http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=2025 Thu, 23 May 2013 19:47:41 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=2025 Mon, 20 May 2013 18:55:55 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f93_1369090446 Franky_be_nice Canadian Governor General Spokesman Craven Moorhead has announced last friday on the Global Warming solution for our future. 'Project Polar Ice' is estimated at costing the Canadian Government upwards to 750,000,000 Dollars (US), which works out to be approximately 625,000,000 Smarties (Canadian currency). With help of Chinese Scientists building the Worlds Largest Air Conditioner should be finished as soon as 2025. No details as of yet on how large the construction on the AC will be, we can only speculate that it will be about the size of the American state Wyoming. The unit will be constructed in Western Canada's Vancouver Island then will be pulled up North by Canada's largest Tug boat 'Theodore' then to be stationed at a undisclosed location. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f93_1369090446 Franky_be_nice Global warming (Polar Bears seen far south as the US border) global warming Wed, 08 May 2013 22:50:11 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=36c_1368067514 Detroit Iron China's catch-up spurt has a few more years to run in the Western hinterlands perhaps, but when the full story comes out we may find that nationwide growth has already fallen below 7pc. Doubts are growing about whether China can pass the US to become the world's biggest economy this century amid warnings that the country's 30-year miracle is nearing exhaustion. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 3:21PM BST 08 May 2013 The world's tallest tower should have been built by now. Officials said last year that the great edifice with 220 floors would be erected in three months flat in China's inland city of Changsha by March, snatching the crown from Dubai's Burj Khalifa. The deadline has come and gone, yet the wasteland sits untouched. It now looks as if the fin d''epoque project - using prefab blocs - may never be approved. Even China knows its limits. Prime minister Li Keqiang has asked the State Council to clamp down on the excesses of the regions. Not before time. A top regulator says local government finances are "out of control". Mr Li aims to cut China's economic growth to a safe speed limit of 7pc next year and rein in rampant investment - still a world record 49pc of GDP - before it traps the country in a boom-bust dynamic of frightening scale. Vested interests are conspiring to stop him, launching a counter-attack from their power-base in the $6 trillion state industries. Even so, uber-growth is surely over. Related Articles China slowdown feeds 'sense of crisis' 06 May 2013 Euro founder calls for currency to be broken up 05 May 2013 Debt-crippled Holland falls victim to EMU blunders 01 May 2013 Eurozone risks Japan-style trap 30 Apr 2013 Japan's 'wall of money' eludes global markets 25 Apr 2013 China's catch-up spurt has a few more years to run in the Western hinterlands perhaps, but when the full story comes out we may find that nationwide growth has already fallen below 7pc. Mr Li complained in a US diplomatic cable released on WikiLeaks that Chinese GDP statistics are "man-made", confiding to a US diplomat that he tracked electricity use, rail cargo, and bank loans to gauge growth. For a while, analysts use electricity data as a proxy for GDP but the commissars kept a step ahead by ordering power utilities to fiddle the figures. The National Bureau of Statistics has since revealed that data collected by the regions overstates GDP by 10pc, though they have not acted on the insight. It is well-known why this goes on. The reward system of the Communist hierarchy has been geared to talking up growth, and officials gain kudos by lowering the stated "energy intensity" of their zone. China's Development Research Council (DRC) expects growth to drop to 6pc by 2020. It could be much lower. The US Conference Board says it will average 3.7pc from 2019-2025 as the ageing crisis hits. Michael Pettis from Beijing University thinks it is likely to slow to 3pc to 4pc over the next decade, deeming this entirely desirable if it comes from taming the runaway state enterprises. If so, China's growth may not be much higher than the new consensus estimate of 3pc for a reborn America, powered by its energy boom and the revival of the chemical, steel, glass, and paper industries. All those charts showing China's economy surging past the US by 2030, or 2025, or even 2017, will look very credulous. China may not surpass the US this century. A Nation Losing Ground As of last year US GDP was roughly $15.7 trillion, compared to $8 trillion for China on a nominal exchange rate basis, the measure that matters for gauging economic power. China's output is 75pc of US levels on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis but even on this measure the Chinese `sorpasso' is looking less certain. Clyde Prestowitz, an arch US `declinist' who has just thrown in the towel, says China may "never" catch the US on any relevant measure. That is a stretch, but not impossible on a forecastable horizon. "Keep in mind the next time you are in China and find yourself choking on the foul air that the things making the air foul are counted as positives for GDP. If you adjust Chinese GDP for environmental degradation and for over-investment in things that will never be used, it falls in size by 30-50 per cent. Much of this would show up as non-performing loans in most economies but since such loans are never recognised in China, it will show up as slower growth in future years," he said. A new view is taking hold in elite circles that the banking crash in 2008 was a nasty shock for the US, but not a crippling blow to America's creative enterprise. US governing institutions rose to the challenge. It was however a crippling blow to Europe, and a more subtle blow to China in all kinds of ways. Richard Haass, president of the US Council of Foreign Relations, says the world may already be in the "second decade of another American century" without realising it. On almost every key measure, including the fertility rate and high science, there is no credible challenger. Core US defence spending is still greater than that of the next 10 countries combined. "The American qualitative military edge will be around for a long, long time," he said. Mr Haass says America has managed its dominance in such a way that it has not brought about a containment alliance against it by threatened powers, and that is no small achievement. Like Wagner's music, US diplomacy is better than it seems. Yes, the US faces a debt hangover, but so does China after the state banks let rip with private loans keep the boom going through the downturn. Fitch Ratings has just downgraded China's debt, warning that credit has jumped from 125pc to 200pc of GDP over the last four years, with mounting reliance on shadow banking that lets banks circumvent loan-to-deposit curbs. This is why George Soros has been warning that there could be a "run" on China's state banking system akin to the Lehman bust. Total credit has jumped from $9 trillion to $23 trillion in four years, an increase equal to the entire US banking system. America has moved in the opposite direction. Its banks now have loan-to-deposit ratio of around 0.7, and the biggest safety buffers in three decades. The Congressional Budget Office says US Treasury debt held by the public has jumped from 40pc to 73pc. This is the sort of damage normally seen in wars, but the US has recovered