THE CENTER OF THE WORLD ECONOMY has shifted to Asia. A burgeoning Asian economy centered in Beijing is now threatening to take over the failed Zionist banking system as evidenced in the current US financial crisis that no bailout is going to solve. Economists say that soon China will supersede the now biggest economy of the world, the USA, especially owing to the current problems of the failed US banks. China is presently the world’s second-largest economy after the United States.
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Thursday, October 2, 2008
China versus the Zionist economy
THE CENTER OF THE WORLD ECONOMY has shifted to Asia. A burgeoning Asian economy centered in Beijing is now threatening to take over the failed Zionist banking system as evidenced in the current US financial crisis that no bailout is going to solve. Economists say that soon China will supersede the now biggest economy of the world, the USA, especially owing to the current problems of the failed US banks. China is presently the world’s second-largest economy after the United States.
Monday, September 29, 2008
China calls for end to 'force' against Iran
Days after the US failed to convince the United Nations Security Council permanent members plus Germany to impose further sanctions against Tehran, China has urged world powers not to resort to 'force' over Iran's nuclear program.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
China's "spacewalker" heads backs to earth
Astronaut Zhai Zhigang of China waves as he exits the Shenzhou VII space craft in this September 27, 2008 video grab. Zhai became the first Chinese man to walk in space on Saturday, clambering out of the space craft in a technological feat that Beijing wants the world to marvel about. REUTERS/CCTV via Reuters TV.The man who made China's historic first "footprint in space" is preparing to return to earth on Sunday after a historic mission that boosted national pride and took his country one step closer to the moon.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Chinese spacecraft heads toward orbit
The Chinese astronauts, left to right, Jing Haipeng, Zhai Zhigang and Liu Boming, attending a ceremony on Thursday before the launch of the Shenzhou 7 space craft. (Color China via AP)The three-day mission is part of Project 921, China's ambitious manned space program, and is expected to include the first Chinese attempt at a space walk. Success would make China only the third country to accomplish a space walk, after Russia and the United States.
China banks told to halt lending to US banks
Chinese regulators have told domestic banks to stop interbank lending to U.S. financial institutions to prevent possible losses during the financial crisis, the South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Chinese milk company 'knew of taint last year'
"In the eight months from December 2007 to August 2, 2008, Sanlu made no report to relevant authorities in Shijiazhuang and took no corrective measures, allowing the situation to worsen further," the report on state-run CCTV's news channel said.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
432 babies sick from contaminated Chinese milk product
In this photo released by China's Xihua News Agency, two babies with kidney stones receive medical treatment under the care of their fathers at a military hospital in Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008. So far this year, Gansu Provincial Health Department has seen 59 kidney stone cases in infants, and at least one baby died as a result of kidney stones. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Zhu Guoliang)
The official Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday that the dairy, Sanlu Group Col, was ordered to stop production as the number of sick babies rose to 432.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
American Envoy Is Linked to Arms Deal Cover-Up
"An American ambassador helped cover up the illegal Chinese origins of ammunition that a Pentagon contractor bought to supply Afghan security forces, according to testimony gathered by Congressional investigators."
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Time for a u-turn in US's Iran policy
"The United States' Iran policy has become virtually a non-policy in the last year of George W Bush's presidency. Efforts to isolate, curb and punish Tehran have foundered, while Iran forges closer bonds with China and Russia."
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
2008: The year a new superpower is born
"Here comes the world's newest superpower. The rest of the world is gloomily contemplating economic slowdown and even recession. Not in Beijing. China is set to make 2008 the year it asserts its status as a global colossus by flexing frightening economic muscle on international markets, enjoying unprecedented levels of domestic consumption and showcasing itself to a watching world with a glittering £20bn Olympic Games."
Saturday, December 15, 2007
China leaves the US and India trailing
"In an audacious swoop, China has beaten off rivals from the US, Canada and Russia to secure a US$4 billion copper project in Afghanistan, leaving India to build hospitals and schools. And this week, China Petroleum Corporation sealed a $2 billion oil and gas development project in Iran, just as Delhi - at Washington's bidding - slapped banking restrictions on Tehran."
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
China: Oil deal with Iran is none of America's business
"Sinopec, China's biggest oil refiner and petrochemicals producer, signed a deal over the weekend to invest $2 billion in Iran's Yadavaran oil field."
