French And UN Helicopters Fire On Laurent Gbagbo’s Forces in Ivory Coast

French forces strike against Ivory Coast”s Gbagbo (IBNLive)

Abidjan, Apr 4 (AP) A United Nations helicopter fired at President Laurent Gbagbo”s forces today as France authorised its military forces to take out his heavy weapons, an unprecedented escalation in the international community”s efforts at forcing the strongman from office.The office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had requested France”s military participation.

French choppers blast Gbagbo strongholds (ABC Online)

French and UN helicopters have attacked forces loyal to Ivory Coast’s incumbent leader, Laurent Gbagbo.

Mr Gbagbo’s presidential palace and residence were hit, along with military camps used by pro-Gbagbo forces, in what UN chief Ban Ki-moon said was a mission of self-defence.

France and UN Join Fight Against Ivory Coast Incumbent President (Voice of America):

French troops and United Nations peacekeepers are joining the fight against Ivory Coast’s incumbent president as forces backing the country’s internationally-recognized leader launch another attack against his positions in the commercial capital, Abidjan.

U.N. Helicopters Fire on Laurent Gbagbo’s Forces in Ivory Coast (New York Magazine):

Witnesses in Ivory Coast are reporting that U.N. helicopters have fired four missiles at a military base in Abidjan, the country’s former capital. The U.N. is trying to stop President Laurent Gbagbo’s forces from using weapons to hit civilians. The missiles were fired on a pro-Gbagbo military camp housing three battalions of the Ivorian army. The international body has no air force, leaving a full-blown offensive like the one in Libya out of the question. However, it does have a Ukrainian aviation unit with three Mi-24 attack helicopters that have been deployed in Ivory Coast. The U.N.’s focus is on heavy weapons, including BM-21 rocket systems, which Gbagbo loyalists are using on civilians. Ivory Coast’s brewing conflict is between its two presidents, Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized election winner. Nonetheless, Gbagbo’s forces are targeting U.N. officers and residents of Abidjan.

Read moreFrench And UN Helicopters Fire On Laurent Gbagbo’s Forces in Ivory Coast

Japan Government Covered-Up High Radiation Levels Far Away From Fukushima

See also:

SOS: Japan Mayor of Minami Soma City, Next To The Fukushima Nuclear Plant, Begs The Entire World To Help: ‘We Are Left To Ourselves … We Risk Dying Of Hunger.’


THE Japanese government withheld the release of data showing that levels of radiation more than 30 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant exceeded safe levels, broadcaster NHK reported Monday citing official documents.

The facility was rocked by a devastating earthquake and magnitude 9.0 tsunami which struck Japan’s northeast coast on March 11. Radiation has since been seeping from the complex, with the government imposing a 20-kilometre evacuation zone.

Low levels of radioactive material have also been detected in other countries including the US and Britain.

Computer projections taken on March 16 showed that people from as far away as 30 kilometres from the nuclear plant would be exposed to more than 100 millisieverts of radiation if they were outdoors for 24 hours between March 12 and 24.

It also indicated that the radiation could spread northwest and southwest of the facility.

The normal level of background radiation people are exposed to in their daily lives without harm is about one to 1.5 millisieverts a year.

Read moreJapan Government Covered-Up High Radiation Levels Far Away From Fukushima

Radioactive Fallout To Engulf Taiwan, People Should Stay Home, Those Who Must Go Out Should Immediately Take Off Their Clothes And Cleanse Nuclear Contaminants From Their Bodies As Soon As They Are Back Home

Nuclear fallout may hit Taiwan on Wednesday evening at the earliest, after a small amount of radioactive iodine-131 was detected in the skies over Taiwan last week, said the country’s nuclear energy authorities yesterday. The fallout will come straight from Japan’s Fukushima, where a stricken nuclear power plant is steadily leaking radioactivity, but the impact on Taiwan will be “minimal,” said the Executive Yuan’s Atomic Energy Council (AEC) in a forecast.

