From BEHIND THE BRANDS: Food justice and the “Big 10” food and beverage companies, a new Oxfam report [PDF} on the power and politics of food. For more information, see this Oxfam website. Click on the image to enlarge.
As we reported in detail last February, UC Berkeley is at the forefront of the government’s push to develop more efficient ways of using rare earths that are key to a range of so-called “clean energy” technologies, including one especially critical element, dysprosium.
From a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announcement we included in a post last February:
Belonging to a family of elements known as lanthanides—also called rare earths—dysprosium and other rare earths are used in almost every high-tech gadget and clean energy technology invented in the last 30 years, from smart phones to wind turbines to hybrid cars. Although the United States was self-sufficient in rare earths or obtained them on the free market until the early 2000s, the vast majority are now mined in China and the supply has been subject to fluctuations. The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) aims to change the status quo by reviving the study of these critical materials to better understand how to extract them, use them more efficiently, reuse and recycle them and find substitutes for them.
With most of the world’s developed dysprosium supplies in China, along with other critical rare earths, the Obama administration has launched a major military shift, concentrating American naval forces in the Pacific while using legal pressure to force China to part with more of its stockpiles, resources critical for American high tech industry.
Now comes a new report from the Department of Energy revealing that no matter how much of China’s dysprosium goes on the market, it’s not going to be enough.
Figure 4-4 illustrates the ranges of projections of global requirements for dysprosium oxide in magnets for wind turbines and vehicles, as well as non-clean energy use during the period of 2010–2025. These amounts are given in terms of dysprosium oxide because it is the commercial feedstock from which dysprosium metal is refined and NdFeB magnets are fabricated. Also included in Figure 4-4 are supply estimates for 2010 and 2010 plus additional individual mines, as well as an estimate for 2015 supply.
Figure 4-4 shows that the basic availability of dysprosium oxide is tight in the short term. Anticipated new mines will provide relatively little new supply—an additional 10%—by 2015. Global demand meets or exceeds projected 2015 supply under all four trajectories in the beginning of the medium term. Non-clean energy demand alone will lead to a supply-demand mismatch by the middle of the medium term under the assumed trajectory, highlighting the need for corresponding material intensity improvements or substitutes in non-clean energy technologies. Clean energy demand makes up a growing share of global dysprosium demand, increasing from 11% in 2010 to 52% in 2025 under Trajectory C. Demand for dysprosium oxide is roughly four-times as much for vehicles compared to wind turbines in 2025. In order to meet demand under Trajectory C, global production of dysprosium oxide needs to more than double by 2025. The developing supply-demand imbalance in the medium term under all trajectories highlights the importance of R&D on alternative approaches to heat management (a main function of the dysprosium content) in magnets or substitutes for NdFeB magnets in general in clean energy technologies.
Max and Stacy bring us a Christmas special, replete with punk poetry, high dudgeon, and existential absurdity. Come for the coat, stay for the laughs:
RT’s program notes:
In this episode, Max Keiser first talks to punk poet John Cooper Clarke about Who Stole Bongo’s Trousers, private equity rock stars, the music business and onesies as the next big thing in fashion. In the second half, Max is joined by Stacy to talk about the ‘poverty barons’ financed by the British taxpayer.
Leave it to the corporateers to find the lowest common denominator in a political campaign notable for new lows. In this case, it’s a condom-maker, offering its own take [for Chinese readers] on the real reason for Tuesday’s results. H/T to Wonkette.
First, from Agence France-Presse, a report on this weekend’s massive anti-austerity protests in Spain and Portugal:
Next, from Reuters, scenes from the protests in Madrid as they continued late into the night Saturday:
More scenes of the Portugese protests from the Associated Press:
And from Japan, scenes of a Tokyo protest conducted agaist this weekend’s meeting of members of the International Monetary Fund:
Finally, from Germany’s weekly newsmagazine Stern, a just-released report in German on UC Davis’s infamous [and now former] Lt. John Pike and his Internet immortalization as the Pepper Spraying Cop [previously]:
We open with a report on Europe’s ailing nuclear plants, then shift to China’s growing reluctance to buy European bonds — while others are so eager to buy that they’re willing to lose money on their investment. And the folks drawing up the new banking regulations propose to sunder banks from brokerages.
