Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad (C) walks next to Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani (R) and Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (L) before a meeting in Damascus January 17, 2011. REUTERS/Sana

DAMASCUS (Reuters) – U.S. ambassador Robert Ford arrived in the Syrian capital on Sunday to take up his post, ending a more than five-year break in top American diplomatic representation in Syria.

Ford, whose experience in the Middle East includes stints in Algeria and Iraq, flew by commercial plane to Damascus airport and headed for his official residence, a villa in a French colonial era district of Damascus, witnesses said.

The United States withdrew its ambassador in Syria after the 2005 assassination in Beirut of Rafik al-Hariri, a Lebanese parliamentarian and former prime minister who was well connected in the West.
The Hariri killing, blamed at the time on Damascus by anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon, led to the exit of thousands of Syrian troops from Lebanon after a 29 year presence, and contributed to a deterioration in U.S.-Syrian ties.

President Barack Obama announced his intention to send back an ambassador months after he took power as part of a policy of engagement with countries opposed to Washington, nominating Ford for the position in February last year.

Congressional procedures and opposition from several Republicans delayed Ford’s arrival in Damascus.

Ford begins his assignment with Lebanon in the midst of another political crisis.

The 14-month old unity government of Western-backed Sunni political leader Saad al-Hariri, son of the slain Rafik, collapsed last week amid a rift with Hezbollah, which is supported by Syria and Iran, over how to deal with an international tribunal to try suspects in the killing.

The tribunal, which is based in the Hague, is expected to indict Hezbollah members in the Hariri assassination. The investigation into the assassination has also implicated Syrian security officials. Hezbollah and Syria deny involvement.

Syria and the United States disagree on the tribunal as a tool for justice, with Syria concerned that it is a politically motivated instrument designed to undermine Hezbollah and its regional allies.

(Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis; editing by Noah Barkin)

13-4

By Richard D. Wolff, rdwolff.com

One aspect of “American exceptionalism” was always economic. US workers, so the story went, enjoyed a rising level of real wages that afforded their families a rising standard of living. Ever harder work paid off in rising consumption. The rich got richer faster than the rest, but almost no one got poorer. Nearly all citizens felt “middle class.” A profitable US capitalism kept running ahead of labor supply. So it kept raising wages to attract waves of immigration and to retain employees across the 19th century until the 1970s.

Then everything changed. Real wages stopped rising as US capitalists redirected their investments to produce and employ abroad while replacing millions of workers in the US by computers. Women’s liberation moved millions of adult US women to seek paid employment. US capitalism no longer faced a shortage of labor.

US employers took advantage of the changed situation: they stopped raising wages. When basic labor scarcity became labor excess, not only real wages but eventually benefits too stopped rising. Over the last 30 years, the vast majority of US workers have in fact gotten poorer when you sum up flat real wages, reduced benefits (pensions, medical insurance, etc.), reduced public services, and raised tax burdens. In economic terms, American “exceptionalism” began to die in the 1970s.

The rich, however, have gotten much richer since the 1970s, as every measure of US income and wealth inequality attests. The explanation is simple: while workers’ average real wages stayed flat, their productivity rose (the goods and services that an average hour’s labor provided to employers). More and better machines (including computers), better education, and harder and faster labor effort raised productivity. While workers delivered more and more value to employers, those employers paid workers no more. The employers reaped all the benefits of rising productivity: rising profits, rising salaries and bonuses to managers, rising dividends to shareholders, and rising payments to the professionals who serve employers (lawyers, architects, consultants, etc.).

Nevertheless, most US workers postponed facing up to what capitalism had come to mean for them. They sent more family members to do more hours of paid labor and they borrowed huge amounts. By exhausting themselves, stressing family life to the breaking point in many households, and taking on unsustainable levels of debt, the US working class delayed the end of American exceptionalism until the global crisis hit in 2007. Now, their buying power could no longer grow: rising unemployment kept wages flat, while no more hours of work or borrowing was possible. Reckoning time had arrived. A US capitalism built on expanding mass consumption lost its foundation.

The richest 10-15% — those cashing in on employers’ good fortune from no longer rising wages — helped bring crisis by speculating wildly and unsuccessfully in all sorts of new financial instruments (asset-backed securities, credit default swaps, etc.). The richest also contributed to the crisis by using their money to shift US politics to the right, rendering government regulation and oversight inadequate to anticipate or moderate the crisis or even to react properly once it hit.

