The facts are in and the devastation is evident, there is no returning to the old days of petroleum.
When Henry Ford produced his first autos he knew there were significant carbon dioxide emissions from the oil used to power them. He stated then, Earth has limits to these emissions and in the future, the emissions would have to stop.
It is called a conscience. Currently, the USA government thinks pandering to the one percent is going to solve all the problems because of course, they have a conscience. I am not impressed by the conscience currently shown by Wall Street.
The facts lead to conclusions that are firm in their resolve. The people of the world are focused on ending the climate crisis and the next president of the USA needs to be resolved to do the same.
There is a way forward and we all must follow it.
Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform
Preamble (click here)
This Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom. We recognise that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. All countries and all stakeholders, acting in collaborative partnership, will implement this plan. We are resolved to free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet. We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path. As we embark on this collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets which we are announcing today demonstrate the scale and ambition of this new universal Agenda. They seek to build on the Millennium Development Goals and complete what these did not achieve. They seek to realize the human rights of all and to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. They are integrated and indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental.
The Goals and targets will stimulate action over the next fifteen years in areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet:...
Sunday, September 23, 2018
25-06-2018
Climate change challenges many countries (click here) in the world and is increasingly affecting small countries. Ministers and other high-level public health officials from the 8 countries that make up the Small Countries Initiative will gather in Reykjavik on 26–27 June to find solutions that can protect their people’s health from this and other threats. Enhanced efforts will contribute to reaching the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This is the 5th annual meeting of the Initiative since it was launched in 2013....
...About the Small Countries Initiative
WHO/Europe launched the Small Countries Initiative in 2013. It brings together the Member States of the WHO European Region with a population of less than 1 million and serves as a platform for sharing knowledge and experience on implementing Health 2020 and the SDGs. The 8 members of the Initiative are: Andorra, Cyprus, Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro and San Marino. The members host annual high-level meetings on a rotational basis.
The Initiative encompasses 2 subnetworks: the Small Countries Health Information Network (SCHIN), which addresses the specific challenges in health information systems and reporting; and the network of communication professionals/journalists, which focuses on communicating the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and media reporting on health.
The new California goal is full carbon neutrality as the 5th largest economy in the world. If it can be done there is no excuse by others.
By David Roberts
Kevin de León, probably responsible for more enacted climate policy than any other single legislator.
California Gov. Jerry Brown (click here) kicked off a week full of climate change news with an announcement, and boy was it a doozy: at once surprising, strange, and stunning. It was so out of left field and yet so profound in its implications that few in the media, or even in California, seem to have fully absorbed it yet.
To explain, we must begin with a little backstory.
This week, from September 12 to 14, the Global Climate Action Summit will take over San Francisco. The big climate shindig — three days of meetings, exhibitions, and glad-handing with big names in climate policy from around the world — will, among other things, serve as a kind of capstone celebration of Brown’s climate legacy.
Brown had hoped to begin the week by signing a high-profile package of energy bills. The one he most wanted to sign, into which he had poured the most political capital, was a bill that would link California’s energy grid to a larger Western power market. The one for which he had shown the least enthusiasm, into which he had put the least capital, was a bill that would commit California to 100 percent use of zero-carbon electricity by 2045.
The latter bill, shepherded by state Sen. Kevin de León, passed the legislature. The former bill did not. Initially there were rumors that Brown was threatening to veto de Leon’s bill if the regionalization bill wasn’t also passed in a special session, but that was probably a bluff, and so on Monday, more or less as expected, Brown signed the bill, SB 100, into law....
Prince Albert II, "A clearly stated action to combat climate change and to ensure energy security for the country."
Prince Albert II of Monaco (click here) and famed oceanographer Walter Munk speak about climate change, Oct. 26, 2017.
At the initiative of H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince, (click here) the Government actions a decisive sustainable development policy aimed at achieving full compliance with the Principality's undertakings, in particular with the Kyoto Protocol. This intention is expressed through local initiatives on Monegasque territory and through cooperation work in developing countries.
In line with the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol, Monaco has set itself the target of improving energy efficiency by 20% and achieving 20% of final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020.
To this end, the deployment of the Climate and Energy Plan includes technical, regulatory, financial and awareness-raising campaigns.