from bigger wars before, and from much higher debt levels. The CBO thinks the budget deficit will fall to 2.4pc by 2015. Growth will then whittle away the debt ratio for a few years. China's premier Li is fighting a battle against those in the Politburo who delude themselves that the Lehman crisis validates China's top down control. He gave his "unwavering report" last year to a joint DRC and World Bank report on the dangers of the "middle income trap". Dozens of states in Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East have hit an invisible ceiling over the last fifty years, languishing in the trap with per capita incomes far behind the rare "breakout" stars, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. The trap is the norm. The report warned that China's 30-year miracle is nearing exhaustion. The low-hanging fruit of state-driven industrialisation and reliance on cheap exports has already been picked. Stagnation looms unless Beijing embraces the free market and relaxes its suffocating grip over the economy. "Innovation at the technology frontier is quite different in nature from catching up technologically. It is not something that can be achieved through government planning," it said. Even if Mr Li succeeds in pulling off this second economic revolution - and we should salute him for trying - China's growth rate is going to slow drastically. Demography will see to that. The work force began to contract in absolute numbers last year, falling by 3.5 million. The International Monetary Fund says it will now go into "precipitous" decline, and much earlier than thought. If you are wondering why police are still seizing pregnant women in Chinese cities and delivering them to clinics for forced abortions when they cannot pay the fine for breaching the one-child policy, you are not alone. The IMF says the reserve army of peasants looking for work peaked at around 150m in 2010. The surplus will evaporate soon after 2020, the so-called Lewis Point. A decade later China will face a shortage of almost 140m workers. "This will have far-reaching implications for both China and the rest of the world." China's working age population: Source: IMF China's ageing crisis is tracking Japan's tale with a 20-year delay. China can expect to see the same decline in "marginal productivity" that has afflicted every other facing a rise in the old-age dependency ratio. The authorities can of course keep the game going if they wish with another burst of credit, but risks are rising and the potency of debt is wearing off. The extra output created by each yuan of lending has halved in four years. Mr Li knows the game is turning dangerous. A 2010 book by People's Army Colonel Liu Mingfu - "China Dream: Great Power Thinking and Strategic Posture in the Post-American Era" - is still selling like hot cakes in China. Yet it already has a dated feel, a throwback to peak hubris. China has everything to play for. With skill and a blast of freedom, it can take its rightful place at the forefront of world affairs. But nothing is foreordained. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=36c_1368067514 Detroit Iron China may not overtake America this century after all China Tue, 07 May 2013 16:58:42 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=30c_1367960051 Setright by Patrick J. Buchanan Recently by Patrick J. Buchanan: Their War, Not Ours Last week, several polls came out assessing U.S. public opinion on intervention in Syria. According to the Huffington Post poll, Americans oppose U.S. air strikes on Syria by 3-to-1. They oppose sending arms to the rebels by 4-to-1. They oppose putting U.S. ground troops into Syria by 14-to-1. Democrats, Republicans and independents are all against getting involved in that civil war that has produced 1.2 million refugees and 70,000 dead. A CBS/ New York Times poll found that by 62-to-24 Americans want to stay out of the Syrian war. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that by 61-to-10 Americans oppose any U.S. intervention. But the numbers shift when the public is asked if it would make a difference if the Syrian regime used poison gas. In that case, opposition to U.S. intervention drops to 44-to-27 in Reuters/Ipsos. Yet on the Sunday talk shows and cable news, the hawks are over-represented. To have a senator call for arming the rebels and U.S. air strikes is a better ratings "get" than to have on a senator who wants to stay out of the war. In that same CBS poll, however, the 10 percent of all Americans who say they follow the Syrian situation closely were evenly divided, 47-to-48, on whether to intervene. The portrait of America that emerges is of a nation not overly interested in what is going on in Syria, but which overwhelmingly wants to stay out of the war. But it is also a nation whose foreign policy elites are far more interventionist and far more supportive of sending weapons to the rebels and using U.S. air power. From these polls, it is hard not to escape the conclusion that the Beltway elites who shape U.S. foreign policy no longer represent the manifest will of Middle America. America has not gone isolationist, but has become anti-interventionist. This country does not want its soldiers sent into any more misbegotten adventures like Iraq and Afghanistan, and does not see any vital national interest in who comes out on top in Syria. But who is speaking up for that great silent majority? Who in the U.S. Senate is on national TV standing up to the interventionists? Who in the Republican Party is calling out the McCainiacs? Another story that came out this weekend, smothered by news of Israeli air strikes on Syrian military installations and missile depots, might cool elite enthusiasm - and kill any public desire to intervene. "Syrian Rebels May Have Used Sarin Gas," ran the headline in Monday's New York Times . Datelined Geneva, the story began: "United Nations human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria's civil war and medical workers indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin, one of the lead investigators said Sunday." The U.N. commission has found no evidence that the Syrian army used chemical weapons. But Carla Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney general and a commission member, stated: "Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals, and according to their report of last week, which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated. "This was use on the part of the opposition, the rebels." In short, the war criminals may be the people on whose behalf we are supposed to intervene. And if it was the rebels who used sarin gas, and not the forces of President Bashar Assad, more than a few questions arise that need answering. For just two weeks ago, the White House informed Congress: "Our intelligence community does assess, with varying degrees of confidence, that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically, the chemical agent sarin." A clamor then arose demanding Obama make good on his threat that the Syrian regime's use of poison gas would cross a "red line" and be a "game changer," calling forth "enormous consequences." If the Syrian military did not use sarin, but the rebels did, who in the U.S. intelligence community blew this one? From whom did U.S. agencies get their evidence that sarin had been used by Damascus? Were we almost suckered by someone's latest lies about weapons of mass destruction into fighting yet another unnecessary war? When allegations of the Syrian government's use of sarin arose, many in Congress, especially in the Republican Party, denounced Obama for