Al-Baghdadi - A New Bin Laden ?

UPDATE for Tuesday morning,
June 17, inserted further down.



伊拉克《新拉登》 Iraq's New Bin Laden
[Quotation from China News Network， June 12, 2014]

زعيم داعش للأميركيين: موعدنا في نيويورك

ISIS leader to the Americans: " See you in New York "

كشفت صحيفة أميركية أن أبوبكر البغدادي الذي كان معتقلاً في قاعدة أميركية بالعراق لسنوات طويلة، قال لسجانيه لحظة وداعهم وإطلاق سراحه في العام 2009: "نراكم في نيويورك"، فيما لم يكترث السجانون بالعبارة التي فهم الأميركيون اليوم معناها بعد أن أصبح البغدادي الرجل الأخطر في العالم.ـ

An American journal revealed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was obviously detained for many years in a U.S. base in Iraq, had said [at some time of his detention] to his followers and [at the time of getting free] in 2009: "Let's join in New York", not caring for the wardens and with the remark [that this was] a significant day for the Americans when al-Baghdadi appeared, the most dangerous man in the world.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on June 15, 2014]

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Latest News on June 17:

Iraq Probably to Break Up



Iraqi government forces are engaged in heavy clashes with Sunni Islamist militants, most of them ISIS fighters, who have made major advances in the past week. Government forces reportedly hit back with air strikes near Tal Afar in northern Iraq.

The US is deploying up to 275 military personnel to protect staff at its huge embassy in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

The prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region has told the BBC he thinks Iraq may not stay together. He said it would be very hard for Iraq to return to the situation that existed before the Sunni militants, led by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), took control of the northern cities of Mosul and Tikrit in a rapid advance last week, and Tal Afar on Monday.

[Source: BBC on June 17, 2014]

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An Iraqi visitor from the township of Kirkuk that was
under temporary control of ISIS only some days ago.

Only to remember: Saigon in April 1975



South-Vietnamese civilians storming the U.S. embassy in Saigon (now: Ho-Chi-Minh City),
desperately trying to get an airlift out of the country during the final stage of the war when
U.S. staff hastily evacuated, leaving much equipment and lots of secret documents behind.

Iraq - Islamic Militants Seize Mosul

UPDATE for June 12/13 further down !

Yesterday, June 10, Islamic militants seized Iraq's second city of Mosul. Video footage from Mosul allegedly showed militants from an al-Qaeda offshoot, ISIS, driving through the streets.

Iraq's prime minister has asked parliament to declare a state of emergency after Islamist militants effectively took control of Mosul and much of its province of Nineveh. Nouri Maliki said "vital areas" of the city had been seized; some 150,000 people are believed to have fled.

Troops fled Mosul as hundreds of jihadists from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) overran it.

The US has said ISIS threatens not just Iraq, but the entire region. State department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the situation in Mosul, Iraq's second city, was "extremely serious" and that the US supported "a strong, co-ordinated response to push back against this aggression".

The same day, security sources told BBC that fierce fighting had erupted between Iraqi forces and ISIS fighters in a town called Rashad near Kirkuk, south-east of Mosul.

[Source: BBC in their evening news on June 10, 2014]

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ـ"داعش" يحذر سكان الموصل من لفظ اسمه ويتوعدهم بالجلد

"Daesh" [i.e. ISIS] warns the inhabitants of Mosul to [denounce] its name and threatens to whip them.

يسود الهدوء الحذر مدينة الموصل عاصمة محافظة نينوى العراقية الأربعاء، بعد يوم من سقوطها في أيدي مقاتلي تنظيم "الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام" الذين يدعون عبر مكبرات الصوت الموظفين الحكوميين للعودة إلى دوائرهم.ـ

On Wednesday [i.e. June 11], a disturbing silence is dominating the town of Mosul, capital of Ninive province in Iraq, after the day of its fall into the murderous hands of the organization "Islamic Nation of Iraq and the Levant" [=> ISIL] and which, by means of loudspeakers, demands the return into service of government employees.

