Iran - Official Voices

"Technical differences" between the United States and Iran regarding part of the nuclear deal reached between Iran and an international group of nations, the so-called 5+1 group, have been stated in a recent declaration from Washington. Here now the offical answer from Tehran:



طهران تعتبر بيان واشنطن حول اتفاقية النووي منحازاً

Headline:
Tehran is considering Washington's declaration as being partial [with regard to] the nuclear treaty.

أفخم: هذا ليس معياراً للحكم على الطريقة التي سيتم بها تطبيق الاتفاق

Headline:
Afkham: This is not a criterion for judging the procedure that will [lead to] the treaty's application.

أعلنت إيران، الجمعة، أن الملخص الذي نشره البيت الأبيض لشروط تطبيق الاتفاق المرحلي حول البرنامج النووي الإيراني "قراءة أحادية الجانب ومنحازة".ـ

On Friday, Iran declared the summary published by the White House of practical step-by-step conditions for the treaty on Iran's nuclear program as being a " unilateral and partial reading matter ".

وصرحت المتحدثة باسم وزارة الخارجية الإيرانية، مرضية أفخم، بأن بيان البيت الأبيض قراءة أحادية الجانب ومنحازة للاتفاق غير الرسمي بين إيران ومجموعة 5+1 (الصين والولايات المتحدة وفرنسا وبريطانيا وروسيا إضافة إلى المانيا)، كما نقلت عنها وكالة "إيرنا".ـ

Marzieh Afkham, the spokeswoman for Iran's ministry of foreign affairs made clear that a declaration from the White House is [some kind of] unilateral and partial reading matter [regarding] the treaty [and which] is not official between Iran and the 5+1 group (China, United States, France, Britain, Russia and, in addition, Germany), as has been communicated by "IRNA" [press] agency.

وأضافت أفخم "هذا ليس أبداً معياراً للتقييم أو للحكم على الطريقة التي سيتم بها تطبيق الاتفاق".ـ

Afkham added: " This is not at all a criterion for appreciating or for judging the procedure that will [lead to] the treaty's application. "

.....
ويحدد النص "ذو الطابع التقني"، الذي نشره البيت الأبيض، الخميس، مهلاً لعمليات تفتيش المنشآت النووية الإيرانية من قبل وكالة الطاقة.ـ

.....
The definition of a clause " having [mere] technical character " and which the White House has published on Thursday, [is regarding] a delay of inspection procedures by the agency for [nuclear] energy on the origins of Iran's nuclear [material].

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on January 18, 2014]


Only some weeks earlier, in December 2013, the Iranian minister of foreign affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, was quoted with the following words:



ظريف: المفاوضات النووية مستمرة رغم عقوبات واشنطن

Zarif: [There are] negotiations [on the nuclear issue] despite of sanctions from Washington.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on December 15, 2013]


While the U.S. are pressing Iran's leadership on one side, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has to cope as well with internal differences on the other side:



روحاني: مسؤولون إيرانيون يستغلون الحظر لمصالح شخصية

Headline:
Rouhani: Those responsible in Iran are using the embargo for personal interests.

عبر عن دعمه للمفاوضين النوويين الذين وصفهم بأنهم من أقوى المسؤولين

Headline:
He expressed his support for those who negotiate the nuclear issue, describing them as energetic responsible persons.

اتهم الرئيس الإيراني، حسن روحاني، مسؤولين في طهران بعرقلة إزالة العقوبات الدولية ،المفروضة على بلاده، بسبب مصالحهم الشخصية، مهدداً بالكشف عنهم لكن في الوقت المناسب، حسب تعبيره.ـ

Iran's president Hassan Rouhani accused responsible persons in Tehran for obstructing the elimination of international sanctions, imposed on his country, as a consequence of personal benefits to them. [He] threatened to [convict them], however at the appropriate moment.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on January 16, 2014]

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Saudi Arabia - Shooting Targeting Diplomats

An "enlightening" UPDATE was added on January 15.



سيارة دبلوماسية ألمانية تتعرض لاعتداء بالعوامية

German diplomat's car [became the target] of an attack in al-Awamia.

راكباها الألمانيان يحملان الصفة الدبلوماسية ونجيا بمساعدة أحد المواطنين

[The car] was driven by two Germans [with diplomatic status] and [who] fled with the help of some compatriots.