fecklessness in backing off of his "red line" threat. It now appears that Obama may have saved us from a strategic disaster by not plunging ahead with military action. And the question should be put to the war hawks: If Assad's use of sarin should call forth U.S. air strikes, ought not the use of sarin by the rebels, if confirmed, cause this country to wash its hands of those war criminals? May 7, 2013 Patrick J. Buchanan send him mail ] is co-founder and editor of The American Conservative . He is also the author of seven books, including Where the Right Went Wrong , and Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War . His latest book is Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025? See his website . Copyright (c) 2013 Creators Syndicate http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=30c_1367960051 Setright Who Are the War Criminals in Syria? WORLD NEWS, MIDDLE EAST, SYRIA Sat, 27 Apr 2013 06:50:33 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=754_1367059778 MagicSonny "I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people," said Edmund Burke of the rebellious Americans. The same holds true of Islam, the majority faith of 49 nations from Morocco to Indonesia, a religion that 1.6 billion people profess. Yet, some assertions appear true. Islam is growing in militancy and intolerance, evolving again into a fighting faith, and spreading not only through proselytizing, but violence. How to justify the charge of intolerance? The Taliban blew up the Bamiyan Buddhas. The Sufi shrines of Timbuktu were blown up by Ansar Dine. In Saudi Arabia, Iran and Afghanistan, Christian converts face the death sentence. In Nigeria, the Boko Haram attacks churches and kills Christians, as in Ethiopia and the Sudan, where the south seceded over the persecution. Egyptian Copts are under siege. Assyrian and Chaldean Christians in Iraq have seen churches pillaged, priests murdered. In Indonesia, churches are being shut on the demand of Islamists. Sharia law is being demanded by militants across the Middle East, as Christianity is exterminated in its cradle. Has Islam become again a fighting faith? Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia are the sites of Islamist uprisings using terror to rip these statelets from Russia. Muslim Uighurs are fighting to tear off a chunk of China and create an East Turkestan. Muslim Malays in south Thailand have fought a decade-long war of secession. Albania has acquired two sister Muslim states in Europe, Bosnia and Kosovo, both born in blood. "Islam has bloody borders," wrote the late Samuel Huntington. They are bloodier today. At the time of 9/11, al-Qaida seemed confined to Afghanistan. Al-Qaida may now be found in the Maghreb, Mali, Iraq and Yemen. Its Syrian auxiliary, the al-Nusra Front, is dominant in the anti-Assad rebellion. Since Y2K, Islamists have perpetrated massacres in Mumbai, Madrid, London, Moscow, Beslan and Boston. Osama bin Laden appears no longer as popular as he once was, yet tens of millions worldwide still admire him. Why? Islamism can also call upon true believers prepared to die for the cause. No other faith produces so many suicide bombers. Muslims counter-argue that America has killed many more noncombatants, in Iraq, and Afghanistan and Pakistan with drone strikes. What right, they ask, did we have to attack Iraq? Did we not ourselves stir up the nest of hornets that stung us in Boston? Yet there is another reality. While the clash of cultures widens between the West and Islam, leaders in the Muslim world can be found working with the United States against their own extremists. Jihadists are by no means a majority in the Islamic world, where they are also feared and hated. And in the West, they are but a fraction of our Muslim communities. The crisis: Even a tiny minority of terrorists like the Tsarnaevs can so inflame tensions between the West and the Muslim world they can bring our two civilizations into conflict. Would we have fought those wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without the atrocity of 9/11? What are the goals of the jihadists? Expulsion of Christians and infidels from the Dar al-Islam, the house of Islam. Expulsion of the American Crusaders. Overthrow of Muslim rulers who collude with the Great Satan. Annihilation of Israel. Infiltration of the homelands of a decadent, dying West. Death to all who insult the Prophet. Ultimate goal: Bring the world to acknowledge and act on the truth that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet. And while the Islamic world remains far inferior in technology and manufacturing and military power, Muslim peoples are far more numerous and devout. With a fourth of mankind, their birth rate is higher and their numbers soaring, along with their militancy at home and in the diaspora. In population and territory, the West is shrinking, while our Muslim minorities are growing and becoming more assertive in their demands. "No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come," said Victor Hugo. Many in the Muslim world believe that as the Christian West dominated for 500 years, their time has come. How do we deal with this irreconcilable conflict between a secular West and a resurgent Islam? First, as it is our presence in their world that enrages so many, we should end our interventions, shut down the empire and let Muslim rulers deal with Muslim radicals. Second, we need a moratorium on immigration from the Islamic world. Inevitably, some of the young we bring in, like the Tsarnaevs, will yield to radicalization and seek to strike a blow for Islam against us. What benefit do we derive as a people to justify the risks we take by opening up America to mass migration from a world aflame with hatred and hostility over race, ethnicity, culture, history and faith? Why are we bringing all of the world's quarrelsome minorities, and all the world's quarrels with them, into our home? What we saw in Boston was the dark side of diversity. Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of "Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?" http://news.yahoo.com/dark-side-diversity-070000603.html http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=754_1367059778 MagicSonny Pat Buchanan : The Dark Side of Diversity buchanan, islam, diversity, immigration Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:10:56 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a3a_1366177079 Baron_Kaz Essential Background: E = mc^2 + pc. For the non-mathematically oriented, please check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnMIhxWRGNw. Quintessentially, as long as an object as mass, it cannot travel at the speed of light. Smaller the mass, greater the speed. Assumptions / Conditions : 1) Time needed to travel between inter planetary and inter stellar cosmic bodies is less than the time needed to grow human tissue from DNA. 2) We are progressing rapidly towards developing the entire human body from the DNA code of an individual. This theory requires we develop the technology to grow not only simple appendages, but also complex working parts, like brain, heart, etc. 3) We develop complete brain mapping technology. Theory: Space travel is limited, due to the sheer distance between 2 objects in space. Current propulsion techniques are completely incapable of moving human beings from one point to another at an efficient rate. Now consider a planet in our solar system, the furthest one actually: Neptune. Voyager 2 spacecraft was launched on Aug 20, 1977 and it reached Neptune on Aug 24, 1989. So, Voyager 2 took about twelve years. Now, if we had a laboratory wherein