The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Armageddon, upheaveal, revolution, rebellion and disaster--fascinating times

Notes 80

Letting go of the old order
Japan tragedy seared into the world's imagination

TOKYO – There are events in history that sear themselves into the world's collective imagination, and enter the realm where myth meets heartbreaking reality.
Japan's tragedy is one of those events. Already, it seems reasonable to surmise it could prove one of the most significant calamities of our time — one that shapes policies, economies, even philosophies for decades to come in an increasingly interconnected world.
There is the sheer, surreal force of the images emerging from afflicted zones: cars perched on rooftops, ships sitting in rice paddies, helicopters in a David-and-Goliath battle against radiation-spewing nuclear reactors.
And the way it haunts us with some of our most basic fears: Death by water. Or rubble. Or nuclear fallout.
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Fallout fro Wiki Leaks continues, even if more muted by U.S. intimidation. The truth behind the scenes, it seems, is too unbearable to be born by the innocent public

US ambassador to Mexico quits amid WikiLeaks furor…
By Alexandra Olson, Associated Press – Sun Mar 20
MEXICO CITY – The U.S. ambassador to Mexico resigned Saturday amid furor over a leaked diplomatic cable in which he complained about inefficiency and infighting among Mexican security forces in the campaign against drug cartels.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Paris to meet with U.S. allies on Libya, said Carlos Pascual's decision to step down was "based upon his personal desire to ensure the strong relationship between our two countries and to avert issues" raised by President Felipe Calderon.

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I wonder why the suffering of Libyan resistance fighters is worse than the millions oppressed in Gaza.. I wonder where Obama has been when their lives were being destroyed. It’s about oil, stupid, the European supply and the war lead by Europeans.

Gadhafi vows 'long war' after US, allies strike

By Hadeel Al-shalchi And Ryan Lucas, Associated Press –
TRIPOLI, Libya –
State television said Gadhafi's supporters were converging on airports as human shields.
"We promise you a long war," he said. Gadhafi vowed a "long war" against the international military force that struck at his forces with airstrikes and dozens of cruise missiles that shook the Libyan capital early Sunday with the sound of explosions and anti-aircraft fire. In the capital of the rebel-held east, the Libyan leader's guns appeared to go silent.
"This is not an outcome the U.S. or any of our partners sought," Obama said from Brazil, where he is starting a five-day visit to Latin America. "We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy."

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When the people who manufacture the war material and give themselves and their children to the armies, when they resist, we will finally have peace

Protesters outside White House urge Obama to help Libya

February 19, 2011|By Mary Grace Lucas, CNN
"We have people that are risking their lives, who are finding ways to send their messages, their videos, their recaps, their recounts of what's been going on," Sahad said. "They're asking us, 'Where is the media? Where is the rest of the world? We don't have cameramen down here. We don't have Anderson Cooper down here. We don't have people on the ground level to give us support and to show the rest of the world what we've been going though.'"
"What's going on the ground in Libya reminds me of what happened 15 years ago," El Shafei said. "They're saying (Gadhafi) shut the emergency rooms and he shut communication, and some district in Libya, the electricity, the water lines, and people are dying."

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Maybe the world is rebelling en masse against the status quo and the Tea Party was the tip of the spear in the U.S. that will liberate a liberal resurgence in a way Obama only promised to do.

Tanks deploy in Sanaa as top army general defects

By Ahmed Al-haj, Associated Press –
SANAA, Yemen – Three army commanders, including a top general, defected Monday to the opposition calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down as army tanks and armored vehicles deployed in the streets of the Yemeni capital.
The most senior of the three officers is Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a longtime confidante of Saleh and commander of the army's powerful 1st Armored Division. Units of the division deployed Monday in a major square in Sanaa where protesters have been camping out to call for Saleh to step down.
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Or maybe is upheval will carry us backward as the Tea Party is trying to do--witness the assault on union gains for workers--instead of forward

Cruise missile blasts Gadhafi's compound near tent
By Hadeel Al-shalchi And Ryan Lucas, Associated Press –
TRIPOLI, Libya – A cruise missile blasted Moammar Gadhafi's residential compound in an attack that carried as much symbolism as military effect, and fighter jets destroyed a line of tanks moving on the rebel capital. The U.S. said the international assault would hit any government forces attacking the opposition.
"I feel like in two days max we will destroy Gadhafi," said Ezzeldin Helwani, 35, a rebel standing next to the smoldering wreckage of an armored personnel carrier, the air thick with smoke and the pungent smell of burning rubber. In a grisly sort of battle trophy, celebrating fighters hung a severed goat's head with a cigarette in its mouth from the turret of one of the gutted tanks.
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In a growing number of communities, the evidence of hopelessness grows deeper

AP Enterprise: Indian youth suicide crisis baffles

By Matt Volz, Associated Press – Sun Mar 20
POPLAR, Mont. – Chelle Rose Follette fashioned a noose with her pajamas, tying one end to a closet rod and the other around her neck. When her mother entered the bedroom to put away laundry, she found the 13-year-old hanging.
Ida Follette screamed for her husband, Darrell.
He lifted his child's body, rushed her to the bed and tried to bring her back.
"She was so light, she was so light. And I put her down. I said, 'No, Chelle!'"
But the time had passed for CPR, he said, his voice fading with still raw grief. His wife sat next to him on the couch, sobbing at the retelling.
Here on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, a spasm of youth suicides had caused alarm and confusion even before Chelle's death.The Follettes had talked with her about other local children who had killed themselves. She had assured her parents that they need not worry about her.