Clipmarks | merrie's 'china' clips

Iran Announces Bid For UN Security Council Seat

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:41:41 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced his country's bid today for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, a candidacy that U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad immediately rejected.

U.S. opposition would be based on the unwritten rule at the UN that nations under Security Council sanctions aren't elected to the panel. The council has adopted three resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment as part of its nuclear program.

Clip Source: www.bloomberg.com

Mottaki told envoys at a meeting of the group of 57 Islamic nations that Iran would seek the seat that will become open when Indonesia's two-year term ends on Dec. 31, according to diplomats who attended the closed session. Iran would compete with Japan, the only other declared candidate for a seat that is designated for an Asian nation.

``For a country that is under sanctions and is not in compliance with the requirements that the international community has repeatedly asked of it, it is surprising that it would believe that it could become a Security Council member,'' Khalilzad said. ``That would be extraordinarily strange for Iran in the current circumstances.''

Ambassador Vitaly Churkin of Russia, which along with the U.S., Britain, China and France have permanent seats on the Security Council, said the sanctions on Iran would ``be a problem.''

Voting for five new temporary members will be held in October.

Tags: iran, u.n.security council, u.s. ambassador, britain, france, russia, china

Put A Stop To Cut-Rate Gas: International Monetary Fund

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:17:59 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Governments that try to create a false economy for oil are not revealing the truth to their people.

About half of humanity, from India to Chile, now benefits from cut-rate petroleum prices. In 2008, these countries will account for all the growth in world oil demand, or an additional one million barrels a day, according to Deutsche Bank. Their consumption will be the highest in eight years.

In China, oil demand is estimated to rise 5 to 10 percent this year, but the government has resisted calls to end price controls. A few other countries – Chile and South Korea – are now moving toward subsidies to appease political pressures.

In Congress, bills to combat global warming would raise costs for oil users, even possibly adding a dollar to gasoline prices. But proposals by lawmakers to relieve those costs with subsidies to consumers would only defeat the purpose of reducing oil demand.

Clip Source: www.csmonitor.com

In China, the government caps gas prices. Drivers there pay about half of what Americans pay. In many countries, oil prices are held artificially low, either by fiat or subsidy. The result? Consumption keeps rising, boosting global prices. The rest of the world – the part now racing to conserve – ends up paying more than it should.

Unfair?

Yes, say global actors such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is calling on governments to let consumers face market prices in order to kick-start conservation and reduce official spending.

A few nations that do subsidize fuel are feeling the financial pinch on budgets and moving to reduce subsidies or end price caps, despite street protests against such moves. Most of them are in Asia, the region that will account for 70 percent of the increase in oil demand this year.

The biggest culprits are oil exporting nations, especially in the Gulf. They continue to throw petrodollars at both fuel subsidies and big projects that consume oil.

Tags: gas price caps, cut-rate petroleum prices, india, china, gulf states, increased comsuption, imf

Iraq Opens 8 Oil, Gas Fields To International Bidding

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:39:24 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: He said even the longer-term contracts would include cash compensation and not a share of oil production.

"We don't see a need to allow anyone to share our oil," al-Shahristani said.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Monday that there is no American influence on the Iraqi government's oil decisions.

"Politics does not come into this," al-Dabbagh said. "There is no preferential treatment for anyone, no matter who."

State Department spokesman Tom Casey confirmed a small number of U.S. advisers were providing "technical support" to the Iraqi Oil Ministry. But he said "they are not there to try and give the Iraqis any kind of specific requests or to make decisions or to even push in an individual direction."

Casey said the decision by the Iraqis not to announce contracts for several Western firms Monday was their own and not influenced by Washington.

Clip Source: biz.yahoo.com

AP Photo: Iraq's Oil Minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, gestures as he speaks at a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, June 30, 2008.

Iraq opened international bidding for eight enormous oil and gas fields Monday, paving the way for investment in a nation with some of the world's largest petroleum reserves.

But Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told a news conference Monday that the Iraqi government was still negotiating with the companies, which he did not identify. He said the firms were demanding a share of oil production while Iraq wants to pay in cash.

The firms he named included seven from the U.S., three from Britain and others from Russia, China and other countries.