we could grow the human body from the DNA of an individual in Neptune. And if we could accomplish that entire growth, within (say) 2 years. Then we could have an exact replica of the individual as on Earth, also on Neptune. Now, if we had the method to completely map his brain. Imagine taking a specific point in time: April 16th, 2025, 8:00am. At that exact moment, the person would be put to cryogenic sleep. And his brain and all his memories were mapped and recorded. And transmitted through a network of repeaters and transmitting stations through the solar system to reach Neptune. Then that information can be (theoretically) used to infuse the brain of the person's clone in Neptune. When sparked to life, the clone would have the exact same body, health and memories of the original on earth. Which would be effectively transporting the individual from Earth to Neptune. Thus the "transportation" of the person would take 2 years (2 years to grow the physical body and to receive the transmission of the brain mapping data) instead of 12 years. Now expand this concept to include far off planetary systems or even far off galaxies. With the actual physical travel to such galaxies taking hundreds of years, maybe thousands. With this theory, the time to spark the clone, (and thus travel) would still be 2 years to grow the body from the DNA and the time needed to receive the brain mapping data, (Which would travel close to the speed of light). Of course, it would require the initial investment of setting up these "laboratories" (to grow the body from the DNA) in the different far off planets. And that would take considerable time and energy. But once the infrastructure is established, then it becomes really simple. In fact, for frequent travelers, it wouldn't even take 2 years every time, since their clone would already be present at the destination. Is this ethical? What are the logistical challenges? I do not know that. But in my mind, there is no other way for human beings to travel through space at least in the foreseeable future. Star trek and other TV shows aside, Worm holes are an interesting concept, but we dare not meddle with Black hole gravitational forces which create worm holes. And we are thousands of years away from that technology. It is but fiction. However, with the recent advances in DNA studies and tissue regeneration, and more effective brain mapping systems. This technique could prove effective in "transporting" people from one point in space to the other within the next (maybe) 100 years. I know its a far fetched idea, but it just came to my mind... So just shared it. :) http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a3a_1366177079 Baron_Kaz Space travel... Silly theory of mine. :) Science Fri, 12 Apr 2013 23:55:54 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=065_1365824729 plokiju MOSCOW, April 11 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Air Force has approved the conceptual design and specification of its future PAK-DA strategic bomber, paving the way for development of components for the aircraft, Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said Thursday. "The development of the aircraft is going as planned. The outline of its design and characteristics has been approved and all relevant documents have been signed allowing the industry to start the development of systems for this plane," Bondarev said at a meeting with Russian lawmakers. The PAK-DA (meaning future long-range aircraft) project has been in the works for several years but was given the formal go-ahead by the Russian leadership last year. It is due to replace Russia's aging fleet of 63 Tupolev Tu-95MS Bear and 13 Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers in the next decade. According to recent reports in the Russian media, citing defense ministry sources, the Tupolev design bureau has won the PAK-DA development tender with its concept for a subsonic aircraft with a "flying wing" shape which provides superior "stealth capabilities." The Defense Ministry insisted that the PAK-DA should be equipped with advanced electronic warfare systems and armed with new nuclear-capable long-range cruise missiles in addition to a veriety of high-precision conventional weapons. The new bomber is expected to go in production by 2020 and will be built at a new aircraft assembly line at Russia's Kazan plant (KAPO), according to defense ministry officials. The same plant previously built the Tu-95MS and Tu-160. http://www.en.rian.ru/military_news/20130411/180586959/Russian-Air-Force-Approves-New-Bomber-Design--Commander.html The PAK DA was planned to be a new stealthy strategic bomber and is expected to enter service in the 2025-30 timeframe, with the first aircraft delivered in 2020. The few details speculated to date about the design include a combat radius of around 3,500 kilometers with full payload, a loaded weight of 100 to 120 tons, 4 engines, and the possible use of some equipment from the Sukhoi PAK FA project such as avionics and engines. President Vladimir Putin also said work is to start on PAK DA despite the complex technology and monetary requirements. On 27 August 2012, it was reported that Dmitry Rogozin had recently called for the bomber to be capable of hypersonic speed in order to match and better the air defenses of the United States. It is unclear whether Rogozin's comments refer to the bomber being hypersonic or to its ability to carry hypersonic air-launched missiles. In March 2013, it was reported that the selected PAK DA design would be a subsonic flying wing. In order to maintain affordability, the PAK DA will be a less ambitious project than the American Long-Range Strike-B. General Anatoly Zhikharev has said that an unmanned strategic bomber may follow the PAK DA after 2040. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAK_DA PAK-DA concept image. It's not believed to be an official image and it may not depict the plane as it is intended to be. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=065_1365824729 plokiju Russian Air Force Approves New Bomber Design - PAK-DA Russian, Air, Force, Approves, New, Bomber, Design, PAK-DA Sat, 06 Apr 2013 02:35:52 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=445_1365229813 ramotyis WASHINGTON - It's been a while since NASA's been known as a place for space cowboys. But the nickname could make a comeback if the space agency can pull off a new mission that even supporters admit sounds buck-wild: corralling an asteroid with a spacecraft so future astronauts can go visit it. Obama administration officials said the operation has the potential to jump-start a human-exploration program that has floundered since the 2011 retirement of the space shuttle. The White House will include $105 million to begin work on the project in its 2014 budget to be unveiled this week. "This mission will send humans farther than they have ever been before, and first ever redirection of asteroid for exploration and sampling," noted NASA officials in a mission outline presented to Congress this week and obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. If lawmakers approve, the plan calls on NASA to launch an unmanned spacecraft as soon as 2017 on a mission to "capture" a small asteroid and drag it near the moon, possibly to a point roughly 277,000 miles from Earth where competing gravitational forces would allow it to "sit" there. Astronauts, riding a new NASA rocket and capsule, then would visit the asteroid as early as 2021. "If the American people are excited about it, they will be, too," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. - adding that