Radioactivity at 0.0638 sieverts per hour, much lower than the 0.2-sievert alarm level, is expected, the agency said, adding it will step up monitoring of airborne fallout and warn people not to go out if radioactivity reaches alarming levels.

The estimate, based on an AEC simulation model, is six times the radioactivity detected in a previous observation and equal to the background value.

Breathing in the particles for a whole year is equivalent to one 300th of an X-ray examination, said Lee Jo-chan, director of AEC’s Department of Radiation Protection.

Read moreRadioactive Fallout To Engulf Taiwan, People Should Stay Home, Those Who Must Go Out Should Immediately Take Off Their Clothes And Cleanse Nuclear Contaminants From Their Bodies As Soon As They Are Back Home

US Nuclear Team Helps Japan To Prepare For Possibility Of ‘Large-Scale Radiation Leak’ At Fukushima

U.S. team’s mission is to help SDF (Daily Yomiuri):

(April 4) — The primary task of a visiting U.S. nuclear emergency response team will be to help the Self-Defense Forces with operations related to the ongoing nuclear crisis in Fukushima Prefecture, such as decontaminating residents and providing information to assist the SDF’s medical activities.

According to sources, the U.S. team will also prepare for unexpected contingencies, such as a large-scale radiation leak from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

About 10 members of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Chemical Biological Incident Response Force arrived at U.S. Yokota Air Base in Tokyo on Saturday as an advance party. They arrived on a U.S. transport plane from Maryland.

They will be joined by two similar units scheduled to arrive Sunday and Monday. In total, the response force will deploy 155 personnel to Japan.

Read moreUS Nuclear Team Helps Japan To Prepare For Possibility Of ‘Large-Scale Radiation Leak’ At Fukushima

Just In Time: Canada Suspends Mobile Radiation Measurements

Natural Resources Canada Mobile Surveillance Data:

Please note that there was no new data collected by NRCan on March 23, 2011, and that until further notice mobile surveys are suspended.

Probably just a ‘coincidence’:

US Government Responds to Fukushima by Trying to Raise Radiation Limits, EPA Pulls 8 Of 18 Radiation Monitors Out Of CA, OR And WA

Big US Bank Laundered Billions From Mexico’s Murderous Drug Gangs

Flashback:

Former Assistant Secretary of Housing: The U.S. is the Global Leader in Illegal Money Laundering


As the violence spread, billions of dollars of cartel cash began to seep into the global financial system. But a special investigation by the Observer reveals how the increasingly frantic warnings of one London whistleblower were ignored


A soldier guards marijuana that is being incinerated in Tijuana, Mexico. Photograph: Guillermo Arias/AP

On 10 April 2006, a DC-9 jet landed in the port city of Ciudad del Carmen, on the Gulf of Mexico, as the sun was setting. Mexican soldiers, waiting to intercept it, found 128 cases packed with 5.7 tons of cocaine, valued at $100m. But something else – more important and far-reaching – was discovered in the paper trail behind the purchase of the plane by the Sinaloa narco-trafficking cartel.

During a 22-month investigation by agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and others, it emerged that the cocaine smugglers had bought the plane with money they had laundered through one of the biggest banks in the United States: Wachovia, now part of the giant Wells Fargo.

The authorities uncovered billions of dollars in wire transfers, traveller’s cheques and cash shipments through Mexican exchanges into Wachovia accounts. Wachovia was put under immediate investigation for failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering programme. Of special significance was that the period concerned began in 2004, which coincided with the first escalation of violence along the US-Mexico border that ignited the current drugs war.

Read moreBig US Bank Laundered Billions From Mexico’s Murderous Drug Gangs

Transocean Hails ‘Best Year’ In SAFETY, Gives Execs Bonuses, Despite Gulf Spill

The company that owns the now-infamous Deepwater Horizon, the oil rig that caused immeasurable damage to the Gulf, recently applauded itself for the “best year in safety performance in our Company’s history.” The company, Transocean Ltd., rewarded its executives millions in bonuses for the achievement, according to the annual report it released yesterday.

