Worldview is taken from the German word Weltanschauung, which means look onto the world. A worldview is the way in which a person sees the world. This blog will obviously reflect my worldview. I will post thoughts on things that are happening in the world. I will post thoughts on just about any topic, because everything can be seen through a worldview!
Take some time and read the following article
Pentagon Preparing For War With The Enemy: Russia
By Rick Rozoff
URL of this article:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13614
Global Research, May 14, 2009
A species of bream, sarpa salpa, which can trigger hallucinations when eaten, has been been discovered in British waters due to global warming.
The species of bream is normally found in the balmier waters of the Mediterranean and South Africa, was found by fisherman Andy Giles in his nets in the English Channel.
Mr Giles, 38, caught the fish, which is instantly recognised by its gold stripes running along its body, six miles south of Polperro, Cornwall.
"We were trawling for lemon sole and hauled up the net at the end of the day and almost immediately saw this striped fish, we didn't have a clue what it was," he said.
"I had never seen one before and after taking a photograph of it I tried to look it up on the internet and called some friends to see if they knew what it was.
"I put it in the fish box and brought it back for experts to have a look at it.
"Now I realise what it was and the effects it can have, perhaps I should have taken it into town to sell to some clubbers!"
There have only been three previous recordings of sarpa salpa in British waters before, with one of them being off the Channel Islands in 1983.
James Wright, a senior biologist at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, said: "These are a fairly common fish off Tenerife, Malta and Cyprus but it is very rare to get them this far north.
"It could be a single fish that was shoaling with a different species but it could be that there are more of them in our waters."
Sarpa salpa are a popular dish in many Mediterranean restaurants.
But according to marine experts, certain species of plankton-eating fish, like the sarpa salpa, can give off hallucinogenic fish poisoning if the heads or other body parts are consumed.
The effects include vivid hallucinations within minutes of eating it which can last for days.
In 2006 two men, one aged 90, were hospitalised in the south of France after eating sarpa salpa.
The elderly man suffered from auditory hallucinations a couple of hours after eating the fish followed by a series of nightmares over the next two nights.
The younger man, aged 40, endured similar effects which took 36 hours to disappear.
Here is the link to the original report: Fish
Pakistan's military is pressing ahead with an offensive to try to crush the Taliban, following warnings from Washington that the militants pose an existential threat. Following are some scenarios of how events could unfold:
WEAK PAKISTANI GOVERNMENT STRUGGLES TO PUSH BACK TALIBAN
Even if Taliban fighters melt away from their strongholds in Swat in the face of the latest army offensive, they can regroup.
Militants could stealthily widen and consolidate their territorial grip as long as they were careful not to overreach and provoke another major army offensive.
"The Pakistan Taliban are effectively taking advantage of the lack of governance and development. Neither appeasement nor military assault is likely to prove effective for handling the long-term threat posed by these groups," said Maria Kuusisto, Pakistan analyst at Eurasia Group in London.
The outlook would be more of the same -- instability, a continued terrorist threat, and a divided Pakistani leadership.
But this relatively negative outlook is already priced in, analysts say, meaning local markets will largely ignore the poor security situation and focus on the brighter economic picture.
There would be room for gains by local stocks, and the rupee would stabilize, seeing an orderly depreciation over time due to exchange rate reforms. There would be little or no impact on global markets.
MILITARY OFFENSIVE DEALS SIGNIFICANT BLOW TO TALIBAN
The Pakistani government and army so far retain considerable public support for their offensive against the Taliban in Swat. If they can press home their advantage and deal a significant military blow to the Taliban, stocks could see strong gains.
"We reiterate that investors keep an eye on the bigger picture and any progress on the political and military front should be taken as a bullish signal," Credit Suisse said last week. Analysts said the stock market upside could be 25 percent.
The military has also shown success in dealing with militants in tribal areas earlier this year.
But crushing an insurgency is notoriously difficult.
"Pakistani military forces already are privately expressing their concerns that many of the Taliban have blended in with the refugees fleeing the district, likely making it a matter of time before Taliban forces are able to reconstitute themselves in the area," risk consultancy Stratfor said in an analysis.
Furthermore, a sustained campaign against the Taliban would worsen an already severe refugee crisis and send the civilian death toll sharply higher, undermining popular support.
"If the war against militants becomes a prolonged one, and with heavy civilian casualties (as can be expected), public resentments against the government may well serve to break up the unity, laying the groundwork for both social and political unrest," said Jan Zalewski, analyst at IHS Global Insight.
To read the rest of the report follow this link:
War
WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior Obama administration official said he expects that North Korea will test a nuclear weapon before it is forced back to international disarmament negotiations.
