Environmental protesters are preparing to camp for a second night in London's Trafalgar Square ahead of the Copenhagen summit on climate change.
The Camp for Climate Action said more than 100 demonstrators stayed overnight despite poor weather, after pitching their tents on Saturday.
Organisers said the "elitist and undemocratic" summit would push "false solutions" such as carbon trading.
On Monday, officials from 192 countries begin talks in Denmark's capital.
Direct action
The Metropolitan Police said they had been told the camp would remain in place for 48 hours.
Anna Markova of Camp for Climate Action said spirits were high in Trafalgar Square "even though people are quite wet and cold".
She added: "What we are doing today is highlighting the fact that the kind of solutions proposed by our government are not going to do anything.
"We're calling for more people to come and join us."
Organisers said the camp would stage film showings, vegan meals, workshops and live music, as well as providing activists with space to plan direct action.
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Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Climate camp set for second night in Trafalgar Square
Barbie converts to Islam
From an editorial for the Washington Times
Western culture has lost another battle in the clash of civilizations as Barbie dons the burqa. Burkha Barbie, by Italian designer Eliana Lorena, will be among the dolls auctioned by Sotheby's in a benefit for the nongovernment charity Save the Children. The message to little girls worldwide: Abandon all hope.
Barbie has long been a source of controversy. Critics have taken the iconic doll to task for implicitly promoting an unrealistic body image among young girls. In 1992, Teen Talk Barbie was denounced for saying, "I love shopping!" among other things. This year's Totally Stylin' Tattoos Barbie comes complete with a tasteless "tramp stamp" on her back.
But the upside of Barbie and the image Mattel has cultivated is inspiring the notion of unlimited possibilities. Barbie could be anything a girl wanted her to be - a lawyer, a doctor, an astronaut, a homemaker. By extension, this prompts girls to develop lofty aspirations in a society that accepts and nurtures them.
Barbie, however, is viewed as a threat in the Middle East, where subjugation of women is a cherished practice. Western cultural influence in general threatens this "peculiar institution," and Barbie has been singled out as a particularly corrupting influence.
Saudi Arabia banned Barbie in September 2003. The government Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice denounced Barbie's "revealing clothing, lewd postures and accessories" as "symbols of decadence of the perverted West." The Saudis also claimed Barbie is Jewish. "Let us beware of her dangers and be careful," the commission warned.
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Surge to strain supply lines
Afghan War Costs U.S. Far More per Troop Than Iraq
Andrew Scutro reports for Defense News
With presidential orders to surge 30,000 troops into Afghanistan at "the fastest possible pace," in early 2010, U.S. logisticians and planners are scrambling to coordinate the movement of units and tons of materiel over thousands of miles into an exceedingly prohibitive environment.
Although military logisticians had been prepping for months against the possibility of a surge, detailed planning began only after President Barack Obama announced the new strategy Dec. 1. Senior leaders say it's too early to estimate the price tag of moving the new forces rapidly into a landlocked Asian country.
"We have not figured out any of the transportation costs yet, and I really wouldn't want to give a guess at that right now," said Army Brig. Gen. Michael Lally, director of operations and plans at U.S. Transportation Command.
Lally said calculations on airlift and support requirements will not be made until after the Pentagon issues a detailed deployment plan and schedule, which should be available in mid-December.
They won't come cheap.
Delivering just one Army brigade combat team of more than 3,500 troops to Bagram in northern Afghanistan requires a massive airlift of people and weapons to be carefully coordinated with gear-laden, contractor-operated convoys that debark at Karachi and crawl 1,250 miles over vulnerable Pakistan supply routes.
"Afghanistan is an incredibly tough area to deploy forces into," Lally said in a Dec. 3 conference call with defense reporters, "because you've only got a couple airfields you can fly into and going into Karachi and up that [ground route] is a challenge, so we'll work that very closely."
With 71,000 troops there now, recent experience may serve as a guide to effort and expense. In fiscal 2009, the Pentagon spent $4 billion to move troops and gear into Afghanistan: $2 billion for air transport, $120 million for sealift and the balance for port-handling and inland transport, according to figures the Defense Department provided to Congress.
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image from http://www.spitting-image.net
