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Posts Tagged ‘China’

India to pay gold instead of dollars for Iranian oil. Oil and gold markets stunned

January 23, 2012 Comments off

debka.com

Iranian oil for India

India is the first buyer of Iranian oil to agree to pay for its purchases in gold instead of the US dollar, debkafile’s intelligence and Iranian sources report exclusively.  Those sources expect China to follow suit. India and China take about one million barrels per day, or 40 percent of Iran’s total exports of 2.5 million bpd. Both are superpowers in terms of gold assets.

By trading in gold, New Delhi and Beijing enable Tehran to bypass the upcoming freeze on its central bank’s assets and the oil embargo which the European Union’s foreign ministers agreed to impose Monday, Jan. 23. The EU currently buys around 20 percent of Iran’s oil exports.

The vast sums involved in these transactions are expected, furthermore, to boost the price of gold and depress the value of the dollar on world markets.
Iran’s second largest customer after China, India purchases around Read more…

Categories: GOLD, India, Iran Tags: , , , , ,

Russian Threats of Nuclear War Grow Louder

January 21, 2012 2 comments

1913intel.com

The most recent threats of nuclear war come from the Russian foreign minister. Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is threatening a “very big war” with “suffering across the world” if the west encourages anti-government uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa.

Russian threats of nuclear attack started out in Georgia back in 2008. These threats expanded to the trans-Caspian gas pipeline. Then they moved onto the expansion of NATO. Then onto Iran and Syria. Now these threats have expanded onto the entire Middle East and North Africa. Does anybody see a problem here?

Back in August of 2008 we got a first taste of Russia’s nuclear threats:

Moscow has issued an extraordinary warning to the West that military assistance to Georgia for use against South Ossetia or Abkhazia would be viewed as a “declaration of war” by Russia.

Military help for Georgia is a ‘declaration of war’, says Moscow in extraordinary warning to the West

Later Russia issues an implied nuclear threat if Georgia joins NATO. Obvously, attack on Georgia would then be an attack on Read more…

China Economic Clout and Nuclear Expertise Invades Saudi Arabia

January 20, 2012 Comments off

oilprice.com

china saudia nuclear powerEver since the end of World War Two, the U.S. has come to regard Saudi Arabia as almost its exclusive oil producing enclave.Ever since the end of World War Two, the U.S. has come to regard Saudi Arabia as almost its exclusive oil producing enclave.

In February 1945, after the Yalta Conference with Soviet General Secretary Iosif Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, on his way home U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and King Ibn Saud met aboard the New Orleans-class heavy cruiser U.S.S. Quincy in the Suez Canal’s Great Bitter Lake. During the meeting, instigated by Roosevelt, he and Ibn Saud concluded a secret agreement in which the U.S. would provide Saudi Arabia military security, including military assistance, training and a military base at Dhahran in Saudi Arabia, in exchange for secure access to supplies of oil.

Sixty-seven years later, my, how things have changed, as China is now muscling into the Kingdom of the Two Holy Places.

On 15 January Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz agreed to Read more…

Manila, US plan military drills in South China Sea

January 19, 2012 Comments off

emirates247.com

The United States and the Philippines are set to hold military drills that may anger Beijing near disputed waters in the South China Sea, testing their readiness to protect offshore oil and natural gas platforms, a Marine general said on Thursday.

Philippines Lieutenant-General Juancho Sabban, military commander on western island of Palawan, said it is the first time an annual exercise will be focused on protecting offshore energy platforms, adding that the drills should not anger China which also has territorial claims in the region.

“Why should they be angry, this is an annual activity,” he said, referring to China, one of six states claiming sovereignty over the South China Sea.

The drills are to be held near Read more…

China to Require Microblog Users to Register Using Real Names

January 18, 2012 Comments off

voanews.com

Photo: AP
A Chinese man uses a computer at an Internet cafe in Beijing, China, July 14, 2010 (file photo).

China’s top Internet regulator says Beijing will soon require all users of microblogs to register under their real names to post comments online.

Wang Chen, who heads China’s State Council Information Office, said Wednesday increased Internet monitoring is necessary in order to prevent the spread of harmful information.

“We must impose control and management measures on some phenomena on the Internet, such as inventing rumors, damaging social stability, delivering bad information such as pornography, and even conducting illegal commercial activity,” said Wang.

Last month, Beijing and several other major Chinese cities began a trial program requiring all new microblogs users to disclose their identities to the government. Wang said the program will be expanded to Read more…

Sudan Confiscates Southern Oil, What Will China Do?

January 18, 2012 1 comment

atlanticsentinel.com

Oil industry in the Sudan (AP)Oil industry in the Sudan (AP)

Sudan’s government announced this weekend that it had confiscated petroleum exports from newly independent South Sudan as compensation for unpaid transit fees but it promised that it would not shut down a pipeline carrying the south’s oil.

