Terrorism - French Jews Targeted

Latest UPDATE from March 21 / 23 at the end of this blogspot !
استمرار حصار المشتبه فيه بهجوم تولوز على مدرسة يهودية
المشتبه فيه الذي زعم أنه على صلة بتنظيم القاعدة 21/3/2012

snapshot of culprit [French TV station]



مقتل أربعة أشخاص و إصابة أخرين في اطلاق نار أمام مدرسة يهودية في تولوز بفرنسا
Four persons killed and others hurt in a shootout in front of a Jewish school in Toulouse / France.


الحادث يأتي بعد أسبوع من مقتل عسكريين في إطلاق نار مماثل في مونتوبان
The incident occured one week after the killing of two soldiers in a similar shootout in Montauban.


السلطات الفرنسية تفرض أعلى مستوى انذار ضد الإرهاب جنوب البلاد بعد الهجوم على مدرسة يهودية في مدينة تولوز
French authorities are considering a high-level anti-terror alert for the Southern part of the country after the attack on a Jewish school in the town of Toulouse.

[Source: Al-Jazeera, Arabic channel, on March 19]
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Additional news from Radio France Info on March 19:
According to a witness and police investigation, the terrorist used a 9 mm weapon [ later a .45-calibre gun ] when targeting children at the Jewish school in Toulouse. Three children of the age up to ten and one teacher died in the course of that shooting spree.
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Quotations from The Telegraph, London, on March 20:

"He was calm and determined. In cold blood he assassinated them as if he was killing animals," said Nicola Yardeni, the regional president of CRIF, France's Jewish organisation, after viewing CCTV footage of the shootings from surveillance cameras.

"You see a man park his motorcycle, start to shoot, enter the school grounds and chase children to catch one and shoot a bullet into her head. It's unbearable to watch. He was looking to kill."

Police began a huge manhunt, erecting roadblocks across Toulouse, and put extra security outside religious schools across France. The attack is being linked with two other shootings in the Toulouse area in little more than a week, prompting fears that France is dealing with a racist serial killer. Last Thursday, three soldiers were shot as they stood by a cash machine in Montauban, 30 miles north of Toulouse, by a gunman dressed in black and riding a motor scooter. Two of the victims, aged 26 and 24, died immediately. They were of north African descent. The third, 28, who is in a coma in hospital, is from the French overseas region of Guadeloupe. A witness described how the gunman approached one soldier who was wounded and attempting to crawl away, turned him over with his foot and fired three more shots into him before getting back on his scooter and making his escape.

Four days previously in Toulouse a 30-year old soldier from the 1st Parachute Logistics Regiment was shot dead – again by a gunman on a motor scooter. The victim was also of north African origin. One of the weapons used at the school was the same calibre as that used in the attacks on the soldiers – a .45 calibre automatic pistol.

There were reports in France that police were looking for three former soldiers of the logistics regiment sacked for "neo-Nazi" activities. The men were all ejected from the army in 2008 after a photograph emerged of them making Nazi salutes in front of a swastika. "Police are interested in locating those men to see if there may be some connection," said a source close to the investigation.

The prospect of a serial killer targeting religious and minority groups spread fear across the nation and is likely to raise questions over controversial remarks made during the presidential campaign relating to faith and immigration.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is seeking re-election with votes in April and May, has come under attack by religious leaders and from within his own party for veering to the Right. Presidential campaigning was suspended yesterday as Mr Sarkozy visited Toulouse, followed later by his socialist challenger, François Hollande.
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Latest UPDATE on March 21:

According to French authorities, the serial killer of Toulouse has finally been identified as 24-year-old Mohammed Merah, a French citizen of Algerian origin. The man has already been surrounded for hours in his Toulouse apartment where he is holding contact with security forces. Merah already confirmed being the serial killer and claimed working for Al-Qaeda.




Satellite view
of Toulouse:
Photos marking
Jewish school
(above)
and Merah's home
(below).