Al-Shahristani said the companies would be invited to bid on the oil fields of Rumeila, Zubair, Qurna West, Maysan, Kirkuk and Bay Hassan and the natural gas fields of Akkaz and Mansouriyah.

"These fields were chosen because their production can be raised in a short time and at a low cost," said al-Shahristani.

Tags: iraqi oil minister al-shahristani, spokesman al-dabbagh, international bidding, u.s., britain, russia, china

The Global Warming Bubble

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:21:51 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Finally, there's the global-cooling spell. The world hasn't been warming since 1998, and an article in the journal Nature says warming won't pick up again until 2015. Since global warming is a long-term trend, a decade-long or more stall in temperatures doesn't mean much -- except that environmentalists have banked so much politically on whipping up hysteria based on imminent catastrophe. The stall in temperatures shows how little we know about global warming.

No matter what the price of gas is, the most sensible policy in the U.S. is to avoid costly schemes to fight global warming. If our economy keeps growing, we will be better positioned -- richer, and more technologically proficient -- to help others mitigate its effects decades from now. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid huffs that global warming is "the most critical issue of our time." Really? More critical than energy prices? Than health care? Than wages? Than terrorism? Than nuclear proliferation?

Clip Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

As an indirect tax on carbon, cap-and-trade would increase energy prices when people are already straining under $4-a-gallon gas. Even a political naif -- which McConnell assuredly is not -- would realize the benefit of hanging the proposal around its supporters' necks. Lately, we've seen the tech and housing bubbles burst, and now -- at least as an urgent political issue -- the global-warming bubble is getting pricked.

The cost-benefit analysis of battling global warming is never going to make sense for Americans.

Second, there's China. It has passed the U.S. as the world's leading emitter of carbon dioxide, and it accounted for two-thirds of the increase in the world's emissions in 2007. Global action against global warming makes little sense without China taking part, and it won't. If we can't get China to quit jailing dissidents and arming a genocidal Sudan, what hope is there of getting it to stop something -- rapid economic development -- that's otherwise unobjectionable?

Tags: cap-and-trade, energy prices, health care, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, global-warming bubble, china

Foreign Firms Investing In Iraq

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:54:34 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, in Washington on an official visit, said Monday that larger U.S. firms were waiting for more security before entering the market.

Zebari noted that Turkish and Russian companies were already active in Iraq. "They take risks," he told USA TODAY in an interview. "No pain, no gain."

Many of the companies active in Iraq now are from countries, including France, Russia and Turkey, that did not send combat troops to back the U.S.-led invasion.

Some U.S. and Iraqi officials say American companies risk losing an early opportunity to establish long-term strategic ties with Iraq.

"My question is, 'Where are you guys in terms of investment, in terms of economic engagement?' " said Naufel al-Hassan, Iraq's commercial counselor in Washington. "Iraqis need your support. Why let someone else do that?"

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-06-16-iraqinvestment_N.htm?csp=34

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

WASHINGTON — European and Asian companies are beating their American rivals into Iraq now that security has improved the investment climate, Iraq and U.S. officials say.

"It's starting to turn … and the people who are getting in on the ground floor are not American," said Paul Brinkley, the Pentagon official who is leading U.S. efforts to help Iraq rebuild its economy. "It's ironic."

Foreign companies, including U.S. investors, have committed to deals worth about $500 million so far this year and Brinkley expects at least $1 billion in foreign investment by the end of the year.

So far, Romanian consortium and a Lebanese company have signed revenue-sharing deals with Iraqi state-owned cement factories. Each group will invest about $150 million.

China has also aggressively pursued the Iraqi market, selling machinery to the government and electronic products to consumers.

Tags: iraq, foreign investment, european, asian companies, romania, lebanon, china, russia, turkey

"Cap and Trade" NO GOOD

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:37:16 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: In these turbulent economic times, Democrats are proposing to increase the price of gas, outsource millions of jobs to overseas providers, and create a massive new bureaucracy funded by your (additional) tax dollars.

The World Resources Institute reports that, "air pollution in some Chinese cities is among the highest ever recorded, averaging more than ten times the standard proposed by the World Health Organization... In Beijing, 40 percent of autos surveyed and 70 percent of taxis failed to meet the most basic emission standards."

