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Minstrel Boy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-04 08:06 AM
Original message
British scientist mysteriously deported from Belarus
British scientist mysteriously deported from Belarus
Authorities of Belarus made a decision to deport a British scientist. The Belarussian Interior Affairs Ministry rescinded the visa of the British citizen Alan Flowers. The scientist has been analyzing the consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe for more than ten years. Spokespeople for the ministry refused to comment the reasons of such a measure.

The scientist, who specializes in radiology studies, believes his deportation is tied with his contacts with non-state organizations. The British Foreign Ministry confirmed the fact of deportation, although there were no comments released on the matter either.

Alan Flowers has probably come to conclusions, which could have provoked a negative reaction in the governments of the former Soviet Union. The British scientist particularly proposed USSR"s special services arranged artificial rains in Belarus after the nuclear disaster in 1986 not to let the wind blow the contaminated air towards Moscow.

The British scientist says many of his colleagues in Belarus support his theory, although they prefer not to talk about it in public. The reasons of such radioactive rains are not known yet, which does not allow estimating the capacity and nature of radioactive contamination.
http://english.pravda.ru/world/20/92/370/13618_brttscientist.html

Belarus deports Chernobyl expert

Vladimir Kuzura, an official from the Belarusian Interior Ministry, refused to explain the reasons behind the withdrawal of Dr Flowers' visa and the deportation order.

But Dr Flowers is said to have made a claim that, if proved right, would cause great embarrassment to former top Soviet officials.

According to Vera Rich, who was the Soviet correspondent of the scientific journal Nature at the time of the tragedy, many believe the then Soviet Union seeded clouds to make them rain on Belarus.

The move was aimed at preventing winds from blowing contaminated material towards Moscow, theorists say.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3943013.stm
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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-04 08:16 AM
Response to Original message
1. Very interesting
Edited on Wed Aug-04-04 08:20 AM by seemslikeadream
The British scientist particularly proposed USSR"s special services arranged artificial rains in Belarus after the nuclear disaster in 1986 not to let the wind blow the contaminated air towards Moscow.


http://www.dreamingaloud.com/Gallerys/Gal2.htm

Chornobyl Fallout Brought Down on Belarus To Spare Russia?

To date, none have been willing to "go public," arguing that -- in the political climate of today's Belarus -- to give their names would not only endanger their visas (and their continuing research) but also put their informants at risk. However, the following emerged in informal discussions on the sidelines of a recent scientific conference:

One researcher, whose official brief is to monitor whether the soil of these areas can be safely brought back into cultivation, has begun collecting the reminiscences of local inhabitants as to what they remember of the days immediately after the accident. He made no attempt to "lead" his "witnesses." Amid the many purely personal incidents (weddings, May Day celebrations, etc), there were repeated reports of unusual activity of aircraft and/or rockets being fired in the vicinity. One man, the chief administrative officer of his locality, stated categorically that he had seen an aircraft with "stuff coming out of the back." Many people remembered that the rain showers that followed were "unusually heavy" and that -- unlike "normal" rainstorms in early May, were not accompanied by thunder. Challenged by colleagues that such reports were "subjective," the researcher pointed out, "These people are farmers and know about rain!" When further asked why such claims had never been made before, he pointed out that, to date "no one had bothered to ask the locals!"

A senior scientist who had been working mainly in Russia stated that what he termed an unimpeachable Moscow source who, at the time of the accident "had been in a position to know," admitted that the clouds were, indeed, brought down. People like his informant, this scientist said, "are prepared to talk in cars -- particularly Western cars!" (i.e., where there is little likelihood of "bugging").

In fact, shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, one scientific paper was published in the West that reported -- on the basis of local claims -- that the soil had been tested for traces of silver iodide, the chemical most widely used for seeding. No such traces were found, the report said. But this is at best negative evidence. The soil samples in question were taken more than six years after the accident -- and the small amounts of silver left by seeding could well have leached out of the soil during that time. Alternatively, the Soviets might have used a different chemical for seeding.