As to the children Merah cornered and murdered in a Jewish school, he said he was avenging the killings of Palestinian children while his killings of three soldiers should be seen as a protest against the deployment of French troops in Afghanistan. Earlier expectations blaming a "racist serial killer" with "neo-Nazi background" for the linked shooting sprees in Toulouse and in the neighbouring community of Montauban have therefore been dropped.
[Source: Al-Jazeera - Doha, German TV channel 1, Haaretz - Tel Aviv]


Another snapshot of Mohammed Merah as published by a French TV channel, the photo's origin and date remaining unknown [cited from People's Network, Beijing, on March 23]. 法国当地电视台曝光的梅拉照片，日期及来源不详. Merah was finally shot by French police on the same day.

Postscript:
It was only one day after Merah's death that French police accused his brother of complicency. According to Radio France International, his brother was quoted having praised the killings, and there must have been other evidence as well.
Maybe, this affair is just showing the "top of the iceberg" of a general disapproval of French society among some underprivileged youngsters of North African origin. Up to now, nobody really knows how far this is going, even though, the problem itself has already surfaced in different uprisings in the suburbs of Paris since the 1990s.

Global Competition for Raw Materials

The following lines have been cited from People's Network, Beijing, on March 17, 2012:

近日，欧盟联合美国、日本，就中国限制出口包括稀土、钨、钼等在内的17种原材料，向WTO提出诉讼。这是西方国家再次采取一致步调，在稀土等稀缺资源问题上向中国施压。全球的稀土呈现出什么样的供应格局？谁掌握着稀土定价权？不了解这些，也就无法明白东西双方在这个问题上的是非曲直。
Recently, the European Community, in alliance with the U.S.A. and Japan and with regard to China's export restrictions on 17 raw and processed materials including the Rare Earths, Tungsten and Molybdenum, raised [accusations] at the WTO [World Trade Organization]. This is just another step in sequence taken by the West to apply pressure on China when it comes to the [extreme] shortage of natural resources like the Rare Earths. The whole world's Rare Earth [material] emerges from what kind of supply structure ? And who has in his hands the power to fix the price of that Rare Earth material ? Those who don't find out are unable as well to understand the rights and wrongs of that matter affecting, both, the East and the West.

稀土具有明显的稀缺性，在全球分布不均。数据显示，全球已探明的1亿吨稀土储量中，中国占36%，俄罗斯占19%，美国占13%，澳大利亚占5.5%。南非开普省斯廷坎普斯克拉尔的磷灰石矿伴有独居石，是世界上唯一的单一矿脉状独居石稀土矿。
The Rare Earth [elements] are obviously [characterized by their extreme] shortage, their global distribution being uneven. Data are proving that from one hundred million tons of globally verified Rare Earth reserves, 36% are held by China, 19% by Russia, 13% by the U.S. and 5.5% by Australia. Monazite [mineral embedded in] Apatite deposit from South Africa's ... is the world's only single mineral ore accounting for Rare Earth mining from Monazite.

Comment by Ulysses:

Monazite is a mineral consisting of Rare Earth Phosphate while the main mineral Apatite is some kind of Calcium Phosphate. The Rare Earth material applied for technical use includes Cer and Lanthan as the main constituents. Usually, all other Rare Earth elements are present as well because of their particular character that makes it difficult to refine one single element by chemical means. As far as I know, Rare Earth metals are additives like Tungsten and Molybdenum, all of them used in the making of special steel for high-performance applications. The Rare Earth elements are used as well in catalysts (especially for oil cracking) and in laser applications.

The Chinese adaptation of the South African mine's local name has been skipped.

As to the use of Rare Earths in steel, refer to the following news item:

10月28日，中国钢研集团公司与寿光市宏达稀土材料有限公司签署合作协议暨共同出资组建钢研集团稀土科技有限公司。...
On October 28, 2011, China Steel Research Group and Hong Da Rare Earth Materials Ltd. in Shou Guang municipality signed an agreement of cooperation for the jointly financed foundation of Steel Research Group's Rare Earth Science and Technology Ltd. ...

寿光宏达拥有5000吨钕铁硼废料回收生产线、1500吨金属及钕铁硼原料生产线等。
Hong Da Ltd. in Shou Guang owns 5000 tons of Neodynium-Iron-Boron waste material that has been recycled to reenter the production line as well as 1500 tons of metal added Neodymium-Iron-Boron raw material of production line quality.