On to Spain, with the latest Spailout news [lots of playing coy], and more about that other bailout needed to pump up the country’s busted banks. Political tensions are growing, and the push for Catalonian secession grows, while the government plays political games with social security — the kind of games Transparency International says need to end. There’s also a hint of a coming crackdown on protest, and a stunning turnout for some new job openings.
From Ireland come stories about declining consumer confidence and the politics of cutting child benefits, while from France comes a story about growing divisions in the president’s party, Germany gives us declining car sales, and Cyprus offers a story of bailoutus interruptus.
Europe’s aging nuke plants plagued by faults
We’ll start out with a cheery story.
If the Troika’s really serious about economic stimulus and job creation, maybe they can cough up some cash to fix the numerous faults in the continent’s aging nuclear power stations.
And there are problems, lots of problems, with plants located near some of Europe’s most populous cities.
From the BBC:
Hundreds of problems have been found at European nuclear plants that would cost 25bn euros (£20bn) to fix, says a leaked draft report.
The report, commissioned after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, aimed to see how Europe’s nuclear power stations would cope during extreme emergencies.
The final report is to be published on Thursday. The draft says nearly all the EU’s 143 nuclear plants need improving.
Anti-nuclear groups say the report’s warnings do not go far enough.
For its part, the regulatory body for European nuclear safety has urged the Commission not to use language that could undermine public confidence, says the BBC’s Chris Morris in Brussels.
Seems that they’re reticent to buy bonds when there’s that potential of haircuts to come and that specter of a eurozone breakup lurks in the wings.
From Lidia Kelly of Reuters:
Chinese investors will not buy into bonds issued by debt-ridden euro zone countries until their fundamental problems are solved, a senior official with China’s $480 billion sovereign wealth fund said on Tuesday.
Jin Liqun, chairman of the supervisory board of the China Investment Corporation (CIC), said it is unlikely that the debt problems bedevilling euro zone countries will be solved until Europe is in super-critical situation.
“There will be no solution, until there is no way out,” Jin told Reuters in an interview.
Jin said China backs the European Central Bank’s plans for unlimited bond purchases to aid debt-strapped euro zone states, but stated that in itself this would not be enough and the time it bought should be devoted to crucial reforms.
“The ECB is going in the right direction, with the support, most importantly of the Germans, which is crucial,” Jin, a former finance vice-minister, said on the sidelines of the VTB Capital investment conference in Moscow.
“But whether this is a momentary solution or a permanent solution – it does not depend on the ECB policy in and of itself.”
Urgent reforms in the “peripheral” countries of the euro zone, which are shouldering the heaviest debt burden, must take place.
“We have monetary policy hijacked by fiscal policy, which in turn is hijacked by the social programmes – unless you solve the fundamental problems, this kind of ECB policy will not work forever.”
If there’s a rationale place to invest funds during an economic crisis, it’s infrastructure.
Recall all those projects built during the New Deal in a effort to create new jobs and stimulate the economy.
But European governments aren’t so eager to put up the cash.
From Honor Mahony of EUobserver:
The European Commission has started banging the drum for new €50bn pot of money that it says will reinvigorate Europe’s economy amid fears that penny-counting member states will give it the chop.
With just weeks to go until EU leaders are supposed to decide on the bloc’s budget for 2014-2020, commission president Jose Manuel Barroso urged member states to be open to the ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ (CEF), an investment pot for joining up transport, digital and energy networks.
“There is a difficulty in Europe about new ideas,” Barroso said Tuesday (2 October) and urged business – which is largely in favour of the idea – to “make your voices heard.”
Member states are due to decide on the EU budget at a special summit in November. The EU commission last year proposed increasing spending by 5 percent to €971.52 billion over the seven-year period. But the negotiations have thrown up two main camps – richer states who want to chop the proposed budget and poorer countries who want to maintain regional aid. Diplomats suggest a compromise may be found by reducing the CEF.
The countries in favour of Cohesion Policy (regional funding) and agricultural policy are “very well organised” said Barroso admitting that “there is not yet a team CEF.”
With the certainty that more bailouts are on the way, investors are flocking to buy bonds of the European Financial Stability Facility, the bailout machine set up two years ago.
The EFSF is on the way out if the new European Stability Mechanism can finally get all the necessary votes and the €500 billion in funds currently envisioned to fund the new machinery.
But investors are so eager to buy EFSF bonds that they’ll literally pay to buy them, with the current slate of offerings actually bought up at negative interest rates.