USA Today reports that, "[d]ecades of... pollution have allowed industrial poisons to leach into groundwater, contaminating drinking supplies and leading to a rash of cancers, residents say. In this village, where the air has a distinctive sour odor, the rate of cancer is more than 18 times the national average.

Meanwhile, the world's worst polluters continue choking the atmosphere with toxic fumes and poisons.

Clip Source: directorblue.blogspot.com

Satellite data indicates that Beijing, China is the "air pollution capital of the world."

The World Bank has warned China is home to 16 of the Earth's 20 most air-polluted cities.

The World Resources Institute reports that, "air pollution in some Chinese cities is among the highest ever recorded, averaging more than ten times the standard proposed by the World Health Organization... In Beijing, 40 percent of autos surveyed and 70 percent of taxis failed to meet the most basic emission standards."

Iran is another interesting case. Its pollution problems are visible throughout the capital city of Tehran.

In a single year, 10,000 people have died from pollution-related causes in that city alone.

In these turbulent economic times, Democrats are proposing to increase the price of gas, outsource millions of jobs to overseas providers, and create a massive new bureaucracy funded by your (additional) tax dollars.

The American Consumer summarizes the fatally flawed "Cap-and-Trade" approach.

Tags: lieberman/warner/boxer, cap and trade

Talismans, Charms and Amulets - A Kind of Magic

Tue, 27 May 2008 20:17:20 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: Lots of great info at the source

Clip Source: www.britishmuseum.org

People have used talismans, charms and amulets to protect themselves from harm and to promote good fortune since the earliest times.

The objects in this tour illustrate the many ways in which magical or powerful objects have been used. Some were worn by the living to avoid common ailments or as charms for good luck or a general sense of well-being. Others were placed in graves and in tombs to protect the dead. There are also objects that were used to protect whole buildings rather than individuals.

Clip Source: www.britishmuseum.org

back

Faience wedjat eye (EA 26300)

Clip Source: www.britishmuseum.org

Coin-sword

Coin-swords were a form of talisman used in southern China to ward off evil influences, especially those causing fever. They were made by tying together 'cash' (the pidgin term for Chinese coins with a square hole in the middle) on to an iron rod

Clip Source: www.britishmuseum.org

Medal of St Christopher

Clip Source: www.britishmuseum.org

Coin-shaped charm

Clip Source: www.britishmuseum.org

Bronze statuette with two phalluses

Clip Source: www.britishmuseum.org

Terracotta antefix of a Gorgon's head

Clip Source: www.britishmuseum.org

Terracotta votive womb

Clip Source: www.britishmuseum.org

Sheela-na-Gig

Clip Source: www.britishmuseum.org

Glazed djed pillar

Clip Source: www.britishmuseum.org

Chinese Weapons Shipment Arrives In Zimbabwe

Wed, 21 May 2008 05:28:53 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe may have received covert delivery of Chinese weapons prior to election

Clip Source: www.nysun.com

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Fears were growing yesterday that President Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe had been strengthened ahead of a presidential election with the secret delivery of a shipment of arms from China.

Reports said the weapons, including three million bullets, mortar bombs, and rocket-propelled grenades, had been unloaded from the Chinese vessel, the An Yue Jiang, at the Angolan port of Lobito and flown to Harare.

The ship had been the focus of international condemnation when it sailed towards South Africa last month. It was refused docking rights and remained off the coast for several weeks before the Chinese foreign ministry recalled it.

However, Zimbabwe's deputy information minister, Bright Matonga, was quoted by the South African newspaper, the Weekender, as saying that the regime has the weapons.

Two Zimbabwean ministers and senior army officers visited Luanda three weeks ago to negotiate the docking and unloading of the ship.

Tags: mugabe, zimbabwe, chinese arms, secret delivery, angolan port, harare

Origami: 15 Most Amazing Paper Sculptures

Sun, 18 May 2008 01:20:28 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: History: Origami originated in China as "Zhe Zhi" in the first or second century AD, and it reached Japan in the sixth century. Over the next few hundred years, origami became familiar in many aspects of Japanese culture. By the Heian period of Japanese history, origami was a significant aspect of Japanese ceremony. Samurai warriors would exchange gifts adorned with noshi, a sort of good luck token made of folded strips of paper. Origami butterflies were used during the celebration of Shinto weddings to represent the bride and groom.

