Alexandra Morton cruises Nootka Sound
Alexandra Morton, Independent Biologist and Mudville Hero
i have to admit i'm prejudiced. Alexandra Morton has been a hero of mine for many moons. Morton, founder of the Raincoast Research Society, makes her home in Echo Bay - a community without roads, electricity or stores where she's lived there for decades. Alexandra is a world famous scientist who rejects the fame and fortune that could be hers in other settings preferring to dedicate her life to saving the wild salmon of BC's west coast from the capitalist machine that is destroying the web of life that supports us all.
In the spring of 2010, Morton helped found the social movement Salmon Are Sacred to make people aware of the value of salmon to society. Her latest thrust has been to first investigate the many letters and emails she's received about the dying salmon in Grieg Seafood's farms in the beautiful Nootka Sound, Gold River region of British Columbia. Yesterday, after visiting the area and seeing what's going on there for herself, she wrote a moving and well documented letter to Morton Vike, CEO Grieg Seafood in Bergen, Norway. [full letter and pictures here].
As the Salmon are Sacred website says, "Wherever salmon feedlots operate worldwide they kill wild salmon, because they break the natural laws that control disease. This 92% Norwegian-owned industry uses the BC coast as a dumpsite, spreading devastating diseases and parasites to the wild environment. These companies are driven by shareholder obligation to grow relentlessly and will never be satisfied, removing more food from the ocean than they make and rapidly mechanizing to reduce jobs. We can no longer accept this business as reasonable."
The Mainstream Media Gagging on the U.S.State Department's Propaganda
Yesterday the U.S. State Department's spokesperson Marie Harf held a briefing [full transcript here] that was remarkable, not because of its content or because the State Department refused to disclose any proof backing up their allegations. But it was the fact that the MSM questioners had the cajones to stand up on their hind legs and call out Ms. Harf and demand proof [pertinent Q/A exchange mid-page here].
Amazing eh. A person can almost hear the derision in the questioner's voice, the shock in Harf's non-answers. Gives a person hope that the kids and grand kids might get to live in a world not controlled by the Empire one day.
Argentine Government "Choosing" to Default
NEW YORK, July 24 (Reuters) - NML Capital Ltd, one of the lead holdout creditors in Argentina's sovereign bond dispute said on Thursday the government refused to negotiate through a mediator and was all but preparing to default on already restructured debt
This is, IMO, the best news in a long time. It takes a bit of reading to understand why fully but basically Argentina defaulted in 2002 on loans taken out by the previous Military Junta from the IMF/World Bank [to buy tanks, jets and mansions for themselves ]and the hedge funds who bought the bonds the generals sold to skate their way through the interest payments required. The 'capital markets' cut Argentina off, their bonds plummeted to junk status. Most bond holders sold their bonds at cut rates and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez bought them. Chavez then bartered oil for food with Argentina and over the next decade those bonds rose in value. Chavez sold, Venezuela made beaucoup bucks and the Yanquis hated him even more. The remaining bonds that the hedge funds hung onto [mostly 'cause they were un-saleable] also rose due to the Chavez deal but nowhere near to the price the vultures had paid originally.
Since 2012 the vultures have been suing Argentina in the U.S. courts demanding full repayment. Last month SCOTUS ruled [surprise, surprise] in the vulture's favor. Here's where it gets interesting. About two weeks later Putin arrives in Argentina and invites them to join in at the BRICS meeting in Brazil after the World Cup Final where BRICS announces the formation of a new worldwide investment bank designed to compete with the IMF/World Bank/Wall St. vultures.
Argentina probably wasn't going to comply with SCOTUS but they would have had to negotiate some sorta deal with the vultures or risk much of the progress they've made since the generals got 'the boot'. Now though Argentina can give the vultures the finger they deserve.Argentina can and will wait until Aug. 1st then announce that they will be the BRICS Bank's first customer. WAHOO
One last note: Hedge funds are supposed to be, in theory anyway, like going to Las Vegas, a gamble. Like Vegas, there's supposed to be winners and losers. But the vultures don't like the theory, they think they're supposed to win every time automatically. NML Capital Ltd and the rest of the scumbags deserve the taste of loss that most of us taste everyday.
Unable to Continue the Unbridled Fleecing of Ukrainians, Our Man Yats Resigns
Well, here's a few options for Ukraine: Fuck the IMF/EU/US cabal. Start representing the people of Ukraine not the oligarchs and bankers. Stop the ridiculous 'pacification' of Eastern Ukraine demanded as part of the IMF/EU/US conditionality underlying the noose they lent you. Start the process of developing the rich natural resources your country has been blessed with for the good of 'all' Ukrainians.
