China Navy Blockbuster

Breaking News on China's Cyber Warfare added below ! ...................... Last Update: October 12



Operation Red Sea - 红海行动

最新的中文战争电影，中国香港导演林超贤：
帮助商船在反对海盗以后中国海军舰的特种部队帮助中国人离开一个非洲的国家，这个国家的政府倒塌了， 外国人要怕伊斯兰教恐怖分子，恐怖分子想用脏弹含有从铀矿物制造的黄饼。这不是海战，这是地面战争在摩洛哥的山地 …………

In February 2018 a brandnew Chinese language blockbuster was released by film director Dante Lam. The plot of "Operation Red Sea" is essentially based on a military coup staged in some fictive North-African country and which leads to the need to evacuate Chinese citizens together with some other foreigners who are now endangered by militant Islamic terrorists decided to drive the world into chaos with a dirty bomb. The radioactive product needed for the bomb should be provided by the responsible person of some globally connected mining company and who has fallen into the hands of the terrorists.

The plot is related to a famous rescue operation carried out by China's navy in Yemen when a bloody conflict escalated between Yemen's national government and Houthy rebels in March 2015. Here now some remarks on the making of China's latest blockbuster:






Some key scenes were taken at Ait Ben Haddou, Morocco. As I happened to visit that location only some months before, I am able to provide pictures of the original place, an ancient fortified Kasbah that was erected at a place where the Atlas mountains open into the desert. While the Kasbah and the mountain fortress are original, the gate to be seen in the movie is a fake. It was built to serve as the background for another blockbuster movie.

电影在摩洛哥山地的旧村拍摄了，拍摄工作难堪在热度很高的天气。






Temperatures in 2017 were unusually high in that area, i.e. surpassing 40°C in September, and should have been still around 30°C in autumn. When I crossed the dried up valley and climbed to the upper terrace of the Kasbah, it came to my mind that acting in a film right in font of this site must be a murderous job.

Even more, acting in full combat gear would add to the hardships, let alone the need to undergo some basic weapons training before the compulsory combat stunts while acting under the merciless desert sun. No wonder that one of the female stars was wounded twice during some especially rough scenes. The Chinese involved must therefore be a tough species.




For the necessary infrastructure of filming there are studios at Ouarzazate, only some miles away.

Special Effects applied in Operation Red Sea.

电影特技在红海行动










The final sequence of Operation Red Sea might nourish some second thoughts about Chinese imperialism regarding the South China Sea problem. In fact, it's nothing more than what we got used from similar US productions in the blood and honor style. A call of patriotism wrapped into a gripping plot and enhanced with many special effects. Still worth to be watched even if you don't agree with the Chinese, however, up to now only available in the original Chinese version with English subtitles.














Historic rescue operation realized by China's navy in 2015.

Operation Red Sea is being presented to Chinese audiences as a gift for the 90th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army PLA and is dedicated to the 19th National Congress of China's Communist Party. This film is regarded as China's first modern naval film. The film has already become a 579 million US$ success. It was selected as the Hong Kong entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards.




US source reporting: China's hypersonic missile test and
a rare insight into China's South China Sea activities.

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Breaking News on China's Cyber Warfare:

On October 5, 2018, the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC came about with the following news:

Tensions between the United States and China have been rising, but the worst may be ahead.

The disclosure by Bloomberg Businessweek that the Chinese military allegedly implanted microchips onto thousands of motherboards used by the US government and major businesses is the most damning evidence to date of a massive Chinese espionage campaign. Shortly after the revelations were published, Vice President Mike Pence stated, “China is meddling in America’s democracy.”

This, on the heels of new tariffs and an “unsafe” military confrontation in the South China Sea.

For years, the US intelligence and national-security communities have warned that the Chinese Communist Party might interfere with electronics manufactured in China. Last year, the Defense Science Board went so far as to state that China’s offensive cyber capabilities “exceed the United States’ ability to defend key critical infrastructures.”

But Thursday’s revelations provide the first public evidence of extensive interference in both civilian and military supply chains.