Editor's Note: ISIL is also known as ISIS = "Islamic Nation of Iraq and Syria" due to an old expression including both meanings, that of "Levant" and "Syria". "Daesh" is the abbreviation for the organization's Arabic name.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on June 11, 2014]

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UPDATE for June 12/13:

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is seen as the actual leader of ISIS. In 2010 he emerged as a local leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, one of the groups that later became ISIS.



伊拉克《新拉登》 Iraq's New Bin Laden
[quoted from the headline of some Chinese news source]

Baghdadi is regarded as a battlefield commander and tactician, which analysts say makes ISIS more attractive to young jihadists rather than al-Qaeda, which is led by Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Islamic theologian.

A British expert estimates that about 80% of Western fighters in Syria have joined the group. ISIS claims to have fighters from the UK, France, Germany and other European countries, as well as the US, the Arab world and the Caucasus.

Unlike other rebel groups in Syria, ISIS is seen to be working towards an Islamic emirate that comprises Syria and Iraq.

The group has seen considerable military success:
- In March 2013, it took over the Syrian city of Raqqa - the first provincial capital to fall under rebel control.
- In January 2014, it capitalised on growing tension between Iraq's Sunni minority and Shia-led government by taking control of the predominantly Sunni city of Fallujah, in the western province of Anbar.
- It also seized large sections of Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar, and has a presence in a number of towns near the Turkish and Syrian borders.

The group has gained a reputation for brutal rule in the areas that it controls.

However, it was its conquest of Mosul in June that sent shockwaves around the world.

[Source: BBC on June 11, 2014]




An Arabic language website maintained by ISIS and where
further information should be available after registration. Links
included here have been deliberately removed for legal reasons.




伊拉克反政府军攻城略地 距首都巴格达仅56英里

Iraq's opposition army takes cities and seizes territory,
being merely 56 miles away from the capital Baghdad.

Editor's Note: The above screenshot, taken from a Chinese video footage, is showing jihadists moving towards Baghdad. 56 miles = 90 km

据外媒报道，极端伊斯兰武装组织“伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国”（The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams，简称ISIS）日前攻下伊拉克城市摩苏尔时，从该成中央银行劫掠了价值4.29亿美元的金块（约合5000亿伊拉克第纳尔）。伊拉克尼尼微省长证实了这个消息。

According to foreign media reports, the armed organization of Islamic extremists named "Islamic Nation of Iraq and Levant" (abbrev. ISIS) and which recently captured the Iraqi town of Mosul should have looted from the Central Bank gold bullions worth some 429 million U.S.$ (which is 500 billion Iraqi Dinar). The governor of Iraq's Ninive province confirmed that news.

[Source: China News Network 中新网, quoted by 网易 on June 12, 2014]


…… ISIL因此一跃成为全球最富有的恐怖武装。

... ... that's why ISIL, with one jump, became the world's richest terror force.

伊总理坦承：当地驻军战斗力远不是其对手

Iraq's prime minister [acknowledged] : The fighting power of the local army is far from being their match.

媒体报道，武装分子没有遭到任何抵抗便轻易攻占了这些城镇，伊拉克军队和警察在武装分子到达前就已经撤离。对此，伊拉克总理马利基11日在发表例行电视讲话时承认，“伊拉克与黎凡特伊斯兰国”武装分子的战斗力和当地驻军“不在同一个水平上”。

According to foreign media reports, the militants did not encounter any resistance when easily storming and capturing these cities and towns. Before Iraqi army and police arrived, they had already withdrawn. On [June] 11, in a regular televised address, Iraq's prime minister Maliki admitted: The fighting power of militants from the "Islamic Nation of Iraq and the Levant" and the local army "is not on the same level".

