Sunday, February 09, 2003

Renaissance Flemming Funch writes: In times of change it can be useful to look back at other times of cultural change, at least those that can be considered successful in retrospect. The Renaissance was one of those periods. 'Renaissance', is French for 'rebirth'. It describes the intellectual and economic changes that occurred in Europe from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries. Europe emerged from the stagnation of the Middle Ages and experienced an age of artistic, social, scientific and political innovation and new thought, as well as financial growth. The Renaissance is usually considered to have originated in Florence, Italy. Fifteenth-century Florence was a self-governed, independent city-state. The basis of its economic success was its twelve artist guilds that regulated the trades. Wealthy guild members held position in government and were very influential in both society and politics. Because of its strong economy and a political philosophy that was dedicated to the welfare of the city, Florence thrived. The Florence banking business was also a foundation for its success. The Florentine gold coin known as the florin was of such reliable purity that it became the standard coinage throughout Europe. (02/09/03) The Militarization of Space Chris Floyd writes: the Bush Regime's priority is the development of what Pentagon warplanners call "Full Spectrum Dominance": the projection of overwhelming military might throughout the heavens in order to -- and here's a familiar theme -- "prevent the emergence of any global rival" to American hegemony. "It's an "urgent mission," says the U.S. Strategic Command, to "seize the high ground" and, in Donald Rumsfeld's words, "avoid a space Pearl Harbor," The New York Times reports. "Pearl Harbor" seems to be a potent trigger word for the Regime, and for Rumsfeld in particular. You'll recall our recent reports on PNAC, the Rumsfeld-led think tank that spent the last decade drawing up plans for the invasion of Iraq and the domination of Central Asia. One key PNAC concept was the hope for a "Pearl Harbor-type event" that would sweep away opposition to imperial conquests abroad and pave the way for a broad militarization of American society. Who says wishes never come true? Now a similar fate is in store for the global commons of outer space, it seems. As with the Regime's other plans for domination, Strategic Command's reports are all couched in purely defensive terms -- as if some rogue state or terrorist group were about to launch a multi-trillion dollar space armada to encircle the earth with deadly intent. The truth is that only one nation is capable of doing that: the Lord God's own U.S. of A. And the array of whiz-bang weaponry being avidly pursued by the Regime -- including space-mounted lasers, orbiting nuclear arms and death-dealing solar magnifiers -- goes far beyond anything required solely for defense. If implemented, "Full Spectrum Dominance" will be an inescapable, unstoppable loaded gun pointed at the head of every man, woman and child on the planet, giving new weight to Bush's oft-repeated declaration: "If you're not with us, you're against us." (02/09/03) Where Have All the Fishes Gone? New York Times -- As marine stocks collapse around the globe, from the anchovies of Peru to the North Atlantic cod, local detail sheds little light on what is happening to the world's fisheries. Dr. Daniel Pauly has stepped into this void. He is an iconoclastic fisheries scientist at the University of British Columbia who is so decidedly global in his life and outlook that he is nearly a man without a country. ... "In some places in the world," he said, "you can see people chasing the last fish. In the Java Sea in Indonesia, I have seen fishers going out in the morning, six of them going out and coming back with five pounds of fish. That is the end point, a pound of fish per person per day to sell for rice. That's where fisheries go if you let it happen. That's where it stabilizes. These people cannot feed their families." Unchecked, he says, the same will be seen around the world, and the fishing industry will leave little in the seas but harvests of what he calls "bait and worse," the bottom levels of the marine food web like sea cucumbers, jellyfish and, eventually, plankton for future generations to eat. The problem, he and colleagues say, can be remedied only with a huge reduction in global fishing and the radical step of creating large "no take" zones, where fish can grow large, breed and replenish. But that will only happen, he said, if the true owner of the ocean resources, the public, demands it, which has yet to happen. The public should demand it, he said, once people know the truth about what overfishing really means. (02/09/03) Let Them Drink Oil New York Times -- From the air, the circular wheat fields of this arid land's breadbasket look like forest-green poker chips strewn across the brown desert. But they are outnumbered by the ghostly silhouettes of fields left to fade back into the sand, places where the kingdom's gamble on agriculture has sucked precious aquifers dry. "I've had to lower my pumps 100 meters" — 328 feet — "in the past 10 years," said a local wheat farmer driving past huge pivot irrigation systems whose 1,000-foot sprinkler arms sweep in a circle like the wand of a radar screen, turning the dry land an almost miraculous green. As the subterranean reservoirs run dry, his 4,000-foot-deep wells bring up water that is increasingly mineral-laden. Saudi Arabia may sit atop the world's largest oil reserves, but the other side of the geological coin is that the country also sits atop one of the world's smallest reserves of water. It does not have a single lake or river. Its only renewable water source is in shallow aquifers, 100 to 150 feet underground, which are replenished by brief, infrequent rainfalls. Wells dug deeper than 1,300 feet draw from ancient reserves trapped in layers of porous rock where the water is no more renewable than the country's oil. Yet, like oil-short America with its gas-guzzlers, Saudi Arabia wastes plenty of its scarcest resource: fountains spew, swimming pools slop over and irrigation sprinklers seem to spray everywhere, letting water evaporate into the dry desert air. Muhammad H. al-Qunaibet, a hydrologist and government adviser, estimates that the country uses 6.34 trillion gallons of water a year for agriculture, but says that only a third of that is replaced through rainfall. The rest simply disappears. How much is left? No one knows. The last survey, in 1984, estimated that the country's fossil water reserves totaled about 132 trillion gallons, but, at the current rate of use, more than half of that has probably disappeared by now. (02/09/03) Our Future in Space Is History New York Times -- Years ago, the aged chief of Enewetak, in the Marshall Islands of the Pacific, was asked if he knew that men had landed on the Moon. He took a while replying. "Yes," he said finally, "and I hear they came back." This meant something to the chief because his people were at last returning to their atoll, once a test site of hydrogen bombs. For him, coming back, despite assurances, was not risk-free. Nor is it ever for astronauts, as the Columbia disaster reminds us. But more than the chief could know, the words "they came back," in another sense, have echoed through the American space program since the end of the glory days of the Apollo lunar landings. When the last of the moonwalkers returned, in 1972, their success was clouded with uncertainty. Someone in celebration, then others, invoked the Churchillian lines: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Yet the dreams and ironclad commitment that energized Apollo were set aside. The race with the Soviet Union, the thrust behind it all, had been won. The United States then turned its back on distant space as a destination for human exploration, and for the last 30 years not a soul has ventured more than 300 miles above Earth's surface. (02/09/03) Out Out Damn Saddam! The Telegraph Daily News-- Britain and America are drawing up plans to give Saddam Hussein as little as 48 hours to flee Baghdad or face war, if UN weapons inspectors report this week that the Iraqi dictator is still refusing to disarm fully. The proposals will form the framework of a long-awaited second resolution, which could be put before the Security Council by next weekend. The deadline would be just long enough for Arab neighbours to make a last effort to persuade Saddam to leave the country, according to US officials, or for a coup to take place. The shortest timeframe to emerge from private diplomatic discussions has been two days. (02/09/03) US Pulls Out Diplomats Common Dreams -- The United States has pulled out all but its most senior diplomats from countries surrounding Iraq, in preparation for a seemingly inevitable war. Diplomats' families are also being evacuated, and the Polish envoy who represents US interests in Baghdad has been withdrawn – raising the question of whether anything can now halt the planned US invasion, which is expected to start within a month. The US has ordered a fifth carrier group to the Gulf. (02/09/03) 5:46:36 PM

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