Trump’s stealth North Korea move sidelines China, could be game-changer

President Donald Trump and China’s Xi JInping in Florida.

 

Just how the shape of the new global strategic architecture will settle out as the framework for the 21st Century is still open to challenge, but the key dynamic — the initial door to that new world — is now being opened by a deliberately-orchestrated U.S.-North Korea confrontation.

What is emerging beyond this door is an overarching strategic alternative to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) démarche of “One Belt, One Road” dominance of the Eurasian and Indo-Pacific geopolitical space, and an alternative, or balance, to the PRC’s reach into Africa and the Americas.

The confrontation between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean (DPRK) leader Kim Jong-Un is very much just between those two leaders, with the People’s Republic of China somewhat marginalized. Beijing is now fighting to find a path into this equation.

Pumped beyond limits, many U.S. aquifers in decline

Nationwide analysis shows depletion of groundwater widespread and worsening

SUBLETTE, Kansas – Just before 3 a.m., Jay Garetson’s phone buzzed on the bedside table. He picked it up and read the text: “Low Pressure Alert.”

He felt a jolt of stress and his chest tightened. He dreaded what that automated message probably meant: With the water table dropping, another well on his family’s farm was starting to suck air.

The Garetson family has been farming in the plains of southwestern Kansas for four generations, since 1902. Now they face a hard reality. The groundwater they depend on is disappearing. Their fields could wither. Their farm might not survive for the next generation.

TTIP and CETA Would ‘Remove People’s Rights From Basic Human Needs’

The controversial TTIP and CETA trade deals could leave people’s access to basic rights such as water and energy at the mercy of large multinational corporations as part of a wholesale takeover of public services, a new report has warned.

The ‘Public Services Under Attack’ report, released by a group of international NGOs and trade unions, claims that the CETA and TTIP trade deals, being negotiated between the EU, and Canada and the US respectively, would expose public services to highly damaging “commercialization” from multinational corporations.

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While the UK government has previously stated that “TTIP will not change the way that the NHS, or other public services, is run,” the report has raised questions over the legitimacy of such claims, pointing out the ‘negative list’ approach to public services in the CETA deal.

California property values collapse as water shut-offs begin… wealthy community to go dry in days… real estate implosion now inevitable Wednesday, June 17, 2015

(NaturalNews) Water shut-offs have now begun in California, where government-ordered restrictions are starting to leave large communities high and dry. As CBS News is now reporting, the Mountain House community of 15,000 residents will run out of water in just a matter of days.

“The community’s sole source of water, the Byron-Bethany Irrigation District, was one of 114 senior water rights holders cut off by a curtailment notice from the state on Friday,” reports CBS.

And just like that, the property values of millions of dollars worth of homes belonging to 15,000 residents nosedives toward zero.

Leaking Las Vegas

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas… apart from the water. As the following interactive chart from ProPublica shows, water usage in the greater Las Vegas region has more than doubled in the last 40 years and with the drought conditions, every reservoir is near record lows. Welcome To Las Vegas (while water supplies last).

Click here for large interactive version

Vegas Water History

1905    The Las Vegas Land and Water Company is formed to build and operate groundwater wells which the city then depended on for decades.

1922    The seven basin states sign the Colorado River Compact, estimating the river’s annual supply at 18 million acre-feet of water and dividing 15 million acre-feet between the northern and southern states. The river would eventually prove to flow with just 14.8 million acre-feet a year.

California’s green living delusion collapses as residents start spray painting their lawns green

(NaturalNews) California’s green living delusion is collapsing by the day. As the drought worsens, and lawns everywhere have turned to crispy brown dead zones, desperate residents are hiring companies to spray paint their lawns green.

As the Daily Mail reports:

As California is mired by its fourth year of drought, one industry has sprouted up from the seemingly endless dry spell.

In an effort to brighten up dry and unsightly lawns, some landscapers have been offering the innovative solution of painting lawns green.

LawnLift… is now a leading provider of lawn paint for homeowners, hoteliers, wedding planners and others who want to change the look of their drought-stricken grass.

California’s water crisis is coming soon to the rest of America

 

As drought, flooding, and climate change restrict America’s water supply, demands from population growth and energy production look set to increase, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

These two changes squeeze our natural water reserves from both directions. The stress is becoming clear and will soon manifest as water scarcity problems all over our country.

Leaking Las Vegas: Lake Mead Water Levels Continue To Crash

 

The last time we looked at Las Vegas water supply, the comments from professionals were “Vegas is screwed,” and unless water levels in Lake Mead rise by 7%, “it’s as bad as you can imagine.” The bad news… Water levels in Lake Mead have never been lower for this time of year – and this is before the Summer heat seasonal plunge takes effect.

We noted previously, as with many things in Sin City, the apparently endless supply of water is an illusion.

California overdue for major earthquake that could cripple water supply system, new study says

Three fault segments running beneath Northern California and its roughly 15 million people are overdue for a major earthquake, including one that lies northeast of San Francisco and near the dams and canals that supply much of the state’s water, according to a geological study published Monday.

The three segments and one other in Northern California are loaded with enough tension to produce quakes of magnitude 6.8 or greater, according to a geological study published Monday, according to a geological study published Monday.

Ethiopia Ignores Egyptian Warnings on Nile

JERUSALEM — Defying threats of war emanating from Egypt, Ethiopia’s parliament has endorsed an agreement with five other African countries refuting Egypt’s claim to near-exclusive rights to the waters of the Nile River.

The vote last Thursday was approved unanimously by the 547-member legislature after Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said that Egypt’s leaders would not go to war unless they “go mad.”

Cairo: Cabinet Minister Talks of War with US, Israel

An Obama administration overturned Egypt has lead predictably to a regime more extreme than the last. As a result, the government openly talks about the United States and Israel as Egypt’s enemies, as well as waging war against the two.

An Egyptian official spoke about war with the United States and Israel during a cabinet meeting officiated by President Mohammed Morsi.

Morsi gathered his ministers to discuss a response to Ethiopia’s plan to build a dam on the Nile River.

According to media reports, ministers were unaware the discussion was being aired live on Egyptian television. Later, the Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI) provided a video of the meeting with English subtitles.

Egypt to Ethiopia: All options open if you harm our water supply

As new stories regarding this begin surfacing, it’s beginning to seem as if Egypt’s problem is more likely a neighboring country rising to power, as a hydro-electric dam doesn’t necessarily stem the flow of water, therefore manipulating the downstream flow. It relies on the water flowing to generate electricty.

CAIRO – Egypt will demand that Ethiopia stop construction of a Nile river dam and warned “all options are open” if it harms its water supply, advisers to President Mohamed Morsi said on Wednesday.

“It is Egypt’s right to defend its interests,” said Ayman Ali, one of Morsi’s advisers, in comments carried by the official MENA news agency.

“Other people have a right to seek their own interests. But there must be guarantees that the Ethiopian dam will not harm Egypt, otherwise all options are open,” he added.