[Source: SouHu 搜狐 news center on June 13, 2014]

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China vs Vietnam - Next Round

This time it's about the the southern part of the Paracel Islands [西沙群岛] and namely the maritime area of Triton Island [中建岛]. That area was subject of a short war in 1974 when the former republic of South Vietnam lost it to China. Some islands are still disputed because the Democratic Republic of Vietnam views itself as a legitimate follower of former U.S. satellite South Vietnam and has renewed old territorial claims.




中方表达“981”钻井平台立场 规劝越南勿再挑衅

Headline:
The Chinese side has voiced its position on cobalt mining platform "981", advising Vietnam not to provoke again.

中新网6月8日电 外交部网站今日刊文《“981”钻井平台作业：越南的挑衅和中国的立场》。外交部表示，西沙群岛是中国固有领土，不存在任何争议。越南出动包括武装船只在内的大批船只，非法强力干扰中方“981”钻井平台作业，还纵容其国内反华游行示威。中方对越方的挑衅行动保持了高度克制，中方规劝越方从维护两国关系和南海和平稳定大局出发，缓和紧张局势，使海上尽快恢复平静。

China News Network reported on June 8:
Today's subject on the website of [China's] ministry of foreign affairs is "the operation of cobalt mining platform 981: Vietnam's provocation and China's position". The foreign office states the Xisha Islands are China's long-standing territory which is far from any dispute whatsoever. [However,] armed vessels embedded in [regular] shipping and dispatched by Vietnam are illegally forcing and disturbing the operation of China's cobalt mining platform 981. Furthermore, [Vietnam] is winking at its interior demonstration against travelling Chinese. The Chinese side is exercising utmost restraint towards provocative activity from the Vietnamese side, and China admonishes Vietnam to proceed from an overall [aspect] of upholding both countries' relations and stabilizing peace in the South [China] Sea, such mitigating a tense situation and restoring tranquility on the sea as soon as possible.

[Source: China News Network 中新网 quoted by 华广网 on June 8, 2014]








Diaoyu-Island (Japanese: Senkaku) is disputed between China and Japan.
That dispute only recently lead to a heated bilateral crisis, even though, there
are neither crude oil nor natural gas nor valuable minerals known in the area.

North Korea - Still Going Strong

Last UPDATE: June 7, 2014



金正恩视察朝鲜精英部队:
朝军要培养“以一当百的战争能手”

Kim Jong Un inspecting North Korea's unit of outstanding heroes:
The North Korean army wants to train "war experts for pitting one against 100".

朝鲜士兵向金正恩展示胸口碎大石

North Korean soldiers showing to Kim Jong Un
the crashing of large stone on the pit of the stomach.




Channel 3 of North Korea Central TV broadcast a documentary where soldiers not only exhibited training techniques like hand-to-hand fighting but as well special skills like "crashing stone on the pit of the stomach". 朝鲜中央电视台3号播出了最高领导人金正恩视察朝鲜人民军精英部队的纪录片。片中，军人们不仅展示了近身搏斗等训练技巧，还表演了“胸口碎石”等特殊技能。

[Source: China News Network 中新网 on June 5, 2014]

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朝鲜判处韩国传教士金正旭终身劳动教养

North Korea sentences South Korean missionary
Kim Jong Uk to lifelong "reeducation through labour".

Latest news on a North Korean spy story that began in February 2014 and ended a few days ago with a press conference in Pyongyang where the alleged culprit was presented.

今年2月，金正旭在平壤举行记者会，称其去年10月因非法潜入朝鲜遭到扣留，承认自己进行反朝活动并接受韩国国家情报院的资金。韩国方面认为金正旭是从事宗教活动的韩国公民而非朝方所说“反国家犯罪分子”，与韩国国家情报院没有关系，要求朝方尽快将其释放。

In February this year, on a meeting of journalists in Pyongyang, Kim Jong Uk said he suffered detention because of having illegally sneaked into North Korea in October last year. He admitted having carried out himself activities directed against the North and having accepted funds from South Korea's intelligence bureau. The South Korean side considers Kim Jong Uk as a South Korean citizen engaged in religious activity but not what the North is calling "a criminal opposing the nation". [According to the South] he has no relation with South Korea's national intelligence bureau, and the North is requested to set him free as soon as possible.