Steven L. Newman, Transocean’s president and CEO, awarded himself $4.3 million in cash bonuses, stocks and options.

Eleven people died as a direct result of the disaster in the Gulf, nine of them Transocean employees, according to Forbes.

“Notwithstanding the tragic loss of life in the Gulf of Mexico, we achieved an exemplary statistical safety record as measured by our total recordable incident rate and total potential severity rate. As measured by these standards, we recorded the best year in safety performance in our Company’s history, which is a reflection on our commitment to achieving an incident free environment, all the time, everywhere,” the company wrote in their annual statement to shareholders.

Read moreTransocean Hails ‘Best Year’ In SAFETY, Gives Execs Bonuses, Despite Gulf Spill

TEPCO Dumps 10,000 Tons Of ‘Low Level’ Radioactive Water In The Pacific Ocean

(April 4) — Tokyo Electric Power Co. began disposing of a total of 10,000 tons of water containing low-level radioactive substances in the Pacific Ocean on Monday from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to make room to store more highly polluted water filling the No. 2 reactor turbine building, as the water is hampering the plant’s restoration work, it said.

Separately from the contaminated water kept in a waste processing building, the company also said it plans to release 1,500 tons of groundwater, also containing radioactive materials, near the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors. The government said the water disposal will pose ”no major health risk” and is inevitable in order to secure safety.

”We’ve placed priority on not letting the highly radioactive flow into the sea,” top government spokesman Yukio Edano told a press conference.

Read moreTEPCO Dumps 10,000 Tons Of ‘Low Level’ Radioactive Water In The Pacific Ocean

Attempt To Pour Concrete On Fukushima Pit Crack Generating 1 Sievert/Hour Fails

Fact Sheet on Biological Effects of Radiation (NRC):

Above background levels of radiation exposure, the NRC requires that its licensees limit maximum radiation exposure to individual members of the public to 100 mrem (1mSv) per year, …



Attempt To Pour Concrete On Fukushima Pit Crack Generating 1 Sievert/Hour Fails; New Unmanned Drone Photos Of Reactors



After prior reports that radiation in and around Fukushima had breached the dreaded barrier of 1 sievert/hour were attributed to some PR apparatchik not knowing how to carry the decimal comma, we once again get confirmation that previous attempts to refute what some saw merely as scaremongering, were in fact more lies. According to Reuters, the soon to be nationalized TEPCO said it had found a crack in the pit at its No.2 reactor in Fukushima, generating readings 1,000 millisieverts (1 sievert) of radiation per hour in the air inside the pit. “With radiation levels rising in the seawater near the plant, we have been trying to confirm the reason why, and in that context, this could be one source,” said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), said on Saturday. He cautioned, however: “We can’t really say for certain until we’ve studied the results.” Since at this point nobody believes anything coming out of Japan and TEPCO, most are just expecting for the concrete to come: “TEPCO has begun pouring concrete into the pit to stop the leak, he said.” Alas, as always happens when horrible plans go awry, this latest attempt to fix the problem with the nuclear (pardon the pan) “solution” is failing. “Public broadcaster NHK said late on Saturday that water was preventing the concrete from hardening and the pit was still leaking.” In other words, recent horrendously planned attempts to cool the reactor by pumping water on it may well scuttle the Plan Z option of entombing the reactor. And if that doesn’t work, then Japan is straight out of plans.

From Reuters:

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese officials grappling on Sunday to end the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl were focussing on a crack in a concrete pit that was leaking radiation into the ocean from a crippled reactor.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it had found a crack in the pit at its No.2 reactor in Fukushima, generating readings 1,000 millisieverts of radiation per hour in the air inside the pit.

“With radiation levels rising in the seawater near the plant, we have been trying to confirm the reason why, and in that context, this could be one source,” said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), said on Saturday.

He cautioned, however: “We can’t really say for certain until we’ve studied the results.”

Read moreAttempt To Pour Concrete On Fukushima Pit Crack Generating 1 Sievert/Hour Fails

Physicians for Social Responsibility: ‘There Is No Safe Level Of Radionuclide Exposure, Whether From Food, Water Or Other Sources. Period.’