Indeed, the rich have so far been able to use the crisis to widen still further the gulf separating them from the rest, finally burying American exceptionalism. First, they utilized both parties’ dependence on their financial support to make sure there would be no mass federal hiring program for the unemployed (of the sort that FDR used between 1934 and 1940). The absence of such a program guaranteed that real wages would not rise but fall, along with job benefits. Second, the rich made sure that the prime focus of government response to the crisis would benefit banks, large corporations, and the stock markets. These have more or less “recovered.”

Third, the current drive for government budget austerity — especially focused on the 50 states and the thousands of municipalities — forces the mass of people to pick up the costs for the government’s unjustly imbalanced response to the crisis. The trillions spent to save the banks and other select corporations (AIG, GM, Fannie Mae, Freddy Mac, etc.) were mostly borrowed because the government dared not tax the corporations and the richest citizens to raise the needed rescue funds. Indeed, a good part of what the government borrowed came precisely from those funds left in the hands of corporations and the rich because they had not been taxed to overcome the crisis. With sharply enlarged debts, all levels of government face the pressure of needing to take too much from current tax revenues to pay interest on debts, leaving too little to sustain public services. So they demand the people pay more taxes and suffer reduced public services so government can reduce its debt burden.
For example, California’s new governor proposes to continue for 5 more years the massive broad-based tax increases begun during the crisis and also to cut state services for the poor (reduced Medicaid funding) and the middle (reduced budgets for community colleges, state colleges, and the university system). The governor admits that California’s budget faces sky-high interest costs and reduced federal government assistance just when the crisis increases demands for public services. The governor does not admit his fear to tax the state’s huge corporate and private individual wealth. So he announces an “austerity program” as if no alternative existed. Indeed, a major support for austerity comes from the large corporations and wealthiest Californians who hold the state’s bonds and want reassurances that the interest on those bonds will be paid.

California’s austerity program parallels similar programs in many other states, in thousands of municipalities, and at the federal level (e.g., social security). Together, they reinforce falling real wages, falling benefits, falling government services, and rising taxes. In the US, capitalism has stopped “delivering the goods.” It now brings long-term painful decline for its working class, the end of “American exceptionalism,” and rising social, cultural, and political tensions. The reality of ever-deeper economic division clashes with expectations built up during the century of rising wages before the 1970s.

Richard D. Wolff is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and also a Visiting Professor at the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University in New York. He is the author of New Departures in Marxian Theory (Routledge, 2006) among many other publications. Check out Richard D. Wolff’s documentary film on the current economic crisis, Capitalism Hits the Fan, at www.capitalismhitsthefan.com. Visit Wolff’s Web site at www.rdwolff.com, and order a copy of his new book Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It.

13-4

WASHINGTON — Hailed as a pioneer in the movement to re-establish the importance of science in the Arab and Muslim world, Ismail Serageldin, the founding director of the New Library of Alexandria, has been awarded the Public Welfare Medal, the National Academy of Sciences’ most prestigious award. Established in 1914, the medal is presented annually to honor extraordinary use of science for the public good.

Serageldin, an Egyptian national, has advocated for greater equality in science and society at large, a mission shared by the National Academy of Sciences. “We honor Dr. Serageldin for his leadership in a number of venues, most recently as the founding director of the New Library of Alexandria,” said John Brauman, home secretary of the National Academy of Sciences and chair of the selection committee for the award. “He has been a champion for the use of science in sustainable development and for liberating minds from the tyranny of intolerance, bigotry, and fear.”

Serageldin is a knight of France’s Legion of Honor, member of the Egyptian Senate, chairman of the Executive Council of the World Digital Library (WDL), professor of the International Chair Savoirs contre pauvreté (Knowledge Against Poverty) at Collège de France, Paris, and the recipient of 30 honorary doctorates from universities around the world. He received a Ph.D. in urban and regional planning from Harvard University and began a career in academia. In 1972 he joined the World Bank as an economist; quickly rising through the ranks he worked there in a number of capacities, including vice president for environmentally and socially sustainable development from 1992 to 1998, and for Special Programs from 1998 to 2000.