The move is likely to exacerbate tension between the two Sudans and could force China, which is major Sudanese oil buyer, to adjust its policy of noninterference if it isn’t to lose access to the region’s oil reserves.

South Sudan declared independence last year after decades of conflict with the north. Despite a 2005 peace deal, many disputes remain unresolved. Among them, possession of oil reserves which are situated close to the border.

Land locked South Sudan has two thirds of the former unified Sudan’s oil output but needs access to northern export infrastructure to sell overseas. South Sudan pumps around 350,000 barrels per day, according to government data. The north needs the entirety of its oil production, some 115,000 barrels per day, to meet domestic demand. The two parties haven’t agreed on transit fees yet but resumed talks sponsored by the African Union on Tuesday.

In the meantime, Khartoum has confiscated Read more…

Categories: Oil, Sudan Tags: , , ,

Indonesia Military Powers Up

January 18, 2012 Comments off

the-diplomat.com

On Monday, Indonesian Defense Minister Purmono Yusgiantoro, flanked by the country’s military leadership, announced that after 10 years of frugality on the part of the military designed to give precedence to political reform, the country was now entering an intensive period of military procurement. Coming from many countries, such talk would sound reckless, if not dangerous. But coming from Indonesia, it should be welcomed.

Purnomo also spelled out his 2012 wish list, which includes tanks, multiple launch rocket systems, a guided missile destroyer, and retrofits for ex-U.S. F-16s and ex-Australian C-130 transport planes. And much more new equipment is to follow before the end of President Yudhoyono’s term in 2015, not least three new South Korean submarines.

For the first time in recent memory, the Indonesian defense ministry has money in its pocket. Announcing the acquisition of an additional six Su-30 Sukhoi fighter aircraft over the weekend, Purnomo could be heard to boast: “Our economy is very strong and we have a defense budget of Rp 150 trillion [$16.3 billion].” While that figure represents a multi-year procurement budget, Purnomo is right to feel flush. In December, the government decided to revise the defense allocation upwards, giving defense a Read more…

Categories: Indonesia, military Tags: , , ,

Water supplies may run out by 2030 in India: Study

January 12, 2012 1 comment

dnaindia.com

Palmer Drought Severity Index, which assigns positive numbers when conditions are unusually wet for a particular region, and negative numbers when conditions are unusually dry. A reading of -4 or below is considered extreme drought. Regions that are blue or green will likely be at lower risk of drought, while those in the red and purple spectrum could face more unusually extreme drought conditions. (Courtesy Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews, redrawn by UCAR. This image is freely available for media use.

Water supplies will begin running out in critical regions where they support cities, industries and food production — including in India, China and the Middle East — by 2030 due to over-extraction of groundwater, a scientist has warned.

“The world has experienced a boom in groundwater use, more than doubling the rate of extraction between 1960 and 2000 — with usage continuing to soar up to the present,” says Craig Simmons, director of the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT).

A recent satellite study has revealed falling groundwater tables in the US, India, China, Middle East and North Africa, where expanding agriculture and cities have increased water demand.

“Groundwater currently makes up about Read more…

China to fingerprint all foreigners

January 12, 2012 1 comment

homelandsecuritynewswire.com

Chinese lawmakers are currently considering new visa rules that would require all visitors working and studying in the country to have their fingerprints scanned as they enter and exit

China will join other East Asian countries in fingerprinting foreigners // Source: net.mk

All foreigners entering and exiting China could soon be fingerprinted by customs officials.

Chinese lawmakers are currently considering new visa rules that would require all visitors working and studying in the country to have their fingerprints scanned.

The rules would only apply to foreigners requesting residence visas, which allow an individual to stay in the country for six months or more. Business people, journalists, and students, who typically apply for residence visas, would be affected Read more…

Our Perspective on the 8 Strategic Factors Shaping Oil Price in 2012

January 11, 2012 Comments off

triplepundit.com

The price of oil is still one of the most important factors shaping the economy. It can determine not just how much you’ll pay for a gallon of gasoline but also how fast the American and the eurozone economies will recover. It even has a say in who will be the next American president. This is why many people and companies try to predict the price of oil and better understand the events that influence its volatility.

Two people that tried to give it a shot are Gregory Copley and Yossef Bodansky, who are editors at GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs. They published a list of 8 strategic factors that will likely to influence the price of oil in 2012. This is a very interesting list, although it comes from a business-as-usual perspective, which doesn’t look much beyond the price volatility implications of geo-political events. Adding the green energy market point of view might provide an even more comprehensive picture of the upcoming year, so here’s our take on 2012: Read more…