The objective of the Climate and Energy Plan is to combat climate change and adapt the territory to these changes, with an approach based on sustainable development. The aim is to build a territory that is resilient, robust and adapted, to the benefit of the population and its businesses.
Carbon neutral by 2050
During His participation at the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2009 in Copenhagen, H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince unveiled new directions for the Principality.
Monaco will take part in efforts to stabilise the global warming of the planet by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% in 2020 and 80% in 2050 (by which time the Principality will be carbon neutral) with respect to the reference date of 1990.
In 2015, as part of the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference, the Principality announced an interim target of reducing greenhouse gases by 50% by 2030 compared to 1990.
Four people injured in Arkansas twister.
By Mike Bunge
Minneapolis — A potent spring storm system (click here) that's expected to persist through the weekend raked across the Midwest, spawning at least one tornado in Arkansas as blizzard conditions blanketed much of the Northern Plains.
A tornado ripped through the tiny Ozark Mountain town of Mountainburg, Arkansas, injuring at least four people and causing widespread damage Friday afternoon.
Crawford County Emergency Management Director Brad Thomas said there were at least three entrapments following the twister. He said he did not know the condition of the four people hospitalized.
Video from the scene showed uprooted trees, overturned cars, damaged buildings and downed power lines.
The huge storm, packing enough energy to cause widespread disruption, isn't unprecedented for April, said Jake Beitlich, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
"We do get pretty powerful systems coming throughout the Midwest, and on the cold side we do get snow. And this one is particularly strong. So we do have a lot of moisture with it, and a lot of energy," Beitlich said. "Over the next 24 hours cold air is going to get wrapped into this system and we're going to see a band of heavy snow develop from southwestern Minnesota through northern Wisconsin. Also we're going to have really strong winds, especially in western Minnesota."
Blizzard warnings stretched from northern Kansas across most of Nebraska and South Dakota into southwestern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa, with winter storm warnings and watches covering most of the rest of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Heavy snow already blanketed parts of western Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota by early afternoon Friday, closing major highways in South Dakota and many roads and highways in western Nebraska — including a 200-mile stretch of cross-country thoroughfare Interstate 80 from North Platte west to the Wyoming border.
A road conditions report said most roads in the Nebraska Panhandle to east of Valentine in the northern part of the state were impassable because of heavy snow cover.....
...In South Dakota, where a blizzard warning covered much of the state, authorities issued no-travel advisories for many highways and closed much of Interstate 90 in the western half of the state. Gov. Dennis Daugaard closed state government offices in 32 counties ahead the approaching blizzard. Dozens of school districts canceled classes ahead of snow accumulation expected to reach as much as 18 inches in some areas. Rapid City had already received 5.5 inches by 10 a.m.
Dangerous fire weather conditions in Oklahoma contributed to wildfires that forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes near Woodward, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma City. Emergency crews in western Texas were also battling wildfires amid forecasts of extreme fire danger....
Some of the language in the video may be objectionable. Folks really need to be reminded of the danger they face with these storms.
Monacco
Monaco has a 2018 population of 38,897 according to the latest estimates from the UN's World Population Prospects.
| 2018 Population Rank | 214 |
| 2018 Growth Rate | 0.52% |
| Density | 19255.94/km² |
| Area | 2.02 km² |
| Capital City | Monaco |
| Region | Europe |
| Subregion | Western Europe |
The latest value for GDP per capita (current US$) in Monaco was $162,010 as of 2011. Over the past 41 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between $192,989 in 2008 and $12,480 in 1970.
Definition: GDP per capita is gross domestic product divided by midyear population. GDP is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for depletion and degradation of natural resources. Data are in current U.S. dollars.
Source: World Bank national accounts data, and OECD National Accounts data files.
