Some interesting news items hit me today as I was scanning blogs, google news and mainstream sources. The following three news items are clear examples of how one-sided journalism has become. It is so bad that items requiring further investigation are glossed over or given a positive spin to alleviate any awkward public questions.
I refuse to ever be part of that whitewash.
The first was North Korea's agreement to cease nuclear armament in exchange for a watered down USA non-aggression pact and ample supply of oil and electricity. Yet, as I write this new reports suggest that the North will not agree unless it is given nuclear reactors to generate power.
It concerns me that all this tension could be alleviated with some horse-trading of energy issues. It seems a little too easy and unrealistic. My bet is that something more substantial is hidden in the detail of the negotiations, and that the latest development seems to point to a continuation of nuclear development.
In another development, NASA has revealed plans to launch expeditions to Mars from the Moon. The strategy involves a number of manned missions to establish a lunar launch facility. Again it's the detail that bothers me, with plans to explore whether "resources, such as oxygen, hydrogen and metals, are available for use in NASA's long-term lunar exploration objectives". That seems to be a careful way of saying that the Moon has been targetted for mining operations! Under whose authority, I ask?
And in a bizarre situation in Iraq, two British soldiers were working "undercover", (dressed as Iraqis) and were arrested by Iraqi police after shooting at a traffic policeman. They were later "rescued" by British forces, who "used an armored fighting vehicle "to gain entry" to the police station to release them".
It begs the question why army personnel were "undercover" in the first place, and how is it that they are somehow above the laws that they should be trying to enforce.
Iraq is in total chaos, on the verge of civil war, and every day that allied forces are asked to remain in that country perpetuates an unnecessary living hell for both the military and the civillians.
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