[Source: Website of the "Morning Sunlight" New Materials Ltd. (or: Chen Guan Rare Earth 晨光稀土) in Ganzhou (or: Jiangxi Province) 赣州晨光稀土新材料股份有限公司 on November 1, 2011.]

Gadhafi's Security Chief Captured

موريتانيا تعتقل عبد الله السنوسي رئيس الاستخبارات الليبية السابق
Mauritania has imprisoned Abdullah al-Sanussi, chief of former Libyan intelligence service.
[Source: Al-Jazeera, Arabic service, on March 17]

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Pictures from Central Europe:

Lakeside in Winter - Frozen Leaf

Lakeside in Spring - Early Catkins

U.S.A. - China's Bitch ?

Former Goldman Sachs partner Peter Kiernan, author of Becoming China's Bitch: And Nine More Catastrophes We Must Avoid Right Now, on CNN sharing his concerns about China replacing the U.S. as the world's top economy.


The broadcast was two days ago, and I first hesitated to write just another blogspot on a subject of international importance. I found it hard to deliver an adequate and fair evaluation of the present situation after having invested a lot of time to receive a broader knowledge and understanding of China's language, culture and historic development.

Here are some data that support Kiernan's theses of China going to dominate the U.S.A.. China's answer, however, can be read at the end of my blogspot.


However, there is nothing new in it. The trend of China's rising influence is visible for many years. Could it be that the West has slept too long instead of rising in competition ?

As to China, who would not understand the Chinese people's striving for a better life after all those hardships suffered through the years of the Cultural Revolution and other politically motivated campaigns on behalf of some grass-root Communism that dominated China for many decades ?

Throughout China's history, its tribes have virtually "invaded" South-East-Asia as honorable merchants and detested smugglers. They have spread their culture to Japan and even made an early contact with the Arabic world. Since 1800 they arrived in North-America to earn a living while realizing badly needed railway connections from coast to coast.

Far away from the country of their ancestors they founded prospering communities all over the world in towns like San Francisco, London and Singapore, only to mention some of the most important and oldest settlements. As a result of steady efforts and Chinese ability to cope with hardships of all kind, some of them soon succeeded in business affairs and were often regarded as a danger by those who claimed older rights. No wonder that Chinese were mobbed in some South-East-Asian countries, their natural resort for emigration. In Indonesia, things culminated in bloody riots against Chinese immigrants who already controlled the economy. Even though nowadays, the proportion of Chinese in that country can be considered as insignificant, their economic influence is still highly remarkable.

Someone I spoke to compared the Chinese emigration with that of the Jews who are similarly distributed all over the world and who tend to be living in their own communities making money there. Such analogy has the truth, with the exception that Chinese never killed another people's Messiah and one of Allah's prophets. Furthermore, the Chinese have no use of a Wailing Wall in spite of so many hardships they had to overcome in their history.

After China had slowly regained its political power under Mao Tse Tung, following a century of stagnation that was due to the crumbling of the old Chinese empire and the rise of Japan, it only needed the economic reforms and some freedom of trade in the era of Deng Xiao Ping and his successors to put China into a kind of economic pole position. And that's just what we have to deal with.

China has simply been underestimated during all those years of Communist rule. Same goes with the Arabic race that was hampered in its development by political constellations established by their former colonial powers and by recent Western politics that used to maintain a "balance of horror" while supporting all those corrupt leaders who are now being swept away.

And even nowadays Western politicians surprise us with funny remarks like our German Chancellor, Frau Merkel, who recently said: "To work in Germany, you don't have to learn Chinese and Arabic". That was when she headed to Portugal in order to find badly needed workers while many qualified German specialists and who now depend on social welfare are unable to fill the gap because of drastic restrictions to additional income. Maybe we should tell her: "You never know what you will need to learn in order to survive in a world of growing competition". Moreover, I remember a German middle-class employer from my region who successfully introduced his company's products on the Chinese market. He said: "If you want to make it in China, you'll have to rely on any professional help you can get your hands on, including, both, foreign and home support."

