Fig 1: Methane emissions from Arctic Sea Floor and Arctic Albedo

All the worry about Global Warming has tended to focus on carbon dioxide emissions but the real threat may be methane emissions.... In the past 5 years there have been major changes happening up in the Arctic. The annual summer melt of the sea ice floating on the Arctic Ocean has greatly increased, exposing a much larger area to heating during the summer months which in turn has warmed the ocean enough that the frozen methane hydrates on and below the seabed are beginning to melt, causing methane gas to bubble to the surface. The trouble is methane is up to 100 times (over initial 20 year period of release) more effective than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and the estimated quantity of methane hydrates suggests the amount of carbon contained in them exceeds all the coal, oil and gas burned so far. And should the tundra melt in Siberia then the huge area of peatland will resume decomposing thereby emitting a very large quantity of carbon dioxide. This scenario would take us past extinction danger point which is reckoned for a rise of 6^oCelsius or more would be close to certainty.

Related Indy Links: Study: Arctic sea ice decline may be driving snowy winters seen in recent years | Arctic Sea Ice Shrinking At 'Unprecedented' Levels | Special issue on the Arctic: After the ice | Arctic sea routes open as ice melts | Arctic Turning into a Sea of Foaming Methane. Positive Feedback has kicked in |
Arctic May be Ice-Free in Summer of 2070 -This is from 2004 and shows how quickly events have moved on.
See more links at end of story

Hugo Chávez. RIP.

The Commandante is dead but the Revolution continues. If there is an afterlife then Chavez is in Valhalla.

He wrote, he read, and mostly he spoke. Hugo Chávez, whose death has been announced, was devoted to the word. He spoke publicly an average of 40 hours per week. As president, he didn't hold regular cabinet meetings; he'd bring the many to a weekly meeting, broadcast live on radio and television. Aló, Presidente, the programme in which policies were outlined and discussed, had no time limits, no script and no teleprompter. One session included an open discussion of healthcare in the slums of Caracas, rap, a self-critical examination of Venezuelans being accustomed to the politics of oil money and expecting the president to be a magician, a friendly exchange with a delegation from Nicaragua and a less friendly one with a foreign journalist.

External Links: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (a.k.a. Chavez: Inside the Coup) is a 2002 documentary about the April 2002 Venezuelan coup attempt which briefly deposed Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. A television crew from Ireland’s Radio Telifís Éireann happened to be recording a documentary about Chávez during the events of April 11, 2002.
Related Indy Links: US$100 million for the head of President Hugo Chavez Frias - and some other stories. | Fears Of Second Coup Against Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez | Chavez and the Grassy Knoll + Catch 22 is dead long live . . . | Chavez had advance warning of coup [Greg Palast, The Guardian] | Hugo Chavez Declared President of America | Liberal press asleep ( on Coup to Oust Chavez ) | Director's Cut, Chavez - Inside the Coup, Galway | Amnesty forced to withdraw Chavez Documentary amid threats of violence | Chavez wins referendum | Chavez calls for democracy at work | US Man of God calls for assassination of Chavez | Chavez addresses the UN | US planning invasion, says Chavez | Rumsfeld says Chavez is like Adolf Hitler | A specter is haunting the North American Empire... the specter of Chavez! | Inside the revolution - former Chavez minister speakes GALWAY | Chavez gets go ahead to join Arab League at last. | Bush Admin Funneling Millions Into Chavez Opposition Groups | Hugo Chavez : "Yesterday, the devil came to the UN, and today, it still smells of sulfur and Bush" | Hugo Chavez has won his second term as President | Honduras: Anti-Chavez free speech warriors linked to coup | Chavez Appoints a Successor as his Cancer Returns

The long arm of the bond-holders

Press statement - Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes (CAHWT) 11 Feb 2013
Eyewitness reports of Garda violence at South Dublin County Council

19 year old protester hospitalised: plainclothes Garda ‘smashed my head on wall’

Campaigners against the property tax – who staged one of a number of peaceful protests at Councils today – have questioned why Gardai at South Dublin County Council used brutal and unnecessary force against them, including some plain clothes Gardai. Cannisters of pepper spray were also waved at locals who were manhandled and handcuffed. One is currently being kept in Tallaght Hospital for observation of his injuries.

Aaron Nolan (aged 19, now in hospital):
“I was standing in front of Shane Donnelly when one of the uniformed police pulled me to the ground. I stood up and tried to get in front of Shane again. A stocky man, with a light blue hoody, who I thought was one of the protesters, grabbed me and pushed me against the wall. He then grabbed my head with his two hands and smashed my head against the wall. I fell on the ground and when I was on the ground, he choked me with his two hands. I was dazed and unable to stand as he handcuffed me.”

Embedded Video Description: Video Id: aaDHIQ6E44E Type: Youtube Video
Arrests in South Dublin County Council of peaceful protesters

Art - a Composite of Van Gogh's 'Exercise Yard'
& Munch's 'Scream' by Prisoner Mick Connors.

ED NOTE: Niall Harnett 2013 [R.I.P]. I have pinned Niall Harnett's feature article as a tribute to a great activist and a great person. You will be sorely missed Niall!


Related Links: Shell to Sea: Day of Solidarity | Shell, IRMS & Gardaí move into Glengad | Shell's tunnelling compound shut down for the day | Shell to Sea: Day of Solidarity | A busy time up in co. Mayo | Open letter to Minister Pat Rabbitte concerning hydraulic gas fracturing ("fracking") in Ireland | Day of Solidarity in Mayo | Shell's tree cutting disrupted for second day running | Scaling tree cutters and trees to halt Corrib pipeline works | First Shell blocking of the New Year | Friday the 13th day of solidarity- Mayo | Court Report On “rape-tape” Sergeant Being Awarded €33,0000 | Shell and the other oil companies: serial killers | The Release & Homecoming of Pat 'The Chief' O'Donnell - Photo Essay | Maura Harrington, opponent of Shell, jailed | The Jailing of Niall Harnett | Prosecutions of Shell to Sea campaigners collapse | Human Rights questions being asked in Mayo courts | "Do you have a house, do you have a car? You should think about your wife and family.....” | Jeff Leurs | Bradley manning

Where we are on the 40th anniversary of joining the EEC.

This is part one of a two part series and the second article can be found here

The Political Basis of the EU:

All States and aspiring States have their myths of origin. The myth of origin of the EU is that it is a peace project to prevent wars between Germany and France - as if a tendency to go to war is somehow genetically inherited.

The actual facts are however that the first step towards supranational economic integration, the European Coal and Steel Community of 1951, was to facilitate German rearmament at the start of the Cold War with Russia and to reconcile France to that fact. The US wanted a rearmed West Germany inside NATO. This greatly alarmed France which had been occupied by Germany just a few years before.