تعرضت سيارة دبلوماسية تابعة للسفارة الألمانية في السعودية، لإطلاق نار من مجهولين أثناء تواجدها ببلدة العوامية بالمنطقة الشرقية.ـ

A diplomat's car [belonging] to the German embassy in Saudi Arabia became the target of a shooting from unknown [side] while passing the community of al-Awamia in ash-Sharqia province on Monday [January 13].

Editor's Note: The Saudi Arabian province of ash-Sharqia is situated in the Eastern part of the country. The community of al-Awamia is known for its sometimes rebellious Shia population.




Al-Awamia is not a desert village but belongs to an agglomeration of urban communities stretching along the coastal line of the Persian Gulf. It hosts different education centers, a police station and a medical center. Al-Awamia belongs to the administration district of al-Qatif township.

وأوضح الناطق الإعلامي بشرطة المنطقة الشرقية أن الحادث أسفر عن احتراق السيارة ونجاة راكبيها الألمانيين اللذين يحملان الصفة الدبلوماسية، وذلك بمساعدة أحد المواطنين.ـ

The spokesman for ash-Sharqia province police made clear the incident presented itself as a car catching fire and the rescue of both German passengers who carried diplomatic passports. [Rescue] happened with the help of some compatriots.

وأكد الناطق الإعلامي أن الجهات الأمنية المختصة تتولى حالياً متابعة هذا الاعتداء لتحديد المسؤولين عنه.ـ

And the spokesman assured that special security services will handle the case in succession to that attack [until] the determination of those responsible for it.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on January 14, 2014]


A Saudi-Arabian news service had the information some hours earlier than Dubai based Al-Arabiya Net:

صرح الناطق الإعلامي بشرطة المنطقة الشرقية بأنه عند الساعة السادسة من مساء اليوم الإثنين الموافق 12 ربيع الأول 1435هـ، تلقت شرطة محافظة القطيف بلاغاً عن تعرض سيارة دبلوماسية، للسفارة الألمانية بالمملكة، أثناء وجودها ببلدة العوامية لإطلاق نار من مجهولين مما أسفر عن احتراقها ونجاة راكبيها الألمانيين اللذين يحملان الصفة الدبلوماسية وذلك بمساعدة أحد المواطنين.ـ

The spokesman for ash-Sharqia province police declared that today, Monday [January 13], at about six o'clock in the evening, the police of al-Qatif district received a message [saying] that a diplomat's car from the German embassy to the Kingdom, was affected by a shooting from unknown [persons] while being in the community of al-Awamia. [That shooting] resulted in [the car's] burning and the rescue of both German passengers who [had diplomatic status] with the help of some compatriots.

Editor's Note: The Arabic text uses the Islamic date of the day the incident happened.

[Source: Al-Mowaten Net المواطن نت on January 13, 2014]


And here is the end of the story as far as I will tell it:



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Visitors to "blueprint news" coming from Saudi Arabia on
Jan. 15 and who are interested in the al-Awamia incident.


Iraqi visitor referring to my blogspot on militant Islamic groups.

Islamic Rebels in Iraq and Syria

UPDATES added on January 10 and 12.

Increasing influence of Islamic fundamentalists in the Falluja region of Southern Iraq is the subject of today's news from Al-Arabiya. It is all about some organization named "Daesh".

"Daesh" is the Arabic abbreviation for an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)" and which uses a synonym for Syria in its name that can be interpreted as well as "the Levant". Hence, the organization is as well known under the name "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)". Their actual leader should be Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
ـ"الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام" (داعش)ـ Here are the headlines:



ـ"داعش" يسعى لتأسيس دولة على حدود سوريا والعراق

"Daesh" is trying to install a state at the border between Syria and Iraq.

يخوض معارك شرسة في محافظتين سوريتين وأخريين على الجانب العراقي

It is taking part in fierce battles in two districts, one in Syria the other at one side of Iraq.




إقالة قائد شرطة الأنبار.. و"داعش" يسيطر على الفلوجة

Dismissal of the chief of police for Anbar [province] ..... and "Daesh" in control of Falluja [township].

تضارب كبير حول مصير مدينة المساجد وخطة المالكي الأمنية تواجه الفشل

Great battle for the destiny of the town of mosques [while] al-Maliki's [security] plan is facing failure.