Physicians for Social Responsibility Deeply Concerned About Reports of Increased Radioactivity in Food Supply

 
Washington, DC – March 23, 2011 – Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) expressed concern over recent reports that radioactivity from the ongoing Fukushima accident is present in the Japanese food supply.  While all food contains radionuclides, whether from natural sources, nuclear testing or otherwise, the increased levels found in Japanese spinach and milk pose health risks to the population.  PSR also expressed alarm over the level of misinformation circulating in press reports about the degree to which radiation exposure can be considered “safe.”

According to the National Academy of Sciences, there are no safe doses of radiation. Decades of research show clearly that any dose of radiation increases an individual’s risk for the development of cancer.

“There is no safe level of radionuclide exposure, whether from food, water or other sources.  Period,” said Jeff Patterson, DO, immediate past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility.  “Exposure to radionuclides, such as iodine-131 and cesium-137, increases the incidence of cancer. For this reason, every effort must be taken to minimize the radionuclide content in food and water.”

“Consuming food containing radionuclides is particularly dangerous. If an individual ingests or inhales a radioactive particle, it continues to irradiate the body as long as it remains radioactive and stays in the body,”said Alan H. Lockwood, MD, a member of the Board of Physicians for Social Responsibility. “The Japanese government should ban the sale of foods that contain radioactivity levels above pre-disaster levels and continue to monitor food and water broadly in the area. In addition, the FDA and EPA must enforce existing regulations and guidelines that address radionuclide content in our food supply here at home.”

Read morePhysicians for Social Responsibility: ‘There Is No Safe Level Of Radionuclide Exposure, Whether From Food, Water Or Other Sources. Period.’

Meet The Japanese Boat Captain Who Rode Out The Tsunami

Oshima, Japan (CNN) — Susumu Sugawara looks bemused and a little embarrassed at all the attention he’s getting.

The 64 year old has become a local hero on the Japanese island of Oshima. Smashed boats adorn the coastline of this once-idyllic tourist spot, but Sugawara’s pride and joy, “Sunflower” is intact and working overtime transporting people and aid to and from the island. It can hold around 20 people at a time.

When the tsunami came, everyone ran to the hills. But Sugawara ran to his boat and steered it into deeper waters. “I knew if I didn’t save my boat, my island would be isolated and in trouble,” he tells CNN.

Read moreMeet The Japanese Boat Captain Who Rode Out The Tsunami

Record Silver Backwardation Spells Danger for US Dollar

James Turk:

We’re now at a record backwardation in silver in terms of length of time.  I think what we need to do is compare what is happening now to 2009 when silver was in backwardation the last time.  Over a period of just about two months silver rose 40% from approximately $10 to $14, and that rise in price eliminated the backwardation.”

“But here is the really stunning thing this time Eric, we’ve gone from $27 to over $37, again about a 40% rise in price and the backwardation is still there.  It hasn’t disappeared.  So what that suggests to me is that there is tremendous physical demand for silver.  This is a very, very rare event and it’s very bullish.

I don’t remember ever seeing anything like this before and this has real implications for the dollar because one of the other interviews that we did a while back I was saying if silver stays in a prolonged period of backwardation, what we really have to watch for is if gold goes into backwardation.  Because if gold goes into backwardation then it’s all over for the dollar.

Full article: King World News

Japan Government: Several Months Needed To Stop Radiation From Fukushima Nuclear Plant

You can always trust the government!

Uh, wait a minute:

SOS: Japan Mayo of Minami Soma City, Next To The Fukushima Nuclear Plant, Begs The Entire World To Help: ‘We Are Left To Ourselves … We Risk Dying Of Hunger.’

And months will turn into years:

Nuclear Expert: Suicide Crews ‘Facing 100-Year Battle’ At Fukushima



(Click on image to enlarge. Must-see!)

TOKYO, April 3, Kyodo — The government expects that several months may be required before radioactive particles stop being released from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, its top spokesman said Sunday.

