about Titan's heavy atmosphere, lakes of hydrocarbons and the possibility of life. Credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com contributor   Discovered in the year 1655, Titan is the largest of Saturn’s 62 charted moons. Titan is the only moon in the solar system with a dense atmosphere and stable bodies of liquid on its surface. The environment on Titan is deadly to human life, with a toxic atmosphere consisting mostly of nitrogen and methane. The surface temperature is minus 290 degrees F (minus 179 degrees C). Titan, 3,200 miles (5,150 kilometers) in diameter, is the second-largest moon in the solar system, one-and-a-half times the size of Earth’s moon . Titan is larger than the planet Mercury and is three-quarters the size of Mars. [ Amazing Photos of Titan ] In 2005, the Huygens lander revealed the surface of Titan is a wasteland of water ice and frozen hydrocarbons. Despite its lack of liquid water, some scientists believe Titan may support life, now or in the distant future when the sun’s heat increases. A rain of liquid ethane and methane falls to form lakes, making Titan the only planet or moon apart from Earth known to have liquid on its surface. In addition, some scientists think Titan may have large sub-surface oceans of liquid ammonia. Radar images of Titan’s north polar region show presumed lakes of liquid hydrocarbons.

Titan

Which is the largest planet in the solar system?

Saturn’s largest and second-largest moons | Today's Image | EarthSky Saturn’s largest and second-largest moons By Deborah Byrd in Today's Image | March 23, 2014 The Cassini spacecraft captured this image on June 16, 2011. These are two of Saturn’s moons – the largest moon Titan and second-largest moon Rhea. Saturn’s largest and second largest moons, Titan and Rhea, appear to be stacked on top of each other in this true-color scene from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute. Saturn’s largest and second-largest moons, Titan and Rhea, appear to be stacked on top of each other in this true-color scene from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Titan’s north polar hood can be seen. It’s 3,200 miles (5,150 kilometers) across. The hood appears as a detached layer at the top of the moon on the top right. This view looks toward the Saturn-facing side of Rhea (949 miles or 1528 kilometers across). North on Rhea is up and rotated 35 degrees to the right. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural-color view. The images were acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 16, 2011, at a distance of approximately 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers) from Rhea and 1.5 million miles (2.5 million kilometers) from Titan. Image scale is 7 miles (11 kilometers) per pixel on Rhea and 9 miles (15 kilometers) on Titan.

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What is the smallest planet in the solar system?

What is the Smallest Planet in the Solar System? - Universe Today   Universe Today What is the Smallest Planet in the Solar System? Article Updated: 24 Dec , 2015 by Fraser Cain The smallest planet in the Solar System is Mercury (the biggest planet is Jupiter). For the longest time, the smallest planet was considered to be Pluto, but now Pluto isn’t a planet any more, so we’re back to Mercury. Mercury measures 4879 km along its equator. Just for comparison, Earth is 12,742 km across. So Mercury is only 38% the diameter of Earth. In terms of volume, it’s even less. Mercury has only 0.05 the volume of the Earth. In other words, if the Earth was a hollow shell, you could fit 20 Mercurys inside with room to spare. Even though it’s very small, Mercury is extremely dense. It’s composed mostly of iron and rock, and so it has a density of 5.4 grams per cubic centimeter. Only Earth has a higher density, and that’s partly due to our larger size compressing down the interior. If Mercury were the same size as Earth, it would be much denser. If you could stand on the surface of Mercury, you would experience 38% of Earth’s gravity. Even thought Mars is a larger planet, you would experience more gravity on Mercury because it’s so dense. And here’s another take on the smallest planet in the Solar System , and here’s a link to NASA’s Solar System Exploration Guide . We have recorded a whole series of podcasts about the Solar System at Astronomy Cast . Check them out here.

Pluto

Which is the brightest comet in the solar system?

Planet Jupiter: Facts About Its Size, Moons and Red Spot Planet Jupiter: Facts About Its Size, Moons and Red Spot By Charles Q. Choi, Space.com Contributor | November 14, 2014 12:59am ET MORE This photo of Jupiter was taken on Sept. 20, 2010 when Jupiter made its closest approach to Earth since 1963. (Uranus [insert] was visible through telescopes near Jupiter.) Credit: Jimmy Eubanks Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. Fittingly, it was named after the king of the gods in Roman mythology. In a similar manner, the ancient Greeks named the planet after Zeus, the king of the Greek pantheon. Jupiter helped revolutionize the way we saw the universe and ourselves in 1610, when Galileo discovered Jupiter's four large moons — Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, now known as the Galilean moons. This was the first time celestial bodies were seen circling an object other than Earth, major support of the Copernican view that Earth was not the center of the universe. Physical characteristics Jupiter is the most massive planet in our solar system , more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined, and had it been about 80 times more massive, it would have actually become a star instead of a planet. Its atmosphere resembles that of the sun, made up mostly of hydrogen and helium, and with four large moons and many smaller moons in orbit around it, Jupiter by itself forms a kind of miniature solar system. All told, the immense volume of Jupiter could hold more than 1,300 Earths. The colorful bands of Jupiter are arranged in dark belts and light zones created by strong east-west winds in the planet's upper atmosphere traveling more than 400 mph (640 kph). The white clouds in the zones are made of crystals of frozen ammonia, while darker clouds of other chemicals are found in the belts. At the deepest visible levels are blue clouds. Far from being static, the stripes of clouds change over time . Inside the atmosphere, diamond rain may fill the skies. The most extraordinary feature on Jupiter is undoubtedly the Great Red Spot , a giant hurricane-like storm seen for more than 300 years. At its widest, the Great Red Spot is three times the diameter of the Earth, and its edge spins counterclockwise around its center at a speed of about 225 mph (360 kph). The color of the storm, which usually varies from brick red to slightly brown, may come from small amounts of sulfur and phosphorus in the ammonia crystals in Jupiter's clouds. The spot grows and shrinks over time, and every now and again, seems to fade entirely. Jupiter's gargantuan magnetic field is the strongest of all the planets in the solar system at nearly 20,000 times the strength of Earth's. It traps electrically charged particles in an intense belt of electrons and other electrically charged particles that regularly blasts the planet's moons and rings with a level of radiation more than 1,000 times the lethal level for a human, damaging even heavily shielded spacecraft such as NASA's Galileo probe. The magnetosphere of Jupiter, which is composed of these fields and particles, swells out some 600,000 to 2 million miles (1 million to 3 million km) toward the sun and tapers to a tail extending more than 600 million miles (1 billion km) behind Jupiter. Jupiter spins faster than any other planet, taking a little under 10 hours to complete a turn on its axis, compared with 24 hours for Earth. This rapid spin makes Jupiter bulge at the equator and flatten at the poles, making the planet about 7 percent wider at the equator than at the poles. Jupiter broadcasts radio waves strong enough to detect on Earth. These come in two forms — strong bursts that occur when Io, the closest of Jupiter's large moons, passes through certain regions of Jupiter's magnetic field, and continuous radiation from Jupiter's surface and high-energy particles in its radiation belts. These radio waves could help scientists to probe the oceans on its moons.   Composition & structure Atmospheric composition (by volume): 89.8 percent molecular hydrogen, 10.2 percent helium, minor amounts of methane, ammonia, hydrogen deuteride, ethane, water, ammonia ice aerosols, water ice aerosols, ammonia hydrosulfide aerosols Magnetic field: Nearly 20,000 times stronger than Earth's Chemical composition: Jupiter has a dense core of uncertain composition , surrounded by a helium-rich layer of fluid metallic hydrogen, wrapped up in an atmosphere primarily made of molecular hydrogen. Internal structure: A core less than 10 times Earth's mass surrounded by a layer of fluid metallic hydrogen extending out to 80 to 90 percent of the diameter of the planet, enclosed in an atmosphere mostly made of gaseous and liquid hydrogen. Orbit & rotation Average distance from the sun : 483,682,810 miles (778,412,020 km). By comparison: 5.203 times that of Earth Perihelion (closest approach to the sun): 460,276,100 miles (740,742,600 km). By comparison: 5.036 times that of Earth Aphelion (farthest distance from the sun): 507,089,500 miles (816,081,400 km). By comparison: 5.366 times that of Earth (Source: NASA .) Jupiter's moons Jupiter has at least 63 moons , which are often named after the Roman god's many lovers. The four largest moons of Jupiter, now called Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, were discovered by Galileo Galilei himself, and are appropriately known today as the Galilean satellites. Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system, larger even than Mercury and Pluto. It is also the only moon known to have its own magnetic field. The moon has at least one thick ocean between layers of ice, although it may contain several layers of both materials. Io is the most volcanically active body in our solar system. The sulfur its volcanoes spew out gives Io a blotted yellow-orange appearance that is often compared to a pepperoni pizza. As Io orbits Jupiter, the planet's immense gravity causes 'tides' in Io's solid surface that rise 300 feet (100 meters) high, generating enough heat for volcanic activity. The frozen crust of Europa is made up mostly of water ice, and it may hide a liquid ocean holding twice as much water as Earth does. Icy oceans may also exist beneath the crusts of Callisto and Ganymede. Some of this liquid spouts from the surface in newly spotted sporadic plumes at the southern pole. Its potential to host life caused NASA to request funding for a mission to explore Europa . Callisto has the lowest reflectivity, or albedo, of the four Galilean moons. This suggests that its surface may be composed of dark, colorless rock. Jupiter's rings Jupiter's three rings came as a surprise when NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft discovered them around the planet's equator in 1979. Each are much fainter than Saturn's rings. The main ring is flattened. It is about 20 miles (30 km) thick and more than 4,000 miles (6,400 km) wide. The inner cloud-like ring, called the halo, is roughly 12,000 miles (20,000 km) thick. The halo extends halfway from the main ring down to the planet's cloud tops and expands by interaction with Jupiter's magnetic field. Both the main ring and halo are composed of small, dark particles. The third ring, known as the gossamer ring because of its transparency, is actually three rings of microscopic debris from three of Jupiter's moons, Amalthea, Thebe and Adrastea. It is probably made up of dust particles less than 10 microns in diameter, about the same size of the particles found in cigarette smoke, and extends to an outer edge of about 80,000 miles (129,000 km) from the center of the planet and inward to about 18,600 miles (30,000 km). Ripples in the rings of both Jupiter and Saturn may be signs of impacts from comets and asteroids. Research & exploration Seven missions have flown by Jupiter — Pioneer 10 , Pioneer 11 , Voyager 1 , Voyager 2 , Ulysses, Cassini and New Horizons — while another, NASA's Galileo, actually orbited the planet. Pioneer 10 revealed how dangerous Jupiter's radiation belt is, while Pioneer 11 provided data on the Great Red Spot and close-up pictures of its polar region. Voyager 1 and 2 helped astronomers create the first detailed maps of the Galilean satellites, discovered Jupiter's rings, revealed sulfur volcanoes on Io, and saw lightning in Jupiter's clouds. Ulysses discovered the solar wind has a much greater impact on Jupiter's magnetosphere than before suggested. New Horizons took close-up pictures of Jupiter and its largest moons. In 1995, Galileo sent a probe plunging towards Jupiter, making the first direct measurements of its atmosphere and measuring the amount of water and other chemicals there. When Galileo ran low on fuel, the craft was intentionally crashed into Jupiter's atmosphere to avoid any risk of it slamming into and contaminating Europa, which might have an ocean below its surface capable of supporting life. Another spacecraft, named Juno , is heading toward Jupiter and will reach the planet in 2016. It will study Jupiter from a polar orbit to figure out how it and the rest of the solar system formed, which could shed light on how alien planetary systems might have developed. Jupiter's gravitational impact on the solar system As the most massive body in the solar system after the sun, the pull of Jupiter's gravity has helped shape the fate of our system. It may have violently hurled Neptune and Uranus outward , according to calculations published in the journal Nature. Jupiter, along with Saturn, may have slung a barrage of debris toward the inner planets early in the system's history, according to an article in Science magazine. It may even nowadays help keep asteroids from bombarding Earth, and recent events certainly have shown that it can absorb potentially deadly impacts . Currently, Jupiter's gravitational field influences numerous asteroids that have clustered into the regions preceding and following Jupiter in its orbit around the sun. These are known as the Trojan asteroids, after three large asteroids there, Agamemnon, Achilles and Hector, names drawn from the Iliad, Homer's epic about the Trojan War. Possibility of life on Jupiter If one were to dive into Jupiter's atmosphere , one would discover it to grow warmer with depth, reaching room temperature, or 70 degrees F (21 degrees C), at an altitude where the atmospheric pressure is about 10 times as great as it is on Earth. Scientists have conjectured that if Jupiter has any form of life, it might dwell at this level, and would have to be airborne. However, researchers have found no evidence for life on Jupiter. Additional reporting by Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor Explore the solar system

i don't know

What would you find if you travelled to the centre of the solar system?

If Jupiter and Saturn are gas giants, could you fly straight through them? Audio recording of Dr. Marc reading this page. Click play to hear me read this to you! Our friends at the W.A. Gayle Planetarium in Montgomery, Alabama, are curious to know, if Jupiter and Saturn are gas giants, could you fly straight through them? We think of a gas as something very . . . well, airy. After all, air is the gas we all know and love. We breathe it and fly planes right through it with no trouble. So it makes sense to think that a gas planet must be like a big, airy cloud floating out in space. But take another look at Jupiter and Saturn—or pictures of them. Notice how round they are. You will never see a cloud on Earth so nearly spherical. Why are Jupiter and Saturn so round if they are just gas? For that matter, why are any planets round? Well, the short answer is—gravity. Gravity causes all matter to be pulled toward all other matter. Let's think about this in more detail. When the planets were first forming, the solar system was a big, swirling disk of gas and dust, with the newborn Sun at the center. Bits of dust and clouds of gas were attracted to each other because of gravity. As these bits and clouds clumped, they attracted still more matter in their neighborhood and grew larger and larger until there was no longer any stray material nearby for them to attract. The growing planets were like big solar system vacuum cleaners, sweeping up all the debris in their paths. And they became round because gravity pulls equally toward the center of large masses such as planets, so anything sticking out gets pulled back to make a ball. The bigger a planet becomes, the heavier is the material weighing down on its center. Think of how it feels to dive under water. If you are wearing a face mask, you notice that as you dive deeper, the mask presses harder and harder on your face. Also, your ears start feeling the pressure even at 2 or 3 meters (5 or 10 feet) below the surface. The pressure you feel on your body is due to the weight of the water above you. The deeper you go, the heavier the water above you and so the greater the pressure on your body. Even on Earth's surface, each square inch of your body experiences 14.7 pounds of pressure due to the weight of the atmosphere above you. If you could dive down to the center of Earth, the pressure on your body would be about 3.5 million times as great! The center of Jupiter is more than 11 times deeper than Earth's center and the pressure may be 50 million to 100 million times that on Earth's surface! The tremendous pressure at the center of planets causes the temperatures there to be surprisingly high. At their cores, Jupiter and Saturn are much hotter than the surface of the Sun! Strange things happen to matter under these extraordinary temperatures and pressures. Hydrogen, along with helium, is the main ingredient of Jupiter's and Saturn's atmospheres. Deep in their atmospheres, the hydrogen turns into a liquid. Deeper still, the liquid hydrogen turns into a metal! But what's at the very center of these planets? The material becomes stranger and stranger the deeper you go. Scientists do not understand the properties of matter under the extreme environments inside Jupiter and Saturn. Many different forces and laws of nature are at work, and the conditions inside these planets are very difficult to create in a laboratory here on Earth. But you can be sure that you wouldn't be able to fly through these bizarre materials! As we now know, the gas giants are much more than just gas.

Sun

How many planets are there in the solar system?

At what speed does the Earth move around the Sun? (Beginner) - Curious About Astronomy? Ask an Astronomer At what speed does the Earth move around the Sun? (Beginner) Short version: Earth's average orbital speed is about 30 kilometers per second. In other units, that's about 19 miles per second, or 67,000 miles per hour, or 110,000 kilometers per hour (110 million meters per hour). In more detail: Let's calculate that. First of all we know that in general, the distance you travel equals the speed at which you travel multiplied by the time (duration) of travel. If we reverse that, we get that the average speed is equal to the distance traveled over the time taken. We also know that the time it takes for the Earth to go once around the Sun is one year. So, in order to know the speed, we just have to figure out the distance traveled by the Earth when it goes once around the Sun. To do that we will assume that the orbit of the Earth is circular (which is not exactly right, it is more like an ellipse , but for our purpose a circle is close enough). So the distance traveled in one year is just the circumference of the circle. (Remember, the circumference of a circle is equal to 2×π×radius.) The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is about 149,600,000 km. (Astronomers call this an astronomical unit, or AU for short.) Therefore, in one year, the Earth travels a distance of 2×π×(149,600,000 km). This means that the speed is about: speed = 2×π×(149,600,000 km)/(1 year) and if we convert that to more meaningful units (knowing that there are, on average, about 365.25 days in a year, and 24 hours per day) we get: speed = 107,000 km/h (or, if you prefer, 67,000 miles per hour) So the Earth moves at about 110,000 km/h around the Sun (which is about one thousand times faster than the typical speed of a car on a highway!) Thanks for your explanation, but I was hoping for an explanation a little more precise, since I already knew the one you gave. In the case of your question about the speed of the Earth around the Sun, there isn't really a more 'precise' answer. The only approximation I did in the calculation I sent you is assuming that the orbit of the Earth is circular. This is in fact a very good approximation. One of Kepler's laws describing planetary motions states that all orbits are ellipses. This is the case for Earth's orbit. But not all ellipses come in the same shape. They are described by their 'eccentricity', which tells us how flattened they are. The eccentricity  of an ellipse is a number that varies between 0 and 1, 0 being a perfect circle, and close to 1 being a very flattened ellipse. It turns out that the orbit of the Earth right now has an eccentricity of about 0.017. This means it is almost a circle, making our approximation valid. So under the one approximation that was made, the calculation couldn't really be more 'precise'. And as for the average Earth-Sun distance, the true value changes slightly over time due to gravitational perturbations from the other planets, so there really isn't much point in using a more precise value than the one given above. Now if you want to calculate the speed of the Earth on its orbit without assuming it is a circle, it is another ball game! First of all, I cannot give you a precise answer, because the speed of the Earth changes all the time as the Earth moves around the Sun. This is because Kepler's second law says that on its orbit, a planet will sweep equal areas in equal amounts of time. This means that when the Earth is closer to the Sun (which happens in early January, about two weeks after the northern winter solstice) it's moving faster than when it is farther away. (For more information on how the Earth's orbital speed varies over the course of a year, please see this answer .) Unless you specified a certain date, this means I cannot give you a precise value for the speed of the Earth assuming its orbit is an ellipse. We are better off to stick with the first number we got - the average speed. I hope this answers your question now! This page was last updated on February 28, 2016.

i don't know

Which planet is named after the Roman goddess of love?

Planet Venus Facts: A Hot, Hellish & Volcanic Planet Planet Venus Facts: A Hot, Hellish & Volcanic Planet By Charles Q. Choi, Space.com Contributor | November 4, 2014 09:01pm ET MORE Credit: NASA Venus, the second planet from the sun, is named for the Roman goddess of love and beauty. The planet — the only planet named after a female — may have been named for the most beautiful deity of her pantheon because it shone the brightest of the five planets known to ancient astronomers. In ancient times, Venus was often thought to be two different stars, the evening star and the morning star — that is, the ones that first appeared at sunset and sunrise. In Latin, they were respectively known as Vesper and Lucifer. In Christian times, Lucifer, or "light-bringer," became known as the name of Satan before his fall. Physical characteristics Venus and Earth are often called twins because they are similar in  size , mass, density,  composition  and gravity. However, the similarities end there. [ Photos: Venus, the Mysterious Planet Next Door ]  Venus is the hottest world in the solar system. Although Venus is not the planet closest to the sun, its dense atmosphere traps heat in a runaway version of the greenhouse effect that warms Earth. As a result,  temperatures on Venus  reach 870 degrees Fahrenheit (465 degrees Celsius), more than hot enough to melt lead. Probes that scientists have landed there have survived only a few hours  before being destroyed . Venus has a  hellish atmosphere  as well, consisting mainly of carbon dioxide with clouds of sulfuric acid, and scientists have only detected trace amounts of water in the atmosphere. The atmosphere is heavier than that of any other planet, leading to a surface pressure 90 times that of Earth. The surface of Venus is extremely dry. During its evolution, ultraviolet rays from the sun evaporated water quickly, keeping it in a  prolonged molten state . There is no liquid water on its surface today because the scorching heat created by its ozone-filled atmosphere would cause any to boil away. Roughly two-thirds of the Venusian surface is covered by flat, smooth plains that are marred by thousands of volcanoes, some which are  still active today , ranging from about 0.5 to 150 miles (0.8 to 240 kilometers) wide, with lava flows carving long, winding canals up to more than 3,000 miles (5,000 km) in length, longer than on any other planet. Six mountainous regions make up about one-third of the Venusian surface. One mountain range, called Maxwell, is about 540 miles (870 km) long and reaches up to some 7 miles (11.3 km) high, making it the highest feature on the planet. Venus also possesses a number of surface features unlike anything on Earth. For example, Venus has coronae, or crowns — ringlike structures that range from roughly 95 to 360 miles (155 to 580 km) wide. Scientists believe these formed when hot material beneath the crust rises up, warping the planet’s surface. Venus also has tesserae, or tiles — raised areas in which many ridges and valleys have formed in different directions. With conditions on Venus that could be described as infernal, the ancient name for Venus — Lucifer — seems to fit. However, this name did not carry any fiendish connotations; Lucifer means "light-bringer," and when seen from Earth, Venus is brighter than any other planet or even any star in the night sky because of its highly reflective clouds and its closeness to our planet. Venus takes 243 Earth days to rotate on its axis, by far the slowest of any of the major planets, and because of this sluggish spin, its metal core cannot generate a magnetic field similar to Earth's. Orbital characteristics If viewed from above, Venus rotates on its axis the opposite way that most planets rotate. That means on Venus, the sun would appear to rise in the west and set in the east. On Earth, the sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west. The Venusian year — the time it takes to orbit the sun — is about 225 Earth days long. Normally, that would mean that days on Venus would be longer than years. However, because of Venus' curious retrograde rotation, the time from one sunrise to the next is only about 117 Earth days long. [Gallery:  Transit of Venus  from June 5, 2012, when the planet transited in front of the sun for the last time until the year 2117. Venus' southern hemisphere, as seen in the ultraviolet. Credit: ESA

Venus

What kind of extraterrestrial objet has been named after the 17th-century astronomer Edmond Halley?

Names of the Planets - Universe Today   Universe Today by Abby Cessna [/caption] You may recognize the names of the planets from your high school literature course or a history class. That is because many of the planets were first discovered by ancient civilizations, and so planets are named after their gods. The Romans named Mercury after the messenger of the gods because it appears to move so quickly. Venus was named after the Roman goddess of love because of its shining presence. The planet is the brightest object in the sky beside the Moon and the Sun. A number of other cultures also named Venus after their own gods or goddesses of love and war. Earth is the only planet not named after a god. The name is based on Germanic and Old English words for “ground.” Mars was named after the Roman god of war because of its red color, which reminded people of blood. Other civilizations also had names for the planet based on its color. The Egyptians called it “Her Desher,” which means “the red one.” Jupiter was named after the king of the gods – Zeus by the Greeks and Jupiter by the Romans. Ancient civilizations most likely named this planet after the most powerful god because of its size. Jupiter is the largest and most massive planet in our Solar System. Saturn was named after the father of the king of gods as well as being the god of agriculture and harvest. In mythology, Saturn had taken the position of king of the gods from his own father, Uranus, and then Jupiter overthrew him. Saturn is the last planet that can be seen from Earth without the aid of a telescope. Uranus was not discovered until 1781 by Sir William Herschel, so it was not necessarily going to be named after a Roman god. In fact, Herschel named the planet “Georgium Sidus” in honor of George III who was King of England at the time. Others called the planet Herschel in honor of the astronomer who had discovered it. The name Uranus, which is the name of the Roman god who is the father of Jupiter, was suggested by the astronomer Johann Bode. That name was widely accepted in the mid 1800’s, and it fit in with the other planets, which all had names from mythology. Neptune had been observed by a number of astronomers, but they believed it was a star. Two people, John Couch Adams and Urban Le Verrier, calculated the planet’s location. Johann Galle, the astronomer who discovered the planet using Verrier’s calculations, wanted to name the planet after Verrier. Many astronomers objected though, so it was named after Neptune the Roman god of the sea. The name was very fitting because the planet is a bright sea blue. Universe Today has a number of articles on the planets including facts about the planets and the planets of the solar system . If you are looking for more information on the planets take a look at the planets and interesting facts about the planets . Astronomy Cast has episodes on all of the planets, so start with Mercury .

i don't know

What was the first artificial satellite?

Sputnik NASA Main Page Multimedia Interactive Feature on 50th Anniversary of the Space Age Sputnik and The Dawn of the Space Age History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.  The story begins in 1952, when the International Council of Scientific Unions decided to establish July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958, as the International Geophysical Year (IGY) because the scientists knew that the cycles of solar activity would be at a high point then. In October 1954, the council adopted a resolution calling for artificial satellites to be launched during the IGY to map the Earth's surface.  In July 1955, the White House announced plans to launch an Earth-orbiting satellite for the IGY and solicited proposals from various Government research agencies to undertake development. In September 1955, the Naval Research Laboratory's Vanguard proposal was chosen to represent the U.S. during the IGY.  The Sputnik launch changed everything. As a technical achievement, Sputnik caught the world's attention and the American public off-guard. Its size was more impressive than Vanguard's intended 3.5-pound payload. In addition, the public feared that the Soviets' ability to launch satellites also translated into the capability to launch ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons from Europe to the U.S. Then the Soviets struck again; on November 3, Sputnik II was launched, carrying a much heavier payload, including a dog named Laika.  Immediately after the Sputnik I launch in October, the U.S. Defense Department responded to the political furor by approving funding for another U.S. satellite project. As a simultaneous alternative to Vanguard, Wernher von Braun and his Army Redstone Arsenal team began work on the Explorer project.  On January 31, 1958, the tide changed, when the United States successfully launched Explorer I. This satellite carried a small scientific payload that eventually discovered the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth, named after principal investigator James Van Allen. The Explorer program continued as a successful ongoing series of lightweight, scientifically useful spacecraft.  The Sputnik launch also led directly to the creation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In July 1958, Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act (commonly called the "Space Act") , which created NASA as of October 1, 1958 from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and other government agencies.  Updated October 10, 2007

Sputnik 1

What is the name of the space shuttle destroyed in midair 28 Jan 1986?

The Launch of Sputnik, 1957 Other State Department Archive Sites The Launch of Sputnik, 1957 On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the earth's first artificial satellite, Sputnik I. The successful launch came as a shock to experts and citizens in the United States, who had hoped that the United States would accomplish this scientific advancement first. The fact that the Soviets were successful fed fears that the U.S. military had generally fallen behind in developing new technology. As a result, the launch of Sputnik served to intensify the arms race and raise Cold War tensions. During the 1950s, both the United States and the Soviet Union were working to develop new technology. Nazi Germany had been close to developing the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) near the end of the Second World War, and German scientists aided research in both countries in the wake of that conflict. Both countries were also engaged in developing satellites as a part of a goal set by the International Council of Scientific Unions, which had called for the launch of satellite technology during late 1957 or 1958. Over the course of the decade, the United States tested several varieties of rockets and missiles, but all of these tests ended in failure. The Soviet launch of the first Sputnik satellite was one accomplishment in a string of technological successes. Few in the United States had anticipated it, and even those who did were not aware of just how impressive it would be. At 184 pounds, the Russian satellite was much heavier than anything the United States was developing at the time, and its successful launch was quickly followed by the launch of two additional satellites, including one that carried a dog into space. Together, these orbited the earth every 90-minutes and created fear that the United States lagged far behind in technological capability. These concerns were compounded when the United States learned that the Soviet Union also tested the first intercontinental ballistic missile that year. Although President Dwight Eisenhower had tried to downplay the importance of the Sputnik launch to the American people, he poured additional funds and resources into the space program in an effort to catch up. The U.S. Government suffered a severe setback in December of 1957 when its first artificial satellite, named Vanguard, exploded on the launch pad, serving as a very visible reminder of how much the country had yet to accomplish to be able to compete militarily with the Soviets. At last, on January 31, 1958, the United States succeeded in launching its first satellite, the Explorer. The Explorer was still slighter than Sputnik, but its launch sent it deeper into space. The Soviets responded with yet another launch, and the space race continued. The success of Sputnik had a major impact on the Cold War and the United States. Fear that they had fallen behind led U.S. policymakers to accelerate space and weapons programs. In the late 1950s, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev boasted about Soviet technological superiority and growing stockpiles of ICBMs, so the United States worked simultaneously to develop its own ICBMs to counter what it assumed was a growing stockpile of Soviet missiles directed against the United States. With both countries researching new technology, talk of creating a treaty banning nuclear testing faded away for several years. In this way, the launch of Sputnik fueled both the space race and the arms race, in addition to increasing Cold War tensions, as each country worked to prepare new methods of attacking the other. Eventually, lawmakers and political campaigners in the United States successfully exploited the fear of a "missile gap" developing between U.S. and Soviet nuclear arsenals in the 1960 presidential election, which brought John F. Kennedy to power over Eisenhower's vice president, Richard Nixon. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 served to remind both sides of the dangers of the weapons they were developing.   

i don't know

What, ultimately, will the sun become?

