Digitally remastered Beatles coming in September
(CNN) -- For fans of The Beatles, 09/09/09 will mark a new invasion.
The Fab Four will be made even more so when the remastered Beatles catalogue is released in September.
The Fab Four will be made even more so when the remastered Beatles catalogue is released in September.
Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music have announced that as the date for the release of the entire original Beatles catalogue, digitally remastered.
That includes all 12 Beatles albums in stereo, with track listings and artwork as originally released in the UK. The package will also contain the LP version of "Magical Mystery Tour" (initially released as a double-EP in Britain, though available on CD since 1987) and the collections "Past Masters Vol. I and II" combined as one title.
The release marks the first time that the first four Beatles albums are being made available in their entirety on compact disc, and it also coincides with the release of "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game.
Robert Levine, executive editor for Billboard, said the timing is genius in terms of marketing.
"Most bands, when they do a big project like this they pay for publicity," Levine said. "The Beatles got paid for 'Rock Band' and then they are using that for publicity to rerelease a catalogue. It's pretty amazing." Blog: A Beatles fan reflects on the news
Levine pointed out that media have evolved tremendously since 1964, when the band first burst onto the American scene with an appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."
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Back then, there were only three major television networks, and engineering of albums was much less sophisticated, Levine noted. Previous rereleases have sold well in the past -- indeed, Beatles albums have sold steadily for decades -- and Levine said he expects this one to do even better.
"I think if you were to look at pure catalogue, old bands selling old albums, the Beatles are the kings -- commercially as well as artistically," Levine said. "A lot of [music] has been remastered better in the past 22 years, and remastering technology has come a long way."
Piers Hemmingsen, the author of two books on Beatles music and head of the Web site Capitol6000.com, said there has long been a clamor among fans for good, high-quality versions of Beatles songs.
"The technology that was available back then was very limited, and with the newer technology they are able to do far more with what they have than they have ever been able to do before," he said. "For people who are plugged into iPods and the whole digital music scene, it's going to be a lot better for them."
In acknowledgment of the more technologically advanced listeners, each CD will contain, for a limited time, an embedded brief documentary film about the album.
The documentaries contain archival footage, rare photographs and never-before-released studio chat from the Beatles.
The remastering project was four years in the making. Engineers used de-noising technology and cleaned up glitches like electrical clicks and microphone vocal pops, so long as it didn't affect the original integrity of the songs.
They also slightly boosted the volume levels. Andrew Croft, publisher of Beatlology Magazine, said the announcement of the release of the remastered recordings "is long overdue in the Beatles community and for music fans alike."
He also said the quest to improve the original recordings is not new.
Croft said bootleg releases over the years used rare and obscure vinyl pressings from countries like Japan and Germany to compile the best of the best recordings of The Beatles songs, presenting to the public a better sound that Apple could not offer prior to the remastering.
"While the new remasterings will replace a library full of bootlegs of their commercial releases, there remains a massive market for their more obscure tracks, outtakes and live performances," Croft said.
The 14 remastered albums, along with a DVD collection of the documentaries, will also be available for purchase together in a stereo boxed set.
A second boxed set, "The Beatles in Mono," includes all of the Beatles recordings that were mixed for a mono release. It will contain 10 of the albums with their original mono mixes, plus two additional discs of mono masters (covering similar ground to the stereo tracks on "Past Masters").
The mono "Help!" and "Rubber Soul" discs also include the original 1965 stereo mixes, which have not been previously released on CD. These albums will be packaged in mini-vinyl CD replicas of the original sleeves with all of the original inserts and label designs.
Even with the release date, what is old has become new.
Diehard Beatle-ologists may take note that the release date could be viewed as a nod to the Beatles track "One After 909" from the "Let It Be" album -- or a reference to the White Album's "Revolution 9." (John Lennon, who was born on October 9, occasionally talked about his fondness for the number 9.)
Hemmingsen said making the music more accessible and attractive to a younger audience helps spread Beatlemania to a new generation.
"Their music is catchy, memorable, interesting and listenable," said Hemmingsen, who was a youngster in England when the Beatles hit the scene and has been a fan ever since. "The time that they evolved their music was an interesting time and their music reflected that time."
Levine said the band has always captured fans from across generations.
"The songs have lasted for a long time because they are great songs," he said. "It's just that simple. Those are amazing, amazing albums."
08 April, 2009
Apakah Ini Anjing Terkecil di Dunia?
Rabu, 8 April 2009 | 09:13 WIB
Inggris - Ukuran anjing jantan ini sepertiga dari ukuran rata-rata tubuh marmut. Anak anjing yang bertubuh sangat kecil dan berberat badan hanya beberapa ons ini diperkirakan sebagai anjing terkecil di dunia.
Anjing hasil perkawinan silang dari jenis Chihuahua-Jack Russel ini diberi nama Tom Thumb oleh pemiliknya. Pemiliknya, Owners Susan dan Archie Thomson, mengaku senang dengan kehadiran Tom Thumb di kediaman mereka West Dunbartonshire, Inggris.
Tom Thumb dilahirkan bersama 4 ekor anjing lainnya dari satu induk bulan lalu. Tubuh beberapa ekor anak anjing lainnya berukuran 3 kali lebih besar dari Tom Thumb.
Hal ini mengakibatkan Tom Thumb dapat dimuat di dalam sebuah cangkir teh. Ukuran tubuh yang terlalu kecil itu mengakibatkan Tom Thumb tidak dapat disapih saat induknya berada dalam posisi berdiri.
Berdasarkan pengalaman membesarkan anak-anak anjing pada usia beberapa minggu, pasangan Owners Susan dan Archie Thomson yakin tubuh Tom Thumb akan terus bertambah besar. Salah satu pengasuh satwa di Inggris, Thomson (54), mengaku terkesima dengan ukuran tubuh Tom Thumb.
"Dalam 10 tahun terakhir lokasi ternak hewan kami telah merawat 6 anak Chihuahua tetapi saya tak pernah melihat yang sekecil ini. Tubuhnya benar-benar mini," kata Thomson.
Belum ada pihak Guinness World Records yang menetapkan anjing ini sebagai anjing terkecil di dunia. Namun, data online Guinness World Records mencatat anjing terkecil di dunia adalah anjing Chihuahua berusia 4 tahun, Heaven Sent Brandy, dari Florida, AS, yang memiliki panjang badan 6 inci.
Rabu, 8 April 2009 | 09:13 WIB
Inggris - Ukuran anjing jantan ini sepertiga dari ukuran rata-rata tubuh marmut. Anak anjing yang bertubuh sangat kecil dan berberat badan hanya beberapa ons ini diperkirakan sebagai anjing terkecil di dunia.
Anjing hasil perkawinan silang dari jenis Chihuahua-Jack Russel ini diberi nama Tom Thumb oleh pemiliknya. Pemiliknya, Owners Susan dan Archie Thomson, mengaku senang dengan kehadiran Tom Thumb di kediaman mereka West Dunbartonshire, Inggris.
Tom Thumb dilahirkan bersama 4 ekor anjing lainnya dari satu induk bulan lalu. Tubuh beberapa ekor anak anjing lainnya berukuran 3 kali lebih besar dari Tom Thumb.
