[LINK] "Bhutanese refugees tell dark side of Himalayan kingdom"

The National Post's Tom Blackwell has an ">article describing one of the flip sides of the seemingly Orwellianly happy Kingdom of Bhutan.

Refugee sagas usually begin with an infamously despotic leader, or with years of war and strife. This one unfolded differently. Jigme Singye Wangchuck, Bhutan's king until recently, has been widely praised for lifting his people from near-medieval conditions, beefing up public education and health care and opening the window to the outside world. He also promoted Gross National Happiness, a creed which holds that material wealth should not come at the expense of spiritual wellbeing, the environment or culture.

Two years ago, the hugely popular king converted Bhutan into the world's newest democracy and abdicated in favour of his Western-educated son. Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck was crowned just last month, earning glowing press coverage as a handsome and charismatic monarch of the people.

Almost forgotten was a period in the late 1980s and early 1990s when more than 100,000 Bhutanese of Nepalese origin -- a sixth of the population -- departed the country, leaving Bhutan largely to the majority Kruk people.

According to a 2006 article by the UNHCR, the United Nations' refugee agency, "tens of thousands" were evicted, often after being made to sign "voluntary" migration certificates. An Immigration Canada spokeswoman said the camps' residents were "forced" to leave Bhutan, while a 2007 Human Rights Watch report states that most, if not all, the refugees in Nepal have a right under international law to return to Bhutan.

A spokesman for the Bhutanese government, however, argued on Tuesday that few of the refugees are actually from his country, suggesting that many impoverished residents of the region settled in the camps to take advantage of services funded by the international community.

Bhutan has no ill feelings toward its remaining Nepalese minority, with some even serving now as cabinet ministers, added Tshewang Dorji, counsellor with Bhutan's mission to the UN.

"Nobody was forced to leave ... The government didn't want the [ethnic Nepalese] people to leave," he insisted. "People who have ill feelings toward Bhutan have blown this issue out of proportion."

Canada will be resettling many of the expelled Bhutanese, as part of a new program aimed at helping refugee blocs find home. Many of the Bhutanese in the cmaps don't want to go, still hoping to return to their homeland and spreading rumours about harsh conditions awaiting the resettled in Canada, like their supposed destination in work camps on the Arctic Circle.

[LINK] It's oh so quiet (or it should be?)

I'm somewhat of a fan of Alpha Centauri, not least because of Tirane, but this Centauri-related action, as Centauri Dreams suggests, could be a very bad idea.

Twentieth Century Fox will be transmitting the re-make of the science fiction classic The Day The Earth Stood Still to Alpha Centauri on Friday the 12th, timing the event to coincide with the film’s opening here on Earth. The transmission is being handled by Florida-based Deep Space Communications Network, a private organization that offers transmission services to the public (not to be confused with the Deep Space Network that manages communications with our planetary probes).

Why does Deep Space Communications Network offer transmission services to the stars? From its FAQ:

For a number of reasons, one is because we have the equipment, and the know how so we can, and also because we thought it would be an interesting public service that is not currently available.

We’re doing it because we can . . .

[. . .]

As far as Twentieth Century Fox goes, my thoughts on METI are no secret. But look, there are advocates who make a strong case for METI, just as there are reputable and serious scientists who question whether brightening our signature in the electromagnetic spectrum is a good idea. I can listen and learn from both, but what I find deeply troubling is the notion that we can take a serious issue — one that deserves thoughtful study in many disciplines — and casually throw it out the window by yet another fait accompli.

Is it too late to lock down the mania for METI? Probably, as we’re beaming everything from movies and ads for the Doritos to watch them by seemingly at will. And a case can be made that our TV and radio signals are already reaching nearby stars, and that an advanced civilization could pick them up, as well as detecting biomarkers in our atmosphere. That’s plausible, but a sudden and deliberate brightening of our signal for whatever purpose strikes me as unwise given how little we know about the conditions that surround us. I doubt seriously that such transmissions endanger us, but the point is, we don’t know, and in the absence of that knowledge, caution and further study seem a more prudent course.

Thoughts? I agree with the poster, for whatever it's worth.

[LINK] "Monaco ditches plan to expand into sea: prince"

So much for this grand plan.

The Mediterranean city state of Monaco has shelved a multi-billion-dollar scheme to expand into the sea because of the global economic crisis, its ruler Prince Albert II said Tuesday.

Albert said Monaco, an independent enclave on southern France's Riviera coast made rich by tourism and banking, had been forced to drop plans to build a huge artificial peninsula, which had been compared to Dubai's island developments.

"In the current climate it would be irresponsible to launch a project of this scale," the prince told AFP in an interview, explaining that the project had fallen short of its funding and environmental protection goals.

"The international crisis has forced us to seek better financial guarantees, more security. I would in any case want to reassure myself that effects on the environment would be as limited as possible," he said.

The decision will disappoint two of the world's best known architects, who were competing to design an offshore platform as large as 20 football pitches and costing between five and 10 billion dollars (7.7 billion euros).

The project would have increased Monaco's territory -- two square kilometres of luxury housing, a famous casino and plush yachting marinas, which host an annual Formula 1 Grand Prix race -- by five percent.

Monaco is the world's most densely populated state, and there is little room for new building on its narrow strip of dry land trapped between a steep hillside and the seafront. Work had been slated to begin in 2011.