And finally, wasn't it on Capitol Hill in Washington DC that a nominated candidate for the chairmanship of some committee dealing with foreign policy had been questioned about his qualifications for the job ? Being asked about his knowledge of foreign languages, he simply replied: "I speak English, that will be sufficient." Even though I forgot that gentleman's name, this is a true story.

For all those U.S. citizens who are venturing to deal with China and its people, here some examples taken from an old guide to the Chinese language and that should be regarded as outdated. Don't use such phrases and the ideology behind them any longer !

Practical Chinese for U.S. diplomats, published in 1931:


A diplomatic household employing a new cook:


Chapter on meeting bandits:


Talk on politics - It's about Communists:

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UPDATE on March 11:

The following financial news from People's Network, Beijing, should be compared to a past reality not so long ago when China's citizens held no significant bank accounts at all [People's Network on March 10, 2012]:

去年全国居民存款缩水6600余亿 人均财富“蒸发”500余元
Last year, the bank savings of all Chinese citizens were shrinking by more than 6.6 billion Yuan, i.e. the people's average sparings "evaporated" by more than 500 Yuan.

This loss of value is about 1.9% of all bank sparings [or: 190 Yuan for each 10.000 Yuan 一万元会“缩水”190元]. It can be related to a prolonged period of lower benefits for type A shares:

通胀预期减弱利好A股
Going through an expansion of the expected weakening of profit for type A shares.

...............................................................................

An answer to U.S. media reports on different trends of economic development in China and America is given in an article of People's Network, Beijing, published on March 11, 2011:

这种观点在中国显得相对较新鲜而且与众不同。曾几何时，一些想移民美国的人无所不用其极，甚至声称要“政治避难”，目的就是获得美国公民身份。而现在，当美国停滞不前，失业率居高不下时，中国经济却繁荣发展，或许人们的观念正发生变化。最近，中国很多微博用户在激烈讨论这样一个问题：美国国籍不再吃香？
Such point of view appears to China as rather new and furthermore out of the ordinary. It's not long ago that some people, being decided to emigrate to America, not even stopped at claiming "political asylum" in order to obtain U.S. citizenship. But now, this very America has reached a standstill, the unemployment rate resting high without [any current decrease]. China's economy, however, is prospering and developing. Maybe, personal plannings are undergoing a change. [At least] China's many consumers, owing [but] tiny riches, are lately intrigued by heated discussions dealing with the subject: Will U.S. citizenship ever again become so popular ?

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The Development of Global Commerce

Traditional lines of global commerce and their predicted change until 2030. The center of trade will be moving from the U.S. to China. While South-East Asia (and namely Indonesia) will become a reservoir of cheap working power for China's industry, the Middle East and Africa will be China's main provider of oil products. New trade connections will be established between China and Africa. [Source: ARTE French-German TV channel on March 13, 2012]

Sun Storm Just Affecting Earth

A strong geomagnetic storm is racing from the Sun towards Earth.

Its expected arrival on Thursday could affect power grids, airplane routes and space-based satellite navigation systems, U.S. weather experts said. [Comment: It's all about high-precision GPS; car based GPS should not be affected.]

The storm, a big cloud of charged particles flung from the Sun at about 7.2 million km/h [Comment: 1/150 of the speed of light], was spawned by a pair of solar flares, scientists said.

This is probably the strongest such event in nearly 60 years, and is likely more intense than a similar storm in late January, said Joseph Kunches, a space weather specialist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
............

Such stormy space weather is unusual in recent history, according to Harlan Spence, an astrophysicist at the University of New Hampshire who is principal investigator on the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

"These relatively large (solar) events, which we've had maybe a couple of handfuls total in the course of a decade, we've now had two or three of them, more or less right on top of each other", Spencer said.

[Source: Excerpts from an article published by Al-Jazeera on March 8, 2012]

Further information on NASA says there's no need to worry.

U.S. Republicans - Super Tuesday

latest overall results (5:00 GMT)

Mitt Romney leading the Republican Primaries on what they call "Super Tuesday" when there are pre-elections for the nomination of the Republicans' presidential candidate held in 10 federal states.