The Sun Will Eventually Engulf Earth--Maybe - Scientific American Space The Sun Will Eventually Engulf Earth--Maybe Researchers debate whether Earth will be swallowed by the sun as it expands into a red giant billions of years from now By David Appell on September 1, 2008 Credit: Lynette Cook Photo Researchers, Inc. Advertisement | Report Ad The future looks bright—maybe too bright. The sun is slowly expanding and brightening, and over the next few billion years it will eventually desiccate Earth, leaving it hot, brown and uninhabitable. About 7.6 billion years from now, the sun will reach its maximum size as a red giant: its surface will extend beyond Earth’s orbit today by 20 percent and will shine 3,000 times brighter. In its final stage, the sun will collapse into a white dwarf. Although scientists agree on the sun’s future, they disagree about what will happen to Earth. Since 1924, when British mathematician James Jeans first considered Earth’s fate during the sun’s red giant phase, a bevy of scientists have reached oscillating conclusions. In some scenarios, our planet escapes vaporization; in the latest analyses, however, it does not. The answer is not straightforward, because although the sun will expand beyond Earth’s orbit, or one astronomical unit (AU), it will lose mass along the way. As a result, Earth should drift outward as the gravitational tug lessens over time. (At its maximum radius of 1.2 AU, the sun will have lost about one third of its mass, compared with its current heft.) In this way, Earth could escape solar envelopment. But other factors complicate the analysis. Drag on the planet from the sun’s outermost, tenuous layers will cause Earth to drift inward. Smaller forces from the other planets—all in turn reacting to the same reducing, expanding sun—are even more difficult to account for completely. Earlier this year two teams reported different kinds of calculations indicating that Earth will be swallowed up by the sun. In a calculation that would thrill any college junior studying classical mechanics, Lorenzo Iorio of Italy’s National Institute of Nuclear Physics used perturbation theory. It simplifies analyses by dropping relatively small factors, thereby making complex equations of motions that describe the interactions between the sun and Earth mathematically manageable. Assuming that the sun’s yearly mass loss (currently about one part in 100 trillion) remains small for the duration of its evolution to the red giant phase, Iorio calculates that Earth will move outward at about three millimeters a year, or only 0.0002 AU by the sun’s red giant phase. But at that point the sun will balloon up, in only a million years, to 1.2 AU in radius, thus vaporizing Earth. Iorio’s paper, submitted to Astrophysics and Space Science, has not yet been peer-reviewed. Several scientists question whether quantities that Iorio assumes are small will indeed remain small throughout the sun’s evolution. Even if Iorio got his number crunching wrong, he may have the right answer. In an analysis published in the May Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Klaus-Peter Schröder of the University of Guanajuato in Mexico and Robert Smith of the University of Sussex in England also conclude that Earth is doomed, by using more exact solar models and by considering tidal interactions. As the sun loses mass and expands, its rotation rate must also slow down—physics students learn this relation as the conservation of angular momentum. The slowed rotation causes a tidal bulge on the sun’s surface. The gravity exerted by this bulge pulls Earth inward. With such a consideration, the researchers find that any planet with a present-day orbital radius of less than 1.15 AU will ultimately perish. Could Earth be saved if someone is still left at home? In a bold piece of astronomical engineering, Don Korycansky of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his colleagues have proposed nudging Earth with a large asteroid arranged to pass nearby periodically. It could take one billion years to move our planet out to somewhere safe, like the orbit of Mars. Our moon, though, might have to be left behind, and any miscalculation could mean extinction. Needless to say, more study is required. [break]

White dwarf (disambiguation)

Which planet takes almost 30 Earth years to orbit the sun?

Red Giant Stars: Facts, Definition & the Future of the Sun Red Giant Stars: Facts, Definition & the Future of the Sun By Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor | August 21, 2013 06:00pm ET MORE Expanding red giant stars will swallow too-close planets. In the solar system, the sun will engulf Mercury and Venus, and may devour Earth, as well. Credit: James Gitlin/STScI AVL A red giant star is a dying star in the last stages of stellar evolution. In only a few billion years, our own sun will turn into a red giant star, expand and engulf the inner planets, possibly even Earth. What does the future hold for the light of our solar system and others like it? Forming a giant Most of the stars in the universe are main sequence stars — those converting hydrogen into helium via nuclear fusion . A main sequence star may have a mass between a third to eight times that of the sun and eventually burn through the hydrogen in its core. Over its life, the outward pressure of fusion has balanced against the inward pressure of gravity. Once the fusion stops, gravity takes the lead and compresses the star smaller and tighter. Temperatures increase with the contraction, eventually reaching levels where helium is able to fuse into carbon. Depending on the mass of the star, the helium burning might be gradual or might begin with an explosive flash. The energy produced by the helium fusion causes the star to expand outward to many times its original size. Red giant stars reach sizes of 100 million to 1 billion kilometers in diameter (62 million to 621 million miles), 100 to 1,000 times the size of the sun today. Because the energy is spread across a larger area, surface temperatures are actually cooler, reaching only 2,200 to 3,200 degrees Celsius (4,000 to 5,800 degrees Fahrenheit), a little over half as hot as the sun. This temperature change causes stars to shine in the redder part of the spectrum, leading to the name red giant, though they are often more orangish in appearance. This picture of the dramatic nebula around the bright red supergiant star Betelgeuse was created from images taken with the VISIR infrared camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). This structure, resembling flames emanating from the star, forms because the behemoth is shedding its material into space. Credit: ESO/P. Kervella Stars spend approximately a few thousand to 1 billion years as a red giant. Eventually, the helium in the core runs out and fusion stops. The star shrinks again until a new helium shell reaches the core. When the helium ignites, the outer layers of the star are blown off in huge clouds of gas and dust known as planetary nebulae . The core continues to collapse in on itself. Smaller stars such as the sun end their lives as compact white dwarfs. The material of larger, more massive stars fall inward until the star eventually becomes a supernova , blowing off gas and dust in a dramatic fiery death. [ Amazing Photos of Supernova Explosions ] Though they look serene and silent from our vantage on Earth, stars are actually roiling balls of violent plasma. Test your stellar smarts with this quiz.

i don't know

What is the most distant object visible to the naked eye?

Farthest Naked Eye Object Farthest Naked Eye Object Loose Ends Maintained by [email protected] , Stephen Uitti One mostly hears that the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), at 2.25 million (2,250,000) light years is the most distant naked eye object. I've seen it, and it is the farthest naked eye object I've seen. Oh, alright, I was wearing contacts. But without them, or glasses, the most distant object I can see is the Sun. For that, I have to wait until morning. M31 is the largest galaxy in the local group. The Triangulum Spiral (M33) is the third largest member of the Local Group, and some people claim to have seen it with the naked eye. It is a face on spiral galaxy. M33 is more like 2.78 million (2,780,000) light years. Bode's Galaxy (M81), at 12 million (12,000,000) light years has been spotted by several people. This page at SEDS on M81 has a description of how to see it. The trouble is, at Magnitude 6.9, M81 is dimmer than most consider naked eye. It depends on whose eye it is, and also where the feet are standing. It has to be an exceptionally dark sky site, probably at some altitude, at the right time of year, etc. Still, it's my answer to the question. I'm done. Finished. Except for the following speculation. Apparently, SN1987A was a naked eye event. This was the big super nova in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), visible from the southern hemisphere in early 1987. It wasn't a distance record holder, as the LMC is considered a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The LMC is only about 100,000 light years out. This is about the distance to the outer edge of the far side of the Milky Way. So one could consider the LMC to be part of the Milky Way. The LMC is already in the process of being torn apart, eaten really, by the Milky Way. The Milky Way is the second largest galaxy in the Local Group. Since super novas can outshine their host galaxies, it seems possible that one could push the farthest object out a bit, if only for a few days. Say there is a galaxy, oh, about 15 million (15,000,000) light years away. It isn't a naked eye object now. But what if it hosts a bright super nova? That object would be the same distance, and could be naked eye visible for a few days. There are other bright things too. I'm not aware of any naked eye visible quasars, for example. There is at least one quasar, 3C 273, visible in a 6 inch (150 mm) telescope. It's magnitude is 12.9. It sits about 2 billion (2,000,000,000) light years away. While no one would call this naked eye observing, it does come under the concept of eyeball astronomy - which is distinguished from astrophotography. How far could one see with eyeball astronomy? That, of course, depends on the telescope. It mostly depends on the light collecting area of the big end of the telescope. There is a story that several people have looked through one of the 10 meter (32.8 foot) Keck telescopes. Each of the twin Keck scopes were, at the time, the largest instruments on Earth. This pushes the concept of eyeball astronomy to interesting limits. Extrapolating from smaller scopes at good dark sky sites, one should be able to see objects as faint as 23rd magnitude with a Keck. Quasars that would appear around that magnitude might be far enough away to be red shifted out of the visible spectrum. But, perhaps higher frequency photons, maybe X-rays, will have been red shifted into the visible spectrum. It seems reasonable to assume that one would be able to peer most of the way back to the beginning of the Universe, or most of the way across the visible part of the Universe. At these distances, due to the expansion of the Universe, light years are not even approximately years back in time. The Universe is about 13.7 billion (13,700,000,000) years old. However, the distance to the most distant detectable objects is about 46 billion (46,000,000,000) light-years.  

Andromeda Galaxy

Which planet is the densest?

What is the farthest planet that can been seen from Earth? - Quora Quora Astronomy What is the farthest planet that can been seen from Earth? Stars from very long (astronomically) distances can be seen from Earth as these are light emitting bodies. Planets are reflective and not light emitting. Answer Wiki 5 Answers An interstellar butterfly This cosmic butterfly is a nebula known as AFGL 4104, or Roberts 22. Caused by a star that is nearing the end of its life and has shrugged off its outer layers, the nebula emerges as a cosmic chrysalis to produce this striking sight. Studies of the lobes of Roberts 22 have shown an amazingly complex structure, with countless intersecting loops and filaments. This object is1.166217024e+30 au or 6523.127553889 light years from Earth. For details see: http://iopscience.iop.org/1538-3... "We now develop a simple model that qualitatively explains the observed radial distribution of starlight in Roberts 22. In this and all further analysis in the paper, we assume a value of 2 kpc (as recommended by AHC80) for the distance to Roberts 22, and 30 km s~1 for the nebular expansion velocity We have adopted a distance (V exp). smaller than that suggested by BB91 (4 kpc), because at 4 kpc, the luminosity of Roberts 22 is rather large (105 L_) compared to the upper range of values found in AGB stars" . Updated Apr 17, 2016 Talking about observing an object that REFLECTS light, and can be seen through naked eyes, The Planet Saturn is answer to your question. Now talking about a light emiting object that I have been able to observe through naked eye is Andromeda Galaxy in a not so light polluted sky. 874 Views · View Upvotes · Answer requested by 1 person Written Jul 9, 2014 With the naked eye, you can see Saturn on a good night. Anything farther and you would need visual aids, binoculars or a telescope.  Neptune would be the furthest planet you can 'see' with your eyes, using a binocular or a decent telescope.   Many of the planets you hear about are 'transits' you don't see directly, and the ones that Hubble image actually image extremely few photons, so few that the human eye would not be able to see them even if it was placed on an 'eyepiece' hooked up to Hubble, say. 689 Views · View Upvotes · Answer requested by 1 person

i don't know

What is the name given to the super dense stars that sometimes result form a supernova?

What is a Supernova – Definition & Facts of Star Explosion in Space – PlanetFacts.org Supernova What is a Supernova? To say in three words, a supernova is an exploding star. Okay, that was more than three, but you get the point. A supernova is more significant than a nova, but less so than a hypernova. Supernovae are very bright and generate bursts of radiation that can briefly outshine a whole galaxy before declining in brightness over many weeks or months. In this period a supernova can emit as much energy as the Sun might over its entire lifetime. How Supernovae are Studied By using optical telescopes, astronomers can approximate the amount of light generated by a supernova. These measurements can be used to determine how the luminosity and color of a supernova vary with time. Astronomers may examine the light through a prism, which breaks the light from a supernova into the spectrum of colors that composes it. From this, astronomers can gauge how the brightness of light depends on that light’s wavelength. The luminosity could change at all wavelengths. The spectrum of a supernova can very with time as well, until it fades entirely of course. The study of a supernova is more than just a study of any ordinary light show. Both the light and spectrum of color of a supernova can be used to make conclusions about the physics that occurs during and after supernova explosions. Understanding how a supernova explosion occurs and progresses is crucial to understanding why certain stars go boom. Supernovae are responsible for producing and dispersing elements into the interstellar medium. The elements that form stars, planets, and life on Earth are created and spread by supernovae. You could say that we are made of stardust. Naming Convention Supernovae are reported to the International Astronomical Union’s Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, which assign them a name. The name begins with “SN”, the prefix for supernova, followed by the year, followed by a string of letter from A to Z. The first 26 supernovae are attached with a capital letter (A-Z). Following this are pairs of lower-case letters, such as aa, ab, ac, so on and so forth. For example the 367th supernova discovered in 2005 would be named SN 2005 nc. This naming convention was utilized since 1885. However, up until 1947, rarely would more than one supernova was found per year. Two-letter designations were scarcely necessary until 1987, and since 1988, they have been necessary more and more every year. Supernovae Types Since 1941, Rudolf Minkowski discovered that some spectra contain hydrogen and some do not, and therefore supernovae are classified by Type I, ones lacking hydrogen in their spectra, and Type II, ones that strongly show strong hydrogen lines. Since 1985, Type I supernovae have been classified further. Type Ia supernovae have a silicon spectral line at 615 nm, and Type Ib does not. Type Ib supernovae have strong helium lines, and Type Ic do not. Type I supernovae are classified such because of the sharp maxima and smooth decay of light in their light curves. The initiation of a Type I supernova can be modeled as an explosion of a carbon white dwarf that is crushed under the pressure of electron degeneracy. Supernovae Models The assumption follows that a white dwarf accumulates enough mass that it exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit of 1.4 solar masses (for white dwarves, this is the mass at which the star’s core can no longer resist gravitational collapse). The core temperature of the white dwarf rises dramatically, setting off chains of nuclear fusion reactions that essentially blow the star up. This model is consistent with the fact that Type I supernovae are hydrogen deficient, since white dwarves contain nearly zero hydrogen. Furthermore, the slow decay of light is consistent with the model, because the radioactive decay of unstable heavy elements produced by the supernova produces most of the energy. Supernovae of Type I can be further categorized into Types Ia, Ib, and Ic. Type Ia supernovae are indicated by the lack of hydrogen and have an observable ionized silicon line at 615.0 nm. Type Ib supernovae have a non-ionized helium line at 587.6 nm and no silicon absorption feature at 615.0 nm. Type Ic supernovae have feint or no helium lines as well as no silicon absorption features near 615.0 nm. Sometimes Types Ib and Ic supernovae are hard to distinguish between because they are so similar, so astronomers may indicate “Type Ibc” to avoid the trouble of precise naming. Type II supernovae are modeled after massive stars that explode and/or implode. A plateau is apparent in their light curves a few months after initiation. The explanation for the plateau is that energy is generated by the heating and cooling of the star’s outer layer as it is carried into space. The observation of the strong hydrogen and helium spectra confirms this, as there should be a large amount of these gaseous elements on the outermost layers of the massive star. Type II supernovae can be further categorized based on their spectra. Type IIP depicts a plateauing in its light curve. Type IIL shows a linear decline in its light curve (magnitude vs. time). Furthermore, while most Type II supernovae depict wide emission lines that indicate velocity expansion at the scale of thousands of km/s, some possess relatively narrow lines. These are labeled as Type IIn (“n” as in “narrow”). Supernovae that are peculiar are notated with “pec”. Some supernovae change types over the course of weeks and months, starting with hydrogen lines that get dominated by helium lines. The combination of features between Types II and Ib have contributed to the notation of these supernovae as Type IIb. Where Supernovae Occur Supernovae have been observed in galaxies across the entire Universe. There are three types of galaxies: ellipticals, spirals, irregulars. Type Ibc and II supernovae have been taking place in spiral and irregular galaxies, specifically in areas of these galaxies where massive stars have formed in the previous 10 million years or so. Since Type II has not been seen in elliptical galaxies, it is said that these supernovae occur with explosions of massive stars. Type Ia supernovae have been observed in all galaxy types, but generally not near massive star formations. Since few to no stars form in elliptical galaxies, it is said that Type Ia supernovae occur from stars that are older and less massive. Supernovae Theories: Death Star Theorists tend to notice that stars greater than 8 solar masses tend to explode, if they do, as Type II and Type Ibc supernovae. These stars are relatively young and massive, which manifest in irregular or spiral galaxies. They also notice that Type Ia supernovae can be depicted by the explosion of low-mass stars called white dwarves. The study of how stars develop and evolve over time throughout their lives is important to understanding supernovae. A close examination of stars can be distinguished into an internal study and an external study, since two different events occur on the inside and outside of stars. Stars produce energy over the course of their lifecycle by the process known as nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is a process in which atomic nuclei (the proton/neutron cores of atoms) fuse to form new elements as well as release incredible amounts of energy. In stars, the nuclei of lighter elements like hydrogen and helium fuse, under extreme temperatures and pressures at the central core of stars, to produce nuclei of heavier elements. Note that electrons are in complete free flow from atomic nuclei under the extreme pressures and temperatures at the core of stars. Using the mass-energy principle that Albert Einstein discovered, E=mc2 (energy = mass times the square of the speed of light), we know that large masses of matter produce energy. Nuclear fusions inside stars generate extreme amounts of energy that burst to the stellar exterior, some of which becomes the light that shines from stars. Photo by: Wikipedia Creative Commons In the core of massive stars greater than 8 solar masses, nuclear fusion results in a chain of element formations: from hydrogen to helium nuclei, to complicated reactions that eventually result in silicon nuclei, which ultimately form iron nuclei. An iron nucleus is the most stable naturally occurring element outside of supernovae explosions; it cannot be fused into heavier elements without incredibly large bursts of energy. Because of this, the core of massive stars slowly becomes a large chunk of iron nuclei. Once a star’s core is completely saturated with iron nuclei, nuclear fusions will cease, and the star’s energy production will come to an end. Without energy to support itself, the star will collapse: its core can no longer resist the force of its gravity. The star’s core and all the matter above the core will be crushed inward by gravity. Ultimately, only neutrons will survive the implosion of the star, and in the final act, the neutrons form a new core which becomes that which is known as a neutron star. As the neutron core stabilizes, what is left of the previous massive star will flow in limbo. Once the core stops collapsing, like a super-compressed perfect spring, it bounces out and releases all of the compressed energy. This shockwave will burst and rip through the outer layers of the star. All that was the massive star extinguishes in an, excuse the pun, astronomical explosion, and only the new neutron star might survive the blast. Massive stars tend to die with a Type II or Type Ibc supernova. The entire supernova process occurs over a scale of a few milliseconds. Photo by: Wikipedia Creative Commons Sometimes a collapsing core of neutrons will become so massive that it never quite rebounds and will instead form an event horizon (the outer layer of a black hole in which not even light can escape) at the bottom of its collapse. The pressures built up never quite escape this event horizon, and there is no shockwave to start a supernova. Eventually the star remnants fall into the newly forming black hole. It is theorized that sometimes a supernova can result in a black hole formation, under certain conditions. The Sun will not die with a supernova. This Sun will, at a slow pace, fuse its core hydrogen nuclei into helium nuclei over the next 5 billion years or so. Once its core becomes all helium, these will slowly fuse into carbon nuclei in a relatively short amount of time. The carbon nuclei in turn will not fuse into anything else because the Sun is not hot enough. The carbon core would no longer support the Sun and collapses under its own weight. Despite this, the blanket of free flow electrons in the Sun will resist total collapse. The Sun will become a white dwarf. What remains outside of the white dwarf get shrugged off to form a planetary nebula. As this nebula slowly spreads into space over thousands of years, the white dwarf of what was the Sun will continue to glow away what is left of its energy over the course of the next billions of years. This white dwarf will continue to exist until it reaches conditions for a Type 1a supernova, which is explained above under the “Supernovae Models” section. Supernovae Effects The explosion caused by a supernova has significant effects on the space surrounding it. The tremendous shockwave caused by a supernova can press and condense gas in the environment. If the gas was quite dense to begin with, then the pressure exerted on it could collapse into the formation of new stars. A supernova explosion could create new elements, especially those heavier than iron. These new elements disperse into space and enrich surrounding gas mediums. In this way, stars formed after supernovae tend to have greater heavy element concentrations. In fact, it is this very enrichment of the gas in the Milky Way that has contributed to the rise of life on Earth! Supernovae may also send small proton, alpha (helium nuclei), and electron particles through space (these are all called cosmic rays or cosmic ray particles). It is said that the beaming of these high-energy, high-momentum particles on Earth contributed to genetic mutation, and therefore, biological evolution on Earth. Supernovae and the Fate of the Universe Supernovae of Type Ia are the brightest subjects in the Universe. They are used as signpost beacons of light that could be used to estimate distances in space. Astronomers are currently utilizing light from Type Ia supernovae to measure distances in nearby galaxies. It is theorized that by measuring these distances along with the speeds at which these galaxies are moving away from us (due to the Universe constantly expanding), a serious study done by Edwin Hubble, we can measure how much matter is in the Universe as well as the Universe’s final fate. According to Einstein and the theory of general relativity, the amount of matter in the Universe contributes to what geometry it has. Einstein theorized that matter curves the space and time around it, and therefore the whole Universe. More matter means more curvature, more curvature means that the expansion of the Universe will halt due to gravitational force. If this occurs, then Universe will implode in a Big Crunch. On the other hand, if there is insufficient matter to cause a Big Crunch, the expansion of the Universe will continue to no end. bob hi men i wanna become an astronomer but i need the procedures Clozzy Hi, is it possible to know the author and publish date pleas? Thank you . Li Please may I know the author and publish date? Send it to me by email. Thanks! Jaden Can you please give me the name of the author and the date it was published. Thanks Super novas are AWESOME check out my site for whatisasupernova.blogspot.com For more great picutres! Jewel i really need the author of the information, the date it was published and the publisher. i’d like that information as soon as possible so i don’t fail my chem research paper. please and thank you. Lewis I need to know the author and the date this article was published too. Could you please tell me? Thanks! Tolu Hi, could I please have the author name and the date this article was published please. As I am using some of the infomration on my essay. Please e-mail me the response. Thanks. Audre I wanted to cite a photo on your website for a class project, and I was wondering if you could give me the author and the date this article was published? Thanks a bunch!

Neutron star

What shape is the Milky Way?

White Dwarfs: Compact Corpses of Stars White Dwarfs: Compact Corpses of Stars By Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor | November 26, 2013 06:11pm ET MORE NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures a field of stellar husks. These ancient white dwarfs are 12 to 13 billion years old, only slightly younger than the universe itself. In theory, white dwarfs will eventually stop emitting light and heat and become black dwarfs. Credit: NASA and H. Richer (University of British Columbia). The stars in the sky may seem ageless and unchanging, but eventually most of them will turn into white dwarfs, the last observable stage of evolution for low- and medium-mass stars. These dim stellar corpses dot the galaxy, leftovers from brightly burning stars. Formation Main-sequence stars form from clouds of dust and gas drawn together by gravity. How the stars evolve through their lifetime depends on their mass. The most massive stars, with eight times the mass of the sun or more, will never become white dwarfs. Instead, at the end of their lives, they will explode in a violent supernova , leaving behind a neutron star or black hole . Smaller stars, however, will take a slightly more sedate path. Low- to medium-mass stars, such as the sun , will eventually swell up into red giants , eventually shedding their outer layers into a ring known as a planetary nebula (early observers thought the nebulae resembled planets such as Neptune and Uranus). The core that is left behind will be a white dwarf, a husk of a star in which no hydrogen fusion occurs. Smaller stars, such as red dwarfs, don't make it to the red giant state. They simply burn through all of the hydrogen within the star, leaving behind the shell that is a white dwarf. However, red dwarfs take trillions of years to consume their fuel, far longer than the 13.8-billion-year-old age of the universe, so no red dwarfs have yet become white dwarfs. Characteristics When a star runs out of fuel, it collapses inward on itself. White dwarfs contain approximately the mass of the sun but have roughly the radius of Earth. This makes them incredibly dense, beaten out only by neutron stars and black holes. The gravity on the surface of a white dwarf is 350,000 times that of gravity on Earth. White dwarfs reach this incredible density because they are so collapsed that their electrons are smashed together, forming what is called "degenerate matter." This means that a more massive white dwarf has a smaller radius than its less massive counterpart. Burning stars balance the inward push of gravity with the outward push from fusion, but in a white dwarf, electrons must squeeze tightly together to create that outward-pressing force. As such, having shed much of its mass during the red giant phase, no white dwarf can exceed 1.4 times the mass of the sun. This image is NGC 6543 known as the Cat's Eye Nebula as it appears to the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and Hubble Telescope. A planetary nebula is a phase of stellar evolution that the sun should experience several billion years from now, when it expands to become a red giant and then sheds most of its outer layers, leaving behind a hot core that contracts to form a dense white dwarf star. This image was released Oct. 10, 2012. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/RIT/J.Kastner et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI One last kick While many white dwarfs fade away into relative obscurity, eventually radiating away all of their energy and becoming a black dwarf, those that have companions may suffer a different fate. If the white dwarf is part of a binary system, it may be able to pull material from its companion onto its surface. Increasing the mass can have some interesting results. [ VIDEO: Cannibal White Dwarf Feeds on Companion Star ] One possibility is that adding more mass to the white dwarf could cause it to collapse into a much denser neutron star. A far more explosive result is the Type 1a supernova . As the white dwarf pulls material from a companion star, the temperature increases, eventually triggering a runaway reaction that detonates in a violent supernova that destroys the white dwarf. This process is known as a single-degenerate model of a Type 1a supernova. If the companion is another white dwarf instead of an active star, the two stellar corpses merge together to kick off the fireworks. This process is known as a double-degenerate model of a Type 1a supernova. At other times, the white dwarf may pull just enough material from its companion to briefly ignite in a nova, a far smaller explosion. Because the white dwarf remains intact, it can repeat the process several times when it reaches the critical point, briefly breathing life back into the dying star over and over again. Author Bio Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor Nola Taylor Redd is a contributing writer for Space.com. She loves all things space and astronomy-related, and enjoys the opportunity to learn more. She has a Bachelor’s degree in English and Astrophysics from Agnes Scott college and served as an intern at Sky & Telescope magazine. In her free time, she homeschools her four children. Follow her on Twitter at @NolaTRedd Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor on Latest on White Dwarfs: Compact Corpses of Stars

i don't know

When was the first Pioneer space probe launched?

NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details NSSDCA/COSPAR ID: 1958-007A Description Pioneer 1, the second and most successful of three project Able space probes and the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed NASA, was intended to study the ionizing radiation, cosmic rays, magnetic fields, and micrometeorites in the vicinity of the Earth and in lunar orbit. Due to a launch vehicle malfunction, the spacecraft attained only a ballistic trajectory and never reached the Moon. It did return data on the near-Earth space environment. Spacecraft and Subsystems Pioneer 1 consisted of a thin cylindrical midsection with a squat truncated cone frustrum on each side. The cylinder was 74 cm in diameter and the height from the top of one cone to the top of the opposite cone was 76 cm. Along the axis of the spacecraft and protruding from the end of the lower cone was an 11 kg solid propellant injection rocket and rocket case, which formed the main structural member of the spacecraft. Eight small low-thrust solid propellant velocity adjustment rockets were mounted on the end of the upper cone in a ring assembly which could be jettisoned after use. A magnetic dipole antenna also protruded from the top of the upper cone. The shell was composed of laminated plastic. The total mass of the spacecraft after vernier separation was 34.2 kg, after injection rocket firing it would have been 23.2 kg. The scientific instrument package had a mass of 17.8 kg and consisted of an image scanning infrared television system to study the Moon's surface to a resolution of 1 milliradian, an ionization chamber to measure radiation in space, a diaphragm/microphone assembly to detect micrometeorites, a spin-coil magnetometer to measure magnetic fields to 5 microgauss, and temperature-variable resistors to record spacecraft internal conditions. The spacecraft was powered by nickel-cadmium batteries for ignition of the rockets, silver cell batteries for the television system, and mercury batteries for the remaining circuits. Radio transmission was at on 108.06 MHz through an electric dipole antenna for telemetry and doppler information at 300 mW and a magnetic dipole antenna for the television system at 50 W. Ground commands were received through the electric dipole antenna at 115 MHz. The spacecraft was spin stabilized at 1.8 rps, the spin direction was approximately perpendicular to the geomagnetic meridian planes of the trajectory. Mission Profile The spacecraft did not reach the Moon as planned due to an incorrectly set valve in the upper stage which caused an accelerometer to give faulty information leading to a slight error in burnout velocity (the Thor second stage shut down 10 seconds early) and angle (3.5 degrees). This resulted in a ballistic trajectory with a peak altitude of 113,800 km around 1300 local time. The real-time transmission was obtained for about 75% of the flight, but the percentage of data recorded for each experiment was variable. Except for the first hour of flight, the signal to noise ratio was good. The spacecraft ended transmission when it reentered the Earth's atmosphere after 43 hours of flight on October 13, 1958 at 03:46 UT over the South Pacific Ocean. A small quantity of useful scientific information was returned, showing the radiation surrounding Earth was in the form of bands and measuring the extent of the bands, mapping the total ionizing flux, making the first observations of hydromagnetic oscillations of the magnetic field, and taking the first measurements of the density of micrometeorites and the interplanetary magnetic field. Alternate Names Launch Site: Cape Canaveral, United States Mass: 34.2 kg Department of Defense-Department of the Air Force (United States) NASA-Office of Space Science Applications (United States) Disciplines

1958

Which planet id named after the sky-god who was father of the Titans?

Pioneer | space probes | Britannica.com space probes Messenger Pioneer, any of the first series of unmanned U.S. space probes designed chiefly for interplanetary study. Whereas the first five Pioneers (0–4, launched from 1958 to 1959) were intended to explore the vicinity of the Moon , all other probes in the series were sent to investigate planetary bodies or to measure various interplanetary-particle and magnetic-field effects. Pioneer 6 (launched 1965), for example, was injected into solar orbit to determine space conditions between Earth and Venus . It transmitted much data on the solar wind and solar cosmic rays in addition to measuring the Sun’s corona and the tail of Comet Kohoutek. Pioneer 6 was also one of the oldest functioning spacecraft , transmitting data back to Earth for almost 35 years. Pioneer 10 (launched March 3, 1972) flew by Jupiter in December 1973, the first space probe to do so, and discovered its huge magnetic tail, an extension of the planet’s magnetosphere. Pioneer 11 (launched April 6, 1973), also called Pioneer- Saturn , passed by Jupiter in December 1974 and flew within about 20,900 km (13,000 miles) of Saturn in September 1979. It transmitted data and photographs that enabled scientists on Earth to identify two additional rings around the planet and the presence of radiation belts within its magnetosphere. Pioneers 10 and 11 each carried a gold plaque inscribed with a pictorial message in the event that extraterrestrial beings ever found the spacecraft. Two complementary Pioneer Venus spacecraft (Pioneer 12 and 13; 1978) reached their destination at the end of 1978. The first, called the Orbiter, studied Venus’s clouds and atmosphere and mapped more than 90 percent of its surface by radar. The second spacecraft, the Multiprobe, dropped one large and three small instrument packages into the planet’s atmosphere at different locations to measure various physical and chemical properties. Pioneer Venus Orbiter.

i don't know

Visible sunspots vary in number according to a cycle of how many years?

