U.S. Fears - Pakistan and China

Only some hours ago, German National TV - Channel 1 had the news that U.S. authorities accuse Pakistan of letting Chinese specialists take a closer look at the debris of one "Black Hawk" helicopter that crashed during the Bin-Laden operation in Abottabad. As the helicopter had been equipped with latest stealth technology, this seemed to be a good opportunity to spy on U.S. stealth research. It was even propagated that those Chinese experts took some material with them.

Now, there are two items to be distinguished. First are the individual construction features of the Black Hawk that surprised even some U.S. pilots who were trained on this type. "There are parts added, we never saw before", was their comment after photos of the helicopter's rear part had been published one day after the Bin-Laden operation. Now, this item of "stealth" technology might be related to sound absorption or better propelling performance and would present a real danger to U.S. defence security only then when a fully equipped and undamaged helicopter would fall into the hands of the Chinese. Even though there might be strong hints at what U.S. engineers are trying to achieve with all those additional rotors, it might turn out that Chinese engineers are having the same on their minds. Such, there should be no practical benefit to the Chinese at all, even if they carried away all the undestroyed parts of the Black Hawk but which was not the case as far as we know.



The second item might be more serious as it concerns real state of the art technology. Some debris of the helicopter's outer coating might lead Chinese scientists to the strategy, U.S. stealth research is trying to reach its goal. As there is more than one way to approach this goal of rejecting treacherous electromagnetic emission from all kinds of sophisticated military equipment by using metamaterial coatings, the Chinese might get some basic information. Nevertheless, they would be unable to "rebuild" that kind of metamaterial within a reasonable time without knowing how to exactly proceed. In fact, material design and production technology seem to be a very complicated subject which requires much more information than a smaller or greater piece of stealth coating could ever provide. Even more, stealth technology is steadily being developed for any kind of electromagnetic radiation and steadily making progress which makes it even harder for any spy to deliver reliable information that remains up to date long enough while the next series of U.S. stealth fighters is already being planned.

By the way, it should be remembered that in January 2011, a 66-year old U.S. engineer of Indian extraction already became known for having sold U.S. stealth technology for the B-2 bomber to the Chinese and being rewarded by them with 110.000 U.S. dollars hard cash. In comparison to such kind of scandal, the Abottabad proceedings are only of minor importance. All they are showing is an increasing tension between U.S. and Pakistani authorities and a steady mistrust towards Chinese efforts to modernize their armed forces. Even the restoration of an old Soviet aircraft carrier for the Chinese navy is feeding that mistrust. Of course, China is a potential competitor to the U.S. that should be counted with, but all those huge military budgets that served U.S. administrations since the decay of the Soviet Union have taught Chinese leaders to fear U.S. military power and incited them to put some of their extra money from China's booming economy into their own military projects.

Financial Markets - No Black Monday Yet

Latest UPDATE further down !

Far Eastern markets still sliding, but no "Black Monday" in sight. First reports from Asia after the opening of stock markets in Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney on Monday morning, August 8, 2011, 01:00 GMT, after a turbulent week characterized by U.S. debt crisis and European rescue actions for Greece, Spain and Italy.



By the way, the Chinese got really sour about U.S. handling of their own debt crisis, which can be understood in the frame of China's vast storage of U.S. treasury bonds. After the downgrading of U.S. rating, such papers naturally lost value.



UPDATE on August 8, 20:00 GMT:



In the frame of a dramatic decay of German DAX values during the last days and hours, BMW lost 8,8% and its competitor DAIMLER 7,1% compared to last week's stock market quotations. Even though, both German premium car manufacturers just presented another record of sound profits for the last year, they are now among such companies whose share prices are suffering most from the actual financial crisis. Share prices of Germany's giant producers of raw and processed chemicals as well as pharmaceuticals followed the trend. BASF lost 5,6% and BAYER 4,1% of their share prices. Clients are obviously selling all those premium values out of an uncertainty about the efficiency of handling national debt problems in the U.S. and Europe by those politicians in charge of solving such problems and whose ability to perform adequately seems to be doubtful. Such fear and mistrust towards the political establishment has been increasing steadily.



In South Korea, as well, a sound economy is suffering from eruptions of the stock market due to the meanwhile global debt crisis. At the end of the day, it turned out that Japan, so much shaken by earthquake and tsunami and severely hit by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, remained the sad "winner" among all those "losers" of the actual crisis.