The Chinese military allegedly inserted tiny microchips onto motherboards manufactured in China for Super Micro Computer Inc., based in San Jose, Calif. These chips were designed to evade detection and to create a backdoor for entry into sensitive systems. According to reports, thousands of motherboards were sent to 30 separate companies and the US government, where they were used by organizations ranging from Apple and Amazon to the Defense Department.

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The Risks of " Buying Cheap ".




US scholar: China became a veritable rival to America
and already surpassed the US in terms of GDP in 2014.

美国学者：在2014年中国经济超过了美国经济。

Faschistische Tendenzen in der Demokratie

Wer sich heute ausschließlich über die Handelspolitik eines Donald Trump aufregt, der übersieht dabei leicht die faschistischen Tendenzen, die sich in den USA, dem einst "gelobten Land der Demokratie", bereits über einen längeren Zeitraum entwickelt haben.

Die folgende Zusammenfassung des amerikanische Trauerspiels um die Trump-Administration, dessen Zeitzeugen wir gezwungenermaßen sind, sollte jenen "alternativen" Protestwählern in Deutschland als ein Lehrstück dienen, die meinen, dass sich eine nötige politische Wende im Hauruck-Verfahren erzielen lässt, wenn man nur jenen lautstarken "Volksgenossen" vertraut, die behaupten, dass sie "dem Volk auf's Maul schauen" und die für alles und jeden eine einfache Lösung parat haben.

Ausdruck dieser Entwicklung ist ein US-Präsident, den man eher als einen ungebildeten und von rassistischen Vorurteilen geprägten Sprössling aus reicher Familie empfindet, und der es mit gezielter Verleumdung der Gegenkandidatin Clinton und mit Hilfe eines veralteten Wahlsystems geschafft hat an die Macht zu kommen. Dieses Wahlsystem, zum Zeitpunkt seiner Entstehung innovativ und wegweisend, ist im Laufe der letzten 200 Jahre zu einem Stolperstein für die amerikanische Demokratie geworden, weil es dem Grundsatz "ein Bürger eine Stimme" schon lange nicht mehr gerecht wird. Die Gründe dafür sind anderweitig nachzulesen und betreffen vor allem die unzeitgemäße Festlegung von Wahlkreisen und die damit verbundene Zuordnung von Wahlmännern, aber auch die unvollständige Registrierung von farbigen Bürgern bei den lokalen Wahlbehörden einiger Bundesstaaten.

Vordergründige Nutznießer dieser Entwicklung sind jedenfalls die eher wenig gebildeten weißen Bewohner der wirtschaftlichen Problemzonen in den Vereinigten Staaten, die in ihrem dumpfen Hass auf das politische Establishment in Washington auf einen "Messias" vertrauen, der den Großen dieser Welt endlich einmal sagt wo's langgeht.

Sehr persönliche Pöbeleien und unverhohlene Kriegsdrohungen sind zu einem Markenzeichen von Donald Trump, dem "Retter der Unzufriedenen" geworden.

Pöbeleien wie wir sie lange schon nicht mehr gehört haben seit Idi Amin, dem ehemaligen Diktator von Uganda und selbsternannten "Bezwinger des Britischen Weltreiches". Sein Zeitgenosse, der im betrunkenen Zustand ebenfalls ungehemmt pöbelnde Häuptling der Bajuwaren Franz-Josef Strauss erhielt damals von der Presse den Spitznamen "Idi Alpin" verpasst.

In Zusammenhang mit dem politischen Umfeld des US-Präsidenten steht auch, dass so viele aktuelle und ehemalige Vertraute von Donald Trump in den Fokus öffentlicher Ermittlungen vor Gerichten oder Senats-Ausschüssen geraten konnten, so wie Trump's Wahlkampfmanager Paul Manafort, sein langjähriger Rechtsbeistand und "Mann für's Grobe" Michael Cohen, sowie seit Kurzem auch Trump's Kandidat Kavanaugh für das freigewordene Amt eines Bundesrichters. Manafort und Cohen bekannten sich übrigens bereits für schuldig in den meisten ihnen zur Last gelegten Anklagepunkten.

Was die politischen "Erfolge" des autonomen "Ego-Shooters" Trump betrifft, so sind diese eher von propagandistischer Bedeutung als substanziell.