Sunspots: Modern Research 4 of 7 The Sunspot Cycle Cycles have been around In the last few decades, we've started to understand the forces behind sunspots, but we've known for over a 150 years that sunspots appear in cycles. The average number of visible sunspots varies over time, increasing and decreasing on a regular cycle of between 9.5 to 11 years, on average about 10.8 years. An amateur astronomer named Heinrich Schwabe, was the first to note this cycle, in 1843. The part of the cycle with low sunspot activity is referred to as " solar minimum " while the portion of the cycle with high activity is known as " solar maximum ." In fact they go around twice By studying the sun's magnetic field, modern astronomers have discovered that the cycle covers twenty-two years, with each eleven-year cycle of sunspots followed by a reversal of the direction of the Sun's magnetic field. According to Fisher, "the overall magnetic field structure changes in a way that is very interesting. It turns out that if the magnetic fields primarily point from west to east in the Northern Hemisphere (of the sun), they point from east to west in the Southern Hemisphere. In the next eleven-year cycle, the fields are reversed. So the cycle is really twenty-two years." Migration Sunspots appear mostly in the low latitudes near the solar equator. In fact they almost never appear closer than 5 or further than 40 degrees latitude, north or south. As each sunspot cycle progresses, the sunspots gradually start to appear closer and closer to the equator. The sunspot locations for the most recent 11-year cycle are shown in this "butterfly" diagram." The locations "migrated" toward the equator (0 latitude) from both hemispheres throughout this half of the cycle.   Do sunspots affect earth's climate? From 1645 to 1715, there was a drastically reduced number of sunspots. This period of reduced solar activity, which was first noticed by G. Spörer, was later investigated by E.W. Maunder, is now called the Maunder Minimum . That the same period of time was also unusually cold on Earth.  Similar periods of low solar activity seem to have occurred during the Spörer Minimum (1420-1530), the Wolf Minimum (1280-1340), and the Oort minimum (1010-1050). This succession of low-temperature periods is now called the "Little Ice Age," and the corresponding pattern of extreme sunspot minima has led to speculation that sunspot activity may affect the earth's climate.    

11

Which planet is usually the furthest form the Sun, but sometimes is not?

Stanford SOLAR Center -- Ask A Solar Physicist FAQs - Answer How many sunspots are there on the sun? And how big are they? This answer is courtesy of Dana Longcope, Montana State University. Roughly how many sunspots are on the Sun? There were 17 on a map made last Saturday, October 18, 1997. On other days, as many as 200 sunspots are visible, or else as few as zero. (More sunspots as the year 2000 approaches.) How big do they get? About 10,000 miles across for a medium-large sunspot. Often in science, simple questions can have complicated answers. This question is simple, but the answers are not simple for several reasons. The number of sunspots on the Sun is always changing. One reason for this is that a sunspot only lasts a week or two. A sunspot is "born" when a small piece of the Sun's surface suddenly grows dark, seemingly for no reason. (What has really happened is that underneath the surface a very strong magnetic field "turned on". We do not fully understand why this happens, but we have many good ideas.) After several weeks, the sunspot "breaks" into pieces and fades away. This is why we say a sunspot lasts only several weeks. As the sunspot is "breaking up", the Sun is rotating about its axis, taking about 27 days to spin completely around. So even before a sunspot fades away, it might seem to disappear from view as it rotates around to the far side of the Sun. Other sunspots will come into view as they rotate onto the near side from the far side. If sunspots never changed, then in one month we would see all the sunspots there were, and then each month after that we would just see the same ones over and over again. But they do change, so each month we see different sunspot numbers each month. So the number of sunspots on the Sun at any time depends on how many have been born lately and have not faded away yet. Looking at a map of the Sun made on Saturday, October 18, I see 17 different sunspots clustered into three close groups. One group is just about to disappear onto the far side. It is likely that these sunspots will fade away before they make it back onto our side again, about the date of November 3. From what I have said above, you probably guessed that making maps of the Sun is sort of like making maps of clouds: the maps change and you will need to make a new map very soon. And a new map of the Sun is made every day, for the special purpose of counting the number of sunspots. (These maps are made at special telescopes because it is dangerous to look at the Sun with your eyes.) For over 150 years, observers have recorded the number of sunspots they found on the Sun on each day. Some days there were no sunspots, and some days there were as many as 200 sunspots! The Sun has times when sunspots are born often, and the number found might be very high. These times are called Solar Maximum and that happens every 11 years or so. The last Solar Maximum was in 1989, so the next one should be in the year 2000. At Solar Maximum, there will be up to 200 sunspots on the Sun at one time. How big is a sunspot? Sunspots look like tiny specks on the Sun, but that is because the Sun itself is so BIG. (Really, really big). In a medium-large sunspot (they come in many sizes) the dark middle region (called the umbra) measures about 10,000 miles across. This is wider than the Earth, and three times bigger than the distance from New York to Los Angeles. A really big sunspot can be up to 30,000 miles across, and a whole group of sunspots can be 100,000 miles long. You may be interested in seeing a Web site where daily maps of sunspots are made. This site shows the daily sunspot drawing observations at Mt. Wilson Observatory. .................................. More about sunpots, from Amara Graps. Some people hope to predict sunspots, but for now, predicting sunspots is a little like trying to predict the weather. If are interested in daily sunspot numbers for any time in history back to the year 1818, you can find them at the Sunspot Index Data Center (SIDC) in Belgium, which is the world data center for sunspot index of daily sunspot numbers. If you would like to learn more about how big are the features of the Sun, you may jump to the Solar Center's Web page of comparison activities. We also have a selection of Web pages for measuring the Sun's rotation using sunspots ( and race your friends ! ), and for learning how Galileo knew that the sunspots were on the Sun.

i don't know

What was the name of the American mission to land a man on the Moon?

Apollo 11: First Men on the Moon Apollo 11: First Men on the Moon By Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor | July 25, 2012 03:39pm ET MORE Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin Aldrin photographed this iconic photo, a view of his footprint in the lunar soil, as part of an experiment to study the nature of lunar dust and the effects of pressure on the surface during the historic first manned moon landing in July 1969. Credit: NASA The historic launch of the Apollo 11 mission carried three astronauts toward the moon. Two of them would set foot on the lunar surface for the first time in human history as millions of people around the world followed their steps on television. The astronauts The crew of Apollo 11 were all experienced astronauts. All three had flown missions into space before. Cmdr. Neil Armstrong , 38, had previously piloted Gemini 8, the first time two vehicles docked in space. Born Aug. 5, 1930, in Ohio, Armstrong was 38 when he became the first civilian to command two American space missions. Apollo 11 crew: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. Credit: NASA Col. Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin , 39, was the first astronaut with a doctorate to fly in space. Born Jan. 20, 1930, in New Jersey, Aldrin piloted Gemini 12, taking a two-hour, twenty-minute walk in space to demonstrate that an astronaut could work efficiently outside of the vehicle. For Apollo 11, he served as the lunar module pilot. The command module pilot, Lt. Col. Michael Collins, 38, was born in Italy on Oct. 31, 1930. The pilot of Gemini 10, Collins spent almost an hour and a half outside of the craft on a space-walk and became the first person to meet another spacecraft in orbit. From Earth to the moon Mission planners at NASA studied the lunar surface for two years, searching for the best place to make the historic landing. Using high-resolution photographs taken by the Lunar Orbiter satellite and close-up photographs taken by the Surveyor spacecraft, they narrowed the initial thirty sites down to three. Influencing factors included the number of craters and boulders, few high cliffs or hills, and a relatively flat surface. The amount of sunlight was also a factor in determining the best time to land on the lunar surface. Apollo 11 launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, 1969. While in flight, the crew made two televised broadcasts from the interior of the ship, and a third transmission as they drew closer to the moon, revealing the lunar surface and the intended approach path. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin entered the lunar module, nicknamed the "Eagle" and separated from the Command Service Module — the "Columbia" — headed toward the lunar surface. Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin poses with the American flag on the surface of the moon in July 1969. Credit: NASA The lunar module touched down on the moon's Sea of Tranquility , a large basaltic region, at 4:17 p.m. EDT. Armstrong notified Houston with the historic words, "Houston, this is Tranquility Base. The Eagle has landed." For the first two hours, Armstrong and Aldrin checked all of the systems, configured the lunar module for the stay on the moon, and ate. They decided to skip the scheduled four-hour rest to explore the surface. A camera in the Eagle provided live coverage as Armstrong descended down a ladder at 11:56 p.m. on July 20, 1969, and uttered the words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Aldrin followed twenty minutes later, with Armstrong recording his descent. Armstrong had the responsibility to document the landing, so most of the images taken from the Apollo 11 mission were of Aldrin. [Images: NASA's Historic Apollo 11 Moon Landing in Pictures ] While on the surface, the astronauts set up several experiments, collected samples of lunar soil and rock to bring home, erected a United States flag, and took core samples from the crust. They spoke with U.S. President Richard Nixon, whose voice was transmitted from the White House, and placed a plaque that stated: HERE MEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON JULY 1969, A.D. WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND Memorial medallions with the names of the three astronauts who perished in the Apollo 1 fire and two cosmonauts who were also deceased, including the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin , remained after the astronauts left, as did a one-and-a-half-inch silicon disk with goodwill messages from 73 countries, and as the names of congressional and NASA leaders. Armstrong spent a little over two and a half hours outside of the Eagle. The astronauts traveled a total distance of about 3,300 feet (1 kilometer) as they walked around, traveling as far as 200 feet (60 meters) from the module to visit a large crater. They collected 47.51 pounds (21.55 kilograms) of samples from the moon, and reported that mobility on the moon was easier than anticipated. Apollo 11 astronauts, still in their quarantine van, are greeted by their wives upon arrival at Ellington Air Force Base on July 27, 1969. Credit: NASA At 1:54 p.m. EDT, having spent a total of 21 and a half hours on the moon , the lunar module blasted back to where Collins sat in the Columbia. The two vehicles docked, and the crew and samples transferred to the Command Service Module before the Eagle was jettisoned into space. The astronauts headed back home. The team splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:50 p.m. EDT on July 24, only a few miles from the recovery ship, the U.S.S. Hornet. After donning biological isolation garments, the crew left the Columbia and climbed into a rubber boat, where they were rubbed down with iodine in an effort to stem potential contamination. They traveled by helicopter to a Mobile Quarantine Facility aboard the ship before being taken to Houston. They remained quarantine until Aug. 10, having completed the national goal set by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, to perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth. This is part of a SPACE.com series of articles on the Greatest Moments in Flight, the breakthrough events that paved the way for human spaceflight and its next steps: asteroid mining and bases on the moon and Mars. Related:

Apollo program

What was the name of the American space station?

Alan Shepard - first US man in space   Alan Shepard - first US man in space A remarkable story of a man who wouldn't give up on his chance to walk on the moon One of my prized possessions is an autograph, signed simply "To Anthony, Alan Shepard". I keep it very safe. But who was this Alan Shepard, and what was he famous for? Alan Shepard - click for larger photograph. Credit: NASA. Alan Shepard was supposed to have been on board the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, which as many people will know having seen the movie of the same name starring Tom Hanks, never got to land on the Moon and barely made it back to earth. This story of this remarkable astronaut, who died in 1998, is compelling. Born in 1923, Shepard hit the world headlines on May 5th, 1961, when he became the first American in space in the tiny Mercury space capsule called Freedom 7. He was one of the original seven astronauts, who have become known as the "Mercury 7". He was lifted off at 9:34am on that morning and fired 116 miles into the air, travelling 302 miles downrange from Cape Canaveral. He hit a top speed of 5,100 miles per hour before dropping into the Atlantic Ocean. He was only 23 days late - Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin got there before him, but Shepard, and the Americans, would get revenge. A man full of self-confidence and with nerves of steel, he was to be bitterly disappointed to be taken off the Apollo Moon landing programme when he developed an inner ear infection. However, fate was kind to Shepard - he was originally pencilled in for the Apollo 13 mission which ended in disaster. Alan Shepard on the Moon. Click for larger photo. Credit: NASA. Ten years after his first suborbital history-making flight, Shepard overcame the serious ear infection and returned to space for only his second, and his last, flight as the commander of Apollo 14. He became only the fifth person to walk on the surface of the Moon, and the oldest at 47 years of age. Shepard spent 33 hours on the moon during the third lunar landing mission and became the only lunar golfer, playfully whacking golf balls with a six-iron. On that flight, Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa spent nine days in space; Mitchell and Shepard stayed on the moon for two days. The first ball he hit was a bit of an embarrassment, but the second one connected and Shepard endeared himself to millions of golfers, and TV viewers, across the globe with his amusing antics. He is remembered today as a great man, and a true American hero.  

i don't know

Which country built the Saturn V rocket?

Saturn V Launch Vehicle | National Air and Space Museum Saturn V Launch Vehicle Saturn V Launch Vehicle Saturn V Launch Vehicle The manned Apollo missions were each launched aboard a Saturn V launch vehicle. The "V" designation originates from the five powerful F-1 engines that powered the first stage of the rocket. The Saturn V remains the largest and most powerful U.S. expendable launch vehicle ever built. The Apollo spacecraft, including the Command Module (CM), Service Module (SM) and Lunar Module (LM) sat atop the launch vehicle. Above the CM was the emergency escape system. The complete assembly including the Apollo spacecraft and the Saturn launch vehicle stood 363 feet tall (110.6 meters) and weighed over 6 million pounds (2.7 million kg). The Saturn V launch vehicle itselft consisted of three stages: First Stage (S-IC): The first stage includes the five F-1 engines producing nearly 7.7 million pounds of thrust. These powerful engines are required to lift the heavy rocket fast enough to escape Earth's gravity. The first stage engines are burned at liftoff and last for about 2.5 minutes taking the vehicle and payload to an altitude of 38 miles. The first stage then separates and burns up in the Earth's atmosphere. Second Stage (S-II): The second stage conatins five J-2 engines. After the first stage is discarded, the second stage burns for approximately 6 minutes taking the vehicle and payload to 115 miles altitude. The second stage is then also discarded. Third Stage (S-IVB): The third stage contains one J-2 engine. This engine burns for 2.75 minutes boosting the spacecraft to orbital velocity of about 17,500 mph. The third stage is shut down with fuel remaining and remains attached the spacecraft in Earth orbit. The J-2 engine is reignited to propel the spacecraft into translunar trajectory (speed of 24,500 mph) before finally being discarded. Saturn V Rocket

United States

Which objects in space emit energy in pulses?

Saturn V | Rocketology: NASA’s Space Launch System Rocketology: NASA’s Space Launch System Going Behind the Scenes of Building the World’s Most Powerful Rocket Menu By David Hitt Over the next year, the rocket comes to the Rocket City in a big way. Huntsville, Alabama, a.k.a. “Rocket City,” is home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, where today the Space Launch System (SLS), the powerful rocket NASA will use for human exploration of deep space, is being developed. More than six decades ago – before NASA even existed – Huntsville laid claim to the nickname thanks to its work on missiles and rockets like the Juno that launched the first American satellite or the Redstone used for the first Mercury launches. In the years since, Huntsville, and Marshall, have built on that legacy with work on the Saturn V rockets that sent astronauts to the moon, the space shuttle’s propulsion systems, and now with SLS. A steel beam is “flown” by crane into position on the 221-foot-tall (67.4 meters) twin towers of Test Stand 4693 during “topping out” ceremonies April 12 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. While the program is managed at Marshall Space Flight Center, contractors around the country are building the rocket. Engines are being tested in Mississippi. The core stage is being built in Louisiana. Booster work and testing is taking place in Utah. Aerospace industry leaders and more than 800 small businesses in 43 states around the country are providing components. The Marshall team has also been involved with the hardware, largely through testing of small-scale models or smaller components. The center also produced the first new piece of SLS hardware to fly into space – a stage adapter that connected the Orion crew vehicle to its Delta rocket for Exploration Flight Test-1 in 2014 (See Orion’s First Flight for more.) The same adapter will connect Orion to SLS for their first flight in 2018. Workers prepare the top half of a test version of the SLS Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter. The completed adapter will undergo structural testing at Marshall later this year. Now, however, big things are happening in the Rocket City. The new Orion stage adapter for the upcoming launch is being built. The larger Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter, which will connect the core and second stages of the rocket, is being built at Marshall by contractor Teledyne Brown Engineering. This year, test versions of those adapters and the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) will be assembled into a 56-foot-tall stack, which will be placed in a test stand to see how they handle the stresses of launch. Those test articles built locally will be joined by larger ones produced at the Michoud Assembly Facility outside New Orleans. Test versions of the rocket’s engine section, oxygen tank and hydrogen tank will be shipped by barge from Michoud to Marshall. Two new test stands – one topped out last month at 221 feet tall – have been built at Marshall, joining historic test stands used to test the Saturn moon rockets. In addition to rocket development, Marshall is involved in numerous other efforts, including supporting all U.S. scientific research conducted aboard the International Space Station. Fifty-five years ago this month, Alan Shepard became the first American in space riding on a Redstone rocket, named for the Huntsville army base where his rocket had been designed – Redstone Arsenal. Today, Marshall, located on the same red clay that gave the arsenal and rocket their name, is undertaking perhaps its largest challenge yet – building a rocket to carry humans to the red stone of Mars. Huntsville grew substantially from its small Southern town roots during its early days of rocket work in the 1950s and ‘60s, and Marshall has gone on to be involved in projects such as Skylab, Spacelab, the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station, to name a few. But despite branching out its work both in space and other technology areas, Huntsville remains the Rocket City. …After all, we built this city on a rocket role. Join in the conversation: Visit our Facebook page to comment on the post about this blog. We’d love to hear your feedback! What do water and aluminum have in common? If you guessed that water and aluminum make SLS fly, give yourself a gold star! Chemistry is at the heart of making rockets fly. Rocket propulsion follows Newton’s Third Law, which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. To get a rocket off the launch pad, create a chemical reaction that shoots gas and particles out one end of the rocket and the rocket will go the other way. What kind of chemical reaction gets hot gases shooting out of the business end of a rocket with enough velocity to unshackle it from Earth’s gravity? Combustion. Whether it’s your personal vehicle or a behemoth launch vehicle like SLS, the basics are the same. Combustion (burning something) releases energy, which makes things go. Start with fuel (something to burn) and an oxidizer (something to make it burn) and now you’ve got propellant. Give it a spark and energy is released, along with some byproducts. For SLS to fly, combustion takes place in two primary areas: the main engines (four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25s) and the twin solid rocket boosters (built by Orbital ATK) that provide more than 75 percent of thrust at liftoff. Combustion powers both propulsion systems, but the fuels and oxidizers are different. Steam clouds, the product of the SLS main engines’ hydrogen-oxygen reaction, pour from an RS-25 engine during testing at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The RS-25 main engines are called “liquid engines” because the fuel is liquid hydrogen (LH2). Liquid oxygen (LOX) serves as the oxidizer. The boosters, on the other hand, use aluminum as fuel with ammonium perchlorate as the oxidizer, mixed with a binder that creates one homogenous solid propellant. Making water makes SLS fly Hydrogen, the fuel for the main engines, is the lightest element and normally exists as a gas. Gases – especially lightweight hydrogen – are low-density, which means a little of it takes up a lot of space. To have enough to power a large combustion reaction would require an incredibly large tank to hold it – the opposite of what’s needed for an aerodynamically designed launch vehicle. To get around this problem, turn the hydrogen gas into a liquid, which is denser than a gas. This means cooling the hydrogen to a temperature of ‑423 degrees Fahrenheit (‑253 degrees Celsius). Seriously cold. Although it’s denser than hydrogen, oxygen also needs to be compressed into a liquid to fit in a smaller, lighter tank. To transform oxygen into its liquid state, it is cooled to a temperature of ‑297 degrees Fahrenheit (‑183 degrees Celsius). While that’s balmy compared to LH2, both propellant ingredients need special handling at these temperatures. What’s more, the cryogenic LH2 and LOX evaporate quickly at ambient pressure and temperature, meaning the rocket can’t be loaded with propellant until a few hours before launch. Once in the tanks and with the launch countdown nearing zero, the LH2 and LOX are pumped into the combustion chamber of each engine. When the propellant is ignited, the hydrogen reacts explosively with oxygen to form: water! Elementary! 2H2 + O2 = 2H2O + Energy This “green” reaction releases massive amounts of energy along with superheated water (steam). The hydrogen-oxygen reaction generates tremendous heat, causing the water vapor to expand and exit the engine nozzles at speeds of 10,000 miles per hour! All that fast-moving steam creates the thrust that propels the rocket from Earth. It’s all about impulse But it’s not just the environmentally friendly water reaction that makes cryogenic LH2 a fantastic rocket fuel. It’s all about impulse – specific impulse. This measure of the efficiency of rocket fuel describes the amount of thrust per amount of fuel burned. The higher the specific impulse, the more “push off the pad” you get per each pound of fuel. The LH2-LOX propellant has the highest specific impulse of any commonly used rocket fuel, and the incredibly efficient RS-25 engine gets great gas mileage out of an already efficient fuel. But even though LH2 has the highest specific impulse, because of its low density, carrying enough LH2 to fuel the reaction needed to leave Earth’s surface would require a tank too big, too heavy and with too much insulation protecting the cryogenic propellant to be practical. To get around that, designers gave SLS a boost. Next time: How the solid rocket boosters use aluminum – the same stuff you use to cover your leftovers – to provide enough thrust to get SLS off the ground. Join in the conversation: Visit our Facebook page to comment on the post about this blog. We’d love to hear your feedback! by dhitt . Earlier this month, another successful test firing of a Space Launch System (SLS) RS-25 engine was conducted at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Engine testing is a vital part of making sure SLS is ready for its first flight . How do the engines handle the higher thrust level they’ll need to produce for an SLS launch? Is the new engine controller computer ready for the task of a dynamic SLS launch? What happens when if you increase the pressure of the propellant flowing into the engine? SLS will produce more thrust at launch than any rocket NASA’s ever flown, and the power and stresses involved put a lot of demands on the engines. Testing gives us confidence that the upgrades we’re making to the engines have prepared them to meet those demands. If you read about the test – and you are following us on Twitter , right? – you probably heard that the engine being used in this test was the first “flight” engine, both in the sense that it is an engine that has flown before, and is an engine that is already scheduled for flight on SLS. You may not have known that within the SLS program, each of the RS-25 engines for our first four flights is a distinct individual, with its own designation and history. Here are five other things you may not have known about the engine NASA and RS-25 prime contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne tested this month, engine 2059. Engine 2059 roars to life during testing at Stennis Space Center. 1. Engine 2059 Is a “Hubble Hugger” – In 2009, the space shuttle made its final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, STS-125. Spaceflight fans excited by the mission called themselves “Hubble Huggers,” including STS-125 crew member John Grunsfeld, today the head of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Along with two other engines, 2059 powered space shuttle Atlantis into orbit for the successful Hubble servicing mission. In addition to its Hubble flight, engine 2059 also made four visits to the International Space Station, including the STS-130 mission that delivered the cupola from which station crew members can observe Earth below them. The engine farthest to the left in this picture of the launch of the last Hubble servicing mission? That’s 2059. (Click for a larger version.) 2. The Last Shall Be First, and the Second-to-Last Shall Be Second-To-First – The first flight of SLS will include an engine that flew on STS-135, the final flight of the space shuttle, in 2011. So if the first flight of SLS includes an engine that flew on the last flight of shuttle, it only makes sense that on the second flight of SLS, there will be an engine that flew on the second-to-last flight of shuttle, right? Engine 2059 last flew on STS-134, the penultimate shuttle flight, in May 2011, and will next fly on SLS Exploration Mission-2. The test of engine 2059 at Stennis Space Center on March 10. 3. Engine 2059 Is Reaching for New Heights – As an engine that flew on a Hubble servicing mission, engine 2059 has already been higher than the average flight of an RS-25. Hubble orbits Earth at an altitude of about 350 miles, more than 100 miles higher than the average orbit of the International Space Station. But on its next flight, 2059 will fly almost three times higher than that – the EM-2 core stage and engines will reach a peak altitude of almost 1,000 miles! Click to see larger version. 4. Sometimes the Engine Tests the Test Stand – The test of engine 2059 gave the SLS program valuable information about the engine, but it also provided unique information about the test stand. Because 2059 is a flown engine, we have data about its past testing performance. Prior to the first SLS RS-25 engine test series last year, the A1 test stand at Stennis had gone through modifications. Comparing the data from 2059’s previous testing with the test this month provides calibration data for the test stand. Attendees of a NASA Social visiting Stennis Space Center being photobombed by engine 2059. 5. You – Yes, You – Can Meet Awesome SLS Hardware Like Engine 2059 – In 2014, participants in a NASA Social at Stennis Space Center and Michoud Assembly Facility, outside of New Orleans, got to tour the engine facility at Stennis, and had the opportunity to have their picture made with one of the engines – none other than 2059. NASA Social participants have seen other SLS hardware, toured the booster fabrication facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and watched an RS-25 engine test at Stennis and a solid rocket booster test at Orbital ATK in Utah. Watch for your next opportunity to be part of a NASA Social here . Watch the test here: If you do not see the video above, please make sure the URL at the top of the page reads http, not https. Next Time: We’ve Got Chemistry! Join in the conversation: Visit our Facebook page to comment on the post about this blog. We’d love to hear your feedback! by dhitt . This week’s Rocketology post is by the newest member of the SLS communications team, Beverly Perry. When NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) first flies, it will slice through Earth’s atmosphere, unshackling itself from gravity, and soar toward the heavens in an amazing display of shock and awe. To meet the engineering challenges such an incredible endeavor presents, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center draws upon a vast and diverse array of engineering talent, expertise and enthusiasm that spans multiple disciplines and, in some cases, a generation. Or two. Kathryn Crowe is a twenty-something aerospace engineer who tweets from her smartphone and calls herself a “purveyor of the future.” Hugh Brady, on the other hand, began his career at Marshall during the days of punch cards and gargantuan room-sized IBM mainframes with an entire 16 kilobytes (!) of memory. While they’ve had very different experiences, Kathryn Crowe and Hugh Brady share a common excitement for their work on SLS. But if you think these two don’t have much common ground on which to build a strong working foundation, well, think again. Although the two aerospace engineers may be separated by a couple generations, they speak of each other with mutual admiration, respect and enthusiasm. And like any relationship built on a solid foundation, there’s room for fun, too. Even though Brady’s career spans 50-plus years at NASA, he’s anything but jaded, to hear Crowe tell it. “Hugh still seems to keep that original sense of excitement. I figure if he thinks I’m doing okay, then I must be doing okay since he’s seen almost our entire history as an agency. It’s nice to have him to help keep me straight,” says Crowe, who recently received NASA’s Space Flight Awareness Trailblazer Award, which recognizes those in the early stages of their career who demonstrate creative, innovative thinking in support of human spaceflight. “And, he always tries to bring a sense of humor to everything he does.” “I’ve enjoyed being mentored by Kathryn,” jokes the seventy-something Brady, who admits to failing retirement (twice, so far) because he loves the space program and can’t stay away. (Also, he said, because he doesn’t care for television. But mostly it’s because he loves space exploration and working with young, talented engineers.) Crowe and Brady have worked together evaluating design options and deciding on solutions to make the second configuration of SLS as flexible and adaptable as possible. This upgraded configuration – known as Block 1B – adds a more-powerful upper stage and will stand taller than the Saturn V. It could fly as early as the second launch of SLS, which will be the first crewed mission to venture into lunar orbit since Apollo. Block 1B also presents the opportunity to fly a co-manifested payload, or additional large payload in addition to the Orion crew capsule. The addition of an Exploration Upper Stage to SLS will make the rocket more powerful and open up new mission possibilities. For Crowe, a self-described “shuttle baby,” working on a future configuration of SLS means the chance to look at the big picture. “I like to have a global view on things. For this particular rocket, we’ve made it as flexible as we can. We can complete missions that we don’t even know the requirements for yet!” For Brady, “Things have a tendency to repeat.” While technology and solutions continue to improve, some of the challenges of spaceflight will always remain the same. When it comes to wrestling with the challenges of a co-manifested payload, Brady draws on his experience, but focuses on solutions that are tailored for SLS. It’s bringing lessons from the past into the present in order to find the best solution for future missions. “It’s drawing on what we’ve learned from the past but not necessarily repeating the past. We want the best solution for this vehicle,” he emphasizes. Crowe says the experience and knowledge Brady brought to the table made all the difference when studying options for the SLS vehicle. “Hugh would say, ‘I think we worked on this particular technical problem when we were initially flying.’ He could draw parallels so we didn’t reinvent the wheel,” Crowe says. Since then, Brady has become something of a mentor to Crowe and other younger team members. “When you put that kind of technical information on the table it gives people better information – information that’s based on prior experience,” Brady says. “We may not pick the same solution, because technology changes over time, but we will have more and better information to use when making decisions.” “I think that having that kind of precedent to build upon it really is a beautiful thing,” Crowe says. For his part, Brady says he feels a “comfort” level in passing the United States’ launch vehicle capabilities on to the next generation of engineers and other supporting personnel. “One of the things I find very exciting is to look around and see the young talent around the center with their energy and enthusiasm. I feel good thinking about when I do hang it up – again – that they will carry on and even do more than we did,” he says. When you ask Crowe if humans will get to Mars, she says, “For sure I think within my lifetime I will see humans on Mars. I think more than ever right now is the right time to return to human spaceflight. We have the right skills and expertise. And when we successfully complete our mission and show that sort of hope to people again, that’s going to be equally as important as technological benefits.” “That’s the objective,” Brady says. “I can’t wait until we fly again. It’s a tremendous feeling! It’s exhilarating! It’s time.” If you do not see the video above, please make sure the URL at the top of the page reads http, not https. Join in the conversation: Visit our Facebook page to comment on the post about this blog. We’d love to hear your feedback! by dhitt . During his yearlong mission aboard the International Space Station, Scott Kelly traveled over 143 million miles in orbit around Earth. On average, Mars is 140 million miles away from our planet. Coincidence? Well, basically. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly took this selfie with the second crop of red romaine lettuce in August 2015. Research into things like replenishable food sources will help prepare the way for Mars. (And the red lettuce even kind of matches the Red Planet!) There’s nothing average about a trip to Mars; so of course you don’t travel an “average distance” to get there. Launches for robotic missions – the satellites and rovers studying Mars today – are timed around when Earth and Mars are about a third of that distance, which happens every 26 months. While the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, straight lines are hard to do in interplanetary travel. Instead, Mars missions use momentum from Earth to arc outward from one planet to the other. The Opportunity rover launched when Earth and Mars were the closest they’d been in 60,000 years, and the rover still had to travel 283 million miles to reach the Red Planet. On the International Space Station, Scott Kelly was traveling at more than 17,000 miles per hour, an ideal speed for orbital research that keeps the station steadily circling Earth every 90 minutes. To break free of orbit and go farther to deep space, spacecraft have to travel at higher speeds. Opportunity, for example, traveled at an average of 60,000 miles per hour on the way to Mars, covering twice the distance Kelly traveled on the station in just over half the time. Although Earth and Mars were relatively close together when Opportunity launched, the rover’s trip out was twice the average distance between the two planets. The fastest any human being has ever traveled was the crew of Apollo 10, who hit a top speed of almost 25,000 miles per hour returning to Earth in 1969. For astronauts to reach Mars, we need to be able to propel them not only faster than the space station travels, but faster than we’ve ever gone before. But the real lesson of Kelly’s year in space isn’t the miles, it’s the months. The human body changes in the absence of the effects of gravity. The time Kelly spent in space will reveal a wealth of new data about these changes , ranging from things like how fluid shifts in microgravity affected his vision to the behavioral health impacts of his long duration in the void of space. This information reveals more about what will happen to astronauts traveling to Mars and back, but it also gives us insight into how to equip them for that trip, which will be approximately 30 months in duration round-trip. What sort of equipment will they need to keep them healthy? What accommodations will they require to stay mentally acute? What sort of vehicle do we need to build and equip to send them on their journey? Months and millions of miles. Momentum and mass. These are some of the most basic challenges of Mars. We will need to build a good ship for our explorers. And we will need the means to lift it from Earth and send it on its way fast enough to reach Mars. An engine section weld confidence article for the SLS Core Stage is taken off the Vertical Assembly Center at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. While Scott Kelly has been living in space helping us to learn more about the challenges, we’ve been working on the rocket that will be a foundational part of addressing them. Scott Kelly left Earth last year half a month after the Space Launch System (SLS) Program conducted a first qualification test of one of its solid rocket boosters. Since then, we have conducted tests of the core stage engines. We’ve started welding together fuel tanks for the core stage. We’ve begun assembling the upper stage for the first flight. We’ve been building new test stands, and upgraded a barge to transport rocket hardware. The Orion program has completed the pressure vessel for a spacecraft that will travel around the moon and back. Kennedy Space Center has been upgrading the facilities that will launch SLS and Orion in less than three years. And that’s just a part of the work that NASA’s done while Kelly was aboard the space station. Our robotic vanguard at Mars discovered evidence of flowing liquid water, and we’ve been testing new technologies to prepare us for the journey. Down here and up there, it’s been a busy year, and one that has, in so many ways, brought us a year closer to Mars. The #YearInSpace months and millions of miles may be done, but many more Mars milestones are yet to come! Next Time: Next Small Steps Episode 3 Join in the conversation: Visit our Facebook page to comment on the post about this blog. We’d love to hear your feedback! by dhitt . This week, I’d like to introduce guest blogger Jared Austin, a fellow writer on the SLS Strategic Communications team, for a peek into a part of the SLS team that is rarely seen, but creates some of our most-seen tools. — David Ever wonder what the sides of the new SLS booster design look like? Now you know! Few people know Barry Howell and what he’s done for the space program for decades. Neither astronaut nor engineer, through his work as a master model maker Barry has helped NASA visualize spacecraft before they existed. For more than 40 years, Barry’s “office” has been a space model workshop filled with the past, present and futures of NASA. Barry has created models of many of NASA’s greatest endeavors – from the mighty Saturn 1B and Saturn V, to the iconic Space Shuttle, to early concepts of the International Space Station, to the Hubble Space Telescope, and many other vehicles. Those models aren’t the mass produced, off-the-shelf toys that little Timmy or Sarah receives for their eighth birthdays. Barry’s models are works of both artistic and technical mastery that are painstakingly crafted to scale in a variety of sizes from models that will fit on your desk to a giant that is over 12 feet tall. Barry Howell with a freshly updated 1-to-50 scale model of SLS. You don’t last forty years at a job unless you’re extremely passionate about what you do. Barry’s craft is a rare calling – there are only a small handful of modellers at Marshall Space Flight Center, and only a few NASA centers have model shops. Model makers who get a job like this tend to keep it for a long time, so turnover is low and opportunities are infrequent. Barry came to the job from a background in machining, which he started working while in high school. But when there is an opening in the model shop, there really is only one job qualification – be the best at what you do. There’s no particular education or experience requirement, unmatched skill is the determining factor. Over the course of his career, Barry’s work has helped solve the agency’s most challenging problems, letting engineers visualize the hardware they are designing and building, and to prove concepts such as the shade on Skylab. After Skylab’s launch, NASA had only 10 days to design and build a sunshade for the space station. Barry helped build a model to demonstrate that the umbrella-like shade that Marshall engineers were designing would properly shield Skylab from the sun’s heat. And his work is rather unique within NASA. Now Barry is taking his decades of experience in modeling all types of NASA systems and using it to produce models of America’s next great rocket, the Space Launch System. In decades past, Barry created his models directly from vehicle engineering blueprints. During his tenure in the model shop, Barry has seen changes in technology and process, along with classic methods that have stood the test of time. In the old days of Saturn and early Shuttle, each and every model would be carefully machined according to actual blueprints that allowed Barry to ensure they were precise representations of the real rockets. Working with aluminum or plexiglass blocks, Barry would carefully drill into blocks with a mill or strip away pieces with a lathe, using nothing more than his focused eye, steady hands, and well-honed judgment to carve the individual parts of the rocket from those blocks. Today, for SLS, model production is a combination of old and new techniques. There’s no longer a need to individually handcraft each model that’s produced; resin casting allows for mass production of models, allowing the model shop to churn out the models at a faster rate and lower cost. But in order to produce the mold for that casting, the old ways are still best. To this day, Barry produces his initial master for each model line with the meticulous same mill and lathe machining process that he used during Saturn. In order to capture the fine detail of an official Marshall model, Barry machines the prototype for each model series the shop produces. Recently, though, even more modern techniques have entered the model shop in the form of 3D printing, creating small astronaut figures, handheld models of the rocket, or small versions of the SLS engines. It’s a new area that the modelers have just begun to explore and holds many possibilities for improving the way they make SLS models going forward. “I truly love every part of the model-making process, as well as the variety of different models that I’ve gotten the chance to make at NASA,” Barry said. “And the young guys I get to work with, they come up with a lot of great ideas on how to make things even better. Barry has also been very gracious in passing on his knowledge to others. Modelers who create their own models at home will often request Barry’s inputs to help them make custom-made parts that look more realistic. Now, as Barry rides off into the sunset of retirement in a couple of months, he’ll be leaving behind a legacy of models showing NASA’s greatest technological achievements. Barry has helped tell the exploration story and by capturing NASA history in 3D for decades. In addition to providing a way to share the vehicles NASA is building, Barry’s models have allowed engineers to visualize concepts that have been proposed. Next Time: A Model Worker Join in the conversation: Visit our Facebook page to comment on the post about this blog. We’d love to hear your feedback! The demands of going to Mars are immense. Meeting that challenge will require delivering our best, and then continuing to do better. Designed to enable human exploration of deep space, NASA’s Space Launch System will be, from its first launch, the most powerful rocket in the world today. The first SLS to depart Earth will carry about triple the payload of the space shuttle, provide more thrust at launch than the Saturn V, and send Orion further into space than Apollo ever ventured. But even that power is only a fraction of what is needed for human landings on Mars. To continue the Journey to Mars, we will have to take the most powerful rocket in the world and make it even more powerful. NASA is doing research today on technologies like composite materials and 3-D printing that will be used to make future versions of the rocket more powerful. Engineers at Marshall’s Space Flight Center, where the program is based, and other engineers across the country, are already in the planning phases for the first major upgrade, which will come in the form of a more powerful upper stage. This will create a version of the rocket that will serve as the workhorse for “Proving Ground” missions that will test out new systems and capabilities in the vicinity of the moon before we heard toward Mars. With the new upper stage, SLS will be able to carry additional payloads to lunar space with Orion, allowing astronauts to make longer stays in deep space. Then, in order to enable the leap to Mars, SLS will receive new, advanced booster rockets that will make it even more powerful. The SLS Program is already working with industry partners to demonstrate new technologies that will make sure the new boosters are state-of-the-art when they begin flying. Mars is sometimes discussed as a “horizon goal” in human space exploration. While Mars is a focus of our efforts, it is neither the first step of the journey nor the last. Just as we will develop our capabilities in the Proving Ground near the moon before heading toward Mars, once we have reached the Red Planet, our voyage into deep space will continue. Space Launch System not only represents a foundation for our first steps on the Red Planet, the robust capability necessary to accomplish that goal will also give us the ability to carry out many other ambitious space missions. Far beyond Mars, SLS could speed space probes far faster than ever before to the outer solar system. With the ability to launch far more mass than any rocket currently flying or in development, SLS could be used to help pave the way to Mars with large-scale robotic precursor missions, such as potentially a sample return, that would demonstrate systems needed for human landings. SLS’s unrivaled ability to speed robotic spacecraft through our solar system offers the potential to revolutionize our scientific expeditions to distant worlds. Reducing the time it takes to reach the outer planets could make it possible to conduct in-depth studies of icy moons that are promising destinations in the search for life. With payload fairings that make it possible to launch five times more volume than any existing rocket, SLS could be used to launch gigantic space telescopes, which will allow us to peer farther into space, and with greater detail, than ever before, revealing new secrets of our universe. In addition to the Orion crew vehicle and other large payloads, SLS will be able to carry small, low-cost secondary payload experiments, some not much larger than a lunchbox, providing new opportunities to for research beyond the moon and through the solar system. This will make it possible for groups that otherwise might not be able to afford a dedicated rocket launch to fly innovative ideas that can help pave the way for exploration. The first launch of the initial configuration of SLS will be just a first step toward these and other opportunities; each upgrade will give us progressively greater ability to explore. Mars – and the solar system – are waiting. For more about how NASA is preparing for the Journey to Mars, check out our page, The Real Martians .   Join in the conversation: Visit our Facebook page  to comment on the post about this blog. We’d love to hear your feedback! David Hitt works in the strategic communications office of NASA’s Space Launch System Program. He began working in NASA Education at Marshall Space Flight Center in 2002, and is the author of two books on spaceflight history.