U.S. Debt Crisis - View from China

Comment on the U.S. debt crisis by Tan Ya Ling, director of the
Chinese Institute of Research on Foreign Currency Investment.
The author seems to be, as well, a high-ranking analyst within
the Bank of China.谭雅玲—中国外汇投资研究院院长

The title of his article, published on the internet platform of
China's semi-official paper People's Daily is as follows:

美债背后的“阳谋“:彻底打垮欧元确保美一国独霸
The "strategy" behind U.S. debt: Completely smash the Euro,
thus assuring America's predominant position.

Here are some quotations from the article that demonstrate the
author's evaluation of U.S. financial politics. As such high-grade
expert opinion on crucial national matters like foreign currency
investment and foreign nation's debt rating cannot be realized
without the silent approval of the author's superiors, i.e. Chinese
government circles, the following theses of his should be considered
as semi-official.

美危机的核心是美国利益
The crucial point of the U.S. crisis is America's benefit.

美国国家利益的核心在于美元霸权
The core of America's national benefit depends on the U.S. dollar's
predominant position.

欧美债务危机具有本质上的差别
The European and the U.S. debt crises possess a different character.

美债危机的实质是确保美元霸权、美国霸权
The intrinsic character of the U.S. debt crisis is to assure, both,
the U.S. dollar's predominant position and America's hegemony.

According to the author, it is therefore necessary to think over all
aspects of the U.S. debt crisis:

历史上美债问题有惊无险，最终结果的基点在于美国非常独特的国家资质以及美元非常强势的霸权地位。自1960年以来，美国曾经78次提高债务上限，并且都是在最后一刻完成，本次美国两党很可能复制之前的表演惯例和经验之见，美国不会自己打自己的脸，在利益博弈之后最终将会达成妥协以提高债务上限，这种可能性较大，只是方式和步骤的落实问题。因此，美国党派、国会之争并不会动摇美国国家战略，最终将回归美国国家利益需要。

During its history, the subject of U.S. debt has frightened, yet not
endangered. The crucial point of the latest outcome can be related
to America's extremely marked national predisposition as well as
the U.S. dollar's extremely powerful and predominant position.

Since 1960, the U.S.A. have already raised the upper limit of debt
for 78 times, furthermore, each case brought to an end in just a
moment. This time, both U.S. parties will most possibly demonstrate
a view of [established] practice and experience, as America doesn't
know that facade of " everyone beating himself ". After the [time
of] abundance, [they would] finally know how to reach a compromise
in order to raise the debt ceiling. The possibility for that being
relatively great, it remains but a question of procedures and [single]
steps to solve that problem.

Therefore, no controversy within America's political parties and the
Congress could ever shake America's national strategy. In the end,
it would return to America's national benefits and needs.

A PDF file of the cited website has been added in order to enable
interested readers to get access to the original text in Chinese.
All translations on this blogspot have been realized by Ulysses
(W.W.).

U.S. Debt Crisis - Debt Failure Avoided

Just happened on Capitol Hill / Washington DC:
After days of tough bargaining between Democrats and Republicans, House Speaker Boehner could finally present a debt plan that should avoid U.S. debt failure and global financial unrest. Even though considered as a "Sugar Coated Satan Sandwich" (Democratic Congressman Cleaver from Missouri), this deal will bring temporary relief to U.S. economy and help the Obama administration to carry on. As cuts to the social system are preferred to tax raises by the deal, many Democratic voters hesitated up to the last minutes of the vote to support it. The above picture shows the moment when members of the House acclaimed the reaching of a crucial number of votes. The final results are shown on the picture below.



Below the intrinsic consequences of the debt ceiling deal:



The following video is showing opinion statements on the subject shortly before the voting began. The essential role of the Republicans and their "allies" from the conservative Tea Party Movement:

U.S. Debt Crisis - Story in Pictures

Possible consequences of the debt crisis
if U.S. debt failure occurs on August 2.


Senate commission finalled reached a deal that
still remains to be voted on by both chambers of
the U.S. Senate.


Obama soothing not only Chinese creditors.
Even though military expenses are to be cut,
U.S. tax rates should remain unchanged.


Actual unemployment and economic growth.

Jordan Uprising

حديث الثورة
Subject of today's "Revolution Talk" on Al-Jazeera, Arabic channel,
are the latest events in Jordan:

آلاف المتظاهرين في مناطق من الأردن يخرجون في مسيرات سلمية تحت عنوان جمعة القسم
Thousands of supporters in the districts of Jordan [take to the streets
joining] peaceful marches on the occasion of the Friday prayers.

