Maritime Professional - NUSI threaten to boycott Gulf of Aden/Somalia coast

Maritime Professional - NUSI threaten to boycott Gulf of Aden/Somalia coast

The disregard for the lives of seafarers by shipping companies and world powers is disappointing. 200 merchant seamen are still being held for ransom by Somali pirates after the M.V. Al Khaliq was recently released. Piracy is a serious crime which became much more common near Somali waters after foreign companies eliminated the fisheries by overfishing and dumping toxic waste, causing fishermen to abandon legitimate business.

Disappointingly, the world powers have done nothing to deal with either the crime or the conditions that encourage the crime. To deal with the crime, merchant ships need to be equipped properly to resist boarding, with barriers like barbed wire around the deck, enough lookouts, and crew trained to use non-lethal techniques to repel pirates. There should also be naval escorts, with each country responsible for protecting the ships flying her flag or owned by her citizens, but because of the uneven distribution of world naval power a compromise should be reached so that nations with more naval power provide more naval escort vessels. The conditions need to be improved by banning exploitation or destruction of any of Somalia's natural resources by internationals.

None of this is being done now. I'm embarrassed that the US, with the largest navy and with businesses that own more than a thousand ships total (with most registered in other nations), can't protect the seafarers who create its wealth.

I agree with the National Union of Seafarers of India that if the situation doesn't improve, seafarers should refuse to sail through the Gulf of Aden and I hope this threat has the political effect it deserves.

THAILAND: Anti-gov’t Movement Opens Rural Minds through ‘Schools’ - IPS ipsnews.net

THAILAND: Anti-gov’t Movement Opens Rural Minds through ‘Schools’ - IPS ipsnews.net

The "Red Shirts" in Thailand demonstrate how class struggle can come in many forms.

U.S.: Court-Martial for Soldier Who Wrote Angry Song about Stop-Loss - IPS ipsnews.net

U.S.: Court-Martial for Soldier Who Wrote Angry Song about Stop-Loss - IPS ipsnews.net

Crime wave compounds bankrupt Vallejo's woes

Crime wave compounds bankrupt Vallejo's woes

A terrible week. What will it take for people to mobilize against the budget cuts in crime prevention? I wonder how many people who are affected by this crime are from the religious community that may have supported Osby Davis for his Christian values rather than asking about how the bankruptcy and the war on public service unions would affect regular communities. There are many churches in Vallejo, but whenever it comes to their politics all you mostly hear about are "social" issues like homosexuality.

Afghanistan: Is it all about terrorism? » peoplesworld

Afghanistan: Is it all about terrorism? » peoplesworld

Thanks to Sam Webb for his insight. How much does "oil" really have to do with the war in Afghanistan? Central Asia is a rich source of oil and natural gas and none of its former Soviet republics are members of OPEC. Maintaining the Afghan war makes sense from the perspective of preventing another oil embargo. Another reason this country is so quick to go to war is that we haven't completely accepted that we will need to share global power with China in the future, so cost is no object when it comes to stealing a venue to establish our influence from Beijing.

Peace
MAR

Burka: A Way to Blind Public Opinion - L'Humanité in English

Burka: A Way to Blind Public Opinion - L'Humanité in English

I wrote a post about the subject of the French debate on banning the full face veil a while ago on my old blog, and I thought it would be useful to share this story to help differentiate between the right and left view of the issue. The opinion of Johnathan Roger, that "The wearing of the full facial veil, which symbolizes the submission and locking up of women, has to be fought. Unfortunately, in this affair it serves as a pretext for uniting the right – including the far right – at the price of lapsing into xenophobia.", is not the same as calling for "thought crime" laws as many who oppose the idea of banning any style of dress would say. Also on L'Humanité's english language website you can find an article about how religious leaders are reluctant to take a strong stand on either side of the issue. People who support the ban for any reason should realize that it is primarily an electoral strategy for the French right.

US has "third world" transportation system

Non-Left post

On February 2nd, California state senator Alan Lowenthal gave a speech at my campus as part of the Joseph P.Rizza lecture series, highlighting the gains made in reducing pollution from ports, giving us ideas as to the future of port systems (and the "short haul" transport that supports them), and criticizing the disadvantages California now faces compared to Canadian ports and the expanded Panama Canal and the "silo mentality" that causes them.  I'm sure the entire speech will be available on the internet eventually.

What struck me was that he said after cargo leaves our state of the art ports, it basically enters a third world transportation system.  Our rail infrastructure around terminals is so bad that its cheaper to send a ship from China through the Panama canal to the gulf coast (and then on to destinations in the South or Midwest) than it is to unload it in California and send it cross country.  This means that as shipping traffic is sent through the canal, money that could create transportation jobs on the west coast goes into canal fees and the sky as ultra-polluting fuel oil.

He later told me in person that our infrastructure around ports is and issue of nation-wide concern and the US Department of Transportation is not doing enough.  The responsibility for improving national transportation infrastructure should go to the federal government, but they don't seem to be doing anything.  Ray Lahood, current Transportation Secretary, was probably selected to add a republican to the cabinet and not for bold leadership.  It should go without saying that efficient, cost effective movement of goods is a key part of the national economy and should have national attention.