January 30 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The BBC has reported that:

“The human death toll from bird flu in Indonesia has risen to 100 - almost half of the total worldwide fatalities.

Two Indonesians from the outskirts of Jakarta succumbed to the H5N1 strain of the disease over the weekend, said Joko Suyono of the National Bird Flu Centre.Indonesia is the nation worst affected by bird flu and has struggled to contain the virus.

Since the H5N1 virus emerged in South East Asia in late 2003, it has claimed more than 220 lives around the world.

Suyono said a nine-year-old boy and a 23-year old woman had died from the disease over the weekend.

“The woman died yesterday [Sunday] but we just received the results that she’s positive with bird flu,” Suyono told AFP news agency.

“The total number of deaths is now 100 out of 124 positive cases.

“Indonesia is one of the only countries to log human deaths year-round.Almost all infected people are thought to have contracted the disease from poultry.

But scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form which could be easily passed from human to human, triggering a pandemic and potentially putting millions of lives at risk.”

Is anyone paying attention as the death tolls (those which are recorded) slowly rise?

Posted in Health Preparedness | No Comments »

January 25 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The Sina-English News has reported that a new Peking-Hamburg express train has made its arrival in the German city January 24th following a 15-day test run. Its arrival marks the creation of an alternative to the Indian Ocean shipping route which takes a minimum of 40-days.

This new train route has been made possible through the agreement of China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany. The following picture was originally published the Manager-Magazin:

Marking what could be considered the revival of the silk road, the new train service is the beginning in a series of efforts to develop the Eurasian shipping corridor, which will significantly change how goods move across the massive land-mass.

Don’t worry North America, you still have a chance to get in on this development by means of the Arctic Bridge…

Posted in Politics | No Comments »

January 25 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

According to Computerworld, “criminals have been able to hack into computer systems via the Internet and cut power to several cities”. The source of this revelation was CIA analyst Tom Donahue speaking at a conference last Wednesday.

The vulnerabilities of the power grid should come as no surprise to any thinking person, after all, it only takes a downed tree to knock out power to thousands. Furthermore, the North American power grid is a complex machine, as an article entitled “What’s wrong with the electric grid?” suggests the world’s biggest machine, riddled with the usual political wrangling, economics-above-security and resultant mass vulnerabilities. Who needs internet hackers to disrupt service, when any number of “natural” causes can do the trick?

This is not to say that hackers using the internet (why are power grids even connected to something as vulnerable as the internet anyway?) should not be considered a real threat. However, this eternal obsession in security with complex bogey-threats (such as terrorists with shoe and liquid bombs sneaking past airport security) suggest a misplaced focus in the field. After all, why would a terrorist who really wants to achieve what the term suggests risk having his or her plot being foiled by low-level security if a plane can be brought down with simpler means outside the airport or power to millions can be disrupted by trees?

Perhaps it’s time to start looking at the system as a whole as opposed to being blinded by the rare sensationalist threat.

Posted in Disasters | No Comments »

January 24 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The Burlington Free Press has run a letter to the editor by Peter Garritano that should be applauded, it is copied in full here:

“I read with interest the letter to the editor “Must impeach Bush, Cheney without delay” (Jan. 7), where there is mention of the end of oil, and can’t help wondering what could have been.

Wars are fought for resources. Religion and ideology are excuses. Dick Cheney’s secret energy policy of early 2001 probably led to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. I am still waiting for one politician to speak the truth someday. The war on terror is a fraud. In almost seven years and billions of dollars spent on wiretapping, homeland security, and the ultimate disgrace, Guantanamo Bay, we have charged and prosecuted two people.

If our country were a business we would have had two real customers. A real company would have gone bankrupt years ago. The war on terror is leaving our country bankrupt. If we had spent the money we wasted to apprehend these two people on solar panels and windmills we would have solved our country’s energy problems forever, we would have no need to invade other countries to steal their oil, we could sell them green technology instead of weaponry.

