Smokin' Mirrors

Power Sourcing Japan's Race for Resources by Willhemina Wahlin and Kaoru Natsuda It's only natural that in light of the high level of consumption in the developed world in the last 100 years, something was going to have to give. Now, in an increasingly unstable world, where developing nations are quickly developing and developed nations are quietly panicking, governments are beginning to take the idea of resource security very seriously indeed. Japan, one of the world's most resource-poor countries, recently unveiled the New National Energy Strategy (NNES) - an aggressive plan to procure sources of energy to keep its economy humming. The Japanese will use their expertise in energy-efficient technology and such things as Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to exploit other countries' energy sources. But they must work quickly. Geopolitical lines are already being drawn in the sand. Japan may have to sacri

Anti-Social Insecurity If you haven’t taken a good look at the US government’s plan for social security, and you’re under 5 0, then you ought to. The White House website is a good place to start, but don’t get bogged down by the rhetor ic before you get to read between the lines. President Bush claims that he will listen to any good idea, save raising payroll taxes, to save the pension system. Well, if gove rnments really want to look at what will happen to people when they’re old, I make a great case study of what to expe ct. First of all, I’m Australian, and we have been under the grip of Superannuati on for almost as long as I have been working. However, back when Superannua tion was introduced, the majority of workers could still work under relatively fair labour law s – that is, if you worked over a certain amount of hours a week, there were regulations wh ich stipulated you had to be hired full-time, and all of the benefits that this ensured, such as sick days, holidays, and, so

Murder, if by any other name... A report released in August by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) bombing of Lebanon has pointed out what anyone with any common sense can conclude: that Israel is in violation of international humanitarian law. It is, in its most basic form, strong evidence for the United Nations to pick up the pace in calling for an immediate ceasefire. More Pic above: A crushed Beirut (BBC News). This story was originally published for Smokin' Mirrors weekly political column in The Cheers Magazine, published every Friday at: http://www.thecheers.org

Hollywood in La La Land In a joint statement made in an advertisement in the LA Times this week, some of Hollywood's most powerful actors, producers, directors, studio bosses and media moguls condemned terrorism. Why don't we call terrorism what it is - the new red menace - and then we'll all know we're back in the throws of Mc Carthyism and be done. More Pic: Niciole Kidman presents the Humanitarian Award to Rupert Murdoch...somewhere, someone is laughing very hard. This Story was originally published for The Cheers Magazine's Political Column. The Smokin' Mirrors political column is published every Friday at http://www.thecheers.org