Ob Nordkorea ernsthaft an eine nukleare Abrüstung denkt, ist nach wie vor unklar. Abgesehen von der Zerstörung einer Testanlage nach dem Gipfeltreffen mit Trump gibt es bislang nur Absichtserklärungen. Eine Einigung zwischen den Nachbarstaaten auf der koreanischen Halbinsel wäre schon eher denkbar, nachdem es bereits zwei persönliche Begegnungen zwischen Kim Jong-un und Südkoreas Präsident Moon in Panmunjon und Pyongyang gab.

Der Iran nimmt den US-Präsidenten offiziell nicht einmal mehr ernst, und Israel sieht alle Felle einer US-Unterstützung im Kriegsfall mit dem Iran davonschwimmen, während Netanyahu neuerdings wieder über eine Zweistaaten-Lösung im Konflikt mit den Palästinensern redet.

Auch das neue Handelsabkommen zwischen USA, Kanada und Mexico soll sich, wie man hören konnte, nicht wesentlich von dem alten Abkommen unterscheiden. Die Zugeständnisse der Partner an die USA mussten sich in engen Grenzen halten, weil sonst überhaupt keine Einigung erzielt worden wäre, was eine Katastrophe für alle Beteiligten bedeutet hätte.

Was den von Trump angezettelten globalen Handelskrieg betrifft, so wehren sich einflussreiche US-Wirtschaftskreise vehement dagegen, wohl wissend, dass sie selbst die Leidtragenden sein können. Sogar die amerikanische Automobilindustrie lehnt Strafzölle auf europäische Fahrzeug-Importe öffentlich ab.

Weil sich China ohnehin nicht in die Suppe spucken lässt und seine eigenen Strafzölle auf landwirtschaftliche Produkte aus den USA verhängt hat und mit weiteren droht, dürften letzten Endes die amerikanischen Farmer im Mittleren Westen der USA, die beflissenen Parteigänger Trumps mit ihren Monokulturen, zu den Leidtragenden des Handelskrieges gehören. - Wer hätte vor Jahren schon daran gedacht, dass die Sojabohnen für die chinesische Sojasoße heute überwiegend aus Amerika kommen würden.

Schließlich hat die rigorose Einwanderungspolitik Donald Trump's nicht nur im Ausland für Empörung gesorgt, sondern auch im eigenen Land eine riesige und lautstarke Opposition auf die Straßen getrieben, was den US-Präsidenten noch weiter diskreditierte.

Die desaströse Politik der Ignoranz eines Donald Trump hat also bereits Schaden im eigenen Land angerichtet und wird dies auch weiterhin tun. Sie hat auch zum Rücktritt erfahrener amerikanischer Berufsdiplomaten geführt, die sich außerstande sahen, die Ausfälle Trumps insbesondere gegen die NATO im Ausland zu rechtfertigen.

Irgendwann aber wird sich in diesem riesigen Land mit all seiner Vielfalt und Kreativität auch wieder der Geist der Vernunft durchsetzen.

Was Deutschland mit seinen eingeschränkten, auch geopolitischen, Möglichkeiten betrifft, wäre ich mir da nicht so sicher. Deshalb sollte es gar nicht erst so weit kommen, dass irgendwelche inkompetenten Kleinbürger in eine Machtposition gelangen, die es ihnen erlaubt, der Mehrheit ihre unausgegorene Meinung aufzuzwingen.

In diesem Zusammenhang ist es geboten, sich an die Zeit der Wende in der DDR zu erinnern, als es nicht nur um Reisefreiheit, D-Mark und Bananen ging, sondern auch um die Ablösung eines faschistischen Regimes, unter dem "wichtigtuerische kleine Männer" bestimmten, was die Untertanen zu denken hatten.

P.S.: Das Zitat von den "wichtigtuerischen kleinen Männern" stammt übrigens aus einer öffentlichen Lesung der bekannten DDR-Schriftstellerin Christa Wolf im Rahmen einer Veranstaltung im Westen und noch zu Zeiten der DDR.

The Trump Apocalypse - It's Loyalty or Disaster

Latest News: The Trump Organization's finance boss, Allen Weisselberg, has reportedly been granted legal immunity in the probe into Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's longtime former lawyer. Mr Weisselberg is reportedly mentioned on a tape secretly recorded by Cohen in 2016 in which a hush money payment to an alleged lover of Mr Trump is discussed. On Thursday August 21, it emerged that David Pecker, head of the company that publishes the National Enquirer tabloid, was also given immunity. BBC - Al-Jazeera - US media on August 24, 2018.

After Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen admitted in court his participation in the paying out of two playmates on behalf of his boss, Trump could do nothing else but officially state that such paying out was made with his own money and not with funds intended for his election campaign. While Cohen is now on the doorsteps of jail after having pleaded guilty on different charges regarding illegal financial behaviour and false statement, walls are further closing in on Trump whose former campaign manager Paul Manafort has been equally found guilty of illegal financial action. Cohen who paid off to the state attorney and Manafort who kept silent on Trump's involvement are differently treated in the president's public statements. While Manafort could even hope for Trump's personal support, Cohen is being described by his longstanding employer as a corrupt and treacherous liar and which raises the question why he has survived as an important member of Trump's inner circle for such a long time. At least some personal "qualities" of Cohen should have been of value for Trump.

Now, when the word goes about an impeachment process that could be started after the Democrats won enough additional seats in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, Trump is threatening, both, opponents and followers with the cruel scenario of an economic breakdown. Such disaster should certainly follow as Trump, according to his own evaluation, has " made such a good job ".




Here now tomorrow's news on the impeachment subject :




Trump’s Strong-Dollar Weakness published on August 22, 2018, by Project Syndicate :

The Trump administration would like us to believe that the dollar’s rise reflects faster economic growth, driven by deregulation, tax cuts, and expanded defense spending. But, if anything, Trump's economic agenda is creating inflationary pressure and undercutting the "exorbitant privilege" that the dollar has long conferred on the US.

..........

After all, a strengthening dollar increases the price of exports abroad and lowers the domestic cost of imports, thus discouraging the former and encouraging the latter. That is directly at odds with Trump’s stated goal of reducing the US trade deficit.

Trump’s obsession with the trade deficit has led him to impose import tariffs on steel, aluminum, and a wide range of products from China. But, ironically, more expensive imports will also put upward pressure on the domestic inflation rate, which could force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates even faster than planned. That, in turn, would produce still more dollar appreciation and even bigger trade deficits, as happened under Reagan and Bush.

[Project Syndicate: An organization providing high-quality commentaries written by prominent political leaders, policymakers, scholars, business leaders, and civic activists from around the world.]

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" From Russia with Love " - A recent Moscow visitor to " blueprint news ".

Trump Revives Star Wars Scenario

After US vice-president Mike Pence and some time later president Donald Trump announced an increase in spendings for the modernization of US weapon systems, an almost forgotten project of the Reagan era is being seen to surface again in US military plannings: Some kind of a "Star Wars Scenario" where a newly formed "US military space unit" should ensure US domination of space, - a provocation to all other nations peacefully engaged in space research.




美国是要统治太空吗？

America Claims Domination of Space ?

“星球大战计划2.0版？”法国国际广播电台发出惊呼。报道称， 上世纪80年代冷战后期，美国里根政府曾推出“星球大战计划”， 近40年后，一向将里根时代标榜为自己榜样的特朗普， 今年多次表达“立即组建一支美国太空军队”的想法。

8月9日，在彭斯发表演讲后，特朗普随后在推特上发文称：“将太空军队进行到底。”

" Star War Plannings 2.0 ? ", France International Radio cried out in alarm, reporting that in the 1980ies, the final period of the cold war, America's Reagan administration had promoted their "star war plannings". About 40 years later, what was consistently boosted during the Reagan era becomes Trump's own model [to follow]. It has become the idea of an "immediately formed US military space unit", already voiced many times this year.

On August 9, after the development was made public by Pence, Trump soon afterwards came about with the message: "May the military space unit advance to [accomplishment]."

The Chinese source is, as well, quoting a German and a Russian news source.

[Zhejiang online浙江在线 quoting People's Daily foreign edition on August 15, 2018]




Quoted from News Corp Australia Network 澳大利亚新闻网 on August 15, 2018

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As PR China's internet can be complicated, it needs a Chinese provider
for web hosting and data transfer between China and US based servers.