[Source: China News Network 中新网 on 1st June 2014]

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Today, June 6, CNN reported the detention of a U.S. citizen, Jeffrey Edward Fowle who arrived as a tourist in North Korea on April 29. The CNN report is referring to the Korean Central News Agency KCNA in Pyongyang. Fowle was part of a tour group and was detained in mid-May after allegedly leaving a Bible in a hotel where he had been staying.

North Korea is also holding Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary who was sentenced to 15 years hard labor in 2013 by a court that said he carried out acts aimed at bringing down the regime of leader Kim Jong Un.

A third U.S. citizen in North Korean custody might be mentally disturbed as he is reported to have torn his tourist visa and shouted he would seek asylum.

As to religious activity in North Korea, there are a number of state-controlled churches. However, the regime forbids independent religious activities, holding them as a potential threat to its authorities.

[Source: CNN on June 6, 2014]


朝鲜扣留一美国游客 外媒：或因 其在酒店留下一本圣经 ［凤凰—2014年06月07日］

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俄官员称俄朝贸易额拟提高10倍 将连接俄朝铁路

Russian official says the volume of trade between Russia and North Korea is planned to increase ten times by means of joining railroads between [both countries].

The Chinese article is quoting Russia's minister for the development of the Far East as saying that a joint commission of both governments, charged with cooperation in the fields of economy and trade as well as science and technology, has concluded in its [recent] meeting to increase the volume of trade to probably one billion U.S.$. This would come up to a ten times' increase of the actual trade volume [which is 112 million $].

[Source: China News Network 中新网 on June 5, 2014]

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Iraq - Sectarian Power Resists

قتلى معظمهم من الجيش باشتباكات مع العشائر بالفلوجة

Most of the troops died when engaging with tribesmen in Falluja.

قالت مصادر طبية في مدينة الفلوجة غرب بغداد إن 15 شخصا قتلوا بالهجوم الذي تشنه القوات الحكومية منذ الصباح على المدينة، في حين أكد الأهالي أن مسلحي العشائر تصدوا للجيش.ـ

Medical sources in the town of Falluja, west of Baghdad, are saying that 15 died in an attack launched by government troops on the town since morning. At that time, so inhabitants confirmed, armed tribesmen resisted the army.

[Source: Al-Jazeera - Online الجزيرة نت on 1st June 2014]

EU 2014 - Europe has Voted

Last UPDATE: May 26, 2014



The general voting procedure in 28 member states of the European Union is coming to an end.

First results from Germany are showing a close run between both governing parties:
The Christian-Democrats (i.e. the Merkel party together with its regional sister party
(CSU) in the federal state of Bavaria) reach 35,5% => inofficial final result: 35,3%.

The Social-Democrats (i.e. the Gabriel party) reach 27,2% => inofficial final result: 27,3%.

Further results:
Greens' Party 10,7% => final result: 10,8% at 23:00 CET
Leftist Party 7,5%
AfD (Alternative for Germany) 7,0% => final result: 6,8% at 23:00 CET
The eurocritical AfD has run for the first time in European elections.

Some 48% of German voters have participated in the vote. All essential parties are generally in favour of the European Union but demand certain changes on different fields of administration. A deregulation of central law-making in Brussels is requested by many candidates. Such, German regions could enjoy again more liberties in their plannings.

All data mentioned above have been quoted from reliable German media at about 20:00 CET. Later changes have been specially marked. Inofficial Final Results

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Raw data of election results from other member states of the European Union can be found here:

Austria:

Hungary:

Poland:

The Netherlands:

Italy:

Great Britain:


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Election Results from France:

Here now a graphic representation of election results in France from May 25/26. Comprehensive data and background information about France and other EU member states are available from the election news service of FranceTVinfo.

