by Penny,

Greetings from the Rainbow Warrior

We have been in Beirut for two weeks now. I am reaccustomed to women who do not cover their hair and faces. There are women here who are veiled, but most aren't. It's odd, Beirut has long been in my mind as one of those dodgy places that I would love to visit but never thought that I would. In the 1980's, when I started to become aware of politics, Lebanon was a war zone. So my first, and most enduring, impression of this city is of a city at war or under siege. There are definitely aspects of that in this hilly city. Soldiers are found on every corner. At some intersections, military dudes lounge atop tanks, parked behind orange pylons. Yesterday I saw a soldier casually having a smoke and a chat while leaning on his civilian buddies motorbike. Here, as in all the other countries we have visited on this tour, I am obviously a foreigner. Many of the military personnel I pass while walking the streets of the city greet me and try to engage me in conversation. This is in stark contrast to the hostile and confrontational nature of the american military we encountered in Bahrain.

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Posted by Hussein at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

8 Months ago the Rainbow Warrior was in Beirut to help in the oil spill recovery plans. At that time, the ship was documenting almost all the contaminated spots along the Mediterranean Sea off the Lebanese cost. Arek a 17 and a bit years old, a volunteer from the Lebanese office didn't make it to the ship due to age restrictions. Arek tonight turned 18 and we had a small party hosted on the rainbow warrior for him.

To Arek whom we remember did cry passionately 8 months ago for not being able to join the ship during the oil spill cleanup, To you Arek we say: "Man you are lucky to have your 18th birthday on the Rainbow".

Happy Birthday Arek and we wish you a life full of peace and love.

ps: we are waiting for you blog entry on this one...

Posted by Hussein at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

From Basma,

The Rainbow Warrior as it docked in the Beirut Marina, downtown.

Posted by Hussein at 3:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Monday 26 March

We sailed with sand and very little water. Phil had written "SAILOR'S
SHOWERS" in bright green chalk on the black board in the mess room -
water was costly in Egypt. To fill our tanks would have cost over a
thousand dollars for twenty cubic meters. We were a sailing ship of
the desert. The engine was off and the propeller was feathering.
Rainbow Warrior was being driven at six knots by a fresh north-
westerly wind across the south-eastern sector of the Mediterranean
Sea, in a weather forecast area known as Crusade. But the weather
charts did not prepare us for what happened next.

I was at the desk in my cabin, writing. Dinner had been particularly
good. The Mexican chef and puppeteer, Daniel, had served stuffed
courgettes and a mushroom sauce over wild rice. The phone rang. It
was Jolien from the bridge deck. As I listened to her voice I watched
the sea rushing past my open porthole - it was closer due to the wind
heeling the ship over to starboard. I noticed too that it had changed
from blue to inky black. 'There's a squall ahead of us,' the chief
mate said. 'We've got to reef the sails'.

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Posted by Hussein at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This afternoon I came across this article on Digg.com. The article entitled "Does Israel need nuclear facilities?" written by Zafrir Rinat in Haaretz- a well known Israeli newspaper. It raises important questions about nuclear safety following the Rainbow Warrior visit to Israel. "Professor Uri Marinov, a member of the team that drafted the master plan that guides Israel's energy sector and a man who is not identified with radical environmentalism, outlined the risks of using existing thermo-nuclear reactors to produce energy"..

Here at Greenpeace, we made a call for a nuclear free Middle East. Our flagship the Rainbow Warrior is still in the area spreading the word from country to country and we are very keen on taking our call all the way to the key players in the Middle East arena.Yet we need your help in letting the sun shine on social networks. Read on and Digg this article

Posted by Hussein at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

by Shadi

8:13 AM, am still sleeping, my cell is ringing; it’s Basma Badran, the Arab world communication officer for Greenpeace. “Shadi, still asleep? Wake up people, the ship is already docking in Marina Solidere, all of us have to get ready, and the open boat is starting at 10 with a group of school pupils visiting the ship!”

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Posted by Hussein at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

by Phil Lloyd

The City of Haifa, Israel, became our next stop after a lovely sail from Egypt.
A tug boat bigger than us, wrestled us into position, near the ferry terminal.
I managed to get ashore latter that evening. Caught a ride to the top of the hill and found a pub called "The Bear". I drank a beer or two and listened to some "Salmonella Dub" a band from New Zealand. My mind wandered to thoughts of home.