Mitt Romney already succeeded in Virginia, Massachusetts, Vermont and Idaho. Georgia went to Newt Gingrich. Votes in Alaska are still not counted.

Rick Santorum winning Tennessee, Oklahoma and North Dakota but lost his home country of Massachusetts where he was governor. Yet, it will not be enough to win the Republican Primaries.

Some hours after my first report it is still not clear who won Ohio. It seems that Mitt Romney is now in the lead and will probably win the Republican Primary. According to CNN, Santorum's close loss would be due to a lack of money invested in the Ohio campaign. Santorum might have taken the wrong choice to spare campaigning funds for further state primaries to come.

latest results for Ohio (5:00 GMT):

No president since 1960 has gone to the White House without winning Ohio. Ohio is a swing state because no political party has an overwhelming majority there. The winner of the Ohio Republican Primary could gain up to 66 delegates.

Portrait of Rick Santorum

Santorum and his family celebrating a phoney victory in Ohio (2:00 GMT):

Santorum on Obama's Healthcare plan: "Begin of ending of personal freedom for all Americans" (which is targeting the ultimate need of citizens to buy healthcare insurance).

Santorum declares that America could even gain back its No.1 position in the world. He is accompanied by "U.S.A., U.S.A." shouts when addressing U.S. economy defaults not yet fixed by President Obama. In fact, Santorum is naming each demanding task of U.S. society (restoring triple A rating, healing unemployment and low income, cutting taxes for low income, creating a "100%" healthcare system, etc.) and earnestly promises he would fix all of those problems better than Obama ever could. It should be added that Santorum's voters are being considered as belonging to a less educated and lower income group. [Editor's comment: It's incredible how an excited mass can be made cheering on such kind of unrealistic bullshit.]

Al-Jazeera TV asking citizens in the urban areas of Ohio; a choice of characteristic answers:
Republicans are too conservative, less realistic and far from earnestly dealing with essential subjects regarding the regular citizen, especially when it comes to contraception and abortion [Info: Rick Santorum has seven children].
While Obama is "too" diplomatic, all Republican candidates are eagerly decided to go on war with Iran. [Editor's comment: Well, it probably depends on what chair each of them is sitting on ...]

outdated results (2:00 GMT):

Russia and Iran - Days of Voting

The above picture has been taken from a life transmission of RUSSIA TODAY, Spanish service, showing early voters in the Far East of Russia. After having passed through 9 time zones, the elections will finally reach Moscow. However, the result seems to be clear from the beginning: Putin's supporters will almost certainly prevail.

On the occasion of the Russian elections, different German TV stations enlightened us with a portrait of Vladimir Putin, a tough person with unusual strength and determination and who "came in from the cold" in more than only one single meaning of the word. He is not bluffing either ..... When questioned in an interview about the notorious U.S. missile shield against Iran, he managed to laugh heartily as if confronted with a merry joke. According to him, all those detection facilities in countries neighbouring Russia and that should enable an early response to any Iranian missile attack, are rather serving control of Russia's airspace than any other purpose.

Further information on U.S. missile defense in Russia's backyard is included in another recent blogspot of mine: Iran - Who is threatening whom ?

Anybody interested in Russia's political system might like to read the following article, published by RUSSIA TODAY, state TV, on March 2, 2012:
Russian politics doesn't fit the Western mold


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Lets now consider the Iranian elections that took place the day before. First results are showing the dominance of religious leader Ayatollah Khamenei. According to a Russian analyst, candidates of the opposing reformist movement have lost credibility because of their alleged links with U.S. supporters.



الداخلية الإيرانية: نسبة المشاركة في الانتخابات البرلمانية تجاوزت
64%
According to the Iranian [ministry of the] interior, the proportion
of participants in the parliamentary elections exceeds 64%.
[Al-Jazeera, Arabic service]

Iran - Who is Threatening Whom ?

February 29 UPDATE further down !


Iran is surrounded by 46 well-equipped U.S. bases (yellow stars in above map). Everybody keeping an eye on the present conflict should have noticed the military constellation of Iran's enemies. The Islamic Republic being forced to face that dangerous constellation can by no means be expected to wait for U.S. politics to change or simply comply with any foreign demands. Strengthening its own military capabilities can therefore be seen as Iran's only way out.