Editor's Note: Kamil Muhammed Hasan al-Maliki is the president of Iraq since 2006.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on late evening of January 5 and 6, 2014]

Information given above is fitting with U.S. reports saying that in January 2014, during the clashes in Iraq's Anbar province, ISIS militants took control of the city of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi while Islamic rebels in Syria affiliated with the Islamic Front. As a consequence, the Free Syrian Army launched an offensive against ISIS militants in and around Aleppo. Sources quoted on this item are U.S.A. Today and the New York Times from January 4, 2014.

[Please note that seemingly contradictory dates are usually subject to differing degrees of longitude between countries far away from each other, especially when it comes to editions published close to midnight.]

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Today's news report from People's Network, Beijing, stresses the fact of Al-Qaeda provoking the U.S. leadership by taking over Falluja, a stronghold of the new Iraqi state which owed its existence to America after U.S. invasion in 2003:

基地组织攻下伊拉克重镇　挑衅美国称公开建国
“基地组织正在以暴力接管伊拉克!”在一伙极端分子占领伊拉克城市费卢杰，并公开宣布建立“伊斯兰酋长国”之后，西方媒体5日一片惊呼声。自2003年美国入侵伊拉克以来，与“基地”组织有关联的武装分子还是首次对重要城市如此公开地控制，这无疑是对美国主导的中东秩序的严重挑衅。

"Al-Qaeda is using force to bring Iraq under its control !", that is what Western media cried out in alarm on [January] 5, when a group of extremists seized the Iraqi town of Falluja and officially proclaimed the foundation of an "Islamic Emirate".

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UPDATE for January 10:



أوغلو: العلاقة بين داعش ونظام الأسد أصبحت علنية

[Davutoğlu]: A relation between Daesh and the Assad regime has become public.

Ahmet Davutoğlu ( أحمد داوود أوغلو ), Turkish minister of foreign affairs.

الجيش الحر يتهم دولة العراق والشام بالعمل لحماية النظام

The Free [Syrian] Army accuses the "State of Iraq and Syria/Levant" [i.e. ISIS/ISIL] of operating for the protection of the regime.

تأتي ملاحقة "داعش" من قبل كتائب الجيش الحر بعد سلسلة اتهامات سابقة لعلاقة مشبوهة بين نظام الأسد وهذا التنظيم كانت فرنسا وبريطانيا ألمحت إليها سابقاً.ـ

Units of the Free Army have started chasing "Daesh" after a preceding series of accusations regarding a suspected relation between the regime of Assad and that organization [which France and Britain had found out earlier].

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on January 10, 2014]

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UPDATE for January 12:



برزاني ينتقد تدخل المالكي العسكري في محافظة الأنبار

Barzani criticizes the military intervention of [Iraq's president] Maliki in Anbar province.

Editor's Note: Masud Barzani is president of the Kurdish territory
in Iraq (photo above). رئيس إقليم كردستان مسعود بارزاني

الجيش العراقي يحاصر الفلوجة والرمادي ويمطرهما بالقذائف والقصف العشوائي

The Iraqi army besieges Falluja and Ramadi with a shower of grenades in an arbitrary bombardment.


Further News of the Day:

قتل 8 أشخاص على الأقل وأصيب نحو 12 آخرين بجروح في انفجار سيارة مفخخة استهدفت، الأحد، متطوعين للجيش في بغداد، حسبما أفادت مصادر أمنية وطبية.ـ

At least 8 persons died and about 12 others were wounded in the explosion of a [mined] car targeting volunteers of the Iraqi army in Baghdad according to information from security and medical sources.



والهجوم هو الثاني ضد متطوعين في الجيش، بعد سقوط 23 قتيلا و30 جريحا في تفجير انتحاري استهدفهم الخميس الماضي، قرب المركز ذاته.ـ

That attack was the second one [directed] against volunteers in the army after 23 died and 30 were wounded in a suicide bombing targeting them near [their quarters] last Thursday.

وفتحت السلطات الحكومية باب التطوع للانضمام إلى الجيش العراقي تزامنا مع انطلاق عمليات عسكرية في محافظة الأنبار لمطاردة عناصر تنظيم دولة العراق الإسلامية في العراق والشام (داعش).ـ

Government authorities had opened the door to a registration for joining the Iraqi army simultaneously with starting military operations in Anbar province [in order to] chase elements from ISIS/ISIL organization ("Daesh").