Trends
The fossil-fuel CO2 emissions history of France is striking in that emissions have declined since 1979. France's emissions since 1979 reflect modest decline in petroleum use and marked decline in coal use. Fossil-fuel CO2 emissions in 1950 were 82% from coal. By 2008, only 13.0% of emissions were from coal consumption. Carbon dioxide emissions from petroleum products have declined 33% since 1979 but still account for 59.9% of France's 103 million metric tons of carbon released due to fossil-fuel combustion and cement production for 2008. France continues to increase use of natural gas. In 2008, CO2 emissions from natural gas consumption are estimated at 25 million metric tons of carbon or 27.9% of France's total emissions. France made a major commitment to nuclear power, and nuclear power generation grew rapidly from ca. 1975 until it contributed 76% of total electricity generation in 1987. France is a net exporter of electricity. Extensive use of nuclear power has clearly curtailed fossil fuel-related CO2emissions from France. Per capita emissions have declined steadily since the 1970s to present levels near 1.7 metric tons per French person.
I was outdoors when this hit. I immediately ran for the Jeep.
The rain sounded like a river. If anyone knows how well insulated Jeeps are, it is easy to understand the intensity of this storm. I could hear the rain falling around me and on the roof of the Jeep and it sounded like a river was flowing past me. I was in higher elevation than the surrounding area so I knew the water would not accumulate, but, I have to question if the torrent of rain could actually build up enough to cause flooding that would dissipate rather quickly. I was concerned about many things as this storm transpired. I was grateful when the severe front passed by (It was discernible on radar. Yes, I could still receive NOAA radar on their app. Amazing), but, there was still rain. If I was on lower ground it would have flooded.
I do not recommend being out and about in these storms. They are too unpredictable.
August 28, 2018
By Mark Torregrossa
A line of severe (click here) thunderstorms is expected to develop in Wisconsin this afternoon and move across Lower Michigan this evening and tonight. You may have heard this type of severe weather called "straight-line" winds. In the case of tonight, the severe weather could be an altered form of straight-line winds we meteorologists call a QLCS, or Quasi-Linear Convective System. It might be a new term for you.
The difference is a QLCS can often form brief tornadoes along the line of storms. Typically a straight-line wind event won't have any tornadoes....
...These isolated brief tornadoes that form in a QLCS are not photogenic. In fact, they aren't visible. You won't be able to stand out on your porch and watch a tornado. First off, if they happen tonight, it will be 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. and dark. But the tornadoes are also rain-wrapped. What you experience is a two-phase severe weather event. You would be hit by a strong gust of wind as the thunderstorm starts. Then the rain really picks up and the wind intensifies. Finally the wind driven rain is blowing horizontal and coming from various directions. It's a short lasting event, only a minute or two....
Monaco is a great country. Their recognition of the climate crisis proves they realize the place where people need to direct their attention.
Principality of Monaco national contribution
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
- 29 July 2015 -
1. Preamble (click here)
The Principality of Monaco is a city state of 203 hectares. Its diversified economy is based primarily on services, construction, tourism and the banking sector. It is an enclave of France, located 10 kilometres from the Italian border.
The topography of the Principality comprises a mountainous cirque dropping down to the Mediterranean Sea. The country’s entire territory is urbanised, and forms the centre of an economic urban area which also includes neighbouring French towns.
The resident population is 37,000, while a further 40,000 people cross the border every day to work in the Principality.
Since his accession in 2005, H.S.H. Prince Albert II has made protecting the environment a priority of his Government’s policy, at both the national and international levels.
The Principality of Monaco ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on 20 November 1992 and the Kyoto Protocol on 27 February 2006.
Having signed up to Annex 1 of the Convention with a commitment to reduce emissions by 8% compared with 1990 during the first period of the Kyoto Protocol, the Principality has fulfilled its obligations, reducing emissions by 13.18% compared with 1990.
Monaco continued its commitment by agreeing to the Doha Amendment on 27 December 2013. The country’s target for the second period of the Kyoto Protocol is to reduce emissions by 22% on average over the period 2013–2020.
At the Climate Summit convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 23 September 2014, H.S.H. Prince Albert II recalled the target that the Principality of Monaco set itself to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020 and 80% by 2050, compared with the reference year, while achieving carbon neutrality by that date.
Aware that the challenge of reducing emissions is very much a collective one, the Principality of Monaco would like to offer its full support to the joint effort. The country’s hope is that through the commitment of all Parties, it will be possible to achieve the target consistent with restricting the average rise in global temperatures to less than 2°C compared with pre-industrial levels, and if possible, to less than 1.5°C.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
- 29 July 2015 -
1. Preamble (click here)
The Principality of Monaco is a city state of 203 hectares. Its diversified economy is based primarily on services, construction, tourism and the banking sector. It is an enclave of France, located 10 kilometres from the Italian border.
