UN // Current TV

UN secretary general says Syria attacks are an affront to humanity

The UN's failure to agree to a resolution on Syria is "disastrous" for... more

sbacker
added this
23 hours ago
|
0 comments

United Nations Preparing to Manage Global Mental Health

In a world where national sovereignty is rapidly becoming a thing of the past,... more

Anonmaly
added this
11 days ago
|
2 comments

Iran's uranium enrichment is escalation, says US

The US has said Iran's enrichment of uranium at an underground site is "a... more

aileenalmeda
added this
1 month ago
|
0 comments

UN AGENCY WARNS OF DANGER OF BIRD FLU RESEARCH

The United Nations health agency has voiced deep concern that scientific research... more

joeeddy
added this
1 month ago
|
3 comments

Fiscal austerity measures driving global economy towards recession – UN

Fiscal austerity policies being implemented by countries are driving the global... more

joeeddy
added this
1 month ago
|
0 comments

UN official tells nations to end gay executions

GENEVA -- The U.N.'s top human rights official urged countries Thursday to... more

LOrion
added this
1 month ago
|
0 comments

Inhofe to UN Climate Conference in Durban

CarlosBobthe3rd
added this
2 months ago
|
0 comments

Bringing Down the Fed!!!!!

Lawsuit Filed Today Could End the Secret Government That Has Ruled Western... more

jcarlson
added this
2 months ago
|
1 comment

Occupy movement comes to COP 17

Inspired by the Occupy Wall St. movement, protesters calling for “climate... more

JanforGore
added this
2 months ago
|
4 comments

Study: Arctic ice melting "unprecedented" in past 1450 years

Recent arctic sea ice loss is 'unprecedented' over the past 1,450 years, concludes a reconstruction of ice records published in the journal Nature.

The study, which was led by Christophe Kinnard of Chile's Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Aridas, used terrestrial proxies including ice cores, lake sediments, tree ring data, and historical sea ice observations from the Arctic region to reconstruct past summer sea ice extent, the period when Arctic sea ice is at its minimum. They conclude that "both the duration and magnitude of the current decline in sea ice seem to be unprecedented for the past 1,450 years" and blame higher Atlantic water temperatures, which they link to human-caused climate change, for the trend.

Comparison between reconstructed late-summer Arctic ice extent and other Arctic sea ice, climate and oceanic proxy records. a, 40-year smoothed reconstructed late-summer Arctic sea ice extent. b, Chukchi Sea ice cover. c, Fram Strait sea ice cover. d, Normalized IP25 flux in the BASICC-8 sediment core, a proxy for springtime sea ice occurrence in the western Barents Sea. f, Reconstructed Arctic surface air temperature anomalies. Caption and image adapted from Kinnard et al 2011. Click image to enlarge.

"These results reinforce the assertion that sea ice is an active component of Arctic climate variability and that the recent decrease in summer Arctic sea ice is consistent with anthropogenically forced warming," the authors write.

This year summer sea ice levels fell to the second-lowest extent since record-keeping began in 1979, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The lowest-ever extent occurred in 2007.

Predictions range widely, but many experts expect the Arctic to be free of sea ice entirely within a few decades. By almost all standards, however, sea ice is disappearing faster than expected, partly a consequence of a positive feedback loop triggered by retreating ice. Sea ice typically helps cool the Arctic by reflecting sunlight back into space. But when sea ice melts, the dark areas of open water absorb the sun's radiation, warming the region and worsening melting.

Environmentalists are concerned that the loss of summer sea ice could have dramatic implications for wildlife -- like polar bear and walrus -- that depend on pack ice for feeding.

The loss of sea ice is also driving more exploitative industries, such as gas and oil, into once untouchable regions; however burning the fossil fuels lying beneath the Arctic will only worsen climate change, and thereby exacerbate ice loss in the Arctic.

CITATION: Christophe Kinnard, Christian M. Zdanowicz, David A. Fisher, Elisabeth Isaksson, Anne de Vernal & Lonnie G. Thompson. Reconstructed changes in Arctic sea ice over the past 1,450 years. 24 November Nature Vol 479 509-512

Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2011/1124-sea_ice_record.html#ixzz1egityp18Recent arctic sea ice loss is 'unprecedented' over the past 1,450 years,... more

JanforGore
added this
3 months ago
|
6 comments

Climate change: vulnerable countries consider "occupying" Durban talks

Diplomats from some developing countries may "occupy" the UN climate... more

JanforGore
added this
3 months ago
|
1 comment

Will US start a war with Russia?

