A 3D Printed Arms Trade

I’ve been reading and thinking about 3D printers of late, and just how they are going to change the world.

The most scary aspect of this is just how it will impact upon the military and the arms trade.

Military Aircraft & War Ships.

Here is a summary of just what has been going on of late, and some of the thinking behind it.

Siemens plans to produce spare parts for its gas turbines.

BAE Systems are now starting to produce 3D printed Tornado Aircraft which are being tested by the RAF.

While the  ‘ U.S. Navy could soon use these popular tech tools to shake up traditional supply chains and revolutionise maritime strategy.’

The following article gives some more idea of just what the future might hold: –

“Print Me a Cruiser” : The Future of the US Fleet

Design, Print, and Kill local.

The  way 3D printers work means that anyone can scan existing weapons component parts, convert the info in to a software programme, and start their own local weapons industry.

Last year a working gun was made with a 3D printer, but that’s just the start of it all.

The use of 3D printers will make it very difficult to impose any international arms controls, and produce a lot of legal problems for those who wish to impose any prohibition on the export of weapons or weapon systems.

This is something which very few legislators will have ever thought about. Neither has there been any thoughts given upon just how to stop the military proliferation which this technology might cause.

It is possible to prohibit the sale of arms, and even the blueprints of specific weapons.

Yet 3 key questions do need to be examined: –

–  How can this be extended to weapons production software?

– Will that be enough to stop the proliferation of new small arm manufacturing?

&

– Just how do you stop anyone from scanning weapons, and reproducing them via a 3D printer ?

Here is one idea which has been proposed:

‘ Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) is looking at how to regulate working guns made by 3-D printers.’

The Jobs Issue.

3D printing can be done at the point of need, and thus saves a lot of transport costs.

This in turn means less jobs for transport workers, and far fewer people involved in the manufacturing process.

Thus there will be less large arms factories, and a decrease in the export of weapons.

This in turn will result in a lot of job loses,  which is very difficult to quantify at present,
but it is something we should all be thinking about.

It will also weaken the case put by the arms trade that they promote manufacturing & thus job.

Though it might also mean that many more new weapons are in use around the world.

It’s the kind of issue which those involved in the Trade Unions and Anti-Arms Trade Campaigners  should start to study.

On the Plus Side.

– 3D food printers can create sweets and chocolates.

– 3D printers can produce artificial limbs.

&

– They can be used to make amazing works of art.

Meanwhile In The Pacific.

What is read.

The UK government seems to be madly thinking that we need more nukiller power stations, while it allows Fracking to take place , cuts flood defences, cuts social welfare, pushes for more policing with less police, and pushes ahead with a replacement to Trident as a nukiller ‘deterrent’.

Yet all you will really see in the British press is a pointless debate about immigration, membership of the EU,  the alleged bad behaviour of a few entertainers, or celebres, and just what the royals have been doing of late.

Well that kinda sums up what has been going on for a while, or rather, what most people in Britain might think has been going on in the world.

Read a year ago, watch todays news, or read it in a years time: –
It was, is, and will be the very same ‘news’ stories.

What Needs to be Said and What Needs to be Read.

Yet very few people are warning about just what is going on at Fukushima, how the Pacific is dying, and just how much of a global problem this has become.

While all we can do is keep warning just how dangerous nukiller new build will be,  and keep campaigning to stop the nukiller industry.

Recent Activities

Sometimes it might seem like I’ve not been doing much of late, but this is not the case.

I’ve just had an article about my world view published on the Liverpool CND website.

While a lot of my time have been spent upon setting up the Atlantic Cartier Campaign.

Right now I’m putting together a piece about the Military & Arms Trade dangers which come from 3D printing.

So as we say – More Anon.

Radioactive Trade Wars.

A Ban on Shell Fish & Fish.

Radioactive discharges from Windscale ( Sellafield ) picked up by shellfish have caused a lot of concerns over the years.

In 2004 this raised the prospect that it might stop the export of some British shellfish to the rest of Europe.

Now Russia has imposed a ban on fish and seafood imports from Japan.

In September South Korea banned all fishery products from eight Japan prefectures.

&

China has just banned all Shellfish from the West Coast of the USA.

Trade Wars ?

As the level of radioactivity from Fukushima grows, then so will concerns about the health of the fish in the Pacific.

Thus the number of countries disallowing the import of fish from Japan, Canada, and the US must grow.

These sorts of import bans will really upset the WTO, scupper GATT, and might bring about all sorts of trade sanctions.

Just how many countries will this impact ?

One can only guess the answer to that question.

However . . . . . .

With rising health concerns, and falling fish numbers, there will not be much of a fishing industry left in the Pacific within the next couple of years.

So any trade sanctions will be of a very academic nature indeed.

Ban them now !

What we now need is a European import ban upon all fish and shell fish from the Northern Pacific.

Such an import ban would highlight just what is happening at Fukushima,  and the need to close down all nukiller power plants.

A Very Logical and Very Frightening Predication.