In the 1960's the art of origami began to spread out, first with modular origami and then with various movements developing, including the kirikomi.

http://www.answers.com/topic/origami?cat=technology

thanks to alanocu and einbar>[oddee.com]

Clip Source: www.oddee.com

World's biggest origami. Width: 215 feet and 8 inches; height: 120 feet.

Tags: origami, paper art, china, japan, samurai warriors, gifts

Gore Shamelessly Exploits Burma's Disaster

Sat, 10 May 2008 08:30:11 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: PROBLEM #4 HE PROFITS PERSONALLY FROM CARBON TRADING SCHEMES

The Green Growth Fund will provide its portfolio companies with both global perspective and global reach, which includes the benefit of KPCB’s Asian presence through its KPCB China Fund. The KPCB Green Growth Fund will also enable the firm to extend its existing collaboration with the London-based Generation Investment Management, whose chairman Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States and Nobel Laureate, joined KPCB as Partner last year. Through their alliance, the firms actively work together to find, fund and accelerate green solutions with the greatest potential to help solve the climate crisis.

Generation co-founder and Managing Partner David Blood said, “There is a significant gap between the capital needed and the capital currently deployed to create enduring solutions to the climate crisis.

http://tomnelson.blogspot.com/2008/05/al-gore-continues-his-brazen-efforts-to.html

Clip Source: astuteblogger.blogspot.com

Former Vice President Al Gore in an interview on NPR’s May 6 “Fresh Air” broadcast did just that. He was interviewed by “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross about the release of his book, “The Assault on Reason,” in paperback.

“And as we’re talking today, Terry, the death count in Myanmar from the cyclone that hit there yesterday has been rising from 15,000 to way on up there to much higher numbers now being speculated,” Gore said. “And last year a catastrophic storm from last fall hit Bangladesh. The year before, the strongest cyclone in more than 50 years hit China – and we’re seeing consequences that scientists have long predicted might be associated with continued global warming.”

PROBLEM #1: THE OCEANS ARE NOT GETTING WARMER; (NPR LINK!).

PROBLEM #2: THE EARTH HAS BEEN COOLING SINCE 2001, AND MAY BE ENTERING A DECADE OF CONTINUOUS COOLING.

PROBLEM #3: THERE IS NOT A CORRELATION BETWEEN GLOBAL WARMING AND STORMS.

BOTTOM-LINE: AGW IS BS AND AL GORE IS A SLIMY, GREEDY LYING SACK OF SH*T.

Tags: myanmar, cyclone, gore, npr, carbon offsets, fraudulent trading scheme

Analyst Warns of $200/Barrel Oil*

Thu, 08 May 2008 01:50:29 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: *One barrel of crude oil is 42 gallons (or $4.76 per gallon)
In the Cato-at-Liberty blog post "Is There an Oil Price Bubble?" Cato senior fellow Jerry Taylor writes: "The most recent Fed actions to combat the deteriorating state of the macroeconomy added even more fuel to the oil price fire. With market actors increasingly convinced that the Fed is willing to entertain inflation in the course of injecting liquidity into the market, investors are looking for investments to hedge against inflation. And what do you know? Returns on commodities have historically been better during inflationary periods than during non-inflationary periods. Ben Bernanke thus sent another strong infusion of cash into commodity futures -- again, largely into oil and gas futures.

Clip Source: www.cato.org

"Crude oil prices could surge to $200 a barrel in the next two years, according to the Goldman Sachs analyst who three years ago correctly predicted a price 'super-spike' above $100 a barrel," Financial Times reports. "The warning by Arjun Murti came as oil prices hit a fresh high above $122 a barrel, boosted by supply disruptions in Nigeria, lower output in Russia and continued robust demand in China ahead of the Olympics."

"The increased demand for oil futures drives spot prices because it diverts oil from immediate use into inventories. The stepped-up infusion of oil into public inventories (the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the emerging state inventory maintained by the Chinese government, for instance) has also contributed to the diversion of oil from immediate use and thus, has further increased prices."

Tags: goldman sachs, super-spike, arjun murti, strategic petroleum reserve, china's emergency inventory, oil diversion

Chinese Nuclear Submarines Prompt 'New Cold War' Warning

Sat, 03 May 2008 08:09:35 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: ”The main source of friction is Taiwan and you cannot rule out a nationalistic military faction coming to power to taking a punt to have a quick go.”