i don't know

What travels around the Sun at an average speed of 185 miles per second.

At what speed does the Earth move around the Sun? (Beginner) - Curious About Astronomy? Ask an Astronomer At what speed does the Earth move around the Sun? (Beginner) Short version: Earth's average orbital speed is about 30 kilometers per second. In other units, that's about 19 miles per second, or 67,000 miles per hour, or 110,000 kilometers per hour (110 million meters per hour). In more detail: Let's calculate that. First of all we know that in general, the distance you travel equals the speed at which you travel multiplied by the time (duration) of travel. If we reverse that, we get that the average speed is equal to the distance traveled over the time taken. We also know that the time it takes for the Earth to go once around the Sun is one year. So, in order to know the speed, we just have to figure out the distance traveled by the Earth when it goes once around the Sun. To do that we will assume that the orbit of the Earth is circular (which is not exactly right, it is more like an ellipse , but for our purpose a circle is close enough). So the distance traveled in one year is just the circumference of the circle. (Remember, the circumference of a circle is equal to 2×π×radius.) The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is about 149,600,000 km. (Astronomers call this an astronomical unit, or AU for short.) Therefore, in one year, the Earth travels a distance of 2×π×(149,600,000 km). This means that the speed is about: speed = 2×π×(149,600,000 km)/(1 year) and if we convert that to more meaningful units (knowing that there are, on average, about 365.25 days in a year, and 24 hours per day) we get: speed = 107,000 km/h (or, if you prefer, 67,000 miles per hour) So the Earth moves at about 110,000 km/h around the Sun (which is about one thousand times faster than the typical speed of a car on a highway!) Thanks for your explanation, but I was hoping for an explanation a little more precise, since I already knew the one you gave. In the case of your question about the speed of the Earth around the Sun, there isn't really a more 'precise' answer. The only approximation I did in the calculation I sent you is assuming that the orbit of the Earth is circular. This is in fact a very good approximation. One of Kepler's laws describing planetary motions states that all orbits are ellipses. This is the case for Earth's orbit. But not all ellipses come in the same shape. They are described by their 'eccentricity', which tells us how flattened they are. The eccentricity  of an ellipse is a number that varies between 0 and 1, 0 being a perfect circle, and close to 1 being a very flattened ellipse. It turns out that the orbit of the Earth right now has an eccentricity of about 0.017. This means it is almost a circle, making our approximation valid. So under the one approximation that was made, the calculation couldn't really be more 'precise'. And as for the average Earth-Sun distance, the true value changes slightly over time due to gravitational perturbations from the other planets, so there really isn't much point in using a more precise value than the one given above. Now if you want to calculate the speed of the Earth on its orbit without assuming it is a circle, it is another ball game! First of all, I cannot give you a precise answer, because the speed of the Earth changes all the time as the Earth moves around the Sun. This is because Kepler's second law says that on its orbit, a planet will sweep equal areas in equal amounts of time. This means that when the Earth is closer to the Sun (which happens in early January, about two weeks after the northern winter solstice) it's moving faster than when it is farther away. (For more information on how the Earth's orbital speed varies over the course of a year, please see this answer .) Unless you specified a certain date, this means I cannot give you a precise value for the speed of the Earth assuming its orbit is an ellipse. We are better off to stick with the first number we got - the average speed. I hope this answers your question now! This page was last updated on February 28, 2016.

Earth

Which is the second lightest element in the universe?

Rocket speed - How fast does a rocket have to travel to reach space? | Redshift live Rocket speed How fast does a rocket have to travel to reach space? If a rocket is launched from the surface of the Earth, it needs to reach a speed of at least 7.9 kilometers per second (4.9 miles per second) in order to reach space. This speed of 7.9 kilometers per second is known as the orbital velocity, it corresponds to more than 20 times the speed of sound. © GFDL A rocket reaching the orbital velocity (1st cosmic velocity) will enter into orbit around the Earth (C), higher speed will lead to an elliptical trajectory (D). When the escape velocity (2nd cosmic velocity) is attained, the rocket will move away (E). We could leave the Milky Way At the start of the space age, Russian scientists applied the term 'cosmic velocities' to certain velocities that are important for space exploration. The 'first cosmic velocity', known as the orbital velocity, will bring a rocket or other projectile into orbit around the Earth. A slower projectile will fall back to Earth. The 'second cosmic velocity' is the so-called escape velocity from the Earth: 11.2 kilometers per second. This is the speed a rocket should attain in order to be able to escape from the Earth’s gravitational field and fly to other planets. It follows from the laws of orbital mechanics that the escape velocity (11.2 km/s) is equal to the orbital speed (7.9 km/s) multiplied by 1.414 (i.e. by the square root of 2). If a spacecraft travels fast enough it is also possible to leave the Milky Way behind. The 'third cosmic velocity' is the speed that a spacecraft needs to attain in order to be able to leave our solar system. This solar system escape velocity is about 42 kilometers per second (or 0.014 percent of the speed of light in a vacuum). Again, this is the product of the orbital velocity and the square root of 2. However, the orbital velocity now refers to the speed at which the Earth revolves around the Sun: about 30 kilometers per second multiplied by the square root of 2 equals about 42 kilometers per second. The ‘fourth cosmic velocity’ is the escape velocity from our galaxy - the Milky Way. It corresponds to about 320 kilometers per second. It is important to bear in mind that these cosmic velocities are idealized values. For instance they do not take into account the loss of speed due to air resistance when a rocket is launched. Moreover, the values mentioned above are specific to the Earth and our solar system, and they do not apply to other parts of the universe.

i don't know

What is the name of the thousands of small bodies which orbit the Sun?

Small Solar-System Bodies  l Small Bodies News Small Solar-System Bodies The title The Nine Planets is somewhat misleading. In addition to the (eight) planets and their satellites the solar system contains a large number of smaller but interesting objects. Small Bodies There are thousands of known asteroids and comets and undoubtedly many more unknown ones. Most asteroids orbit between Mars and Jupiter . A few (e.g. 2060 Chiron) are farther out. There are also some asteroids whose orbits carry them closer to the Sun than the Earth (Aten, Icarus, Hephaistos). Most comets have highly elliptical orbits which spend most of their time in the outer reaches of the solar system with only brief passages close to the Sun. And there is a large and important class of Trans-Neptunian Objects or Kuiper Belt Objects (including Pluto) that orbit (mostly) beyond Neptune. The distinction between comets and asteroids is somewhat controversial . The main distinction seems to be that comets have more volatiles and more elliptical orbits. But there are interesting ambiguous cases such as 2060 Chiron (aka 95 P/Chiron) and 3200 Phaethon which seem to share some aspects of both categories. Asteroids are sometimes also referred to as minor planets or planetoids (not to be confused with "lesser planets" which refers to Mercury and Pluto ). Some of the largest asteroids and Kuiper Belt objects may be classified as dwarf planets. Very small rocks orbiting the Sun are sometimes called meteoroids to distinguish them from the larger asteroids. When such a body enters the Earth's atmosphere it is heated to incandescence and the visible streak in the sky is known as a meteor. If a piece of it survives to reach the Earth's surface it is known as a meteorite. Millions of meteors bright enough to see strike the Earth every day (amounting to hundreds of tons of material). All but a tiny fraction burn up in the atmosphere before reaching the ground. The few that don't are our major source of physical information about the rest of the solar system. Finally, the space between the planets is not empty at all. It contains a great deal of microscopic dust and gas as well as radiation and magnetic fields.

Asteroid

What can contract to give birth to a star?

Facts about Celestial Bodies in Our Solar System Learning About Our Solar System written by: Jason C. Chavis•edited by: George Adcock •updated: 1/10/2011 The celestial bodies in our Solar System are divided into different sections: the inner planets of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars separated by the asteroid belt from the outer planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Each celestial body is made of a different type of material: rock, gas or ice. slide 1 of 4   The celestial bodies in our Solar System are divided into two regions, based on the structure and size of the planets. The first region of the Solar System is commonly referred to as the inner planetary area, containing the first four planets, which are rocky worlds. This is set apart from the outer planets by the asteroid belt . The outer planets are the four gas giants. Surrounding the entire system is the Kuiper belt , a collection of icy bodies beyond Neptune. Above right: Planets. (Supplied by NASA; Public Domain; http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Planets2008.jpg) slide 2 of 4 Types of Celestial Bodies According to the accepted modern theory, the objects in the Solar System are segmented into three distinct classifications: planets, dwarf planets and other small bodies. Each of these are defined by the International Astronomical Union. In order for a body to be classified as a planet, it must maintain three specific criteria. First, it must be in orbit around the Sun. Second, it must contain enough mass to have formed into a spherical shape. A planet must also have cleared its orbital neighborhood of all other objects, with the exception of moons and orbital rings. By this definition, the Solar System only possesses eight known planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. When Pluto was redacted from the planetary list due to its small size and highly eccentric orbit , it created an uproar within the scientific community. Now designated a dwarf planet or plutoid, Pluto is joined by other objects that fit the criteria of maintaining orbit around the Sun and being large enough to be spherical. The major ones include Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, Eris, Sedna, Orcus and Quaoar. Even so, the California Institute of Technology estimates there are thousands more. Any other object in orbit around the Sun is simply a small celestial body. These include asteroids, meteors and satellites. slide 3 of 4 Composition of Celestial Bodies Celestial bodies in our Solar System are composed of three classes of material: ice, gas and rock. The inner part of the Solar System is principally rock material, usually remaining solid no matter the environmental conditions caused by the Sun. Still, there are limited instances of both ice and gas within this region. The giant planets of the outer solar system are mostly gas, made primarily of hydrogen, helium and neon. Jupiter and Saturn are the most extensive examples of gas bodies. The outer edge of the Solar System is mostly composed of ice. Uranus and Neptune are generally considered ice planets, although there is believed to be occasional gas activity. The Kuiper belt is believed to be pretty much completely ice. There are numerous features for the celestial bodies in our Solar System which define the way we look at their structure and formation. According to astronomers and space scientists, it is likely that any other planetary system capable of supporting life will have a relatively similar structure. This gives us a platform for which to standardize our search for life outside our planet. slide 4 of 4 "Solar System Exploration" NASA: http://solarsystem.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/index.cfm Extreme Science: http://www.extremescience.com/zoom/index.php/space/35-space-science/113-solar-system

i don't know

What is the name for the study of the structure of the universe?

WMAP's Introduction to Cosmology Related Topics Cosmology: The Study of the Universe Cosmology is the scientific study of the large scale properties of the universe as a whole. It endeavors to use the scientific method to understand the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the entire Universe. Like any field of science, cosmology involves the formation of theories or hypotheses about the universe which make specific predictions for phenomena that can be tested with observations. Depending on the outcome of the observations, the theories will need to be abandoned, revised or extended to accommodate the data. The prevailing theory about the origin and evolution of our Universe is the so-called Big Bang theory. Choose from the links in the left column for discussed at length. This primer in cosmological concepts is organized as follows: The main concepts of the Big Bang theory are introduced in the first section with scant regard to actual observations. The second section discusses the classic tests of the Big Bang theory that make it so compelling as the most likely valid and accurate description of our universe. The third section discusses observations that highlight limitations of the Big Bang theory and point to a more detailed model of cosmology than the Big Bang theory alone provides. As discussed in the first section, the Big Bang theory predicts a range of possibilities for the structure and evolution of the universe. The final section discusses what constraints we can place on the nature of our universe based on current data, and indicates how WMAP furthers our understanding of cosmology. In addition, a few related topics are discussed based on commmonly asked questions. For purposed of citation of this portion of the site or the downloadable PDF you can use this information: WMAP Science Team, "Cosmology: The Study of the Universe," NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe,last modified June 6, 2011, http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/WMAP_Universe.pdf or http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/

Cosmology

What units are used for measuring distances in the universe?

‘Supervoid’ is 1.8bn light-years across, the largest single structure in universe - study — RT America Tags Space The massive spherical blob known as the supervoid may be “the largest individual structure ever identified by humanity,” according to lead researcher for the project, István Szapudi, of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. “Using data from Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) telescope located on Haleakala, Maui, and NASA’s Wide Field Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite, Szapudi’s team discovered a large supervoid, a vast region 1.8 billion light-years across, in which the density of galaxies is much lower than usual in the known universe,” a press release stated . “This void was found by combining observations taken by PS1 at optical wavelengths with observations taken by WISE at infrared wavelengths to estimate the distance to and position of each galaxy in that part of the sky.” Furthermore, the Cold Spot, discovered in 2004 and believed to be radiation left by the Big Bang, has become a mainstay in models explaining the impact of the Big Bang on the universe. The Cold Spot's size and temperature, though, were an anomaly. The massive empty region at its center, might explain the Cold Spot’s existence, the new study suggests. “This is the greatest supervoid ever discovered,” András Kovács, a co-author of the report from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary said, according to the Guardian. “In combination of size and emptiness, our supervoid is still a very rare event. We can only expect a few supervoids this big in the observable universe.” Kovács added that the supervoid is not a vacuum, but rather it is 20 percent less dense than other aspects of the universe. “Supervoids are not entirely empty, they’re under-dense,” he said. Despite such a rare discovery, the supervoid ultimately complicates the explanation of the Cold Spot, astronomers say. In addition, the supervoid only accounts for around 10 percent of the Cold Spot's low temperature. “The void itself I’m not so unhappy about. It’s like the Everest of voids – there has to be one that’s bigger than the rest,” said Carlos Frenk, a cosmologist at Britain’s University of Durham, according to the Guardian. “But it doesn’t explain the whole Cold Spot, which we’re still in the dark about.” The study was published online on April 20 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. “While the existence of the supervoid and its expected effect on the CMB [the cosmic microwave background, or Big Bang] do not fully explain the Cold Spot, it is very unlikely that the supervoid and the Cold Spot at the same location are a coincidence,” the press release stated. “The team will continue its work using improved data from PS1 and from the Dark Energy Survey being conducted with a telescope in Chile to study the Cold Spot and supervoid, as well as another large void located near the constellation Draco.”

i don't know

What is another name for a shooting or falling star?

What is a Shooting Star? - Universe Today   Universe Today What is a Shooting Star? Article Updated: 24 Dec , 2015 by Fraser Cain A shooting star is another name for a meteoroid that burns up as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere. So, a shooting star isn’t a star at all. Most of the shooting stars that we can see are known as meteoroids. These are objects as small as a piece of sand, and as large as a boulder. Smaller than a piece of sand, and astronomers call them interplanetary dust. If they’re larger than a boulder, astronomers call them asteroids. A meteoroid becomes a meteor when it strikes the atmosphere and leaves a bright tail behind it. The bright line that we see in the sky is caused by the ram pressure of the meteoroid. It’s not actually caused by friction, as most people think. When a meteoroid is larger, the streak in the sky is called a fireball or bolide. These can be bright, and leave a streak in the sky that can last for more than a minute. Some are so large they even make crackling noises as they pass through the atmosphere. If any portion of the meteoroid actually survives its passage through the atmosphere, astronomers call them meteorites. Some of the brightest and most popular meteor showers are the Leonids, the Geminids, and the Perseids. With some of these showers, you can see more than one meteor (or shooting star) each minute.

Meteoroid

What is the Latin name for the North Star?

What causes a "falling star"? What causes a "falling star"? Answer: A "falling star" or a "shooting star" has nothing at all to do with a star! These amazing streaks of light you can sometimes see in the night sky are caused by tiny bits of dust and rock called meteoroids falling into the Earth's atmosphere and burning up. The short-lived trail of light the burning meteoroid produces is called a meteor. Meteors are commonly called falling stars or shooting stars. If any part of the meteoroid survives burning up and actually hits the Earth, that remaining bit is then called a meteorite . At certain times of year, you are likely to see a great number of meteors in the night sky. These events are called meteor showers and they occur when the Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet as it orbits the Sun. These showers are given names based on the constellation present in the sky from which they appear to originate. For example, the Leonid Meteor Shower, or Leonids, appear to originate in the constellation Leo. It is important to understand that the meteoroids (and therefore the meteors) do not really originate from the constellations or any of the stars in the constellations, however. They just seem to come from that part of the sky because of the way the Earth encounters the particles moving in the path of the comet's orbit. Associating the shower name with the region of the sky they seem to come from just helps astronomers know where to look! The dust and rocks that cause meteor showers come primarily from the Earth passing through the debris stream left behind by a comet as it orbits the Sun. Usually, the Earth's orbit and the comet's orbit are slightly tilted relative to one another. So the paths only intersect on one side! Annual Meteor Showers

i don't know

Scientists study the red shift to investigate which aspect of cosmology?

An Introduction to Philosophy and Cosmology What is Cosmology? written by: Jason C. Chavis•edited by: RC Davison •updated: 7/30/2011 Cosmology is the study of the Universe and man's place within it. Human existence is intertwined with the understanding and existence of the Universe. Cosmology attempts to analyze this connection between what we know to be true and what we believe in. Science, religion and philosophy play a role. slide 1 of 7 How Cosmology Fits with Science Cosmology is the study of the Universe and humanity's place within it. The study has a long history, rooted in region, science, philosophy and esotericism. The first use of the definition was by Christian Wolff, a German philosopher who wrote Comologia Generalis in 1730. The term is derived from the Greek kosmos, meaning “universe," and logia, meaning “study." Modern cosmology is an extension of physics and astrophysics. As the studies showed to play a central role in the fundamental understanding of the Universe, the two sciences became synonymous with cosmology . Mathematics and observational elements began to define the limits and expanses of the Universe as a whole. Scientist were able to understand the concept of the big bang and hypothesize about the expansion of space, determining that the Universe formed 13.7 billion years ago. These discoveries led to the establishment of certain physical laws that exist today, and logically have always existed. Roger Bacon, persecuted by the Catholic Church, postulated during the 1200s the idea of a universe not centered around humans. This drew a stark contrast between religion and science. Cosmology attempts to not only decipher the true nature of the Universe, but also man's place within its boundaries. This has led to the creation of a specific discipline within the cosmology field known as metaphysical cosmology. It attempts to answer the questions regarding natural boundaries and where the human being lies. It can also make determinations about God as a concept within the spacial construct of the Universe. Ancient religions were tandem to the early studies of cosmology. Mythologizing and theorizing about the creation of the Universe, man's place and the ultimate destruction. slide 2 of 7 slide 3 of 7 Above: Ancient woodcarving of where heaven and earth meet. (Image credit: Heikenwaelder Hugo at Wikimedia Commons, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Universum.jpg, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5.) slide 4 of 7 Science The establishment of the large scale nature of the Universe was one of the first successes of the early cosmologists. Ptolemy, an ancient Greek mathematician, proposed the theory that the Earth was the center of the Universe and all things flow around it. This model was called the geocentric system and stayed as the preferred truth about the Universe until the 16th century. Nicolaus Copernicus authored a book entitled On the Evolution of Celestial Spheres in which he claimed the Earth was not the center of the Universe and it orbited around the Sun. This made the Sun the center of the Universe and this was called the heliocentric system. Subsequent studies made by Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei also supported this theory. However, critics of this idea questioned why the celestial bodies floated around the Sun. It wasn't until Isaac Newton established the law of universal gravitation that humans understood the principles that made the solar system function -- gravity was the cause of all motion. During the 1900s, scientists like Albert Einstein pushed for greater understanding of the Universe. The Great Debate, a meeting of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in Washington on August 26, 1920, established the modern principles that scientists follow today. The center of the debate was whether the Milky Way star system was the only true system and everything else orbited around it. Harlow Wilson was the champion of this theory, while Herber D. Curtis claimed that spiral nebulae were their own system, essentially island universes. Edwin Hubble solved the question by showing that the Andromeda galaxy possessed novae and that other galaxies did indeed exist. This led to the big bang theory and the discovery of the red shift, how light shifts toward the red end of the spectrum as objects, like galaxies move away from us, and the cosmic microwave background radiation that fills the entire Universe - remnants of the Big Bang. This gave scientists a fundamental physical understanding of the Universe. slide 5 of 7 Religion Creation myths belong to nearly every conceivable culture on the planet. These theories are a part of the study of the cosmology in that they attempt to explain the beginnings of the Universe and human life. Much of these studies are held in dogma, but occasionally intertwine with a philosophical or metaphysical understanding of the Universe. Many of these religions view creation as a direct act by one or many gods. Usually, these link with teachings of the origin of humanity. Other religious cosmologies also tell of the end of the Universe. Biblical cosmology is understood from the Genesis section of the Bible in both Christianity and Judaism. Islam's universal origins stem from the Qur'an. Buddhism and Hinduism sometimes intertwine a mixture of gods with a cycle that the Universe passes through based on the lifespan of Brahma that last 331 trillion years. Cosmology has also been used as the basis of many modern religious groups. A number of cult leaders have used certain aspects of physical cosmology to explain religious truths in an order to control small sects of people. Still, others adopted the scientific understanding to match religious beliefs such as intelligent design. slide 6 of 7 Philosophy Cosmology is also deeply rooted in philosophy and metaphysics. The totality of space and time is not fully understood by scientists, opening the doors to a more theoretical approach to humanity's place within the cosmos. This differs from religious cosmology in that it does not use principles of faith or belief, but rather the philosophical method such as dialectics, a method of argument. This attempts to answer questions such as, "Why is the Universe necessary?" slide 7 of 7

Metric expansion of space

Which planet possesses the Galilean satellites?