One scientist who has worked on the Chernobyl contamination since 1992 is Dr. Alan Flowers of Kingston University (U.K.). Many of his colleagues in Belarus, he says, seem to accept as established fact that the clouds were seeded -- but again, they have never publicly admitted this. When asked -- 16 years after the event and with the Soviet officials who would have taken the decision to "seed" the cloud presumably out of office, retired, or dead -- he replied that "for a full understanding of the distribution and effects of the Chernobyl fallout, we need as much evidence as possible. What caused the rain is still an uncertainty in our knowledge about the intensity and nature of the contamination."

more
http://greennature.com/article1346.html
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Minstrel Boy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-04 08:21 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. absolutely
But we know talk of weather modification is for woo-woos in tinfoil hats, so it must be something else.
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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-04 08:32 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. georgie always ready for the rain


red rain is coming down
red rain
red rain is pouring down
pouring down all over me

I am standing up at the water's edge in my dream
I cannot make a single sound as you scream
it can't be that cold, the ground is still warm to touch
this place is so quiet, sensing that storm........
PG
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DarkSim Donating Member (266 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-04 08:35 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. Weather modification isn't that uncommon really...
Here in China, the Beijing city council has a bunch of airplanes drop silver bromide over the city, just before national holidays and day's of celebration, so that it rains right before the festivities and then we have clear skies for atleast a few days.
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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-04 08:55 AM
Response to Reply #4
7. shhhh!
Edited on Wed Aug-04-04 09:26 AM by seemslikeadream
airplanes dropping silver bromide, no way! ;-)

The population of these areas has always maintained that the rain was artificial - "seeded" on orders from the Kremlin. Soviet authorities dismissed these reports as "radiophobia" fomented by "anti-socialist elements," and said they did not have the technology to "bring down clouds" in that way (although for years, the Soviet media had claimed exactly the opposite, with circumstantial accounts of crops saved from storm damage by prophylactic "cloud seeding").

Western scientists tacitly accepted the Soviet denials - partly in the belief that no government would act so callously and also because they considered the Chornobyl-polluted area a unique "laboratory" for studying the migration of radioactive contamination in the soil and did not want to provoke the authorities into denying them visas. However, the bulk of circumstantial evidence is now causing them to think again.

To date, none have been willing to "go public," arguing that - in the political climate of today's Belarus - to give their names would not only endanger their visas (and their continuing research) but also put their informants at risk. However, the following information emerged in informal discussions on the sidelines of a recent scientific conference.

One researcher, whose official task is to monitor whether the soil of these areas can be safely brought back into cultivation, has begun collecting the reminiscences of local inhabitants as to what they remember of the days immediately after the accident. He made no attempt to lead his witnesses. Amid the many purely personal incidents (weddings, May Day celebrations, etc), there were repeated reports of unusual activity of aircraft and/or rockets being fired in the vicinity. One man, the chief administrative officer of his locality, stated categorically that he had seen an aircraft with "stuff coming out of the back." Many people remembered that the rain showers that followed were "unusually heavy" and that - unlike "normal" rainstorms in early May, were not accompanied by thunder.

more
http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/2002/300206.shtml

The Belarusian government has consistently tried to play down the impact of the disaster and outspoken researchers have been gagged in the past.

President Alexander Lukashenko has imposed strict controls on freedom of speech and is increasingly isolated by the west.

The deportation of Dr Flowers comes days after the closure of the country’s only non-government university.
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3280282
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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-04 08:44 AM
Response to Original message
5. Alexander Lutsko
Sasha’s death is a great sadness and by it we have lost an interesting, even extraordinary, man. I am not in possession of his CV as I write, though I know he was a physicist, a Director of the Sakharov Institute, and that he had sailed the oceans as a scientific explorer.
I met Alexander Lutsko on four occasions, once when he came to my house in St Andrews, brought by Alan Flowers and Richard Demarco and subsequently at different locations in the summer of 1995 when he participated in Demarco’s summer school in Combermere, Cheshire and in St Andrews, amongst other locations. Restless and animated, he conveyed a sense of impatience. The opportunity had arisen for Belarus to be free and herself. The distinctness of her culture was important to him and he was a patriot. Intellectually, though, he roved far from home as an adventurer who relished the challenge of debate and disagreement and who wanted as many of his pupils as possible to experience that exhilaration too.