Friday, November 23, 2007
Admiral 'perplexed' by snub at Hong Kong
In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the USS Kitty Hawk, home-ported in Yokosuka, Japan, transits in formation during a multinational exercise that includes naval forces from India, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and the United States, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007, in the Bay of Bengal, near India. Thousands of sailors aboard the USS Kitty Hawk and its carrier battle group had to mark the Thanksgiving holiday at sea after they were denied entry to Hong Kong for a port call that had been planned months in advance, U.S. Navy officials said Friday, Nov. 23, 2007. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Seaman Stephen W. Rowe, HO)
"The top U.S. military commander in the Pacific said he's "perplexed and concerned" by China's last-minute decision to deny a U.S. aircraft carrier entry to Hong Kong for a previously scheduled port visit."
Well, like grandma use to say, "you can't give folks your behind to kiss and expect to be welcomed at Sunday dinner."
Thursday, November 8, 2007
China signals dollar swap
by Patrice Hill - November 8, 2007
China roiled financial markets around the globe yesterday when it asserted that the dollar is losing its luster as the world's reserve currency and that Beijing will swap some of its $1.4 trillion in reserves out of U.S. dollars and into stronger currencies like the euro and Canadian dollar.
China's verbal assault on the dollar helped trigger a 360-point plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and came as French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned in a speech to Congress that the "disarray" caused by the dollar's steep fall could lead to "economic war."
"The world's currency structure has changed," Xu Jian, a central bank vice director, said in a Beijing conference, according to wire service reports. The dollar is "losing its status as the world currency," he said.
"We will favor stronger currencies over weaker ones, and will readjust accordingly," Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of China's National People's Congress, said at the same meeting.
A spokeswoman for Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said he remains "strongly committed to a strong dollar," but the Bush administration has done nothing to prevent the currency's recent sharp drop against other major currencies.
Some analysts dismissed the Chinese officials' statements as bluster, but the news left the greenback at a record low near $1.50 to the euro in New York trading, the lowest level in 57 years against the Canadian dollar, and the lowest levels in a generation against the British pound and other currencies.
The dollar's plight added to a raft of woes on Wall Street, where the Dow and other U.S. stock indexes lost 2.7 percent or more of their value amid worries that the weakening dollar is triggering an inflationary spiral in oil and other commodity prices, while making U.S. stocks, bonds and other investments less attractive to foreigners.
"The big issue on any currency is if its rate of depreciation is so fast that it scares away all capital, and the announcement that we heard from China sort of feeds those fears," said Larry Smith, chief investment officer at Third Wave Global Investors.
With the world's largest reserves of dollars, China has been a major investor in U.S. Treasury bonds and debt securities and is the second-largest holder of U.S. government debt next to Japan. China accumulates a lot of dollars because of its lopsided trade surpluses with the United States and its policy of linking its currency to the dollar, which requires it to buy and hold dollars.
While China has been signaling all year that it will gradually change its policies, the blunt and unambiguous statements reported yesterday startled markets.
China already has divested about 5 percent of its $400 billion of Treasury holdings and has set up a $200 billion investment fund to diversify its investments by purchasing stocks and equity ownership positions in companies around the world. The government plans to devote more of its reserves to such alternative investments.
Chinese officials told reporters at the Beijing conference that they are not signaling China will dump dollars and buy euros. But since China continues to fix its currency against the dollar, the practical effect of Beijing's moves away from the dollar is to force up the value of the euro and other currencies that float freely against the U.S. currency, analysts say.
China's policies have helped feed a gigantic run-up of the euro — the European currency has gained nearly two-thirds against the dollar since 2001 — which European leaders say is hurting exports and economic growth on the continent. They have pleaded with the Bush administration to do something about the wild currency swings, and Mr. Sarkozy made his case personally in Washington yesterday.
"Those who admire the nation that has built the world's greatest economy and has never ceased trying to persuade the world of the advantages of free trade expect her to be the first to promote fair exchange rates," Mr. Sarkozy said in his congressional address, alluding to the possibility of economic retaliation by European states stung by the falling dollar.
The French president also blamed China for unfairly undervaluing its currency, but he said that is no excuse for the U.S. failing to act. The Bush administration has been adamant that currencies should be allowed to float freely.
