The Lay of the Land: Libya, Korea, Israel, Japan

US OIL $106/BARREL

EU/WORLD OIL $116/BARREL

LIBYA

US/NATO NAVAL BLOCKADE INITIATED (INCLUDING TURKISH NAVAL FORCES)

US/NATO NO FLY ZONE & COUNTERSTRIKE AGAINST LIBYA MILITARY EXPANDED

FRENCH AIRCRAFT CARRIER CHARLES DE GAULLE

USS KEARSARGE CARRIER EXPEDITIONARY STRIKE GROUP///26TH MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT
B-2 STEALTH BOMBERS

UKSAS & US SPECIAL OPERATIONS
AIRCRASH: 1 X US F15 FIGHTER JET (2 X PILOTS EXTRACTED BY USMC 26TH MEU)

JAPAN

TOKYO: RADIATION CONTAMINATION

EUROPE: LOW RADIATION ARRIVAL

FUKUSHIMA REACTORS:

ONE: EXPLOSION/LOW RADIATION///TWO: EXPLOSION/LOW RADIATION
THREE: EXPLOSION/LOW RADIATION - ACTIVE SMOKE/EVACUATION
FOUR: DOUBLE EXPLOSION/LOW RADIATION
FIVE: STABLE///SIX: STABLE
USS WASHINGTON CARRIER STRIKE GROUP
USS ESSEX CARRIER EXPEDITIONARY STRIKE GROUP///31ST MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT

ISRAEL

HAMAS EMPLACED 1 X IED ADJACENT JERUSALEM CONVENTION CENTER (1 X KIA, 30 X WIA)

GAZA LAUNCH OF GRAD (IRANIAN MADE) ROCKETS INTO 2 X BEERSHEBA, 1 X ASHDOD AND 1 X ASHKELON (5 X WIA)

GAZA LAUNCH OF MORTARS INTO 7 X ESHKOL KIBBUTZ FARMS AND 3 X SHAAR KIBBUTZ FARMS

KOREA/PERSIAN GULF

USS LINCOLN CARRIER STRIKE GROUP (KOREA)
USS ENTERPRISE CARRIER STRIKE GROUP ENROUTE (PERSIAN GULF)
USS VINSON CARRIER STRIKE GROUP (PERSIAN GULF)
USS BOXER EXPEDITIONARY CARRIER STRIKE GROUP (PERSIAN GULF)

The Lay of the Land: Libya, Korea, Afghanistan, Israel, Japan

LIBYA

MILITARY:

PERSONNEL - 120,000ACTIVE///200,000RESERVE, OTHER

AIR - SCUD MRBM, MIG25, SUKHOI, MIRAGE, S200, IGLA, STRELA, OTHER

LAND - T72, MLRS, SA9, SA13, OTHER

SEA - SUMARINES (FOXTROT CLASS), MISSILE FRIGATES (SS-N-2C)

========================

LIBYA

US FORCES:

B-2 STEALTH BOMBERS

KEARSARGE EXPEDITIONARY STRIKE GROUP///26TH MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT

US SPECIAL OPERATIONS

(EN-ROUTE) BATAAN EXPEDITIONARY STRIKE GROUP

(EN-ROUTE) ENTERPRISE CARRIER STRIKE GROUP

[[[STIKE GROUPS COMPOSED OF MULTIPLE WARSHIPS, ATTACK SUBMARINES & FIGHTER AIRCRAFT]]]

JAPAN

REAGAN CARRIER STRIKE GROUP

WASHINGTON CARRIER STRIKE GROUP

ESSEX EXPEDITIONARY STRIKE GROUP///31ST MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT

FUKUSHIMA REACTORS:

ONE: EXPLOSION/LOW RADIATION

TWO: EXPLOSION/LOW RADIATION

THREE: EXPLOSION/LOW RADIATION (SECOND EXPLOSION IMMINENT)

FOUR: DOUBLE EXPLOSION/LOW RADIATION

FIVE: STABLE

SIX: STABLE

TOKYO: LOW RADIATION ARRIVAL

KOREA/AFGHANISTAN

LINCOLN CARRIER STRIKE GROUP (KOREA)

VINSON CARRIER STRIKE GROUP (AFGHANISTAN)

BOXER EXPEDITIONARY STRIKE GROUP (AFGHANISTAN)

ISRAEL

(SATURDAY) 50 X MORTARS/ROCKETS FIRED FROM GAZA (HAMAS) INTO ISRAEL IN LESS THAN 15 MINUES

(THURSDAY) EGYPT MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD MEETING WITH HAMAS

Make yourself...

...heard, not herd.

The inherent clean energy opportunity in Japan

This is not meant as any kind of a cynical-jab at the Japanese people, looking at them as some tool for change. The earthquake and subsequent nuclear accidents that are unfolding are a horrific reminder of how tenuous modern life is: in a matter of just five minutes, everything on the Japanese mainland changed forever.

At this point, we have no idea how many people have died or will die as a result of what's been reported as an 8.4 to 8.9 scale earthquake, possibly the worst in their entire recorded history.

The most recent one on roughly the same scale occurred in 1923, killing as many as 140,000 people. But the Japanese were better prepared for a recurrence...except that you can never truly prepare for one when it comes to a nuclear power plant. Nuclear power will always be vulnerable to natural disasters, social upheavals, and most certainly, inevitable social collapse since all civilizations end one day.