هتافات المتظاهرين في مسيرات جمعة القسم تطالب بإصلاح النظام و العدالة الإجتماعية
[Participants] on their marches of the Friday prayers acclaiming
the demands of a reformation of the regime and social justice.

المتظاهرون في مسيرات "جمعة القسم" يرفضون التعديلات الدستورية و يطالبون بدستور ديمقراطي
The supporters on the Friday prayers' marches reject modifications to
the [present] constitution and demand a [new] democratic constitution.

المتظاهرون أدوا قسما تعهدوا فيه بمواصلة حراكهم السلمي إلى حين تحقيق الإصلاح
The supporters swear to commit themselves to the continuation
of their peaceful movement until reforms are realized.



Above picture: Participants of today's "Revolution Talk"
- Amir Abu Rasae (left), coordinator of relations within the Coordination
of Youth Movements in Jordan.
- Hani al-Durani (right), director of the New Jordanian Center of Studies.

JAPAN - New Earthquake and Tsunami Warning

Tonight, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude hit the north-eastern part of Japan, same region as effected by the Fukushima disaster. The shaking of the earth could be noticed even in Tokyo. There is danger of a Tsunami to arrive at the eastern coast of Japan's main island. Reported by CNN.

2011 - The World in Space

UPDATE: Atlantis lift-off on July 8, 11:30 local time.


U.S. space agency NASA announce their last space shuttle mission to take place on Friday this week. Space shuttle Atlantis will then take off for the final mission.

The United States, once leading in space research, are now being challenged by other countries, once regarded as rather poor developing nations. Here are the space contenders to the U.S.:

Russia $ 3.8 Billion Budget. / Responsible for 40% of all actual space launches. / Now in control of International Space Station ISS.

China $ 2 Billion Budget. / Carried out a manned space mission in 2003. / Plannings: Chinese Space Station, 2025 Man on Moon.

India $ 1.45 Billion Budget. / Carried out a Moon Mission in 2008. / Plannings: 2016 Man on Moon.


Brazil in Space


Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes (left) who took part in a mission to the International Space Station ISS in 2006, together with his Russian and U.S. colleagues whom he accompanied on a Russian spacecraft. Pontes came from a very poor Brazilian worker's family and had already to work at the age of 14. Now, he's a national hero.



China on its Way to Mars


"Mars - We are steadily getting closer".

Below: A shortcut of the actual Chinese Mars project, using the homebuilt "Glowworm" measuring device. The Glowworm project makes part of an international programm, called Mars 500. On some of the planned missions from 2011 to 2018, China and Russia are working together. [Click to the below picture for a better resolution of the Chinese text.]




Frozen Ocean on Mars - recorded by ESA's device "Mars Express".

SYRIA - Political Unrest and Economic Decay

الاقتصاد و السياسة في سوريا
Economy and Politics in Syria

After weeks of political uprising, accompanied by repeated military crackdown on protesters and waves of immigration into Turkey and Lebanon, the people of Syria will have to recognize that their country's economy, as well, is driving from bad to worse. Here some news from the Arabic service of Al-Jazeera TV.


رؤية الحكومة للوضع الاقتصادي
Reflection(s) of the Government on the Economic Situation:

سوريا غنية جدا و الحكومة تحاول تعبئة موارد الدولة
Syria is very rich and the government tries to mobilize national resources.

ما أشيع عن تهاوي الصادرات بنسب تفوق 40% أقوال تنطوي على مبالغات
It is unsatisfactory that the decline of exports is related to a predicted increase of 40% which is [already much] exaggerated.

---

مؤشرات سلبية
Negative Indicators:

صندوق النقد يتوقع انكماش معدل نمو الاقتصاد السورية إلى %3
The [international] monetary fund has predicted an overall reduction of economic growth of 3%.

يعني هذا الانكماش تسريح مئات الالاف من وظائفهم
In other words, that shrinking [of economy] will set free hundreds of thousands [of employees] from their jobs.

كما يعني ذلك الأمر تراجع القدرات الشرائية للمواطنية السوريين
That means, as well, it is in fact a regression of spending power within the Syrian population.

LIBYA - Bloody Scenes

معارك بين الثوار و كتائب القذافي في مدينتي يفرن و القلعة في منطقة الجبل الفربي
Engagements between the rebels and Gadafi units at [the] town of Jafran and [its] fortress in the Western Mountain region.




مراسل الجزيرة: كتائب القذافي تواصل قصفها لأحياء مدينة الزنتان
According to a correspondent of Al-Jazeera, Gadafi units are continuing their cannonade of everything living in the town of Zintan.