Throughout his illustrious career, Serageldin has earned a reputation for applying science to nearly every type of global problem. He is perhaps most highly regarded for his attempts to combat hunger in developing countries through the promotion of sustainable agriculture. As chairman of the World Bank’s Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research from 1994 to 2000, Serageldin worked to protect the food supply of a global population that is poised to expand by an estimated 2.5 billion people during the next four decades.

Today, he is the director of the New Library of Alexandria, a major cultural and intellectual center built in 2002 near where the famed Library of Alexandria stood from 288 B.C.E. until approximately 400 C.E. when it was destroyed. Serageldin played a leading role in founding the new library, hoping that the institution would rekindle the great intellectual heritage that, until relatively recently, defined the Arab and Muslim world.

Despite the recent construction of large, cutting-edge research facilities in the Persian Gulf, Serageldin has said, most Muslim-majority countries remain reluctant to invest in science and publish noticeably fewer studies than other countries of similar economic status. Serageldin has blamed “an increasingly intolerant social milieu” where the scientific enterprise is continually challenged by growing contingents against science, notably creationist proponents in the United States and religious extremist groups in the Middle East.

In Serageldin’s work to ignite interest in science and apply technological advances to global problems, his colleagues have said that Serageldin’s greatest talent is his ability to build consensus among those with conflicting viewpoints.

“Ismail Serageldin is a visionary driving force against narrow-mindedness in politics, science, and society,” said Ralph Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences. “He fights ignorance with scientific reason and his knowledge of culture and the lessons of history.”

“Serageldin is also a very public figure,” said Cicerone. “He shares the National Academy of Sciences’ commitment to educating the public about science.” His hour-long television show, “The Cairo Salon,” is broadcast weekly on Egyptian television. It discusses a wide range of issues and explores challenging frontiers in the hope of fostering a commitment to cultural and religious tolerance. Another television program, “Muslim Scientists,” which airs daily during the month of Ramadan, educates Arab viewers about historical accomplishments of the Muslim world. Also part of his relentless mission to inspire interest in science is a forthcoming TV science series where he will present topics ranging from physics and biology, to climate change and food security, to energy and water.

Serageldin’s “encyclopedic mind” is well-known, one supporter wrote, and his “incomparable mastery of world public welfare affairs” makes him a well-deserved recipient of the award. “He renders his public service with unparalleled intellectual courage and incalculable personal sacrifice.”

The Public Welfare Medal will be presented to Serageldin on May 1 during the Academy’s 148th annual meeting. Previous recipients of the medal include Eugenie C. Scott, Neal Lane, Norman Borlaug, William T. Golden, Maxine F. Singer, C. Everett Koop, and Carl Sagan.

13-4

TORONTO–Shiny Ads, the innovator in self-service advertising platforms, announced that Zunaid Khan has been named Vice President of Business Development and Sales. Zunaid Khan is a seasoned professional with 15 years of experience in Technology, Digital Marketing & the Media sectors. Most recently Mr. Khan was with Canoe/Sun Media as Director of Product Management & Strategic Alliances and he has also held the Director of Technology Sales role at 24/7 Real Media.

“I am very excited to be part of the Shiny Ads team and am looking forward to growing the business. Shiny Ads has developed a solution which cost effectively helps all web publishers address the under-served market of small and local advertising.”, said Zunaid Khan, Shiny Ads’ new VP of Business Development and Sales.

In this role, Mr. Khan will set and execute strategies related to online publisher acquisition and inbound marketing’s lead generation activities and be a key member of Shiny Ads’ executive team.

13-3

The number of Britons converting to Islam has doubled in 10 years. Why?

By Jerome Taylor and Sarah Morrison

The number of Britons choosing to become Muslims has nearly doubled in the past decade, according to one of the most comprehensive attempts to estimate how many people have embraced Islam.

Following the global spread of terror, British Muslims have faced more scrutiny, criticism and analysis than any other religious community. Yet, despite the often negative portrayal of Islam, thousands of Britons are adopting the religion every year.

Estimating the number of converts living in Britain has always been difficult because census data does not differentiate between whether a religious person has adopted a new faith or was born into it. Previous estimates have placed the number of Muslim converts in the UK at between 14,000 and 25,000.