Hal ini mengakibatkan Tom Thumb dapat dimuat di dalam sebuah cangkir teh. Ukuran tubuh yang terlalu kecil itu mengakibatkan Tom Thumb tidak dapat disapih saat induknya berada dalam posisi berdiri.
Berdasarkan pengalaman membesarkan anak-anak anjing pada usia beberapa minggu, pasangan Owners Susan dan Archie Thomson yakin tubuh Tom Thumb akan terus bertambah besar. Salah satu pengasuh satwa di Inggris, Thomson (54), mengaku terkesima dengan ukuran tubuh Tom Thumb.
"Dalam 10 tahun terakhir lokasi ternak hewan kami telah merawat 6 anak Chihuahua tetapi saya tak pernah melihat yang sekecil ini. Tubuhnya benar-benar mini," kata Thomson.
Belum ada pihak Guinness World Records yang menetapkan anjing ini sebagai anjing terkecil di dunia. Namun, data online Guinness World Records mencatat anjing terkecil di dunia adalah anjing Chihuahua berusia 4 tahun, Heaven Sent Brandy, dari Florida, AS, yang memiliki panjang badan 6 inci.
The Physics of Whipped Cream
April, 10 2009 - Let's do a little science experiment. If you have a can of whipped cream in the fridge, go get it out. Spray a generous dollop into a spoon and watch carefully.
Notice anything interesting? The whipped cream just did something rather puzzling. First it flowed smoothly out of the nozzle like a liquid would, and then, a moment later, it perched rigidly in the spoon as if it were solid. What made it change?
(While you're pondering this question, insert spoon into mouth, in the name of science.)
Whipped cream performs this rapid changing act because of a phenomenon called "shear thinning." When part of the foam is forced to slide or "shear" past the rest of the foam, the foam "thins." It becomes less like honey and more like water, allowing it to flow easily until the shearing stops.
Shear thinning occurs in many substances--e.g., ketchup, blood, motor oil, paint, liquid polymers such as molten plastic--and it is often crucial to how a substance is used. For instance, excessive shear thinning of motor oil is unwanted because it reduces the oil's ability to protect engines from wear, while shear thinning of paint allows it to flow smoothly from the brush but stay put on the wall. It also allows ketchup to flow from the bottle but not drip off your french fries.
Yet, for years, scientists have asked themselves the same question you just did: What made it change? The inner workings of shear thinning are not fully understood.
"Details depend on interactions in the fluid at the molecular level and those interactions can be devilishly complex," says fluid physicist Robert Berg of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. "Even for very simple fluids, fundamental theories have never been directly verified."
Until now. The first real-world confirmation of a theory for how shear thinning works in a simple fluid has come from an experiment that flew aboard the final flight of Space Shuttle Columbia.
"We showed that a leading theory is basically correct, " says Greg Zimmerli, Project Scientist for the experiment at NASA's Glenn Research Center. "This is an important step," adds Berg, the experiment's principal investigator.
Most of the data from the experiment, called Critical Viscosity of Xenon-2 (CVX-2), was beamed down to scientists on the ground before the shuttle's destruction during reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Remarkably, the hard drive from the experiment survived the disaster and was found amid the wreckage, and technicians were able to recover the rest of the data.
CVX-2 was designed to study shear thinning in xenon, a substance used in lamps and ion rocket engines. Xenon is chemically inert, so its molecules consist of a single atom -- it's about as close as you can get to the flying billiard balls of an idealized gas or liquid. Unlike whipped cream, which is made of long, complicated organic molecules, xenon would be relatively easy to understand.
"It's a simpler fluid for the theorists to try to grasp," Zimmerli says.
Simple liquids like xenon don't normally experience shear thinning. They're either thick or thin, and they stay that way. But this changes near the "critical point" -- a special combination of temperature and pressure where fluids can exist as both a liquid and a gas simultaneously. At their critical point, simple fluids are able to "shear-thin" (a verb) just like whipped cream does.
Below: The phase diagram for xenon illustrates the concept of critical point -- the highest temperature and pressure at which xenon can exist as a liquid and a gas at the same time.
Xenon at the critical point resembles a hazy fog, a slurry of microscopic pockets of slightly higher or lower density. These tiny regions of varying density are constantly appearing and disappearing in a seething froth, giving the pure xenon some of the structural complexity of mixtures like blood.
CVX-2 had to be done in space: Critical-point fluids are easily compressed. On Earth they collapse under their own weight and become denser at the bottom. In orbital free-fall those differences vanish -- a key requirement for a good experiment.
To test shear thinning, CVX-2 adjusted the temperature and pressure in a small cylinder to bring xenon to its critical point, and then gently stirred the fluid with a nickel-screen paddle. By measuring how strongly the fluid resisted the movement of this paddle, the experiment could determine the xenon's thickness. CVX-2 searched for changes in this thickness as it slowly changed the speed of the stirring and the temperature of the fluid.
Results nicely matched the predictions of dynamic mode-coupling theory. "This more fundamental understanding could help us build better theories for shear thinning in fluids more complex than xenon," Zimmerli says.
That would be good news for, say, engineers who want to design high-performance oils for automobiles or manufacturers who would like to create liquid plastics with just the right shear thinning properties for a particular mold. The sky's the limit.
Whether it would be possible to improve whipped cream, however, is highly debatable.
April, 10 2009 - Let's do a little science experiment. If you have a can of whipped cream in the fridge, go get it out. Spray a generous dollop into a spoon and watch carefully.
Notice anything interesting? The whipped cream just did something rather puzzling. First it flowed smoothly out of the nozzle like a liquid would, and then, a moment later, it perched rigidly in the spoon as if it were solid. What made it change?
(While you're pondering this question, insert spoon into mouth, in the name of science.)
Whipped cream performs this rapid changing act because of a phenomenon called "shear thinning." When part of the foam is forced to slide or "shear" past the rest of the foam, the foam "thins." It becomes less like honey and more like water, allowing it to flow easily until the shearing stops.
Shear thinning occurs in many substances--e.g., ketchup, blood, motor oil, paint, liquid polymers such as molten plastic--and it is often crucial to how a substance is used. For instance, excessive shear thinning of motor oil is unwanted because it reduces the oil's ability to protect engines from wear, while shear thinning of paint allows it to flow smoothly from the brush but stay put on the wall. It also allows ketchup to flow from the bottle but not drip off your french fries.
Yet, for years, scientists have asked themselves the same question you just did: What made it change? The inner workings of shear thinning are not fully understood.
"Details depend on interactions in the fluid at the molecular level and those interactions can be devilishly complex," says fluid physicist Robert Berg of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. "Even for very simple fluids, fundamental theories have never been directly verified."
Until now. The first real-world confirmation of a theory for how shear thinning works in a simple fluid has come from an experiment that flew aboard the final flight of Space Shuttle Columbia.
"We showed that a leading theory is basically correct, " says Greg Zimmerli, Project Scientist for the experiment at NASA's Glenn Research Center. "This is an important step," adds Berg, the experiment's principal investigator.
Most of the data from the experiment, called Critical Viscosity of Xenon-2 (CVX-2), was beamed down to scientists on the ground before the shuttle's destruction during reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Remarkably, the hard drive from the experiment survived the disaster and was found amid the wreckage, and technicians were able to recover the rest of the data.