Voici l'un des meilleurs sites sur les élections européennes, pas seulement centré sur la France mais aussi avec une première analyse des résultats à l'étranger, pays par pays:
FranceTVinfo: Les résultats des européennes, pays par pays.




The Political Color of France in the European Elections.

Dramatic changes in France from 2009 to 2014:

Dark colored regions in the infographics above are showing French "départements" where far-right candidates of the National Front (FN) reached a majority in the European Elections of 2014. These administrative regions have been mostly won over from the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), a centre-right political party related to the former presidents of France Chirac and Sarkozy. The centre-left Socialist Party (PS), represented by current president Hollande, lost two of four departments compared to the 2009 elections.

The National Front has won 26% of all votes and one third of seats reserved for France in the European Parliament.

The National Front (FN) can be characterized by economic protectionism, a zero tolerance approach to law and order issues, and anti-immigration. The party's opposition to immigration is focused on non-European immigration, and includes support for deporting illegal, criminal, and unemployed immigrants. Since the 1990s, the party's evaluation of the European Union is increasingly marked by euroscepticism.

Marine Le Pen, daughter of FN founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, is now celebrating her party's unprecedented victory. The tendency of mainstream politics in France, however, identified as a general drift towards nationalist and far-right positions, is scaring many observers abroad.


Spain's most important daily "El País", Madrid, May 26:


"La Bleue Marine" Le Pen

"El Frente Nacional se convierte en la primera fuerza política francesa"

"The National Front is turning itself into first political power of France"

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A "cautious" visitor to "blueprint news" coming from New York, Lower Manhattan.



Visitor coming from the historic center of Berlin, Germany.



Visitor from Paris and who could be detected near Centre Pompidou,
a remarkable center of cultural activities and a central meeting point
of the French capital. The inserted photo is showing a demonstration
of support for the Ukraine entering the European Union EU and which
took place just in front of Centre Pompidou.

Russia - Huge Gas Deal with China

Yesterday, May 19, the website of Russia's state TV (RT) came with the following headline:

Gazprom to Sign Monumental Gas Deal with China
That deal should be signed these days when Russia's president Putin is going to visit China in order to meet his counterpart Xi JinPing. The following map is showing the infrastructure of Russia's oil and gas delivery to China and gives an idea of its extent.




However, an expert evaluation from China, dealing with the same subject, implies there is much more behind it for the Chinese side:




为什么中国还可能继续和俄罗斯死磕天然气

Headline: Why does China probably still continue with natural gas knocked out from Russia ?

外界普遍预计，本周俄罗斯总统普京访华将促成旷日持久的中俄天然气协议。《华尔街日报》总结分析师的观点说，中俄政府从没这么接近达成协议。尽管如此，两国依然有很大的分歧空间。

The outside world generally estimates, Russian president Putin's visit to China this week facilitates a long-drawn-out agreement on natural gas between China and Russia. According to the viewpoints of analysts that are being summed up for Wallstreet Daily, China and Russia are out of nothing getting close to reach an agreement. Such feeling free, both countries still have very much space for differences.

要说分歧，以前就有。十多年前，中国石油集团与俄罗斯国有天然气公司Gazprom就开始谈判，希望达成长达30年、每年供应天然气380亿立方米的协议，但价格问题一直谈不拢。

[Such] former differences need to be mentioned. Ten years ago, China's oil group [i.e. CNPC] and Russia's national company for natural gas GAZPROM began negotiations, hopeful to reach an agreement lasting 30 years and comprising an annual supply of 38 billion cubic metre of natural gas. The question of prices, however, could not be directly approached.

今年年初，中国上调了天然气年度消耗目标，预计到2020年将每年消耗4200亿立方米，去年预计规模1700亿立方米。中国的预计需求剧增，按说中俄天然气供应谈判应该向更有利于俄罗斯的一面发展了。其实不然。

At the beginning of this year, China has raised its annual goal of consumption, the estimated annual consumption [now being] 420 billion cubic metre until 2020 [compared to] a scope of 170 billion cubic metre last year. China's estimated demand sharply increased, the negotiations for a Russian supply of natural gas to China should normally lead to more profit for the development of the Russian side. - Actually this is not so.