"The dollar cannot remain 'someone else's problem,'" Mr. Sarkozy said. "If we are not careful, monetary disarray could morph into economic war. We would all be its victims."
China roiled financial markets around the globe yesterday when it asserted that the dollar is losing its luster as the world's reserve currency and that Beijing will swap some of its $1.4 trillion in reserves out of U.S. dollars and into stronger currencies like the euro and Canadian dollar.
China's verbal assault on the dollar helped trigger a 360-point plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and came as French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned in a speech to Congress that the "disarray" caused by the dollar's steep fall could lead to "economic war."
"The world's currency structure has changed," Xu Jian, a central bank vice director, said in a Beijing conference, according to wire service reports. The dollar is "losing its status as the world currency," he said.
"We will favor stronger currencies over weaker ones, and will readjust accordingly," Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of China's National People's Congress, said at the same meeting.
A spokeswoman for Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said he remains "strongly committed to a strong dollar," but the Bush administration has done nothing to prevent the currency's recent sharp drop against other major currencies.
Some analysts dismissed the Chinese officials' statements as bluster, but the news left the greenback at a record low near $1.50 to the euro in New York trading, the lowest level in 57 years against the Canadian dollar, and the lowest levels in a generation against the British pound and other currencies.
The dollar's plight added to a raft of woes on Wall Street, where the Dow and other U.S. stock indexes lost 2.7 percent or more of their value amid worries that the weakening dollar is triggering an inflationary spiral in oil and other commodity prices, while making U.S. stocks, bonds and other investments less attractive to foreigners.
"The big issue on any currency is if its rate of depreciation is so fast that it scares away all capital, and the announcement that we heard from China sort of feeds those fears," said Larry Smith, chief investment officer at Third Wave Global Investors.
With the world's largest reserves of dollars, China has been a major investor in U.S. Treasury bonds and debt securities and is the second-largest holder of U.S. government debt next to Japan. China accumulates a lot of dollars because of its lopsided trade surpluses with the United States and its policy of linking its currency to the dollar, which requires it to buy and hold dollars.
While China has been signaling all year that it will gradually change its policies, the blunt and unambiguous statements reported yesterday startled markets.
China already has divested about 5 percent of its $400 billion of Treasury holdings and has set up a $200 billion investment fund to diversify its investments by purchasing stocks and equity ownership positions in companies around the world. The government plans to devote more of its reserves to such alternative investments.
Chinese officials told reporters at the Beijing conference that they are not signaling China will dump dollars and buy euros. But since China continues to fix its currency against the dollar, the practical effect of Beijing's moves away from the dollar is to force up the value of the euro and other currencies that float freely against the U.S. currency, analysts say.
China's policies have helped feed a gigantic run-up of the euro — the European currency has gained nearly two-thirds against the dollar since 2001 — which European leaders say is hurting exports and economic growth on the continent. They have pleaded with the Bush administration to do something about the wild currency swings, and Mr. Sarkozy made his case personally in Washington yesterday.
"Those who admire the nation that has built the world's greatest economy and has never ceased trying to persuade the world of the advantages of free trade expect her to be the first to promote fair exchange rates," Mr. Sarkozy said in his congressional address, alluding to the possibility of economic retaliation by European states stung by the falling dollar.
The French president also blamed China for unfairly undervaluing its currency, but he said that is no excuse for the U.S. failing to act. The Bush administration has been adamant that currencies should be allowed to float freely.
"The dollar cannot remain 'someone else's problem,'" Mr. Sarkozy said. "If we are not careful, monetary disarray could morph into economic war. We would all be its victims."
Monday, November 5, 2007
PetroChina's Value Tops $1 Trillion, Surpassing Exxon
by Ying Lou - Bloomberg.com - Nov 5, 2007
PetroChina Co. almost tripled on its first day of trading in Shanghai, becoming the world's first company to be valued at $1 trillion, more than Exxon Mobil Corp. and General Electric Co. combined.
PetroChina shares rose to 43.96 yuan from the sale price of 16.7 yuan, giving the state-owned oil producer a greater market value than the entire Russian stock market.
The rally makes PetroChina shares four times more expensive than those of Exxon, even though China's biggest oil producer has a quarter of the revenue. China's stock market was valued at less than $1.1 trillion before tripling this year and giving the communist nation five of the world's 10 biggest companies.