CVX-2 was designed to study shear thinning in xenon, a substance used in lamps and ion rocket engines. Xenon is chemically inert, so its molecules consist of a single atom -- it's about as close as you can get to the flying billiard balls of an idealized gas or liquid. Unlike whipped cream, which is made of long, complicated organic molecules, xenon would be relatively easy to understand.
"It's a simpler fluid for the theorists to try to grasp," Zimmerli says.
Simple liquids like xenon don't normally experience shear thinning. They're either thick or thin, and they stay that way. But this changes near the "critical point" -- a special combination of temperature and pressure where fluids can exist as both a liquid and a gas simultaneously. At their critical point, simple fluids are able to "shear-thin" (a verb) just like whipped cream does.
Below: The phase diagram for xenon illustrates the concept of critical point -- the highest temperature and pressure at which xenon can exist as a liquid and a gas at the same time.
Xenon at the critical point resembles a hazy fog, a slurry of microscopic pockets of slightly higher or lower density. These tiny regions of varying density are constantly appearing and disappearing in a seething froth, giving the pure xenon some of the structural complexity of mixtures like blood.
CVX-2 had to be done in space: Critical-point fluids are easily compressed. On Earth they collapse under their own weight and become denser at the bottom. In orbital free-fall those differences vanish -- a key requirement for a good experiment.
To test shear thinning, CVX-2 adjusted the temperature and pressure in a small cylinder to bring xenon to its critical point, and then gently stirred the fluid with a nickel-screen paddle. By measuring how strongly the fluid resisted the movement of this paddle, the experiment could determine the xenon's thickness. CVX-2 searched for changes in this thickness as it slowly changed the speed of the stirring and the temperature of the fluid.
Results nicely matched the predictions of dynamic mode-coupling theory. "This more fundamental understanding could help us build better theories for shear thinning in fluids more complex than xenon," Zimmerli says.
That would be good news for, say, engineers who want to design high-performance oils for automobiles or manufacturers who would like to create liquid plastics with just the right shear thinning properties for a particular mold. The sky's the limit.
Whether it would be possible to improve whipped cream, however, is highly debatable.
07 April, 2009
Science
Minuman Suplemen Dapat Mengikis Gigi
Selasa, 7 April 2009 - 07:20 wib
NEW YORK - Saat ini semakin banyak orang menginginkan kebutuhan energi yang lebih. Tak heran, marak bermunculan produk minuman yang mengandung suplemen berenergi untuk menghilangkan dahaga saat habis berolahraga. Namun hati-hati jika Anda terlalu banyak mengkonsumsi minuman itu, karena didalamnya terdapat zat yang dapat merusak gigi.
Hasil studi NYU College of Dentistry, memperlihatkan bahwa minuman tersebut mengandung banyak acid, zat ini nantinya akan mengikis gigi sedikit demi sedikit serta menyebabkan gigi menjadi sangat sensitif.
"Ini pertama kalinya zat acid dalam minuman olahraga mendapat kritik karena pengaruhnya terhadap kesehatan gigi," ujar ketua tim peneliti, Professor Dr. Mark Wolff yang dikutip dari Softpedia, Senin (6/4/2009).
Menurut peneliti dalam studi ini, lapisan enamel keras dan lembut pada gigi menjadi sasaran utama perusakan oleh zat acid dalam minuman. Lama kelamaan, acid akan menembus lapisan keras dan merambah hingga ke� bagian materi seperti tulang yang berada dibawah gigi.
Jika tidak segera mendapatkan perawatan, hal ini akan mengakibatkan nyeri gigi bahkan gigi copot. Hasil studi mengungkapkan satu dari 15 orang Amerika mengalami kondisi ini, dimana gigi mereka menjadi semakin rapuh dan melunak.
Untuk menguji hal ini, digunakan sampel gigi sapi, yang pertama dicelupkan dalam minuman olahraga sementara yang lainnya hanya dicelupkan pada air murni. Peneliti kemudian menganalisa tingkat pembusukan kedua gigi tersebut.
Hasilnya, gigi yang dicelupkan pada minuman olahraga lebih cepat rusak dan membusuk, sementara yang diberi air murni lebih bertahan lama.
"Lima buah gigi yang dicelupkan kedalam minuman olahraga selama 75 sampai 90 memiliki efek yang sama dengan jika kita mengkomsumsi minuman olahraga secara berlebihan setiap harinya," ujar Wolff.
Beberapa perusahaan minuman ternama pun telah menganalisa hal ini dan mereka pun menemukan hasil yang sama.
Karena itu, Jangan abaikan saran dari ahli berikut, "Untuk mencegah pengikisan gigi, janganlah berlebihan dalam mengkonsumsi minuman olahraga. Setelah meminumnya, tunggu hingga sedikitnya 30 menit sebelum Anda menggosok gigi, karena hal ini akan memperkuat enamel lembut pada gigi," ujarnya. (srn)
Minuman Suplemen Dapat Mengikis Gigi
Selasa, 7 April 2009 - 07:20 wib
NEW YORK - Saat ini semakin banyak orang menginginkan kebutuhan energi yang lebih. Tak heran, marak bermunculan produk minuman yang mengandung suplemen berenergi untuk menghilangkan dahaga saat habis berolahraga. Namun hati-hati jika Anda terlalu banyak mengkonsumsi minuman itu, karena didalamnya terdapat zat yang dapat merusak gigi.
Hasil studi NYU College of Dentistry, memperlihatkan bahwa minuman tersebut mengandung banyak acid, zat ini nantinya akan mengikis gigi sedikit demi sedikit serta menyebabkan gigi menjadi sangat sensitif.
"Ini pertama kalinya zat acid dalam minuman olahraga mendapat kritik karena pengaruhnya terhadap kesehatan gigi," ujar ketua tim peneliti, Professor Dr. Mark Wolff yang dikutip dari Softpedia, Senin (6/4/2009).
Menurut peneliti dalam studi ini, lapisan enamel keras dan lembut pada gigi menjadi sasaran utama perusakan oleh zat acid dalam minuman. Lama kelamaan, acid akan menembus lapisan keras dan merambah hingga ke� bagian materi seperti tulang yang berada dibawah gigi.
Jika tidak segera mendapatkan perawatan, hal ini akan mengakibatkan nyeri gigi bahkan gigi copot. Hasil studi mengungkapkan satu dari 15 orang Amerika mengalami kondisi ini, dimana gigi mereka menjadi semakin rapuh dan melunak.
Untuk menguji hal ini, digunakan sampel gigi sapi, yang pertama dicelupkan dalam minuman olahraga sementara yang lainnya hanya dicelupkan pada air murni. Peneliti kemudian menganalisa tingkat pembusukan kedua gigi tersebut.
Hasilnya, gigi yang dicelupkan pada minuman olahraga lebih cepat rusak dan membusuk, sementara yang diberi air murni lebih bertahan lama.
"Lima buah gigi yang dicelupkan kedalam minuman olahraga selama 75 sampai 90 memiliki efek yang sama dengan jika kita mengkomsumsi minuman olahraga secara berlebihan setiap harinya," ujar Wolff.
Beberapa perusahaan minuman ternama pun telah menganalisa hal ini dan mereka pun menemukan hasil yang sama.