he thinks the public is "fascinated" with asteroids thanks to disaster movies such as "Armageddon" and recent near-misses that real space rocks have had with Earth. But the plan faces several hurdles - and not just the rocket science. Foremost is convincing Congress, and a skeptical public, that spending an estimated $2.6 billion on the mission is a worthwhile investment. That's in addition to the $3 billion annually that NASA already devotes to building its new Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule. Then there's the more-basic question of why. "You have to get over the first shock, and I'm worried editorial writers will be like: 'Huh? You lost your mind,'" acknowledged Lou Friedman, who co-authored a 2012 report that suggested the idea. "But if you get into it, is audacious as sending humans to the moon. I think it will restore confidence in America's technological capability and NASA's can-do spirit." As proposed, the asteroid mission would begin with research - $78 million in 2014 to begin design work on the robotic spacecraft that would capture the asteroid, and an additional $27 million to begin searching the cosmos for an asteroid to grab. The ideal rock would be 20 to 30 feet in diameter and weigh 500 tons. A 2012 study done by the Keck Institute for Space Studies, a think tank based at the California Institute of Technology, envisioned a small probe that would launch aboard an Atlas V rocket. Once in space, it would use its solar-electric engines to cruise to an asteroid and then attempt to capture it in a cup-shaped container described as an "inflatable asteroid capture bag." Even NASA admits this stage would be the "most technically challenging aspect of the mission," as the asteroid would be traveling at thousands of miles per hour and spinning rapidly. The probe would have to first match the asteroid's speed and spin. It would then position itself so that the asteroid drifts into its storage space - and pull it shut like a drawstring bag. "Since the asteroid would be much more massive than the spacecraft, it is perhaps better to think of this as the asteroid capturing the spacecraft," noted the Keck study. The probe would then tug the asteroid to an orbit near the moon to await a visit by NASA astronauts. The Keck study estimated the whole operation could take six to 10 years, although NASA officials insist they can do it sooner to meet their 2021 deadline of a human mission. By any measure, it's an ambitious operation that would test a wide variety of NASA skills - from technology development to human spaceflight. But there's still the question of why. From NASA's perspective, the mission checks several boxes. First, it gives purpose to the huge new SLS rocket and Orion capsule that are costing NASA about $3 billion a year to build, with a first test flight scheduled no earlier than 2017. The SLS has been criticized as a "rocket to nowhere" - as its mission has been defined only vaguely since the program's 2011 unveiling - and the asteroid operation would give it a specific goal. It also would meet President Barack Obama's challenge to NASA to visit an asteroid by 2025. Finally, its estimated cost of $2.6 billion, not including the SLS and Orion, fits within NASA's long-range-budget expectations. It would be much cheaper than a manned flight to the moon's surface or a longer-range mission to an asteroid that hasn't been tugged close to the moon. "It gives us a place to go but one we can reach with existing systems," Friedman said. It's the kind of rationale that makes sense in the space community. But NASA likely has some work to do in convincing the general public. Though the flight would make history, sending astronauts to a tiny asteroid lacks the punch of, say, a Mars landing. Supporters said they understand that. But they argue that getting to Mars - or even doing more on the moon - would be impossible without intermediate steps such as this. Asteroids are "interesting objects in their own right, but the main purpose is as a stepping stone of exploration," Friedman said Planning documents also make another case: The spacecraft developed by NASA could be a prototype of one that could defend the planet against a rogue asteroid. That's been a hot topic since a 55-foot asteroid exploded over Russia in February, injuring more than 1,000 people, and NASA acknowledged to Congress it would be helpless if a larger, more-deadly asteroid were reported on a collision course with Earth. There's also the possibility of mining the asteroid for rare materials such as platinum. Though it's unknown whether visiting astronauts would set foot on the asteroid, it's certain any mission would recover rock samples. This could be a first step in developing techniques to mine asteroids in the future. The rise of this program, however, likely means the death of another. NASA chief Charlie Bolden pitched the White House last year on the idea of building a small space station near where NASA intends to drag the asteroid; administration officials said that pricey proposal has been shelved in favor of one viewed as more viable given NASA's annual budget of about $18 billion. "We've had a succession of missions that didn't pan out financially; it would be nice to have one that did," said Howard McCurdy, a space-policy expert at American University. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/os-nasa-asteroid-mission-20130405,0,7354034,full.story http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=445_1365229813 ramotyis Space Cowboys: NASA's newest project aims at corralling asteroid. nasa,astroid,space,1999,stupid,monkey Sat, 02 Mar 2013 13:47:21 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c13_1362250036 Detroit Iron By ERIC LICHTBLAU Published: March 1, 2013 THIRTEEN years ago, researchers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum began the grim task of documenting all the ghettos, slave labor sites, concentration camps and killing factories that the Nazis set up throughout Europe.What they have found so far has shocked even scholars steeped in the history of the Holocaust.The researchers have cataloged some 42,500 Nazi ghettos and camps throughout Europe, spanning German-controlled areas from France to Russia and Germany itself, during Hitler 's reign of brutality from 1933 to 1945. The figure is so staggering that even fellow Holocaust scholars had to make sure they had heard it correctly when the lead researchers previewed their findings at an academic forum in late January at the German Historical Institute in Washington. "The numbers are so much higher than what we originally thought," Hartmut Berghoff , director of the institute, said in an interview after learning of the new data. "We knew before how horrible life in the camps and ghettos was," he said, "but the numbers are unbelievable." The documented camps include not only "killing centers" but also thousands of forced labor camps, where prisoners manufactured war supplies; prisoner-of-war camps; sites euphemistically named "care" centers, where pregnant women were forced to have abortions or their babies were killed after birth; and brothels, where women were coerced into having sex with German military personnel. Auschwitz and a handful of other concentration camps have come to symbolize the Nazi killing machine in the public consciousness. Likewise, the Nazi system for imprisoning Jewish families in hometown ghettos has become associated with a single site - the Warsaw Ghetto, famous for the 1943 uprising. But these sites, infamous though they are, represent only a minuscule fraction of the entire German network, the new research