We had an open ship and got the chance to work with some locals, hear their opinions and discuss local issues. The idea that because Israel has nukes is what has "stopped our neighbours breaking down our doors..." is absurd. Not everyone share this opinion that is for sure. But we all know that nuclear weapons are a false sense of security. It has in fact made the region less stable. Since we began this tour all of the countries in the region have nuclear facilities on the table for discussion. Many citing Israel and Iran as the reason.

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Posted by Hussein at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Posted by Hussein at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

by Phill Lloyd onboard the Rainbow Warrior,

Walking around ashore, smelling fresh lavender flowers, playing pool on the street corner, bought some local candy for some deaf kids, had a fresh squeezed mango juice with an old "Aden" who spoke perfect English and who took the time to give me a history lesson on Yemen, Aden in particular.

Everywhere I walked people wanted to practice their little spoken English and me my little Arabic. So open and friendly, they invite you to stop and share their food with them. Shaking hands with the local kids as I walked. I bought a local "skirt" that the men wear, a scarf, and another mango juice.

We had open boats to the public. Woman wearing full burka adorned the ship and we gave tours via translators. The atmosphere was tremendous everyone was so friendly and enthusiastic. Our Solar Chill fridge was working, as was our solar streetlight, which the mayor of Aden was intrigued by.

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Posted by Hussein at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

by brianfit

Twelve activists, from eight countries, have managed to get inside the security perimiter of a nuclear power plant at Belleville Sur Loire in France and scale the cooling tower. Notable in this video (in French) is the complete lack of any security personnel whatsoever. (More here from Greenpeace France)

To be honest, I think I'd prefer to see our banner-hanging sprees foiled by security than know that a potential source of dirty bomb material can be gotten into with equipment little more advanced than a ladder.

And if you're of the school that says "ok, it's a risky technology, vulnerable to break-ins by unsavory types who might take an interest in dirty bomb or fissionable material, but at least it doesn't cause climate change," you may want to read this article in Business Week:

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Posted by Hussein at 8:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Captin Mike-Rainbow Warrior

Hello all,

We have the wind with us and we can make it all the way to Israel without the use of engines. We'll be a few hours late though. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Estimated Time of Arrival at Haifa = Tuesday @ 1500

We come with love and peace,

Mike

Posted by Hussein at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shortly after sunrise on Monday morning, the Rainbow Warrior arrived in Alexandria, passing by the old citadel as she entered through the breakwater into Alexandria harbour. She was met by a small but enthusiastic flotilla of boats and the curious but friendly waves from fishermen tending their nets.

Alexandria is an ancient city, although now most buildings dating from the early part of the 20th century, showing signs of decay. But there is still a beauty as the city sweeps the side of the bay. It was a thrill to see the Rainbow Warrior anchored there.

Egypt is a fascinating and chaotic place and the land-based team of Ilona and Khaled have been in Alexandria for a number of days to finalise the plans for the activities we were undertaking. Omer, Alonso and Lama came fresh from the excitement of Yemen, and then Nicky, Greenpeace's Peace and disarmament campaigner arrived, closely followed by me and Jo.

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Posted by Hussein at 2:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Rainbow Warrior is now in Alexandria, Egypt, an important stop in our tour of the Middle East. The East Bay in Alexandria is the perfect setting for the Rainbow Warrior. Inside the half-moon-shaped harbour are many small blue or green fishing vessels, with colourful symbols – horses, tiger, eagles and so on - painted on their bow.

From the harbour, the new Alexandria Library is clearly visible. Yesterday, Greenpeace held a high-level seminar inside that prestigious building, together with the Egyptian Institute for Peace Studies. The topic for the seminar was a Nuclear Free Middle East. In attendance were three Ambassadors, one General, representatives of the Arab League, the Egyptian, French and Italian governments, and about 50 others.

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Posted by Hussein at 2:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It is something between an entry and a comment.I thought of bringing it forward for all what it means.I took the liberty of publishing this on Let The Sun Shine from a comment posted by UmmEl3yal on her blog referring to "How do you define a Middle Eastern person?" previously posted here.

Eastern cultures in general have what is called an "external locus of control" which, in brief, means they (we) believe that control over their (our) environment lay outside themselves (ourselves). This is typically due to religious beliefs, political oppression, authoritarian education and upbringing and many other factors. So, unlike Western cultures, the belief in the individual’s ability of creating a change is very limited. So we tend to "wait" for others (God, our father, tribe head, teacher, Emir, King. Etc…) to make a change.

