The U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues urged UNESCO to step up the protection of world heritage sites to protect sites from the mining giant Rio Tinto, including Apaches Oak Flat. Rio Tinto blew up 46,000 years of Australian Aboriginals' history and sacred teachings when it blew up Juukan Gorge caves in Western Australia. (Panel of ancient rock art painting, Quinkan Cave near Laura, Cape

They think we are mugs and its insulting. Its all fine for politicians to be swimming, swerving and tossing about in the goo of paranoia that is surveillance, chatting to the ghost called foreign interference; but to expect the rest of the citizenry to be morons is rather poor form. But the formula has always been such: We terrify you; you vote us in, and we increase the budget of the national security state.

Regarding the business of the Russian embassy site in Canberra, this is all the more stunning. Australias parliamentarians rarely pass bills and motions at such speed, but the measure to ensure that the Russian embassy would not have a bit of real estate 500 metres from the peoples assembly was odd, at best. On June 15, legislation was whizzed through, effectively extinguishing Russias lease.

It was also prompted by a rather bruising matter: the Russians had already been triumphant in the Federal Court. They had been granted the lease for the Yarralumla site in December 2008 by the National Capital Authority. But the 99-year lease was cancelled by the same body on the basis that ongoing unfinished works detract from the overall aesthetic, importance, and dignity of the area reserved for diplomatic missions.

Russia duly challenged the cancellation and won. In May, the court found in its favour, negating the cancellation of the lease. This seemed to have a curiously unifying effect in Parliament: agents of the Kremlin would be a mere stones throw away from the elected chamber.

Members of the Albanese government were tediously, predictably, on message, claiming that their intelligence services were all cognisant of a threat no one else could possibly take seriously. According to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the government had received very clear security advice as to the risk presented by a Russian presence close to Parliament House. The whole parliamentary measure had taken place to ensure the lease site does not become a formal diplomatic presence.

The cabinets most eager of beavers, Home Affairs Minister Clare ONeil, affirmed the Prime Ministers concerns. The principal problem with the proposed second Russian embassy in Canberra is its location, she suggested. The government has received clear national security advice that this would be a threat to our national security and that is why the government is acting decisively to bring this longstanding matter to a close.

This entire comic episode also led Albanese to anticipate Russian stroppiness and reference to precedents in international law. This prompted the rem...

Greece shipwreck explained: The claims and counterclaims

At the end of April in Lithuania, one of the major NATO countries, the local Foreign Ministry initiated a conference on NATO and the Indo-Pacific Region, where Vilnius tried to contribute to the unfolding confrontation with China in accordance with the trends set by the United States. It is noteworthy that the Baltic state stood out noticeably against the other participants the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand for its complete noninvolvement in the affairs of the region in question.

Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis insisted on the need to build closer cooperation between NATO and democratic states of the Indo-Pacific Region. He warned his colleagues about the increasing interaction between authoritarian regimes aimed at reformatting the world order. He called for abandoning the development of trade and economic relations with them, especially to get away from the EUs dangerous dependence on China.

Deputy Foreign Minister Egidijus Meilnas sounded even more bellicose, directly accusing Russia, China, and North Korea of cooperatively threatening the collective West. Reference was also made to the conflict in Ukraine, which Beijing allegedly uses to assess the ability of the democratic community to resist aggressive actions.

The lack of independence of the Lithuanian authorities, who are willing to get involved even in conflicts that are clearly detrimental and make absolutely no sense to them, is astonishing. In November-December 2021, the first incident in bilateral relations between Vilnius and Beijing already took place. The Taipei Trade Relations Bureau was opened in Lithuania, which, without official status, de facto performs the functions of a Tai...

Introduction by DM

Is Hunter Biden a national threat?

One of the best videos exposing the fat fact-crisis and corruption in America.

...

Can you think of 2 more awkward individuals in Aus politics? Cringe https://t.co/rO5cHuzDhq pic.twitter.com/GkDlizkGXc JustMe (@AussieVal10) June 17, 2023

The Australian has in recent days run anonymous comments criticising measures by the ABC to ensure our journalism accurately and fairly reflects the diverse country we live in and is relevant to the lived experiences in our community. These anonymous comments include: One source said the push to put diversity...