Karena itu, Jangan abaikan saran dari ahli berikut, "Untuk mencegah pengikisan gigi, janganlah berlebihan dalam mengkonsumsi minuman olahraga. Setelah meminumnya, tunggu hingga sedikitnya 30 menit sebelum Anda menggosok gigi, karena hal ini akan memperkuat enamel lembut pada gigi," ujarnya. (srn)
Computer & IT
40% Remaja Berupaya Bobol Situs Jejaring sosial
Selasa, 7 April 2009 - 06:11 wib
LONDON - Popularitas situs jejaring social membuat banyak hacker menjadikannya sebagai sasaran. Sebanyak 40 persen hacker remaja di Inggris, diperkirakan berupaya membobol situs-situs jejaring sosial untuk membobol profil dari sejumlah anggota situs.
TechWatch, Selasa (7/4/2009) melansir, berdasarkan data Trend Micro, jumlah pembobol situs jejaring sosial paling banyak adalah remaja pria. Sedangkan remaja putri dinilai lebih sering berupaya bobol situs belanja ataupun akun bank.
Aksi bobol membobol situs telah menjadi trend di kalangan para pengguna internet usia muda. Kualitas para hacker pun semakin meningkat dari hari ke hari. Sejumlah produsen software antivirus seperti Kaspersky pernah menjadi korban hacker.
Tujuan aksi para hacker remaja juga bermacam-macam, mulai dari mengujicoba kemampuannya. Ada juga yang berupaya untuk mengambil keuntungan dengan membeli barang-barang yang ia butuhkan.
(srn)
40% Remaja Berupaya Bobol Situs Jejaring sosial
Selasa, 7 April 2009 - 06:11 wib
LONDON - Popularitas situs jejaring social membuat banyak hacker menjadikannya sebagai sasaran. Sebanyak 40 persen hacker remaja di Inggris, diperkirakan berupaya membobol situs-situs jejaring sosial untuk membobol profil dari sejumlah anggota situs.
TechWatch, Selasa (7/4/2009) melansir, berdasarkan data Trend Micro, jumlah pembobol situs jejaring sosial paling banyak adalah remaja pria. Sedangkan remaja putri dinilai lebih sering berupaya bobol situs belanja ataupun akun bank.
Aksi bobol membobol situs telah menjadi trend di kalangan para pengguna internet usia muda. Kualitas para hacker pun semakin meningkat dari hari ke hari. Sejumlah produsen software antivirus seperti Kaspersky pernah menjadi korban hacker.
Tujuan aksi para hacker remaja juga bermacam-macam, mulai dari mengujicoba kemampuannya. Ada juga yang berupaya untuk mengambil keuntungan dengan membeli barang-barang yang ia butuhkan.
(srn)
Science
Pohon Tumbuh Lebih Cepat Kurangi Efek Pemanasan Global
Selasa, 7 April 2009 - 08:18 wib
LONDON - Pertumbuhan pohon yang sangat cepat akan berpengaruh pada pengurangan efek pemanasan global sehingga memperpanjang umur bumi. Pasalnya, tanaman yang tumbuh lebih cepat mampu menyerap kadar gas karbondioksida di bumi.
Fenomena pertumbuhan pepohonan yang sangat cepat ditemukan pada varietas flora mulai dari hutan hujan tropis hingga tanaman tebu Inggris. Tanaman tersebut menghirup setidaknya milyaran ton CO2 yang dihasilkan oleh manusia.
Gas ini seyogyanya mempercepat tingkat perubahan cuaca. Tak hanya itu, gas CO2 juga membuat tumbuhan bertahan hidup dengan� proses ekstraksi memanfaatkan sinar matahari untuk mengubahnya menjadi protein dan gula.
Sejak 1750 konsentrasi CO2 di udara meningkat dari 278 ppm hingga lebih dari 380 ppm, hal ini menguntungkan bagi tumbuhan karena CO2 mempercepat pertumbuhan mereka. Demikian dilansir Telegraph, Selasa (7/4/2009).
Studi dari University of Leeds, yang dipublikasikan jurnal sains itu mengukur sebanyak 70 ribu pohon di sepuluh negara Afrika dan membandingkan mereka dengan catatan mengenai pohon sejenis yang tumbuh empat dekade lalu.
Rata-rata, tanaman yang diteliti tumbuh lebih besar dan cepat. Selain itu, peneliti menemukan bahwa setiap hektar hutan Afrika menjaring 0,6 ton CO2 setiap tahunnya.
Professor Martin Parry, dari Rothamsted Research mengatakan penelitian ini membuktikan bahwa jumlah besar CO2 di udara dapat meningkatkan pertumbuhan tanaman di berbagai daerah.
(srn)
Pohon Tumbuh Lebih Cepat Kurangi Efek Pemanasan Global
Selasa, 7 April 2009 - 08:18 wib
LONDON - Pertumbuhan pohon yang sangat cepat akan berpengaruh pada pengurangan efek pemanasan global sehingga memperpanjang umur bumi. Pasalnya, tanaman yang tumbuh lebih cepat mampu menyerap kadar gas karbondioksida di bumi.
Fenomena pertumbuhan pepohonan yang sangat cepat ditemukan pada varietas flora mulai dari hutan hujan tropis hingga tanaman tebu Inggris. Tanaman tersebut menghirup setidaknya milyaran ton CO2 yang dihasilkan oleh manusia.
Gas ini seyogyanya mempercepat tingkat perubahan cuaca. Tak hanya itu, gas CO2 juga membuat tumbuhan bertahan hidup dengan� proses ekstraksi memanfaatkan sinar matahari untuk mengubahnya menjadi protein dan gula.
Sejak 1750 konsentrasi CO2 di udara meningkat dari 278 ppm hingga lebih dari 380 ppm, hal ini menguntungkan bagi tumbuhan karena CO2 mempercepat pertumbuhan mereka. Demikian dilansir Telegraph, Selasa (7/4/2009).
Studi dari University of Leeds, yang dipublikasikan jurnal sains itu mengukur sebanyak 70 ribu pohon di sepuluh negara Afrika dan membandingkan mereka dengan catatan mengenai pohon sejenis yang tumbuh empat dekade lalu.
Rata-rata, tanaman yang diteliti tumbuh lebih besar dan cepat. Selain itu, peneliti menemukan bahwa setiap hektar hutan Afrika menjaring 0,6 ton CO2 setiap tahunnya.
Professor Martin Parry, dari Rothamsted Research mengatakan penelitian ini membuktikan bahwa jumlah besar CO2 di udara dapat meningkatkan pertumbuhan tanaman di berbagai daerah.
(srn)
06 April, 2009
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- An emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council concluded Sunday without an official reaction to North Korea ignoring repeated international warnings and launching a long-range rocket, the council president told reporters.
South Koreans watch broadcast reports in Seoul of a North Korean rocket launch.
"Consultations will go on among members to see what is the appropriate position that the council will take," said Claude Heller, the current Security Council president, and Mexico's U.N. ambassador. When the council would reconvene wasn't clear, but Heller said it would be "as soon as possible."
"I think that there is a very strong call for dialogue, to reconvene, and I think there is consensus in saying that the Security Council regretted the government of [North Korea] disregarded the call by [the] international community to suspend the launching," he said.