”If we apply methods considered to be normal, I believe that it will be something like that,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference, when asked whether at least several months would be required before the plant crippled by the devastating March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami is brought under control.

”While it may not be feasible, we have been asking for other possibilities to be explored to shorten that period,” Edano said, noting that the government and the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., are considering multiple approaches to halting the nuclear crisis.

Read moreJapan Government: Several Months Needed To Stop Radiation From Fukushima Nuclear Plant

Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya Deal: You Invade Bahrain. We Take Out Muammar Gaddafi In Libya

(Asia Times) — You invade Bahrain. We take out Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. This, in short, is the essence of a deal struck between the Barack Obama administration and the House of Saud. Two diplomatic sources at the United Nations independently confirmed that Washington, via Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, gave the go-ahead for Saudi Arabia to invade Bahrain and crush the pro-democracy movement in their neighbor in exchange for a “yes” vote by the Arab League for a no-fly zone over Libya – the main rationale that led to United Nations Security Council resolution 1973.

The revelation came from two different diplomats, a European and a member of the BRIC group, and was made separately to a US scholar and Asia Times Online. According to diplomatic protocol, their names cannot be disclosed. One of the diplomats said, “This is the reason why we could not support resolution 1973. We were arguing that Libya, Bahrain and Yemen were similar cases, and calling for a fact-finding mission. We maintain our official position that the resolution is not clear, and may be interpreted in a belligerent manner.”

As Asia Times Online has reported, a full Arab League endorsement of a no-fly zone is a myth. Of the 22 full members, only 11 were present at the voting. Six of them were Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members, the US-supported club of Gulf kingdoms/sheikhdoms, of which Saudi Arabia is the top dog. Syria and Algeria were against it. Saudi Arabia only had to “seduce” three other members to get the vote.

Translation: only nine out of 22 members of the Arab League voted for the no-fly zone. The vote was essentially a House of Saud-led operation, with Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa keen to polish his CV with Washington with an eye to become the next Egyptian President.

Thus, in the beginning, there was the great 2011 Arab revolt. Then, inexorably, came the US-Saudi counter-revolution.

Read moreExposed: The US-Saudi Libya Deal: You Invade Bahrain. We Take Out Muammar Gaddafi In Libya

SOS: Japan Mayor of Minami Soma City, Next To The Fukushima Nuclear Plant, Begs The Entire World To Help: ‘We Are Left To Ourselves … We Risk Dying Of Hunger.’

This happens when you trust the government.

See America, there is no need to prepare yourself!


Japanese Mayor, Disgusted With The Government’s Crisis Response, Appeals For Help To The Entire World

The mayor of Minami Soma city, located 25 km away from the Fukushima plant, had decided to bypass the traditional channels in requesting assistance out of disgust and frustration with the government’s handling of the disaster, and instead is appealing to the entire world via this soon to be viral video clip which was recorded over a week ago but is only now making the rounds. In the clip, mayor Katsunobu Sakurai says: “We are left to ourselves… we risk dying of hunger.

Minami Soma, once a city of over 70,000 and which may now be down to as little 20,000, is asking for volunteers to do what the Japanese government refuses to do: namely to help those most in need of if not help, then at least potentially life-saving information. The mayor expresses his disappointment at the lack of support from the central government for the city’s remaining residents, and accuses the government of not providing sufficient information to help in the decision making process.

Read moreSOS: Japan Mayor of Minami Soma City, Next To The Fukushima Nuclear Plant, Begs The Entire World To Help: ‘We Are Left To Ourselves … We Risk Dying Of Hunger.’

Matt Taibbi: Why is the Federal Reserve Bailing Out Gaddafi?

Why is the Fed Bailing Out Qaddafi?



Barack Obama recently issued an executive order imposing a wave of sanctions against Libya, not only freezing Libyan assets, but barring Americans from having business dealings with Libyan banks.