PetroChina's valuation is ``an indication of China coming of age and also of its stock market bubble,'' said Hugh Young, who oversees $50 billion at Aberdeen Asset Management Asia Ltd. in Singapore.
The oil producer's Shanghai listing pushes China's stock market beyond the U.K. as the world's third-largest. PetroChina trades at 55 times earnings, four times Exxon's ratio of 13 times earnings and near the 58 times for Google Inc., the world's most- used Internet search engine.
In Hong Kong, PetroChina fell 8.2 percent to HK$18. Exxon shares rose 0.7 percent to $87.93, valuing the company at $488 billion on the New York Stock Exchange.
`Sense of Responsibility'
``I feel very excited today and also feel a very strong sense of responsibility,'' Chairman Jiang Jiemin said at the Shanghai Stock Exchange. ``This is PetroChina returning to our investors and society.''
Jiang struck a gong as the market opened at 9:30 a.m., then toasted the start of trading with a glass of red wine.
China's largest oil and gas producer had 20.5 billion barrels of oil and gas reserves in 2006, compared with 22.1 billion for Irving, Texas-based Exxon, data compiled by Bloomberg show. PetroChina has been adding new reserves at an average annual rate of 5 percent for the past three years, a faster pace than Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc, the world's largest oil companies by sales.
The share sale, the world's biggest this year, surpassed the 66.6 billion yuan raised by China Shenhua Energy Co. in September. PetroChina raised 66.8 billion yuan selling 4 billion shares last week as investors applied for more than 3.3 trillion yuan of stock, almost 50 times the amount PetroChina sold.
Record Oil
Those investors were until now prevented from directly buying PetroChina stock, missing out on a 15-fold surge as economic growth turned the nation into the largest oil consumer after the U.S. and as crude prices reached a record $96.24 a barrel in New York.
The CSI 300 Index of shares listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges has increased about 170 percent this year as mainland Chinese investors seek returns on $2.3 trillion of savings, raising investor concerns that the market is too expensive.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. sold its stake in PetroChina this year, reaping an eightfold gain that contributed to a 64 percent increase in third-quarter profit for the Omaha, Nebraska-based company. Berkshire had 2.34 billion shares as of the end of 2006, the largest holding after state-owned China National Petroleum Corp.
Buffett said on Oct. 24 that Chinese share prices have risen too fast.
`Carried Away'
``It's easy to be carried away in the stock market when things are going very well,'' he said in the northern Chinese city of Dalian. ``We at Berkshire never buy stocks when we see prices soaring.''
Gains in PetroChina's shares in Shanghai may have more to do with Chinese investors seeking better returns than the outlook for the company's exploration and production operations, or its refining business, known as downstream, said Larry Grace, an oil analyst at Kim Eng Securities Co. in Hong Kong.
``Production is static with limited upside for the next three to four years,'' Grace said. ``As for the downstream, the price controls and overall regulatory trend limit the company's earnings.''
China controls fuel prices to shield consumers in the world's most-populous nation from accelerating inflation. The policy limits the ability of PetroChina and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. to pass on the burden of higher crude oil costs.
The other Chinese companies that rank among the world's 10 largest by market value are China Petroleum, known as Sinopec, China Mobile Ltd., Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and China Construction Bank Corp.
``A-share prices don't reflect global benchmarks of value,'' said Lorraine Tan, head of equity research at Standard & Poor's Investment Services in Singapore. ``There should be other measures of a company's position, including revenue and profitability. Market cap is not necessarily accurate.''
PetroChina's share surge means it beat by years a Russian pledge to create the world's largest company.
OAO Gazprom, Russia's natural gas export monopoly, would become the world's largest company by market value and top $1 trillion in ``seven to 10 years,'' Alexander Medvedev, the company's deputy chief executive officer, said in April. Gazprom's market valuation today is $296 billion.
PetroChina Co. almost tripled on its first day of trading in Shanghai, becoming the world's first company to be valued at $1 trillion, more than Exxon Mobil Corp. and General Electric Co. combined.
PetroChina shares rose to 43.96 yuan from the sale price of 16.7 yuan, giving the state-owned oil producer a greater market value than the entire Russian stock market.
