RamRage

The story of my fight for the good of the planet and all on it...

Thursday, November 17, 2005

The conflict continues...

Not ranted on here for a while, so I thought I'd take a leaf out of 'The Circus's book and update on news stories which are important. For further information on such things if you want to find them out yourself, follow the links on the sidebar :)

At the time Tilley wrote it (1989) it was estimated that the amount the world spends on armaments was roughly a Billion dollars a day. Not that the statistic means much but 1 week's worth could give everyone in the whole world clean drinking water and cure diseases to which we have a cure.

The Military industry is booming. From Corpwatch:

"The most controversial group in the industry are those personnel who are
armed or provide more front-line services. They usually, but not always,
work for private companies hired by governments, non-government agencies or
corporations, to protect either people or installations.

The critics of the industry see these troops as mercenaries, with the
definition of that word being a soldier who fights, or engages in warfare
primarily for private gain, usually with little regard for ideological,
national or political considerations.

The corporate troops are indeed well-paid. But they argue since they are
working for legitimate governments and lawful companies and in support of
primarily western nations, such as the U.S., then they can't be classified
as mercenaries. As well, they argue that in places like Iraq they don't
conduct offensive operations. Once known as private military companies,
those in the business have been pushing a new term: "private security
company."

"I have called these security companies a process of legalizing
mercenaries," says retired general Senator Romeo Dallaire. "Unless they can
be held accountable to the ethos of a liberal democracy military force they
are nothing more than contracted hired guns."

So wait, corporations employ basically mercenaries to guard their interests. These are not militarily trained people, nor are their actions governed by any code of conduct. Do you see how I now find it even harder NOT to believe that Coca-Cola finance paramilitary action against union leaders.

But as always, there is hope in other sectors. From UCL:

"The UK’s upland lakes and streams are beginning to show signs of significant recovery from the effects of acid rain, claims a report published by DEFRA today. The new research from the UK Acid Waters Monitoring Network (AWMN) led by a team from UCL, shows that the amount of acidic sulphur in UK waters has generally halved in the last 15 years, resulting in the return of many species of flora and fauna.

The ongoing project was commissioned by the Department of Environment in 1987 after the government agreed that sulphur emissions were responsible for ecological damage in the Upland regions of the UK. New environmental controls were then introduced and 22 UK lake and stream sites were identified and have been monitored ever since for their chemistry and biology, but it is only since 1995 that the scientists have begun to see a reduction in acidity and the start of an ecological recovery.

“Our results show a massive reduction in sulphur in the water. The concentrations have more or less halved since we first started monitoring. Very little happened in the first few years, but after 1995 levels started dropping rapidly. This change coincided with the introduction of new sulphur scrubbing technology fitted to two major English power stations, and it is likely that the two are linked”, explains lead scientist Don Monteith (ECRC)."

I hope it's not too little, too late.

Ram.