makes painfully clear. The maps the researchers have created to identify the camps and ghettos turn wide sections of wartime Europe into black clusters of death, torture and slavery - centered in Germany and Poland , but reaching in all directions. The lead editors on the project, Geoffrey Megargee and Martin Dean , estimate that 15 million to 20 million people died or were imprisoned in the sites that they have identified as part of a multivolume encyclopedia . (The Holocaust museum has published the first two, with five more planned by 2025.) The existence of many individual camps and ghettos was previously known only on a fragmented, region-by-region basis. But the researchers, using data from some 400 contributors, have been documenting the entire scale for the first time, studying where they were located, how they were run, and what their purpose was. The brutal experience of Henry Greenbaum, an 84-year-old Holocaust survivor who lives outside Washington, typifies the wide range of Nazi sites. When Mr. Greenbaum, a volunteer at the Holocaust museum, tells visitors today about his wartime odyssey, listeners inevitably focus on his confinement of months at Auschwitz, the most notorious of all the camps. But the images of the other camps where the Nazis imprisoned him are ingrained in his memory as deeply as the concentration camp number - A188991 - tattooed on his left forearm. In an interview, he ticked off the locations in rapid fire, the details still vivid. First came the Starachowice ghetto in his hometown in Poland, where the Germans herded his family and other local Jews in 1940, when he was just 12. Next came a slave labor camp with six-foot-high fences outside the town, where he and a sister were moved while the rest of the family was sent to die at Treblinka. After his regular work shift at a factory, the Germans would force him and other prisoners to dig trenches that were used for dumping the bodies of victims. He was sent to Auschwitz, then removed to work at a chemical manufacturing plant in Poland known as Buna Monowitz, where he and some 50 other prisoners who had been held at the main camp at Auschwitz were taken to manufacture rubber and synthetic oil. And last was another slave labor camp at Flossenb"urg, near the Czech border, where food was so scarce that the weight on his 5-foot-8-inch frame fell away to less than 100 pounds. By the age of 17, Mr. Greenbaum had been enslaved in five camps in five years, and was on his way to a sixth, when American soldiers freed him in 1945. "Nobody even knows about these places," Mr. Greenbaum said. "Everything should be documented. That's very important. We try to tell the youngsters so that they know, and they'll remember." The research could have legal implications as well by helping a small number of survivors document their continuing claims over unpaid insurance policies, looted property, seized land and other financial matters."HOW many claims have been rejected because the victims were in a camp that we didn't even know about?" asked Sam Dubbin, a Florida lawyer who represents a group of survivors who are seeking to bring claims against European insurance companies. Dr. Megargee, the lead researcher, said the project was changing the understanding among Holocaust scholars of how the camps and ghettos evolved. As early as 1933, at the start of Hitler's reign, the Third Reich established about 110 camps specifically designed to imprison some 10,000 political opponents and others, the researchers found. As Germany invaded and began occupying European neighbors, the use of camps and ghettos was expanded to confine and sometimes kill not only Jews but also homosexuals, Gypsies, Poles, Russians and many other ethnic groups in Eastern Europe. The camps and ghettos varied enormously in their mission, organization and size, depending on the Nazis' needs, the researchers have found. The biggest site identified is the infamous Warsaw Ghetto, which held about 500,000 people at its height. But as few as a dozen prisoners worked at one of the smallest camps, the M"unchen-Schwabing site in Germany. Small groups of prisoners were sent there from the Dachau concentration camp under armed guard. They were reportedly whipped and ordered to do manual labor at the home of a fervent Nazi patron known as "Sister Pia," cleaning her house, tending her garden and even building children's toys for her. When the research began in 2000, Dr. Megargee said he expected to find perhaps 7,000 Nazi camps and ghettos, based on postwar estimates. But the numbers kept climbing - first to 11,500, then 20,000, then 30,000, and now 42,500. The numbers astound: 30,000 slave labor camps; 1,150 Jewish ghettos; 980 concentration camps; 1,000 prisoner-of-war camps; 500 brothels filled with sex slaves; and thousands of other camps used for euthanizing the elderly and infirm, performing forced abortions, "Germanizing" prisoners or transporting victims to killing centers. In Berlin alone, researchers have documented some 3,000 camps and so-called Jew houses, while Hamburg held 1,300 sites. Dr. Dean, a co-researcher, said the findings left no doubt in his mind that many German citizens, despite the frequent claims of ignorance after the war, must have known about the widespread existence of the Nazi camps at the time. "You literally could not go anywhere in Germany without running into forced labor camps, P.O.W. camps, concentration camps," he said. "They were everywhere." http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c13_1362250036 Detroit Iron The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking Hartmut Berghoff, German Historical Institute, Holocaust Memorial Museum Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:58:25 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=296_1361843680 God_Himself The world's economic epicentre is moving east, but that's no reason to expect Western prosperity will suffer. . . .You know the story-line by now. There are one million US-dollar millionaires in China. ("To get rich is glorious," said former leader Deng Xiao-ping.) Seventy per cent of the homes in China are bought for cash. China's total trade - the sum of imports and exports - is now bigger than that of the United States. "They're going to eat our lunch," whimper the faint-hearted in the West. It's not just the Chinese who are coming. The Indians and the Brazilians are coming too, with economic growth rates far higher than in the old industrialised countries, but it doesn't even stop there. There's also Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia and half a dozen other big countries in what used to be called the Third World that have discovered the secret of high-speed growth. The power shift is happening even faster than the pundits predicted. As recently as 2009, the "Brics" (Brazil, Russia, India and China) accounted for less than one-tenth of total global consumption. The European Union consumed twice as much, and so did the United States. But by 2020, the Brics will be producing and consuming just as much as either of the older economic zones, and by 2025 considerably more than either of them. In fact, if you include not just the four Brics but all the other fast-growing economies of the ex-Third World, in just a dozen years' time they will account for around 40 per cent of world consumption. As a rule, with wealth comes power, so they will increasingly be calling the tune that the West must dance to. Or at least that is the Doomsday scenario that haunts the strategists and economists of the West. It's nonsense, for at least three reasons. First of all, a shift in the