** Sorry the Earth Changes Summary Video for May is so late - all Sott.net chroniclers were attending a wedding! ** If you thought the unseasonable snow and cold temperatures would end in April, you were wrong. Records continued to be broken in May in both hemispheres, and many countries suffered from heavy floods due to tons of melting snow. Some snowy events to highlight: Michigan - 26 inches of record snow.West Virginia - 20 inches of record snow.Sierra Nevada, California - 15 inches in 48 hours. (State snowpack over 300% of average)Teller County, Colorado - Heavy unseasonable snow.Spain - Unseasonable snow after an early heatwave.Iwate Prefecture, Japan - Record snow for May.New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory - Record coldest May temperatures.And flooding events: Alaska - Catastrophic flooding after ice jams and melting snowEmilia Romagna, Italy - Heavy floods take the life of 14.Southwestern Germany - Heavy floods cause closure of rail lines.Lapland, Finland -...

There is very, very strong evidence that COVID-19  was manufactured by the Chinese Government.

Ronalds space readers should be aware of emerging evidence that the COVID-19 may be a manufactured biological weapon of mass destruction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHk8SLzgXaA

If the claims are  true, then when it comes to the legal principle of the Design to expose to peril,  all you have to do to qualify as a bio-terrorist is deliberately expose a person, a group of people, a State population, or an entire national population, to this disease.

As the following COVID-19 modelling report reveals, politicians, academics, and other vested interest parties, are intensely focussed upon how to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic problems, whilst studiously ignoring the constitutional framework of Crown Laws that must be complied with.

Anyone care to take a stab at the malign influence that changed this wonderland? Thanks to reader LeaBrae for the tip on this classic commercial.

It has been reported that the Queensland Freedom of Information Office (QFOI) and the States Police Force (QPS) are working together to prevent citizens from accessing their own personal data.

Restricting access to information

The Queensland Police Records and Information Management Exchange (QPrime) database stores a range of personal information about Queensland residents.

Officers from the QPS and QFOI sat down for a meeting last year to discuss the nature or the breadth of the applications that were being received and the consequences of the breath of those.

The government agencies say they identified there were much broader public policy implications to be considered in terms of what documents get released, before agreeing that citizens should be block from accessing inform...

YOUR MOBILE PHONE IS THE KEY TO STEALING YOUR LIFE

In our brave new world, in addition to the risk of dying due to the illegal importation of COVID-19 into Australia, we now face the risk of having our life stolen by phone hackers.

Posting shortlink:  https://wp.me/p1n8TZ-3l7

Clearly we need to be brave in order to survive in our increasingly more dangerous world.

According to an ABC report, Internet security expert Troy Hunt is warning people that scammers can steal you identify by gaining control of...

Thanks Underminder. BIDEN: God save the Queen!" Hes in Connecticut. And the Queen is dead pic.twitter.com/dfJKrR595x Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 16, 2023

Joe Rogan is thriving. Meghan gets the Khyber. Go Woke, Go Broke. Thanks to The Daily Wire. Spotify will not renew Meghan Markles podcast Archetypes for a second season, according to sources familiar with the matter. Markles podcast, which explores historical and cultural stereotypes of women, will not return for...

This is what happens in history to fallen people. They become long-forgotten blimps, stains and aberrations in human history. Donald Elley

Australia Trying to Play Down War Crimes Committed in Afghanistan Russian MFA

According to Maria Zakharova, new data about Australian war crimes make it clear that "this issue is institutional and deeply-rooted, particularly in the elite units of the countrys armed forces"

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Sergey Bobylev/TASS

Sergey Bobylev/TASS

MOSCOW, June 16. /TASS/. The Australian authorities are seeking to "soft-pedal" the war crimes that the countrys troops committed in Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Friday.

"Its absolutely clear that the ruling establishment of the Green Continent is trying its best to soft-pedal the issue of the war crimes committed by Australian troops in Afghanistan, a topic it finds very uncomfortable. In any case, this seemed to be the underlying reason behind the activity - or, more precisely, the inactivity - of the previous liberal cabinet led by disgraced Prime Minister Scott Morrison, which included a no less notorious defense minister, Peter Dutton," the diplomat noted.