In the spirit of transparency, President Dmitry Medvedev has reiterated Moscow’s need for written guarantees that the US missile defense shield in Europe would not be targeted at Russian territory.
Medvedev was meeting with US President Obama on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in Honolulu, Hawaii.
On his way back from the summit, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke more about the situation. "It was said: if we are heard – and President Medvedev made a clear statement to Obama – we want to have some clear guarantees on paper.”
The Foreign Minister mentioned “problems with the Congress” as the reason for Washington’s foot-dragging on what should be a mere bureaucratic formality.
“If there are some problems with the Congress, as we are told – no one has ever tried to give us the guarantees," he said.
Although the Democrats have their man in the Oval Office, the Republicans continue to enjoy an unprecedented amount of influence in the Washington decision-making process.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, for example, who began his Washington career back in 1975 as Gerald Ford’s chief of staff, almost singlehandedly defeated Obama’s efforts to shutter Guantanamo Bay detention facility, a task that the president had promised to complete once in office. Four years on, the facility branded ‘the GULAG of our times’ by Amnesty International is still open for business.
Now, with the Democrats and Republicans hitting the trenches for next year’s presidential elections, Obama will be wary of giving the opposition any extra ammunition in what promises to be a political mud-fest.
Meanwhile, Medvedev, noting the mixed signals he is getting from Washington, announced that he would make a decisive statement on the issue soon.
"It is unclear to us what our partners are offering, and I think we will in the near future determine what we should do with the European missile defensive system," Medvedev said at a press conference after the APEC Summit. "I believe that in the near future I will have to give a complete assessment on how Russia is to react to the developing situation now, as well as after 2012.”
Although Medvedev lauded the achievements forged with Obama, he acknowledged that this particular area is proving thorny.
"In regard to the European missile defense system, the situation is much more difficult," he said.
Russia has expressed its staunch opposition to the deployment of a US missile defense system near its borders, claiming it would present a security threat. NATO and the United States argue that the shield would help defend Eastern Europe against a hypothetical missile attack from rogue countries, usually identified as Iran. The cost of this unproven security against such a threat, which many analysts say is dubious at best, could turn out to be nothing less than Russia’s friendship.
President Medvedev has warned of an imminent arms race unless the US and NATO find a way to cooperate with Moscow in the project.
“After 2020, if we do not come to terms, a real arms race will begin," the Russian leader warned in May at the G8 Summit in Deauville, France.
Most frustrating to Russian diplomats is that Moscow and NATO agreed to cooperate on the European missile shield during the NATO-Russia Council summit in Lisbon in November 2010. Later, however, NATO began to argue there should be two independent systems that exchange information. Russia favors a joint system with full-scale interoperability.
Meanwhile, the unfurling shield continues to encroach on Russia’s ‘near abroad’.
Bucharest announced in May that it had reached an agreement with Washington to deploy US missile interceptors at a defunct Soviet airbase on its territory. At this point, Moscow issued an urgent request for legal assurances from the United States that the system was not designed to target Russia's strategic nuclear forces.
Although such a simple gesture would do much to put Moscow at ease, Washington has so far declined to provide any written guarantees.
http://rt.com/politics/medvedev-obama-missile-defense-apec-269/In the spirit of transparency, President Dmitry Medvedev has reiterated Moscow’s... more

MotherForTruth
added this
3 months ago
|
10 comments

British media uses ‘puppy dog’ imagery to whitewash genocidal attack on Libya

After devastating Libya and partaking in the murder of an estimated 100,000 Libyan men, women and children, RAF pilots return home to their families in the UK. In a deeply obscene news update, the Daily Mail is literally using ‘puppy dog’ imagery to cynically whitewash the murderous war crimes that these British pilots have committed.

The article of November 1st, titled: ‘Overjoyed spaniel welcomes home her master as Libya Tornado crews return‘, contains heartwarming photos of an RAF pilot’s spaniel dog(1) being reunited with her master. The “touching scenes” include another RAF pilot’s three year-old son “looking on proudly“, dressed in his miniature RAF uniform.

In the report, RAF Wing Commander Andy Turk repeats the ‘no boots’ lie, “Because there were no British troops, it was very important that the RAF maintained our intelligence and surveillance“. This is one of the most notorious myths of the Libya war; not mentioned in the piece is the well-known fact that British SAS troops have been on the ground(2) in Libya, leading the ground war ever since February.(3)

What is perhaps even more sickening than this grotesque display of ‘puppy dog’ jingoism is the comments posted by Daily Mail readers. Comments included “Fantastic job done again guys and lovely pictures. Welcome home and well done,” and “My son worked round the clock at RAF Lossiemouth to keep those GR4 Tornadoes flying to Lybia, via Italy. Proud of you, son“. One reader even felt the need to voice how uplifting the story was: “Best story I’ve read all week. All the pics are great but the spaniel’s unbridled joy at seeing her loved one return is especially uplifting“.

This contemptuous piece of ‘journalism’ serves as a reminder of how emotion and opinion has been manipulated over the Libya war. Here, the utter criminality of NATO’s genocidal onslaught has been whitewashed by the heartwarming imagery of a pining puppy dog. These are heights of manipulation that this writer previously thought unreachable, even by the most cynically depraved minds.After devastating Libya and partaking in the murder of an estimated 100,000 Libyan... more