So raise your hand if you knew that the United States has been extending billions of dollars in aid to Qaddafi and to the Central Bank of Libya, through a Libyan-owned subsidiary bank operating out of Bahrain. And raise your hand if you knew that, just a week or so after Obama’s executive order, the U.S. Treasury Department quietly issued an order exempting this and other Libyan-owned banks to continue operating without sanction.

I came across the curious case of the Arab Banking Corporation, better known as ABC, while researching a story about the results of the audit of the Federal Reserve. That story, which will be coming out in Rolling Stone in two weeks, will examine in detail some of the many lunacies uncovered by Senate investigators amid the recently-released list of bailout and emergency aid recipients – a list that includes many extremely shocking names, from foreign industrial competitors to hedge funds in tax-haven nations to various Wall Street figures of note (and some of their relatives). You will want to see this amazing list when it comes out, so please make sure to check the newsstands in two weeks’ time.

This list became public as a result of an amendment added to the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill that was sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The amendment forced the Federal Reserve to open its books for the first time and make public the names of those individuals and corporations who received emergency loans and bailout monies during the roughly two year period between the crash of 2008 and the passage of the Dodd-Frank bill.

As Bernie’s staff was going through this list, it found, among other things, some $26 billion in extremely cheap loans (as low as one quarter of one percent!) extended to this ABC bank over a period of years, beginning in December of 2007 and continuing through as recently as February of 2010. The senator sent a letter to Ben Bernanke over the winter demanding more information about this loan (among others) but the response he got was completely unhelpful.

When I first started working on this story, one of Sanders’s aides was careful to point out the ABC loans. Later, I took a closer look at the company and found that it was 59% owned by the Central Bank of Libya, which I found very odd, even by the generally insane standards of the bailout era. Why, I wondered, would the Federal Reserve be giving Muammar Qaddafi $26 billion in near-zero interest loans? Exactly how does that address America’s financial problems? What bailout plan could that possibly be part of?

It gets weirder from there. Sanders’s office subsequently found out that ABC is not only exempt from Obama’s sanctions, it has two functioning branches here in New York City. In a letter he sent yesterday evening to Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency chief John Walsh (the banking regulator with purview over the New York branches), Sanders put it this way:

Why would the U.S. government allow a bank that is predominantly owned by the Central Bank of Libya – an institution on which the U.S. has imposed strict economic sanctions – to operate two banking branches within our own borders?

Neither the Fed nor Treasury so far has offered explanations for these loans; the Treasury has so far only explained why ABC was not subject to sanctions and pointed to the March 4th order when I contacted them.

Read moreMatt Taibbi: Why is the Federal Reserve Bailing Out Gaddafi?

Genetically Modified Cows Produce ‘Human’ Milk

Scientists have created genetically modified cattle that produce “human” milk in a bid to make cows’ milk more nutritious.


Researchers say they are able to create cows that produce milk containing a human protein called lysozyme

The scientists have successfully introduced human genes into 300 dairy cows to produce milk with the same properties as human breast milk.

Human milk contains high quantities of key nutrients that can help to boost the immune system of babies and reduce the risk of infections.

The scientists behind the research believe milk from herds of genetically modified cows could provide an alternative to human breast milk and formula milk for babies, which is often criticised as being an inferior substitute.

They hope genetically modified dairy products from herds of similar cows could be sold in supermarkets. The research has the backing of a major biotechnology company.

The work is likely to inflame opposition to GM foods. Critics of the technology and animal welfare groups reacted angrily to the research, questioning the safety of milk from genetically modified animals and its effect on the cattle’s health.

But Professor Ning Li, the scientist who led the research and director of the State Key Laboratories for AgroBiotechnology at the China Agricultural University insisted that the GM milk would be as safe to drink as milk from ordinary dairy cows.

He said: “The milk tastes stronger than normal milk.

“We aim to commercialize some research in this area in coming three years. For the “human-like milk”, 10 years or maybe more time will be required to finally pour this enhanced milk into the consumer’s cup.”

China is now leading the way in research on genetically modified food and the rules on the technology are more relaxed than those in place in Europe.