下图可见，2000年以来，中国天然气需求增长六倍多。

China's demand for natural gas has increased six times since 2000, as can be seen on the picture below:



The following part of the article is dealing with actual prices for natural gas and liquid gas [LNG] from different countries [seen as an intrinsic function of quality and availability] in comparison to regional market prices. It can be seen that this is a rather complicated market where an increase in local exportation doesn't necessarily mean a comparable increase in revenues for the providing country.




[Source: wallstreetcn 华尔街日报 on May 19, 2014]




Xi JinPing meeting with Putin in Shanghai on May 20, 2014.

Postscriptum:

On May 21, during the visit of Russia's president to China, China News 中新网 reported the completion of a " partnership relation for the overall cooperation in the field of energy resources 全面能源合作伙伴关系" between both countries by using the expression " the ice is broken 破冰". This, however, might imply that it took almost to the last moment of a bilateral summit to reach an agreement.

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"The Devil Within"

This visitor's call from Northern Ireland could serve as a reminder of the bloody war between the outlawed Irish Republican Army IRA, pro-British militias and British authorities in the frame of a conflict bearing some pseudo-religious dimension as folllowers of both sides were either Roman-Catholics or Protestants belonging to the British Anglican Church that had separated from Rome already centuries ago.

The main conflict, however, was primarily a political one about the constitutional status of Northern Ireland and the relationship between its two main communities. Unionists and loyalists, who mostly come from the Protestant community, generally want Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom. Irish nationalists and republicans, who mostly come from the Catholic community, generally want it to leave the United Kingdom and join a united Ireland.

Gerry Adams, representative of "Sinn Féin", the legal branch of the IRA and a legitimate political party, had always been suspected of having been involved in IRA cruelties during his early years as a follower of that separatist organization. However, nothing could be proven. Now in May 2014, a renewed charge related to the murder of a widow and mother of ten children in 1972 is expected to end like many earlier charges without legal consequences.



[Source: Huffington Post, 1st May, 2014]

I still remember TV reports from the 1970ies about daily killings in Belfast and Londonderry and IRA proceedings abroad when their representatives raised money from U.S. citizens of Irish extraction to buy weapons for their combat at home. If "terrorism" had been invented at that time, it would have been the IRA to claim the copyright for it.

A current joke from these years can be seen as a proof of partial misunderstanding of the conflict abroad. It is hinting at the devastating military conflict between Roman-Catholic rulers and their Protestant counterparts during the "War of the Thirty Years" (1618-48) which had turned all of Central Europe into a battlefield:
Some airliner is on its way to Northern Ireland. Finally the captain addresses his passengers with the following words: "We are now approaching Belfast airport. Please, fasten your seatbelts and turn your watches 300 years back."

Vietnam - Anti-Chinese Demonstrations

China’s deployment of a giant oil rig this month is seen by Vietnamese activists as a provocative assertion of Beijing’s hotly disputed territorial claims to virtually all of the South China Sea, and has been criticised by U.S. foreign secretary John Kerry as a "provocation" and an "aggressive behaviour". Increasing anti-Chinese sentiments now triggered off a wave of violence in Vietnam that allegedly left 16 Chinese severely wounded and forced the government to deploy hundreds of security personnel. [Main source: Chinese news thread on May 18, 2014]




越南今或再发反华游行 越总理连发三短信吁民众勿参加

Vietnam probably starts further anti-Chinese demonstrations today.
Vietnam's prime minister pleaded the masses in three joint words not to participate.

“非法的示威游行” "An Unlawful Demonstration of Strength"

[Source: XingDao Global Network 星岛环球网 on May 18, 2014]




越南18省市今示威 中共大使馆布铁马阵

Vietnam demonstrating [its strength] in 18 provincial towns. The embassy of Communist China declares state of siege.