The rally makes PetroChina shares four times more expensive than those of Exxon, even though China's biggest oil producer has a quarter of the revenue. China's stock market was valued at less than $1.1 trillion before tripling this year and giving the communist nation five of the world's 10 biggest companies.
PetroChina's valuation is ``an indication of China coming of age and also of its stock market bubble,'' said Hugh Young, who oversees $50 billion at Aberdeen Asset Management Asia Ltd. in Singapore.
The oil producer's Shanghai listing pushes China's stock market beyond the U.K. as the world's third-largest. PetroChina trades at 55 times earnings, four times Exxon's ratio of 13 times earnings and near the 58 times for Google Inc., the world's most- used Internet search engine.
In Hong Kong, PetroChina fell 8.2 percent to HK$18. Exxon shares rose 0.7 percent to $87.93, valuing the company at $488 billion on the New York Stock Exchange.
`Sense of Responsibility'
``I feel very excited today and also feel a very strong sense of responsibility,'' Chairman Jiang Jiemin said at the Shanghai Stock Exchange. ``This is PetroChina returning to our investors and society.''
Jiang struck a gong as the market opened at 9:30 a.m., then toasted the start of trading with a glass of red wine.
China's largest oil and gas producer had 20.5 billion barrels of oil and gas reserves in 2006, compared with 22.1 billion for Irving, Texas-based Exxon, data compiled by Bloomberg show. PetroChina has been adding new reserves at an average annual rate of 5 percent for the past three years, a faster pace than Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc, the world's largest oil companies by sales.
The share sale, the world's biggest this year, surpassed the 66.6 billion yuan raised by China Shenhua Energy Co. in September. PetroChina raised 66.8 billion yuan selling 4 billion shares last week as investors applied for more than 3.3 trillion yuan of stock, almost 50 times the amount PetroChina sold.
Record Oil
Those investors were until now prevented from directly buying PetroChina stock, missing out on a 15-fold surge as economic growth turned the nation into the largest oil consumer after the U.S. and as crude prices reached a record $96.24 a barrel in New York.
The CSI 300 Index of shares listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges has increased about 170 percent this year as mainland Chinese investors seek returns on $2.3 trillion of savings, raising investor concerns that the market is too expensive.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. sold its stake in PetroChina this year, reaping an eightfold gain that contributed to a 64 percent increase in third-quarter profit for the Omaha, Nebraska-based company. Berkshire had 2.34 billion shares as of the end of 2006, the largest holding after state-owned China National Petroleum Corp.
Buffett said on Oct. 24 that Chinese share prices have risen too fast.
`Carried Away'
``It's easy to be carried away in the stock market when things are going very well,'' he said in the northern Chinese city of Dalian. ``We at Berkshire never buy stocks when we see prices soaring.''
Gains in PetroChina's shares in Shanghai may have more to do with Chinese investors seeking better returns than the outlook for the company's exploration and production operations, or its refining business, known as downstream, said Larry Grace, an oil analyst at Kim Eng Securities Co. in Hong Kong.
``Production is static with limited upside for the next three to four years,'' Grace said. ``As for the downstream, the price controls and overall regulatory trend limit the company's earnings.''
China controls fuel prices to shield consumers in the world's most-populous nation from accelerating inflation. The policy limits the ability of PetroChina and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. to pass on the burden of higher crude oil costs.
The other Chinese companies that rank among the world's 10 largest by market value are China Petroleum, known as Sinopec, China Mobile Ltd., Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and China Construction Bank Corp.
``A-share prices don't reflect global benchmarks of value,'' said Lorraine Tan, head of equity research at Standard & Poor's Investment Services in Singapore. ``There should be other measures of a company's position, including revenue and profitability. Market cap is not necessarily accurate.''
PetroChina's share surge means it beat by years a Russian pledge to create the world's largest company.
OAO Gazprom, Russia's natural gas export monopoly, would become the world's largest company by market value and top $1 trillion in ``seven to 10 years,'' Alexander Medvedev, the company's deputy chief executive officer, said in April. Gazprom's market valuation today is $296 billion.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
US disappointed in China, Russia response on Iran sanctions
AFP - Nov 2, 2007
The United States on Friday urged China and Russia to make a stronger effort toward agreeing a new set of sanctions on Iran, after what Washington said was a disappointing response by the two countries in major power talks in London.