"Members of veteran organizations, media outlets and some political forces not affiliated with the current authorities have been pointing out that attempts to close the shameful Afghan files by putting all the blame on privates and sergeants from special operations forces were unacceptable. In particular, Senator Malcolm Roberts of the One Nation opposition party suggested during parliamentary hearings in May that Chief of the Australian Defense Force General Angus Campbell return the Distinguished Service Cross that he was awarded in 2012 as commander of the Australian troops in the Middle East," Zakharova went on to say.

According to her, new data about Australian war crimes make it clear that "this issue is institutional and deeply-rooted, particularly in the elite units of the countrys armed forces." "The ruling circles attempts to hush the public outcry by taking only palliative measures indicate double standar...

RETRACTED. Another article on that bogus Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria nonsense has been pulled from the literature.

The usual suspects are all outraged at this rebuke. The odious Colin Wright wrote an article damning the journal he claims the retraction was over a minor, inconsistently applied technicality.

The technicality? Informed consent. Very minor. Totally unimportant. I dont know why we even bother.

For those unfamiliar with this slop, the assessment of the psychological state of young trans people was obtained by soliciting self-reports from their parents, parents recruited from web sites where people obsessed with trans issues gather. All their data was gathered from an anti-trans website! Its as if someone looked up the parents of scientists by finding their posted comments on Answers in Genesis, and then came to the conclusion that all evilutionists were formed by resentment of their pastors and association with god-hating school clubs, and determined that scientists were all pathological basket-cases.

I dont know how it got published in the first place. The authors are openly biased, they pulled all their data from an openly biased website, and they even admit in the paper that there is a chance their results were biased, and somehow, it got accepted anyway. Surprise, if you poll posters to a site called ParentsOfROGDKids, youll get testimonials to the existence of ROGD.

Another surprise: they even say in the paper that The initial purpose of the survey was not for scientific publication, but information gathering for a community of parents with shared concerns. Then, what the hell, they published it anyway.

Oh, and if you want to know where one of the authors, J. Michael Bailey (hey, I also mentioned him yesterday) is coming from, this might help:

Jamaica is a global producer of bauxite, a critical material used to produce aluminum. The Caribbean island, most well-known globally for its vibrant tourism industry, has exploited this red dirt for decades. While the industry remains profitable, there has been significant push-back recently, including a recent landmark Supreme Court ruling against a new mining project.

The importance of Red Dirt

In 2022, Jamaicas bauxite production totaled 7,048kt, up 22% from 2021, and the Caribbean island accounts for 2% of global bauxite production. The major global producers are Australia, China, Guinea, Brazil, and India; Jamaica hovers around the 10th place according to Statista, though other outlets put Jamaica in the seventh spot.

The top mining projects on the island are the St. Ann Bauxite Mine (owned by the government of Jamaica and New Day Aluminium), Windalco Mine (owned by United Company Rusal), and Alpart Project (owned by Jiuquan Iron and Steel: JISCO). In late 2021, United Company RUSAL (UC RUSAL) began making payments towards the US$35 million Bauxite Production Levy owed for the April 2018 to September 2021 period. In early June 2023, Mining Minister Floyd Green met with JISCO Alpart to discuss the companys plans for the reopening and resumption of plant operations, which has been stalled since 2019.

The post Bauxite: Jamaicas Lucrative Red Dirt appeared first on Geopolitical Monitor.

Depositors smash Lebanese banks demanding their money back Follow us on Odysee: https://t.co/gMbz1a2E5x pic.twitter.com/1GZf7oEPrB RT (@RT_com) June 16, 2023

Tony Windsor could be a respectable retired former MP. Instead hes an old dickhead on twitter.

Every family deserves their home to be a safe haven. However, there are often hidden hazards hiding in plain sight. While some household hazards are obvious and next to impossible to miss, the real danger lurks in those less obvious hazards that so many of us overlook.

Today, well discuss 5 of the most common hidden dangers around the home, and what you can do to eliminate them. Lets begin.

Old Lead Paint

If your home was built before 1970, theres a very good chance that lead paint was used on your walls. Even if your home has been repainted, it could still be lurking a few coats deep. The recommended amount of lead in domestic paint has dropped from 50% in 1965 to 0.1% in 1997 due to toxicity, and is especially harmful to children, pregnant women and unborn babies.