The launch, at about 11:30 a.m. Korean time on Sunday, set off an immediate firestorm of criticism, inflamed tensions in the Far East, and heightened fears over the North Korean regime's potential ability to undermine nuclear non-proliferation efforts.
The North Korean government said the act was a peaceful launch of a satellite, but a U.S. State Department spokesman declared it a "provocative act in violation" of a 2006 Security Council resolution prohibiting North Korea from conducting ballistic missile launches.
"The launch constituted a clear-cut violation" of the resolution, said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. North Korea's action "merits a clear, strong response" and in the U.S. view, that would come in the form of a council resolution, Rice said. Video Watch analysis of Sunday's launch »
Japan's U.N. representative, Yukio Takasu, who requested the emergency meeting, agreed, saying the council's response should be clear and unified. Video Watch Japanese reaction to reports of at launch »
The Security Council's response could come in several forms, including a resolution, a Security Council presidential statement or some other form of public condemnation.
Still, the U.N. ambassador from China -- a council member and ally of North Korea expected to resist a resolution -- said the formal reaction to the reclusive nation should be "cautious and proportionate."
"We are now in a very sensitive moment," Ambassador Zhang Yesui said. "All countries concerned should show restraint and refrain from taking action that could lead to increased tension."
He said China is "committed to maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," and pursuing six-party talks, which both the United States and Japan have also indicated. The six-party talks with North Korea include South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the launch during a visit to the Czech Republic.
"Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something. The world must stand together to prevent the spread of these weapons. Now's the time for a strong international response," the president said during a speech before a huge crowd in Prague.
"North Korea must know that the path to security and respect will never come through threats and illegal weapons. All nations must come together to build a stronger global regime. That's why we must stand shoulder to shoulder to pressure the North Koreans to change course," he said.
Obama is in the middle of a five-nation, eight-day European tour. He was awakened in Prague with news of the launch early Sunday.
Wendy Sherman, who coordinated the Clinton administration's North Korean policy, said she believes North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il "is up to several things."
"First, he wants to solidify his own position as the leader of his country, following a stroke," Sherman said on CNN's "State of the Union."
"He [also] wants to tell his military that it's a military-first economy, because, in fact, they get money -- funds from the sale of this missile technology.
"And he wants to say to the Obama administration, 'Pay attention to me. I'm serious. I have chips on the table, and negotiating with me is serious business.' " Video Watch analysis of what North Korea's motivations may be from the launch »
The North Korean government claimed the launch put a satellite into orbit. American military officials, however, said the launch was a failure, saying the rocket's payload cleared Japanese airspace but didn't enter into orbit.
"Stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan. The remaining stages along with the payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean," according to a statement from the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the Northern Command, read by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
"No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan," and NORAD and the Northern Command assessed "the launch vehicle as not a threat to North America or Hawaii and took no action in response to this launch," said Gibbs.
Takeo Kawamura, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, told reporters that his country's military was not forced to intercept any missile, which it had pledged to do if necessary. Japanese ships were moving to the areas where parts of the rocket are believed to have fallen to retrieve them, Japanese government officials said.
The South Korean president also condemned the launch, calling it a "serious threat" to world peace, state-sponsored Yonhap news agency reported.
"We cannot withhold our regrets and disappointment that North Korea has caused such a serious threat to peace ... when the entire world is joining efforts to overcome the global economic crisis," Lee Dong-kwan, a presidential spokesman said.
The following is a sampling of reaction to the launch from other world leaders before the Security Council meeting:
• U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: "The Secretary-General regrets that, against strong international appeal, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [DPRK] went ahead with its planned launch," said a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
"Given the volatility in the region, as well as a stalemate in interaction among the concerned parties, such a launch is not conducive to efforts to promote dialogue, regional peace and stability. The Secretary-General urges DPRK to comply with relevant Security Council resolutions, and all countries concerned to focus on ways to build confidence and restore dialogue, including the early resumption of the six-party talks."
• Russia's foreign minister called for restraint after the launch, the Russian Interfax news agency reported Sunday, saying that Russian officials would examine whether it violated any U.N. Security Council resolutions.
• British Foreign Secretary David Miliband: "I strongly condemn North Korea's action in conducting a satellite launch earlier today. Pyongyang [North Korea] continues to pursue a hostile policy towards the rest of the world, it cannot hope to take its rightful place within the international community."
• The European Union presidency, currently held by the Czech Republic: "The EU strongly condemns the 'experimental communications satellite' launch performed on 5 April 2009 by the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in breach of the UNSC Resolution 1718.
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"These actions place additional strains on regional stability at a time when the unresolved nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula requires mutual confidence building. Such actions are also a matter of more general concern due to their global proliferation implications."
"The EU urges the DPRK to comply with the UNSC Resolution 1718 and immediately to suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile programme, and abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner."
South Koreans watch broadcast reports in Seoul of a North Korean rocket launch.
"Consultations will go on among members to see what is the appropriate position that the council will take," said Claude Heller, the current Security Council president, and Mexico's U.N. ambassador. When the council would reconvene wasn't clear, but Heller said it would be "as soon as possible."
"I think that there is a very strong call for dialogue, to reconvene, and I think there is consensus in saying that the Security Council regretted the government of [North Korea] disregarded the call by [the] international community to suspend the launching," he said.
The launch, at about 11:30 a.m. Korean time on Sunday, set off an immediate firestorm of criticism, inflamed tensions in the Far East, and heightened fears over the North Korean regime's potential ability to undermine nuclear non-proliferation efforts.
The North Korean government said the act was a peaceful launch of a satellite, but a U.S. State Department spokesman declared it a "provocative act in violation" of a 2006 Security Council resolution prohibiting North Korea from conducting ballistic missile launches.
"The launch constituted a clear-cut violation" of the resolution, said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. North Korea's action "merits a clear, strong response" and in the U.S. view, that would come in the form of a council resolution, Rice said. Video Watch analysis of Sunday's launch »
Japan's U.N. representative, Yukio Takasu, who requested the emergency meeting, agreed, saying the council's response should be clear and unified. Video Watch Japanese reaction to reports of at launch »
The Security Council's response could come in several forms, including a resolution, a Security Council presidential statement or some other form of public condemnation.
Still, the U.N. ambassador from China -- a council member and ally of North Korea expected to resist a resolution -- said the formal reaction to the reclusive nation should be "cautious and proportionate."
"We are now in a very sensitive moment," Ambassador Zhang Yesui said. "All countries concerned should show restraint and refrain from taking action that could lead to increased tension."
He said China is "committed to maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," and pursuing six-party talks, which both the United States and Japan have also indicated. The six-party talks with North Korea include South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the launch during a visit to the Czech Republic.
"Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something. The world must stand together to prevent the spread of these weapons. Now's the time for a strong international response," the president said during a speech before a huge crowd in Prague.
"North Korea must know that the path to security and respect will never come through threats and illegal weapons. All nations must come together to build a stronger global regime. That's why we must stand shoulder to shoulder to pressure the North Koreans to change course," he said.
Obama is in the middle of a five-nation, eight-day European tour. He was awakened in Prague with news of the launch early Sunday.
Wendy Sherman, who coordinated the Clinton administration's North Korean policy, said she believes North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il "is up to several things."