Blueprint News Celebrates 250 000 Visits

Update added on August 12.

The registration of visitor statistics for - blueprint news - started in May 2010 and reported about 250.000 site visits in August 2018. Here are some numbers that remain incomplete, however, because only the leading 10 visitor nations are given, together with information about browsers and systems applied by visitors. Some rare browsers that came to my attention during the years are not included in the overall statistics as they present only a low number of visitors i.e. < 1%. Same goes with the computer systems where the list is too long to integrate it entirely into the following chart, and there are, as well, some visitors who withhold part of the Information. An increasing trend to data anonymization makes it even more difficult to collect visitor data.



However, more important than mere numbers should be the following choice of highlights of visitor activity during all those years and which might give an idea of the global acceptance my rather tiny blog achieved.


Visitor Highlights



Chinese visitors coming from River Yangtse and from Hangzhou, both places being
near to Shanghai. A closer look on the satellite images provides interesting features.



The former Portuguese colony of Macao which is now a part of PR China. Two
long bridges, connecting the main parts of Macao, might attract your attention.



Living the Chinese Dream



Economic prosperity and military strength are integral parts of China's global dream. While
facing maritime disputes with other nations, China is enforcing a modernization of its navy.



Japan and North Korea



One visitor came from the diplomatic quarters of Tokyo (above) and which is near to
the Imperial Palace. Another visitor called from Ground Zero in Hiroshima where the
first atomic bomb had been dopped in 1945.



Earlier this year Japanese authorities launched a missile alert via Japan National TV
when a North Korean test missile was heading toward Japanese territory. As tensions
with North Korea were high at the time, I was just watching Japanese news on satellite
TV. I immediately took a photo from my TV screen and posted it. My blogspot was then
available on the internet while the North Korean missile was still in the air over Japan !



One of the rare visitors from North Korea is indicating he came from the Ryugyong
neighbourhood in Pyongyang and which is not far away from the central compound
of North Korea's ruling Workers Party. The internet access point, however, remains
difficult to localize in this case.



In August 2017 two US military bases on Guam were threatened by North Korea which said
it would create an "enveloping fire" around the US territory using four Hwasong-12 missiles
that should detonate 30-40 km off the island. The US side made clear this would mean war.



Nuclear Research

The CERN Institute in Geneva, Switzerland, is operating the greatest particle accelerator
ever built. It was there that a predicted elementary entity, the Higgs boson, was detected
for the first time.



US website quoting my graphics which I had prepared
to visualize how Higgs Bosons can come into being :



The center for nuclear research in Dubna is situated in the neighbourhood of
Moscow, Russia. In Soviet times it was the most important facility of its kind.



Washington and Israel

No, it's not at all a call from the President but rather from a
public hotspot facing the White House in Washington DC :



In the hustle of the 2016 pre-election times I simply forgot to publish the below picture.
Sorry for that ! The picture can be named "Grabber King at the Chicago Trump Tower".



The US Department of State noticed my translation of a political poem originally written by
Guenter Grass, one German laureate of the Nobel Price for Literature. It's all about Israeli
militarism directed against Arab neighbours (i.e. their Semitic brethren...) and against Iran.



In the week after the author's death, my translation
of his poem was addressed by different US visitors :



US - Iranian Enmity



The National Defense University NDU in Washington DC, a US government institution,
visited a blogspot of mine and which is dealing with a scenario of mutual threats that
has steadily developed between Iran and the USA.

All

All of Central Asia and the Middle East
is under control of The Empire.
Well, not entirely ..........

An Iranian visitor enjoyed, as well, my visualization of the conflict ...



... and some US opinion forum even quoted my blogspot on mutual US-Iranian threats :



One visitor coming from the faculty of law at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, made
a Google search by simply entering the timeless adage of justice to be found above the
entrance of a Cairo law court, and found ..... my blogspot about decisive battles in Syria.
What an amazing coincidence !



After the ousting of Libyan dictator Muammar al-Ghadafi, a visitor called from some
internet access point nearby to Martyrs Square in Tripoli, the former capital of Libya.
It is on Martyrs Square that a shrine was established for the heroes of the revolution.