But a new study by the inter-faith think-tank Faith Matters suggests the real figure could be as high as 100,000, with as many as 5,000 new conversions nationwide each year.
By using data from the Scottish 2001 census–the only survey to ask respondents what their religion was at birth as well as at the time of the survey–researchers broke down what proportion of Muslim converts there were and then extrapolated the figures for Britain as a whole.

In all they estimated that there were 60,699 converts living in Britain in 2001. With no new census planned until next year, researchers polled mosques in London to try to calculate how many conversions take place a year. The results gave a figure of 1,400 conversions in the capital in the past 12 months which, when extrapolated nationwide, would mean approximately 5,200 people adopting Islam every year. The figures are comparable with studies in Germany and France which found that there were around 4,000 conversions a year.

Fiyaz Mughal, director of Faith Matters, admitted that coming up with a reliable estimate of the number of converts to Islam was notoriously difficult. “This report is the best intellectual ‘guestimate’ using census numbers, local authority data and polling from mosques,” he said. “Either way few people doubt that the number adopting Islam in the UK has risen dramatically in the past 10 years.”
Asked why people were converting in such large numbers he replied: “I think there is definitely a relationship between conversions being on the increase and the prominence of Islam in the public domain. People are interested in finding out what Islam is all about and when they do that they go in different directions. Most shrug their shoulders and return to their lives but some will inevitably end up liking what they discover and will convert.”

Batool al-Toma, an Irish born convert to Islam of 25 years who works at the Islamic Foundation and runs the New Muslims Project, one of the earliest groups set up specifically to help converts, said she believed the new figures were “a little on the high side.”

“My guess would be the real figure is somewhere in between previous estimates, which were too low, and this latest one,” she said. “I definitely think there has been a noticeable increase in the number of converts in recent years. The media often tries to pinpoint specifics but the reasons are as varied as the converts themselves.”

Inayat Bunglawala, founder of Muslims4UK, which promotes active Muslim engagement in British society, said the figures were “not implausible.”

“It would mean that around one in 600 Britons is a convert to the faith,” he said. “Islam is a missionary religion and many Muslim organisations and particularly university students’ Islamic societies have active outreach programmes designed to remove popular misconceptions about the faith.”

The report by Faith Matters also studied the way converts were portrayed by the media and found that while 32 percent of articles on Islam published since 2001 were linked to terrorism or extremism, the figure jumped to 62 percent with converts.

Earlier this month, for example, it was reported that two converts to Islam who used the noms de guerre Abu Bakr and Mansoor Ahmed were killed in a CIA drone strike in an area of Pakistan with a strong al-Qaeda presence.

“Converts who become extremists or terrorists are, of course, a legitimate story,” said Mr Mughal. “But my worry is that the saturation of such stories risks equating all Muslim converts with being some sort of problem when the vast majority are not”. Catherine Heseltine, a 31-year-old convert to Islam, made history earlier this year when she became the first female convert to be elected the head of a British Muslim organisation the Muslim Public Affairs Committee. “Among certain sections of society, there is a deep mistrust of converts,” she said. “There’s a feeling that the one thing worse than a Muslim is a convert because they’re perceived as going over the other side. Overall, though, I think conversions arouse more curiosity than hostility.”

How to become a Muslim

Islam is one of the easiest religions to convert to. Technically, all a person needs to do is recite the Shahada, the formal declaration of faith, which states: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad (peace be upon him) is his Prophet.” A single honest recitation is all that is needed to become a Muslim, but most converts choose to do so in front of at least two witnesses, one being an imam. . . .

13-3

By Ayub Khan, MMNS

AHMEDABAD–The American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin held its successful XIX Annual Convention and Gala Awards Ceremony on Dec.25-26, 2010 in the city of Ahmedabad. The event held at the city’s famed Tagore Hall was attended by over 1500 people from all walks of life on the two days. The main highlight of the convention was the awards section where top scoring students of board exams from cross India were awarded with medals and cash prizes. Maulana Asrarul Haq Qasmi, educationist and Member of Parliament from Bihar, was conferred with the organization’s prestigious Sir Syed Award.  A number of dignitaries from USA, Canada, UK, and across India participated.