He appreciated in a serious way, the importance of different perspectives and approaches to issues. Creative thinking was the means to a prosperous and a free future for Belarus. For this reason, he joined enthusiastically in any debate which saw the overlapping of ideas and cultures. He warmed to Demarco’s theme of “Bridging the Gap” between Art and Science, between Eastern and Western Europe and, indeed, between the generations. Although he was a “Scientist”, he saw the value of artistic culture to the development of society, not least for the opportunity it provided for individuals to offer comment and to make contribution by means of artistic perception. The vital importance of multimedia was integral to his understanding.

Alexander Lutsko liked to describe himself as a “hooligan” and to witness his invitation to the highly serious ex-President of Lithuania, Vytautas Landsbergis, to become one too, was one of the great historic moments of life. I’m glad it took place at St Leonard’s. By “hooligan” he understood the idea of iconoclasm in the sense of overturning unworthy shibboleths. “Hooliganism” encapsulated, in his view, the spirit of derring-do which feared nothing Back then to the power of creative thought which came forth from destructuring and “chaos” which he saw as the prerequisite of reform.
more
http://www.iseu.by/rus/memoria/lutsko/MJames.html
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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-04 09:01 AM
Response to Reply #5
8. INTERDISCIPLINARY BIO-EDUCATIONA COMPLEX SCIENCE IN THE NEXT MILLENNIUM
INTERDISCIPLINARY BIO-EDUCATION
A COMPLEX SCIENCE IN THE NEXT MILLENNIUM



Dr. Alexander Lutsko
Rector, International Sakharov College
on Radioecology
Belarus

There are two foreseeable tendencies, presently, that can play a key role in the harmonisation of future society; the issues of human habitat and the ways of improving its quality.

A new technological breakthrough is possible, if only facilitated by an interdisciplinary approach to solving environmental challenges. In this context, it is topical to start training interdisciplinary specialists. This will also be an educational challenge if we bear in mind the huge bodies of accumulated knowledge and the persistent intensity of the information flow. However, a sound alternative can be suggested for the to-know-all-about-nothing approaches, by using new educational technologies and synergistic training programmes. A new educational scheme will cost more than traditional higher education, but a steady development of civilisation can be hardly expected in the absence of adequate professionals.
more
http://www.biopolitics.gr/HTML/PUBS/VOL6/HTML/lutsko.htm
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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-04 09:05 AM
Response to Reply #5
9. Smuggling of plutonium poses major health threat
Edited on Wed Aug-04-04 09:15 AM by seemslikeadream
Smuggling of plutonium poses major health threat
The smuggling of plutonium is a major threat to health, according to Commander Jasjit Singh, director of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, India.
Commander Singh told a meeting at the House of Commons organised by Medical Action for Global Security that plutonium and other fissile materials might be used by states such as Iraq or terrorist organisations to make a bomb. But he warned that damage to health could also result from smugglers mishandling radioactive material.

Dr Frank Barnaby, a nuclear physicist and defence analyst, said: "There are currently about 400 tonnes of separated plutonium available in the world, and it takes up to 10 kg of the metal or 35 kg of plutonium oxide to make a nuclear weapon. A package the size of a box of 20 cigarettes would hold about 2 kg of plutonium metal, worth at least $2m or $3m on the black market. And to make a bomb requires only elementary nuclear physics."