The topography of the Principality comprises a mountainous cirque dropping down to the Mediterranean Sea. The country’s entire territory is urbanised, and forms the centre of an economic urban area which also includes neighbouring French towns.
The resident population is 37,000, while a further 40,000 people cross the border every day to work in the Principality.
Since his accession in 2005, H.S.H. Prince Albert II has made protecting the environment a priority of his Government’s policy, at both the national and international levels.
The Principality of Monaco ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on 20 November 1992 and the Kyoto Protocol on 27 February 2006.
Having signed up to Annex 1 of the Convention with a commitment to reduce emissions by 8% compared with 1990 during the first period of the Kyoto Protocol, the Principality has fulfilled its obligations, reducing emissions by 13.18% compared with 1990.
Monaco continued its commitment by agreeing to the Doha Amendment on 27 December 2013. The country’s target for the second period of the Kyoto Protocol is to reduce emissions by 22% on average over the period 2013–2020.
At the Climate Summit convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 23 September 2014, H.S.H. Prince Albert II recalled the target that the Principality of Monaco set itself to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020 and 80% by 2050, compared with the reference year, while achieving carbon neutrality by that date.
Aware that the challenge of reducing emissions is very much a collective one, the Principality of Monaco would like to offer its full support to the joint effort. The country’s hope is that through the commitment of all Parties, it will be possible to achieve the target consistent with restricting the average rise in global temperatures to less than 2°C compared with pre-industrial levels, and if possible, to less than 1.5°C.
Superpod Of Common Dolphins In Monterey Bay (click here for article - thank you)
This is sort of old news, but, interesting. The park is opening in Hawaii again. At the time this video was taken by the Aquarium, there had been a seismic event in Hawaii. I have to wonder if the seismic activity of Hawaii is causing this mass migration to California.
September 9, 2018
On Saturday, Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater experienced a series of small collapses (click here) which produced episodes of visible brown plume throughout the day.
The plumes were most prominent at about 10:30 a.m. HST, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports (the activity was also reported across social media). The collapses generated “small tilt offsets and seismic energy recorded by nearby geophysical instruments,” the scientists say, although the events “had no discernible effect on other parts of the rift, though we will continue to monitor for longer-term changes.”
Puʻu ʻŌʻō is located on the middle East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano between the summit and the lower East Rift Zone where recent fissure eruptions destroyed over 700 homes. The Puʻu ʻŌʻō vent has been quiet ever since a huge collapse occurred at the end of April and lava evacuated downrift, preceding the May 3 eruption in Leilani Estates....
September 9, 2018
On Saturday, Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater experienced a series of small collapses (click here) which produced episodes of visible brown plume throughout the day.
The plumes were most prominent at about 10:30 a.m. HST, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports (the activity was also reported across social media). The collapses generated “small tilt offsets and seismic energy recorded by nearby geophysical instruments,” the scientists say, although the events “had no discernible effect on other parts of the rift, though we will continue to monitor for longer-term changes.”
Puʻu ʻŌʻō is located on the middle East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano between the summit and the lower East Rift Zone where recent fissure eruptions destroyed over 700 homes. The Puʻu ʻŌʻō vent has been quiet ever since a huge collapse occurred at the end of April and lava evacuated downrift, preceding the May 3 eruption in Leilani Estates....
By Tony Davis
...With her startup, (click here) Terre de Monaco, Jessica Sbaraglia aims to transform the roofs, terraces and balconies of Monte Carlo into as many organic fruit and vegetable plantations. Monaco, on the two km2 of the principality, this micro-state is one of the densest urban areas in the world: only a few hundred square meters of gardens, squares and roundabouts have escaped the stone and concrete, but the flat roofs have several thousand m2: an ideal surface for bins and planters to grow raspberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, radishes, herbs, beans, chickpeas and other rarer or older varieties .. The whole concept has been designed with a priority given to ecology, and even the bins come from certified forest woods.
