More carmakers caught in headlights of VW engine-rigging scandal

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Volkswagen has admitted it installed illegal software into 11 million 2.0 liter and 3.0 liter diesel engines worldwide (AFP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Volkswagen emissions scandal

Iran's 'catastrophic mistake': Speculation, pressure, then admission

Iran's 'catastrophic mistake': Speculation, pressure, then admission
Analsyts say it is irresponsible to link the crash of a Ukraine International Airline Boeing 737-800 to the 737 MAX accidents (AFP Photo/INA FASSBENDER)

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts
A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 commercial jet.

QZ8501 (AirAsia)

Leaders see horror of French Alps crash as probe gathers pace

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Indonesia to boost military role in disaster relief

Google / AFP

JAKARTA (AFP) — In a land hit by one natural disaster after another, Indonesia's armed forces must shift their focus from the battlefield to emergency and relief efforts, its defence minister said Wednesday.

In an interview with AFP, Juwono Sudarsono said most of Indonesia's defence spending in the next decade would go on improving its transport capability to better respond to emergencies.

There are certainly plenty of those.

Earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, floods and fires are a virtually daily feature of life in this vast archipelago nation, which sits on the so-called Pacific "ring of fire" where continental plates meet.

The deadliest recent event was the December 2004 tsunami spawned by a quake which swept the Indian Ocean, killing 168,000 people in the northern point of Indonesia's Sumatra island.

Sudarsono said he foresaw that in the next 10 to 15 years, the role of the defence forces would be particularly important in terms of delivering relief and aid to stricken areas.

"Looking ahead, for 10 years ahead in this ring of fire, and with tectonic plates underneath us, the bulk of our defence spending would be on transport capability for emergency responses," he said.

That would include air and land transport as well as a sealift capability, he added in the interview, conducted entirely in English in his office.

By man-made disasters, he said, he meant conflicts that were "endemic" in outer islands such as the Moluccas and other troublespots.

"The bulk of our budget for the period for 2005-2010 is, in fact, more for transport and airlift capacity, and sealift," Sudarsono said.

He said the military were quickest to respond to disaster, with airplanes and helicopters commandeered by the government for initial search and rescue efforts as well as providing aid supplies.

"As exemplified by the post-tsunami relief efforts, the army, the navy and the air force were first on the scene with transport ships, helicopters," he said.

Sudarsono was educated in Britain and the United States and has served in different administrations back to the regime of former dictator Suharto.

Now 65, he says the armed forces -- 316,000 personnel across the army, navy and air force -- are run on a modest annual budget of 3.2 billion dollars.

Its delivery capacity suffered greatly under a military embargo imposed by Washington after a bloody 1991 massacre in Indonesia-occupied East Timor.

The embargo has been lifted, but 15 of its fleet of 21 Hercules transport airplanes remain out of operation.

"We are focusing on the Hercules because we have about 21 planes and about three quarters of them are grounded because of the lack of spares," Sudarsono said, adding that the air force was prioritizing their refitting.

Traditionally reliant on the West -- notably the United States -- for its military equipment, Indonesia has since a decade ago sought to diversify its sources, Sudarsono said.

The Indonesian and Russian presidents inked a billion-dollar arms deal in September under which Jakarta is buying helicopters, tanks and submarines.

It came a month after Indonesia had signed another deal worth 354 million dollars to buy six Sukhoi-30 fighter jets from Moscow.

Sudarsono said he would also be visiting China in early November to sign a defence cooperation agreement that could include a joint production programme, again focusing on transport.

He said the military shopping spree was not aimed at boosting Indonesia's strike capability.

"We would just like to maintain what we call technological parity with the fighters that are existing in the region, be it Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand," adding that in terms of quantity, the Indonesian air force had "just the bare minimum."

"That is all that we can afford," he said. "I am running one of the best underpaid defence forces in Southeast Asia."

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