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on January 12, 2014]

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Visitor to "blueprint news" coming from the University of Cambridge.


Choice of localized visitors to "blueprint news" who came on January 10/11, 2014.


Australian visitor coming from the neighbourhood of Sydney's Olympic Park.


Choice of localized visitors who recently came from the Russian Federation.

Crystal Meth - Made in China

In the early hours of Sunday December 29, 2013, about 3,000 paramilitary and police forces equipped with helicopters and speedboats haunted the 14,000 inhabitants of Boshe, a coastal village in Guangdong province, in an unprecedented crackdown on the production and trade of narcotics.

77 production facilities for crystalline methamphetamine, also known as crystal meth, speed or ice, were shut and 182 persons arrested who should belong to 18 drug rings. 2.95 tons of crystal meth could be seized together with 260 kg of ecstasy and more than 100 tons of raw material.

The total amount of that drug seized by Chinese authorities since July 2013 is such rising to 8.1 tons related to 10,836 arrests.

For comparison: According to latest global data available, worldwide seizures of crystal meth in 2011 amounted to 88 tons [Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime UNODC].

Among 326 drug-making facilities that had been shut in China in 2012, 70% were specialized on crystal meth production and 50% could be located in Guangdong province.

According to another Chinese source, the Boshe operation should have lasted until January 3, 2014.

One of the most irritating results of a preceding investigation is that part of local police obviously protected the trade of crystal meth. According to an official source, there are even hints that two local police officers had sold drugs directly from their police car.

[Different sources dating from January 3 - 5, 2014]

请还看到 => 中国制造的冰毒

50.000th Visitor to Blueprint News

On December 31, 2013, at 22:05 CET my visitor statistics for "blueprint news" registered the 50.000th visitor.
Congratulations to him and a Happy New Year 2014 to all visitors.



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Latest News on the Volgograd Incidents:

الروسية الأرملة من زوجين فجرت نفسها بمحطة القطارات

Russian widow of two husbands detonated herself at a train station.

قتلوا أول زوجيها في 2011 باشتباك "جهادي" وبعده بعام حاصروا الثاني وقتلوه

They killed her first husband in 2011 in a "fight for Jihad" and after him they [i.e. a militia] besieged the second [husband] and killed him.

两夫人的“黑寡妇”实施了爆炸俄南部伏尔加格勒市的一个火车站。
=> 请看到中亚的恐怖事件！



أوسكانا في صورتين: بحجاب بعد اعتناقها للاسلام وقبله من دون حجاب

Photos above:
Two pictures of the resident [who detonated herself at a Volgograd train station]: With hijab after her conversion to Islam and earlier without.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on December 31, 2013]

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Happy Christmas

UPDATEs included on December 25 / 26 / 28.



Today, even the crocodiles are nice ...

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处决张成泽后朝鲜希望中国理解
金正恩望来华

After the execution of Chang Sung-taek,
North Korea hopes for China's sympathy.
Kim Jong-un looking forward to visit China.
[Source: HongKong media, December 23]


Evening News from South Korean TV ARIRANG on Dec. 25, 2013:




朝鲜人在中国：多靠偷渡团伙去韩国

Headline:
North Korean [citizens] in China: Many come up to secretly crossing to South Korea in [small] groups.



多年来，朝鲜媳妇郑金素代表了一个隐秘的群体——非法越境并滞留于中国的朝鲜人生存状态的缩影。

Photo:
Each year, young wives [.....] from North Korea represent some kind of secret colony [here], being detained in China's miniature of North Korean living conditions after illegally sneaking out of [their] country.

[Source: Taiwan Sea Network (Xiamen / Amoy) 台海网(厦门) on December 26 (local date), 2013]

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资料图巡逻中的朝鲜人民军

[Archive] picture: N Korean People's Army on patrol.

朝鲜严控中朝边境 将警备力度提高到最高级别

Headline:
North Korea strictly controlling its frontier. Raising the garrison's dynamics to the highest level.