At an event at the Brookings Institution, U.S. President Barack Obama's coordinator for weapons of mass destruction policy, Gary Samore, also on Friday expressed some understanding for Russia's objections to U.S. missile defense plans in Europe.
Samore said that North Korea was trying to divide the five countries that have been involved with it in disarmament talks. He said that North Korea was looking for ways to provoke problems.
"It's very clear that the North Koreans want to pick a fight," he said. "They want to kill the six-party talks."
North Korea has vowed to quit six-nation nuclear negotiations and restart its atomic program after the U.N. Security Council's criticism of North Korea's launch of a long-range missile on April 5. North Korea also kicked all international monitors out of its nuclear facilities.
Asked if he expected Pyongyang to carry out another nuclear test, Samore said: "I think they will. That's what they are threatening to do."
Pyongyang conducted its first atomic test in 2006, and is thought to have enough plutonium to make at least a half-dozen nuclear bombs.
Samore said that the United States is committed to the six-nation talks and predicted that North Korea would be forced back to negotiations within nine months.
"We'll just wait," he said. He added that he believed that other major powers would support further sanctions against North Korea if they carry out a test.
"The Chinese are very, very angry at the North Koreans," he said.
Among the five countries involved in the negotiations with North Korea, China is widely seen as having the most influence. It is also a member of the U.N. Security Council, which would have to approve any international sanctions.
On Russia, Samore broke with the old U.S. line formulated under the Bush administration, that Russia's objections to U.S. missile defense plans in Europe were completely unfounded.
He said that some of Russia's concerns were valid in the context of U.S.-Russia talks for long-term reduction of its nuclear arsenals.
The Bush administration had argued that its missile defense plans in Poland and the Czech Republic were aimed at countering Iran and that the system's 10 interceptors were too few to pose a threat to Moscow's vast arsenal.
However, Samore said that Russia's concerns could be legitimate if the two countries significantly reduced their arsenals of nuclear missiles.
"When we go down to really low numbers
Link to the original article: Test
Additonal report:
Korea 'will test nuclear weapon'
A SENIOR United States government official said yesterday he expects that North Korea will test a nuclear weapon before it is forced back to international disarmament negotiations.
Gary Samore, co-ordinator for America's weapons of mass destruction policy, says North Korea wants to divide the five other countries involved in the nuclear talks.
Pyongyang has vowed to restart its atomic programme in anger at United Nations security council criticism of its long-range rocket launch on 5 April.
Link to original report: Weapon
North Korea seeks upper hand with nuclear threat
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's threats on Wednesday to conduct a nuclear test and fire an intercontinental ballistic missile are likely aimed at increasing its bargaining leverage with global powers.
The North said it would go ahead with the tests unless the U.N. Security Council apologized for tightening sanctions against Pyongyang in response to the reclusive state's rocket launch this month.
* Experts say that since the North's only nuclear test in October 2006 was just a partial success, another is inevitable because Pyongyang needs to see if it has built a better bomb design. A nuclear test is one of the biggest cards North Korea can play in its strategy of brinkmanship with the international community, and doing so would push Pyongyang right to the top of U.S. President Barack Obama's agenda.
* The North for years has used its military threat to squeeze concessions from regional powers. A nuclear test, coming so soon after the North defied global warnings and launched a long-range rocket in early April, would give it more options to play in its dealings with Washington.
* It will be difficult for the North to back down from its threat unless a face-saving solution can be found. But a test, if it does occur, would not likely happen for several months due to the preparation needed.
* A test would likely rattle financial markets in North Asia, which shrugged off the North's launch of the long-range missile this month.
* North Korea will alienate China, its last major ally and biggest benefactor, with a nuclear test. It will likely be hit with further U.N. sanctions as a result because Beijing may not use its U.N. Security Council veto to protect Pyongyang, which will also take a hit financially for the large costs it takes to conduct a test.
* But since the isolated North may already feel the pinch from a tightening of existing sanctions called for in response to the rocket launch, it may believe the economic damage that would come after a test would not deal too heavy a blow to its already wobbly economy.
* A second nuclear test would also deplete the North's meager supply of fissile material, which experts say is estimated to be enough for six to eight nuclear weapons.
* North Korea will likely try to resume all of its nuclear activities, after it started to take apart its Yongbyon nuclear plant in a disarmament-for-aid deal it reached with the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
* The North said this month it had restarted its facility at Yongbyon that separates plutonium from spent fuel rods cooling at the plant, which could eventually give it enough fissile material for one more nuclear bomb.
* A second nuclear test would be heralded by the North's propaganda machinery as a triumph for leader Kim Jong-il and his "military-first" policy. This would help Kim further solidify his leadership after questions were raised about his grip on power after he was suspected of suffering a stroke in August.
Link to original report: Threat
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