Next Time You're Late To Work, Blame Dark Energy! - Universe Today   Universe Today Next Time You’re Late To Work, Blame Dark Energy! Article Updated: 26 May , 2016 by Matt Williams Ever since Lemaitre and Hubble’s first proposed it in the 1920s, scientists and astronomers have been aware that the Universe is expanding. And from these observations, cosmological theories like the Big Bang Theory and the “ Arrow of Time ” emerged. Whereas the former addresses the origins and evolution of our Universe, the latter argues that the flow of time in one-direction and is linked to the expansion of space. For many years, scientists have been trying to ascertain why this is. Why does time flow forwards, but not backwards? According to new study produced by a research team from the Yerevan Institute of Physics and  Yerevan State University in Armenia, the influence of dark energy may be the reason for the forward-flow of time, which may make one-directional time a permanent feature of our universe. Today, theories like the Arrow of Time and the expansion of the universe are considered fundamental facts about the Universe. Between measuring time with atomic clocks, observing the red shift of galaxies, and created detailed 3D maps that show the evolution of our Universe over the course of billions of years, one can see how time and the expansion of space are joined at the hip. Artist’s impression of the influence gravity has on space time. Credit: space.com The question of why this is the case though is one that has continued to frustrate physicists. Certain fundamental forces, like gravity, are not governed by time. In fact, one could argue without difficulty that Newton’s Laws of Motion and quantum mechanics work the same forwards or backwards. But when it comes to things on the grand scale like the behavior of planets, stars, and entire galaxies, everything seems to come down to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This law, which states that the total chaos (aka. entropy) of an isolated system always increases over time, the direction in which time moves is crucial and non-negotiable, has come to be accepted as the basis for the Arrow of Time. In the past, some have ventured that if the Universe began to contract, time itself would begin to flow backwards. However, since the 1990s and the observation that the Universe has been expanding at an accelerating rate, scientists have come to doubt that this. If, in fact, the Universe is being driven to greater rates of expansion – the predominant explanation is that “ Dark Energy ” is what is driving it – then the flow of time will never cease being one way. Taking this logic a step further, two Armenian researchers – Armen E. Allahverdyan of the Center for Cosmology and Astrophysics at the Yerevan Institute of Physics and Vahagn G. Gurzadyan of Yerevan State University – argue that dark energy is the reason why time always moves forward. In their paper, titled “ Time Arrow is Influenced by the Dark Energy “, they argue that dark energy accelerating the expansion of the universe supports the asymmetrical nature of time. Often referred to as the “cosmological constant” – referring to Einstein’s original theory about a force which held back gravity to achieve a static universe – dark energy is now seen as a “positive” constant, pushing the Universe forward, rather than holding it back. Diagram showing the Lambda-CBR universe, from the Big Bang to the the current era. Credit: Alex Mittelmann/Coldcreation To test their theory, Allahverdyan and Gurzadyan used a large scale scenario involving gravity and mass – a planet with increasing mass orbiting a star. What they found was that if dark energy had a value of 0 (which is what physicists thought before the 1990s), or if gravity were responsible for pulling space together, the planet would simply orbit the star without any indication as to whether it was moving forwards or backwards in time. But assuming that the value of dark energy is a positive (as all the evidence we’ve seen suggests) then the planet would eventually be thrown clear of the star. Running this scenario forward, the planet is expelled because of its increasing mass; whereas when it is run backwards, the planet closes in on the star and is captured by it’s gravity. In other words, the presence of dark energy in this scenario was the difference between having an “arrow of time” and not having one. Without dark energy, there is no time, and hence no way to tell the difference between past, present and future, or whether things are running in a forward direction or backwards. But of course, Allahverdyan and Gurzadyan were also sure to note in their study that this is a limited test and doesn’t answer all of the burning questions. “We also note that the mechanism cannot (and should not) explain all occurrences of the thermodynamic arrow,” they said. “However, note that even when the dark energy (cosmological constant) does not dominate the mean density (early universe or today’s laboratory scale), it still exists.” Limited or not, this research is representative of some exciting new steps that astrophysicists have been taking of late. This involves not only questioning the origins of dark energy and the expansion force it creates, but also questioning its implication in basic physics. In so doing, researchers may finally be able to answer the age-old question about why time exists, and whether or not it can be manipulated (i.e. time travel!)

i don't know

What is brighter than a hundred million suns?

Brighter Than 200 Million Suns Imagining and Planning Interstellar Exploration Brighter Than 200 Million Suns by Paul Gilster on September 2, 2004 It looks bright enough to be a foreground star, but this supernova, called SN 2004dj, is 11 million light years away in a galaxy known as NGC 2403. Not particularly germane to interstellar propulsion or finding candidates for robotic probes, but simply too remarkable a sight to ignore. You can read more about this Hubble photograph here . From the press release issued by the Space Telescope Science Institute: The heart of NGC 2403 is the glowing region at lower left. Sprinkled across the region are pink areas of star birth. The myriad of faint stars visible in the Hubble image belong to NGC 2403, but the handful of very bright stars in the image belong to our own Milky Way Galaxy and are only a few hundred to a few thousand light-years away. This image was taken on Aug. 17, two weeks after an amateur astronomer discovered the supernova. What we’re seeing here is the creation of heavy chemical elements like calcium, iron and gold, all of which, on Earth and elsewhere, came from explosions like this one. Charter In Centauri Dreams, Paul Gilster looks at peer-reviewed research on deep space exploration, with an eye toward interstellar possibilities. For the last nine years, this site has coordinated its efforts with the Tau Zero Foundation , and now serves as the Foundation's news forum. In the logo above, the leftmost star is Alpha Centauri, a triple system closer than any other star, and a primary target for early interstellar probes. To its right is Beta Centauri (not a part of the Alpha Centauri system), with Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon Crucis, stars in the Southern Cross, visible at the far right (image: Marco Lorenzi ). Now Reading

Supernova

Saturn's ring has how many sections?

Brighter Than 200 Million Suns Imagining and Planning Interstellar Exploration Brighter Than 200 Million Suns by Paul Gilster on September 2, 2004 It looks bright enough to be a foreground star, but this supernova, called SN 2004dj, is 11 million light years away in a galaxy known as NGC 2403. Not particularly germane to interstellar propulsion or finding candidates for robotic probes, but simply too remarkable a sight to ignore. You can read more about this Hubble photograph here . From the press release issued by the Space Telescope Science Institute: The heart of NGC 2403 is the glowing region at lower left. Sprinkled across the region are pink areas of star birth. The myriad of faint stars visible in the Hubble image belong to NGC 2403, but the handful of very bright stars in the image belong to our own Milky Way Galaxy and are only a few hundred to a few thousand light-years away. This image was taken on Aug. 17, two weeks after an amateur astronomer discovered the supernova. What we’re seeing here is the creation of heavy chemical elements like calcium, iron and gold, all of which, on Earth and elsewhere, came from explosions like this one. Charter In Centauri Dreams, Paul Gilster looks at peer-reviewed research on deep space exploration, with an eye toward interstellar possibilities. For the last nine years, this site has coordinated its efforts with the Tau Zero Foundation , and now serves as the Foundation's news forum. In the logo above, the leftmost star is Alpha Centauri, a triple system closer than any other star, and a primary target for early interstellar probes. To its right is Beta Centauri (not a part of the Alpha Centauri system), with Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon Crucis, stars in the Southern Cross, visible at the far right (image: Marco Lorenzi ). Now Reading

i don't know

What was the name of two space probes launched in 1977 which sent back remarkable pictures of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune?

Voyager - Planetary Voyage   Planet montage (left to right), Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter The twin spacecraft Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched by NASA in separate months in the summer of 1977 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. As originally designed, the Voyagers were to conduct closeup studies of Jupiter and Saturn, Saturn's rings, and the larger moons of the two planets. To accomplish their two-planet mission, the spacecraft were built to last five years. But as the mission went on, and with the successful achievement of all its objectives, the additional flybys of the two outermost giant planets, Uranus and Neptune, proved possible -- and irresistible to mission scientists and engineers at the Voyagers' home at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. As the spacecraft flew across the solar system, remote-control reprogramming was used to endow the Voyagers with greater capabilities than they possessed when they left the Earth. Their two-planet mission became four. Their five-year lifetimes stretched to 12 and is now near thirty-seven years. Eventually, between them, Voyager 1 and 2 would explore all the giant outer planets of our solar system, 48 of their moons, and the unique systems of rings and magnetic fields those planets possess. Had the Voyager mission ended after the Jupiter and Saturn flybys alone, it still would have provided the material to rewrite astronomy textbooks. But having doubled their already ambitious itineraries, the Voyagers returned to Earth information over the years that has revolutionized the science of planetary astronomy, helping to resolve key questions while raising intriguing new ones about the origin and evolution of the planets in our solar system. History Of The Voyager Mission The Voyager mission was designed to take advantage of a rare geometric arrangement of the outer planets in the late 1970s and the 1980s which allowed for a four-planet tour for a minimum of propellant and trip time. This layout of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, which occurs about every 175 years, allows a spacecraft on a particular flight path to swing from one planet to the next without the need for large onboard propulsion systems. The flyby of each planet bends the spacecraft's flight path and increases its velocity enough to deliver it to the next destination. Using this "gravity assist" technique, first demonstrated with NASA's Mariner 10 Venus/Mercury mission in 1973-74, the flight time to Neptune was reduced from 30 years to 12. While the four-planet mission was known to be possible, it was deemed to be too expensive to build a spacecraft that could go the distance, carry the instruments needed and last long enough to accomplish such a long mission. Thus, the Voyagers were funded to conduct intensive flyby studies of Jupiter and Saturn only. More than 10,000 trajectories were studied before choosing the two that would allow close flybys of Jupiter and its large moon Io, and Saturn and its large moon Titan; the chosen flight path for Voyager 2 also preserved the option to continue on to Uranus and Neptune. From the NASA Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, Voyager 2 was launched first, on August 20, 1977; Voyager 1 was launched on a faster, shorter trajectory on September 5, 1977. Both spacecraft were delivered to space aboard Titan-Centaur expendable rockets. The prime Voyager mission to Jupiter and Saturn brought Voyager 1 to Jupiter on March 5, 1979, and Saturn on November 12, 1980, followed by Voyager 2 to Jupiter on July 9, 1979, and Saturn on August 25, 1981. Voyager 1's trajectory, designed to send the spacecraft closely past the large moon Titan and behind Saturn's rings, bent the spacecraft's path inexorably northward out of the ecliptic plane -- the plane in which most of the planets orbit the Sun. Voyager 2 was aimed to fly by Saturn at a point that would automatically send the spacecraft in the direction of Uranus. After Voyager 2's successful Saturn encounter, it was shown that Voyager 2 would likely be able to fly on to Uranus with all instruments operating. NASA provided additional funding to continue operating the two spacecraft and authorized JPL to conduct a Uranus flyby. Subsequently, NASA also authorized the Neptune leg of the mission, which was renamed the Voyager Neptune Interstellar Mission. Voyager 2 encountered Uranus on January 24, 1986, returning detailed photos and other data on the planet, its moons, magnetic field and dark rings. Voyager 1, meanwhile, continues to press outward, conducting studies of interplanetary space. Eventually, its instruments may be the first of any spacecraft to sense the heliopause -- the boundary between the end of the Sun's magnetic influence and the beginning of interstellar space. Following Voyager 2's closest approach to Neptune on August 25, 1989, the spacecraft flew southward, below the ecliptic plane and onto a course that will take it, too, to interstellar space. Reflecting the Voyagers' new transplanetary destinations, the project is now known as the Voyager Interstellar Mission. Voyager 1 has crossed into the heliosheath and is leaving the solar system, rising above the ecliptic plane at an angle of about 35 degrees at a rate of about 520 million kilometers (about 320 million miles) a year. (Voyager 1 entered interstellar space on August 25, 2012.) Voyager 2 is also headed out of the solar system, diving below the ecliptic plane at an angle of about 48 degrees and a rate of about 470 million kilometers (about 290 million miles) a year. Both spacecraft will continue to study ultraviolet sources among the stars, and the fields and particles instruments aboard the Voyagers will continue to explore the boundary between the Sun's influence and interstellar space. The Voyagers are expected to return valuable data for at least another decade. Communications will be maintained until the Voyagers' power sources can no longer supply enough electrical energy to power critical subsystems.   This page was last updated February 17, 2015

voyager 1 and voyager 2

Which planet has one moon called Charon?

Space Today Online - Voyager spacecraft are leaving the Solar System NASA's Voyager probes carry messages for extraterrestrial civilizations: greetings from humans and whales, some of Earth's greatest music, brainwaves of a woman in love. Click to enlarge NASA artist concept of Voyager 1 and 2 NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is the most distant human-made object in the universe. Its twin, Voyager 2, has traveled to more planets than any other in history. The spacecraft twins, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, were launched by NASA during the summer of 1977 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Barring any fatal equipment failures, the Voyager twins are likely to survive and relay data from beyond the outer planets for many decades into the 21st century. Today, in a dark, cold, vacant neighborhood at the very edge of our Solar System, NASA's Voyager 1 deep space probe holds the record as the Earth explorer that has traveled farthest from home. Voyager 1 When Voyager I was launched in 1977 to study and photograph the giant outer planets of the Solar System, the robot ship was expected to survive just four years. However, like the battery advertising icon, the Energizer Bunny, the little spacecraft kept on going. For 25 years, the Pioneer 10 spacecraft led the way outbound, pressing the frontiers of exploration, but in 1998 the baton was passed from Pioneer 10 to Voyager 1, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California. Voyagers Timeline SOURCES: NASA JPL , STO On Feb. 17, 1998, the Voyager 1 spacecraft cruised beyond the Pioneer 10 spacecraft and become the most distant human-created object in space. At that time, it was 6.5 billion miles from Earth. Pioneer 10 and Voyager 1 are headed in almost opposite directions away from the Sun. The twins, Voyager 1 and 2, opened new vistas for the human race by expanding our knowledge of Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 2 then extended our great planetary adventure when it flew by Uranus and Neptune, becoming the only spacecraft ever to visit these worlds. (None has ever visited Pluto.) Voyager 1, now the most distant human-made object in the Universe, and Voyager 2, close on its heels, continue their ground-breaking journey with their current mission to study the region in space where the Sun's influence ends and the dark recesses of interstellar space begin. Voyager 1 is almost 70 times farther from the Sun than the Earth. Out there, the Sun is only 1/5,000th as bright as here on Earth. It is extremely cold, and there is little solar energy to keep the probe warm and to provide electrical power. The probe can continue to operate at such great distances from the Sun because it has radioisotope thermal electric generators (RTGs) that create electricity. The fact that the spacecraft is still returning data is a remarkable technical achievement. Voyager flight path. Voyager 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral on Sept. 5, 1977. It flew by Jupiter on March 5, 1979, and then Saturn on Nov. 12, 1980. Because its trajectory was designed to fly close to Saturn's large moon Titan, Voyager 1's path was bent northward by Saturn's gravity. That sent the spacecraft out of the Solar System's ecliptic plane -- the plane in which all the planets, except Pluto, orbit the Sun. On Feb. 17, 1998, Voyager 1 was departing the Solar System at a speed of 39,000 miles per hour. At the same time, Voyager 2 was 5.1 billion miles from Earth and was departing the Solar System at a speed of 35,000 miles per hour. Voyager 2 is heading in the opposite direction of Voyager I and traveling at a slightly slower speed. Pioneer 10 had been launched earlier, on March 2, 1972. Its official mission ended on March 31, 1997. However, NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, intermittently receives science data from Pioneer as part of a training program for flight controllers. Low power. Voyager 1 was so far from Earth in 1998 that it took 9 hours 36 minutes for a radio signal traveling at the speed of light to reach Earth. Voyager's signal, produced by a 20 watt radio transmitter, is so faint that the amount of power reaching NASA's antennas is 20 billion times smaller than the power of a digital watch battery. Deep space environment. Having completed their planetary explorations, Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, are studying the environment of space in the outer Solar System. Although beyond the orbits of all the planets, the spacecraft still are well within the boundary of the Sun's magnetic field -- the heliosphere. Science instruments on both spacecraft sense signals that scientists believe are coming from the outermost edge of the heliosphere, known as the heliopause. Heliosphere. The Sun emits a steady flow of electrically-charged particles called the solar wind. As the solar wind expands supersonically into space, it creates a magnetized bubble around the Sun -- the heliosphere. Eventually, the solar wind runs into the electrically-charged particles and magnetic field in the interstellar gas. The solar wind abruptly slows down from supersonic to subsonic speed, creating a termination shock. Before both spacecraft travel beyond the heliopause into interstellar space, they must pass through that shockwave. Voyager may pass through the termination shock sometime soon. Then, within ten years, Voyager should penetrate the heliopause -- the outermost edge of the Sun's magnetic field -- and enter into true interstellar space for the first time. The low-energy charged-particle detectors aboard both Voyagers continue to detect ions and electrons accelerated by the Sun and huge shock waves, tens of astronomical units (AU) in radius, that are driven outward through the solar wind. Using data sent to Earth by the Voyager cosmic ray detectors, NASA scientists are predicting the termination shock to be in the range of 62 to 90 AU from the Sun. They estimate the heliopause is located from 110 to 160 AU from the Sun. Most estimates are about 85 AU. Voyager 1 is moving outwards at 3.5 AU per year, so it may encounter the termination shock in the early 2000s. Reaching the termination shock and heliopause will be major milestones for the mission because no spacecraft from Earth have been there before and the Voyagers will gather the first direct evidence of the termination shock and heliopause. Flying through the termination shock and heliopause have been long-sought goals for many space physicists. What space is like around the two boundaries is a mystery. Receiving data. Science data from the Voyagers is returned to Earth in real-time to NASA's 34-meter Deep Space Network antennas in California, Australia and Spain. Both spacecraft have enough electricity and attitude control propellant to continue operating until about the year 2020. It is estimated that electrical power produced by the RTGs then will no longer support science instrument operation. At that time, Voyager 1 will be 150 times farther from the Sun than the Earth is -- almost 14 billion miles away. Voyager 2 Voyager 2 was launched first, on Aug. 20, 1977, and Voyager 1 was launched shortly thereafter, on Sept. 5, on a faster trajectory. Initially, both spacecraft were only supposed to explore two planets-Jupiter and Saturn. But the incredible success of those two first encounters and the good health of the spacecraft prompted NASA to extend Voyager 2's mission to Uranus and Neptune. Since 1989, when Voyager 2 flew by Neptune, both spacecraft have been studying the environment of space in the outer Solar System. Voyager 1 is now more than twice as far from the Sun as Neptune and their journey is only half over. The planetary encounters Voyager 1 at Jupiter. Voyager 1 encountered Jupiter on March 5, 1979, and Saturn on Nov. 12, 1980, and then, because its trajectory was designed to fly close to Saturn's large moon Titan, Voyager 1's path was bent northward by Saturn's gravity sending the spacecraft out of the ecliptic plane, the plane in which all the planets but Pluto orbit the Sun. Voyager 2 at Jupiter. Voyager 2 arrived at Jupiter on July 9, 1979, and Saturn on Aug. 25, 1981, and was then sent on to Uranus on Jan. 25, 1986, and Neptune on Aug. 25, 1989. Neptune's gravity bent Voyager 2's path southward sending it also out of the ecliptic plane and on toward interstellar space. Voyager science As the spacecraft flew across the Solar System, remote-control reprogramming of their computers gave the Voyagers greater capabilities than they possessed when they left Earth. Four science instruments still are collecting data as part of the Voyager Interstellar Mission. Faster solar wind. The plasma detectors, which measure the protons in the solar wind, observed a slow, year-long increase in the speed of the solar wind which peaked in late 1996. Now they are reporting a slow decrease in solar wind velocity. The velocity peak may have coincided with the recent solar minimum. As a new solar maximum arrives in the year 2000, the solar wind pressure may decrease. That might draw the termination shock and heliopause inward towards the Voyager spacecraft. Weakest magnetic fields. The magnetometers onboard the Voyagers measure the magnetic fields carried out into interplanetary space by the solar wind. The Voyagers have measured the weakest interplanetary magnetic fields ever detected and those are responsive to charged particles that cannot be detected directly by any other instruments on the spacecraft. The other science instruments still collecting data include the planetary radio astronomy receiver and the ultraviolet spectrometer. Spacecraft electrical power is supplied by radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) that produced some 470 watts of power at launch. Due to the natural radioactive decay of the plutonium fuel source, the electrical energy output continually declines. By 1997, the power generated by Voyager 1 had dropped to 334 watts and Voyager 2 to 336 watts. However, those levels were better than had been predicted before launch. There might have been four NASA originally planned a Grand Tour of the outer planets, including two launches to Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto in 1976-77 and two launches to Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune in 1979. There would have been four Voyagers. However, space exploration financing was not much different then from now. NASA was not allocated sufficient funds to carry out the complete plan. The Grand Tour project underwent a dramatic revision down to two spacecraft, each of which would travel only to Jupiter and Saturn. The name of the mission was changed to Mariner Jupiter/Saturn, or MJS. Later, six months prior to launch, it was renamed Voyager. The downsized mission was estimated to cost only a third of what the Grand Tour design would have cost. Where will they end up? NASA says both Voyagers are headed towards the outer boundary of the Solar System in search of the heliopause — the region where the Sun's influence wanes and the beginning of interstellar space can be sensed. Voyager 1 is departing the Solar System at a speed of 39,000 miles per hour. Voyager 2 is departing the Solar System at a speed of 35,000 miles per hour. Sometime in the next 10 years, the two spacecraft will cross an area known as the termination shock where the million-mile-per-hour solar wind slows to about 250,000 miles per hour. After reaching the termination shock, the Voyagers will continue on to cross the heliopause in another 10 to 20 years. One Astronomical Unit (AU) is equal to the distance from the Earth to the Sun – about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers). The heliopause is somewhere between 5 and 14 billion miles from the Sun. It never has been reached by any spacecraft from Earth, so the Voyager twins will be the first human-built spacecraft from Earth to pass through that region. The Voyagers have enough electrical power and thruster fuel to operate at least until 2020. By that time, Voyager 1 will be 12.4 billion miles from the Sun and Voyager 2 will be 10.5 billion miles from the Sun. Eventually, the Voyagers will pass other stars: Voyager 1, in 40,000 years, will float by within 1.6 light years (9.3 trillion miles) of a star known as AC+79 3888 in the constellation Camelopardalis. Voyager 2, in 296,000 years, will sail within 4.3 light years (25 trillion miles) of Sirius, which today is the brightest star in Earth's sky. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are destined to wander through our Milky Way galaxy eternally — unless they crash into something we can't yet calculate. Project management. Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the Voyager Interstellar Mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. Learn more about the Voyagers:

i don't know

What are the clouds of interstellar dust, said to be the birthplace of stars?

What is the interstellar medium? Links What is the Interstellar Medium? Simply put, the interstellar medium is the material which fills the space between the stars. Many people imagine outer space to be a complete vacuum, devoid of any material. Although the interstellar regions are more devoid of matter than any vacuum artificially created on earth, there is matter in space. These regions have very low densities and consist mainly of gas (99%) and dust . In total, approximately 15% of the visible matter in the Milky Way is composed of interstellar gas and dust. Interstellar Gas: Approximately 99% of the interstellar medium is composed of interstellar gas, and of its mass, about 75% is in the form of hydrogen (either molecular or atomic), with the remaining 25% as helium. The interstellar gas consists partly of neutral atoms and molecules , as well as charged particles, such as ions and electrons . This gas is extremely dilute, with an average density of about 1 atom per cubic centimeter. (For comparison, the air we breathe has a density of approximately 30,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules per cubic centimeter.) Even though the interstellar gas is very dilute, the amount of matter adds up over the vast distances between the stars. The interstellar gas is typically found in two forms: Cold clouds of neutral atomic or molecular hydrogen; and Hot ionized hydrogen near hot young stars. The cold clouds of neutral or molecular hydrogen are the birthplace of new stars if they become gravitationally unstable and collapse. The neutral and molecular forms emit radiation in the radio band of the electromagnetic spectrum . The ionized hydrogen is produced when large amounts of ultraviolet radiation are released by hot newly-formed stars. This radiation ionizes the surrounding clouds of gas. Visible light is emitted when electrons recombine with the ionized hydrogen, which is seen as beautiful red colors of emission nebulae. Examples of emission nebulae are the Trifid Nebula or the Orion Nebula (seen in this photograph). Interstellar Dust: Interstellar dust is not like the dust that you might find under your bed; it is made of very different substances. These dust particles are extremely small, just a fraction of a micron across, which happens to be approximately the wavelength of blue light waves. The particles are irregularly shaped, and are composed of silicates, carbon, ice, and/or iron compounds. When light from other stars passes through the dust, a few things can happen. If the dust is thick enough, the light will be completely blocked, leading to dark areas. These dark clouds are known as dark nebulae. The Horsehead Nebula, seen to the left, is an example of this. Light passing through a dust cloud may not be completely blocked, although all wavelengths of light passing through will be dimmed somewhat. This phenomenon is known as extinction . The extinction is caused by the light being scattered off of the dust particles out of our line of sight, preventing the light from reaching us. The amount that the light is dimmed depends upon a few factors, including the thickness a nd density of the dust cloud, as well as the wavelength (color) of the light. Because of the size of the dust particles, scattering of blue light is favored. Therefore, less of the blue light reaches us, which means that the light that reaches us is more red than it would have been without the interstellar dust. This effect is known as interstellar reddening . (Note that this is not the same thing as redshift , which is due to the effects of relative movement between a light source and its receiver.) This process is similar to those that make the sun red at sunset. (To see an explanation of extinction and interstellar reddening that is more mathematical, please visit this site .) In turn, a dust cloud that is illuminated by star light, when viewed from the side, appears blue, as in the close-up of the "Egg Nebula" seen at right. This is similar to the blue sky we see, which is produced by sunlight scattered by the Earth's atmosphere. Aside from passing through, or being blocked from passing through, interstellar dust, light may also be reflected from the clouds of dust. This is seen as a reflection nebula, as is seen in the lower left corner of the Horsehead Nebula image as a bright spot. A reflection nebula is a region of dusty gas surrounding a star where the dust reflects the starlight, making it visible to us. The picture at left was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, and is of NGC 1999, a nebula in the constellation Orion. (You can read the press release that accompanies the picture on the HST site .)    

Nebula

What is the astronomical unit equal to 32,616 light years?