This worry was greatly increased last August when police in Munich seized 350 g of plutonium that had been carried in a lead lined case hidden in the luggage of two Spaniards and a Colombian flying on a Lufthansa flight from Moscow. Between May last year and January this year there were seven cases of people being caught smuggling plutonium or uranium, and these cases are likely, said Commander Singh, to be only the tip of the iceberg. Nobody really knows the extent of the problem, who the smugglers are, or whether there are any buyers. "There is as yet no evidence of a terrorist group trying to acquire fissile material," a spokesman from the Foreign Office told the meeting, "but there is great concern in government."

The US government has been worried about this problem for some time, but the Russian government showed little interest until late last year, said Dr William Walker, senior lecturer in the science policy and research unit at the University of Sussex. The Russians became worried, said Dr Walker, because they realised that Russia is the country most threatened. Their two great fears are that the material will fall into the hands of breakaway republics and that the wide illegal availability of fissile material will lead to bad relationships with the West, causing it to reduce aid. The policy of the US and other Western governments is to help the Russians to help themselves, but the problem, said Dr Walker, will take dozens of years to solve.

Dr Alexander Lutsko from the International Sakharov Institute of Radioecology in Minsk thought that the chance of plutonium being stolen from plants in the former Soviet Union was small because many are still under military control. He was much more worried by "irresponsibility and negligence" with radiation: he cited as an example "the disposal of highly radioactive wastes by the Russian Pacific fleet all over the Pacific seashore." But, concluded Commander Singh, "the first we might know about the illegal smuggling of plutonium might be when a bomb explodes."--RICHARD SMITH, BMJ
more
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/310/6978/485


"direct line between creative genius and insanity" yea I know what he's talkin bout there!

He was fascinated by the direct line between creative genius and insanity. In 195 he published a thesis entitled “The Theory of Abnormality”. He presented this at the Demarco European Art Foundation symposium at St Leonards’s School in St Andrews, as his contribution. In this he suggested ways of narrowing the gaps between the logical and intuitive ways of investigating the nature of reality. In doing so he was pleased to engage in dialogue with Vytautas Landsbergis, the first democratically elected President of the independent state of Lithuania.
http://www.iseu.by/rus/memoria/lutsko/RDemarco.html
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Minstrel Boy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-04 08:53 AM
Response to Original message
6. "Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025"
Edited on Wed Aug-04-04 08:54 AM by Minstrel Boy
A Research Paper Presented To "Air Force 2025" by Col Tamzy J. House et al:

A global, precise, real-time, robust, systematic weather-modification capability would provide war-fighting CINCs with a powerful force multiplier to achieve military objectives. Since weather will be common to all possible futures, a weather-modification capability would be universally applicable and have utility across the entire spectrum of conflict. The capability of influencing the weather even on a small scale could change it from a force degrader to a force multiplier.

...

The term weather-modification may have negative connotations for many people, civilians and military members alike. It is thus important to define the scope to be considered in this paper so that potential critics or proponents of further research have a common basis for discussion.

In the broadest sense, weather-modification can be divided into two major categories: suppression and intensification of weather patterns. In extreme cases, it might involve the creation of completely new weather patterns, attenuation or control of severe storms, or even alteration of global climate on a far-reaching and/or long-lasting scale. In the mildest and least controversial cases it may consist of inducing or suppressing precipitation, clouds, or fog for short times over a small-scale region. Other low-intensity applications might include the alteration and/or use of near space as a medium to enhance communications, disrupt active or passive sensing, or other purposes.

...

Several high-payoff capabilities that could result from the modification of the ionosphere or near space are described briefly below. It should be emphasized that this list is not comprehensive; modification of the ionosphere is an area rich with potential applications and there are also likely spin-off applications that have yet to be envisioned.
http://www.au.af.mil/au/2025/volume3/chap15/v3c15-1.htm

Angels play this harp:

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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-04 10:06 AM
Response to Reply #6
10. Space Preservation Act of 2001 - Original Bill
HR 2977 IH
107th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 2977
To preserve the cooperative, peaceful uses of space for the benefit of all humankind by permanently prohibiting the basing of weapons in space by the United States, and to require the President to take action to adopt and implement a world treaty banning space-based weapons.


IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

October 2, 2001
Mr. KUCINICH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services, and International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A BILL
To preserve the cooperative, peaceful uses of space for the benefit of all humankind by permanently prohibiting the basing of weapons in space by the United States, and to require the President to take action to adopt and implement a world treaty banning space-based weapons.


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Space Preservation Act of 2001'.

SEC. 2. REAFFIRMATION OF POLICY ON THE PRESERVATION OF PEACE IN SPACE.

Congress reaffirms the policy expressed in section 102(a) of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (42 U.S.C. 2451(a)), stating that it `is the policy of the United States that activities in space should be devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind.'.

SEC. 3. PERMANENT BAN ON BASING OF WEAPONS IN SPACE.

The President shall--

(1) implement a permanent ban on space-based weapons of the United States and remove from space any existing space-based weapons of the United States; and

(2) immediately order the permanent termination of research and development, testing, manufacturing, production, and deployment of all space-based weapons of the United States and their components.

SEC. 4. WORLD AGREEMENT BANNING SPACE-BASED WEAPONS.

The President shall direct the United States representatives to the United Nations and other international organizations to immediately work toward negotiating, adopting, and implementing a world agreement banning space-based weapons.

SEC. 5. REPORT.

The President shall submit to Congress not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 90 days thereafter, a report on--

(1) the implementation of the permanent ban on space-based weapons required by section 3; and

(2) progress toward negotiating, adopting, and implementing the agreement described in section 4.

SEC. 6. NON SPACE-BASED WEAPONS ACTIVITIES.

Nothing in this Act may be construed as prohibiting the use of funds for--

(1) space exploration;

(2) space research and development;

(3) testing, manufacturing, or production that is not related to space-based weapons or systems; or

(4) civil, commercial, or defense activities (including communications, navigation, surveillance, reconnaissance, early warning, or remote sensing) that are not related to space-based weapons or systems.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) The term `space' means all space extending upward from an altitude greater than 60 kilometers above the surface of the earth and any celestial body in such space.

(2)(A) The terms `weapon' and `weapons system' mean a device capable of any of the following:

(i) Damaging or destroying an object (whether in outer space, in the atmosphere, or on earth) by--

(I) firing one or more projectiles to collide with that object;

(II) detonating one or more explosive devices in close proximity to that object;

(III) directing a source of energy (including molecular or atomic energy, subatomic particle beams, electromagnetic radiation, plasma, or extremely low frequency (ELF) or ultra low frequency (ULF) energy radiation) against that object; or

(IV) any other unacknowledged or as yet undeveloped means.

(ii) Inflicting death or injury on, or damaging or destroying, a person (or the biological life, bodily health, mental health, or physical and economic well-being of a person)--

(I) through the use of any of the means described in clause (i) or subparagraph (B);

(II) through the use of land-based, sea-based, or space-based systems using radiation, electromagnetic, psychotronic, sonic, laser, or other energies directed at individual persons or targeted populations for the purpose of information war, mood management, or mind control of such persons or populations; or

(III) by expelling chemical or biological agents in the vicinity of a person.

(B) Such terms include exotic weapons systems such as--

(i) electronic, psychotronic, or information weapons;

(ii) chemtrails;

(iii) high altitude ultra low frequency weapons systems;

(iv) plasma, electromagnetic, sonic, or ultrasonic weapons;

(v) laser weapons systems;

(vi) strategic, theater, tactical, or extraterrestrial weapons; and

(vii) chemical, biological, environmental, climate, or tectonic weapons.

(C) The term `exotic weapons systems' includes weapons designed to damage space or natural ecosystems (such as the ionosphere and upper atmosphere) or climate, weather, and tectonic systems with the purpose of inducing damage or destruction upon a target population or region on earth or in space.

http://www.raven1.net/govptron.htm
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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-04 10:59 AM
Response to Reply #10
11. They went for it all and failed miserably. Now they're infighting!
They're all traitors in that Vulcan group-especially the Myers/Rumsfeld Pentagon:grr:
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