The convention was inaugurated by the Governor of Gujarat Dr. Kamla Beniwal. In her address she praised the immense contributions of Indian Muslims in nation building and welcomed AFMI’s efforts in creating educational awareness. By education only students can have a bright future and can contribute to the development of the community and the state, she added.

Veerappa Moily, Union Minister of Law, said they can again regain their status through educational excellence.  He said the UPA government is committed to implement the Sachar Commission recommendations.

“Whatever is being done for the minorities by the government is not charity. It is their right and privilege,” he added. 

Retd Justice Sachar said that Muslims should not feel that they are outsiders as they have been living in this country for hundreds of years.

Referring to the talent among the Muslims, he said, “It is wrong to say that the Muslims students do not have the capacity to enter higher education institutes. Those who have entered UPSC, IIMs and IITs have done well.”

AFMI trustee Dr. A.R.Nakadar in his speech said that with determination and courage there is no hurdle which one cannot overcome. He asked the students to excel in their studies and not to forget the community and the nation once they are established in life.

AFMI president Dr. Iqbal Ahmed, Mr. Ashfaq Quraishi (president elect), Mr. Ali Quraishi, Dr. Aslam Abdullah, Dr. Tajuddin Ahmed, Dr. Razia Ahmed, Mr. A.G. Shaikh, Mr. Gheewala, and others also spoke at the event. At the convention an AFMI Awardee Alumni Association was also formed.

Dr. Aslam Abdullah led the participants in a prayer for the victims of communal carnage in the state.

After the convention AFMI’s educational caravan visited a number of cities and towns in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh. The towns include Kapodra, Malekpore, Godhra, Dahod, Khandwa, Bulandhshar, and Malerkotla. At these programs scholarships and awards were awarded to local toppers.

13-3

A Special Report on the BP Gulf Oil Spill

By Dr. Tom Termotto

It is with deep regret that we publish this report. We do not take this responsibility lightly, as the consequences of the following observations are of such great import and have such far-reaching ramifications for the entire planet. Truly, the fate of the oceans of the world hangs in the balance, as does the future of humankind.

The Gulf of Mexico (GOM) does not exist in isolation and is, in fact, connected to the Seven Seas. Hence, we publish these findings in order that the world community will come together to further contemplate this dire and demanding predicament. We also do so with the hope that an appropriate global response will be formulated, and acted upon, for the sake of future generations. It is the most basic responsibility for every civilization to leave their world in a better condition than that which they inherited from their forbears.

After conducting the Gulf Oil Spill Remediation Conference for over seven months, we can now disseminate the following information with the authority and confidence of those who have thoroughly investigated a crime scene. There are many research articles, investigative reports and penetrating exposes archived at the following website. Particularly those posted from August through November provide a unique body of evidence, many with compelling photo-documentaries, which portray the true state of affairs at the Macondo Prospect in the GOM.

http://phoenixrisingfromthegulf.wordpress.com/

The pictorial evidence tells the whole story.

Especially that the BP narrative is nothing but a corporate-created illusion – a web of fabrication spun in collaboration with the US Federal Government and Mainstream Media. Big Oil, as well as the Military-Industrial Complex, have aided and abetted this whole scheme and info blackout because the very future of the Oil & Gas Industry is at stake, as is the future of the US Empire which sprawls around the world and requires vast amounts of hydrocarbon fuel.

Should the truth seep out and into the mass consciousness – that the GOM is slowly but surely filling up with oil and gas – certainly many would rightly question the integrity, and sanity, of the whole venture, as well as the entire industry itself. And then perhaps the process would begin of transitioning the planet away from the hydrocarbon fuel paradigm altogether.
It’s not a pretty picture.

The various pictures, photos and diagrams that fill the many articles at the aforementioned website represent photo-evidence about the true state of affairs on the seafloor surrounding the Macondo Prospect in the Mississippi Canyon, which is located in the Central Planning Area of the northern Gulf of Mexico. The very dynamics of the dramatic changes and continuous evolution of the seafloor have been captured in ways that very few have ever seen. These snapshots have given us a window of understanding into the true state of the underlying geological formations around the various wells drilled in the Macondo Prospect.