The war on terror is a war on our way of life and we are the terrorists. We have allowed our constitutional rights to be removed, we have blindly stuck to a doomed energy policy and we have diverted hundreds of billions of dollars of our money to prop up these failing policies. Change does not have to be catastrophic but it must start now.”

Posted in Economic Issues, Security Measures | No Comments »

January 23 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The following article by Patricia Harper is a great illustration of what the economic future holds in store, it’s definitely worth a read:

“For all of you happy little property owners out there merrily bobbing about in the sea of home ownership heaven, the financial dreams of bricks and mortar you were sold and which you believed just like the rest of us that would never forsake us and would see us all through to retirement may not be all you had hoped and while you had banked on receiving a good return on your investment and a peaceful and sunny haven, your dreams may be under immeasurable threat. You could be about to be whisked off you feet. Not by a warm current of good fortune, but from the changing tide of a financial catastrophe.

So stark could be the changing currents of global financial instability, a sudden and shrill word of warning must be sounded out before we go any further - keep your eye firmly on the horizon and on the shore, you may have to run fast to avoid this forthcoming sea of change.” Click here for more.’

Posted in Economic Issues | No Comments »

January 22 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The Age in Australia has published an article discussing Professor Julian Cribb’s recent report The Coming Famine. A kind thank you to Professor Cribb for sharing his report with us:

“Humanity is eating more food than it is producing.As world food prices soar to record levels, scientists are warning that global food supplies are rapidly diminishing due to water shortages, fiercer and more intense droughts, soil loss, increased land competition from crops grown for biofuel and humanity’s apparently insatiable appetite for meat.

According to leading science writer Julian Cribb, the greatest challenge this century will be to double global food production with less land, less water and less nutrients — all in drier and hotter conditions.

Speaking yesterday at a Melbourne conference, Professor Cribb said that while public awareness of climate change had grown exponentially, the world had remained relatively ignorant of the fact it was entering a prolonged period of food shortages.

According to his discussion paper, The Coming Famine, there will be about 9.3 billion people living in the world in 2050 who will eat as much food as would 13 billion people at today’s levels. The UN’s environmental program estimates global food output must rise by 110% to meet demand for food in the coming 40 years.” Click here for more.

Posted in Water Issues, Food Security | No Comments »

January 22 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The Smart Trading Action Alert has aired a wonderful clip with best-selling author Bill Bonner and guest-host Christoph Amberger that discusses the possible economic future based on a pending collapse. This video is very pertinent given today’s announcement in the U.S. of extreme interest rate cuts. The video can be found here.

Posted in Economic Issues | No Comments »

January 21 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

Here is a phenomenal article that ran in the Geelong Advertiser today highlighting the limitations of “silo-view” in assessing threats. The article was written by Julian Cribb, adjunct professor at University of Technology, Sydney.

Posted in Food Security | No Comments »

January 18 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The Sunday Times has published a very insightful article on the on-going changes to the global economy. Indeed, the article seems to mark the first time a serious newspaper is considering the pending shift in global economic power from the West to the East. The piece is definitely worth a read.

Posted in Economic Issues | No Comments »

January 17 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The Kampala Monitor has reported that:

“Police say they are registering rising numbers of domestic fights and inter-family scuffles at Gbukutu and Maji Muzuri water points as natives exchange blows in the scramble to secure water for desperate families. It is envisaged that the water scarcity and resultant animosity would only worsen in the coming drier months of February and March.”

Water, like food, is an absolute necessity for existence. As a result, rising tensions among populations that experience shortages of either water or food should be expected. Unfortunately, most world leaders have been very short-sighted about the looming risks associated with such shortages, often failing to carry-out adequate preparations in advance. Although most westerners are quick to brush off incidents in Africa as isolated cases, the question begs, what will be the probable fallout of water or food shortages in Europe or North America?

Posted in Water Issues | No Comments »