Montenegro learns true cost of China-backed $1 bn road to nowhere

Yahoo – AFP, Olivera Nikolic, May 27, 2021 

Chinese wprkers have spent six years carving tunnels through solid rock and
raising concrete pillars above gorges and canyons in Montenegro, but the road
in effect goes nowhere

Two sleek new roads vanish into mountain tunnels high above a sleepy Montenegrin village, the unlikely endpoint of a billion-dollar project bankrolled by China that is threatening to derail the tiny country's economy. 

The government has already burnt through $944 million in Chinese loans to complete the first stretch of road, just 41 kilometres (25 miles), making it among the world's most expensive pieces of tarmac. 

Chinese workers have spent six years carving tunnels through solid rock and raising concrete pillars above gorges and canyons, but the road in effect goes nowhere. 

Almost 130 kilometres still needs to be built at a likely cost of at least one billion euros ($1.2 billion). 

"The construction looks impressive, but we must not stop at this," says 67-year-old Dragan who retired to the village of Matesevo. 

"It's like buying an expensive car and just leaving it parked in the garage." 

Critics question how the rest of the road will be paid for and highlight environmental damage caused by the construction along with corruption allegations over the awarding of work contacts. 

But locals are inclined to talk up the positives. 

"This story has some good sides for us villagers. Some managed to sell their land and leave, which was impossible before," said one villager, whose two-storey home now sits metres from gargantuan concrete pillars propping up the four-lane highway. 

"I manage to sell some vegetables and chickens to the workers," added the man who did not want to be named, reflecting also that dirt mounds from the construction site stop the river from flooding. 

If Montenegro cannot pay its debt to China, it faces arbitration in Beijing and could
be forced to give up control of key infrastructure, according to the contract.

'Big trouble' 

The section linking Matesevo to a town near the capital Podgorica -- the most difficult part to build -- is set to open in November. 

But the road is meant to connect the Adriatic port of Bar in the south with the Serbian border in the north, with the intention that the Serbians will then extend it to their capital, Belgrade. 

It is unclear where the money will come from or how Montenegro -- a country with a GDP of 4.9 billion euros -- will repay its existing debt to China. 

If Montenegro cannot pay, it faces arbitration in Beijing and could be forced to give up control of key infrastructure, according to a copy of the contract seen by AFP. 

China has been widely criticised for saddling small countries with unmanageable debt as part of its global Belt and Road Initiative. 

Critics worry that it will use financial leverage to boost its political power, in what they dub "debt-trap diplomacy". 

But Chinese officials have strenuously denied any ulterior motive to the investment in Montenegro and the wider region. 

"This cooperation is mutually beneficial and win-win," said China's Montenegrin embassy in a statement last month. 

"If someone puts negative labels on China's investment, it is not only unfair to China, but also disrespectful to the countries of the western Balkans." 

With Montenegro's first repayment due in July, it could become the first European country to put those claims to the test. 

"If we do not find sources of funding to build on, then we are in big trouble," Infrastructure Minister Mladen Bojanic told AFP, saying he was committed to finishing the road. 

Critics question how the road will be paid for and highlight environmental damage caused
by the construction along with corruption allegations over the awarding of work contacts.

'Out of public eye' 

Bojanic is now trying to get help from the European Union to rescue a project he bitterly opposed when he was in opposition, labelling it risky and reckless. 

Risky, reckless and, according to campaigners, corrupt. 

More than one-third of local subcontractors chosen to work on the project had links to the former ruling socialists of President Milo Djukanovic. 

There were no public tenders and the relationship between payments received and the work carried out was not clear, according to anti-corruption watchdog MANS. 

"Decisions on construction were wrongly made out of the public eye, and that is something we will now have to pay for," said the group's Dejan Milovac. 

The government has promised to investigate any corruption claims. 

Further questions have been asked about the environmental impact after the construction work ruined a UNESCO-protected stretch of river near Matesevo, the Chinese firm agreeing to fund work to undo the damage. 