Chinese troop contingents are gathering in Chongzuo district in the frontier area of China's Guangxi province (photo above / map below).



[Source: Epoch Times 大纪元 , Chinese anti-Communist daily on May 18]




中国政府协助在越人员回国：已有3000多人回家

China's government provides help in the repatriation of [Chinese subjects] from Vietnam: More than 3000 persons have already returned home.

After violent incidents directed against Chinese enterprises and single persons in Vietnam, 3000 Chinese have already been repatriated with the help of China's embassy in Hanoi by Saturday afternoon (May 17). China's government had organized transportation means like chartered planes and ships.

[Source: People's Network / XinHua Network 人民网—新华网, quoting China's ministry of foreign affairs on May 18, 2014]

U.S. Sanctions - Russia Strikes Back

俄或停止向美国供应火箭发动机 以回应美制裁

Headline: Russia probably stops supplying the U.S.
with missile engines as an answer to U.S. sanctions.

据俄新社5月13日报道，俄罗斯副总理罗戈津13日表示，俄罗斯或暂停向美国供应RD-180和K-33火箭发动机，以回应美国的制裁。

According to a Russian news agency report on May 13, Russia's deputy prime minister Rogozin made clear the same day that Russia suspends further supply of RD-180 and K-33 missile engines to the U.S. as an answer to U.S. sanctions.

[Source: XinHua Network 新华网, quoted by 中国甘肃网 on May 14, 2014]


The RD-180 (РД-180, Ракетный Двигатель-180, Rocket Engine-180) is a Russian-designed-and-built rocket engine. It features a dual-combustion chamber, dual-nozzle design and is fueled by a kerosene/liquid oxygene mixture. Currently RD-180 engines are used for the first-stage of the U.S. Atlas V launch vehicle and which is expended at each launch. Therefore, a steady supply of RD-180 engines is needed.

Doubts about the reliability of the supply chain for the RD-180 arose following the Ukraine crisis in March 2014. For over 13 years since the engine was first used in the Lockheed Martin Atlas III launch vehicle in 2000, there was never any serious jeopardy to the engine supply, despite an uneven record of U.S.-Russian relations since the Cold War.

Deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin now said "Russia will ban the United States from using Russian-made rocket engines for military launches" thus targeting the frequent military payloads of the ULA Atlas V launch vehicle which powers its first stage with two RD-180 engines.

Originally intended was a co-production of the RD-180 engine by Pratt&Whitney, however up to now all engines have been produced in Russia.




test-firing of an RD-180 engine

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Rogozin, one of the senior Russian officials sanctioned by the European Union and United States after Moscow moved to annex Crimea, was turned away when his plane tried to fly to Moscow from Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region.

According to his tweets in English, Rogozin, who oversees Russia's powerful arms industry, was also blocked by Ukrainian interceptor jets as he tried to fly home from the Russian-speaking region of Moldova bordering Ukraine.

"Upon US request, Romania has closed its airspace for my plane," he tweeted. "Ukraine doesn't allow me to pass through again. Next time I'll fly on board TU-160." The supersonic Soviet-era TU-160 is Russia's largest strategic bomber.

On Saturday the Romanian foreign ministry asked Moscow to clarify whether Rogozin's comments represented "the Russian Federation's official position towards Romania as an EU and Nato member".

[Source: The Guardian, British daily on May 10, 2014]




罗戈津：若摩尔达维亚与欧盟建立联系国关系 俄与其关系或改变

Rogozin: If Moldavia and the EU establish relations of national significance, the relationship between Russia and them will probably change.

[Source: Voice of Russia (Chinese) 俄罗斯之声 on May 12, 2014]

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The Art of War

孙子曰：兵者，国之大事，死生之地，存亡之道，不可不察的。

Sunzi said:
War is a question of vital importance to the state, a matter of life and death, the road to survival or ruin. Hence, it is a subject which calls for careful study.