"First, he wants to solidify his own position as the leader of his country, following a stroke," Sherman said on CNN's "State of the Union."
"He [also] wants to tell his military that it's a military-first economy, because, in fact, they get money -- funds from the sale of this missile technology.
"And he wants to say to the Obama administration, 'Pay attention to me. I'm serious. I have chips on the table, and negotiating with me is serious business.' " Video Watch analysis of what North Korea's motivations may be from the launch »
The North Korean government claimed the launch put a satellite into orbit. American military officials, however, said the launch was a failure, saying the rocket's payload cleared Japanese airspace but didn't enter into orbit.
"Stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan. The remaining stages along with the payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean," according to a statement from the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the Northern Command, read by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
"No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan," and NORAD and the Northern Command assessed "the launch vehicle as not a threat to North America or Hawaii and took no action in response to this launch," said Gibbs.
Takeo Kawamura, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, told reporters that his country's military was not forced to intercept any missile, which it had pledged to do if necessary. Japanese ships were moving to the areas where parts of the rocket are believed to have fallen to retrieve them, Japanese government officials said.
The South Korean president also condemned the launch, calling it a "serious threat" to world peace, state-sponsored Yonhap news agency reported.
"We cannot withhold our regrets and disappointment that North Korea has caused such a serious threat to peace ... when the entire world is joining efforts to overcome the global economic crisis," Lee Dong-kwan, a presidential spokesman said.
The following is a sampling of reaction to the launch from other world leaders before the Security Council meeting:
• U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: "The Secretary-General regrets that, against strong international appeal, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [DPRK] went ahead with its planned launch," said a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
"Given the volatility in the region, as well as a stalemate in interaction among the concerned parties, such a launch is not conducive to efforts to promote dialogue, regional peace and stability. The Secretary-General urges DPRK to comply with relevant Security Council resolutions, and all countries concerned to focus on ways to build confidence and restore dialogue, including the early resumption of the six-party talks."
• Russia's foreign minister called for restraint after the launch, the Russian Interfax news agency reported Sunday, saying that Russian officials would examine whether it violated any U.N. Security Council resolutions.
• British Foreign Secretary David Miliband: "I strongly condemn North Korea's action in conducting a satellite launch earlier today. Pyongyang [North Korea] continues to pursue a hostile policy towards the rest of the world, it cannot hope to take its rightful place within the international community."
• The European Union presidency, currently held by the Czech Republic: "The EU strongly condemns the 'experimental communications satellite' launch performed on 5 April 2009 by the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in breach of the UNSC Resolution 1718.
advertisement
"These actions place additional strains on regional stability at a time when the unresolved nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula requires mutual confidence building. Such actions are also a matter of more general concern due to their global proliferation implications."
"The EU urges the DPRK to comply with the UNSC Resolution 1718 and immediately to suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile programme, and abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner."
In Mexico's Seething Drug Wars, New Alarm About Violence Moving North
By Alex Kingsbury
Posted March 11, 2009
A stone's throw from El Paso, Texas, a war is raging. There are almost daily running gun battles, kidnappings, robberies, and a frightening death toll. The northern Mexican town of Ciudad Juárez has gotten so overrun by drug-related violence that Mexico deployed an additional 5,000 soldiers this month, joining thousands of others already on patrol. Normally, fighting crime would be the purview of the local police, but in Juárez, drug traffickers threatened to execute cops last month—one every two days—until the chief of police resigned. After five executions in a week, he quit and hasn't been replaced.
Mexican police found the corpses of 13 men shot execution style near the resort town of Mazatlan in December.
Mexican police found the corpses of 13 men shot execution style near the resort town of Mazatlan in December.
The surge in carnage between the drug-trafficking cartels and the government has become a national malignancy. Last year, Mexico's drug wars claimed more than 6,200 lives, from policemen to traffickers to innocent civilians. In just the first two months of this year, the toll has already topped 1,000. The ferocity and duration have shocked senior U.S. government officials, who are watching some of the violence spill over the border into cities like San Diego, El Paso, and Phoenix. In fact, things have gotten so dire that warnings about the continued viability of the Mexican government itself are popping up all over Washington, from spooks at the CIA to federal agents tracking drugs and guns to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. Suddenly, the Obama administration is finding that one of its most pressing foreign policy challenges is coming not from a far-off foreign fight but from a neighboring nation sinking deeper into chaos. Even worse, the narcotics insurgency is fueled by guns smuggled in from the United States and funded by U.S. consumers who spend $25 billion to $35 billion a year on methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana brought in from Mexico.
The current crisis was triggered, in part, by perhaps the most concerted offensive ever by the Mexican government against the drug cartels, spearheaded by a deployment of 45,000 soldiers. Where past campaigns focused more on policing and tended to target individual drug cartels, Mexico is now trying a more comprehensive approach to go after the full range of traffickers. The new tactics are pitting the cartels against one another and the government simultaneously. "For years, we told the Mexicans to stop the drugs, so President [Felipe] Calderón finally sent in the military, and the violence skyrocketed. We didn't expect that, and we probably should have," says Billy Hoover, an assistant director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives who oversees efforts against weapons trafficking.
For-profit kidnappings are at record levels, journalists are being killed, and foreign investment capital and tourism dollars are evaporating. "It has shifted from a law enforcement problem to a national security imperative for them," says Tony Placido, the chief of intelligence at the Drug Enforcement Administration. The escalation of violence against the government, a recent military study from the U.S. Joint Forces Command dryly noted, "reminds one that an unstable Mexico could represent a homeland security problem of immense proportions to the United States."
Indeed, it's difficult to overstate the level of turmoil. Schools like the University of Arizona and Vanderbilt University in Tennessee are strongly urging their students not to head south for spring break. The usually reserved State Department recently issued a series of blunt warnings to travelers, saying that northern Mexico's gun battles are "the equivalent of military small-unit combat." The weapons being used by the cartels aren't much different from those used in war, either. The traffickers, who intercept cellphone and radio traffic, arm their soldiers with grenade launchers, night-vision goggles, sniper rifles, body armor, and machine guns.
In Tijuana—which has gotten so bad that it has been declared off limits to U.S. marines on leave—drug gangs hijack police radio frequencies to threaten local cops before following through in deadly fashion. Last year, the cartels killed more than 500 police officers. Decapitation has become a frequent terrorist tactic. In one well-publicized incident, the heads of two officers were gruesomely skewered on a fence outside a station as a statement from the cartels. Three Mexican police chiefs asked Washington for asylum last year and now are believed to be in the United States.
Mexico has worked hard, with some success, to reform its embattled justice system with anticorruption measures and higher judicial pay, but the cartels still pack a withering psychological punch, even in the dock. Last month, after a wanted enforcer known as the "Stew Maker" was arrested, Mexicans were horrified to learn that he had confessed to disposing of some 300 bodies by dissolving them in acid.
ll this has official Washington wringing its hands. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has expressed increasing concern about Mexico's trajectory, according to a senior Pentagon official, and he's particularly worried about instability moving north.
But the violence has already crossed the border. Major cities from Atlanta to Los Angeles have reported cartel-linked killings. Phoenix has quickly become the kidnapping capital of the United States, with an average of one person disappearing each day of the year, according to police. Most of the incidents are affiliated in some way with the drug trade. Late last month, the DEA pushed back against violence related to the Sinaloa cartel, one of Mexico's largest, arresting around 750 people in a sting operation that netted $59 million in illicit cash.
