Monday, November 24, 2014

Russia-China Alliance Growing At 'Shocking Speed'





Russia Turns East At Shocking Speed With China Mega Energy Deals



While Western mainstream media concentrates attention on the emissions agreement signed by US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi at the recent APEC Beijing Summit, Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi quietly signed major new energy agreements that will have enormous geopolitical significance in bringing about the very nightmare that US strategists such as Zbigniew Brzezinski warned about way back in 1997 when America seemed indomitable as sole Superpower.

The impetus, ironically, to the array of strategic Russia-China deals are the very economic and financial sanctions the rather stupid strategists at the US Treasury and National Security Council devised to “punish” Putin beginning last May for allegedly “invading” Crimea.

On November 9 in meetings on the periphery of the Beijing APEC summit, Putin and Xi signed 10 agreements. Far the most significant is the one for the so-called West Route gas pipeline that will connect gas fields in western Siberia with northwest China through the Altai area of Xinjiang Autonomous Region. They also agreed on provisions for possible second and third sections to be added later that would bring capacity to a staggering 100 billion cubic meters a year. West Route is designated a priority and to be finished in six years. Initially it will give China another 30 billion cubic meters of gas annually over 30 years.


The West Route is in addition to the so-called Russian East Route pipeline deal signed between Putin and Xi in May. That deal, a $400 billion agreement over 30 years will begin sending gas in 2018 for another 38 billion cubic meters annually from Russia to China. When both East and West Route pipelines are operational, Russia will supply some 40% of the current Chinese annual natural gas consumption, replacing the EU as Russia’s largest gas export market. Today China consumes 169 billion cubic meters annually.


Tragically, today the United States has managed to transform itself into the world’s largest virtual economy. The main item produced today is virtual money by the Federal Reserve to give paper steroids to the mega banks of Wall Street so they can continue their criminal enterprises with increasingly worthless paper dollars.
America’s industrial excellence is mostly a relic of the past. Factory work has been outsourced to…the Peoples’ Republic of China. Domestically, American democracy, or at least its earlier traces, has given way to a rule by power-addicted loveless American Oligarchs. Now those loveless oligarchs see their world, their power, threatened by a growing cooperation between the great nations of Eurasia, led by China and Russia with Iran also playing a significant role.

Ironically their very stupid attempts to initiate global dis-order and a new world war, in order to retain their failing grip on power, is having the opposite effect. It is driving China, Russia, the entire BRICS countries and other nations into closer ties on all levels to build a defense against that attempt. The oligarchs and their war machine are stupid precisely because they seem incapable of thinking in comprehensive terms of how interconnected everything in our universe is. They seem blinded by their addiction











‘Biased US won’t affect construction’: China counters criticism of artificial island project



China has cautioned that US warnings to halt construction of a massive artificial island and airfield will not deter it from completing the project in disputed waters of the South China Sea. This is the fourth such undertaking in the last 12-18 months.
China’s top general has defended the construction of the 3,000-meter island as “justifiable” in a scornful response to swift American criticism that followed evidence of large-scale military construction on the Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands area.
China currently claims almost all of the South China Sea, with some claims being leveled by Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philippines. However, its land reclamation projects have been causing the West and its strategic partners in the area a headache, owing to the already-tense political situation in the region.


Despite this, of all the claimants in the South China Sea, China is the only one currently not occupying an island with an airfield.
"The US is obviously biased considering that the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam have already set up military facilities," People's Liberation Army Major General Luo Yuan told the state-run Global Times newspaper, as cited by AFP.
Although China said on Monday that its construction is aimed "mainly to improve the living standards of the reef-stationed soldiers," a report by IHS Jane’s Defence says that a harbor has been dug on the eastern side of the reef, which appears to be large enough to take in tankers and warships.
US criticism followed just days after the report.
"We urge China to stop its land reclamation program, and engage in diplomatic initiatives to encourage all sides to restrain themselves in these sorts of activities," US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Pool told reporters.
To this China replied that the US is “not a claimant” in the South China Sea, with a later editorial in the Global Times adding that it has been behaving “selfishly” in the region.
"China's construction on the Yongshu Reef will not be affected by US words," the editorial added.
Other similar Chinese projects include artificial islands at three other reefs, but none were large enough to include an airstrip, which put China at a great disadvantage to its neighbors.





Top cybersecurity experts echoed a dire warning from a top intelligence chief on the vulnerability of the U.S. power grid, with one telling FoxNews.com that state-sponsored hackers could send America’s nerve centers on an “uncontrollable, downward spiral.”
Admiral Michael Rogers, director of the National Security Agency and commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, told lawmakers Thursday that adversaries of the U.S. conduct regular electronic reconnaissance to reveal weaknesses in America’s industrial control systems, ranging from power plants to sewage facilities. The nation's entire power infrastructure could prove vulnerable to a crippling assault, should China or any of the other nations who sponsor such efforts find an Achilles' heel and move to exploit it, he said.

“Unlike the recent headline attacks, which result in significant loss of data, attacking a nation state’s critical infrastructure requires persistence and long term discipline of not being detected. The scale and techniques required to do this exist in the military and intelligence functions of various world governments,” said Ron Gula, CEO of Columbia, Md.,-based Tenable Network Security.

Rogers told members of the House Intelligence Committee China along with “one or two” other countries have the capability to mount devastating cyber-attacks, and merely remaining on the defensive is a “losing strategy.” The possibility of such cyberattacks by U.S. adversaries has been widely known, but never confirmed publicly by the nation's top cyber official.

Brian Ingram, cyber security investigator and owner of Consulting Investigation Services, headquartered in Dallas, called the assessment “dead on accurate.”

“China has, for years, participated in massive electronic probing of networks in the U.S.,” Ingram said. “The ability to conduct these network scans is not new, the sophistication of the newer methodologies is growing exponentially and our defenses, from the little made public or known to those in the industry, has not kept pace.”
There is a "huge risk" that America's own power utilities could be turned into a weapon used against U.S. citizens and controlled from another land, said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute.




4 comments:

Dutch Treat said...

Just to update the snowstorm situation here, I am fine. I live in an apartment complex without garages; and all the cars here were completely buried. So we spent the weekend digging out. Now with temperatures around 60 today floding is a major concern in low lieing areas and along creeks; but so far it hasn't been too bad. There have also been roof collapses, especially on flat roofs where all the weight of the melting snow has nowhere to run off. A lot of churches, mine included cancelled their services yesterday due to inaccessibility. The schools in the hardest hit areas will be closed for a few more days so engineers can inspect the buildings for pssible damage. The one thing that stands out during an event like this is that it brings out the best in people. We saw a lot of people helping out elderly or disabled people with shovelling. We here are a very resilliant people and are getting through it fine. I'd rather deal with this than a hurricane or tornado. The complex here is in good shape. So an angel must have been watching over me. With love, Dutch!

Scott said...

Dutch. Glad to hear that. And you are so right about things like this bringing out the best in people. I recall in the aftermath of one of our worst hurricanes, seeing guys w chainsaws going to peoples houses and getting them out of their driveways and clearing roads etc. just from the kindness in their hearts. Ill never forget it. Restored my faith in mankind:). Good luck and keep us posted!

WVBORN56 said...

Glad to hear you are doing well Dutch. I can't imagine nearly 7 feet of snow. That is scary on so many levels. Sending prayers your way! Blessings Brother,

Caver said...

Dutch, God Bless Brother.

Just shivering thinking about all that white stuff. Left PA and came to NC 12 years ago and giving away my snow-blower was one of the highlights of my life.

Stay safe!