A "postcard" from the holy places of Makkah in Saudi-Arabia :



In August 2014 Islamic fighters were threatening Kurdish residents in the
Kirkuk region of Northern Iraq. People fled into the nearby mountaineous
area while Islamists headed further to Mosul. After the fall of Mosul, the
Islamist leader al-Baghdadi declared his caliphate in the great mosque
of Mosul.



Visitors coming from Northern Pakistan took immediate interest in the Iraqi developments.
They came from Islamabad, its southern environment, from Quetta and Peshawar (below).



Mongolia - Chingis Khan and the "Art of War"



A smiling Mogolian leader once presented his Mongolian horsemen to US president Bush.
When a Mongol horde invaded and destroyed the Caliphate of Baghdad in 1258, they left
a gigantic regional chaos similar to what did the US Cavalry under US president Bush. The
difference, however, is: The Mongol horde robbed what they could carry on horseback and
returned home, while the US sat and waited as oil wells cannot be so easily carried away.



Other "cold warriors" can be found on Elmendorf Air Base in Alaska, USA, .....



..... while some people are peacefully fighting the cold in an Inuit community on Greenland :



The "University of the South Pacific" on the lonesome island of Fiji, however, is a real "hotspot".
No wonder they provide a swimming pool needed to cool off the heated brains of young folks.



In comparison, the "Harvard Business School" in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, might make a point with a better reputation.

Iran and India - US Sanctions and Tariffs

美下⼀波制裁旨在打击伊朗⽯油业，油价年前或升 ⾄90美元

A wave of US sanctions aims at hitting Iran's oil industry.
Recent year's oil price might rise to 90 US$ [per barrel]

8⽉6⽇，美国再次对伊朗的⾦融、汽⻋、航空和⾦属⾏业实施第⼀波制 裁，伊朗总统鲁哈尼(Hassan Rouhani)对此予以回击，称美国总统特朗普 (Donald Trump)呼吁两国进⾏对话的态度不诚实，只是在作秀⽽已。

On August 6, America once again put into effect a wave of sanctions against Iran's banking, car industry, air traffic and metal industry. Iranian president Rouhani hits back at this spear [attack], stating that US president Trump's appeal on both nations is carried out in a verbal attitude that is not honest, simply made elegant that's all.

[SINA 新浪财经 on August 7, 2018]


Further US import tariffs on Indian products like medicines, diamonds, auto parts and seafood, being discussed as a possible consequence of Indian retaliatory tariffs against US steel and aluminium import levies, might bring India's prime minister Modi in a difficult position ahead of the 2019 general elections, in case India's politically sensitive agriculture sector is forced to open up to US imports.

The world's largest democracy is known for high levies on agricultural imports as a means to safeguard the livelihood of its massive farmer population. Recent droughts and falling commodity prices have also triggered a hike in Indian import duties. In February, the government doubled levies on sugar to 100 percent, while chickpeas saw an increase to 40 percent.



[CNBC on August 7, 2018]




《RUSSELL专栏》在中国减少进⼝之际 美国对印度出⼝原油⼤增

[Reuters] "Russell Column": While China's imports decreased,
US crude oil exports to India increased on a great scale.

Clyde Russell, a Reuters columnist, expresses his opinion on oil market developments. Here are some quotations from his article:

US crude oil producers seem to have found new buyers for shipments that are no longer exported to China. India is expected to import record-scale crude oil in August.

..........

Indian refinery interest in US crude oil will be a good news for shale oil producers looking for buyers outside of China. Due to the escalation of trade disputes between the Trump administration and Beijing, China may reduce imports of US crude oil.

Although not yet implemented, China has proposed to impose import tariffs of up to 25% on US crude oil as well as liquefied natural gas and coal.

[Reuters, Chinese language edition on August 7, 2018]

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History - Iran 1979

In 1979 religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in Iran. It was in the turbulent days of Iran's Islamic Revolution that militant followers of Khomeini invaded the US embassy in Tehran and abducted its personnel. 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days which makes up for the longest hostage crisis in recorded history.

Many years later, a French camera team was allowed to visit the specially secured part of the embassy where US secret services had maintained their communications center.



إيران .. رحلة في مبنى السفارة الأمريكية السابق في طهران

Iran ..... A walk through the building
of the former US embassy in Tehran.