انتصارات للثوار
[Places of] success for the rebels (*)



تواجد كتائب القذافي
Coexistence of Gadafi units [and rebels] (*)

* = For a better orientation on the above maps:
In both maps, the town at the right side and above all others is Tripolis.




The visual diary of a soldier belonging to the Gadafi units was found on his body after his death. It gives an inside view of military proceedings and hints at possible war crimes. Therefore it is worth to be preserved and proliferated.
Recorded on June 9, 2011.

4-Year-Old Picasso Girl

A 4-year-old Australian girl selling her paintings at a gallery in Manhattan / New York for tenthousands of Dollars to buyers who didn't know her age. Must have seen to believe !

The girl's exhibition is named "The Prodigy of Color". It is presenting paintings of space and nature, her favorite subjects. Now, compare this to the pictures NASA took from a giant sun eruption that happened only two days ago and will influence, both, electricity and radio transmission on earth during the next days:



And here are some weird space objects found with the Hubble Telescope:

Yemen - The Saudi-Arabian Option

Above picture: Ahmed ash-Shalafi,
correspondent of Al-Jazeera Arabic
TV, reporting from Sanaa.

Wounded President might Leave his Country

After a recent attack on the Yemenite president's residency and that left president Saleh wounded and some of his guards dead, Saudi-Arabia offered medical treatment to the president of Yemen.

Last night and in the frame of a regular TV broadcast in Arabic named "REVOLUTION TALK حديث الثورة", this time on Yemen, Al-Jazeera TV in Qatar presented the following live news as subtitles. I took that changing information as a basis of an own translation. Now you can read the news in the same sequence they appeared:

مصادر سعودية تؤكد وصول مسؤولين يمنيين الذين أصيبوا في الانفجار للعلاج في المملكة
Saudi-Arabian sources confirm the arrival of Yemenite [officials] who were wounded by the explosion [in the president's residency] and [are awaiting] medical treatment in the kingdom [of Saudi-Arabia].

أنباء عن وصول الرئيس اليمني علي عبد الله صالح إلى السعودية لتلقي العلاج بسبب جروح أصيب بها
News of Yemen's president Ali Abdallah Saleh having arrived in Saudi-Arabia to undergo [medical] treatment because of the wounds he had received.

صالح قد يكون أصيب على الأرجح إصابات من بينها شظية قرب القلب و حروقا بالصدر و الوجه
Saleh was probably wounded by the explosion [of a grenade] when he was near to the center [of explosion] and [received] burnings of the breast and his face as well.

The following information seems to be doublechecked by Al-Jazeera's own personnel and is presented in form of a headline rather than a subtitle. It should be regarded as more reliable:

مصادر للجزيرة: الرئيس اليمني ما يزال يتلقى العلاج بصنعاء على يد فريق طبي سعودي
Sources of Al-Jazeera [say that] the Yemenite president is still receiving [medical] treatment in Sanaa from the hands of a Saudi-Arabian medical team.

مصادر للجزيرة: طائرة طبية سعودية في صنعاء لنقل الرئيس اليمني في حالة الضرورة
According to sources of Al-Jazeera, an ambulance plane from Saudi-Arabia [has landed] in Sanaa [and is prepared] to transport the Yemenite president in case of urgency.

Postscript:
On the next day, it became clear that president Saleh finally had to leave his country for medical treatment in Saudi-Arabia. Thereupon, Yemenite citizens took to the street in order to celebrate the end of dictatorship, a celebration that comes too early as Saleh might return at any day after his treatment abroad:




Saudi-Arabia to Ensure Ceasefire ?

رئيس مجلس التضامن الوطني في اليمن شيخ حسين الأحمر يعلن التزامه بوقف إطلاق النار بناء على وساطه سعودية
The president of the National Council of Solidarity in Yemen, Sheikh Husein Ahmar, declares [his support of] a ceasefire under the supervision of Saudi-Arabia.



A Slow Transition of Power

On April 23, 2011, president Saleh introduced his own transition program that offered the president's retreat after 30 days. The requirements of that program could not be accepted by the opposition. Therefore, it took another month and the help of an initiative of the Gulf states to come to terms with the Yemenite president on May 21. The new power deal assured immunity from prosecution to president Saleh and comprised the plannings for general elections to be held within two months. Already signed by the opposition, the treaty was later rejected by the president which led to the actual fighting scenes at the presidential residence.