Although our many deductions may be difficult for the layperson to apprehend at first, to the trained eye these are but obvious conclusions which are simply the result of cause and effect. In other words there is no dispute around the most serious geological changes which have occurred, and continue to occur, in the region around the Macondo wells. The original predicament (an 87 day gushing well) was extremely serious, as grasped by the entire world, and the existing situation is only going to get progressively worse.

So, just what does this current picture look like. Please click on the link below to view the relevant diagrams and read the commentary:

http://phoenixrisingfromthegulf.wordpress.com/2010/08/03/an-autopsy-of-the-bp-gulf-oil-well-at-the-macondo-prospect/

As the diagrams clearly indicate, the geology around the well bore has been blown. This occurred because of drilling contiguous to a salt dome(1), as well as because of the gas explosions which did much damage to the integrity of the well casing, cementing, well bore, well head, and foundation around the well head. Eighty-seven straight days of gushing hydrocarbon effluent under great pressure only served to further undermine the entire well system. Finally, when it was capped, putting the system back under pressure forced the upsurging hydrocarbons to find weaknesses throughout the greater system, which revealed all sorts of compromised, fractured and unsettled geology through which the hydrocarbons could travel all the way to the seafloor and into the GOM.

(1)”The rock beds in the vicinity of a salt dome are highly fractured and permeable due to stress and deformation which occur as the salt dome thrusted upwards.” (Per BK Lim, Geohazards Specialist)

We also have faults* to deal with in this scenario of which there are both deep and shallow. Depending on the current vital stats of the blown out well, especially its actual depth; the number, location and severity of the breaches throughout the well system; the pressure at the wellhead; as well as the type and status of geological formations/strata it has been drilled into, these faults will become prominently configured into the future stability of the whole region. Larger faults can open up much greater opportunities for the hydrocarbons to find their way to the seafloor via cracks and crevices, craters and chasms. In fact the numerous leaks and seeps throughout the seafloor surface, which are quite apparent from various ROV live-feeds, give testimony to sub-seafloor geological formations in great turmoil and undergoing unprecedented flux.

*”Once the oil gets into the shallow faulted zones, we have an uncontrollable situation. The place where most of the oil and gas is coming out is at the foot hills of the continental shelf as shown in figure 134-1 in the article “BP continues to dazzle us with their unlimited magic”. The discovery by WHOI of the 22 mile long river of oil originated from these leaks. So the leaks will be mainly along the faults where I have marked (shallow) in “What is going on at West Sirius” and deep strike-slip faults (red line) on fig 134-1.” (Per BK Lim, Geohazards Specialist)

Just how bad is this situation?

There are actually three different ongoing disasters – each more grave and challenging than the previous one – which must be considered when assessing the awesome destruction to the GOM by the Oil & Gas Industry.

I. A single gushing well at 7o – 100,000 barrels per day of hydrocarbon effluent for 87 days into the GOM at the Macondo Prospect along with two smaller rogue wells

II. Numerous leaks and seeps within five to ten square miles of the Macondo well with an aggregate outflow of an unknown amount of hydrocarbon effluent per day into the GOM

III. Countless gushers and spills, leaks and seeps, throughout the Gulf of Mexico, where drilling has been conducted for many decades, with an aggregate outflow that can not even be estimated, but is well in excess of any guesstimate which would ensure the slow and steady demise of the GOM.

It is the last scenario which we all face and to which there is no easy or obvious solution. The truth be told, there currently does not exist the technology or machinery or equipment to repair the damage that has been wrought by the process of deep undersea drilling, especially when it is performed in the wrong place. Therefore, wherever the oil and gas find points of entry into the GOM through the seafloor, these leaks and seeps will only continue to get worse. Here’s why:

Methane gas mixed with saltwater and mud makes for a very potent corrosive agent. Under high pressure it will find every point of egress through the rock and sediment formations all the way up to the seafloor where it will find any point of exit that is available. The longer and more forcefully that it flows throughout the fractured area, which is dependent on the volume, temperature and pressure at the source of the hydrocarbons, the more its corrosive effects will widen, broaden and enlarge the channels, cracks and crevices throughout the sub-seafloor geology, thereby creating a predicament that no science, technology or equipment can remedy.