Studying the reports about the high levels of radiation coming out of Fukushima in to the Pacific makes for very depressing reading.

It will continue to be that way as more radioactive water is allowed to be poured in to the sea.

Just what effects this will have upon marine life in the long term is frightening to contemplate.

Though the  continuing reports coming out of Alaska and California are good indicators of just how much of a crisis we now face.

How many common species of birds, fish, and mammals will become endangered species as the result of radiation from Fukushima ?  There is just no way of knowing.

What are now common species will become rare species, and very rare species might soon become extinct.

Fukushima fallout is being spread by typhoons, and there are now some very worrying reports which have now emerged from New Zealand.

Meanwhile in the north.

The US Navy predicts ice free summers in the Arctic by 2016.

With this will come changes to the free flow of water around the Arctic We just don’t know what the long term effects of this will be.

If I am right, then radioactive water from Fukushima is already flowing in to the Arctic via the Bering current. This being so then it could well start to flow south via the North Atlantic current, then down past the east coast for Canada and the USA. After that it would be carried up the Gulf Stream, and thus to the coastal waters of Western Europe.

Does this sound like a frightening and very dramatic prediction ?

Well it is intended to be that way.

There are very few people taking any serious thoughts about just what will happen as a result of the continuing disaster at Fukushima,  or just what the long term effects will be.

It’s a global crisis and needs to be treated that way.

Japanese Worries.

The news from Japan is increasingly worrying.

This is aside from the ongoing diaster at Fukushima, and high level of radiation which are spreading out from the plant.

These worries are: –

– The increasingly dangerous military stand off between China and Japan about the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.

– The continual dispute between South Korea and Japan about the islands known as Dokdo in South Korea and as Takeshima in Japan.

– The proposed to abolish Article 9 of the Japanese constitution, which would mean that Japanese troops could fight anywhere in the world.

– The threat to reintroduce conscription to Japan.

&

– The newly enacted Japanese secrecy law.

This is why we should all support the Article9 Campaign.

Mapping The Unknown.

Not Covered.

There is a remark I keep hearing while talking with people about Fukushima and the radioactive pacific:
‘ I’ve not heard about that before now’.

This is no surprise as very little is being published in the worlds media about the ongoing disaster at the plant.

Yet should this come as a surprise to most of us ?

Not Known.

I’ve not seen any reports coming out of North Korea about the issue, and just don’t expect to see any.

Neither have I seen any reports coming out of China, or the Russian Federation.

Logically: –

– If the damaging effects of radioactive exposure are being felt around Alaska, then something similar should be going on along the coasts of Eastern Siberia.

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– I would also assume that similar biological damage is happening around the earthquake pron coasts of the Kuril Islands.

So where are these reports to be seen?

Mapping it Out.

I’ve been looking at a lot of maps of late.

These are the maps which show the sea currents which goes up though the Bering strait, in to the Chukchi sea, and around the Antarctic Ocean.

Looking at these maps it would seem logical that some of the radioactive material from Fukushima is or has entered in to this region of the world.

This being so: –

Then a part of it will soon start to flow south in to the North Atlantic.

What Comes Next?

We just don’t know.

Yet consider the following: –

The ice in the Antartic is melting as a result of climate change, and many new sea routes are being opened up.

This sea melting might well start to effect ocean currents, and thus the global circulation of radioactivate material from Fukushima.

As to the when and how of this: –

We just don’t know.

What I do know is that there is a lot more which we need to know, both in order to find out just what is going in the North Eastern Pacific, and thus the Antartic Ocean.

All else can only be educated guesses and speculation.

Monitoring The Effects.

Pacific Problems.

The effects of the radiative leaks in to the sea from Fukushima are spreading, and very few people seem to be aware of just how major problem this has become.

Only in a few places such are we finding any attempts to monitor just how this radioactivity is effecting marine life.

Yet think on —-

– Plankton, & Krill.

– Big Fish eat smaller fish.

– Birds and mammals eat fish.

It goes right up the food chain.

Now we are reading about polar bears becoming sick in Alaska.

The Pacific Ocean is dying and very few people seem to be aware of it.

Global Problems.

Think on a little more —-

Just how will this build up of radiation effect seaweed ?

&

How will the death of so much carbon absorbing sea life effect global warming ?

We just don’t know.

– The scientific data does not exist.

– There has never been such global disaster in the whole of human history.

&

It is a much bigger disaster than anything which has gone before now.

A Global Effort.

Thus there is an urgent need to establish a global monitoring and analysis body to study just what is and will happen as a result of the continuing disaster at Fukushima.

The key to this monitoring study will be just how much longer will there be large amounts of radiation flowing in to the Pacific.

In order to do this we will need to monitor the situation with the combined efforts of the following: –

Marine Biologists.
Oceanographers.
Human Biologists.
Ornithologists.
Radiologists.
Climatologists.
Doctors.
Zoologists.
Agrarians.
and
Statisticians.

Then the longer term social effects will need to be looked at by both sociologists and economists.

Only then will we just about start to appreciate the long term problems which we face.