V-v-v-victory!

This is one of the rare cases in which, due to the pressure of the people, an environmental catastrophe was avoided.

Yes.

The Crucitas mining project has been stopped!

See Ilegalidades y daño ambiental hunden plan minero crucitas [ESP, from La Nación.com].

If you've been following my blog, you'd remember the "Land that Hates Nature" entry, and others related to the destruction of nature in Costa Rica.

But finally, the judges decided it was time to stop the cutting of trees and the contamination of the groundwater that passes through that area.

After a long time, the mining project has been stopped!

So all I have to say is

Screw the corporations, screw the politicians, and screw YOU Oscar Arias! ¡Coma mierda! I was very happy when I read that a legal process could be started against "Osquitar". I can only hope that it starts, and if it does, it will have my full support.

This fight has been won, but there's actually a bigger, more worrying and politically threatening one that recently started.

What do you think of Nicaragua invading Costa Rica, a country with no army? (Historically, it was the first one in the world to legally abolish its army.)

And don't forget about Pascua Lama.

Bye!

McDonald's Video Game

Just a quick post for this week.

http://www.mcvideogame.com/

Finally, the ultimate McDonald's Experience! (R) Now when you're not going to their fancy, clean and well-kept restaurants, you can dream that you're there! Or even more, you can manage the company! Starting at the beautiful forests that are cleared for crops (i.e. corn) and cows (牛), and going up the chain to the actual McD's HQ, you can do everything!'

The world is in your hands, conquer it!

Cheers!
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Oh, and maybe you knew about this? Kind of "old" news, but might as well post it.

[Not-so] Breaking News

Hayward: No Fears Over BP's North Sea Drill

Russia, Norway sign border deal for Arctic energy

Denis Dyomkin

After a 40-year dispute, Russia and Norway signed an Arctic border treaty on Wednesday that will pave the way for offshore oil and gas exploration. Skip related content

President Dmitry Medvedev and Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg presided over the signing in Murmansk, a Barents Sea port city near the Norwegian border north of the Arctic Circle.

The disputed territory covered 175,000 square km (67,600 sq miles), an area about half the size of Germany, mainly in the Barents Sea between proven petroleum reserves on the Russian and Norwegian sides.

"The signing of the agreement, on which negotiations began back in 1970, marks a historic breakthrough in relations," the Kremlin said in a statement. Medvedev and Stoltenberg struck a preliminary deal in April.

"It is a practical example of the principle that all possible disputes in the Arctic should be solved by the Arctic states themselves though negotiations on the basis of existing international law."

Canada, Russia, Norway, the United States and Denmark, the only nations with Arctic coastlines, are racing to file territorial claims over oil, gas and precious metal reserves that could become more accessible as the Arctic ice cap shrinks.

International law states that the five have a 320 km economic zone north of their borders, but Russia is claiming a larger slice based on its contention that the seabed under the Arctic is a continuation of its continental shelf.

(Reporting by Denis Dyomkin, writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Steve Gutterman, editing by Gleb Bryanski)