world's centre of economic gravity does not necessarily spell doom for those whose relative influence has dwindled. The last time the centre shifted, when the United States overtook the nations of Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it did not dent Europe's prosperity at all. It's true that by the latter half of the 20th century there were American troops all over Western Europe, but that would not have happened if Europe had not come close to destroying itself in the two world wars (which can be seen as a European civil war in two parts). In any case, the US troops have mostly gone home now, and Europeans live at least as well as Americans. Secondly, the new centre of gravity this time, while mostly located in Asia, is not a single country with a coherent foreign policy like the United States. The four Brics will never become a strategic or economic bloc. They are more likely to split into rival blocs, although one hopes not. And the Mexicos, Turkeys and Indonesias of this new world will have their own fish to fry. So it will be a more complicated world with many major players, and the centre of economic gravity will be in Asia, but there's nothing particularly strange about this. More than half of the human race lives in Asia, so where else should the centre of gravity be? Asia is very far from monolithic, and there is no logical reason to suppose that its economic rise spells economic decline for the West. Thirdly, descriptions of the future that are simply extrapolations of the present, like the ones at the start of this article, are almost always wrong. If the widely believed forecasts of the 1980s had been right, Japan would now bestride the world like an economic Colossus. The one certain thing about the future is surprises - but some surprises are a little less surprising than others. Take climate change, for example. The scientific evidence strongly suggests that the tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world, home to almost all of the emerging economic powers, will be much harder hit by global warming than the temperate parts of the globe, farther away from the equator, where the older industrialised countries all live. There is already much anger about this in the new economic powers. Eighty per cent of the greenhouse gases of human origin in the atmosphere were put there by the old-rich countries, who got rich by burning fossil fuels for the past two centuries, and yet they get off lightly while the (relatively) innocent suffer. But even if the newly rich wanted revenge, they are too disunited - and will be too busy coping with the warming - to do much about it. The centre of gravity of the world economy is undoubtedly leaving the old "Atlantic" world of Europe and North America and moving towards Asia, but how far and how fast this process goes remains to be seen. And there is no reason to believe that it will leave the countries of the West poor or helpless. True, economists in the West often ask the question: "what will we sell the emerging countries in the future that they cannot produce for themselves?" In the runaway global warming scenario, the answer would be "food", but the real answer is sure to be more complex than that. Never mind. They'll think of something, because they'll have to. Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&amp;objectid=10867690 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=296_1361843680 God_Himself Fear of nouveau riche unfounded By Gwynne Dyer USA, EU, China, BRICS, Economy, Growth, Asia Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:43:40 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=200_1261161639 knowsmuslims jp-dec-18-09-Fifteen years from now America is still globally preeminent, yet its relative power is in decline. The US faces multiple threats from state and non-state actors, some of which have superseded their nation states and could be in possession of weapons of mass destruction. Mega-cities forge their own policies and partnerships. Complex threats transcend geographic borders and organizational boundaries, and small local skirmishes quickly escalate into worldwide shooting wars. Asia and the Middle East are awash with WMD; space, the Arctic and cyberspace become increasingly militarized. Governments around the world take a zero-sum attitude to international affairs and retreat from free trade agreements, while simmering competition between nations results in a growing wave of nationalism, reviving historic tensions. This is the bleak picture painted by the US Quadrennial Intelligence Community Review (QICR) 2009, a scenario-based strategic planning activity that looks out to the year 2025 and considers alternative futures or "scenarios," missions the intelligence community might be called on to perform, and the operating principles and capabilities required to fulfill those missions. The insights gleaned are intended to help shape the next US National Intelligence Strategy and other planning and capability guidance documents. The QICR scenarios are currently being reviewed by a panel of outside experts at a conference organized by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in Washington. The QICR document, reported on by Wired.com, details the geostrategic scenarios that inform the US intelligence community analyses. These scenarios draw heavily on the National Intelligence Council Global Trends 2025 study issued in November 2008. The document is signed by David R. Shedd, deputy director of national intelligence for policy, plans and requirements, and is dated January 2009. The report is divided under four headings: "Politics is not always local," "World Without the West," "Bric's Bust Up" and "October Surprise." Under "Politics is not always local" the report looks at how identity-based groups supplant the authority of nation-states, competing with one another for influence in a chaotic political environment. By 2025 a subtle but unmistakable power shift has enabled identity-centric groups to gradually supplant the authority of traditional nation-states. National leaders frequently find their authority challenged in a variety of indirect ways: mega-cities forge their own policies and partnerships, a multitude of social and political movements lobby for change, and ideologically motivated groups cause violent disruptions. The military capabilities of transnational ethnic, religious, and other identity groups increase dramatically. As a result, many groups operate their own private security forces. As central governments face demands for independence from subregions, particularly those rich in resources, some have no choice but to give in, leading to a decline in traditional state authority. Under the heading "World Without the West" the report looks at how a China/Russia/India/Iran-centered bloc challenges US supremacy and sets the pace for innovation in key technologies. In 2025, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization expands to include Russia, China, India and Iran, creating a fragile new coalition. Antagonism toward Western protectionism and complementary interests drives this coalition. Although the US and its European allies remain an important counterweight, the world focuses on the dynamic of this new coalition, hence a "World Without the West." Framing their cooperation as a new counterbalance to "Washington Consensus" economics and American military preeminence, these countries leverage their vast energy reserves, huge populations and high level of technological development to challenge US economic, military, and technological supremacy. Declining US influence leads to a