Star Facts: The Basics of Star Names and Stellar Evolution Star Facts: The Basics of Star Names and Stellar Evolution By Charles Q. Choi, Space.com Contributor | December 16, 2014 09:41pm ET MORE Credit: University of Leicester Stars are giant, luminous spheres of plasma. There are billions of them — including our own sun — in the Milky Way Galaxy. And there are billions of galaxies in the universe. So far, we have learned that hundreds also have planets orbiting them. History of observations Since the dawn of recorded civilization, stars played a key role in religion and proved vital to navigation. Astronomy , the study of the heavens, may be the most ancient of the sciences. The invention of the telescope and the discovery of the laws of motion and gravity in the 17th century prompted the realization that stars were just like the sun, all obeying the same laws of physics. In the 19th century, photography and spectroscopy — the study of the wavelengths of light that objects emit — made it possible to investigate the compositions and motions of stars from afar, leading to the development of astrophysics. In 1937, the first radio telescope was built, enabling astronomers to detect otherwise invisible radiation from stars. In 1990, the first space-based optical telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope , was launched, providing the deepest, most detailed visible-light view of the universe. Star naming Ancient cultures saw patterns in the heavens that resembled people, animals or common objects — constellations that came to represent figures from myth, such as Orion the Hunter, a hero in Greek mythology. Astronomers now often use constellations in the naming of stars. The International Astronomical Union, the world authority for assigning names to celestial objects, officially recognizes 88 constellations . Usually, the brightest star in a constellation has "alpha," the first letter of the Greek alphabet, as part of its scientific name. The second brightest star in a constellation is typically designated "beta," the third brightest "gamma," and so on until all the Greek letters are used, after which numerical designations follow. A number of stars have possessed names since antiquity — Betelgeuse , for instance, means "the hand (or the armpit) of the giant" in Arabic. It is the brightest star in Orion, and its scientific name is Alpha Orionis. Also, different astronomers over the years have compiled star catalogs that use unique numbering systems. The Henry Draper Catalog, named after a pioneer in astrophotography, provides spectral classification and rough positions for 272,150 stars and has been widely used of by the astronomical community for over half a century. The catalog designates Betelgeuse as HD 39801. Since there are so many stars in the universe, the IAU uses a different system for newfound stars. Most consist of an abbreviation that stands for either the type of star or a catalog that lists information about the star, followed by a group of symbols. For instance, PSR J1302-6350 is a pulsar, thus the PSR. The J reveals that a coordinate system known as J2000 is being used, while the 1302 and 6350 are coordinates similar to the latitude and longitude codes used on Earth. A young, glittering collection of stars looks like an aerial burst. The cluster is surrounded by clouds of interstellar gas and dust—the raw material for new star formation. The nebula, located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina, contains a central cluster of huge, hot stars, called NGC 3603. Credit: NASA, ESA, R., F. Paresce, E. Young, the WFC3 Science Oversight Committee, and the Hubble Heritage Team Star formation A star develops from a giant, slowly rotating cloud that is made up entirely or almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. Due to its own gravitational pull, the cloud behind to collapse inward, and as it shrinks, it spins more and more quickly, with the outer parts becoming a disk while the innermost parts become a roughly spherical clump. According to NASA, this collapsing material grows hotter and denser, forming a ball-shaped protostar . When the heat and pressure in the protostar reaches about 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit (1 million degrees Celsius), atomic nuclei that normally repel each other start fusing together, and the star ignites. Nuclear fusion converts a small amount of the mass of these atoms into extraordinary amounts of energy — for instance, 1 gram of mass converted entirely to energy would be equal to an explosion of roughly 22,000 tons of TNT. Evolution of stars The life cycles of stars follow patterns based mostly on their initial mass. These include intermediate-mass stars such as the sun, with half to eight times the mass of the sun, high-mass stars that are more than eight solar masses, and low-mass stars a tenth to half a solar mass in size. The greater a star's mass, the shorter its lifespan generally is. Objects smaller than a tenth of a solar mass do not have enough gravitational pull to ignite nuclear fusion — some might become failed stars known as brown dwarfs . An intermediate-mass star begins with a cloud that takes about 100,000 years to collapse into a protostar with a surface temperature of about 6,750 F (3,725 C). After hydrogen fusion starts, the result is a T-Tauri star , a variable star that fluctuates in brightness. This star continues to collapse for roughly 10 million years until its expansion due to energy generated by nuclear fusion is balanced by its contraction from gravity, after which point it becomes a main-sequence star that gets all its energy from hydrogen fusion in its core. The greater the mass of such a star, the more quickly it will use its hydrogen fuel and the shorter it stays on the main sequence. After all the hydrogen in the core is fused into helium, the star changes rapidly — without nuclear radiation to resist it, gravity immediately crushes matter down into the star's core, quickly heating the star. This causes the star's outer layers to expand enormously and to cool and glow red as they do so, rendering the star a red giant . Helium starts fusing together in the core, and once the helium is gone, the core contracts and becomes hotter, once more expanding the star but making it bluer and brighter than before, blowing away its outermost layers. After the expanding shells of gas fade, the remaining core is left, a white dwarf that consists mostly of carbon and oxygen with an initial temperature of roughly 180,000 degrees F (100,000 degrees C). Since white dwarves have no fuel left for fusion, they grow cooler and cooler over billions of years to become black dwarves too faint to detect. (Our sun should leave the main sequence in about 5 billion years.) A high-mass star forms and dies quickly. These stars form from protostars in just 10,000 to 100,000 years. While on the main sequence, they are hot and blue, some 1,000 to 1 million times as luminous as the sun and are roughly 10 times wider. When they leave the main sequence, they become a bright red supergiant, and eventually become hot enough to fuse carbon into heavier elements. After some 10,000 years of such fusion, the result is an iron core roughly 3,800 miles wide (6,000 km), and since any more fusion would consume energy instead of liberating it, the star is doomed, as its nuclear radiation can no longer resist the force of gravity. When a star reaches a mass of more than 1.4 solar masses, electron pressure cannot support the core against further collapse, according to NASA. The result is a supernova. Gravity causes the core to collapse, making the core temperature rise to nearly 18 billion degrees F (10 billion degrees C), breaking the iron down into neutrons and neutrinos. In about one second, the core shrinks to about six miles (10 km) wide and rebounds just like a rubber ball that has been squeezed, sending a shock wave through the star that causes fusion to occur in the outlying layers. The star then explodes in a so-called Type II supernova. If the remaining stellar core was less than roughly three solar masses large, it becomes a neutron star made up nearly entirely of neutrons, and rotating neutron stars that beam out detectable radio pulses are known as pulsars. If the stellar core was larger than about three solar masses, no known force can support it against its own gravitational pull, and it collapses to form a black hole . A low-mass star uses hydrogen fuel so sluggishly that they can shine as main-sequence stars for 100 billion to 1 trillion years — since the universe is only about 13.7 billion years old , according to NASA, this means no low-mass star has ever died. Still, astronomers calculate these stars, known as red dwarfs , will never fuse anything but hydrogen, which means they will never become red giants. Instead, they should eventually just cool to become white dwarfs and then black dwarves. Constellations ancient and modern grace the skies year round. Let's see what you know about the star patterns that appear overhead every night.

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Which is the second largest planet in the solar system?

What is the Second Biggest Planet in the Solar System? - Universe Today   Universe Today What is the Second Biggest Planet in the Solar System? Article Updated: 24 Dec , 2015 by Fraser Cain The biggest planet in the Solar System is Jupiter. But the title for the second biggest planet in our Solar System goes to Saturn. Just for a comparison, Jupiter measures 142,984 km across its equator. Saturn for comparison is only 120,536. So Jupiter is only 1.18 times as big of Saturn. Saturn is big, but it has a much lower mass. Once again, Jupiter is 3.34 times as massive as Saturn. Since Saturn is so big, but has so little mass, it has a very low density. In fact, if you had a pool big enough, Saturn would float. The density of Saturn is less than water. And this means that you wouldn’t experience a lot of gravity if you tried to walk on the “surface of Saturn”. If you were standing on the surface of Saturn (I know, that’s impossible), you would experience only 91% the force of Earth’s gravity. If you wanted to compare Saturn to Earth, it’s 9.4 times as big as the Earth, and 95 times as massive. It it was just a hollow shell, you could pack 763 Earths inside Saturn, with a little room to spare. Wanna see Jupiter? Here are amazing telescopes from Amazon.com which you can buy at reasonable prices: Here’s the article about how Jupiter is the biggest planet . And here’s another article about just how big planets can get . If you’d like more info on Saturn, check out Hubblesite’s News Releases about Saturn , and another page on Saturn from NASA’s Solar System Exploration Guide . We have recorded a whole series of podcasts about the Solar System at Astronomy Cast . Check them out here.

Saturn

Which planet has been the focus of investigations for signs of life?

Planets Planets Mercury | Venus | Earth | Mars | Jupiter | Saturn | Uranus | Neptune |* Pluto Traditional Definition Etymology: Middle English planete, from Old French, from Late Latin planeta, modification of Greek planEt-, planEs, literally, wanderer, from planasthai to wander. any of the seven celestial bodies: Sun, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Saturn that in ancient belief have motions of their own among the fixed stars. any of the large bodies that revolve around the Sun in the solar system. [see IAU resolutions below] a similar body associated with another star. EARTH -- usually used with "the". a celestial body held to influence the fate of human beings a person or thing of great importance : LUMINARY - plan�et�like /-"lIk/ adjective * The IAU [ International Astronomical Union ] officially designates planets within our solar system. STATUS February 2, 2006 "The IAU notes the very rapid pace of discovery of bodies within the Solar system over the last decade and so our understanding of the Trans-Neptunian Region is therefore still evolving very rapidly. This is in serious contrast to the situation when Pluto was discovered. As a consequence, The IAU has established a Working Group to consider the definition of a minimum size for a Planet. Until the report of this Working Group is received, all objects discovered at a distance from the Sun greater than 40 AU will continue to be regarded as part of the Trans-Neptunian population." UPDATE August 24, 2006 RESOLUTION 5A The IAU therefore resolves that planets and other bodies in our Solar System be defined into three distinct categories in the following way: (1) A planet1 is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit. (2) A dwarf planet is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape2, (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite. (3) All other objects3 orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as "Small Solar System Bodies". 1The eight planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. 2An IAU process will be established to assign borderline objects into either dwarf planet and other categories. 3These currently include most of the Solar System asteroids, most Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), comets, and other small bodies. Relative sizes of the planets and stars by Dave Jarvis . Smallest Planets

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In the general theory of relativity what causes space-time to be modified?

BBC Universe - General relativity: Warped space-time and black holes Listen now 45 min Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Vacuum of Space. Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Vacuum of Space, from the innards of the atom to the outer reaches of space. About General relativity General relativity (GR, also known as the general theory of relativity or GTR) is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and the current description of gravitation in modern physics. General relativity generalizes special relativity and Newton's law of universal gravitation, providing a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time, or spacetime. In particular, the curvature of spacetime is directly related to the energy and momentum of whatever matter and radiation are present. The relation is specified by the Einstein field equations, a system of partial differential equations. Some predictions of general relativity differ significantly from those of classical physics, especially concerning the passage of time, the geometry of space, the motion of bodies in free fall, and the propagation of light. Examples of such differences include gravitational time dilation, gravitational lensing, the gravitational redshift of light, and the gravitational time delay. The predictions of general relativity have been confirmed in all observations and experiments to date. Although general relativity is not the only relativistic theory of gravity, it is the simplest theory that is consistent with experimental data. However, unanswered questions remain, the most fundamental being how general relativity can be reconciled with the laws of quantum physics to produce a complete and self-consistent theory of quantum gravity. Einstein's theory has important astrophysical implications. For example, it implies the existence of black holes—regions of space in which space and time are distorted in such a way that nothing, not even light, can escape—as an end-state for massive stars. There is ample evidence that the intense radiation emitted by certain kinds of astronomical objects is due to black holes; for example, microquasars and active galactic nuclei result from the presence of stellar black holes and supermassive black holes, respectively. The bending of light by gravity can lead to the phenomenon of gravitational lensing, in which multiple images of the same distant astronomical object are visible in the sky. General relativity also predicts the existence of gravitational waves, which have since been observed directly by physics collaboration LIGO. In addition, general relativity is the basis of current cosmological models of a consistently expanding universe.

Mass

Which space probes failed to find life on Mars?

Theory of relativity - Wikiquote Theory of relativity spacetime curvature. The theory of relativity , or simply relativity in physics, usually encompasses two theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. Contents Quotes[ edit ] Riemann has shewn that as there are different kinds of lines and surfaces, so there are different kinds of space of three dimensions; and that we can only find out by experience to which of these kinds the space in which we live belongs. In particular, the axioms of plane geometry are true within the limits of experiment on the surface of a sheet of paper, and yet we know that the sheet is really covered with a number of small ridges and furrows, upon which (the total curvature not being zero) these axioms are not true. Similarly, he says although the axioms of solid geometry are true within the limits of experiment for finite portions of our space, yet we have no reason to conclude that they are true for very small portions; and if any help can be got thereby for the explanation of physical phenomena, we may have reason to conclude that they are not true for very small portions of space. William Kingdon Clifford , "On the Space-Theory of Matter," Abstract (read Feb 21, 1870) from the Cambridge Philosophical Society's Proceedings II (1876) pp. 157-158, see also Clifford, Mathematical Papers (1882) pp. 21-22 I hold in fact (1) That small portions of space are in fact of a nature analogous to little hills on a surface which is on the average flat; namely, that the ordinary laws of geometry are not valid in them. (2) That this property of being curved or distorted is continually being passed on from one portion of space to another after the manner of a wave. (3) That this variation of the curvature of space is what really happens in that phenomenon which we call the motion of matter, whether ponderable or etherial. (4) That in the physical world nothing else takes place but this variation, subject possibly to the law of continuity. William Kingdon Clifford, "On the Space-Theory of Matter," Abstract (read Feb 21, 1870) from the Cambridge Philosophical Society's Proceedings II (1876) pp. 157-158 No mathematician can give any meaning to the language about matter, force, inertia used in current text-books of mechanics. William Kingdon Clifford, Nature (June 10, 1880) as quoted by Karl Pearson , in his Preface to Clifford's The Common Sense of the Exact Sciences (1885) We may... be treating merely as physical variations effects which are really due to changes in the curvature of our space; whether, in fact, some or all of those causes which we term physical may not be due to the geometrical construction of our space. There are three kinds of variation in the curvature of our space which we ought to consider as within the range of possibility. (i) Our space is perhaps really possessed of a curvature varying from point to point, which we fail to appreciate because we are acquainted with only a small portion of space, or because we disguise its small variations under changes in our physical condition which we do not connect with our change of position. The mind that could recognise this varying curvature might be assumed to know the absolute position of a point. For such a mind the postulate of the relativity of position would cease to have a meaning. It does not seem so hard to conceive such a state of mind as the late Professor Clerk-Maxwell would have had us believe. It would be one capable of distinguishing those so-called physical changes which are really geometrical or due to a change of position in space. (ii) Our space may be really same (of equal curvature), but its degree of curvature may change as a whole with the time. In this way our geometry based on the sameness of space would still hold good for all parts of space, but the change of curvature might produce in space a succession of apparent physical changes. (iii) We may conceive our space to have everywhere a nearly uniform curvature, but that slight variations of the curvature may occur from point to point, and themselves vary with the time. These variations of the curvature with the time may produce effects which we not unnaturally attribute to physical causes independent of the geometry of our space. We might even go so far as to assign to this variation of the curvature of space 'what really happens in that phenomenon which we term the motion of matter.' William Kingdon Clifford & Karl Pearson , The Common Sense of the Exact Sciences (1885) Ch IV, Position, §19 On the Bending of Space The modern theory of relativity, on its mathematical side, is merely an elaboration of Riemann 's analysis. Julian Lowell Coolidge , A History of Geometrical Methods (1940) It is the reciprocity of these appearances—that each party should think the other has contracted—that is so difficult to realise. Here is a paradox beyond even the imagination of Dean Swift . Gulliver regarded the Lilliputians as a race of dwarfs; and the Lilliputians regarded Gulliver as a giant. That is natural. If the Lilliputians had appeared dwarfs to Gulliver, and Gulliver had appeared a dwarf to the Lilliputians—but no! that is too absurd for fiction, and is an idea only to be found in the sober pages of science. ...It is not only in space but in time that these strange variations occur. If we observed the aviator carefully we should infer that he was unusually slow in his movements; and events in the conveyance moving with him would be similarly retarded—as though time had forgotten to go on. His cigar lasts twice as long as one of ours. ...But here again reciprocity comes in, because in the aviator's opinion it is we who are travelling at 161,000 miles a second past him; and when he has made all allowances, he finds that it is we who are sluggish. Our cigar lasts twice as long as his. Arthur Eddington , Space, Time and Gravitation (1920) ...The present revolution of scientific thought follows in natural sequence on the great revolutions at earlier epochs in the history of science. Einstein's special theory of relativity, which explains the indeterminateness of the frame of space and time, crowns the work of Copernicus who first led us to give up our insistence on a geocentric outlook on nature; Einstein's general theory of relativity, which reveals the curvature or non-Euclidean geometry of space and time, carries forward the rudimentary thought of those earlier astronomers who first contemplated the possibility that their existence lay on something which was not flat. These earlier revolutions are still a source of perplexity in childhood, which we soon outgrow; and a time will come when Einstein's amazing revelations have likewise sunk into the commonplaces of educated thought. Arthur Eddington , The Theory of Relativity and its Influence on Scientific Thought (1922), p. 31-32 Another topic deserving discussion is Einstein’s modification of Newton’s law of gravitation. In spite of all the excitement it created, Newton’s law of gravitation is not correct! It was modified by Einstein to take into account the theory of relativity. According to Newton, the gravitational effect is instantaneous, that is, if we were to move a mass, we would at once feel a new force because of the new position of that mass; by such means we could send signals at infinite speed. Einstein advanced arguments which suggest that we cannot send signals faster than the speed of light, so the law of gravitation must be wrong. By correcting it to take the delays into account, we have a new law, called Einstein’s law of gravitation. One feature of this new law which is quite easy to understand is this: In the Einstein relativity theory, anything which has energy has mass—mass in the sense that it is attracted gravitationally. Even light, which has an energy, has a “mass.” When a light beam, which has energy in it, comes past the sun there is an attraction on it by the sun. Thus the light does not go straight, but is deflected. During the eclipse of the sun, for example, the stars which are around the sun should appear displaced from where they would be if the sun were not there, and this has been observed. Richard Feynman , The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I, Chapter 7. The Theory of Gravitation For over 200 years the equations of motion enunciated by Newton were believed to describe nature correctly, and the first time that an error in these laws was discovered, the way to correct it was also discovered. Both the error and its correction were discovered by Einstein in 1905. Newton’s Second Law, which we have expressed by the equation : F 2 {\displaystyle m={\frac {{m}_{0}}{\sqrt {1-v^{2}/c^{2}}}}} where the “rest mass” m0 represents the mass of a body that is not moving and c is the speed of light, which is about 3×105 km⋅sec−1 or about 186,000 mi⋅sec−1. Richard Feynman , The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I, Chapter 15. The Special Theory of Relativity It was the space doctor who figured out the answer. He said that if our ideas about light were right, then our ideas about distance and seconds must be wrong. He said that time doesn’t pass the same for everyone. When you go fast, he said, the world around you changes shape, and time outside starts moving slower. The doctor came up with some numbers for how time and space must change to make the numbers for light work. With his idea, everyone would see light moving the right distance every second. This idea is what we call his special idea. The special idea is really, really strange, and understanding it can take a lot of work. Lots of people thought it must be wrong because it’s so strange, but it turned out to be right. We know because we’ve tried it out. If you go really fast, time goes slower. If you’re in a car, you see watches outside the car go slower. They only go a little slower, so you wouldn’t notice it in your normal life; it takes the best watches in the world to even tell that it’s happening. But it really does happen. Randall Munroe, " The Space Doctor’s Big Idea " (Nov 18, 2015) After the doctor figured out the special idea, he started thinking about weight. Things with weight pull on each other. Earth pulls things down toward it, which is why you can’t jump to space. Earth also pulls on the moon, keeping it near us, and the sun pulls on Earth in the same way. It turns out that light gets pulled by weight, too. (People weren’t sure about this for a while, because it moves so fast that it only gets pulled a little.) Someone very careful might notice that this gives us a new problem: How can light turn? The numbers that explain how light moves also say that it can only go forward. It can’t change direction in empty space. That’s just what the numbers for light say—the same numbers that say it always moves a certain distance every second. If a light wave is pulled down, it has to turn to point down, since it can’t travel to the side. To turn, the bottom part of the wave has to go slower than the top part, since it’s going a shorter distance in the same time. But that can’t be right, because the numbers say that light can’t go faster or slower. We’re in trouble again. And, once again, the space doctor has an answer. The space doctor figured out that to explain how weight pulls things like light, we have to play around with time again. He showed that if time itself goes slower near heavy things, then the side of the light near the heavy thing won’t go as far every second. This lets the light turn toward the heavy thing. The doctor’s idea was that weight slows down time, and it explained how light could bend. But to figure out how much light bends, we need to look at the other part of the doctor’s big idea. To talk about that part, let’s forget about light and instead visit another world. Randall Munroe, " The Space Doctor’s Big Idea " (Nov 18, 2015) There is a point of view according to which relativity theory is the end-point of "classical physics", which means physics in the style of Newton-Faraday-Maxwell, governed by the "deterministic" form of causality in space and time, while afterwards the new quantum-mechanical style of the laws of Nature came into play. This point of view seems to me only partly true, and does not sufficiently do justice to the great influence of Einstein, the creator of the theory of relativity, on the general way of thinking of the physicists of today. By its epistemological analysis of the consequences of the finiteness of the velocity of light (and with it, of all signal-velocities), the theory of special relativity was the first step away from naive visualization. The concept of the state of motion ,of the "luminiferous aether", as the hypothetical medium was called earlier, had to be given up, not only because it turned out to be unobservable, but because it became superfluous as an element of a mathematical formalism, the group-theoretical properties of which would only be disturbed by it. Wolfgang Pauli (1956), Preface of Theory of Relativity By the widening of the transformation group in general relativity the idea of distinguished inertial coordinate systems could also be eliminated by Einstein as inconsistent with the group-theoretical properties of the theory. Without this general critical attitude, which abandoned naive visualizations in favour of a conceptual analysis of the correspondence between observational data and the mathematical quantities in a theoretical formalism, the establishment of the modern form of quantum theory would not have been possible. Wolfgang Pauli (1956), Preface of Theory of Relativity I consider the theory of relativity to be an example showing how a fundamental scientific discovery, sometimes even against the resistance of its creator, gives birth to further fruitful developments, following its own autonomous course. Wolfgang Pauli (1956), Preface of Theory of Relativity Einstein's famous theory of relativity states that while phenomena appear different to someone close to a black hole, traveling close to the speed of light, or in a falling elevator here on earth, scientists in profoundly different environments will nevertheless always discover the same underlying laws of nature. F. David Peat , From Certainty to Uncertainty (2002) Relativity distorted classical expectations in a way that Clavain still did not find entirely intuitive. Slam two objects towards each other, each with individual velocities just below light-speed, and the classical result for their closing velocity would be the sum of their individual speeds: just under twice the speed of light. Yet the true result, confirmed with numbing precision, was that the objects saw each other approach with a combined speed that was still just below the speed of light. Similarly, the relativistic closing velocity for two objects moving towards each other with individual speeds of one-half of light-speed was not light-speed itself, but eight-tenths of it. It was the way the universe was put together, and yet it was not something the human mind had evolved to accept. Alastair Reynolds , Redemption Ark (2002), chapter 26 There is another side to the theory of relativity. ...the development of science is in the direction to make it less subjective, to separate more and more in the observed facts that which belongs to the reality behind the phenomena, the absolute, from the subjective element, which is introduced by the observer, the relative. Einstein's theory is a great step in that direction. We can say that the theory of relativity is intended to remove entirely the relative and exhibit the pure absolute. Willem de Sitter , "Relativity and Modern Theories of the Universe," Kosmos (1932) This is the mathematical formulation of the theory of relativity. The metric properties of the four-dimensional continuum are described... by a certain number (ten, in fact) of quantities denoted by gαβ, and commonly called "potentials." The physical status of matter and energy, on the other hand, is described by ten other quantities, denoted by Tαβ, the set of which is called the "material tensor." This special tensor has been selected because it has the property which is mathematically expressed by saying that its divergence vanishes, which means that it represents something permanent. The fundamental fact of mechanics is the law of inertia , which can be expressed in its most simple form by saying that it requires the fundamental laws of nature to be differential equations of the second order. Thus the problem was to find a differential equation of the second order giving a relation between the metric tensor gαβ and the material tensor Tαβ. This is a purely mathematical problem, which can be solved without any reference to the physical meaning of the symbols. The simplest possible equation (or rather set of ten equations, because there are ten g's) of that kind that can be found was adopted by Einstein as the fundamental equation of his theory. It defines the space-time continuum, or the " field ." The world-lines of material particles and light quanta are the geodesics in the four-dimensional continuum defined by the solutions gαβ of these field-equations. The equations of the geodesic thus are equivalent to the equations of motion of mechanics. When we come to solve the field-equations and substitute the solutions in the equations of motion, we find that in the first approximation, i.e. for small material velocities (small as compared with the velocity of light), these equations of motion are the same as those resulting from Newton's theory of gravitation. The distinction between gravitation and inertia has disappeared; the gravitational action between two bodies follows from the same equations, and is the same thing, as the inertia of one body. A body, when not subjected to an extraneous force (i.e. a force other than gravitation), describes a geodesic in the continuum, just as it described a geodesic, or straight line, in the absolute space of Newton under the influence of inertia alone. The field-equations and the equations of the geodesic together contain the whole science of mechanics, including gravitation. Willem de Sitter , "Relativity and Modern Theories of the Universe," Kosmos (1932) Two points should be specially emphasized in connection with the general theory of relativity. First, it is a purely physical theory, invented to explain empirical physical facts, especially the identity of gravitational and inertial mass, and to coordinate and harmonize different chapters of physical theory, especially mechanics and electromagnetic theory. It has nothing metaphysical about it. Its importance from a metaphysical or philosophical point of view is that it aids us to distinguish in the observed phenomena what is absolute, or due to the reality behind the phenomena, from what is relative, i.e. due to the observer. Second, it is a pure generalization, or abstraction, like Newton's system of mechanics and law of gravitation. It contains no hypothesis, as contrasted with the atomic theory or the theory of quanta , which are based on hypothesis. It may be considered as the logical sequence and completion of Newton's Principia . The science of mechanics was founded by Archimedes , who had a clear conception of the relativity of motion, and may be called the first relativist. Galileo , who was inspired by the reading of the works of Archimedes, took the subject up where his great predecessor had left it. His fundamental discovery is the law of inertia, which is the backbone of Newton's classical system of mechanics, and retains the same central position in Einstein's relativistic system. Thus one continuous line of thought can be traced through the development of our insight into the mechanical processes of nature... characterized by the sequence... Archimedes, Galileo, Newton, Einstein. Willem de Sitter , The Astronomical Aspect of the Theory of Relativity (1933) The best presentation of the general theory [of relativity] is still Eddington's book of 1923, The Mathematical Theory of Relativity . For the planetary motion and the motion of the moon, see: de Sitter, "On Einstein's theory of gravitation and and its astronomical consequences," Monthly Notices, R. Astr. Soc. London, 76:699; 77:155. The mathematical foundation, the calculus of tensors, is given very completely in Eddington's book. For an exhaustive treatment see: Levi-Cevita , The Absolute Differential Calculus , translated by Dr. E. Perisco (1927). Willem de Sitter , The Astronomical Aspect of the Theory of Relativity (1933) footnote Einstein's theory of relativity has advanced our ideas of the structure of the cosmos a step further. It is as if a wall which separated us from Truth has collapsed. Wider expanses and greater depths are now exposed to the searching eye of knowledge, regions of which we had not even a presentiment. It has brought us much nearer to grasping the plan that underlies all physical happening.

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Which type of celestial object emits bursts of energy at regular intervals?