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns "was disappointed in China and in Russia," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.
Burns attended the London talks Friday among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- Britain, France, the United States, Russia and China -- plus Germany to discuss strengthened sanctions against Iran under a third UN resolution.
"We think that at this point we really need to be making more progress toward that resolution and that we need to make that diplomacy much more rigorous," Casey said.
"And we're hoping to see more effort taken on the part of particularly the Chinese, and the Russians as well," he told reporters in Washington.
Russia and China have both said they opposed further punitive steps against Iran over its refusal to stop enriching uranium.
A senior US administration official said Burns was disappointed that the Russians and Chinese came to the London talks unprepared to fully grapple with the issue.
"I think Nick's concern is that the Russians and particularly, in this instance I undertand, the Chinese delegation really didn't come prepared to have a complete, detailed discussion of how to move forward," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Foreign ministers of the six world powers decided in late September that they would wait for two key reports in November before deciding on whether to push for a third round of UN sanctions on Tehran.
The reports on Iran's nuclear activities were to be from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Iran and the IAEA agreed on a timetable in August for Tehran to provide answers to outstanding questions over its nuclear program.
The IAEA has been probing Iran's program for the past four years but has so far failed to conclude whether it is peaceful or not.
Solana was also to continue face-to-face talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiators, who have rejected Western charges that it is trying to build atomic weapons under the guise of its civilian nuclear program.
The UN Security Council has passed two rounds of sanctions to force Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used to supply the fuel for power generation or for nuclear arms.
The United States on Friday urged China and Russia to make a stronger effort toward agreeing a new set of sanctions on Iran, after what Washington said was a disappointing response by the two countries in major power talks in London.
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns "was disappointed in China and in Russia," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.
Burns attended the London talks Friday among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- Britain, France, the United States, Russia and China -- plus Germany to discuss strengthened sanctions against Iran under a third UN resolution.
"We think that at this point we really need to be making more progress toward that resolution and that we need to make that diplomacy much more rigorous," Casey said.
"And we're hoping to see more effort taken on the part of particularly the Chinese, and the Russians as well," he told reporters in Washington.
Russia and China have both said they opposed further punitive steps against Iran over its refusal to stop enriching uranium.
A senior US administration official said Burns was disappointed that the Russians and Chinese came to the London talks unprepared to fully grapple with the issue.
"I think Nick's concern is that the Russians and particularly, in this instance I undertand, the Chinese delegation really didn't come prepared to have a complete, detailed discussion of how to move forward," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Foreign ministers of the six world powers decided in late September that they would wait for two key reports in November before deciding on whether to push for a third round of UN sanctions on Tehran.
The reports on Iran's nuclear activities were to be from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Iran and the IAEA agreed on a timetable in August for Tehran to provide answers to outstanding questions over its nuclear program.
The IAEA has been probing Iran's program for the past four years but has so far failed to conclude whether it is peaceful or not.
Solana was also to continue face-to-face talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiators, who have rejected Western charges that it is trying to build atomic weapons under the guise of its civilian nuclear program.
The UN Security Council has passed two rounds of sanctions to force Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used to supply the fuel for power generation or for nuclear arms.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Russia and China block tough Iran sanctions: U.S.
by Mark Heinrich - Nov 1, 2007
The United States said on Thursday Russia and China had been blocking tough U.N. sanctions against Iran for months and pledged a drive to impose them if Iran did not halt nuclear activity within two weeks.
Iran's president said he was "not worried at all" about broader economic sanctions, dismissing them as ineffective.
Nicholas Burns, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, said China and Russia had been stalling a new United Nations Security Council resolution since late March.
The five permanent powers on the Security Council plus Germany will meet in London on Friday to weigh the scope for more sanctions. Increased U.S.-Iranian saber-rattling has raised fear of wider Middle East war if diplomatic pressure fails.
Burns, in Vienna for consultations with the U.N. nuclear watchdog director, said Iran had been given a grace period since the last U.N. resolution on March 24.
"Russia and China have been effectively blocking a third resolution since then," he told reporters. Moscow and Beijing, two of the five veto-holders on the Council and both with big trade ties to Iran, have insisted on more time for diplomacy.
Western powers agreed in September to delay seeking harsher sanctions after Iran agreed a deal with the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to answer questions about past secrets of its nuclear work within several months.