朝鲜“二号人物”张成泽被处决后，有韩国媒体称朝鲜强化边境管控，甚至将边境地区的警备力度提高到最高级别，全天候执行巡逻和潜伏任务，以最大程度减少非法离境人员的发生。《环球时报》赴中朝边境记者了解到，今年冬季，朝鲜边境警备队一反常态，空前加大了夜间的巡逻、防控的力度。

After the execution of North Korea's "person No.2", Chang Sung-taek, South Korean media say North Korea is intensifying its border controls and even raising dynamics of the border region's garrison to the highest level. Patrols carried out at each weather and hidden missions have reduced to the highest extent the occurence of personnel illegally leaving the country. A 'Global Times' reporter at the Chinese - N Korean border found out that this winter North Korean border guards behave out of the normal. They unprecedentedly increased night patrols and the dynamics of defense controls.

[Source: Ifeng Network - People's Network 凤凰网—人民网 on December 28, 2013]

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毛泽东和金日成，是朋友，是战友，是同志，也可以说是酒友。

" Mao ZeDong and Kim Il-song are friends, comrades-in-arms and comrades [of the Communist Party]. One might even say they are drinking companions. "

[Chinese comment added to the above picture that is showing North Korean leader Kim Il-song (left) and China's leader Mao ZeDong.]

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中共中央举行纪念毛泽东同志诞辰120周年座谈会

Headline:
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China holds a commemorative symposium on the occasion of comrade Mao ZeDong's 120th birthday.

The Chinese article mentions the participation of China's leadership in that symposium taking place in Beijing's Great Hall of the People this morning. Attending the meeting are prime minister Li KeQiang, two members of the Communist politbureau, vice-premier Zhang DeJiang and Yu ZhengSheng, as well as two other high-ranking party members, Wang Qishan and Zhang GaoLi. Liu Yunshan, another member of the politbureau presides over the symposium. Before the meeting, the above mentioned politicians and president Xi JinPing visited the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall.

[Source: Global Network 环球网 on December 26, 2013]


Mao meeting with Stalin's foreign minister Molotow.




环球舆情调查：85%受访者认为毛泽东功远大于过

Investigation of public sentiment [by Global Network]:
85% of those being questioned consider Mao ZeDong's merits as far-reaching.

The Chinese opinion poll is based on telephone calls and online requests made in great regions and cities on December 23 and 24, 2013.

[Source: Global Network 环球网 on December 25, 2013]

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North Korea - New Provocation

朝称将对韩不预警打击

North Korea says it will attack the South without previous warning.

[Source: (Network of Defense Daily) 解放牛网—解放日报 on December 21, 2013]


朝鲜致电威胁韩国被指意在掩盖国内真实情况

Headline:
In a telegram North Korea threatens the South [which is] hinting at its intention to conceal the real situation inside the country.

这类挑衅通常意在转移外界注意，从而令外界忽视朝鲜国内的真实状况。

The usual intention behind such provocation is to divert the attention of the outside world, thus leading the outside to overlook the real situation within North Korea.

..........

美国军方领导人马丁·邓普西早些时候称，朝鲜可能即将发起军事挑衅。中国外交部发言人华春莹说，中方反对任何损害朝鲜半岛和平稳定的行为，希望有关各方避免采取导致半岛局势紧张升级的言行。

U.S. military leader Martin Dempsey only recently said, North Korea was probably going to start a military provocation.
Hua ChunYing, spokeswoman for China's ministry of foreign affairs, said the Chinese side opposes any damage whatsoever done to peace stabilizing activity on the Korean peninsula, and hopes that all sides refrain from resorting to statements and actions that would cause a tense situation on the peninsula to [further] escalate.

[Source: SINA - Xinjingbao 新闻中心—新京报 on December 21, 2013]

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News from China:

习近平与玻利维亚总统就通信卫星发射相互致贺

[China's president] Xi JinPing and Bolivia's president extend their mutual congratulations regarding the launch of a [Bolivian] communication satellite.

The satellite was successfully launched on top of a Long March III rocket from the XiChang facility tonight at 0:42 local time. The satellite's perigee is at 210 km distance, its apogee at 42.165 km distance from Earth, and its actual angle of inclination is reported to be 24°. The procedure of roughly placing the satellite was finished 26 minutes after rocket launch. Plannings and construction for that satellite project, however, had taken 15 years at the Chinese development site.