"Try this," suggests Jessica Sbaraglia, (click here) a thirtysomething ex-model who single-handedly controls a wealthy European nation's entire agricultural sector.I tentatively put the bright purple flower to my lips. It's from a plant from South Africa and tastes like garlic. Sbaraglia points to several rows of other edible flowers. Around us there are also 30 types of tomato and an array of vegetables, neatly arranged in 50 centimetres of soil – on the roof of the Monte-Carlo Bay Casino.
Sbaraglia controls all of Monaco's farming because until she set to work with her bucket and trowel two years ago, no one thought it worth growing food on the world's most expensive land. She studied Google Maps' satellite view to locate the few flat spaces in the tiny principality that were not in use, and then set about changing that situation. This site is 400 square metres; other plots on private land cover a further 1100 square metres.
The overall impact of this hyper-local, all-organic approach is minuscule. "We take five months to grow tomatoes. In the commercial sector, they take six weeks," says Sbaraglia, yet her Terre de Monaco company is part of something much bigger. This tiny tax haven on the Mediterranean, the world's second-smallest country (behind Vatican City) and probably the richest city-state in history, wants to be the greenest place on earth....
A new finding for soils.
Abstract
01 August 2018
Nature 560, 233-237 (2018)
Authors - Mohammad Bahram,
Falk Hildebrand,
Sofia K. Forslund,
Jennifer L. Anderson,
Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia,
Peter M. Bodegom,
Johan Bengtsson-Palme,
Sten Anslan,
Luis Pedro Coelho,
Helery Harend,
Jaime Huerta-Cepas,
Marnix H. Medema,
Mia R. Maltz,
Sunil Mundra,
Pål Axel Olsson,
Mari Pent,
Sergei Põlme,
Shinichi Sunagawa,
Martin Ryberg,
Leho Tedersoo &
Peer Bork
"Structure and function of the global topsoil microbiome" (click here)
Soils harbour some of the most diverse microbiomes on Earth and are essential for both nutrient cycling and carbon storage. To understand soil functioning, it is necessary to model the global distribution patterns and functional gene repertoires of soil microorganisms, as well as the biotic and environmental associations between the diversity and structure of both bacterial and fungal soil communities. Here we show, by leveraging metagenomics and metabarcoding of global topsoil samples (189 sites, 7,560 subsamples), that bacterial, but not fungal, genetic diversity is highest in temperate habitats and that microbial gene composition varies more strongly with environmental variables than with geographic distance. We demonstrate that fungi and bacteria show global niche differentiation that is associated with contrasting diversity responses to precipitation and soil pH. Furthermore, we provide evidence for strong bacterial–fungal antagonism, inferred from antibiotic-resistance genes, in topsoil and ocean habitats, indicating the substantial role of biotic interactions in shaping microbial communities. Our results suggest that both competition and environmental filtering affect the abundance, composition and encoded gene functions of bacterial and fungal communities, indicating that the relative contributions of these microorganisms to global nutrient cycling varies spatially.
01 August 2018
Nature 560, 233-237 (2018)
"Structure and function of the global topsoil microbiome" (click here)
Soils harbour some of the most diverse microbiomes on Earth and are essential for both nutrient cycling and carbon storage. To understand soil functioning, it is necessary to model the global distribution patterns and functional gene repertoires of soil microorganisms, as well as the biotic and environmental associations between the diversity and structure of both bacterial and fungal soil communities. Here we show, by leveraging metagenomics and metabarcoding of global topsoil samples (189 sites, 7,560 subsamples), that bacterial, but not fungal, genetic diversity is highest in temperate habitats and that microbial gene composition varies more strongly with environmental variables than with geographic distance. We demonstrate that fungi and bacteria show global niche differentiation that is associated with contrasting diversity responses to precipitation and soil pH. Furthermore, we provide evidence for strong bacterial–fungal antagonism, inferred from antibiotic-resistance genes, in topsoil and ocean habitats, indicating the substantial role of biotic interactions in shaping microbial communities. Our results suggest that both competition and environmental filtering affect the abundance, composition and encoded gene functions of bacterial and fungal communities, indicating that the relative contributions of these microorganisms to global nutrient cycling varies spatially.