Astronomical Terms Health and Science > Astronomy > Astronomical Measurement Astronomical Terms The Milky Way, the galaxy containing our solar system, is about 100,000 light-years in diameter and about 10,000 light-years thick. Aphelion: see Orbit. Apogee: see Orbit. Black hole: the theoretical end-product of the total gravitational collapse of a massive star or group of stars. Crushed even smaller than the incredibly dense neutron star, the black hole may become so dense that not even light can escape its gravitational field. In 1996, astronomers found strong evidence for a massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Recent evidence suggests that black holes are so common that they probably exist at the core of nearly all galaxies. Conjunction: the alignment of two celestial objects at the same celestial longitude. Conjunction of the Moon and planets is often determined with reference to the Sun. For example, Saturn is said to be in conjunction with the Sun when Saturn and Earth are aligned on opposite sides of the Sun. Mercury and Venus, the two planets with orbits within Earth's orbit, have two positions of conjunction. Mercury, for example, is said to be in inferior conjunction when the Sun and Earth are aligned on opposite sides of Mercury. Mercury is in superior conjunction when Mercury and Earth are aligned on opposite sides of the Sun. Dwarf planet: see Planet. Elongation: the angular distance between two points in the sky as measured from a third point. The elongation of Mercury, for example, is the angular distance between Mercury and the Sun as measured from Earth. Planets whose orbits are outside Earth's can have elongations between 0° and 180°. (When a planet's elongation is 0°, it is at conjunction; when it is 180°, it is at opposition.) Because Mercury and Venus are within Earth's orbit, their greatest elongations measured from Earth are 28° and 47°, respectively. Galaxy: gas and millions of stars held together by gravity. All that you can see in the sky (with a very few exceptions) belongs to our galaxy—a system of roughly 200 billion stars. The exceptions you can see are other galaxies. Our own galaxy, the rim of which we see as the “ Milky Way ,” is about 100,000 light-years in diameter and about 10,000 light-years in thickness. Its shape is roughly that of a thick lens; more precisely, it is a spiral nebula, a term first used for other galaxies when they were discovered and before it was realized that these were separate and distinct galaxies. Astronomers have estimated that the universe could contain 40 to 50 billion galaxies. In 2004, the Hubble Space Telescope and observers at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii discovered a new galaxy 13 billion light-years from Earth. Neutron star: an extremely dense star with a powerful gravitational pull. Some neutron stars pulse radio waves into space as they spin; these are known as pulsars . Occultation: the eclipse of one celestial object by another. For example, a star is occulted when the Moon passes between it and Earth. Opposition: the alignment of two celestial objects when their longitude differs by 180°. Opposition of the Moon and planets is often determined with reference to the Sun. For example, Saturn is said to be at opposition when Saturn and the Sun are aligned on opposite sides of Earth. Only the planets whose orbits lie outside Earth's can be in opposition to the Sun. Orbit: the path traveled by an object in space. The term comes from the Latin orbis, which means “circle” or “disk,” and orbita, “orbit.” Theoretically, there are four mathematical figures, or models, of possible orbits: two are open (hyperbola and parabola) and two are closed (ellipse and circle), but in reality all closed orbits are ellipses. Ellipses can be nearly circular, as are the orbits of most planets, or very elongated, as are the orbits of most comets, but the orbit revolves around a fixed, or focal, point. In our solar system, the Sun's gravitational pull keeps the planets in their elliptical orbits; the planets hold their moons in place similarly. For planets, the point of the orbit closest to the Sun is the perihelion, and the point farthest from the Sun is the aphelion. For orbits around Earth, the point of closest proximity is the perigee; the farthest point is the apogee. See also Retrograde. Perigee: see Orbit. Perihelion: see Orbit. Planet: the International Astronomical Union (IAU) issued the definition for planet (from the Greek planetes, “wanderers”) at their General Assembly in August 2006. A planet is a body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) is massive enough that its self-gravity gives it a nearly-spherical shape, and (c) has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. A body that fulfills the first two criteria but not the third is a dwarf planet, provided that it (d) is not a satellite. While the exact definition of “clearing the neighborhood” was not established at press time, the eight planets from Mercury through Neptune have either assimilated or repulsed most other objects in their orbits, and each has more mass than the combined total of everything else in its area. The same cannot be said for Pluto, which has now been reclassified as a dwarf planet. There are currently eight planets and three dwarf planets recognized in the solar system, and more dwarf planets are expected to be admitted. In 1994, Dr. Alexander Wolszcan, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University, presented convincing evidence of the first known planets to exist outside our solar system. These particular extrasolar planets circle a pulsar , or exploded star, in the constellation Virgo. In 1995, several of these extrasolar planets were discovered orbiting stars similar to our Sun. Swiss astronomers found the first extrasolar planet (HD 209458b, nicknamed “Osiris”) to circle a normal Sun-like star. As of May 2006, 170 such planets have been discovered. In Feb. 2004, using the Hubble Space Telescope , a team of scientists at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris announced that they had discovered oxygen and carbon in the atmosphere of “Osiris.” In Aug. 2004, NASA and the National Science Foundation announced the discovery of two new planets, the smallest yet found, about the size of Neptune. The discovery opens up the possibility of smaller, Earth-sized extrasolar planets. In April 2005, a team of American and European astronomers reported that the first image of an extrasolar planet had been made. The planet is orbiting a brown dwarf near the constellation Hydra, 230 million light-years from Earth. Pulsar: a celestial object, believed to be a rapidly spinning neutron star, that emits intense bursts of radio waves at regular intervals. Quasar: “quasi-stellar” object. Originally thought to be peculiar stars in our own galaxy, quasars are now believed to be the most remote objects in the universe. Quasars emit tremendous amounts of light and microwave radiation. Although they are not much bigger than Earth's solar system, quasars pour out 100 to 1,000 times as much light as an entire galaxy containing a hundred billion stars. It is believed that quasars are powered by massive black holes that suck up billions of stars. Retrograde: describes the clockwise orbit or rotation of a planet or other celestial object, which is in the direction opposite to Earth and most celestial bodies. As viewed from a position in space north of the solar system (from some great distance above Earth's North Pole), all the planets revolve counterclockwise around the Sun, and all but Venus, Uranus, and Pluto rotate counterclockwise on their own axes. These three planets have retrograde motion. Sometimes retrograde is also used to describe apparent backward motion as viewed from Earth. This motion happens when two objects rotate at different speeds around another fixed object. For example, the planet Mars appears to be retrograde when Earth overtakes and passes by it as they both move around the Sun. Satellite (or moon ): an object in orbit around a planet. Until the discovery of Jupiter's four main moons by Galileo Galilei, celestial objects in orbit around a planet were called moons. However, upon Galilei's discovery, Johannes Kepler (in a letter to Galileo) suggested satellite (from the Latin satelles, which means “attendant”) as a general term for such objects. The word satellite is used interchangeably with moon, and astronomers speak and write about the moons of Neptune, Saturn, etc. The term satellite is also used to describe man-made devices of any size that are launched into orbit. Small Solar System Objects: at the 2006 IAU General Assembly, solar system bodies not defined as planets, dwarf planets, or satellites were placed in this category. These include most asteroids, most Trans-Neptunian Objects, comets, and other small bodies. Star: a celestial object consisting of intensely hot gases held together by gravity. Stars derive their energy from nuclear reactions going on in their interiors, generating heat and light. Stars are very large. Our Sun has a diameter of 865,400 mi—a comparatively small star. A dwarf star is a small star that is of relatively low mass and average or below-average luminosity. The Sun is a yellow dwarf, which is in its main sequence, or prime of life. This means that nuclear reactions of hydrogen maintain its size and temperature. By contrast, a white dwarf is a star at the end of its life, with low luminosity, small size, and very high density. A red giant is a star nearing the end of its life. When a star begins to lose hydrogen and burn helium instead, it gradually collapses, and its outer region begins to expand and cool. The light we see from these stars is red because of their cooler temperature. There are also red super giants, which are even more massive. A brown dwarf lacks the mass to generate nuclear fusion like a true star, but it is also too massive and hot to be a planet. A brown dwarf usually cools into a dark, practically invisible object. The existence of brown dwarfs, also called failed stars, was confirmed in Nov. 1995 when astronomers at Palomar Observatory in California took the first photograph of this mysterious object. Supernova: a celestial phenomenon in which a star explodes, releasing a great burst of light. There are two basic types of supernova. Type Ia happens when a white dwarf star draws large amounts of matter from a nearby star until it can no longer support itself and collapses. The second more well-known kind of supernova, type IIa, is the result of the collapse of a massive star. (Massive is a classification for a star that is at least eight times the size of our Sun.) Once the star's nuclear fuel is exhausted, if its core is heavy enough, the star will collapse in on itself, releasing a huge amount of energy (the supernova), which may be brighter than the star's host galaxy. On Feb. 24, 1987, Canadian astronomer Ian Shelter at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile discovered a supernova—an exploding star—from a photograph taken on Feb. 23 of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy some 160,000 light-years away from Earth. Astronomers believe that the dying star was Sanduleak –69°202, a 10-million-year-old blue supergiant. Supernova 1987A was the closest and best-studied supernova in almost 400 years. One was previously observed by Johannes Kepler in 1604, four years before the telescope was invented.

Pulsar

Which country has the airline KLM?

Neutron star - definition of neutron star by The Free Dictionary Neutron star - definition of neutron star by The Free Dictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/neutron+star Also found in: Thesaurus , Encyclopedia , Wikipedia . neutron star n. A celestial body having a mass of 1.4 to 2.1 solar masses contained within a radius of only about 10 kilometers (6 miles), formed when a massive star collapses with sufficient energy to force all of its electrons into the nuclei that they orbit, where they react with protons, leaving only neutrons. Neutron stars are powerful sources of radio waves and x-rays. neutron star n (Astronomy) a star that has collapsed under its own gravity to a diameter of about 10 to 15 km. It is composed mostly of neutrons, has a mass of between 1.4 and about 3 times that of the sun, and a density in excess of 1017 kilograms per cubic metre neu′tron star` n. an extremely dense, compact star composed primarily of neutrons, esp. the collapsed core of a supernova. [1934] neutron star A celestial object consisting of an extremely dense mass of neutrons, formed by the forcing together of protons and electrons in the collapse of a massive star. Most neutron stars rotate very rapidly. Many have powerful magnetic fields that focus radio waves, light, and other radiation into two beams that point outward from the magnetic poles. See more at star . neutron star The smallest but densest kind of star, apparently resulting from a supernova explosion that compressed the star’s particles into subatomic neutrons. A neutron star 15 mi (25 km) across can equal the Sun’s mass. ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Noun 1. neutron star - a star that has collapsed under its own gravity; it is composed of neutrons pulsar - a degenerate neutron star; small and extremely dense; rotates very fast and emits regular pulses of polarized radiation star - (astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior Translations

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What two letters are worth the most in a game of Scrabble?

10 Words That Will Win You Any Game of Scrabble | Mental Floss 10 Words That Will Win You Any Game of Scrabble Hasbro Like us on Facebook Whether you consider winning at Scrabble a case of extreme luck or supreme spelling ability, here are 10 words that—if conditions are right—will help you trump any opponent. 1. Oxyphenbutazone Definition: An anti-inflammatory medication used to treat arthritis and bursitis. Conditions: The theoretically highest-possible scoring word under American Scrabble play—as calculated by Dan Stock of Ohio—has never actually been played … and probably never will (unless you’re really, really lucky). That’s because it has to be played across three triple word score squares and build on eight already-played (and perfectly positioned) tiles. Points: 1,778 2. Quizzify Definition: To quiz or question. Conditions: Not only will you need to draw the game’s only Q and Z tiles (there’s only one of each), but a blank tile, too (in place of the second Z). Play this verb as your first word across two triple word squares with the Z on a double letter score square and you’ve got the game’s most valuable eight-letter bingo. Points: 419 3. Oxazepam Definition: An anti-anxiety drug. Conditions: All that stress will melt away if you can build on one existing letter , play across two triple word score squares, place one of the most valuable tiles (i.e. X or Z) on a double letter score square and net a 50-point bingo. Points: 392 4. Quetzals Definition: The national bird of Guatemala as well as one of its monetary units. Conditions: Placement is everything to score this whopper of a word: Building on one letter, use all seven letters on your rack for a 50-point bingo, with Q and S on triple word score square and Z on a double letter score space. Points: 374 5. Quixotry Definition: A romantic or quixotic idea or action. Conditions: In 2007, Michael Cresta used an already-played R and all seven of his tiles across two triple word score squares to earn the most points ever on a single turn, which aided in a second record for the full-time carpenter: the highest-ever individual game score (830 points). Points: 365 6. Gherkins Definition: A small pickle, made from an immature cucumber. Conditions: In 1985, Robert Kahn paid tribute to the pickle at the National Scrabble Championship in Boston—using an E and R already on the board—to set a record for a non-bingo word score. Points: 180 7. Quartzy Definition: Resembling quartz. Conditions: “Quartzy” held the record for highest-ever single turn score until “Quixotry” nearly doubled its total in 2007. Play it across a triple word score square with Z as a double letter score, with a 50-point bingo for using all seven letters on your rack. Points: 164 8. Muzjiks Definition: A Russian peasant. Conditions: On its own (with no bonuses or extra points), “muzjiks” is worth an impressive 29 points. But exhaust all of your tiles on your first turn to spell it, and you’ll earn more than four times that—which is what player Jesse Inman did at the National Scrabble Championship in Orlando in 2008 to earn the record for highest opening score. Points: 126 9. Syzygy Definition: An alignment of three celestial bodies. Conditions: Forget trying to pronounce it (though, for the record, it’s “SIZ-i-jee”). Instead, just remember how to spell it—and that it’s worth 21 points au naturel . You’ll need one blank tile to make up for the lack of Ys (there are only two in the game). For a higher total, land the Z on a double letter score square and the final Y on a triple word score square. Points: 93 10. Za Definition: Slang term for pizza. Conditions: Big words are great and all, but two-letter words can also score big . And be especially annoying to your opponent. Build on two As—one directly below, the other directly to the right of a triple letter square—to spell this two-letter delectable across and down. Points: 62

q and z

After how many years of marriage would you celebrate your ruby anniversary?

Scrabble: Should letter values change? - BBC News BBC News Scrabble: Should letter values change? By Laura Gray BBC News 15 January 2013 Read more about sharing. Close share panel The values of the letters in Scrabble were assigned according to the front page of a US newspaper in the 1930s. Is it time the scoring system was updated to reflect today's usage? All Scrabble players know that Q and Z are the highest scoring tiles. You can get 10 points for each, in the English language version of the game. But according to one American researcher, Z really only deserves six points. And it's not just Z that's under fire. After 75 years of Scrabble, some argue that the current tile values are out of date as certain letters have become more common than they used to be. "The dictionary of legal words in Scrabble has changed," says Joshua Lewis, researcher and creator of a software program which allocates new, up-to-date values to Scrabble tiles. "Among the notable additions are all of these short words which make it easier to play Z, Q and X, so even though Q and Z are the highest value letters in Scrabble, they are now much easier to play." Joshua Lewis's program is called Valett and it recalculates the letter valuations by looking at three things. What is Scrabble? Players make words on a board and earn points according to the value of the letters they use They have seven letters each Every word has to join a word already on the board So to get rid of all your letters, you would usually need to think of an eight-letter word The winner is the player with the most points when all the spare letters have been used and one player has no letters left How to win at Scrabble Firstly, there is the frequency of the letters in the English language. Secondly, the frequency by word length - how many times a letter appears in two, three, seven, and eight-letter words. And finally, he looked at how easy it is to play the letter with other letters. For example, Q is a difficult letter to play so would warrant a higher score than S, which can be played with many more. According to Lewis's system, X (worth eight points in the current game) is worth only five points and Z (worth 10 points now) is worth six points. Other letter values change too, but less radically. For example, U (one point currently) is worth two in the new version, G (two points) becomes three and M (three points) becomes two. Not all letters change under these proposals but those that do tend to have fallen in value. In explaining why his overall point distribution is lower, Lewis blames Q which, as he puts it, is an "outlier", much harder to play than other letters. It is a game of luck and changing the tile values wouldn't achieve anything Philip Nelkon, Mattel, Scrabble manufacturer "You get this justified separation between Q at 10 and Z and J at six, and in general the non-Q letters are a bit more compressed in value." He looked at increasing the value of Q to 12, but decided against putting too much power in a single tile. Lewis is not the first to propose an updated version of Scrabble, says John Chew, co-president of the North American Scrabble Players Association. He says he hears from people once or twice a year saying that the tile values are incorrect. In fact this has been happening ever since the game was invented in 1938 by the American architect Alfred Butts, who calculated a value for each tile by measuring how frequently each letter appeared on the front page of the New York Times. Letter scores that would change Source: Joshua Lewis "Alfred Butts had a selection bias in favour of printed newspaper English which many people have suggested ought to be rectified," says Chew. But is there a market for a revised version of Scrabble? If the tile values changed there would be "catastrophic outrage", says Chew. "Some people would just continue playing with the old tile distributions because people who've played the game often enough tend to remember that the Q is worth 10 points, the Z is worth 10 points and so on." What's more, he says, seasoned Scrabble players know there is an important difference between the value written on a Scrabble tile and that tile's real value when played in a game, a notion he calls "equity value". So a blank tile or an S have an equity value that far outstrips their face value because they can easily earn a player so many points. So could Scrabble tiles really be changed to adapt to our evolving vocabulary? No, according to Mattel, the company which manufactures Scrabble in Europe. "Mattel has no plans to change Scrabble tiles. It is not a game where fairness is paramount, it is a game of luck and changing the tile values wouldn't achieve anything," says Philip Nelkon, Scrabble's UK representative. More or Less: Behind the stats Listen to More or Less on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, or download the free podcast More stories from More or Less Even Joshua Lewis, inventor of the new system believes the traditional valuations can make the game more exciting. "You're really lucky if you pick an X because it's over-valued and unlucky if you pick a V. So if they were to re-do the values of the tiles that would reduce the level of luck. "That might be desirable in tournaments but it might not be as good in casual play where you want the less skilled players to have a shot periodically at beating the more highly skilled players." So those players who rely on good luck when playing Scrabble can breathe a sigh of relief. You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook

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Where would a troglodyte live? In a cave, up a tree or underwater?

New Feature: Title Field in Questions - Etudes New Feature: Title Field in Questions June 11, 2015 by Etudes Admin 0 Instructors now have the ability to add a “Title” when authoring objective questions or essays (assignments) in the assessment engine of Etudes. This optional field provides a way to categorize questions by keywords or phrases. For example, the title may be the chapter or unit that the question’s content is derived from, or it could be used to identify questions in summative assessments to collect Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) data (see Using the Question Title Field for SLO Data Collection ).  Adding Titles to Questions When adding a question, you may also provide a title. Use one word or very short phrase for this field.  If titles are included in questions during authoring, they will be listed in a separate column in the question list of your pools.  The Title column is sortable. If you like to author your questions offline in a text file and bulk upload / paste them into Etudes via the offline authoring functionality, you can include titles to your questions by adding “QuestionTitle:” (case insensitive) after the question, as in the following: Where would a “troglodyte” live? *1. In a cave

In a Cave

How many counters does each player have at the start of a game of backgammon?

Trogloraptor spider discovered in US cave - Telegraph Wildlife Trogloraptor spider discovered in US cave A new family of spiders named Trogloraptor for its fearsome claws has been discovered in a cave in southern Oregon.   Image 1 of 4 A female Trogloraptor marchingtoni, which has been described as the spider equivalent of Bigfoot Photo: Charles Griswold et al / Zoo Keys   Image 1 of 4 The raptor-like claws of Trogloraptor in a microscope closeup Photo: Griswold CE, Audisio T, Ledford JM   A male Trogloraptor photographed in the laboratory Photo: Griswold CE, Audisio T, Ledford JM   By Richard Gray , Science Correspondent 8:42AM BST 18 Aug 2012 Comments The spider, which measures up to 3 inches across with its legs outstretched, was found by amateur cave explorers in a cave system outside Grants Pass in southern Oregon in the United States. It is the first new family of spiders to be found in North America since the 1890s and scientists believe there could be many more similar species hidden in forests and caves in the country. The new spider has been formally called Trogloraptor marchingtoni, but is commonly being called the cave robber spider. Scientists who identified the spider as a new family believe it hunts by hanging from strands of silk from the cave roof, snapping up passing prey with its long legs and oversized claws. Professor Charles Griswold, curator of arachnology at the California Academy of Sciences who helped to identify the new spider, said there was still a lot of work to be done as they have no idea what it eats or exactly how it hunts. Related Articles Species near extinction 13 Apr 2011 He said: "For a spider, this is a pretty big one. In the torchlight it can look even bigger. "It has remarkable claws and feet which are like scythes or hooks. We think these work to snap and trap their prey. "They live in caves and make a few strands of silk from which they hang from the ceiling. They hang legs in air in dark and wait for their prey to come by. We have never seen them eat or catch their prey." He added that finding a spider of this size suggested there were many more exciting discoveries of species to be made, even in well explored countries like the US. He compared the discovery of the new arachnid to finding legendary creatures Bigfoot. He said: "There are still so many habitats to be explored in detail. There may be more species of Trogloraptor as there are many caves and forests that have still to be explored. "This is a historic moment in arachnology to find a new family of spiders. The last time this happened was in 2000 when a spider was found in South Africa. The last time in North America was in the 1890s." The formal description of the new species appeared in the scientific journal ZooKeys . Light brown in colour, it has long legs with large hooked claws on the end of the front six. It was initially found by a group from the Western Cave Conservancy, who were exploring a cave system in the ancient forests of the Klamath-Siskiyou mountains in southern Oregon. They sent specimens to the arachnologists at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, where they struggled to identify it. It is thought the spider has evolved separately inside the caves and so has been given its own family within the Arachnid class of animals – naming it Trogloraptor due to its large claws. The scientists gave the new spider the name marchingtoni in honour of Douglas County sheriff's Deputy Neil Marchington, who led scientists to the cave where the spider had been found. They say the spider's impressive claws suggest they are "fierce, specialised predators". They believe it could be a close relative of another family of spiders known as goblin spiders. Professor Griswold and his colleagues Tracy Audisio and Joel Ledford were so baffled by the new spider that they showed it to arachnologists around the world in a bid to identify it. They have now produced a detailed guide to help distinguish it from other spider families.  

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How many centimetres make up a hand, the measurement used on horses?

How to Measure the Height of Horses: 4 Steps (with Pictures) How to Measure the Height of Horses Community Q&A Egyptians created forms of measurement thousands of years ago. One of the measurements still widely used today is the hand. Each hand represents four inches and is the primary way to measure the height of a horse. By taking a linear measurement and converting the numbers to hands, the height of a horse can be determined. Steps 1 Purchase a horse measuring stick marked with hand measures. If a horse measuring stick is not available, a standard measuring tape is acceptable. Horse measuring sticks can be found at equestrian supply stores (tack shops), farm supply stores and from various online retailers. 2 Make sure the horse is standing on firm level ground with its front feet as even as possible. 3 Place the horse measuring stick or measuring tape at the base of one of the horse's front feet and pull the measuring device up to the withers. The withers is located at the top of the shoulders between the neck and back and is considered the highest point on a horse. The highest point of a horse is actually the top of its head, (also known as the poll), but since a horse moves its head up and down frequently, it is difficult to record this measurement accurately. Stretch the measuring device to the highest point of the withers. More precisely, extend the measuring device up to the spiny ridge between the horse's shoulder blades. 4 Record the measurement. If the horse measuring stick is being used, then the measurement can be recorded in hands immediately. If a measuring tape is being used, conversion of the measurement from inches to hands is required. One hand equals 4 inches (10.2 cm), so divide the measurement by 4. For example, if the horse measures 71 inches (180.3 cm), divide 71 by 4 inches. The result is 17 hands with 3 inches (7.6 cm) left over. The final height would be recorded as 17.75 hands. Community Q&A Can I increase the height of my horse? wikiHow Contributor Not really, though you can make sure to feed your horse the proper feed and nutrients when the horse is young, to prevent the horse from having stunted growth. When you're using a measuring stick, do you take the measurement from the top side or the bottom side of the reading bar? wikiHow Contributor Unanswered Questions Do you use the flat bottom of cross bar on stick or the curved top with level? If this question (or a similar one) is answered twice in this section, please click here to let us know. Video Tips The hand is the most common form of horse measurement in the United States, Canada, and England. However, throughout other locations around the world, the metric system is used to record the horse's height. When a horse measures one half hands, indicate the measurement with .2 and not with .5. A horse measuring stick is the easiest way to measure a horse quickly and accurately. A horse measuring under 14.3 hands high is, by definition, a pony, regardless of breed. The height of an average horse is roughly 16 hands.

10

In what year did the weather forecast appear in The Times newspaper for the first time?