The construction work ruined a UNESCO-protected stretch of river near Matesevo
Montenegro. The Chinese firm agreed to fund work to undo the damage

Tolls not enough 

Problems with the project were not unforeseen -- experts queued up a decade ago to tell the government that it was not viable. 

They warned that any benefits to commerce and tourism on the Adriatic, or development for poorer northern regions, would never outweigh the costs. 

The current government has admitted revenue from tolls will not even cover the road's annual maintenance, estimated at 77 million euros ($94 million). 

"It would take at least 22-25,000 vehicles a day for the highway to pay off," civil engineer Ivan Kekovic told AFP, roughly four times the number he could envisage on the busiest stretch. 

Even this gloomy assessment may be optimistic if all Montenegrins do their sums like Zeljko Rajkovic, a 55-year-old teacher in Kolasin, close to Matesevo. 

He weighs up the benefits of heading to Podgorica on the new road: 30 minutes travel time rather than 90 minutes on the old road, improved safety. 

Then he considers the downsides: tolls each way, extra fuel consumption. 

"I'll only use the new road if there's a big storm or an emergency," he concludes.

India blows up luxury high-rises over environmental violations

Yahoo – AFP, Abhaya SRIVASTAVA, January 11, 2020

India has seen a construction boom in recent years but developers have often
ridden roughshod over safety and other regulations (AFP Photo/Arun SANKAR)

Two luxury waterfront high-rises in southern India were reduced to rubble in controlled explosions Saturday in a rare example of authorities getting tough on builders who break environmental rules.

The 19-floor H2O Holy Faith complex of 90 flats -- overlooking Kerala state's famous lush backwaters -- was the first to go down, collapsing in just a matter of few seconds.

A thick grey cloud of dust and debris cascaded down after officials detonated explosives drilled into the walls of the building, which had been occupied for several years until the Supreme Court ruled last May that it was constructed in violation of coastal regulations.

Minutes later, the twin towers of Alfa Serene tumbled down with an ear-splitting noise. The remaining two complexes will be razed on Sunday.

A crowd of onlookers who flocked to nearby terraces and roads watched the demolition, after officials in helicopters conducted aerial surveys.

India has seen a construction boom in recent years but developers have often ridden roughshod over safety and other regulations, with the connivance of local officials.

The inhabitants of the apartment blocks in the well-off Maradu district of Kochi city had bought their 343 flats in good faith and now face a lengthy legal fight to recoup their money. Some had invested their life savings.

Sirens went off warning people gathered for the demolition to remain at a safe distance

while ambulances and fire engines stood on standby (AFP Photo/Arun SANKAR)

Sirens went off on Saturday warning people gathered for the demolition to remain at a safe distance while ambulances and fire engines stood on standby.

Ahead of the work, nearby residents told AFP they were worried about the impact of the demolition on their homes.

"When they were demolishing the swimming pool, some of the houses in our neighbourhood developed cracks, we are really worried," said Divya, who has moved into temporary accommodation.

Over 2,000 residents living in the neighbourhood were evacuated as a part of safety measures.

Scenic and fragile

The demolition capped a saga that began in 2006 when a local governing body granted permission to private builders to erect the high-rises.

But last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the builders were in breach of rules about construction in an ecologically sensitive coastal zone, calling it a "colossal loss" to the environment.

"It's a high-tide area and hundreds of illegal structures have come up in the coastal zone," the court ruled as it ordered the buildings razed.

The inhabitants of the razed apartment blocks in the well-off Maradu district of Kochi 

city had bought their 343 flats in good faith and now face a lengthy legal fight to 

recoup their money (AFP Photo/Arun SANKAR)

On Friday the court also ordered the demolition of a resort in neighbouring Alappuzha district after its owners lost the appeal of a 2013 ruling that said the structure violated environmental regulations and must be demolished.

Kerala is famed for its brackish lagoons and lakes that run parallel to the Arabian Sea -- creating an environmentally fragile region.