[Source: chinacom / xinhua network - sina / evening news 新华网—新闻晚报 on December 21, 2013]


Editor's Note:
The satellite's orbit is now an elliptic one. In order to reach a circular geostationary orbit at a distance of 42.000 km from Earth, the satellite has still to perform some additional manoeuvres using its own engine. These manoeuvres might last some time. The angle of inclination mentioned above is the angle between the orbit plane and the Earth's equatorial plane. It should be reduced to 0° to ensure maximum performance of the satellite.

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China - Successful Moon Landing

Last UPDATE: December 16

嫦娥三号成功落月 中国探测器首次登上地外天体

Third stage of [spaceship] "Chang'e" made a successful landing on the Moon.
First time, China's [robot] explorer stepped on extra-terrestrial celestial body.




“玉兔”今起开始科学探测

"Jade Hare" Now Starting its Scientific Survey


China's landing device approaching the Moon.

From mission control center in Beijing here the first picture transmitted by China's lunar robot "Jade Hare" after its successful landing on the Moon:



Further information on an earlier blogspot of mine: China's Mission to the Moon

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China's president Xi JinPing and prime minister Li KeQiang
visiting the spaceflight control center in Beijing on Dec.15.

习近平到北京航天飞行控制中心欢看两器互拍成像

Xi JinPing came to Beijing's spaceflight control center to watch with joy the photos that were mutually taken by both vehicles [i.e. the landing device and scouting robot].

Editor's Comment:
Decades ago we already became acquainted to Japanese tourists taking photos from each other in front of typical tourist sites everywhere in the world. With regional economy flourishing more and more, we recently met with Chinese and Vietnamese tourists doing the same. However, Chinese vehicles taking photos from each other on a Moon resort, that is certainly something new. - Ulysses



"嫦娥"与"玉兔"月面互拍照传回

"Chang' e" and "Jade Hare" on Moon,
sending back mutually taken photos.


Live pictures from both vehicles on the Moon
transmitted to mission control center, Beijing.

N Korean Reader: "The Trial of a Traitor"

North Korea: The Trial of Chang Sung-taek
Accusations Leading to His Death Penalty

- Quotations from the Chinese press translated by "Ulysses" -

张成泽从上世纪80年代光复大街建设时期就开始筹集贵金属，并在属下组建秘密机构，藐视国法，从银行调出巨额资金买进贵金属，结果对国家的财政管理体系造成巨大混乱，犯下了反国家罪行。

Starting in the "Main Road to Recovery" period of construction during the 1980ies, Chang Sung-taek began to acquire precious metal and simultaneously established a secret organization. Despising national law, he thoughtfully spent huge funds to buy precious metal. As a result, the nation's system of financial administration built up enormous chaos. Such he committed a crime against the country.

从2009年起，张成泽向其心腹走卒散布种种淫秽图片，带动资本主义寻欢作乐风气混入国内，到处挥霍无度、骄奢淫逸。

Since 2009, Chang Sung-taek spread all sorts of obscene photos towards his trusted lackeys. He brought along some capitalist mood of seeking pleasure and having a good time drifting into the country, everywhere spending without restraint and love of luxury.

仅以张成泽在2009年一年里从其小金库拿出挥霍460多万欧元，出入海外赌场一事，足以证明他何等堕落、变质。

Only [to mention that] Chang Sung-taek in 2009, within one single year, seized and spent more than 4.6 million Euro from his small treasure, in relation with entering into an overseas gambling house. Proof enough what kind of [morally] degenerate person he is.

张成泽被对政权的野心冲昏头脑，盲目猖狂，以至于愚蠢地认为若动员军队，政变可以得逞，因此执拗地企图对人民军伸出魔爪。

Chang Sung-taek, obsessed by wild ambition towards political power, blind and reckless to such an extent that he foolishly considered, if he [only] mobilized the army, a coup d'état could succeed. Therefore, he wilfully attempted to stretch out his claws towards the People's Army.

在庭审过程中，张成泽淋漓尽致地流露出了其作为千古逆贼的丑恶居心。他说：“我试图使军队和人民中间产生对现政权就国家经济状况和民生深陷困境束手无策的不满”，政变的对象正是“最高领导人”。

During the progress of law court interrogations, Chang Sung-taek thoroughly revealed that he harboured the evil intentions of an eternal traitor. He said: " I attempted to use the army and the people [to turn] against the current regime, [as] the condition of national economy and the people's living conditions sink into a difficult position, tieing their hands in a grievance without any plan [to get out]. " The target of a coup d'état [therefore] being exactly the " supreme leadership ".