By Josh Lew
...Green-minded travelers (click here) who want to cross this famous city-state off their wish list can find enough eco-friendliness to create a low-impact itinerary. Monaco is also ideal for tourists whose idea of a perfect vacation is wandering by foot from upscale neighborhoods like Monte Carlo to Old World streets like those found in the Monaco Ville district to the rural landscapes and historic villages on the French side of the border....
...Go green
Driving is not advisable in Monaco. Sure, you'd love to rent a two-seater and take on the winding, hilly roads of the Cote d'Azur, but parking in Monaco is difficult. Since it covers such a small area, the principality can be negotiated easily on foot. Changes in elevation pose some issues for pedestrians who want to avoid strenuous walks. However, Monaco's public escalators and elevators , placed in especially steep high-traffic areas, can make it easier to arrive at your destination without breaking a sweat....
Sleep green
Some of the largest, most glamorous hotels in Monaco are making strides toward sustainability. The Hotel Metropole and Fairmont Monte Carlo have both launchedsustainability programs aimed at conserving water and energy. The Fairmont aids organizations and groups in making their conferences and events greener. The Metropole has a Green Committee made up of hotel employees who devise and implement energy-, water- and waste-reduction strategies. Another high-end property, Le Meridian Monte Carlo, has taken steps to make the environment as important as luxury. Guests have the option of reusing linens, and energy saving measures such as not turning on television and lighting before a guest arrives, have given this notoriously luxurious property a greener tint....
...Eat green
It is possible to get your ingredients very close to the source in Monaco at markets. The Marche de Monte Carlo and Marche de la Condamine are open daily and have stalls selling fresh produce, bakery, deli and dairy products....
...See green
Monaco's showcase museum is the Oceanographic Museum. Perched on a hilltop in Monaco's Old Town, overlooking the Mediterranean, it has been in operation for a century and enjoyed a long association with famed ocean explorer and conservationist Jacques Cousteau. The museum features marine history and includes skeletons and artifacts from the sea. A huge on-site aquarium houses everything from seahorses and starfish to sharks, manta rays and squid....
April 5, 2018
Leave it to Monaco to defy Formula 1. (click here)
In a statement issued on Thursday to F1i.com, Michel Boeri, president of the Automobile Club de Monaco, said so-called “grid girls” will be present on the starting line during the Monaco Grand Prix next month, apparently the result of a deal.
The announcement came in direct opposition to F1 parent company Liberty Media Corp., which announced last year that it would abolish the practice of using young female hostesses during F1 events.
“We’ve had no problems with Liberty Media, except for the grid-girl issue,” said Boeri. “They’re pretty, and the cameras will be on them once again.”
News of the initial “no-grid-girl” ruling had caused deep divisions among spectators and enthusiasts. Some saw it as long overdue in a dated, dying sport that objectifies and commoditizes women, while others considered it a knee-jerk reaction to appease draconian standards of political correctness in the current #MeToo cultural climate....
Princess Charlene of Monaco
Charlene Lynette Wittstock born 25 January 1978) is Zimbabwean-South African former Olympic swimmer and wife of Prince Albert II.
The Princess was born in Bulawayo, Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe), the daughter of Michael and Lynette Wittstock, and the family relocated to South Africa in 1989. Charlene represented South Africa at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, with her team finishing fifth in the 4 × 100 metre medley relay. Charlene retired from competitive swimming in 2007.
Charlene met Prince Albert at the Mare Nostrum swimming competition in Monte Carlo, Monaco, in 2000. They were first seen together in 2006, and Princess Charlene has accompanied Prince Albert on many of his official duties since then. They announced their engagement in June 2010, and were married on 1 July 2011. The Princess's pregnancy was announced on 30 May 2014. On 10 December 2014, she gave birth to fraternal twins Princess Gabriella and Hereditary Prince Jacques.
This is Monaco's current official lyrics:
Despoei tugiù, sciü d'u nostru paise
Se ride aù ventu, u meme pavayun
Despoei tugiù a curù russa e gianca
E stà l'emblèma d'a nostra libertà
Grandi e piciui, l'an sempre respetà
Forever, in our land,
One flag has flown in the wind
Forever, the colours red and white
Have symbolised our liberty
Great and small [people] have always respected them.
