'Progress' in japan -- hold that thought

if you were worried about the fukashima nuclear catastrophe, think happy thoughts and it all goes away:

"Stocks in industries affected by Japan’s worst earthquake on record climbed today amid signs the country is making progress bringing the crisis at a stricken nuclear plant under control. Japan’s markets were closed for a public holiday today." Bloomberg

it's been a bit of a roller coaster in the coverage, with reports of smoke rising from the stricken reactors and TEPCO withdrawing workers, counterposed against the more upbeat assurances from mogul media that it's all blue sky and sunshine.

what else do you expect from business interests which stand to profit from reconstruction, and the usual market frenzy that accompanies disaster capitalism? the food and water supply may be contaminated, and there's a very real possibility that much of northern japan may become uninhabitable, but that's no reason to be a sourpuss!

wake up and smell the roses!

frankly, i see a story that's being seriously buried in the press. the libyan adventure may be a diversion and distraction more than a true international crisis -- a classic case of misdirection.

the global energy cartel is more concerned about its nuclear ambitions being thwarted than they are about 1 percent of the global oil supply being temporarily taken offline. there were billions of taxpayer dollars in the pipeline from obama to jumpstart reactor construction in the US before this "temporary setback" scenario arose. when you talk nuclear, you're talking large to these guys.

take a look at the main "coalition partners" in this dust-up. france, UK, US, italy, all economically sick men of western colonial hegemony who cannot afford expensive, protracted military adventures. this is a risky gambit, but one they seem willing to take with an eye to shoring up their long-term prospects.

if they lose momentum on the road to nuclearization of their energy supply, they'll be hard pressed to make up for it down the road. to them the real nuclear disaster is not building more nuclear plants!