While few expect Mexico to become a truly failed state, there is a very real risk that it will become a de facto narco-state, ceding governmental authority in wide areas of the country to the drug cartels. That's the conclusion of retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, a former U.S. "drug czar," who published a bleak assessment after a fact-finding mission in December. Barely two months later, a high-profile incident underscored just how serious that threat has become. Retired Brig. Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello, one of Mexico's most highly decorated military officers, became the drug czar for the mayor of Cancún. His was a brief tenure. A week later, he was abducted and tortured before a former soldier working for the cartels put a bullet in his brain.
The crisis is ushering in a new willingness in both Washington and Mexico City to work together against the cartels. Former CIA Director Michael Hayden, citing Mexico as one of his top concerns for President Obama, predicted last month that the violence may induce both governments to look for an even closer relationship in the coming year, despite historical animosities. Current CIA chief Leon Panetta, meanwhile, isn't revealing the spy agency's actions, but he has suggested that the CIA is trying replicate its Colombian strategy in Mexico.
The existing cooperation between the two countries focuses heavily on security. A year ago, Congress reluctantly approved the $400 million-per-year Mérida Initiative, sought by President Calderón, which consists largely of aid for law enforcement and military equipment. Critics quickly dubbed it "Plan Mexico," a reference to the expensive and controversial Plan Colombia, which they claim has had little effect on the flow of cocaine into the United States.
As Mexico is quick to point out, the cartels get their heavy weaponry there north of the border. More than 90 percent of the guns used in Mexico's drug violence come from the United States, according to ATF officials. Recently, more powerful guns, including .50-caliber sniper rifles, have been showing up in the hands of the cartels, a trend that accelerated after the expiration of the U.S. assault weapons ban in 2004. Eastern European variants of the AK-47 have been streaming into Mexico from gun shows and stores around the country. "No trucker wants to waste a trip by traveling with an empty load, and, likewise, the people who bring narcotics north simply put weapons into their cars for the trip south," says the ATF's Hoover.
This vast trickle of guns moving in ones and twos—the feds call it "ant trafficking"—is nearly impossible to stop. In an operation called Project Gunrunner, the ATF has assigned more than 100 agents and staff to crack down on weapons flowing south and to assist Mexican officials in tracing weapons to their site of purchase through electronic databases. Gunrunner has seized thousands of guns headed for Mexico, but officials admit that it's only a drop in the bucket.
Working too closely with the Mexican authorities carries its own risks. Intelligence officials confess privately that they have little faith in some of the Mexican security apparatus and avoid sharing information because the military and police there are so deeply penetrated by the cartels. Indeed, Mexican police recently announced that Cancún's former police chief is being questioned about allegations that he helped protect General Tello's killers. Of course, U.S. officials aren't immune from taking bribes either, according to the DEA.
The threat, meanwhile, keeps growing. The Mexican cartels are dramatically expanding their reach, setting up bridgeheads and joining forces with counterparts in Colombia, Bolivia, and even Peru, where the Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path is reinventing itself as a drug-trafficking outfit. "Whenever we look at the fighting in Mexico, we should all remember that they're fighting over who controls the distribution networks for heroin and cocaine in our cities," says Mark Schneider, a vice president of the nonprofit International Crisis Group. Mexican cartels now control most of the U.S. drug market, concludes the latest National Drug Threat Assessment by the Justice Department's National Drug Intelligence Center. The cartels distribute their drugs in some 230 cities north of the border.
Mexican officials have tried to remain optimistic, even as public opinion polls show that Mexicans feel their government is losing the war. "The capacities of the Mexican state are aligned to break the structures of each cartel," federal Police Chief Edgar Eusebio Millán Gómez said last year. A few months later, he was gunned down on the street in Mexico City. Meanwhile, a Mexican official in Paris confessed that if Calderón hadn't gone after the cartels, the next president of the country most likely would have been a drug trafficker.
Other troubling signs include the formation of citizen vigilante squads that take the law into their own hands. One that calls itself the Citizens Commando of Juárez has threatened to kill a criminal every 24 hours until the government gets the violence under control. Other groups of citizens, meanwhile, have mobilized—perhaps at the behest of the cartels—to protest the military's presence in their towns. Police in Monterrey have taken to using water cannons to break up their marches. "We're not there yet, but when the government can no longer exert authority and protect their citizens, that's becoming a failed state," warns one senior U.S. official, noting that in Colombia, similar groups formed, only to eventually turn into violent criminal factions themselves.
More violence and kidnappings are expected in the coming year, despite—and often as a result of—Mexico's stepped-up enforcement efforts. When a cartel is weakened because of arrests or deaths, other cartels prey on their wounded brethren. "It's not in the nature of these cartels to walk away from their business without a fight," says Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, a senior associate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Besides, there is so much money to be made that as soon as one group goes away, another one steps in to take its place." And as long as Americans continue buying their wares, the cartels will have more than enough money to fund their side of the war.
By Alex Kingsbury
Posted March 11, 2009
A stone's throw from El Paso, Texas, a war is raging. There are almost daily running gun battles, kidnappings, robberies, and a frightening death toll. The northern Mexican town of Ciudad Juárez has gotten so overrun by drug-related violence that Mexico deployed an additional 5,000 soldiers this month, joining thousands of others already on patrol. Normally, fighting crime would be the purview of the local police, but in Juárez, drug traffickers threatened to execute cops last month—one every two days—until the chief of police resigned. After five executions in a week, he quit and hasn't been replaced.
Mexican police found the corpses of 13 men shot execution style near the resort town of Mazatlan in December.
Mexican police found the corpses of 13 men shot execution style near the resort town of Mazatlan in December.
The surge in carnage between the drug-trafficking cartels and the government has become a national malignancy. Last year, Mexico's drug wars claimed more than 6,200 lives, from policemen to traffickers to innocent civilians. In just the first two months of this year, the toll has already topped 1,000. The ferocity and duration have shocked senior U.S. government officials, who are watching some of the violence spill over the border into cities like San Diego, El Paso, and Phoenix. In fact, things have gotten so dire that warnings about the continued viability of the Mexican government itself are popping up all over Washington, from spooks at the CIA to federal agents tracking drugs and guns to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. Suddenly, the Obama administration is finding that one of its most pressing foreign policy challenges is coming not from a far-off foreign fight but from a neighboring nation sinking deeper into chaos. Even worse, the narcotics insurgency is fueled by guns smuggled in from the United States and funded by U.S. consumers who spend $25 billion to $35 billion a year on methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana brought in from Mexico.
The current crisis was triggered, in part, by perhaps the most concerted offensive ever by the Mexican government against the drug cartels, spearheaded by a deployment of 45,000 soldiers. Where past campaigns focused more on policing and tended to target individual drug cartels, Mexico is now trying a more comprehensive approach to go after the full range of traffickers. The new tactics are pitting the cartels against one another and the government simultaneously. "For years, we told the Mexicans to stop the drugs, so President [Felipe] Calderón finally sent in the military, and the violence skyrocketed. We didn't expect that, and we probably should have," says Billy Hoover, an assistant director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives who oversees efforts against weapons trafficking.