Yet, as with any aspect of cultural characteristics, they are dynamic and can change :)

Posted by Hussein at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Mike Fincken is aboard the Rainbow Warrior as part of the Middle East Peace tour. Here's his personal blog of a week in his life:

Wednesday 07 March

On the last of the four flights connecting Cape Town to Aden I awoke to the shaking of the airplane moving rapidly down the runway. I awoke confused. I could not tell if we had just landed or were about take off, until the front of the Yemeni airplane lifted up and my stomach sank. I drifted off again. The trolley ran down the aisle and stopped against my foot, a piece of sweet bread was placed in my hand. The trolley passed me by, heading down toward the back of the plane, my headed nodded forward and the sweet bread hit the cabin floor.

Following my day-and-half commute to work, it was a welcome sight -the Rainbow Warrior. Lit up at night, lying quietly alongside in Aden harbor. The crew were mostly tucked away in their bunks, but a few familiar faces were there to greet me. Canadian Phil, (the coxswain who had made the dramatic rescue of the three Sirens off Corsica during the first week of my last voyage on the Rainbow), drew my big black suitcase over the gunwale and onto the steel deck. He carried it through to my cabin - I had arrived home from home.

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Posted by Hussein at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here how it goes: Bear with me on this one folks, as it gets a little bit complicated. Basically The United Nations will impose new smart sanctions on Iran for trying to build a nuclear power program in what has been known lately as the Iranian Nuclear defiance. In the Meantime, Another UN body will ease the sanctions on North Korea for keeping their nuclear bombs while “dismantling” two nuclear power plants. The UK on the other hand, who is part of the two already mentioned UN Bodies, did announce lately that it will be developing a new generation of their nuclear weapons program. Nevertheless, The UK itself does support some Arab countries' (especially the GCC) initiatives to build their own nuclear programs.

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Posted by Hussein at 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

a) A dark skinned black haired
b) A potential illegal immigrant
c) A potential terrorist
d) All of the above
e) -------------------------

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Posted by Hussein at 8:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

He is well known for speaking up and loud against Iran’s nuclear defiance. He is totally against Iran developing their nuclear program. “The tougher we in the international community are, the more likely we are to get the result we want. Any sign of weakness is lethal.” he once said. In the meantime and somehow he is developing his nuclear weapons.

He is Tony Blair and he is our main guest on this entry. As much as Tony loves his WMDs as much as he wants to keep it for himself and some other friends. Tony’s ultimate fantasy is to keep nukes away from “the axes of terror countries” however he doesn’t mind to increase the main 9 "push the button" nuclear group with his consent. For him, he and his friends are rational enough to handle such deadly technology. Oh well despite some marginal errors like Hiroshima and Chernobyl for example.

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Posted by Hussein at 9:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Tuna,

Photo by Pinar Akpinar

A cheerfull and crowded Peace Fair took place in Istanbul. Our B61 nuclear missile replika attracted a lot of attention. People were shocked to hear that there are 90 “real” nukes of same type in the US base of Incirlik in Turkey. A tangible model was more effective and powerful than words. We’ll continue to speak up about the 90 nuclear bombs in İncirlik and their threat on our lives in every occasion. We were expecting the bomb squad to arrive in the venue but no police was on the fair :)) However the wings of the missile has broken because of the crowd! I hope that we will have a chance to see the broken wings off all “real” nuclear bombs. It is essential that the Turkish Government send a squad to Incirlik to dismantle those US nukes.

On March 17, Saturday - the 4th anniversary of Iraq War – a demonstration will be held at Istanbul. We will be there for a peaceful and nuclear free world.

Posted by Hussein at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Mike

Money, money, money ... it makes the world go around. Iran yesterday issued a new bank note emblazoned with the standard nuclear insignia of electrons whizzing around an atomic nucleus, like New York diplomats orbiting the UN Security Council.

While the diplomats seek to increase sanctions in a bid to force financial hardship on Tehran and enhance domestic opposition to Iran's uranium enrichment plans, Russian nuclear scientists are evacuating Bushehr because the cash strapped country has failed for two months to meet payments for the country's first nuclear power station.

It had been expected that nuclear fuel would be supplied by Russia this month for the Bushehr nuclear power station, however, according to Atomstroiexport, no money, no nuclear fuel.

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Posted by Richard at 6:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)