From Agence France-Presse:
Investors accepted negative returns to lend to the EU’s bailout fund on Tuesday, according to the German central bank, which organised the auction of three-month debt.
The EFSF fund sold 1.99 billion euros ($2.57 billion) of three-month paper at an average rate of -0.04 percent, the Bundesbank said, roughly the same yield as at a similar auction last month.
A negative yield means that overall and over the life of the loan, investors agree theoretically to pay the EFSF to lend it money.
But despite the poor returns, investors were keen to snap up the debt. The Bundesbank received bids worth 5.63 billion euros, giving a healthy cover ratio — a closely watched measure of demand — of 2.8.
European Union banking regs could split banking functions
Deregulation of U.S. banks under Bill Clinton reversed rules separating banking from brokering. The real estate bubble, fueled by a myriad of mysterious “swaps” and “obligations,” and resulted in the crash that government chose to resolve by picking the pockets of the same poor citizens who were suckered into the bubble.
The eurocrats currently drawing up the proposed regulatory authority that would strip states of their banking oversight and hand it over to the European Central Banksters and their pals in Brussels are looking to do what the U.S. undid. [That, of course, will be a major sticking point with the banksters of The City in London.]
From Agence France-Presse:
Banks would have to separate consumer deposit-taking from high-risk trading for the financial sector under EU reforms proposed by the governor of the Bank of Finland and unveiled on Tuesday.
The report on reforming the structure of the banking sector across the European Union single market was presented to EU Financial Services Commissioner Michel Barnier, and could be taken up in legislative proposals pending a public consultation including savers.
The idea is to “get rid of a system where profits are private and costs are public,” Bank of Finland governor and ex-European Commissioner Erkki Liikanen told reporters after the presentation of his panel’s conclusions.
This way, “all taxpayers will be better off” and with “more clarity and less complexity,” legislative changes will also lead to greater competition, which also serves the consumers, Liikanen said.
“I will now consider the next steps, in which the Commission will look at the impact of these recommendations both on growth and on the safety and integrity of financial services.” Barnier reiterated.
The report also illustrates other suggestions to better preserve healthiness of European banking sector, such as urging banks to draw up and maintain effective recovery and resolution plans, using designated bail-in instruments, applying more robust risk weights in the determination of minimum capital standards, and enhancing existing corporate governance reforms.
The advisory group was designated by Barnier in November 2011 with Liikanen as chairman, while members were appointed in February 2012. Its mandate was to determine whether structural reforms of EU banks would strengthen financial stability and improve efficiency and consumer protection, as well as making proposals on reforms.
They’re really pushing on the eurocrats, who are desperate for the country to ask for a bailout.
Two separate bailouts are in the offing, one for the banks and the other for the Spanish government.
While Spain’s indicated it will take the bank bailout, the prime minister is playing coy with the sovereign bailout, the Spailout, in hopes that the growing anxiety in Brussels and Frankfurt will get them a better deal.
First, a video report from euronews:
And the story, first from Reuters:
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Tuesday a request for European aid was not imminent following a report the country could apply for help as soon as this weekend.
Rajoy made the comments after meeting in Madrid with the 17 leaders of Spain’s regions.
European officials told Reuters late on Monday that Spain was ready Continue reading →
The Pangea, a nightclub in Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands casino, offers the Asia’s most expensive libation, garnished with a one-carat diamond.
It’s just the sort of thing you might expect from a resort owned by Las Vegas mogul and militant Ziocon Sheldon Adelson, the man bankrolling — along with the Koch brothers — Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.
Patrick Winn of the Global Post has the story:
Do you ever lie awake at night, unsettled by fears that the Western world is collapsing, all while Asia’s elites grow increasingly rich and hold decadent parties that you’ll never be invited to?
You may be on to something. Introducing the “Jewel of Pangaea,” a cocktail sold in Singapore for $26,000. That is roughly the per-capita GDP of Greece in a glass.
The Jewel of Pangaea is not slid across a counter by some sweaty barkeep. It is prepared by a man in white gloves who retrieves fancy bottles out of a steel suitcase. As you’ll see in the video below, the drink is defended at all times by five intimidating bodyguards.