While well-maintained lead paint thats in good condition doesnt pose any hazards, its if it begins to flake or chalk that the trouble begins. It can also be very hazardous when its on surfaces that are exposed to high amounts of friction, such as windows, doors or railings. People renovating their homes are in the most danger when it comes to lead exposure, so if you suspect your home has any traces of lead paint do not attempt to amend the issue yourself. Instead, hire professional painters who will know how to safely remove lead paint and replace it with a lead-free alternative.

Radon

Radon is a naturally occurring gas, and can often find its way into your home through cracks in your foundations, gaps surrounding your pipes or wall joints. While its found in all homes at some level, if the levels are too high then it can release radioactive particles and cause damage to the lung tissue.

Radon is tasteless, odourless and colourless, meaning that the only way to assess its levels is through a radon test kit. If you find that the levels in your home are too high for comfort, the best way to fix this is often through improving ventilation and sealing cracks found in your foundation.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

If youre buying new furniture, painting your walls or installing new carpet, chances are that these upgrades are bringing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into your home along with them. These VOCs, such as methylene, benzene, toluene and xylene, can release gas into the air that can cause headaches, cold-like symptoms and nausea in the short-term and cancer, liver and kidney damage and central nervous system damage in the long-term.

The best way to avoid harmful exposure to VOCs is to buy either VOC-free or low-VOC products, or ventilating any rooms where upgrades have been made for at least a w...

J.G. Olsen / Financial Expositor

Which came first, the Vatican or the Bank?

According to the current official version, the bank was created by Papal decree in 1942, an interesting enough choice, but even moreso since Jewish Holocaust survivors attempted to sue the bank in 1999, but were defeated by sovereign immunity.

The name was reconfigured to the Institute for Religious Works and running along the lines of any other Foundation it recently funded a statue of Moloch, potentially more than one.

This modern Vatican Bank seems to have been created not only for immediate World War II wealth-shifting circumstances but also to fulfil a need, to solidify all the centuries of swirling speculations into something concrete and of course sanitised, another bait and switch.

What of the past?

Out of the turmoil of the slowly decaying Roman Empire, with its cherished hegemony being eroded by silversmiths everywhere, its mercenaries becoming fickle and disloyal, its leadership losing its edge and sanity in equal measures, Emperor Constantine the Great (2...

PharmaFiles By Aussie17 June 15, 2023

Hold onto your seats, folks, because a few hours ago, Daniel Horowitz from Conservative Review unleashed Pfizers Post Marketing Adverse Event Report [SOURCE].

The numbers were staggering, with 1.6 million adverse events jumping off the page. But guess what? The actual report from Pfizer is even more shocking.

It seems like Daniel may have reported the figures for the report interval, covering the period between December 2021 and June 2022. However, when you dig into the cumulative data from December 2020 to June 2022, the adverse event count skyrockets to almost 5 million. Talk about a jaw-dropping revelation!

Click to enlarge

If youre curious about the nitty-gritty details, check out the tabulation of Serious and Non-Serious Adverse Events. What you really want to focus on is the C column, which represents the cumulative cases from December 2020 to June 2022. This column reveals the serious adverse events, including those categorized as Death, Life Threatening, or resulting in Disability/Permanent Damage. You can read the full definition from FDA here)

Heres the link to the tabulation of Serious and Non-Serious Adverse Events.

Heres an example of Neoplasms (i.e. malignant neoplasms means cancer).

Total neoplasms reported = 3092.

The Financial Times has reviewed my book, The Palestine Laboratory, and it feels like 7/10. Written by journalist Mehul Srivastava, I disagree with many of his criticisms but thats the life of an author.

Heres the intro:

Warfare is, among many things, a spectacular advertisement for weapons, especially in the age of television. Having watched Israels Iron Dome missiles streak over Tel Aviv hunting down Hamas rockets, the Ukrainian government contacted its Israeli counterpart last October, hoping to buy the air defence system to fend off the Iranian drones swarming their skies.

If theyd read Antony Loewensteins The Palestine Laboratory, they would have known not to bother. The tiny countrys weapons exports, which hit just over $11bn in 2021, are a means to an end, he argues. Despots and dictators are welcome to them, so long as they serve a geopolitical necessity.

Read the whole thing: The Israeli weapons and spyware falling into the hands of despots | Financial Times

The post The Financial Times reviews The Palestine Laboratory appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

To the LGBTQI+ Community the Biden-Harris Administration has your back. pic.twitter.com/ZlUNwWOcch

The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 13, 2023

President Joe Biden admitted the truth the government is claiming your children as their own.