Editor's Note:
The Chinese text above is quoting an official report from KCNA [朝鲜中央通信社（朝鲜语：조선중앙통신사；英语：Korean Central News Agency），简称朝中社]. The Chinese source [中国新闻网] on which my translation is based did not add any editorial or semi-official Chinese comment whatsoever.



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Editor's Comment: North Korea at the Edge December 16, 2013

In 2013, the news about North Korea have dominated the bandwidth of news reports provided by "blueprint news".

It began in January, on the occasion of his new year's speech, that leader Kim Jong-un surprised us with an announcement of political changes related to Korea's national economy. A new leader trying new ways of ruling his country, one might have thought. Even the successful launch of a Unha 3 rocket carrying an earth-observation satellite could have been seen at that time as a defensive measure rather than another preparation for nuclear war using intercontinental missiles.

Then, in February 2013, another nuclear test, even though not completely successful, brought Korea's nuclear subject back to our perception and on the agenda of a Japanese - U.S. summit. From there it took only some further weeks to North Korea's declaration that war on the peninsula "could not be avoided".

It was at the end of March that North Korea actually declared the state of war between North and South Korea. Furthermore, the North threatened to close the Gaeseong industrial complex near the border to South Korea. That industrial zone was once established to improve economic cooperation between both countries and has granted the impoverished North access to $2 billion in trade per year.

The industrial complex was really closed some time later, and in April 2013 the Korean peninsula found itself at the edge of war. During that month, "blueprint news" published 15 blogspots, all of them related to North Korea. However, the war declared by the North never became hot. Actually, it cooled off after some time, and business in the Gaesong industrial complex continued as usual.

In June, a new development was triggered off when China didn't put forward again the "relationship of sworn brothers" but, instead, urged N Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions. Since then, Chinese - Korean relations seem to have cooled down, although neither Beijing nor Pyongyang have given official declarations about that.

In December 2013, the "grey kingdom of ghosts", ruled by the Kim family, got its first cracks when one of its few accessible representatives, Chang Sung-taek, was sentenced to death. No wonder that U.S. foreign secretary John Kerry is quoted as saying that North Korea has become even more unstable, while latest news from Germany are indicating that North Korea has just called back its citizens from China where they are now engaged in business, probably as an answer to China's unspoken sympathies for Chang Sung-taek whom they came to know for many years as a partner in Chinese - Korean negotiations.

It seems that Pyongyang's strict political isolation, in combination with military aggression at the edge of reason, is now going to take its toll.

- Ulysses -

Far Eastern News

China

中国军舰在南海逼开跟踪辽宁舰的美巡洋舰

Chinese navy ship was forced to make move a U.S. cruiser
that was shadowing [China's aircraft carrier] Liaoning.


USS Cowpens (CG-63) pulls alongside USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)

报道称，12月5日，美国海军提康德罗加级导弹巡洋舰考本斯号，在南海海域监视中国海军辽宁舰航母时，与中国一艘战舰两栖战舰“迎面遭遇”，美舰采取紧急机动规避了两舰相撞。报道还提到，美国国务院官员说，美国政府通过外交和军事渠道向中国提出了抗议。

A report from December 5 is saying, U.S. navy ship "Cowpens" [i.e. CG-63], a cruiser belonging to the Ticonderoga-class, had the opportunity to keep watch on China's navy ship [the aircraft carrier] Liaoning in the maritime region of the South [China] Sea. When a Chinese ship for amphibious warfare "headed on to run up against" it, the U.S. ship applied emergency power to avoid mutual collision. The report is quoting as well an official from the U.S. State Department as saying the U.S. government has lodged a protest with China by means of diplomatic and military channels.

[Source: SINA 新浪军事 on December 14, 2013]

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North Korea



December 14, 2013: Kim Jong-un inspecting the institute for military plannings and research.
[Source: China News 中国新闻网 quoting the news from North Korea's Workers' Party]


A visitor to "blueprint news" coming from South Korea
and who is interested in North Korea's missile tests.