Wednesday, August 08, 2018

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.





Tuesday, August 07, 2018

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]

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


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.


Friday, July 27, 2018

EU Now Trump's Lackey?


Update including Twitter Analytics added below on August 1st.

..........

After the meeting between US president Trump and Claude Juncker, the high-ranking envoy of the European Community, it became clear that Trump is trying to clean up the mess of his trade war with China by pressuring Europe.

EU member states should now buy soy beans to save US farmers from the loss they are suffering from China's counter-measures against Trump's crazy import tariffs.

The Europeans should, as well, buy liquified natural gas (LNG) from America and act against a strategical decision, already made years ago by Germany and some of its European partners, to rely on natural gas from Russia. This time it's about selling America's LNG surplus and shipping it to Europe where a network of pipelines for the provision with Russia's natural gas is already existing or in construction. First comments are hinting at the fact that a change in the strategy of energy provision would cost too much, even though some EU members in Western Europe, might tend to prefer the LNG solution.

As a recompensation Trump would consider to refrain from further tariffs on European automobiles which would hit Germany especially hard.

Yesterday, a Chinese financial and economics publication came to my attention with a comment on the Trump-Juncker meeting:




欧盟让步了!同意进口更多美国大豆和液化天然气,矛头直指中俄

The European Union gave in ! Agreed to import US soy beans
and liquified natural gas [LNG], thus creating a spearhead
actually pointing at China and Russia.


欧盟进口大豆的影响
大豆是中美贸易战里中国的杀手锏。

当中国对来自美国的大豆征收 25%的关税后,美国的大豆行情就一路下挫。 芝加哥期货交易所(CBOT)的大豆期货价格下跌 20%,跌至 10 年最低。

美国当地时间 7 月 23 日,民间出口商向美国农业部(USDA)报告, 又有 16.5 万吨销往中国的大豆订单被取消。而在 6 月, 我国也累计取消了 61.5 万吨美国大豆订单。

中国作为美国豆农的最大金主,进口的美国大豆占美国大豆总出口量的 62%。 据路透社报道,今年秋季,中国大豆进口量仅占美国提前采购量的 17%, 相比过去十年平均水平下降了 60%。


The impact of soy bean imports by the European Union:
The soy bean is China's "killing mace" in the Sino-US trade war.

After China imposed a 25% tariff on soy beans coming from the US, US market quotations dropped all the way. The forward prices for soy beans at the Chicago futures exchange (CBOT) dropped for 20% to a 10 year's minimum.

On July 23 US local date, nongovernmental export traders reported to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) that an order for 165.000 tons of soy beans [for shipment to] China had been cancelled, adding to another order of 615.000 tons of US soy beans cancelled in June.

China is being looked upon as US [soy] bean farmer's biggest money spender, its imports making up for 62% of all US soy bean exports. According to a [Lu Tou She] report, this autumn China's soy bean import volume will only make up for 17% of America's beforehand purchase volume. That is a decrease of 60% compared with the average level of the last ten years.





Dropping of soy bean market quotations during Trump's recent trade war on China (above)
and his allegations of earlier losses before his presidency (below) and that should be the
reason for a 12 billion $ governmental aid for US soy bean farmers. Recent losses due to
Trump are partly smoothed by an increase of European soy bean imports.



欧盟进口天然气的影响
如果说进口大豆影响的是中美贸易战,那么天然气进口就与俄罗斯息息相关了。

近年来在美国爆发页岩革命大伙应该不会陌生,美国的原油产量也是逐年上升。 其实,相比较页岩油,页岩气对对全球能源市场影响更大。

美国页岩油还只是能降低美国对进口石油的依赖,但页岩气不同, 不仅仅可以完全满足国内对天然气的需求,还可以对全世界进行出口。


The impact of natural gas imports by the European Union:
If it can be said that soy bean imports are effecting the Sino-American trade war, then imports of natural gas are closely linked with Russia.

In recent years, the shale [oil] revolution broke out in America, and with which everybody should be familiar. US crude oil production has risen as well year after year. In fact, the influence of shallow oil and shallow gas on the global markets of energy resources relatively increased.

While US shallow oil can only reduce America's dependence from oil imports, shallow gas is different as it cannot only completely satisfy the country's domestic demand, but can be globally exported.




[Opinion from FX168 财经网, a Chinese network for finance and economics, on July 26, 2018]

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




Voices from the Underground :



While US vice-president Mike Pence proposed 'Jesus Care' replacing Obama Health Care (left),
Russia's president Putin allegedly enjoyed a fantastic deal when 'Buying American' (right).


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


Visitors and Statistics :








Monday, July 23, 2018

US War Plannings - Iranian Warning


Evening Update on July 23 included !



رئيس أركان الجيش الإيراني: أمريكا خططت لشن هجوم عسكري على إيران

Iranian army chief: America planned to launch a military attack on Iran.


[Ahram Gate بوابة الأهرام, Egypt, on July 22, 2018]




“You cannot provoke the Iranian people against their own security and interests,” [Iran's president Rouhani] said.

Rouhani spoke ahead of a much-trailed speech by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later Sunday, seen as part of Washington’s efforts to foment unrest against the Islamic government in Iran.

Rouhani repeated his warning that Iran could shut down the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for international oil supplies.

“We have always guaranteed the security of this strait. Do not play with the lion’s tail, you will regret it forever,” he said.

The US is seeking to tighten the economic screws on Iran, abandoning a landmark 2015 nuclear deal and reimposing stringent sanctions.

Washington has also launched concerted propaganda efforts in Iran, including social media campaigns, designed to exacerbate popular discontent.


[Times of Israel on July 22, 2018]




Trump's big-letter tweet answering Hassan Rouhani's allegations
of US aggression and his threats to close the Strait of Hormuz.





国际油价最新消息:美国伊朗激烈交锋国际油价上涨
中东原油供应中断担忧再起!


Latest news on international oil prices: The heated confrontation between US and Iran
is driving up international oil prices. Rising fears about an interruption of Middle Eastern
crude oil supply !



Tendency for international crude oil.

[Gold Network 黄金网 on July 23, 2018]





US Ambassador Wendy Sherman, former Under Secretary of State for political affairs
and involved in negotiating the Iranian nuclear deal, is speaking out on Donald Trump
harrassing the Iranian leadership at a time "when the walls are closing in on him".


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




Visitor to "blueprint news" coming from Rennes, France, and who is interested in Iran.