The half-lives of most radioactive byproducts of nuclear power will far-exceed the lifespan of any civilization, reason enough to begin a general decommissioning of all existing plants, the neutralization of the waste ("byproducts," and to the best of our abilities), and a rapid conversion over to a constellation of clean or cleaner energy sources, mainly natural and renewable ones. This nuclear disaster hasn't even played-out yet, but I see very real opportunities that need to be grasped, and immediately, by the Japanese public as well as the world community, outside of the corridors of power.

As the Japanese people and their rescuers from their government and from around the world are exposed to radioactive contamination, we need to realize that we have yet another opening here: the outrage that's inevitably coming on the mainland--perhaps even from neighboring countries--is going to be profound. As always, there are cultural, and therefore, historical reasons for this.

For those with a short memory, it should be remembered that the Japanese are the only nation on earth to have atomic weapons directed upon them. They have not forgotten this by a long-shot, and the terrible irony of this catastrophe-upon-a-catastrophe will not be lost on them as it surely is on most Americans, willfully, since we're the ones who dropped two atomic bombs on them in 1945.

We tend to forget about our own war crimes here in the United States, our victims however, do not.

There will be a very loud cry indeed in Japan to decommission these nuclear plants because they have failed every test. The plants themselves were already strongly opposed, but as it usually happens, times were better and they public will was more neutral and the opposition's warnings were ignored. There was, after all, a lot of money to be made, and power demands were growing and still are. That's fine and well, but events have a way of changing things, and catastrophes borne out of both natural disaster and human incompetence and corruption lead to a perception of misrule. As often is the case, that perception is usually accurate.

Prediction: there will be a major groundswell coming against further development and operation of nuclear power on the Japanese mainland. A call for major, wide-scale investment in clean and renewable sources of energy will be heard throughout the island nation. If it reaches the level of mass-production, it will have a global impact since Japan is the third largest developed economy in the world, one of the world's skilled "workshops," like Germany.

Even with this disaster, Japan could be poised to lead the way towards a new and decisive direction, towards the real world implementation of alternative energy sources that are well outside of the box. With China in close-proximity, production in both nations could point to very affordable solar technologies, as just one example.

This is all a wait-and-see, to be sure, since we don't know how bad this nuclear disaster is going get. But I think there are great opportunities here for Japan and the world, coming out of their worst period since WWII, their (and our) greatest challenge. As fate would have it, Wikileaks has uncovered and released one of the cache of American State Department cables, and they purport to contain a passage of Japanese government officials discussing cover-ups of previous nuclear accidents. When-and-if the smokes clears soon, the Japanese people will learn of this; there will be a wide demand for explanations, with the predictable outrage, perhaps even riots.

All we lack is the will since an outraged citizenry that won't have it anymore is an irresistible social force that cannot be held back any longer.

He Jerks Hard for the Phonies

"I work hard!" he told a room of openly uninterested listeners, something he did a lot of the time, especially after he left work at his private firm, his minuscule fiefdom. OK: especially at work, since his employees never listened to what he had to say because they were immune to bullshit. He didn't care. He was better since he made more money than they did, thanks to ripping off all of them through creative accounting and delusions of adequacy, and legally too.

"Goddamned deadbeats--won't work, plenty of jobs out there, I know!!*#^!" As was always the case, nobody acted as though they were listening, and on a conscious level, they weren't. The man kept going on anyway, yammering away while seven people in rags were lined-up outside clutching signs with various inscriptions on them, but all of them essentially said "Will Work for Food" in one way or another. Most of them had been working weeks before, and very hard.

"Spoiling my view!" he muttered. He was only 35, but came off as a moldering 88.

"For the love of God, would you please shut the fuck up, sir, asshole--whateverthefuck your fuckin' name is? Jesus, fucker." asked and projectile-vomited a young lady in black leather, festooned with tattoos and piercings from head-to-toe.

"Why don't you go get a job, like me? I'm even self-employed, eh, top that, you loud-mouthed Goth-cooze!" he growled, drool flowing from both sides of his mouth, a vein throbbing on his forehead, and a visible erection showing through his dockers. Baboons have their own male species.

"I have a job, bitch," she shot back instantly, visibly smacking him in the face with the comment. "But...everyone fuckin' works, you crybaby asshole. What makes you so special, fuckface?" and she sat back down in the booth she was in and turned her back to him disrespectfully. There was a round of applause for a solid three minutes, but a few in the corner slunk out after paying their bill, looking suspiciously ignorant, even furtively so, as they went across the street to do business at the asshole's unimportant fiefdom.

The lay of the land: Oil - Iraq - Libya - North Korea

From our source in the Middle East (from raw-communiques):

OIL

US: +$100/barrel

EU: +$115/barrel

[[[Iraq's largest oil refinery in Baji - significant long term damage from al-qaeda cell sponsored by [I]ran revolutionary guard]]]

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LIBYA

US CARRIER STRIKE GROUP ENTERPRISE

US EXPEDITIONARY ST[I]RKE GROUP KEARSARGE

UK MISSILE FRIGATE CUMBERLAND

SOUTH KOREAN DESTROYER CHOI YOUNG

US/NATO SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES

+/- 6,000 KIA

Libyan military & mercenaries (African & former Russian special forces) striking anti-government forces

Elements of Sudan and Zimbabwe National Armies assisting Qadaffi

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov: We will veto any U.N. No Fly Zone resolution

Venezuela President Chavez proposes peace talks

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NORTH KOREA

Preparation for third nuclear test

Preparation for missile tests into Sea of Japan or over Japan into Pacific Ocean

North Korea/South Korea border: US Pacific Comma[n]d Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercises

(((+10,500 US Forces from outside South Korea in addition to +/- 28,000 US Forces from South Korea)))

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