The Vienna-based IAEA will issue a report in mid-November.
Burns said a clean bill of health from the IAEA alone would not spare Iran from exposure to stiffer U.N. penalties.
"Our judgment is that if Iran has not suspended in the next couple of weeks, that's not sufficient, it will remain a refusal to meet Security Council requirements. That will be a highly relevant factor for us," he said.
"Our hope is the following: first, a third sanctions resolution will be passed as soon as possible. Second, we'd very much support seeing the EU go forward with (its own) sanctions. Third, major trading partners of Iran should reduce trade to show Iran that this is not business as usual."
LAVROV-RICE CONSULTATIONS
Russia said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday about diplomacy "aimed at resolving the Iranian nuclear problem."
The Kremlin, which argues harsher sanctions would push Iran into a dangerous corner, has tried to persuade Tehran with recent top-level visits to heed the international community and give a full account of its nuclear program.
China on Thursday again urged a diplomatic solution to the issue, recognizing it had become difficult.
Iran has defied three Council resolutions, two with modest sanctions attached, since last year demanding it stop enriching uranium. Iran says it wants nuclear-generated electricity, but Western powers suspect a disguised bid to build atom bombs.
Tension over Iran's nuclear activities has helped catapult oil prices to record highs of over $90 a barrels in recent days.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards commander warned the United States on Wednesday that it would find itself in a "quagmire deeper than Iraq" if it attacked the Islamic Republic.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested new bilateral U.S. sanctions would mainly hurt European Union countries doing business with Iran, which has vast oil and gas reserves.
"The weapon of sanctions does not work," Ahmadinejad said in a speech inaugurating a petrochemical plant on Iran's Gulf coast on Thursday. "We are not worried at all ... American companies don't have any business in Iran," he said.
The United States said on Thursday Russia and China had been blocking tough U.N. sanctions against Iran for months and pledged a drive to impose them if Iran did not halt nuclear activity within two weeks.
Iran's president said he was "not worried at all" about broader economic sanctions, dismissing them as ineffective.
Nicholas Burns, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, said China and Russia had been stalling a new United Nations Security Council resolution since late March.
The five permanent powers on the Security Council plus Germany will meet in London on Friday to weigh the scope for more sanctions. Increased U.S.-Iranian saber-rattling has raised fear of wider Middle East war if diplomatic pressure fails.
Burns, in Vienna for consultations with the U.N. nuclear watchdog director, said Iran had been given a grace period since the last U.N. resolution on March 24.
"Russia and China have been effectively blocking a third resolution since then," he told reporters. Moscow and Beijing, two of the five veto-holders on the Council and both with big trade ties to Iran, have insisted on more time for diplomacy.
Western powers agreed in September to delay seeking harsher sanctions after Iran agreed a deal with the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to answer questions about past secrets of its nuclear work within several months.
The Vienna-based IAEA will issue a report in mid-November.
Burns said a clean bill of health from the IAEA alone would not spare Iran from exposure to stiffer U.N. penalties.
"Our judgment is that if Iran has not suspended in the next couple of weeks, that's not sufficient, it will remain a refusal to meet Security Council requirements. That will be a highly relevant factor for us," he said.
"Our hope is the following: first, a third sanctions resolution will be passed as soon as possible. Second, we'd very much support seeing the EU go forward with (its own) sanctions. Third, major trading partners of Iran should reduce trade to show Iran that this is not business as usual."
LAVROV-RICE CONSULTATIONS
Russia said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday about diplomacy "aimed at resolving the Iranian nuclear problem."
The Kremlin, which argues harsher sanctions would push Iran into a dangerous corner, has tried to persuade Tehran with recent top-level visits to heed the international community and give a full account of its nuclear program.
China on Thursday again urged a diplomatic solution to the issue, recognizing it had become difficult.
Iran has defied three Council resolutions, two with modest sanctions attached, since last year demanding it stop enriching uranium. Iran says it wants nuclear-generated electricity, but Western powers suspect a disguised bid to build atom bombs.
Tension over Iran's nuclear activities has helped catapult oil prices to record highs of over $90 a barrels in recent days.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards commander warned the United States on Wednesday that it would find itself in a "quagmire deeper than Iraq" if it attacked the Islamic Republic.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested new bilateral U.S. sanctions would mainly hurt European Union countries doing business with Iran, which has vast oil and gas reserves.