Chinese defence expenditure is estimated by the Pentagon to be $50 billion (£25 billion) but analysts believe large chunks of the budget are “squirreled away” and it could be as high as $200 billion making it the second largest in the world after America.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Satellite photographs passed to The Daily Telegraph this week showed that the secret base at Sanya on Hainan island will house up to 20 of the latest 094 Jin-class nuclear ballistic submarines that could be capable of firing anti-satellite missiles and nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.

In the last 20 years China had gone from a coastal force to a navy capable of “exerting its influence far afield,” a senior Royal Navy officer said.

It entails asymmetric conflict in which China would use cyber warfare and laser energy to wipe out communications. Anti-satellite missiles, potentially launched from submarines, would ensure that America was “blind” over the Far East. The Chinese have already proven that they have these capabilities as well as using espionage to remove military technology from the US.

China wishes to power project well into the Pacific and challenge the dominance of the US Pacific Command.

He also said that the Sanya base gave China reach into the Indian Ocean.

Tags: nuclear submarines, 094 jin-class, nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, cyber warfare, laser energy, anti-satellite missiles

China from Above with rare photo of snow-covered Great Wall

Fri, 02 May 2008 20:50:15 GMT

clipped by: alanocu
clipper's remarks: Incredible photography by George Steinmetz for National Geographic http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/05/china/aerials/steinmetz-photography

1. The terraced farms of the Lisu people, one one of China's minority groups, create a patchwork on mountains near Weixi in Yunnan Province.
2. The Great Wall of China
3. In Guangxi, limestone pinnacles line the Li River.
4. Blooming fields of rapeseed plants weave around hills near Luoping in Yunnan Province.
5. sand dunes in the Kumtag Desert located in the Xinjiang region
6. Taklimakan oil field in the Xinjiang region
7. Guandong Province toulou, the traditional dwellings of the Hakka minority group
8. a new suburban development in Shenyang

(thanks, openthink)

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Tags: china, photography

China Sentences 17 For Alleged Involvement In Tibet Riots

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:16:45 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: "Monks have been taught legal knowledge in recent days and the monastery has resumed normal religious activities," Tenzin Namgyal, deputy director of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee, was quoted as saying.

Other monasteries that were closed will be reopened soon, he said.

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

BEIJING — A Chinese court sentenced 17 people to jail terms Tuesday ranging from three years to life in prison for their alleged roles in the deadly riots in the Tibetan capital last month, state media reported.

The Intermediate People's Court of Lhasa announced the sentences at an open session, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. It gave no other immediate details.

China's state broadcaster reported that 200 people attended the trial, the first since the mid-March riots.

Chinese authorities have increased patriotic education classes that require monks to make ritual denunciations of the exiled Dalai Lama, accept the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama, and pledge allegiance to Beijing.

The protests, initially led by Buddhist monks, started peacefully on March 10, the anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule. They became violent four days later as Tibetans attacked cars and shops runs by Han Chinese, China's majority ethnic group.

Tags: beijing, jail sentences, three years to life, patriotic education classes, pledge allegiance to beijing

Add Your Name:Stop Chinese Arms To Zimbabwe's Crackdown

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:52:46 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Add your name now--we hope to unveil the petition in Southern Africa before next week!

Clip Source: www.avaaz.org

Last Wednesday, a plane hired by Avaaz flew this massive banner over the United Nations headquarters as South African President Thabo Mbeki chaired a meeting of the Security Council. The flight, part of an effort to deliver the 150,000-signature global petition for democracy in Zimbabwe, was covered by press around the world:

Dockworkers in South Africa have blocked a Chinese arms boat from reaching Zimbabwe... but the crackdown continues. As the ship moves up the Southern African coast looking for a new port--and China weighs whether to recall the weapons--African unions, citizen groups, and church organisations are launching a campaign to stop arms from fuelling the Zimbabwe crisis.

Avaaz is joining with them and a global coalition including IANSA and Oxfam to build support throughout Africa and round the world. Stopping the arms is a concrete step leaders can take to help bring justice to Zimbabwe.

Tags: chinese arms, democracy in zimbabwe, president thabo mbeki, united nations headquarters