In 2018, the state was battered by its worst floods in almost a century that killed more than 400 people.

Experts blamed the disaster on the government's eagerness to build houses, hotels and resorts with little regard for coastal planning regulations.

The residents of the Maradu apartments initially refused to vacate but moved out after local authorities cut water and power supplies.

They have been given interim partial compensation by the state government while the builders are in the process of providing a refund.

Shamshudeen Karunagapally, who bought a flat for $145,000, said his wife and children did not watch the buildings go down as it was "too painful for them to see their dreams shatter before their eyes".

"We are suffering without any fault," he told AFP.

'Cracking' Sydney tower residents evacuated again

Yahoo – AFP, 27 December 2018

Police and emergency services evacuated some 300 people in the 38-storey Opal
Tower in the Sydney Olympic Park and other nearby buildings on Christmas Eve

Residents in a recently completed Sydney high-rise apartment block that made "cracking noises" on Christmas Eve were moved out again Thursday as engineers work "round the clock" to fix the issue.

Police and emergency services evacuated some 300 people in the 38-storey Opal Tower in the Sydney Olympic Park and other nearby buildings on Monday after reports of "cracking noises".

The building moved "one to two millimetres" during the incident and authorities said they found a crack on the 10th floor.

Some two-thirds of the units were declared safe to return to Tuesday morning, but 51 others were declared "structurally unsafe".

The issue threw the Christmas plans of affected residents into disarray, with some telling local media they had to sleep in their cars while waiting to return home.

Others said that even though their apartments were deemed to be safe, they were too afraid to live in them.

Builder Icon on Thursday defended the tower as "structurally sound".

"The temporary relocation is a precautionary measure to allow engineers to work around the clock to comprehensively investigate and remediate the site in the quickest time frame possible, without further disruption to residents," it added in a statement.

Icon added that residents would be provided with accommodation and compensation, and investigators from global engineering firm WSP and its majority owner Japanese construction company Kajima would lead the investigation.

Residents were told at a meeting on Thursday it could be up to 10 days before they would be allowed back in the tower, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The New South Wales state government is already conducting an investigation into the building's structural integrity.

The 392-unit tower opened this year and is near the site of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Bitcoin fever hits US real estate market

Yahoo – AFP, Leila MACOR, January 14, 2018

View of a beach from a condo building in Florida, where bitcoin fever has hit
 the real estate market (AFP Photo/Jose ROMERO, RHONA WISE)

Miami (AFP) - Bitcoin fever has hit the US real estate market, especially that of Florida, offering foreign investors a way to dodge currency controls at home and US economic sanctions.

As of the end of last year, the digital currency was listed as a way to pay for some 75 properties for sale, especially in south Florida and California, according to the real estate firm Redfin.

"Bitcoin accepted" is a message now seen in the description of homes for sale in the Miami area.

One seller is going even farther, saying he will take only bitcoin (33 of them to be exact) for his half-million-dollar downtown condo in the Florida metropolis.

Bitcoin has been on a roller coaster ride of late, shooting up to nearly $20,000 a piece in mid-December and then dropping sharply around Christmas. It started the year at around $14,000.

Its use in real estate transactions is novel, and agents are wary because of its high volatility.

"I'd be blown away if a year from now we see hundreds of real estate transactions in bitcoins," said Jay Parker, Florida CEO for the Douglas Elliman brokerage agency.

Still, such transactions can be useful for foreigners who want to invest in the United States and cannot otherwise do so, said economist and bitcoin expert Charles Evans of Barry University.

"This seems to be driven by international investors who are circumventing inefficient banking and currency controls at home, and by US cryptocurrency enthusiasts," Evans told AFP.

"The governments in those countries restrict the amount of money that their residents are allowed to transfer abroad through the banking system. Bitcoin enables individuals there to bypass such restrictions," he added.

This could be a draw for investors, who even before the bitcoin rage were already hot on the real estate market in south Florida.

Nearly half of all foreign buyers of property in south Florida are from Latin America.

