http://www.popsci.com/node/36702
Report: China plans reserve for rare earths
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9COUIKO0.htm
Eva Golinger: U.S. Military Aggression against Venezuela escalating
http://pineriverspirit.blogspot.com/2009/12/eva-golinger-us-military-aggression.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PineRiverWorldNews+%28Pine+River+World+News%29
U.S. Military Aggression against Venezuela escalating
© Eva Golinger
December 20, 2009
CARACAS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez revealed today on his Sunday television and radio program, Aló Presidente, that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have illegally entered Venezuela's airspace during the past several days. "A few days ago, one of these military planes penetrated Venezuela as far as Fort Mara," a Venezuelan military fort in the State of Zulia, bordering Colombia. The drone was seen by several Venezuelan soldiers who immediately reported the aerial violation to their superiors. President Chávez gave the order today to shoot down any drones detected in Venezuelan territory. Chávez also directly implicated Washington in this latest threat against regional stability by confirming that the drones were of U.S. origin.
On Thursday, President Chávez denounced military threats against Venezuela originating from the Dutch islands Aruba and Curazao, situated less than 50 miles off Venezuela's northwest coast. Both small islands host U.S. air force bases as a result of a 1999 contract between Washington and Holland establishing U.S. Forward Operating Locations (FOLs) in the Caribbean colonies. Originally, the contract stipulated U.S. military presence in Aruba and Curazao soley for counternarcotics missions. However, since September 2001, Washington uses all its military installations to combat perceived terrorist threats around the world. The military bases in Aruba and Curazao have been used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaisance missions against Venezuela during the past several years.
Paul Craig Roberts: Americans Are Hell-Bent on Tyranny
http://pineriverspirit.blogspot.com/2009/12/paul-craig-roberts-americans-are-hell.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&
utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PineRiverWorldNews+%28
Pine+River+World+News%29
Obama's dwindling band of true believers has taken heart that their man has finally delivered on one of his many promises - the closing of the Guantanamo prison. But the prison is not being closed. It is being moved to Illinois, if the Republicans permit.
In truth, Obama has handed his supporters another defeat. Closing Guantanamo meant ceasing to hold people in violation of our legal principles of habeas corpus and due process and ceasing to torture them in violation of U.S. and international laws.
All Obama would be doing would be moving 100 people, against whom the U.S. government is unable to bring a case, from the prison in Guantanamo to a prison in Thomson, Illinois.
Are the residents of Thomson despondent that the U.S. government has chosen their town as the site on which to continue its blatant violation of U.S. legal principles? No, the residents are happy. It means jobs.
Neither the public nor the media have ever shown any interest in how the detainees came to be incarcerated. Most of the detainees were unprotected people who were captured by Afghan war lords and sold to the Americans as "terrorists" in order to collect a proffered bounty. It was enough for the public and the media that the Defense Secretary at the time, Donald Rumsfeld, declared the Guantanamo detainees to be the "780 most dangerous people on earth."
The vast majority have been released after years of abuse. The 100 who are slated to be removed to Illinois have apparently been so badly abused that the U.S. government is afraid to release them because of the testimony the prisoners could give to human rights organizations and foreign media about their mistreatment.
U.S. security agents "flood" northern Nigeria - local media
http://pineriverspirit.blogspot.com
Nigeria media is delving into alleged al-Qaeda terrorist Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab's background since his arrest by U.S. authorities over a botched plane-bombing incident on Friday.
According to the Nigerian Tribune, "... sources disclosed that U.S. security agents have flooded the northern cities of Kano, Maiduguri, Sokoto and others, particularly those cities where Boko Harams sect members were recently discovered. The sources said in some cases, U.S. security agents were not even ready to take instructions from local security authorities."
The city of Maiduguri, in particular, was the headquarters of Boko Haram leader Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf, killed by Nigerian security services after being taken into custody. (See this blog's coverage "Jihad in Nigeria" and subsequent links.)
The Tribune further reports that the suspect's father, Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab - the recently retired chairman of First Bank of Nigeria, was so concerned with his son's "Islamic extremism" that six months ago he reported him to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria's capital.
The 23 year old suspect was an "engineering student of the University College, London [who] was noted for his Islamic extremism, and this was also traced to his secondary school days at the British International School, Lome, Togo," according to the Tribune.
Mounting Political Tensions as the US, Russia and China Compete for the Control of the World's Oil and Gas Reserves
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=SHE20091214&articleId=16555
China’s completion of an historic natural gas pipeline with Kazakhstan bypassing Russia this week tightens the Asian behemoth’s grip on energy resources needed to fuel a burgeoning economy, a desire also forcing it on a quest for oil and gas wealth in other corners of the globe.
China is not alone in this scramble for energy security. Hungry for oil and gas, world powers like Russia and the United States are also relying on different strategies to grab resource treasures but their efforts have raised questions about conflicts down the road.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration describes China as the second largest energy consumer behind the United States . Taking advantage of the world’s financial crisis, the Asian powerhouse has tapped currency reserves to invest in both Russia and Central Asia , helping to construct power plants and other domestic infrastructure in return for long-term oil and gas supplies, said Ben Montalbano, a senior research analyst at the Washington-based Energy Policy Research Foundation.
Lacking energy reserves, China has been “working hard to lock in” investments in Africa, Central Asia and Venezuela , Montalbano told OilPrice.com. The country has also sought natural gas to satisfy increasing consumption and built many liquefied natural gas receiving terminals over the last year.
Soil Studies Reveal Rise in Antibiotic Resistance
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091223125137.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+sciencedaily+(ScienceDaily:+Latest+Science+News)&utm_content=Google+Reader
That Tap Water Is Legal but May Be Unhealthy
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/us/17water.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss
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