The researchers used cloning technology to introduce human genes into the DNA of Holstein dairy cows before the genetically modified embryos were implanted into surrogate cows.

Read moreGenetically Modified Cows Produce ‘Human’ Milk

The G7 Turns On Itself: Bank of Korea Sells Its Share Of Japan Rescue Dollars, Sends Greenback Plunging

Remember when the G7 stepped in to valiantly sell yen when the Japanese currency was threatening to take out all of Wall Street with its hundreds of billions in wrong way carry trades? Well, it seems that today’s bizarre sell off in the dollar was due to that particular plan crashing and burning, with Korea defecting from the pact first, and selling its $7 billion in USD acquired in the process of bailing out Japan. It seems it is fair game to buy the Yen once again. From a trading desk:

USD getting spanked today is Bank of Korea selling $7Bn USD it bought during the coordinated USDJPY intervention, and buying GBP and EUR with it. I can understand why they would get rid of the USD, but why buy GBP and EUR with it???? Either way, goes to show how useful it is to do an intervention, they drop the reserves 2 weeks after… we’ll be back to square 1 in no time if everybody follows suit!

Remember – he who defects first and all that jazz…

(and yes, if $7 billion can move the EURUSD by 180 pips, we dread to see what the actual carry unwind instead of just impairment would look like).

Read moreThe G7 Turns On Itself: Bank of Korea Sells Its Share Of Japan Rescue Dollars, Sends Greenback Plunging

Monetary Base And Inflation: Up, Up And Away!

…But before people begin panicking that the radioactive printer plant housed in the Marriner Eccles building has melted down and is now releasing radioactive money straight into the liquidity system, recall that $195 billion of this is simply from the unwind of the Supplementary Financing Program, which feeds into the Adjusted Reserves, which together with currency in circulation feeds into the Adjusted Monetary Base.

Therefore, with the unwind of SFP completed, we expect this growth to taper off materially, although by the end of June the Adjusted Reserve balance alone will hit $1.7 trillion, implying another $200 billion or so in growth, although at a slightly slower pace.

The chart below once again (since we show it each week), shows the cumulative change in Excess Reserves and Fed Assets since the start of QE2. In an ideal world these two should offset each other (ideal in as much as banks don’t lend out Excess Reserves and simply keep the fungible monetary electrons as substitutes for Discount Window access), and other change means a migration in(+) or out(-) of currency in circulation (inflationary or deflationary). While until February excess reserves lagged securities held dramatically, this has since flipped, assisted in part by the SFP unwind, which pushes the scales in the excess reserve balance favor. In other words, there is another $150 billion or so before equilibrium is reached, all else equal. Keep a close eye on this cumulative (in)quality as it is the most direct indicator of marginal monetary pressure imbalance (Fed assets less net currency) in the system currently.

Or, in English, the cumulative differential plunge recently is hella inflationary (as the imminent subsequent reversion to the mean means money going out of reserves and into currency).

Read moreMonetary Base And Inflation: Up, Up And Away!

Russia: No UN Mandate To Attack Gaddafi Forces

* Russia says protecting civilians is sole aim

* Lavrov accuses coalition of intervention in civil war

* Moscow worried about civilian casualties

MOSCOW, March 28 (Reuters) – Russia said on Monday attacks on forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi amounted to intervention in a civil war and were not backed by the U.N. resolution authorising no-fly zones.

In the latest Russian criticism of military action by the Western-led coalition, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the resolution passed by the U.N. Security Council on March 17 had the sole aim of protecting Libyan civilians.

“And yet there are reports — and nobody denies them — of coalition strikes on columns of Gaddafi’s forces, reports about support for actions by the armed insurgents,” Lavrov said. “There are clear contradictions here.”

“We consider that intervention by the coalition in what is essentially an internal civil war is not sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council resolution,” Lavrov said when asked about Libya at a news conference with the Kyrgyz foreign minister.

Russia has veto power as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council but chose not to block the resolution, which authorised “all necessary measures to enforce compliance” with no-fly zones.