By the way, they really don't have a single nuclear bomb up to now, even if 7 out of 10 U.S. citizens are inclined to believe in the existence of Iranian nukes (quotation from Al-Jazeera, English service).


The Arabic Peninsula and Central Asia are entirely
under the influence of the EMPIRE. Well, not entirely ......

Added on February 29, 2012:

صفقة أسلحة إسرائيلية لأذربيجان بمليار و 600 مليون دولار
Israeli weapons deal with Azerbaijan comprising 1.6 billion [U.S.] Dollar

كشف مسؤولون أمنيون إسرائيليون النقاب الأحد 26 فبراير عن عقد صفقة تبيع الصناعات الجوية الإسرائيلية بموجبها لدولة أذربيجان وسائل قتالية بقيمة مليار وستمائة مليون دولار
On Sunday, February 26, persons in charge of Israeli security laid open a contract of transaction for Israel's aircraft industry regarding the selling to Azerbaijan of equipment for combat equalling a value of 1.6 billion Dollar.

[Egyptian source: akhbarelyom.org.eg]

Editor's remark: Azerbaijan can be found on the above map at the Northern border of Iran. - On June 8, 2007, at the G-8 summit in Heiligendamm, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a proposal to use their Qabala radar station in Azerbaijan as a part of the U.S.-developed missile defense system. The proposal was supported by the Azerbaijani leadership, which considered it as a concrete contribution to stability and security in the region. Relations between Russia and Azerbaijan are generally considered as balanced. Now that Israel is selling its own missiles to Azerbaijan, Russia's position in further talks with the West might be weakened, thus giving Putin further proof that he cannot trust the West.



Who Needs Iranian Oil ?

Two days ago, People's Network, Beijing, published latest statistics related to national import of Iranian oil. According to data from the first six months of 2011, PR China, Japan and India are Iran's most important clients with daily oil imports of 543.000, 341.000 and 328.000 barrel. They are follwed by South Korea that imported Iranian oil at a daily rate of 244.000 barrel. Next come Italy, Turkey and Spain, two countries of the European Community (Italy 183.000 barrel and Spain 137.000 barrel) and Turkey (182.000 barrel) as an important member of the Western military alliance. South Africa (98.000 barrel) is following at almost the same level, while France and Sri Lanka are closing the sequence of nations importing higher amounts of oil from Iran. By the way, India's ranking should be considered under the aspect of additional gas imports from Iran by means of a pipeline passing through Pakistan.


As to the proportion of Iranian oil in the frame of national overall oil imports, Sri Lanka is fully dependent on Iranian oil (100%) while Turkey is dependent on a very large extent (51%). Next come Greece (14%), Italy (13%) and Spain (13%). India, China Japan and South Korea are providing only some 10% of their huge demand for crude oil from the Islamic Republic.

Now let's consider Greece, Italy and Spain as the weakest partners of the European Community whose national economy is either on the brink of collapse (Greece) or not too much better off (Italy and Spain). Their dependence on Iranian oil (13-14%) makes them appear as even more shaky candidates in the Euro zone since oil prices reached another maximum, even though their economic influence might be overestimated.

As to Turkey's dependence (51%) on Iranian oil, this is just one of the basic problems the Western alliance against Iran will have to solve, if it decides to rely on Turkey as an important partner in the region when it comes to military action against Iran.

Iran and Syria - Stepping Up the Conflict

Latest Update on February 24

Above: Iranian warship passing the Suez canal on a mission of
"peace and friendship" (Iranian admiral / photo from archives).

Iran has sent two warships to the Mediterranean that are now docking in Tartus, Syria. Background for the unusual mission is a treaty on naval cooperation with Syria which was signed the year before.

The Obama administration in Washington is on the alert as Israel already announced its intention to launch a pre-emptive strike at Iran. Tensions between Iran and Israel have culminated after the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist and recently reported attacks against Israeli diplomats in India, Thailand and Georgia. U.S. President Obama's security adviser Tom Donolan is in Jerusalem to discuss latest developments with Israeli government members. He is expected to insist on Israel to refrain from any pre-emptive military action.