Here’s the nightclub’s promo for the cocktail, a true exemplar of plutocratic narcissism:
And here’s how Adelson describes his resort:
Located along the Marina Bay waterfront, Marina Bay Sands features three cascading hotel towers topped by an extraordinary sky park, ‘floating’ crystal pavilions, a lotus-inspired Museum, retail stores featuring cutting-edge labels and international luxury brands, trendy Celebrity Chef restaurants, endless entertainment at the theaters, the hottest night clubs and a Las Vegas-style casino. Business visitors will also enjoy the extensive Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) facilities featuring state-of-the-art technology, highly flexible exhibition halls, and a convention centre that can host over 45,000 delegates. Marina Bay Sands seamlessly combines business and leisure into a singular destination unlike any other.
Adelson’s also the bloke who conned the bankrupt Spanish government into bankrolling most of the construction costs for his massive EuroVegas gambling complex planned for Madrid.
And just remember, plutocrats, when you tossing down that pricey potion, you’re helping Mitt and getting Likkuded-up while you’re getting liquored up!
Living Under Drones, a just-released and stunning report on America’s drone wars from the International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic of Stanford Law School and the Global Justice Clinic at New York University School of Law, offers a scathing debunking of the “death from above” strategy of “targeted killings” so eagerly embraced by both George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
First, a video featuring interviews with researchers and survivors from Brave New Foundation:
Rather than describe the report, here’s the first part of the Executive Summary and Recommendations, featuring a sharp, critical debunking of the rationale embraced by both administrations:
In the United States, the dominant narrative about the use of drones in Pakistan is of a surgically precise and effective tool that makes the US safer by enabling “targeted killing” of terrorists, with minimal downsides or collateral impacts.
This narrative is false.
Following nine months of intensive research—including two investigations in Pakistan, more than 130 interviews with victims, witnesses, and experts, and review of thousands of pages of documentation and media reporting—this report presents evidence of the damaging and counterproductive effects of current US drone strike policies. Based on extensive interviews with Pakistanis living in the regions directly affected, as well as humanitarian and medical workers, this report provides new and firsthand testimony about the negative impacts US policies are having on the civilians living under drones.
Real threats to US security and to Pakistani civilians exist in the Pakistani border areas now targeted by drones. It is crucial that the US be able to protect itself from terrorist threats, and that the great harm caused by terrorists to Pakistani civilians be addressed. However, in light of significant evidence of harmful impacts to Pakistani civilians and to US interests, current policies to address terrorism through targeted killings and drone strikes must be carefully re-evaluated.
It is essential that public debate about US policies take the negative effects of current policies into account.
First, while civilian casualties are rarely acknowledged by the US government, there is significant evidence that US drone strikes have injured and killed civilians. In public statements, the US states that there have been “no” or “single digit” civilian casualties.” It is difficult to obtain data on strike casualties because of US efforts to shield the drone program from democratic accountability, compounded by the obstacles to independent investigation of strikes in North Waziristan. The best currently available public aggregate data on drone strikes are provided by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), an independent journalist organization. TBIJ reports that from June 2004 through mid-September 2012, available data indicate that drone strikes killed 2,562-3,325 people in Pakistan, of whom 474-881 were civilians, including 176 children. TBIJ reports that these strikes also injured an additional 1,228-1,362 individuals. Where media accounts do report civilian casualties, rarely is any information provided about the victims or the communities they leave behind. This report includes the harrowing narratives of many survivors, witnesses, and family members who provided evidence of civilian injuries and deaths in drone strikes to our research team. It also presents detailed accounts of three separate strikes, for which there is evidence of civilian deaths and injuries, including a March 2011 strike on a meeting of tribal elders that killed some 40 individuals.
Second, US drone strike policies cause considerable and under-accounted-for harm to the daily lives of ordinary civilians, beyond death and physical injury. Drones hover twenty-four hours a day over communities in northwest Pakistan, striking homes, vehicles, and public spaces without warning. Their presence terrorizes men, women, and children, giving rise to anxiety and psychological trauma among civilian communities. Those living under drones have to face the constant worry that a deadly strike may be fired at any moment, and the knowledge that they are powerless to protect themselves. These fears have affected behavior. The US practice of striking one area multiple times, and evidence that it has killed rescuers, makes both community members and humanitarian workers afraid or unwilling to assist injured victims. Some community members shy away from gathering in groups, including important tribal dispute-resolution bodies, out of fear that they may Continue reading →