Read moreRussia: No UN Mandate To Attack Gaddafi Forces

New Euro Crisis As Ireland And Portugal Plunge Deep Into Chaos

FRESH fears that British taxpayers will be forced to pay billions of pounds more cash into European Union emergency rescue schemes were raised last night after the euro crisis deepened.

Ireland’s fragile banking sector pleaded for an extra £21billion to stave off collapse yesterday while debt-stricken Portugal came under further pressure to accept a massive EU bailout.

The double blow to the troubled eurozone raised concern that the UK will have to pay more under a controversial agreement to protect the troubled currency.

Critics last night demanded that Britain refuse to pay any more into shoring up struggling eurozone economies.

Read moreNew Euro Crisis As Ireland And Portugal Plunge Deep Into Chaos

Canada Refuses To Test Milk For Radiation

Refuse to pay your taxes and see what happens. 🙂

Iodine ‘traces’ pose absolutely ‘no risk’ in Canada and the US:

California: Radioactive Iodine-131 In Rainwater 181 Times Above Drinking Water Standards, Has Also Been Detected In Multiple Milk Samples, While US Gov Has Still Not Published Any Official Data On Japan Disaster

When ingested or inhaled a radioactive particle becomes a trillion times more dangerous to your health, no matter what BS your government tells you.


Iodine traces found in Spokane product ‘pose absolutely no risk’


A dairy farmer empties milk onto his pasture in Nihonmatsu, Japan, last week after radioactive materials beyond legal limits were detected in raw milk in the area near a stricken nuclear power plant.
Photograph by: AFP, Getty Images, Vancouver Sun

Canadian health agencies have no immediate plans to measure the amount of radiation in milk following Japan’s nuclear crisis despite the demands of B.C. dairy farmers who want officials to follow the U.S. and test dairy products.

“There will be no testing of milk,” Alice Danjou, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said Friday.

The news came as a disappointment to Robin Smith, executive director of the BC Milk Producers Association, which earlier this week called on the agency to test the milk in an effort to prove to the public the levels are low enough to consume.

Read moreCanada Refuses To Test Milk For Radiation

Fukushima Xe-133 Radiation Forecast (Apr. 2-6): Northwest of US Under Threat

Provided by the Department of Atmospheric and Climate Research, The Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU)

April 6 Fukushima forecast shows Northwest US under threat


Added: 02.04.2011

April 6 Fukushima Forecast Shows Northwest US under threat (CLOSEUP)


Added: 02.04.2011

See also:

California: Radioactive Iodine-131 In Rainwater 181 Times Above Drinking Water Standards, Has Also Been Detected In Multiple Milk Samples, While US Gov Has Still Not Published Any Official Data On Japan Disaster

GREENPEACE Measures EXTREME RADIATION 35KM From Fukushima: Maximum Annual Dose In Just 4 Days!

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California: Radioactive Iodine-131 In Rainwater 181 Times Above Drinking Water Standards, Has Also Been Detected In Multiple Milk Samples, While US Gov Has Still Not Published Any Official Data On Japan Disaster

Government Under Fire as Radiation Is Found in Milk, Rain

Federal officials have still not published any official data on nuclear fallout from Japan disaster

Government Under Fire as Radiation Is Found in Milk, Rain (Bay Citizen, April 2, 2011):

Radiation from Japan rained on Berkeley during recent storms at levels that exceeded drinking water standards by 181 times and has been detected in multiple milk samples, but the U.S. government has still not published any official data on nuclear fallout here from the Fukushima disaster.

Dangers from radiation that is wafting over the United States from the Fukushima power plant disaster and falling with rain have been downplayed by government officials and others, who say its impacts are so fleeting and minor as to be negligible.

But critics say an absence of federal data on the issue is hampering efforts to develop strategies for preventing radioactive isotopes from accumulating in the nation’s food and water supplies.

Read moreCalifornia: Radioactive Iodine-131 In Rainwater 181 Times Above Drinking Water Standards, Has Also Been Detected In Multiple Milk Samples, While US Gov Has Still Not Published Any Official Data On Japan Disaster