Below: Deadly clashes in the center of Damascus, "near the presidential palace and in streets where there are ministries" (CNN reporter).


A conflict of interest between different international forces is now emerging while the Syrian government is increasing military pressure on its citizens. At the same time, the Assad regime is threatening Britain and France with a cutting off from Syrian oil exports. Competitors like China might already be waiting for their chance.

Additional Facts and Evaluation:

While international sources are speaking of 5.000 civilians having perished in Syrian uprisings, Syrian opposition groups counted about 8.500 victims.

On February 24 we learnt that former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was accepted as a mediator between the struggling parties in Syria after earlier success in that role in Zimbabwe. This development has been welcomed by, both, Russia and China who are steadily pushing for talks instead of military action by international forces.


As to the recent killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist, Tehran is considering Israel rather than the U.S. being behind the plot because Israeli agents are known to have used U.S. identities in similar actions before, probably without knowledge of allied U.S. agencies. According to some sources this point has already troubled Israeli-U.S. relations in the past under the administration of Bush junior.

When it comes to recent attacks on Israeli diplomats, Tehran is denying any involvement, saying instead that Israeli Mossad has staged these attacks in order to increase tensions. As Iranian sources pointed out, there have been almost no remarkable Israeli casualties (India) or car bombs have been discovered before they exploded (Georgia). Professional attacks would have looked otherwise.

Comment by Ulysses: I would like to mention that Israeli diplomats are usually well shielded from possible attack by a high security level. Having experienced the bunker-like structure of Israel's embassy in Bonn, Germany, and security guards in front of the building awaiting embassy staff every morning, I would rule out any professional attack staged by a third party because of the high risk of failure being involved.

National Consequences of Sanctions Against Iran:

PAKISTAN and SRI LANKA

Pakistan is defying U.S. demands to close the gas pipeline passing through their country and connecting Iran with India. As Iranian crude oil exports are already reduced due to sanctions inflicted on Iran, countries like Sri Lanka are now suffering from extremely high prices for oil products (picture below). Sri Lanka's only oil refinery in Colombo, a 45-year-old installation, is known to be best working with Iranian crude oil.
[Source: Al-Jazeera on February 2012]


Above: Development of prices for oil products in Sri Lanka after sanctions against Iran took effect.

INDONESIA

The Iranian moves to halt oil sales to Europe makes Indonesian government reconsider its state budget (APBN) as the oil price exceeds its previous assumption by + 10%. The Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs also expects to curb the inflation caused by the recent situation.
[Source: Republika, Jakarta, on February 21, 2012]

INDIA and CHINA

India Drops the Dollar and Pays for Iranian Oil in Gold

Media reports suggest that India has agreed to pay the price of its crude oil imports from Iran in gold, which makes it the first country to drop the US dollar for purchasing the Iranian oil.
...
According to a "Times of India" article, India has decided to explore payment options for oil imports from Tehran and will only abide by U.N. sanctions and not those imposed by any other bloc of countries.
...
India, which is highly dependent on imports to meet its crude oil consumption needs, is Iran's second-largest oil customer after China and purchases around $12 billion worth of Iranian crude every year, about 12 percent of its consumption.
...
India and China take about one million barrels per day (bpd), or 40 percent of Iran's total exports of 2.5 million bpd — and both India and China have huge reserves of gold.

[Source: MetalMiner - largest metals-related U.S. media site on February 4, 2012]

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Below: Al-Jazeera evening news on February 19.



A summary of developing news on February 20 can be found in an extensive news report from People's Network, Beijing, published on February 21. Here is a shortcut of that report including the most important facts:

美国劝以色列暂缓对伊朗动武
欧盟部分成员国已停止进口伊朗石油
America urges Israel to delay the use of force against Iran.
Some member states of the European Community already stopped their import of Iranian oil.