Dire realities of the methane hydrate predicament

The Macondo Prospect in the GOM is just one of many throughout the oceans of the world where the seafloor has beds of methane hydrate locked in place by very high pressure and low temperatures. Likewise, there are myriad repositories and large “reservoirs” of methane clathrates in the sub-seafloor strata, and especially within the more superficial geological formations, which are being greatly impacted by all oil and gas drilling and extraction activities. It does not take much imagination to understand how the upsurging hydrocarbons (very hot oil and gas) are quickly converting the frozen hydrates to gas, thereby causing innumerable “micro-displacements”, the cumulative effect of which will translate to larger “macro-displacements” of rock, sediment and other geological formations.

When you factor in this constant vaporization of methane hydrates/clathrates both sub-seafloor as well as those scattered around the seafloor surface to the existing scenario, this devolving situation becomes that much more difficult to effectively remedy. With the resulting shifts and resettling and reconfiguration of the entire seafloor terrain and underlying strata occurring in the wake of these dynamics, we are left with a situation that is not going to get better through the use of even more invasive technology and intrusive machinery.

Question: How many times can you grout a seafloor crack that was caused by an underlying superficial fault after drilling into an old mud volcano?

Answer: “In the attempt to seal the oil from oozing through the faults, BP resorted to high pressure grouting. Basically it is like cementing the cracks in the rock by injecting grout (cement mixture) at high pressure. The way they do this is by drilling an injection hole into the shallow rocks and pumping in the grout. The grout in “slurry” state will permeate into the cracks, cure and seal up the cracks. However it is not working because of the presence of gas and oil. It is like super-glue. You need to clean the surfaces before you apply the glue; otherwise it won’t stick and will come off eventually after a few days or weeks. That is why we can see a few blown out craters – shown in my article – Is the last rite for the Macondo Well for real?” (Per BK Lim, Geohazards Specialist)

Likewise, how do you fill a newly emerging gash in the seafloor which is caused by a deep fault due to low level seismic activity, or worse, a full blown earthquake?!

Seismic activity in the GOM and the uptick in earthquakes in the Mississippi River Basin and surrounding region

The oil and gas platforms that were in operation throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico in 2006 (per Wikipedia).

We now come to the most serious issue regarding the relentless drilling for oil and gas throughout the Gulf of Mexico. The map above clearly illustrates the density of drilling throughout the northern GOM as of 2006. Likewise, the map below demonstrates the extraordinary and increasing intensity of these very same operations off the coast of Louisiana alone.

Green lines represent active pipes (25,000 miles in all). Yellow dots represent oil rigs.

The map that follows, however, tells a story which demands the attention of every resident of the GOM coastline. The video link below the map shows the development timeline of the successively deeper wells being drilled during the last decade. Of course, with greater depths come much greater risks, as the technology and machinery have not been proportionately upgraded to accommodate the extraordinary demands and unforeseen contingencies of such a speculative and dangerous enterprise*.

*Oil and gas drilling in seawater depths of over 4000 feet, and through 15,000 to 25,000 feet of the earth’s crust and mantle, is considered extremely dangerous to those from whom reason and common sense have not yet fled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh_wNVUx9SI

It’s critical to understand the location and current activity of the various faults which exist throughout the GOM and how they connect to the New Madrid Fault Line, as well as other major faults at much greater distance. There does appear to be a emerging uptick in earthquake activity in the greater Louisiana area, as well as contiguous regions in the GOM as demonstrated by unprecedented, albeit low level earthquakes. Correlations between these earthquakes/seismic activity and major operations at the Macondo Prospect have been alluded to in our previous postings.

Earthquake Activity in Gulf of Mexico Prompts 2003 Study for MMS

Gulf of Mexico Subsea Structures May Be in Seismic Danger Zone –

Part 2

Now then, the question remains just how vulnerable has the GOM been made to a truly catastrophic event, ending up with an overwhelming displacement of water producing tidal waves, in the aftermath of an undersea earthquake.

There is no question that the ceaseless fracturing of the seafloor and fissuring of the sub-seafloor geological strata by the Oil & Gas Industry has set up a quite conducive environment for HUGE unintended consequences. We leave it up to the experts to conduct the necessary risk assessments, which will most assuredly let loose a sea of red flags about what Big Oil has done, and is currently doing, in the Gulf of Mexico. Furthermore, we are deeply concerned that, if a permanent moratorium on all new oil and gas drilling and extraction in the GOM is not put into place poste haste, the coastal communities will remain in a very precarious situation.

