The Terror Awaiting the United States
We’ve had a basketful of large volcanic explosions and earthquakes in recent years. These thoughts were also brought about by my reading bits of Simon Winchester‘s excellent book on Krakatoa, whilst visiting my friend in hospital.
If we look at volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in modern times, we can see that they are by no means uncommon, but as we get more densely packed on Spaceship Earth, they cause more damage and loss of life. Especially as many of the most active areas are highly populated.
The Year Without a Summer, 1816, is a classic example of what can happen when a large volcano erupts. In this case it was Mount Tambora in modern-day Indonesia. In the post on Mount Tambora there is a list of the big volcanic explosions and it would seem that we get one every twenty years or so. The last big one was in 1991 and that was Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines. It had a significant effect.
The effects of the eruption were felt worldwide. It ejected roughly 10 billion metric tonnes (10 cubic kilometres) of magma, and 20 million tons of SO2, bringing vast quantities of minerals and metals to the surface environment. It injected large amounts of aerosols into the stratosphere—more than any eruption since that of Krakatoa in 1883. Over the following months, the aerosols formed a global layer of sulfuric acid haze. Global temperatures dropped by about 0.5 °C (0.9 °F), and ozone depletion temporarily increased substantially.
This just shows how what we can do to the planet are pinpricks compared to nature. Luckily, nature doesn’t vent its spleen too often.
But one threat from a volcano seriously threatens the United States. That is the volcano of Cumbre Vieja on the Canary Islands. If it fractures how Day and Ward predict, then there will a mega-tsunami that will wreak havoc in Florida and the Caribbean.
Living 30 metres up in Suffolk and at least 70 kilometres from the coast has its compensations.
Libya, the West and Al-Megrahi
This is the headline of an editorial in the Khaleej Times, which is an English language publication in the UAE.
It sums up the issues well and doesn’t really take any particular point of view. But it does add a fact that a lot of people seem to be forgetting in the last paragraph. That is the shooting down by the USS Vincennes of an Iranian Airbus.
Most Western intelligence services saw the bombing of Pan Am 103 as an act of revenge, which obviously it was. The US warship Vincennes had shot down an Iranian Airbus five months before the Pan Am bombing, killing all 290 mostly Iranian passengers, and the Iranians were seen as getting even. Of course, this is not to suggest Teheran had been behind the bombing. As we have argued, there was no dearth of America’s enemies then, just as there’s no dearth of them now. Just about any body could have done it. This is why the Western nations and Libya would do well to exercise restraint. They mustn’t undo all the good work that has been done to bridge the gulf between the Arab country and the West.
The last point is also put very well.
What’s done is done and although it was horrific beyond belief, we all owe it to the world to move on.
Gary McKinnon and Aung San Suu Kyi
In Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi is being tried on a trumped up charge, that will probably put her out of the limelight and into a dark and brutal prison for ever.
Today, Gary McKinnon has been allowed to be extradited on a fast-track process to the USA, where if found guilty, he will probably be consigned into a dark and brutal prison for ever.
Nobody should be extradited from this country without a full hearing in the British Courts. And if the punishment that is likely to be imposed on conviction, is much higher than that in the UK, then the extradition should not be allowed.
But then Blair signed those rights away! And the United States have not kept their side of the bargain.
Hands Off Our Banks
Our banks may have not been friends of the general public, but they are going to get a lot worse if the US government has its way. Just read this article by Carl Mortished, entitled the Long Arm of the US Taxman.
It is all part of the relentless drive to treat us all like criminals. I pay my taxes and I resent having to fill in forms just to make sure I’m not money laundering or stashing fifty pound notes in my socks. Today, I’ve got to drive into Cambridge to get a lawyer to certify that I am who I am. Apparently, my word is no longer good enough.
Don’t get me talking on what our MPs got up to. And what are they doing on all these invasions of our privacy? Baa! Baa!
It is far better to analyse what is happening and target those who are up to no good!
The True Cost of Gun Ownership
There is a small article in The Times about the gun lobby wanting to revive the law of the Wild west saloon.
The chilling statistic is that in the US, 30,000 Americans die by gunshot, of which at least 10,000 are murder. In England and Wales it is just 50, or about 300, if we had the same population.
No wonder I don’t allow guns on my land!
The Anonymous Widower 