Imperial Measures of Length and Area Enter number and select unit. Select other units for conversion. The units in common use were inches, feet, yards and miles. We all had to know our twelve times table! An inch is the width of a thumb, a foot is the length of a foot (!) and a yard is a single stride, all for a large man. My own thumb is 3/4 inch across, my foot is 11 inches and my stride is 2 feet. However, the word 'stride' is ambiguous. It may mean two steps, that is until you are on the same foot again, in which case my stride is 4 feet. The foot has been used for over a thousand years, the inch since medieval times, and the yard in the reign of Henry I (1100-1135) was within a tenth of an inch of the modern yard. Henry I decreed the lawful yard to be the distance between the tip of his nose and the end of his thumb, and in 1324, Edward II decreed that the inch was the length of 3 barley corns placed end-to-end. There are some Tudor measures here. The foot, a length of the human foot, became anything from 9 3/4 to 19 inches. � It was not until 1844 that there was anything resembling a real standard. In that year the British government created a standard master yard in the famous length of bronze, marked off in feet and inches which is still on view at Greenwich. Click here for a photo and description of the Trafalgar Square standard measures. A light year is the distance that light travels in a year. The nearest stars are a few light years away. A foot is approximately a light nanosecond! (A nanosecond is a billionth of a second, or 1/1,000,000,000 secs.) The inch is defined as exactly 2.54 centimetres. This means that the Imperial units of length are based on the metric system! A mile is derived from "mille", Latin for thousand, since a mile is a thousand Roman double paces, from left foot to left foot, about 5 feet, which would make 5000 feet. The mile is 5280 feet. In the past every part of England had its own mile, up to 2880 yards (it is now 1760 yards). In Ireland, the mile was 2240 yards well into the 20C. A chain is the length of a cricket pitch. It has been used since 1620. It was so-called because it was measured with a real chain, with real links, made of metal. Its correct name is a Gunter's chain or surveyor's chain, since it was invented by the Rev. Edmund Gunter (1581-1626), a professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London. There is another chain of 100 feet, where each link is one foot long. This is the Ramsden's chain or engineer's chain (see near bottom for page for an example). The Gunter's chain is 4 poles long, which means that one chain by one furlong is an acre. This also means that an acre is 10 square chains. A correspondent says "The whole of the United States was measured and mapped using the Gunters Chain and his chain still applies to all title plans in use today.. �For this reason all city blocks, roads and avenues are multiples of the Chain. �Towns were laid out at 6 miles square or 36 sq miles. �Early farms were sold to would-be farmers as lots of 640 acres or 1 sq mile. �Interestingly enough the Geodetic coastal survey and ordnance surveys of the entire US are metric." Medieval ploughing was done with oxen, up to 4 pairs at a time. The ploughman handled the plough. His boy controlled the oxen using a stick, which had to be long enough to reach all the oxen. This was the rod, pole or perch. It was an obvious implement to measure the fields, such as 4 poles to the chain. A BBC webpage about allotments says that "an allotment plot is 10 poles" and claims that "A pole is measured as the length from the back of the plough to the nose of the ox". I suppose that if you wanted to control the front ox, you needed a pole long enough to reach! The perch was used in the reign of Henry II (1154-1189), the pole since the 16C, and the rod since 1450. In the 16th century the lawful rod was decreed to be the combined length of the left feet of 16 men as they left church on a Sunday morning. An earlier name for a rod was a gyrd. In North Devon there is a tradition that fencing, that is to say the cutting and laying of a hedge, would be done at so much a land yard, which seemed to be about 5 paces or 5.5 yards, which would equate to a rod, pole or perch. If anyone more about land yards, do let me know . A furlong is a "furrow long" or length of a mediaeval field. It is used for the lengths of some horse races.The furlong was also known as flatt, furshott, or sheth. The length varied depending on the type of soil. It was usual for horses to take a short breather at the end of the furrow before turning in to the next furrow. The heavier the soil, the harder the horses had to work, and so the less time between breathers. This led to shorter furrows or furlongs between the ends, and therefore local variations in furlong length. These variations were not removed until the railways required a universal standard measurement. Hands are used to measure horses. You measure from the ground to the withers of the horse (its shoulder) since it won't keep its head still. 3 hands = 1 foot (which sounds slightly odd). A line has been used since the 17C. It is used by botanists to describe the size of plants (which must be very small!) It is not common (in fact, I had never heard of it until I started researching this site!) A thou is a colloquial term for a thousandth of an inch. It was introduced in 1844. It is generally credited to Joseph Whitworth who demonstrated that as little as 1/1000" was the difference between clearance and intereference. These measurements are all land units. Sailors have their own units . Abbreviations inch in or " foot ft or ' yard yd mile m or mi You can see that there might be some confusion over m (meaning miles) and m (meaning metres)! Area Enter number and select unit. Select other units for conversion. Rods, poles, perches and roods were all rather confused. They could all be a measure of length (5.5 yards). Rods, poles and perches could also be a measure of area (5.5 yards square, or 30.25 square yards). So a 10 perch allotment would be 5.5 yards wide by 55 yards long. A rood could be a measure of area (1210 square yards). The dictionary also cheerfully states that this could vary round the country! Someone researching a Enclosure map of Castle Donington dated 1779 in Nottingham local Records Office says that the entries mention areas measured in "... A, ...R, ...P". I think this must stand for Acres, Roods and Poles (or possibly Perch). There are 40 poles to the rood, and 4 roods to the acre, which seems a reasonable collection of units. A correspondent confirms this from his research of a Rate Valuation List for assessing poor law rates in the Parish of Doulting in Somerset. He found "the maximum amount under P was 37 and the maximum under R was 3." He lives in British Columbia, and went on to say "In Canada and I am sure in the USA, at least in the West, roads and highways were always dedicated (not paved!) 66 ft wide (i.e. 1 chain). �The soft metric conversion is 20 m which is almost exactly the same." (This is length rather than area, of course). As a further complication, I have a reference to 1 perch of stone being 24 cubic feet, making it a cubic measurement! If you want to visualise an acre, it's a square with sides 208.71 feet, or 69.7 yards. I have been sent some old examination questions for candidates� for admittance to American High School. Multiply 17 A, 3 R, 28 rds, 19 yds, 8 ft, 97 in, by 9 I think that A are acres, R are roods, rds are (square) rds, yds are (square) yards,ft are (square) feet and in are (square) inches. The square units are implied, else the question doesn't make sense! Divide 45 T, 17 ewt, 1 qr, 24 lbs, 12 oz, 8 dr, by 8 Here we have tons, a misprint for hundredweight (cwt), quarters (usually abbreviated as qtr in Britain), pounds, ounces and drams. I leave the sum as an exercise for the readers! While I am not giving metric tables (they're BORING), a hectare is 10,000 square metres (or a hundredth of a square kilometre). This is equivalent to a square 100 metres on each side. I've also been told that 1 square metre is a centiare, 100 centiares to an are, and 100 ares to a hectare. A hectare is about two and a half acres. In the Channel Islands, a vergee is a standard measure of land, but the statutory definition differs between the bailiwicks. In Guernsey, a verg�e (Dg�rn�siais: vergie) is 17,640 square feet. It is 40 (square) Guernsey perches. A Guernsey perch (also spelt perque) is 21 feet by 21 feet. In Jersey, a verg�e (J�rriais: vr�gie) is 19,360 square feet. It is 40 (square) Jersey perches. A Jersey perch (also spelt p�rque) is 22 feet by 22 feet. For comparison, a British perch (the area measurement) is 272.25 square feet, the Guernsey perch is 441 square feet and the Jersey perch is 484 sq feet - rather a difference! A lovely letter in New Scientist said "The proper units for large areas, such as those of giant icebergs and hurricanes, are the Wales (metric) and the Delaware (imperial). The conversion rate is approximately 3.215 Delawares to the Wales... Measurements of height is, of course, in Eiffeltowers and Empirestatebuildings (1.368 Eiffeltowers to the Empirestatebuilding)." Here is a good website which calculates areas in this unit! I think that the Wales has replaced the Isleofwight, which used to be the standard unit. I have also spotted the Luxembourg as a measure of icebergs as well. This is, of course, rather a large area. A football pitch is often used for small areas, and Cambridge has been used for medium areas. As a very rough approximation (and that is all these units are!) 5000 Football Pitches = 1 Cambridge 500 Cambridges = 1 Wales. 3 measured ricks = 1 cord I thought the cord was an American unit, but a corresepondent corrected me. He said that it was used in Northumberland. "My father was using cords in his younger days when he worked in a timber yard. I remember him showing me a strange tape measure, marked with units about 4" apart, that they used to work out the cordage of a piece of timber from its length." Also, a webpage on the Common Rights in the New Forest mentions that a cord is a stack of wood in 4 foot lengths, 4 feet high and 8 feet long. It is concerned with Right of Fuelwood (Estovers). In some districts the cord had dimensions of 16 feet by 4 feet by 2 feet. This is still 128 cubic feet. This website claims that in England, a fathom is a measure of capacity for round wood = 216 cubic feet, that is, the volume that would be occupied by a stack 6 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 6 feet high. That is surprising, as a fathom is usually a nautical term of length meaning 6 feet (deep). The same website also claims that in Yorkshire, England, the fandam was a measure of the circumference of haystacks, measured by a circle of people hugging the stack, their outstretched hands just touching. Another correspondent told me about the measured rick, and added "A rick is a any size stack of cornstalks, wood, straw or similar stuff, left in the field. Any ol' pile of firewood may also be called a rick, although most people just call it a woodpile. It takes about 8 cords of wood to heat a home for the entire winter." There is a volume of measure for lumber in the US called the board-foot. A board foot is 144 cubic inches (or 1 foot x 1 foot x 1 inch). Rough lumber is sold in it. See Board Feet Estimation calculator . I have received an email about this: "My father �was a carpenter as was �father and grandfather, �and �in my youth I regularly overheard them using the �term 'super foot', which in short was 1 foot x 1 foot x �1 inch. � � Prior to changing to metric measures, I �found the �term �commonly used �throughout Australia; �I �am led to believe �that it came from the UK." Has anyone from the UK heard of a similar measurement? A correspondent answers this: "The use of super in conjunction with area measurement is short for superficial. All materials ordered from quarries whether hoggin, graded chippings or tarmac, are ordered by the yard or metre. These are cubic yards or cubic metres. Therefore a '10 yard load of tarmac' is actually 10 cubic yards. When the tarmac is spread 3" thick, the area covered is 120 super, or 120 square yards. In each case the word 'cubic' or 'square' is omitted�but the words 'yard' or 'super' make the meaning absolutely clear. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary gives one of the meanings of 'superficial' as meaning 'relating to or involving two dimensions; esp. relating to extent of surface'". A further comment from another correspondent: "In New Zealand the super foot was the standard measure for milled timer being 144 cubic inches.� I spend many years in timber as did my father and great grand fathers.� All large quantities of timber were described in super feet which was very handy for recutting.� Stocktaking in the timber yards, sales analysis and buying was similarly calculate in super feet.� it was easy to estimate the timber in a bundle or packet by eye.� Super feet slowly died out when we officially went metric in about 1975 but as you can imagine many of the old hands still used super feet to communicate with others skilled in the measure.�� The conversion from super feet to lineal feet of a board was easy.� Conversion of a metric cube to lineal feet is much slower if done on the spot mentally." There are various other measurements for timber including "Hoppus foot" (H.ft). 1 H.ft. = 1.273 cu.ft, or 1 cu.ft. = 0.785 H.ft. The hoppus foot is used for round or rough-squared timber and the formula uses the mid-quarter-girth (M.Q.G.) in inches, squared, then multiplied by the length in feet and then divided by 144 to give H.ft. The girth is measured in inches at the mid-point between the butt and the tip and then divided by 4 to get the M.Q G. Quarter Girth tapes are available, with 66' tapes for the length, and ready-reckoner tables for standard types of timber eg. pit props.Other common timber terms were the ton for firewood and pulpwood, the bundle for stakes and pea-sticks etc., and the linear foot for pit-props and fence rails etc. Wood for chipboard or fibreboard is sometimes traded in units of 100 cu. ft. of piled chips, equivalent to 50 H.ft. of solid wood. My father used to work in th wooden beer barrel trade (a long time ago!) He says that the staves that went to make up a barrel were counted in mille. This was 1200 staves rather than a thousand. I have a reference to a shipping ton = 40 cubic feet. This seems odd, since ton is usually a weight . But perhaps ships are more interested in volume! However, I have subsequently been informed by my of my useful correspondents that "This measurement allows shippers to obtain revenue based on either volume or weight and is an approximate equalisation of the volume and weight rates. Rates are usually obtained by the tonne, but large and light freights are charged by volume or 'freight (or shipping) tonne'." Referring to my statement above that "There don't seem to be many cubic measurements similar to the acre", a correspondent says "You may be interested in knowing about the 'acre-foot'. Here in the USA it is used in reference to reservoir size and is the amount of water needed to cover an acre to the depth of one foot." Very logical! Another correspondent gives from his FUI (Fund of Useless Information) "It needs 22,000 gallons of water to cover an acre of land with one inch of irrigation." Cubic measurement is really the same as capacity or volume . However, the measurements are on this page are used for objects that have dimensions, such as wood, while capacity units, like pints and bushels, are used for liquids or dry goods that can be poured into a bag, such as grain. A bushel is 1.28 cubic feet, but we don't normally think of it like that! Older measures There are some measures that were not in our "tables" which we had to learn as children, because they had fallen into disuse. However, you do read about them. Many imperial measures of length were originally taken from parts of the body, sometimes obviously, such as hands or feet. But then at some time a standard length was decided on, and used by everyone. These older measurements, however, are not so precise. A span was originally the length from your little finger to your thumb if you stretch your fingers. It later became 9 inches (23 cm), which would make it a quarter of a yard. A nail was 2 and a quarter inches, which is a quarter of a span. So there were 16 nails to a yard. There is also a finger, which was 4 and a half inches, or 2 nails. These are cloth measures. A palm was 3 inches - so there were 4 palms to a foot. A hand is an inch bigger. Possibly the idea was that a hand was the width of the hand including the thumb, and a palm was the width excluding the thumb. The cubit is the earliest unit of length, used in Egypt in the 3rd Dynasty (2800-2300 BC). It is the length of the arm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. The English cubit is 18 inches long (46 cms), but the Romans, Egyptians and Hebrews all had different lengths. Cubits are used in the Bible. The ark was 300 cubits long. An ell is derived from "elbow". It started off similar to the cubit (see above), but the English ell was 45 inches long (115 cm). Other countries had different lengths for their ell. There was an old saying "Give him an inch and he'll take an ell". As the ell fell out of common use, the saying got changed to "Give him an inch and he'll take a mile" (which makes less sense). 45 inches is 5 spans, or a yard and a quarter. It could have been measured from finger-tip to nose, or possibly elbow to elbow! The ell was a measure of cloth, as was the bolt, which was 32 ells, or 40 yards. A cloth-yard was used to measure cloth. It is 37 inches long (94 cm), which is an inch longer than an ordinary yard. A cloth-yard shaft was an arrow a cloth-yard long. As I mentioned above, the inch was originally defined as 3 barleycorns. One of my correspondents mentions 4 poppy seeds = 1 barleycorn. A league is another measure that varies by country. In England, it is taken to be 3 miles. Tennyson wrote of the Charge of the Light Brigade:      "Half a league, half a league, half a league onwards      Into the valley of death rode the six hundred." In fairy tales, there were seven league boots, which would carry you 7 leagues in one stride! Assuming that a stride is two steps, then that's 10.5 miles in a step. Jules Verne wrote a book about a submarine, called "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" (this refers to how far they travelled, not how deep they were!). A hide was enough land to support a house-hold, usually between 60-120 acres (24-48 hectares). A hide of good land was smaller than that of poor quality. Hides are used in the Doomsday Book. However, I have a reference of a hide as 100 acres. An acre is 4840 square yards (see above) and is a conventional measure of area. It was defined in the time of Edward I (1272-1307) and was supposed to be the area that a yoke of oxen could plough is a day. Acre is derived from the Latin for field. But the common field system of medieval times in Britain was ten acres. An acre is a furlong (furrow length) long and a chain wide. In fact, an archaic word for furlong was "acre-length" and for chain "acre-width". The Scottish and Irish used to have different values for their acres. The Scottish acre was 6150.4 square yards and the Irish acre was 7840 square yards. Some archaeologists have deduced a megalithic yard from the statistical study of prehistoric stone circles, which they estimate to be 2.72 feet. It seems strange that pre-historic man had such a consistent measure, when in the past the mile was defined differently in different parts of England! Surely, they just measured out their circles with paces, which tend to be that length. It doesn't have to be a formal unit. However, if you are interested in the megalithic yard, see this website , but I don't agree with it myself! Another suggestion sounds distinctly interesting! "Back in my youth, early 1950s, �I was learning to play the piano. � My parents bought me a pocket metronome for Christmas. � This was the same as a measuring tape (which my brother got at the same time!) but had a non-linear scale. � If I pulled it out to the 60 marking, held it by the end and let it swing like a pendulum, it gave me a reference for 60 beats per minute. � At 120 it meant 120 beats per minute. � Follow this through and each time you halve the length, the number of beats per minute doubles - hence the non-linear markings. � My metronome had a cloth tape and the �housing was made of plastic with an internal spring and ratchet with a small button to allow the tape to be �rewound. � As I remember, the scale was from 60 upwards - because of the non-linearity, it would have been to long to be used at slower rates! � Also there was a length of tape beyond the last marking - it would not have swung for very long at short lengths. � I don't remember the exact highest rate - probably around 160. � I would guess that the tape was just over a yard when fully extended. � I've never seen one since my childhood and I don't remember what happened to �mine in the end!" (He did eventually find it - photo on the right.)� "At least my pocket metronome allowed my father's mahogany cased �French Maelzel Paquet Metronome to survive - �I inherited that! � If it was a pocket metronome, some of the Curwel tape is missing. � From my school physics, I remember a pendulum would indicate 60 beats a minute when the length from the pivot to the point of the centre of gravity of the weight on the end was approximately 39 inches. � I was taught not let it swing more than 20 - 30 degrees or it became inaccurate!" If the name is J.Curwen & Sons, they were musical publishers, so this becomes a distinct possibility. There is an article about John Curwen here . I've had confirmation of this from John Ledwon who has a collection of metronomes . He says "Yes it is a very old portable metronome. You hold the end of the tape and unwind it to the speed you want and then move it to get a pendulum effect...the time for the swing is approximately what is written on the tape. I have one and it works quite well." This was a more general query: "when u look on any tape measure every 16inches has a mark and nowhere says wot this mark means, please say if u no cos so many mates of mine are trying to work it out." I have had a suggestion for this - " The tape measures with marks at 16" intervals.... I have seen them used for drywalling (plasterboards, partitions etc) in America etc...that is where an 8'x4' sheet is divided for fixing..i.e. every 16" for battons, hope this helps. More of a chippies tape you might say." Another suggestion: 'The marks are put there to make it easy to set out rafters joists etc. Most board material came in increments of 4 feet ie. 8ft by 4ft plywood sheet. a joist every 16" would mean 4 supports for each board, allowing for joins.' Someone else says that joists in America come at two foot intervals, and 16 inches is the typical spacing for wall studs used in wood-frame construction. Enough, already! It's a tape measure used by American builders. (And in Britain we call them builders even if they work in wood.) But no, a further comment: "I agree with the suggestion that 16 inches is for drywall work.� In England the standard distance betwen uprights in a stud wall was 16 inches.� Also floor joists were usually at 16 inches if the had to carry ex 1 inch boards." So an American or British builders' tape. This is a chain with 100 links each one foot long, making 100 feet in total. This means that is cannot be a surveyor's chain (the usual chain, which is the length of a cricket pitch). Some research on the web has found that it is a Ramsden's chain or engineer's chain. One of the strange brass tags has Chesterman Sheffield England stamped on it. There was a firm based in Sheffield called Raybone Chesterman making tools until recently. So this describes the chain, but we don't know what it was used for, or who 'Ramsden' was, or what the different shaped brass tags mean. An email suggests that Ramsden was Jesse Ramsden (1735-1800), an English astronomical and scientific instrument maker. See Wikipedia article . I've had another email: "When I was at college, we used surveying chains, I can't remember what length they were since we were working in metric but we had some experience on some of the older equipment. The chains had plastic tags along their length which made it easier to identify how far along the chain you were without having to count the links. Could the metal shaped tags be a similar idea with different numbers of 'teeth' instead of numbers?" Another email about the Rabone Chesterman Land chain: "I found a set of these destined for the dump. They are new and unused and in the original damaged box. I have a Buck & Hickman 1964 catalogue which shows them. The brass tallys are 10 feet apart. The model number on the box is 558 although the catalogue has 258 as one of the 3 types." Another email: 'I have a tape measure, that I bought at a car boot sale, it's new looking, plastic and metal. It has marks on the imperial side for 12", which is a foot, 16", which I use for stud walls for 16"centres, but the one that is puzzling me is the one at 19" 7/32nds, that is nineteen inches and seven thirty seconds, I believe it is one fifth of eight foot, but I have never come across anybody who uses this measurement. I would be very grateful if you could provide me with an answer.' Thanks for the answer I was sent, which is on this website .'The black diamond on the top scale starting at 19.2 inches is for truss layouts for 8-foot sheet goods �also referred to as the "black truss" markings. If you divide five into 96 inches (8 feet), it will give 19.2 inches �in other words, 5 trusses per sheet.' Rabone Chesterman has been mentioned above. I was sent the following information: 'Just seen your mention of Rabone (misspelt Raybone) Chestermans on the web. I think the factory closed in 1979, although the front office block was retained and converted to new offices. I took a lot of photographs, including some of them making land-chains, and as you might imagine they had a specially long works building to check these in for accuracy. The company was an amalgamation of a works called Chestermans in Sheffield and Rabones in Birmingham, dating back to the 1700s. I managed to salvage a few large brass and steel templates used for taking off measurements (using a pantograph process) to etch into steel rulers (a lot were going for scrap as the works was closing). The staff were all very proud of the company and there was a real feeling of sadness at the closure and the loss of two hundred years of history. I think the trade name was bought by Stanley Tools.' More about Chesterman: "Here's one of the Chesterman template rulers. 343 is the pattern number, and the engraved woring says 'standard for taper nedge (sic), 64ths, 1/64 to 9/64ths'. Someone with just as bad spelling has penned a newer number 828 and 'revers side' on! All this is engraved onto the back of a recycled 2" wide steel ruler. Rabone's are still making steel rules, but everything moved back to Birmingham when the factory closed. I'm not sure exactly what Stanley Tools purchased, maybe the flexible steel measuring tape side of the business." If anyone else knows anything about any of these tapes or measures, please contact me and I'll pass the information on.

i don't know

What is the largest of the West Indian islands?

West Indies | Article about West Indies by The Free Dictionary West Indies | Article about West Indies by The Free Dictionary http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/West+Indies Related to West Indies: East Indies West Indies, archipelago, between North and South America, curving c.2,500 mi (4,020 km) from Florida to the coast of Venezuela and separating the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic Ocean. The archipelago, sometimes called the Antilles, is divided into three groups: the Bahamas Bahamas, the , officially Commonwealth of the Bahamas, independent nation (2005 est. pop. 301,800), 4,403 sq mi (11,404 sq km), in the Atlantic Ocean, consisting of some 700 islands and islets and about 2,400 cays, beginning c.50 mi (80 km) off SE Florida and extending c. ..... Click the link for more information. ; the Greater Antilles ( Cuba Cuba , officially Republic of Cuba, republic (2005 est. pop. 11,347,000), 42,804 sq mi (110,860 sq km), consisting of the island of Cuba and numerous adjacent islands, in the Caribbean Sea. Havana is the capital and largest city. ..... Click the link for more information. , Jamaica Jamaica , independent state within the Commonwealth (2005 est. pop. 2,732,000), 4,232 sq mi (10,962 sq km), coextensive with the island of Jamaica, West Indies, S of Cuba and W of Haiti. Jamaica is the largest island in the Caribbean after Cuba and Hispaniola. ..... Click the link for more information. , Haiti Haiti , Fr. Haïti , officially Republic of Haiti, republic (2005 est. pop. 8,122,000), 10,700 sq mi (27,713 sq km), West Indies, on the western third of the island of Hispaniola. ..... Click the link for more information. , the Dominican Republic Dominican Republic , republic (2005 est. pop. 8,950,000), 18,700 sq mi (48,442 sq km), West Indies, on the eastern two thirds of the island of Hispaniola. The capital and largest city is Santo Domingo. ..... Click the link for more information. , and Puerto Rico Puerto Rico , island (2005 est. pop. 3,917,000), 3,508 sq mi (9,086 sq km), West Indies, c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) SE of Miami, Fla. Officially known as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (a self-governing entity in association with the United States), it includes the offshore islands ..... Click the link for more information. ); and the Lesser Antilles ( Leeward Islands Leeward Islands , northern group of the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies, extending SE from Puerto Rico to the Windward Islands. The principal islands are the American Virgin Islands; the French island and overseas dept. ..... Click the link for more information. , Windward Islands Windward Islands, southern group of the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies, curving generally southward for c.300 mi (480 km) from the Leeward Islands toward NE Venezuela. ..... Click the link for more information. , Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago , officially Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, republic (2005 est. pop. 1,088,000), 1,980 sq mi (5,129 sq km), West Indies. The capital is Port of Spain. ..... Click the link for more information. , Barbados Barbados , island state (2005 est. pop. 279,300), 166 sq mi (430 sq km), in the West Indies. The capital and largest city is Bridgetown. Land, People, and Economy The island, E of St. Vincent, in the Windward Islands, is the easternmost of the Caribbean islands. ..... Click the link for more information. ) and the islands off the northern coast of Venezuela. The British dependent territories are the Cayman Islands Cayman Islands , British dependency (2005 est. pop. 44,300), 100 sq mi (259 sq km), comprising three low-lying islands in the West Indies. George Town, the capital and chief port, is on Grand Cayman; the other islands are Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. ..... Click the link for more information. , the Turks and Caicos Islands Turks and Caicos Islands , dependency of Great Britain (2005 est. pop. 20,600), 166 sq mi (430 sq km), West Indies. There are more than 30 cays and islands, of which eight are inhabited. Geographically, the islands are a southeastern continuation of the Bahamas. ..... Click the link for more information. , Anguilla Anguilla , island and British dependency (2005 est. pop. 13,300) 35 sq mi (91 sq km), West Indies, northernmost of the Leeward Islands. The capital is the town of The Valley. The population, which is mainly of African descent, speaks English, the official language. ..... Click the link for more information. , Montserrat Montserrat , British dependency and island (2011 pop. 4,922), 38 sq mi (98 sq km), West Indies, one of the Leeward Islands. It is a rugged, scenic island of volcanic origin. ..... Click the link for more information. , and the British Virgin Islands Virgin Islands, group of about 100 small islands, West Indies, E of Puerto Rico. The islands are divided politically between the United States and Great Britain. Although constituting the westernmost part of the Lesser Antilles, the Virgin Islands form a geological unit with ..... Click the link for more information. . The Dutch territories are Aruba Aruba , island, autonomous part of the Netherlands (2005 est. pop. 71,600), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), in the Lesser Antilles off the coast of Venezuela. Oranjestad is the capital and main port. The population is largely of mixed European and indigenous Caribbean descent. ..... Click the link for more information. , Curaçao Curaçao , island (1989 est. pop. 146,100), 178 sq mi (461 sq km), an autonomous country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the Lesser Antilles off the coast of Venezuela. Curaçao is semiarid; most of the plant life is of desert character. ..... Click the link for more information. , Bonaire Bonaire , island (1990 est. pop. 11,000), 112 sq mi (290 sq km), a special municipality of the Netherlands, in the West Indies off the coast of Venezuela. It was formerly part of the Netherlands Antilles. Kralendijk is the chief town. ..... Click the link for more information. , Saint Eustatius Saint Eustatius , island (1989 pop. 1,861), 8 sq mi (20.7 sq km), a special municipality of the Netherlands, one of the Leeward Islands, West Indies. It was formerly part of the Netherlands Antilles. ..... Click the link for more information. , Saba Saba , island (1990 est. pop. 1,100), 5 sq mi (13 sq km), a special municipality of the Netherlands, one of the NW Leeward Islands, West Indies. It was formerly part of the Netherlands Antilles. The rugged island is actually the cone of an extinct volcano rising to c. ..... Click the link for more information. , and part of Saint Martin Saint Martin , Du. Sint Maarten, island, 37 sq mi (96 sq km), West Indies, one of the Leeward Islands. Since its occupation in 1648 by the Dutch and the French, it has been divided. The northern part (1999 pop. ..... Click the link for more information. . The French territories are Guadeloupe Guadeloupe , overseas department and administrative region of France (2005 est. pop. 449,000), 687 sq mi (1,779 sq km), in the Leeward Islands, West Indies. The department comprises the neighboring islands of Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre (Guadeloupe proper) as well as ..... Click the link for more information.  and its dependencies, part of Saint Martin, and Martinique Martinique , overseas department and administrative region of France (2005 est. pop. 433,000), 425 sq mi (1,101 sq km), in the Windward Islands, West Indies. Fort-de-France is the capital. The department and the island of Martinique are coextensive. ..... Click the link for more information. . Puerto Rico is a self-governing commonwealth associated with the United States, and the Virgin Islands of the United States is a U.S. territory. Margarita Margarita , island, 444 sq mi (1,150 sq km), in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela. With many smaller islands it constitutes the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta (1990 pop. 263,748). ..... Click the link for more information.  belongs to Venezuela. Many of the islands are mountainous, and some have partly active volcanoes. Hurricanes occur frequently, but the warm climate (tempered by northeast trade winds) and the clear tropical seas have made the West Indies a very popular resort area. Some 34 million people live on the islands, and the majority of inhabitants are of black African descent. History Before European settlement on the islands of the West Indies, they were inhabited by three different peoples: the Arawaks, the Caribs, and the Ciboney. These indigenous tribes were effectively wiped out by European colonists. Christopher Columbus Columbus, Christopher, Ital. Cristoforo Colombo , Span. Cristóbal Colón , 1451–1506, European explorer, b. Genoa, Italy. Early Years ..... Click the link for more information.  was the first European to visit several of the islands (in 1492). In 1496 the first permanent European settlement was made by the Spanish on Hispaniola Hispaniola , Span. Española , second largest island of the West Indies, 29,530 sq mi (76,483 sq km), between Cuba and Puerto Rico. Haiti occupies the western third of the island and the Dominican Republic the remainder. ..... Click the link for more information. . By the middle 1600s the English, French, and Dutch had established settlements in the area, and in the following century there was constant warfare among the European colonial powers for control of the islands. Some islands flourished as trade centers and became targets for pirates. Large numbers of Africans were imported to provide slave labor for the sugarcane plantations that developed there in the 1600s. Until the early 20th cent., the islands remained pawns of the imperialistic powers of Europe, mainly Spain, Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands. The United States entered the scene in the late 19th cent. and is the region's dominate economic influence. Spain lost its last possession in the West Indies after the Spanish-American War (1898), and most of the former British possessions gained independence in the 1960s and 70s (see West Indies Federation West Indies Federation, former federation of 10 British West Indian territories formed in 1958. Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Barbados were the principal members, but the federation included most of the Leeward and Windward islands, then under British control. ..... Click the link for more information. ). Bibliography See E. E. Williams, From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean, 1492–1969 (1970); M. M. Horowitz, comp., Peoples and Cultures of the Caribbean: An Anthropological Reader (1971); J. H. Parry and P. M. Sherlock, A Short History of the West Indies (3d ed. 1971); R. C. West and J. P. Augelli, Middle America (2d ed. 1976); D. Watts, The West Indies: Patterns of Development, Culture, and Environmental Change since 1492 (1987). West Indies   the general name for the islands in the Atlantic Ocean located between the continents of North and South America, stretching out in the form of an arc approximately 3,500 km in length. Included in the West Indies are the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the Lesser Antilles. The islands belong to North America. Their total area is about 240,000 sq km, and their population is more than 24 million (1968). The topography of the islands is greatly dismembered and primarily mountainous, with elevations as high as 3,175 m (on the island of Haiti). There are many active as well as extinct volcanoes; earthquakes are frequent. There are deposits of manganese, chromite, and iron ores and asphalt, petroleum, bauxites, and phosphorites. The climate is tropical and influenced by the trade winds. In the lowlands the vegetation is primarily cultivated; in the mountains there are laurel and coniferous forests. Located on the islands of the West Indies are the states of Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Bahamas, and Barbados, as well as a number of possessions of Great Britain, the Netherlands, France, and the USA. Ethnic composition.The basic mass of the present-day population is made up of Negroes—descendants of the slaves who were imported from Africa during the period from the 16th through the beginning of the 19th centuries (Haiti, more than 90 percent; Barbados, about 89 percent; and Jamaica, about 80 percent), as well as mulattoes (Dominican Republic, about 70 percent, and Puerto Rico, not less than 50 percent). The descendants of Europeans (for the most part, Spaniards) are to be found in considerable number only in Cuba (approximately 50 percent), Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. In the remaining countries the total white population (primarily British) does not exceed a small percentage. A unique ethnic composition is to be found in Trinidad, where about 50 percent of the population is made up of descendants of emigrants from India. In all these countries there are small groups of Chinese and Syrians. The few descendants of the indigenous American Indian population, which was almost entirely exterminated during the period of colonization, are still in existence only on the islands of Dominica, Cuba, and Trinidad. Languages include Spanish, in the former colonies of Spain (Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico); English, in the former British colonies (Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados); and French, in the former and present French colonies (Haiti, Guadeloupe, and Martinique); local dialects are everywhere predominant. In the Dutch colonies, in addition to Dutch and English, the Papiamentoe dialect is widespread. With regard to religion, the inhabitants of the former Spanish and French colonies are Catholics, and the remainder are Protestants of various denominations. The Indians are mostly Hindus. In certain countries there are still vestiges of African faiths. A. D. D RIDZO Historical surveyThe majority of the islands of the West Indies, populated by the Arawak and Carib tribes of American Indians, were discovered during the sea voyages of Columbus (1492-1502), who mistakenly thought them to be part of India. To distinguish them from the India in the East (East India), these islands later came to be called the West Indies. The colonization of the West Indies by the Spaniards was accompanied by the allout extermination of the American Indians, and as early as the 16th century the mass importation of slaves from Africa had begun in order to provide labor for the sugar and tobacco plantations, as well as in the mines. With the decline of Spain’s power, the West Indies became the principal object for the rivalry of the European powers in America. In the course of the 17th and 18th centuries, as the result of seizures, wars, and international treaties, Great Britain acquired the islands of St. Christopher (St. Kitts), Barbados, Antigua, Montserrat, Jamaica, Grenada, Dominica, Trinidad, and others; France obtained the islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Haiti; Holland, the islands of Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire; and Denmark, the islands of St. John, St. Thomas, and St. Croix from the group known as the Virgin Islands. By the beginning of the 19th century Spain had kept possession of only Puerto Rico and Cuba. Table 1. Political divisions of the West Indies States and territories

Cuba

St Johnstown was once the capital city of Scotland. By what name is St Johnstown now known?

West Indies Map and Information Page Lesser Antilles (southeast)  The Bahamas consist of over 3,000 individual islands and reefs. The Greater Antilles include the island countries of Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic (Hispaniola), and Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles are the much smaller islands to the southeast, and they are divided into two (2) groups, the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands. Indians were the first inhabitants, and then, in 1492, the explorer Christopher Columbus became the first European to arrive at the islands. It's believed by historians that he first stepped foot in the Bahamas. Columbus called these islands the Indies because he thought he had finally reached Asia (and the East Indies). Spain, when Columbus' mistake was discovered, (pardon the pun) renamed them the West Indies, to distinguish them from the Spice Islands in the Pacific Ocean, (the East Indies) which we now call Indonesia. The modern day, the West Indies refers to: The islands of the  Bahamas

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What is the largest city in Switzerland?

Switzerland Facts on Largest Cities, Populations, Symbols - Worldatlas.com Ethnicity: German 65%, French 18%, Italian 10%, Romansch 1%, other 6% GDP total: $362.4 billion (2012 est.) GDP per capita: $54,600 (2012 est.) Language: German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 20.4%, Italian (official) 6.5%, Serbo-Croatian 1.5%, Albanian 1.3%, Portuguese 1.2%, Spanish 1.1%, English 1%, Romansch (official) 0.5%, other 2.8% note: German, French, Italian, and Romansch are all national and official languages Largest Cities: (by population) Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Bern, Lausanne Name: Switzerland's name comes from the German derivative Suito and the Schwyz canton in the central part of the country National Day: August 1 Religion: Roman Catholic 41.8%, Protestant 35.3%, Muslim 4.3%, Orthodox 1.8%, other Christian 0.4%, other 1%, unspecified 4.3%, none 11.1%

Zürich

The Ural Mountains form a natural border between which two continents?

Cities in Switzerland, Switzerland Cities Cities in Switzerland Disclaimer Close Disclaimer : All efforts have been made to make this image accurate. However Compare Infobase Limited,its directors and employees do not own any responsibility for the correctness or authenticity of the same. Switzerland (German: Schweiz Karte ) is located in the central part of Europe and is surrounded by Germany in north, Italy in south, France in the west and Liechtenstein and Austria in the east. It is a landlocked country and is officially known as the Swiss Confederation. The official languages of Switzerland are German, Italian, French and Romansch. 63.7 percent of people speak German in Switzerland and 20.4 percent speak French. 6.5 percent people speak Italian and 0.5 percent people converse in Romansch. 1.5 percent Swiss people speak in Serbo-Croatian and 1.3 percent talk in Albanian. 1.2 percent people in Switzerland speak in Portuguese, 1 percent in English and 1.1 percent in Spanish. The government of Switzerland is a confederation from a formal point of view but it also has similarities with a federal republic from a structural context. Administratively Switzerland is divided into 26 cantons. In Switzerland the age for obtaining the right to vote is 18 years. The President is the chief of the state. He heads the Federal Council as well. In Switzerland the president and his/her deputy are selected from the members of the Federal Council by the Federal Assembly. They are supposed to serve terms of a year each. At present the President of Switzerland is Hans-Rudolf Merz and the Vice President is Doris Leuthard. Both of them assumed their offices on the 1st of January 2009. Top Cities of Switzerland Some of the top cities of Switzerland can also be regarded as one of the best cities of the world: Zurich :It is the largest city of Switzerland besides being a prominent banking destination. The nightlife of this city is fantastic as well. Geneva :It is the cultural hub of Switzerland. It could be described as the capital of the world as there are in excess of 200 governmental and non-governmental entities functioning here. Berne :It is the capital of Switzerland. The old town here has been preserved really well. It is well known for its Einstein sites as well as the various eateries. Basel :It is the third biggest city in Switzerland. Lausanne : It is among the most attractive tourist destinations in the country. It is located in the French speaking part of Switzerland. Lugano :It is at the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. It is the most often visited tourist destination in this part of Switzerland. Lucerne :It is the most prominent city in central Switzerland. It is linked to all the major historic sites of the early ages of Swiss history. Zermatt :It is one of the top mountain resorts of Switzerland. Solothurn :It is known as the best baroque town of Switzerland. Interlaken :This is the action and outdoor sports hub of Switzerland.  

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