Amu ch'üna tradiçiun,
Amu ch'üna religiun,
Amu avüu per u nostru unù
I meme Principi tugiù
E ren nun ne scangera
Tantu ch'u suriyu lüjerà;
Diu sempre n'agiüterà
E ren nun ne scangera
We have perpetuated the same traditions;
We celebrate the same religion;
We have the honour
To have always had the same Princes
And no one can make us change
As long as the sun shines in the sky
God help us
And no one can ever make us change
No one.
Se ride aù ventu, u meme pavayun
Despoei tugiù a curù russa e gianca
E stà l'emblèma d'a nostra libertà
Grandi e piciui, l'an sempre respetà
Forever, in our land,
One flag has flown in the wind
Forever, the colours red and white
Have symbolised our liberty
Great and small [people] have always respected them.
Amu ch'üna tradiçiun,
Amu ch'üna religiun,
Amu avüu per u nostru unù
I meme Principi tugiù
E ren nun ne scangera
Tantu ch'u suriyu lüjerà;
Diu sempre n'agiüterà
E ren nun ne scangera
We have perpetuated the same traditions;
We celebrate the same religion;
We have the honour
To have always had the same Princes
And no one can make us change
As long as the sun shines in the sky
God help us
And no one can ever make us change
No one.
According to the Russians, Israeli strikes weaken Assad and harm his attempts to end the Syrian conflict
Liars. If the Syrian civil war was going to be ended by Assad it would have happened a long time ago.
This is about Hezbollah. So, basically, Assad is saying it needs Hezbollah to end the civil war. Hezbollah is a threat to Israel. The idea is not workable.
Liars. If the Syrian civil war was going to be ended by Assad it would have happened a long time ago.
This is about Hezbollah. So, basically, Assad is saying it needs Hezbollah to end the civil war. Hezbollah is a threat to Israel. The idea is not workable.
The Russian plane in question is a special mission surveillance aircraft. It was not scrambling to meet Israeli jet fighters. The plane was on a surveillance run. That changes things.
It was a Cold War Soviet-era llyushin lL-20 (click here). The USA has some very old aircraft as well. This particular aircraft is not armed for battle. This is a unique loss to Russia as there were only 10 produced.
This engagement of Israeli jets was for national defense. No one can say any differently. The error belongs to Syria. This has nothing to do with the Israeli mission that is obviously one that was for their national security. The Syrian air defense should have known this plane was in the air conducting surveillance. This is not Israeli's problem.
To begin, Israel was not going to notify anyone of their plans to destroy munitions headed for Hezbollah. The Russians would have notified Assad or someone in their military and the military would have moved the munitions or moved against the Israeli jets and the country's national defense would be in the balance. Israel is not engaged in a formal war with Syria and certainly not Russia.
I will state it again. Syria is beyond any real outcome to this civil war. The killing needs to stop and there needs to be support for the people and their right to return. This is a war of attrition and is in a spiral into an oblivion of any citizens. There is nothing and will be nothing but combat militias that will war with each other forever. It is dangerous for the region to allow this to continue as well as a loss to the people of Syria.
If there were a clear understanding of the course forward for Syria, which means the end of killing. The borders need to be secure and the people need to migrate back into the country as corridors of safety are established. There is no other reasonable way forward for Syria. The killing must stop and a return of the people must begin with governance by an authority that is benevolent and able to carry out such reassurances and guarantees to the people.
This incident clearly proves the danger that exists in the region because Syria is a failed state.
September 23, 2018
The Russian Defense Ministry (click here) presented its investigation on Sunday into the downing of a Russian aircraft over Syria last week. In a report detailing the circumstances surrounding the incident, Russia accused Israel of deliberately misleading Russia on its planned airstrikes, preventing the plane in question from moving to a safe place on time.
Fifteen Russian airmen were killed when the Ilyushin 20 airplane was mistakenly shot down by Syria's air defenses soon after an Israeli strike near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia. The Israel Air Force attacked a facility inside Syria containing systems to manufacture precision rockets for Iran and Hezbollah.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that "it looks like a chain of tragic circumstances, because the Israeli plane didn't shoot down our jet." However, the Russian Defense Ministry placed the blame entirely on Israel on Sunday, presenting a number of claims that contradict the Israeli explanations of the events leading to the downing of the plane....