According to the National Association of Realtors, over the past five years, investors from Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina -- in that order -- have led purchases in this part of the state.

Money laundering?

Bitcoin offers another advantage for some foreign investors: it lets them dodge US economic sanctions.

Evans cited the example of Venezuela, which imposes strict currency controls and is enduring runaway inflation that surpassed 2,600 percent in 2017.

What is more, many senior officials in the government of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro have been hit by sanctions imposed by Washington, which considers his administration a dictatorship.

Evans said there is also a lot of interest in bitcoin among Iranians, whom he described as "doubly hit" with restrictions in Iran and international sanctions.

It is an open secret that money laundering fuels the real estate market in south Florida. But instead of hiding the practice, bitcoin could have the opposite effect.

The crypto currency "is a terrible medium for large-scale money laundering, because all bitcoin transactions are recorded in the publicly available transaction record known at the Blockchain," said Evans.

Although bitcoin has been associated with the drug trade and cyber attacks, Blockchain "leaves a lot of fingerprints," former Florida representative Jose Felix Diaz told Politico.

"So if you're using it for illegitimate reasons, the state and the federal government should have every tool at their disposal to go after you," Diaz said.

Last year, Diaz sponsored a bill-turned-law that includes bitcoin in Florida's laws for fighting money laundering.

Real estate agent Parker also said money laundering via bitcoin is far from posing a risk because "the beneficial owners of the real estate are always going to be able to be traced."

Parker said the fad of doing real estate deals in bitcoin could be as volatile as the currency itself.

"I think it's a gimmick. There's not much risk. The only risk is if the currency crashes before you can liquidate it," said Parker.

"I think the people that are using bitcoins to try to market their properties are doing it with the very purpose of getting you to write about it, getting their properties exposure," said Parker.

BayernLB under pressure over Dakota pipeline investment

Bavaria's state bank is set to invest about $120 million in the Dakota Access Pipeline, which threatens a Native American reservation and drinking water. Other banks have already sold their stake.

Deutsche Welle, 6 February 2017

There aren't many members of the Sioux tribe living in Bavaria but, thanks to the tentacles of international finance, the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) being built near the US's Standing Rock Indian Reservation have reached the state capital, Munich.

Last week, protesters from an alliance of NGOs arrived on the doorsteps of the BayernLB bank to deliver more than 700,000 signatures collected via worldwide petitions against the investments of 17 financial institutions into DAPL. These included more than 220,000 signatures specifically aimed at BayernLB's contribution that had been collected in a few days. By Monday 6, the online petition had reached close to 300,000 signatures.

Despite an invitation from the environmental campaigners Urgewald, Bavaria's state bank declined to send any representatives outside the building to receive the petition. "But we were allowed to go in with a delegation of three people, and we gave the petition to the press spokesman," said Regine Richter, banking specialist at Urgewald.

The bank itself is unwilling to give interviews on the subject and in response to DW's request would only send the public statement it issued in December, which made many conciliatory noises. "BayernLB is following the running discussions about the route of the pipeline very carefully and, as part of the consortium financing the pipeline, supports an amicable result of the discussions between the parties," it read.

Wait and see

BayernLB said it was waiting on a report from the US law firm Foley Hoag that was commissioned in December to look into how the local indigenous people had been consulted for the project. That report is due out later this month, but it may come too late. In January, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order decreeing that the environmental review for the project be fast-tracked.

"Nobody is really sure that means, but we are concerned that DAPL could get the green light any day now," Nick Pelosi, corporate engagement director for the campaign group First Peoples Worldwide, told DW. "It's such an urgent matter at this point that we really don't have time."

Not only that: The study is being conducted behind closed doors and may be no more than a desktop assessment. "From what we understand, it is a study on tribal consultation, which is the crux of this issue - that the tribe was not consulted properly about this pipeline," Pelosi said. "But nobody's reached out to the tribe, so it's essentially a study on consultation without any consultation."

