Organised crime entrenched in the Japanese nuclear industry
When asked what were the major differences between the yakuza and TEPCO the same Senator paused for a minute. “The primary difference between TEPCO and the yakuza is they have different corporate logos.” He explained, “They both are essentially criminal organizations that place profits above the safety and welfare of the residents where they operate; they both exploit their workers
The Yakuza and the Nuclear Mafia: Nationalization Looms for TEPCO Atlantic Wire, JAKE ADELSTEIN, 31 Dec 11, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the monolithic corporation that controls all electric power in Greater Tokyo, and runs the Fukushima Daichii nuclear plant that experienced a triple meltdown following the March 11 earthquake, is on the brink of nationalization according to Japanese government sources.
The official reason is that the firm may not be able to handle the massive compensation payments it owes to victims of the meltdown without going bankrupt.
Unofficially, the firm has such long-standing ties to anti-social forces, including the yakuza—that some members of the Diet, Japan’s national legislature, feel the firm is beyond salvation and needs to be taken over and cleaned up. A Japanese Senator with the Liberal Democratic Party stated on background, “TEPCO’s involvement with anti-social forces and their inability to filter them out of the work-place is a national security issue. It is one reason that increasingly in the Diet we are talking de facto nationalization of the company. Nuclear energy shouldn’t be in the hands of the yakuza. They’re gamblers and an intelligent person doesn’t want them to have atomic dice to play with.”
In June we reported that yakuza were working at the Fukushima nuclear power plant as cleanup crews and manual labor, but the post-meltdown yakuza ties were only the tip of the iceberg. This month, a new book was published, Yakuza and The Nuclear Industry: Diary of An Undercover Reporter Working at the Fukushima Plant (ヤクザと原発-福島第一潜入記-鈴木-智彦) in which a former yakuza fan magazine editor Tomohiko Suzuki reports on the nuclear business-industrial-political and media complex in Japan known as the “nuclear mafia” and Japan’s actual mafia: the yakuza. The book is already generating controversy and renewed examination of Japan’s “dark empire” and its ties to the underworld. It presents more solid pieces of evidence that Japan’s nuclear industry is a black hole of criminal malfeasance, incompetence, and corruption. Read more »
A note on THE YAKUZA, Japan’s organised crime mob
“…. The yakuza’s influence is more pervasive and more accepted within Japanese society than organized crime is in America, and the yakuza have a firm and long-standing political alliance with Japan’s right-wing nationalists. In addition to the typical vice crimes associated with organized crime everywhere, the yakuza are well ensconced in the corporate world. Their influence extends beyond Japanese borders and into other Asian countries, and even into the United States. …” http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/yakuza/1.html
Nuclear colonialism? Australia sells uranium to India, Russia sells the nuclear weaponry
India is currently completing the development of its own Arihant-class nuclear-powered ballistic submarines …The 8,140-tonne vessel can fire a range of torpedoes as well as Granat cruise missiles that can be nuclear-tipped…..
Newspaper reports in India said New Delhi may end up paying as much as $900 million under the terms of the deal.
Russia hands over Nerpa nuclear sub to India (AFP) Khaleej Times, 30 December 2011 MOSCOW — Russia has handed over the nuclear-powered attack submarine Nerpa to India Read more »
Chinese owned company to ship uranium concentrates to Shanghai
Australia’s Energy Metals to Ship Uranium Concentrates to Shanghai, Commodities and Futures 30 Dec11, By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | Australia will be soon seeing its first uranium concentrate shipment, after Chinese-owned Energy Metals signed an agreement to ship third-party uranium from Adelaide to its parent company in Shanghai.
China Guangdong Nuclear Power Co. (CGNPC) owns 60 per cent of Australian-listed Energy Metals. It is one of two Chinese companies authorized to import and export uranium in China, Energy Metals will export 150,000 pounds (68 tonnes) of uranium oxide concentrate to Shanghai at $53 a pound, no later than April 30, 2012.
Energy Metals, however, will not identify the seller of the $8 million shipment. Energy Metals said it is still discussing with CGNPC to sell the concentrate, where it expects to generate a profit from the sale. Before the Fukushima nuclear disaster affected uranium markets, Energy
Metals had received federal government approval to export third-party uranium.
Data from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade showed that since 2006, uranium expors to China have been controlled. The first was in 2008 by Energy Resources of Australia, while BHP made a trial in 2009. Uranium displacements from Australia last year reached a record 431 tonnes. However, this represents only 7 per cent of the 5,926 tonnes transferred, where half went to the US. http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/274333/20111230/australia-s-energy-metals-ship-uranium-concentrates.htm
Nuclear Lies Australia – theme for January 2012
For Australia, lying on matters nuclear is a long tradition. Never more so than now, Australia, being a strategic colony of the USA, and a commercial colony of the multinational corporations.
The current nuclear lies and coverups in Australia are in general, the same as in the global lying.
However, there are some lies and coverups that are special to Australia, for example:
- The lie that the uranium industry has a great future – even as uranium prices continue their downward spiral, and nuclear power falters worldwide
- The lie that renewable energy, solar, wind – is just not suitable, ( indeed wind is “unhealthy”), for Australia
- The lie that the planned nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory is needed for “nuclear medicine”
- The continued coverup of plans being hatched by greedy persons to make Australia the repositary for international radioactive wastes – this one includes the lie that Australia needs the full nuclear fuel cycle.