reassessment and realignment of today's alliances, especially as traditional non-Western partners, such as Japan, reconsider their strategic priorities, given the rise of the Sino-Russian coalition. Both sides look to leverage innovations in science and technology to establish control over nontraditional battlegrounds. This effort leads space, the Arctic, and cyberspace to become increasingly militarized and to emerge as critical venues for competition and conflict. As the world becomes significantly polarized, health care becomes an important front for global competition. Sino-Russian coalition powers gain an edge in fields such as biotechnology, where less constrained ethical models and weaker regulation foster rapid and innovative research and development. Under the heading "Bric's Bust Up" the report takes a look at scenarios where states jockey for resources and adopt mercantilist trade policies in a precarious balance of power. In 2025, a series of energy and resource shortages, particularly acute in Asia, disrupt what had promised to be a steady period of growth led by the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Governments around the world take a zero-sum attitude to international affairs and retreat from free trade agreements, adopting mercantilist economic policies defined by assertive protectionism. Intense energy competition and transient shifting alliances lead to a rise in local skirmishes and an escalating threat of interstate war. This lack of international cohesion allows nuclear weapons to proliferate in Asia and the Middle East, leading to a precarious balance of mutually deterrent powers that in some ways resembles a 21st-century replay of the years before 1914. As a consequence of this retrenchment, international and regional organizations decline in scale and authority. The European Union, which has bucked centrifugal political forces and coalesced as a singular identity, marginalizes the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Despite this global retrenchment, the US maintains certain key alliances to protect global sea lanes and to ensure the security of its energy supply. Predictable military doctrines no longer hold as old alliances fracture and weapons of mass destruction proliferate. The global balance of power regularly changes as nations jockey for access to resources. This simmering competition between nations results in a growing wave of nationalism. Virulent nationalists revive historic tensions, particularly among Asian rivals such as Japan, China and India. WMD proliferation among rival states and the absence of strong multilateral institutions raise the possibility that sudden escalations of small conflicts could draw the US into a shooting war - perhaps against a country, or countries, with WMD. Under the heading "October Surprise" the report looks at what happens if and when power shifts to corporations and mega-cities, allowing global ills (from climate change to international crime) to spiral out of control. The decreased power of national government drives the political realities of this decentralized world. Although atomized identity groups cannot cope with transnational problems, they provide many formerly local "state services," create their own international forum and gain seats at organizations such as the UN, the International Labor Organization and the World Trade Organization. International and regional institutions begin to deteriorate, despite attempts to incorporate numerous non-state actors. The decline in traditional state authority also shapes the military environment in this world, as national militaries face weakened support in terms of public backing and the number of volunteers or willing draftees. In contrast, the military capabilities of transnational ethnic, religious and other identity groups increase dramatically. As many central governments face demands of independence from subregions, particularly those rich in resources, some have no choice but to give in, leading to a decline in traditional state authority. These transformational forces also allow diasporas, labor unions, NGOs, ethnic groups, religious factions and others to acquire significant influence and establish formal and informal relationships with states. However, the lack of traditional political authority also results in an abundance of jurisdictionally ambiguous spaces. The proliferation of groups produces fewer shared norms, making negotiation between groups more difficult. Differences of opinion on environmental issues are another basis of competition among fragmented identity groups, hampering the cooperation necessary to address transnational environmental challenges. The office of the Director of National Intelligence will issue a separate classified QICR final report in the coming weeks that summarizes the implications these scenarios will have on the missions, operating principles and capabilities the US intelligence community will use to manage the range of uncertainties in the future. PIC: Rivalry among nations: Chinese soldiers prepare for a parade in Beijing to celebrate 60 years of Communist rule. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=200_1261161639 knowsmuslims The world in <span class="highlight">2025</span>: Awash with weapons of mass destruction china,russia,israel,u.s,2025,wmd Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:36:20 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dcf_1259735195 anurag_kati That is if global warming, world wars and end of the world scenario dont play havoc. Worlds Largest Economies by 2025 Top 1-10 1 United States $20,0 2 China $18,4 3 Japan $5,5 4 India $4,3 5 Germany $3,6 6 Russia $3,3 7 United Kingdom $3,3 8 France $3,0 9 Brazil $2,8 10 Italy $2,3 Top 11-13 11 Mexico $2,3 12 South Korea $1,8 13 Canada $1,8 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dcf_1259735195 anurag_kati World's largest economies by <span class="highlight">2025</span> world, economies, 2025 Sat, 23 May 2009 12:55:16 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=353_1243097041 Daniel_Epstein May 23, 2009 TEHRAN -- Iran's aerospace industry will be the best in West Asia by 2025, Iranian Aerospace Organization Director Reza Taqipour said on Thursday. Through the implementation of the ten-year national plan for the aerospace industry, Iran will be able to achieve major successes in the future, Taqipour told reporters in Tehran. Iran has constructed some research laboratories to facilitate the activities of the aerospace organization and has established the rest of the necessary infrastructure, he added. He called the launch of the Omid satellite one of Iran's greatest achievements. Omid, which means "hope" in Persian, was Iran's first domestically manufactured satellite. It was a data-processing satellite for research and telecommunications that was successfully launched on February 2, 2009. Taqipour said that Iranian private sector companies should play a more active role in the aerospace industry and an effective mechanism should be created to help achieve this goal. Middle Eastern countries will be good markets for Iran's aerospace products, and the Islamic Republic can definitely capture these markets, he opined http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=353_1243097041 Daniel_Epstein Iran to be Aerospace Leader of West Asia by <span class="highlight">2025</span> iran, airplane, helicopter, kit, balsa wood, iranian aerospace orginization, rocket, space rocket, missile, ballistic missile, nuclear bomb, radioactive silica, jews, zionists, holocaust, exterminate, peaceful nuclear program, regional arms race,