For-profit kidnappings are at record levels, journalists are being killed, and foreign investment capital and tourism dollars are evaporating. "It has shifted from a law enforcement problem to a national security imperative for them," says Tony Placido, the chief of intelligence at the Drug Enforcement Administration. The escalation of violence against the government, a recent military study from the U.S. Joint Forces Command dryly noted, "reminds one that an unstable Mexico could represent a homeland security problem of immense proportions to the United States."
Indeed, it's difficult to overstate the level of turmoil. Schools like the University of Arizona and Vanderbilt University in Tennessee are strongly urging their students not to head south for spring break. The usually reserved State Department recently issued a series of blunt warnings to travelers, saying that northern Mexico's gun battles are "the equivalent of military small-unit combat." The weapons being used by the cartels aren't much different from those used in war, either. The traffickers, who intercept cellphone and radio traffic, arm their soldiers with grenade launchers, night-vision goggles, sniper rifles, body armor, and machine guns.
In Tijuana—which has gotten so bad that it has been declared off limits to U.S. marines on leave—drug gangs hijack police radio frequencies to threaten local cops before following through in deadly fashion. Last year, the cartels killed more than 500 police officers. Decapitation has become a frequent terrorist tactic. In one well-publicized incident, the heads of two officers were gruesomely skewered on a fence outside a station as a statement from the cartels. Three Mexican police chiefs asked Washington for asylum last year and now are believed to be in the United States.
Mexico has worked hard, with some success, to reform its embattled justice system with anticorruption measures and higher judicial pay, but the cartels still pack a withering psychological punch, even in the dock. Last month, after a wanted enforcer known as the "Stew Maker" was arrested, Mexicans were horrified to learn that he had confessed to disposing of some 300 bodies by dissolving them in acid.
ll this has official Washington wringing its hands. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has expressed increasing concern about Mexico's trajectory, according to a senior Pentagon official, and he's particularly worried about instability moving north.
But the violence has already crossed the border. Major cities from Atlanta to Los Angeles have reported cartel-linked killings. Phoenix has quickly become the kidnapping capital of the United States, with an average of one person disappearing each day of the year, according to police. Most of the incidents are affiliated in some way with the drug trade. Late last month, the DEA pushed back against violence related to the Sinaloa cartel, one of Mexico's largest, arresting around 750 people in a sting operation that netted $59 million in illicit cash.
While few expect Mexico to become a truly failed state, there is a very real risk that it will become a de facto narco-state, ceding governmental authority in wide areas of the country to the drug cartels. That's the conclusion of retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, a former U.S. "drug czar," who published a bleak assessment after a fact-finding mission in December. Barely two months later, a high-profile incident underscored just how serious that threat has become. Retired Brig. Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello, one of Mexico's most highly decorated military officers, became the drug czar for the mayor of Cancún. His was a brief tenure. A week later, he was abducted and tortured before a former soldier working for the cartels put a bullet in his brain.
The crisis is ushering in a new willingness in both Washington and Mexico City to work together against the cartels. Former CIA Director Michael Hayden, citing Mexico as one of his top concerns for President Obama, predicted last month that the violence may induce both governments to look for an even closer relationship in the coming year, despite historical animosities. Current CIA chief Leon Panetta, meanwhile, isn't revealing the spy agency's actions, but he has suggested that the CIA is trying replicate its Colombian strategy in Mexico.
The existing cooperation between the two countries focuses heavily on security. A year ago, Congress reluctantly approved the $400 million-per-year Mérida Initiative, sought by President Calderón, which consists largely of aid for law enforcement and military equipment. Critics quickly dubbed it "Plan Mexico," a reference to the expensive and controversial Plan Colombia, which they claim has had little effect on the flow of cocaine into the United States.
As Mexico is quick to point out, the cartels get their heavy weaponry there north of the border. More than 90 percent of the guns used in Mexico's drug violence come from the United States, according to ATF officials. Recently, more powerful guns, including .50-caliber sniper rifles, have been showing up in the hands of the cartels, a trend that accelerated after the expiration of the U.S. assault weapons ban in 2004. Eastern European variants of the AK-47 have been streaming into Mexico from gun shows and stores around the country. "No trucker wants to waste a trip by traveling with an empty load, and, likewise, the people who bring narcotics north simply put weapons into their cars for the trip south," says the ATF's Hoover.
This vast trickle of guns moving in ones and twos—the feds call it "ant trafficking"—is nearly impossible to stop. In an operation called Project Gunrunner, the ATF has assigned more than 100 agents and staff to crack down on weapons flowing south and to assist Mexican officials in tracing weapons to their site of purchase through electronic databases. Gunrunner has seized thousands of guns headed for Mexico, but officials admit that it's only a drop in the bucket.
Working too closely with the Mexican authorities carries its own risks. Intelligence officials confess privately that they have little faith in some of the Mexican security apparatus and avoid sharing information because the military and police there are so deeply penetrated by the cartels. Indeed, Mexican police recently announced that Cancún's former police chief is being questioned about allegations that he helped protect General Tello's killers. Of course, U.S. officials aren't immune from taking bribes either, according to the DEA.
The threat, meanwhile, keeps growing. The Mexican cartels are dramatically expanding their reach, setting up bridgeheads and joining forces with counterparts in Colombia, Bolivia, and even Peru, where the Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path is reinventing itself as a drug-trafficking outfit. "Whenever we look at the fighting in Mexico, we should all remember that they're fighting over who controls the distribution networks for heroin and cocaine in our cities," says Mark Schneider, a vice president of the nonprofit International Crisis Group. Mexican cartels now control most of the U.S. drug market, concludes the latest National Drug Threat Assessment by the Justice Department's National Drug Intelligence Center. The cartels distribute their drugs in some 230 cities north of the border.
Mexican officials have tried to remain optimistic, even as public opinion polls show that Mexicans feel their government is losing the war. "The capacities of the Mexican state are aligned to break the structures of each cartel," federal Police Chief Edgar Eusebio Millán Gómez said last year. A few months later, he was gunned down on the street in Mexico City. Meanwhile, a Mexican official in Paris confessed that if Calderón hadn't gone after the cartels, the next president of the country most likely would have been a drug trafficker.
Other troubling signs include the formation of citizen vigilante squads that take the law into their own hands. One that calls itself the Citizens Commando of Juárez has threatened to kill a criminal every 24 hours until the government gets the violence under control. Other groups of citizens, meanwhile, have mobilized—perhaps at the behest of the cartels—to protest the military's presence in their towns. Police in Monterrey have taken to using water cannons to break up their marches. "We're not there yet, but when the government can no longer exert authority and protect their citizens, that's becoming a failed state," warns one senior U.S. official, noting that in Colombia, similar groups formed, only to eventually turn into violent criminal factions themselves.
More violence and kidnappings are expected in the coming year, despite—and often as a result of—Mexico's stepped-up enforcement efforts. When a cartel is weakened because of arrests or deaths, other cartels prey on their wounded brethren. "It's not in the nature of these cartels to walk away from their business without a fight," says Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, a senior associate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Besides, there is so much money to be made that as soon as one group goes away, another one steps in to take its place." And as long as Americans continue buying their wares, the cartels will have more than enough money to fund their side of the war.
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