Point nine of the Yemen Transition Deal
achieved on May 21 by the initiative of
the moderating Gulf states:

المبادرة الخليجية المعدلة

تاسعة

في أعقاب الانتخابات, يطلب الرئيس من رئيس الحزب الفائز بأكبر عدد من الأصوات تشكيل الحكومة

At the end of the elections, the president will ask the president of the party winning the higher number of votes to constitute the government.

Egypt - Border to Gaza now Open

Today, the revolutionary government of Egypt decided to open the Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza despite warnings from Israel that Palestinian Hamas might then pile up further arms in Gaza. At the beginning, the border should be open to traffic during daylight only. This will facilitate life in the Gaza strip for most Palestinian families who are now suffering from all kinds of shortcomings.

The border to Egypt had been closed for many years after the bilateral peace treaty between former Egyptian president Sadat and Israel. During the Mubarak era, the border had only been contemporarily opened for humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza. At the same time, the border between Gaza and Israel had been frequently closed by Israeli forces or used for military incursions into Gaza that did much damage to Gaza's infrastructure.

Two days before, U.S. President Obama made a statement on the Palestian subject with the following words: "We can't afford to wait another decade, or another two decades, or another three decades to achieve peace ..."

---

U.S. President Obama delivering a historic speech to British politicians at Westminster Hall, London. Rather an honour to speak there after the pope, the queen and Nelson Mandela than the beginning of a very funny joke like: "After the pope and the queen, here come the negroes from the colonies."

Pakistan - Naval Airbase Attacked

In Karachi, Pakistan, a naval airbase is being attacked by unknown gunmen. Up to now, at least four persons died during the firefight. It seems that one of the buildings has been seized by the attackers. Because of ongoing fighting, ambulances are being held up.

This comes only five days after a Taliban commander announced his organization's firm will to take revenge on Pakistan and the U.S. for the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Taliban: Revenge for Bin Laden - Pakistani Nukes

Umer Khalid, a commander of the Taliban, announces Taliban plans to take revenge for the death of former al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden. Pakistani and U.S. targets will be on their hitlist including members of the U.S. intelligence community. [Al-Jazeera]

According to CNN News, the former Egyptian security officer Saif al-Adel (سيف العدل "Sword of Justice", right photo below) should become the interim leader of al-Qaeda after the death of Bin Laden. Al-Adel is known as the "caretaker" of al-Qaeda. Sooner or later, he might be replaced in his new position by al-Zawahiri (left photo below), the long-standing deputy of Bin Laden.

Last audio message from Osama Bin Laden: Tunisia had the first glory, and with the speed of light ... the knights of Egypt were in- spired by the free Tunisians. ... And a mighty revolution has started, and what a revolution. ... A revolution of destiny for all Egypt. Bin Laden's widdow: The woman that was near to him in his final hour.

---

Pakistan plans to enhance its production of enriched plutonium in order to assemble enough of weapon's grade material for the production of further nuclear weapons. Their goal is to reach a maximum capacity of 200 nuclear devices by 2021. That would match the actual British capacity of 195 nuclear weapons.

No Dime More !

Libya - Warning to Gadafi - Oil Minister Defected

At about the same time when the international court in Den Haag issued a warning to Colonel Gadafi not to cover up criminal activities of his troops, the Libyan oil minister defected. In the meantime, heavy fighting between rebels and Gadafi troops continues together with Nato air raids. Furthermore, rebel units are approaching the borders to neighbouring Sudan and Tchad while the Tunisian border seems to be already under their control.

تحذير للقذافي

U.S. Court - No Mercy for Strauss-Kahn

According to the Assistant U.S. District Attorney John Mcconnell who handles the case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, DSK "poses a flight risk" and cannot be immediately set free on the basis of a bailing deal between the court and DSK's lawyer. For the next days he has to be kept in a single cell of Rikers Island State Prison. At least, DSK's attorney Benjamin Brafman seems to be an efficient specialist of the matter and is known from similar cases. Below are photos of three of his clients, Michael Jackson being among them.







What I didn't know the day before: The 62-year-old Strauss-Kahn is already notorious for his "affaires amoureuses". In 2008, he became subject of an IMF enquiry upon his sexual relationship with a married Hungarian employee and who had been working in the African department of the IMF. Besides, he is known for his "straightforward approach of women in numerous cases and that should have resembled some kind of harrassment".
Sources: Blog of the French daily "Libération" on October 18, 2008.
U.S. paper "Wall Street Journaql" on October 18, 2008.