正在以色列访问的美国总统国家安全顾问托马斯·多尼伦2月20日与以总理内塔尼亚胡和国防部长巴拉克会谈，以色列媒体报道说，多尼伦劝以色列“暂缓对伊朗动武”。
Thomas Donolan, security advisor of the U.S. president, is just visiting Israel for talks with Israel's prime minister Netanyahu and defence minister Barak on
February 20. Israel's media are reporting that Donolan is urging Israel to "postpone using force against Iran".

同一天，由国际原子能机构副总干事赫尔曼·纳克茨率领的代表团抵达德黑兰，并在伊朗做两天停留，这是该代表团本月第二次来到伊朗。而欧盟发言人20日称，目前比利时、捷克、荷兰等欧盟成员国已经停止从伊朗进口石油。
On the same day, Herman [Nakeci], the deputy secretary general of the international agency for nuclear energy, arrived in Tehran as head of a delegation for a two days' stop. It is for the second time this month that his delegation came to Iran. On February 20 as well, a spokesman of the European Community named Belgium, Czechia and the Netherlands as such member states of the European Community that, at present, already stopped their oil imports from Iran.

Below:
UN IAEA inspectors return on February 22 after their fruitless visit to Iran where they had been denied access to a nuclear facility south of Tehran.


Headlines of Al-Arabiya on February 23:

الدبلوماسية الإيرانية تنتكس في الغرب الإفريقي
عقب تورط طهران في تسليح متمردين بجنوب السنغال
Iranian diplomacy returning to West Africa.
Tehran again engaging in the arming of rebels in Southern Sahel.

...........................................................

Other Subjects - Featured Article of the Day:

Al-Qaeda Rule in Southern Yemen

China - Central Bank Reducing Bank Deposits

央行货币政策专题：
Special Topics of the Central Bank's Currency Policy:

中国人民银行决定，从2012年2月24日起，下调存款类金融机构人民币存款准备金率0.5个百分点。
The People's Central Bank of China decided to adjust bank deposits of its financial system. Starting on February 24, 2012, there is going to happen a reduction of the Renminbi [Yuan] deposit rate by 0.5 percent points.

存款准备金率下调对股市投资者利好
The planned reduction of the deposit rate should benefit stock market investors.

存准率下调 不说明楼市调控放松
Decrease of deposit rate [should not necessarily be understood as] a regulation to get the slackening real estate market under control.

Editor's Note: 楼市 = 房地产行业
Source of News: People's Network, Beijing, on February 18, 2012.

---

Year of Water Dragon:
See You Later Alligator !

Bahrain - U.S. Between the Fronts

New uprisings in Bahrain on the anniversary of a bloody crackdown on protesters when some 30 Bahrainies were killed in February / March 2011.

U.S. say being committed to human rights and are trying to influence the Sunni-dominated royal government which can refer to a traditional basis of dominance over the Shia-majority of Bahrain's people since the 18th century.

After the U.S. signed a defence agreement with Bahrain in 1991 at the end of the Gulf war, the country became headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in 1995 and was added to the list of major non-Nato allies in 2002. The U.S. and Bahrain government are since related to each other by extensive arms deals.

The following video is demonstrating U.S State Department's position in the conflict of Bahrain:

China - New Strongman Meeting Obama

Yesterday, PR China's Vice-President Xi JinPing arrived in Washington where he is expected to meet with President Obama. As Xi is considered to become the new strongman of China in a near future, it is worth to leave some notes on that personality.

Below: Presentation of Xi JinPing on the occasion of the
17th Congress of the Communist Party's Representatives.

Xi was born in June 1953 in a rural area of China's Shaanxi Province. In January 1974 he became a member of the Communist Party and a student of Marxist theory at Qing Hua University's institute of sociology where he graduated as a specialist of "ideological political education" and finished his studies with a doctor's degree in law. Nowadays, Xi is considered as a rather moderate politician by Chinese standards.

The full text of an interview on Chinese-U.S. relations granted to the Washington Post is provided on two screenshots I registered from the original website of semi-official China Daily which I found heavily contaminated with malware.



UPDATE on February 14:
U.S. President Obama and Vice-President Biden meeting with Xi JinPing. In the following talks, Obama once more stated the U.S. position towards China's veto on the Syria draft resolution in United Nations' Security Council.