Worsening GOM predicament is reflective of the status quo around the globe

Now consider the following scenario: that this very same predicament, which we have all witnessed in the Gulf of Mexico, is happening wherever oil and gas drilling is conducted in the various water bodies throughout the planet. Therefore we can multiply the Macondo Prospect disaster a hundred times and still not come close to the impacts that these ongoing gushers and spills, leaks and seeps are having the world over.

Perhaps the BP Gulf Oil Spill was the defining moment in modern history when all the nations of the world community were called by Mother Earth herself to begin transitioning the planet away from the Hydrocarbon Fuel Paradigm. After all, we may never get another chance!

Tom Termotto is National Coordinator of the Gulf Oil Spill Remediation Conference

13-3

The Michigan Islamic Academy (MIA) Corner

By Thomas Saffold, Michigan Islamic Academy (MIA)

This is potentially a new TMO column by a Muslim convert living in Michigan. Opinions expressed are his own.

The shootings in Tucson, AZ tragically spotlight the ugly dichotomy within our nation’s cultural soul.

In the one part, is a basic goodness and compassion.  At their best, Americans are generous, humane, idealistic, and committed to a vision of democracy that is based on the ideal of “people wielding power for the common good under the laws of God.”  From all reports, these qualities characterize Congresswoman Giffords, motivating her to regularly be in contact with her constituents, being helpful to them, and constantly working for bipartisanship.  These qualities also drew people, children, youth, and elderly to the “Congress on the Corner” gathering, and when the bullets flew, to motivate them to subdue the shooter, care for the wounded, and comfort the grieving.   

Throughout our history, Americans have claimed that this view of our nation is the only one there is.  The average American is taught in school and by mass media that this country is exceptionally good, uniquely blessed by God, and can be trusted with mighty power because it is the most righteous nation in history.

The shootings in Tucson show the lie of that view.  The perpetrator appears to be a mentally ill man, but one largely shaped by the second part of the dichotomy, which is also a part of our culture. 

To the uninitiated, Jared Loughner’s Youtube videos seem to be only meaningless ravings, but to those familiar with current and historical Radical Right Wing ideological writing, they are grounded within parts of it. 

The ideology of the Radical Right, embraced most openly by elements of the Tea Party, has been dominant in the domestic and foreign, economic and social policies of the United States.  It is materialistic, racist, and violent in nature.  It is obsessed with gold-backed currency, denying citizenship to “non-whites,” with guns, and a “white makes right, might makes right” approach to all problems.  Although Loughner seems to have espoused no religion, Radical Right ideology usually fronts a veneer of religiosity, and believes that its values, world view, and assumptions are the only valid and moral ones.

This ideology was very influential in the last election, nowhere more than in Arizona, especially in Congresswoman Giffords’ district; in June, her opponent invited the public to “Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly” to “remove Gabrielle Giffords from office” at an event he called, “Get on Target for Victory.”  

Appeals to violence were not the only part of the ideology paraded last year—anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric abounded, along with bloodlust for the wars against Afghans and Iraqis, support for environmental damage, miserliness toward the poor and sick, and generosity toward the super-rich.

The idea that America is mostly composed of people like Giffords, Roll, and little Christina Taylor Green is the propaganda most Americans feed upon to keep from seeing and taking responsibility for the dark side of our culture and history and actions.  As we approach his birthday, let us remember that Martin Luther King, Jr. warned us about this ideology; in his “A Time to Break Silence” speech, after calling our own government, “the greatest purveyor of violence the world has ever seen,” based upon an ideology of “racism, extreme materialism, and militarism,” he called Americans to engage in a “reconstruction of our entire society, a radical revolution of values” based upon God’s principles and values.

Al-Hamdu Lillah, Islam equips Muslims with what we need to be good and decent people, but also what we need to be effective citizens and agents of change to strengthen the positive nature of our society, repair what has been broken, and help America to be, truly, a good and righteous nation.

The Michigan Islamic Academy is a full-time, Pre-Kindergarten through 12 grade school in Ann Arbor, MI.  http://www.mia-aa.org

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