Speaking on his favorite topic, the LGBTQ community, Biden addressed the nation in a disturbing video posted on Twitter that states:

To the LGBTQI+ Community the Biden-Harris Administration has your back. These are our kids. These are our neighbors. Not somebody elses kids; theyre all our kids. And our children are the kite strings that hold our national ambitions aloft. It matters a great deal how we treat everyone in this country. LGBTQ Americans, especially children, you are loved, you are heard, and this administration has your back.

Hillary Clinton has a famous line that says it takes a village to raise children, and everyone cheered, thinking she meant having a strong community. Now, the Democrats are taking it further than any leader would go other than perhaps Kim Jung-Un. Well, I am not sure that he would even permit childhood castration. The American public schools want to indoctrinate your children from an early age. This is why they are refusing to listen to the parents who are pleading with teachers not to teach their kindergarteners about pronouns and sex. The government under Biden is passing laws permitting children to make life-altering decisions without their parents consent. In fact, they are working to punish parents who do not cave to the woke agenda. The government is taking away parental rights entirely.

They are not your kids, Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted in reply. You are the government. They are NOT your kids, Elon Musk tweeted in a message that now has over 416K likes. This should concern everyone. Bidens message was specifically targeting troubled youth. Feel misunderstood by your parents after years of education indoctrination? Turn to the government to be your family.

Sorry, but Biden failed to raise his own kids. STAY AWAY FROM OUR KIDS.

@republicanrefl...

Writer and author Naomi Klein has written a new column in the Guardian about the US presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr where she methodically debunks his populist appeal.

Im grateful for her mention, when discussing Kennedys blind embrace of Israel, of my new book:

Myth #3: He is anti-war and pro-human rights.

Kennedy is most persuasive when opposing US military intervention abroad, or when he is discussing the humanitarian cost of the war in Ukraine, and calling for a peaceful settlement. But how seriously should we take his pacifism and human rights concerns? One hint rests in the blanket supporthe offers the Israeli government, one of the top recipients of aid from the US military industrial complex he decries, and a nation consistently unwilling to entertain peace with justice, while escalating tensions with Iran. Have a look at Antony Loewensteins latest, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, for an indispensable accounting.

This position alone should cause Kennedys supporters to question his supposedly antiwar, anti-surveillance stance. So should his increasingly reactionary position on border controls. Kennedy talks a good game condemning the US for overthrowing democratically elected governments abroad and destabilizing entire regions.

The post Naomi Klein on the indispensable Palestine Laboratory appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

Australians are working harder for less under Anthony Albanese and his government. pic.twitter.com/CaKYJEfKSQ Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) June 15, 2023

In the finest traditions of The Regiment: Had anyone of us been wounded, that would have been the end, as we would never have left a mate behind. With sadness we received the news of the passing of Michael Ruffin OAM. Joining the Australian Army at 18 years old, Mr...

The growing public distrust of the mainstream media is an issue that should concern all living and breathing citizens (and yes, there are often good reasons for it).

Its an issue I discuss in this interview on The Jist podcast along with my new book, The Palestine Laboratory, and mass surveillance.

I previously appeared on The Jist in 2020 talking about disaster capitalism.

The post Why so many people dont believe what they see and hear appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

Israeli company Cellebrite sells a phone hacking tool thats ubiquitous across the world including in Australia.

Its an issue I investigate in my new book, The Palestine Laboratory.

Heres my interview with ABC Radio Australia in Sydney and Canberra where I discuss Cellebrite and other mass surveillance tools that exist in the West with barely any public awareness.

The interview starts at 1:19:53.

The post ABC Radio Sydney interview on Israeli hacking tool, Cellebrite appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

What Is Our Relationship With "Dirt"?

Big surprise (or not)! Dirt is everywhere! We assume that we in the West are living "clean" lives but if you look at the air on a sunny day in New York where I am you will see an extremely dense cloud of dust!

Seeing that, if we then got motivated enough to analyze what is going into our lungs as we go about our day "on the town," wed probably faint. What are those dust particles made of? Bits from garbage dumps? Car tires and wall paint? Other pedestrians hair and skin? Microplastics from masks? Geoengineering sprays?