The 17 banks insist that the loans for DAPL - amounting to $2.5 billion (2.3 billion euros) - are now legally committed. "But some have shown concern and that they are willing to exert the limited influence that they have," Pelosi said.

"I definitely think they're feeling the pressure," he said. "But what the tribe is asking is not necessarily for the banks to pull out, but to use their influence as project lenders to pressure the company into rerouting to avoid their treaty territory."

The banks say that influence appears to be very limited indeed: They argue that they can't impose new conditions on the loans and that it isn't their role to determine the route. "Which is true - it's the US government's responsibility - but we're asking them to support the reroute, not dictate it," Pelosi said.

Dozens of protesters have been arrested
at the Standing Rock reservation

Passive bank

Compared with other banks, BayernLB has been particularly recalcitrant. "BayernLB was one of the few that outright rejected our request for dialogue," said Pelosi.

"BayernLB is being much too passive," Richter said. "Banks like the Dutch ING and the Norwegian DNB are at least expressing public criticism of the pipeline consortium's behavior or are selling stakes in the companies involved."

Meanwhile in Germany, BayernLB's involvement in the project (a $120 million contribution to DAPL) has raised some political hackles - firstly because it is partly owned by the state, and secondly because it received a colossal taxpayer-funded 10 billion-euro ($9.3 billion) bailout during Europe's financial crisis in 2008.

"BayernLB should not be allowed to support the dirty business of climate denier Donald Trump," said Anton Hofreiter, the Greens' parliamentary leader and a native of Bavaria. "This project destroys the environment, is a risk for the drinking water from the Missouri River and, at the same time, desecrates the Native Americans' cultural heritage."

Hofreiter, along with other German politicians, is sure that BayernLB's commitment to the project could be reversed by Bavaria's state government. "I'm sure it's possible," Frank Schwabe, Bundestag member for the Social Democrats, told DW. "The bank has oversight committees, and there is political influence on that, so it would be good if the politicians in Bavaria would take a clear position on it. We're discussing the issue of company and bank responsibility more and more, and I think that a state bank in particular needs to stick to that."

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Brazil's Odebrecht, Braskem pay record fine in bribery case

Yahoo – AFP, Heather Scott, with Sebastian Smith in Rio de Janeiro, December 22, 2016

Brazilian construction company Odebrecht pled guilty to paying hundreds of
millions to bribe government officials in countries on three continents (AFP
Photo/YASUYOSHI CHIBA)

Washington (AFP) - Scandal-plagued Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht and petrochemical affiliate Braskem have agreed to pay a record $3.5 billion to settle a vast international bribery case, US officials said.

Odebrecht, a key player in the Petrobras corruption scandal gripping Brazil, agreed to a fine of $4.5 billion but said it was only able to pay $2.6 billion, the US Justice Department said in a statement. Braskem, meanwhile, will pay $957 million.

The fines are to be paid to Brazilian, Swiss and US authorities, the department said, calling it "the largest-ever global foreign bribery resolution."

It is the latest in a string of terrible headlines for Odebrecht, which Brazilian investigators say was one of the ringleaders of a scheme to plunder billions of dollars from state oil company Petrobras.

Revelation of the scandal has rocked Brazil's political and business establishment to its foundations, with ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva facing trial and current President Michel Temer reportedly under suspicion.

The bribery case settled Wednesday includes the Petrobras allegations, but is even bigger.

The Odebrecht conglomerate pleaded guilty to bribing government officials and political parties to the tune of $788 million to secure business on three continents -- mostly in Brazil, but also 11 other countries in Latin America and Africa.

"Odebrecht and Braskem used a hidden but fully functioning Odebrecht business unit -- a 'Department of Bribery,' so to speak -- that systematically paid hundreds of millions of dollars to corrupt government officials in countries on three continents," US Deputy Assistant Attorney General Sung-Hee Suh said in a statement.

"Such brazen wrongdoing calls for a strong response from law enforcement, and through a strong effort with our colleagues in Brazil and Switzerland, we have seen just that."