It’s not that hard to understand the motivations of prominent Australians who promote these ideas, – fame, power, money , these are great motivators- a few examples are pictured:
Martin Ferguson –political puppet of the nuclear lobby.Ziggy Switkowski -famous as the mouthpiece of the nuclear lobby . Tony Abbott – will doanything to become Prime Minister. Barry Brook - famous as the spokesman for nuclear as the cure for climate change. Julia Gillard – apparently will doanything to stay Prime Minister. Marius Kloppers - famous as the great BHP man presiding over plans for the world’s biggest uranium mine. Paul Howes – anything to have a big career in politics. John White - keen to make an awful lotta money from importing radioactive wastes. Bill Shorten – anything to become Prime Minister
But there are plenty of others – examples – what about washed up old politicians – Alexander Downer, and Prime Ministers Bob Hawke and John Howard?- anything to stay in the public eye.
What about the straight out greed of John White’s other pals, – Hugh Morgan, Ron Walker and Robert de Crespigny. setting up their company to import nuclear wastes, while piously proclaiming it’s for the good of Australia?
This month
For international news, go to nuclear-news ion for Western Australia’s energy future
http://ifyoulovethisplanet.org/?p=5755 Mary Olson on how women are more vulnerable to atomic radiation
- Muckaty Gathering 25 May 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1J9q-OeEO4 - NuclearKop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpMhhzkeYjk
Anti nuclear action below: - more info at Action Australia « Antinuclear and at Event details « Antinuclear
- http://www.communityrun.org/petitions/put-the-brakes-on-toxic-trucks-no-nuclear-waste-at-muckaty
- Online Petition - against the proposed national radioactive waste dump at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory http://www.gopetition.com.au/petitions/no-nuclear-waste-dump-at-muckaty.htmlUranium Free WA Sign the online charter saying no to uranium mining in Western Australia http://ccwa.org.au/takeaction/uraniumnotforsaleSIGN THE PETITION TO STOP LYNAS RARE EARTH EXPORTS TO MALAYSIA http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ban-rare-earth-exports/
EVENTS
- May 29 – Melbourne - Amnesty International panel on weapons and war .
- May 29 – 30 Melbourne - Wind Farms conference
- May 30 Darwin - expert Panel on Nuclear Waste Dump plan for Muckaty
- June 2 - Nuclear Abolition Day
- June 13 - Melbourne -Lizards Revenge -Shut Roxby Down
- June 14 Melbourne Beyond Zero Emissions ZCA 2020 plan.
- June 19 - Melbourne Public meeting US FORCES IN AUSTRALIA: SECURITY OR THREAT? USforcesflyer-2.pdf
The Nuclear/uranium industry and WOMEN - theme for May 2012
Deceptive information given to women about breast cancer. Women are repeatedly told about “genetic causes”, about “risks of obesity:. about “diet factors”, about “not having babies”, or “having a baby at a later age” even about “stress” – as causes of breast cancer. The not so subtle message is that it is THEIR FAULT – a problem caused by the individual woman, so – the only preventive actions must be those made by individual women.
The facts are otherwise. The single most proven cause of breast cancer is ionising radiation. After that, other environmental causes exist, amongst the wash of chemicals, and synthetic hormones, that pervade our environment. After that – probably some hereditary susceptability, amongst some women.
Why is this so? One could conclude that breast cancer is a growth industry. There’s money at every point in this sorry cycle – from the radiation from nuclear fuel through to the medical radiation used to detect and treat breast cancer. There is no money clearly involved in shutting down a toxic industry, and preventing millions of breast cancers.
How does ionising radiation cause breast cancer? Ionising radiation comes in several forms. for example, Gamma rays, x-rays, and some sub-atomic particles such as alpha particles and protons In ionising radiation, a tiny electron is released from an atom, and enters a body cell, hitting the DNA in the cell’s nucleus, and damaging it. The damaged DNA sends out ‘wrong’ messages telling the cell to divide in an uncontrolled manner – cancer develops.
“...the time between radiation exposure and breast cancer development is longest in young women and shortest for older women; young children do not show a detectable elevation in breast cancer occurrence for some 35 to 40 years after exposure. Radiation-induced breast cancers appear to occur later in life during the same ages when breast cancer rates, in general, begin to increase. It appears that a single exposure of sufficient dose during early life can increase breast cancer risk even 50 years later...
the relationship between radiation dose and breast cancer risk can be described by a straight line which implies that no matter how low the dose, there is some small risk associated with the exposure.…
The risk of subsequent breast cancer from very high doses is lower than that which might be expected from the effects of lower doses. This is because radiation at high doses is an effective killer of cells and dead cells are not able to develop into cancer…..
Young girls are at highest risk …when a young girl is exposed to radiation, she will have menstrual cycles for several decades that might enhance the development of any underlying damage caused by the radiation. There is evidence to suggest that exposure to the immature breast during early development, and around the age of beginning menstruation, carries a higher risk than at other times of a woman’s life.
It is unclear how radiation exposure of the breast during pregnancy affects a woman’s breast cancer risk. However, a recent study of women treated for Hodgkin’s disease concluded that pregnancy might be a time of increased sensitivity of breast tissue to the cancercausing effects of radiation……”
.” John D Boyce, Jr, DSc, Scientific Director,Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors in New York State.. Ionizing Radiation and Breast Cancer Risk