Whatever the composition, we are breathing it all in and amazingly, we just keep walking like Energizer bunnies. Personally, I consider it a major compliment to how resilient and beautiful our bodies are!

By the way, just in case, let me make it clear: the dramatic description of dust was not an advertisement for smart masks, lol although I imagine that soon enough the WEF crowd will use the fact of tremendous air pollution as a "reason" to try and dress us all up in smart cattlewear. And why wouldnt they? They quite love cattlewear on peasants, so ...

Back to dust. It turns out that dust has some pretty "interesting" stuff in it. According to a 2009 report by NPR, to this day, some dust contains DDT, despite the chemical being banned decades ago. And according to this 2021 Conversation article, some dust is natural, coming from rocks, soils and even space. At the same time, the DustSafe program in Australia, for example, revealed that house dust could contain substances like these:

• Trace metals
• Radioactive elements
• Antibiotic resistant genes (genes that make bacteria resistant to antibiotics)
• Microplastics and
• Perfluorinated chemicals (PFAS) found in fire-fighting foams, stain and water protection for fabrics and carpets, some packaging and other sources

As they say, sometimes, innocence is bliss .....

Editor's Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published April 29, 2018.

Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) have been shown to cause biological damage and even cancer, but exactly how does this happen? In this interview, Paul Hroux, Ph.D., a researcher and professor of toxicology and health effects of electromagnetism at the faculty of medicine at McGill University in Montreal, helps answer that question.

Originally trained as a physicist, he eventually ended up studying electrical power transmission lines, the topic of his Ph.D., and in the course of working for a power utility, he started investigating the health effects associated with the fields emitted from power lines.

"I got involved in biology, followed courses in medicine and became, so to speak, a different person from what my supervisors initially would have expected me to be," he says. In time, he became a specialist on the effects of magnetic fields on the human body, and joined the Faculty of Medicine to help protect health and the environment.

Types of EMFs

Broadly speaking, EMFs include electric, magnetic and radio frequency fields. While the literature tends to discriminate between low-frequency fields, high-frequency fields, microwaves, electric fields and magnetic fields, all of these have certain commonalities that allow you to lump them together, at least in terms of their biological action.

"It's true that frequency influences the effects," Hroux says, "but basically I could, using an electric field or a magnetic field, produce the same effect in a cell. Most higher frequency signals have enough low-frequency components to have a lot in common with low-frequency components.

The practical aspect of this is that usually the fields have an effect maybe in one application, but they are mirrored in other applications as well. There's a type of great unifying view that you can have about these fields."

Nonthermal Effects Matter

It's important to realize that the damage EMFs cause has nothing to do with thermal effects. At typical exposures, EMFs do not create heat, which has been the telecommunication industry's main defense and argument for the safety of cellphone radiation. However, hundreds of researchers have in fact noted biological effects both at low and high frequencies.

"Covering the whole spectrum, there is no doubt that there are biological effects," Hroux says, adding "There's no doubt there are substantial health effects that we have been experiencing for a long time, and that have been increasing our health bills.

Initially,...

Already temporarily removed from a divorce case, Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze is slated to answer new allegations by June 22.

Contributed from Victoria

German industrial company K+S has submitted a proposal to build a saltworks in the Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia. Reaction from conservationists opposed to the 2,600 square kilometre project by the worlds largest salt company has been swift. The plan is to produce 4.7 million tonnes of salt per year in the nationally listed wetland, one of the last undisturbed arid-zone wetland ecosystems along the coast.

Salt ponds walls will be built over the nationally listed wetlands, which could disrupt the ecosystems nutrient flows via tidal or flood waters into the gulf and disrupt the marine food chain.

Photo by Andre Rerekura: Urala Creek at the top of the Exmouth Gulf will be part of the development footprint

The proposal has bee submitted to the environment Protection Authority (EPA). Almost 15 years ago, the EPA rejected a similar project, because the evidence suggested the environmental harm could be serious. This time the company has enlisted the support of dome local business interests and managed to get an agreement from some local First Nations people, and the outcome is not certain.

Opponents say the K+S plan will risk the discharge of toxic hypersaline water from the salt ponds, which will kill highly sensitive mangroves and harm marine animals, such as critically endangered sawfish and shovelnose rays living in the nearby creeks and marine waters.