Case in point from 2015:
...Political analyst, (click here) Taleb Ibrahim, told RT that it’s almost certain that Al-Nusra Front is behind the shelling of Latakia.
“It’s not the first time Al-Nusra Front is bombing Latakia or launching missiles at civilians in that city. Moreover, Al-Nusra Front tried to make a lot of explosions by cars inside this city,” he said.
According to the analyst, Al-Nusra Front is the second largest group currently fighting the Syrian government.
It has less manpower than Islamic State, but its troops are much better trained, having experience of fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries, he added.
Dr. Ibrahim also said that the US claims of training so-called moderate rebels in Syria are “only a fable.”
“There are no moderates” is Syria, he stressed, adding that even the Western-backed Free Syrian Army is nothing, but “a military arm of the Muslim Brotherhood,” an Egyptian Islamist organization....
These small militias are not capable of governance. They are only capable of killing. That is not going to bring about governance, it will only continue the hostilities.
It was a Cold War Soviet-era llyushin lL-20 (click here). The USA has some very old aircraft as well. This particular aircraft is not armed for battle. This is a unique loss to Russia as there were only 10 produced.
This engagement of Israeli jets was for national defense. No one can say any differently. The error belongs to Syria. This has nothing to do with the Israeli mission that is obviously one that was for their national security. The Syrian air defense should have known this plane was in the air conducting surveillance. This is not Israeli's problem.
To begin, Israel was not going to notify anyone of their plans to destroy munitions headed for Hezbollah. The Russians would have notified Assad or someone in their military and the military would have moved the munitions or moved against the Israeli jets and the country's national defense would be in the balance. Israel is not engaged in a formal war with Syria and certainly not Russia.
I will state it again. Syria is beyond any real outcome to this civil war. The killing needs to stop and there needs to be support for the people and their right to return. This is a war of attrition and is in a spiral into an oblivion of any citizens. There is nothing and will be nothing but combat militias that will war with each other forever. It is dangerous for the region to allow this to continue as well as a loss to the people of Syria.
If there were a clear understanding of the course forward for Syria, which means the end of killing. The borders need to be secure and the people need to migrate back into the country as corridors of safety are established. There is no other reasonable way forward for Syria. The killing must stop and a return of the people must begin with governance by an authority that is benevolent and able to carry out such reassurances and guarantees to the people.
This incident clearly proves the danger that exists in the region because Syria is a failed state.
September 23, 2018The Russian Defense Ministry (click here) presented its investigation on Sunday into the downing of a Russian aircraft over Syria last week. In a report detailing the circumstances surrounding the incident, Russia accused Israel of deliberately misleading Russia on its planned airstrikes, preventing the plane in question from moving to a safe place on time.
Fifteen Russian airmen were killed when the Ilyushin 20 airplane was mistakenly shot down by Syria's air defenses soon after an Israeli strike near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia. The Israel Air Force attacked a facility inside Syria containing systems to manufacture precision rockets for Iran and Hezbollah.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that "it looks like a chain of tragic circumstances, because the Israeli plane didn't shoot down our jet." However, the Russian Defense Ministry placed the blame entirely on Israel on Sunday, presenting a number of claims that contradict the Israeli explanations of the events leading to the downing of the plane....
Case in point from 2015:
...Political analyst, (click here) Taleb Ibrahim, told RT that it’s almost certain that Al-Nusra Front is behind the shelling of Latakia.
“It’s not the first time Al-Nusra Front is bombing Latakia or launching missiles at civilians in that city. Moreover, Al-Nusra Front tried to make a lot of explosions by cars inside this city,” he said.
According to the analyst, Al-Nusra Front is the second largest group currently fighting the Syrian government.
It has less manpower than Islamic State, but its troops are much better trained, having experience of fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries, he added.
Dr. Ibrahim also said that the US claims of training so-called moderate rebels in Syria are “only a fable.”
“There are no moderates” is Syria, he stressed, adding that even the Western-backed Free Syrian Army is nothing, but “a military arm of the Muslim Brotherhood,” an Egyptian Islamist organization....
These small militias are not capable of governance. They are only capable of killing. That is not going to bring about governance, it will only continue the hostilities.
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