Political fallout

In the main scheme, Odebrecht targeted top Brazilian politicians and executives at Petrobras for more than a decade starting in about 2001. The bribes were used to secure inflated contracts and even get favorable legislation passed in Congress.

Suh praised Brazil's judiciary for tackling the issue head on.

"I cannot praise their efforts enough. They have been under enormous pressure, done an extraordinary job of initiating the investigation and carrying it through," she said.

The Brazilian probe, known by its codename Operation Carwash, has cast dark shadows over two of Brazil's most important companies, Petrobras and Odebrecht, adding to economic pain as the country flounders in deep recession.

Odebrecht's jailed boss Marcelo Odebrecht and 76 other current and former executives have signed plea deals agreeing to tell all in exchange for lighter sentences.

The Brazilian press has described the deal as potentially apocalyptic for the political establishment.

Panama, meanwhile, said it would request information from the United States about alleged Odebrecht bribes paid in Panama to secure contracts, its foreign ministry said.

Shattered record

The previous record bribery settlement was $1.6 billion for German engineering group Siemens in 2008. It settled charges of systematically using bribes and slush funds to land public works contracts around the world.

Margarida Gutierrez, an economist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, told AFP that this settlement, Odebrecht's newest move to come clean, would open the door for its return to the market.

"Right now they are unable to participate in any bids in Brazil or probably out of Brazil," she said. "Now they can start again, and try to clear their name. They will succeed but it will be hard."

The US Justice Department will conduct an "inability to pay analysis" by March 31 to determine the final amount that Odebrecht must come up with. Sentencing has been scheduled for April 17.

Under the plea agreement, Brazil will receive 80 percent of Odebrecht's fines, while the United States and Switzerland will garner 10 percent each.

Braskem, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange through American Depositary Receipts (ADR), saw its shares soar after the deal was announced, closing up four percent.

It will pay a criminal fine of $632 million, and another $325 million penalty to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Under the Braskem deal, Brazil will receive 70 percent of the fines, while US and Swiss authorities receive 15 percent. Sentencing for the firm has not yet been scheduled.

Brazil's Odebrecht, Braskem pay record fine in bribery case https://t.co/Wn8k2rgyX2 pic.twitter.com/RM9Shs8gzG

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 22, 2016

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Shell and ExxonMobil regret Groningen earthquake problems

DutchNews, September 8, 2016

A condemned and shored-up
cafe. Photo: Graham Dockery

The two international oil firms which are responsible for extracting natural gas in Groningen on Thursday both expressed regret for the problems the drilling has caused in the province. 

Officials made the comments during a parliamentary hearing with Shell and ExxonMobil executives after being challenged by GroenLinks MP Liesbeth van Tongeren, broadcaster NOS reported.

‘We acknowledge that the people of Groningen are dealing with most of the problems caused by gas extraction, which we in the Netherlands can thank for our prosperity,’ Shell Nederland president Marjan van Loon said.

‘That is why the people of Groningen deserve our support. The NAM has expressed its regrets and I can fully support that. So I can say too, “I’m sorry, sorry”.’ 

Later Exxon Mobil Nederland upstream director Rolf de Jong also expressed regret for the problems caused by the drilling. Shell and ExxonMobil are 50:50 shareholders in the NAM, which has the licence to extract natural gas from underneath the province. 

Damage

The number of Groningen residents whose homes have been damaged by earthquakes caused by the gas extraction has risen to 100,000 according to a new report by Groningen university, the local community health service and provincial council. 

Only 60% of people whose houses have been hit by quakes once feel safe at home and the figure falls to 38% for those who have suffered damage more than once. The average for the rest of the country is 85%. 

The economic affairs ministry cut back the rate of gas extraction in Groningen at the start of this year after an increase in the frequency and magnitude of earthquakes in the area over the last decade. In the first six months of 2016 there were six quakes measuring 1.5 or more on the Richter scale, compared to 12 in the same period the previous year.

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much.

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet.

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four. ….”

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”