Rejection of the earlier project resulted in a set of recommendations. They led the McGowen government to introduce protective measures for the region, which included the establishment of a new marine park for the eastern and southern parts of the Gulf, and A status for areas of significance. This was a recognition of the need to protect the Exmouth Gulf. The K+S proposal flies in the face of this.

Local conservation group Protect Ningaloo wants to see the project stopped. Its director, Paul Gamblin, said it poses too many risks to the local environment.

And people suck, too.  Something I was reminded of today, disaster from 1973:

Last Tree of Tnr

The Tnr wastelands of northeastern Niger were once populated by a forest of trees. By the 20th century, desertification had wiped out all but one solitary acacia.

The Tree of Tnr, as it came to be called, had no companions for 400 kilometers in every direction. Its roots reached nearly 40 meters deep into the sand.

The tree had become a sacred object among the nomadic Tuareg people that would pass by it on their journeys, never using it for firewood, or allowing their camels to graze on it. As more desert explorers came across the shockingly hardy plant, it became quite well known and was even included as a landmark on European military maps of the otherwise desolate expanse during the 1930s. When Michel Lesourd of the Central Service of Saharan Affairs first came upon the tree in 1939, he wrote:

One must see the Tree to believe its existence. What is its secret? How can it still be living in spite of the multitudes of camels which trample at its sides? How at each azalai does not a lost camel eat its leaves and thorns? Why dont the numerous Touareg leading the salt caravans cut its branches to make fires to brew their tea? The only answer is that the tree is taboo and considered as such by the caravaniers. There is a kind of superstition, a tribal order which is always respected. Each year the azalai gather round the Tree before facing the crossing of the Tnr. The Acacia has become a living lighthouse; it is the first or the last landmark for the azalai leaving Agadez for Bilma, or returning.

The Most Isolated Tree in the World Was Killed by a (Probably Drunk) Driver

For around 300 years, the Tree of Tnr was fabled to be the most isolated tree on the planet. The acacia was the only tree for 250 miles in Nigers Sahara desert, and was used as a landmark by travelers and caravans passing through the hostile terrain. The tree sprouted when the desert was a slightly more hospitable place, and for years was the sole testament to a once-greener Sahara.

In the 1930s, the tree was featured on official maps for European military campaigners, and a French ethnologist Henri Lhote called it, an Acacia with a degenerative trunk, sick or ill in aspect. But he noted, as well, that nevertheless, the tree has nice green leaves, and some yellow...

By Tony Kevin | Consortium News | June 13, 2023

Canberra On Friday The Guardian Australia website carried a news report, with a follow-up piece on Monday, whose implications for free speech are profoundly disturbing.

They concern a Radio New Zealand, or RNZ, broadcasting employee unnamed, but everyone in the small New Zealand broadcasting world will soon know who it is who has been placed on leave while their professional conduct is investigated.  Obviously, a career hangs in the balance.

The malign ghosts of Orwells 1984 stalk this story.

Russian Garbage

This unnamed person in RNZ committed the cardinal sin of inappropriate editing of incoming Reuters news feeds on the war in Ukraine to insert Russian garbage in the contemptuous words of Paul Thompson, chief executive of RNZ. That is to say, they drew on Russian news sources to insert balancing pro-Russian material to the incoming Western news agency feeds.

The Guardian tells us that in fact accurate information about Ukraine was added to the Reuters copy:

The articles in question made a range of amendments: adding the word coup to describe the Maidan revolution; changing a description of Ukraines former pro-Russian president to read pro-Russian elected government; adding references to a pro-western government that had suppressed ethnic Russians; and on several occasions adding references to Russian concerns about neo-Nazi elements in Ukraine.

And more truth was added to the story, The Guardian says:

In one article, a paragraph was added reading: The Kremlin also said its invasion was sparked by a failure to implement the Minsk agreement peace accords, designed to give Russia speakers autonomy and protection, and the rise of a neo-Nazi element in Ukraine since a coup ousted a Russian-friendly Ukrainian government in 2014.

Another added that Russia launched its invasion claiming that a US-backed coup in 2014 with the help of neo-Nazis had created a threat to its borders and had ignited a civil war that saw Russian-speaking minorities persecuted.

This, it seems, is an offence not...