"The weapon of sanctions does not work," Ahmadinejad said in a speech inaugurating a petrochemical plant on Iran's Gulf coast on Thursday. "We are not worried at all ... American companies don't have any business in Iran," he said.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
China rebuffs Israel on Iran nuclear sanctions
Associated Press - Oct 30, 2007
China said Tuesday it remained opposed to further sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, despite the visiting Israeli foreign minister's call for stronger action.
"We consider that the decision to impose sanctions should not be made lightly. At present, the Iranian side is seeking to solve the issue through talks," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters.
"Under the current circumstances we do not support further sanctions, as that would worsen the situation."
Liu was responding to a question about Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's call for China to support "dramatic" sanctions against Iran in an effort to stall its nuclear drive.
Livni, who met with Premier Wen Jiabao and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi during her three-day visit, on Tuesday insisted that stronger sanctions were vital for coercing Iran into giving up its nuclear activities.
"Iran exploits and abuses the willingness of the international community to open dialogue with Iran," she told a press briefing.
"We believe that strong, immediate, broader sanctions can change the situation and we'll focus on that."
She said the Middle Eastern region would be destabilised if Iran was allowed to possess nuclear weapons, but stopped short of commenting on her talks with the Chinese leadership on the issue.
Israel and the United States have been most vocal in accusing Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons. Iran has always denied the charge, insisting its nuclear programme is only for civilian energy use.
Livni's visit comes a week after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert travelled to Britain, France and Russia with similar demands for tougher sanctions against Iran, which Israel and the West accuse of pursuing nuclear weapons.
Iran has always denied the charge, insisting that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only.
With its permanent UN Security Council seat and substantial energy interests in Iran, China's support is considered vital for any measures against Tehran.
China has so far opposed tough action, calling instead for a negotiated end to the impasse.
China said Tuesday it remained opposed to further sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, despite the visiting Israeli foreign minister's call for stronger action.
"We consider that the decision to impose sanctions should not be made lightly. At present, the Iranian side is seeking to solve the issue through talks," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters.
"Under the current circumstances we do not support further sanctions, as that would worsen the situation."
Liu was responding to a question about Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's call for China to support "dramatic" sanctions against Iran in an effort to stall its nuclear drive.
Livni, who met with Premier Wen Jiabao and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi during her three-day visit, on Tuesday insisted that stronger sanctions were vital for coercing Iran into giving up its nuclear activities.
"Iran exploits and abuses the willingness of the international community to open dialogue with Iran," she told a press briefing.
"We believe that strong, immediate, broader sanctions can change the situation and we'll focus on that."
She said the Middle Eastern region would be destabilised if Iran was allowed to possess nuclear weapons, but stopped short of commenting on her talks with the Chinese leadership on the issue.
Israel and the United States have been most vocal in accusing Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons. Iran has always denied the charge, insisting its nuclear programme is only for civilian energy use.
Livni's visit comes a week after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert travelled to Britain, France and Russia with similar demands for tougher sanctions against Iran, which Israel and the West accuse of pursuing nuclear weapons.
Iran has always denied the charge, insisting that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only.
With its permanent UN Security Council seat and substantial energy interests in Iran, China's support is considered vital for any measures against Tehran.
China has so far opposed tough action, calling instead for a negotiated end to the impasse.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Global Elite Fear Growing Chinese Power
Solana wants to entice China into expanded G8, urges U.S. to follow globalist agendaby Paul Joseph Watson - October 24, 2007
European Union foreign policy chief and Bilderberg luminary Javier Solana has called for an expanded G8 and chastised the United States for failing in its responsibility to become more active in shaping a new world order, warning that power is being lost to countries like China and India.
European Union foreign policy chief and Bilderberg luminary Javier Solana has called for an expanded G8 and chastised the United States for failing in its responsibility to become more active in shaping a new world order, warning that power is being lost to countries like China and India.
In an essay for Europe's World, a European policy review published three times a year, Solana cautions that the traditionally western led world order may need a "rethink" because power "is ebbing away from the West to new powers like China, India, Brazil, South Africa."
Solana urges that India and China be enticed to join the G8 in order to "keep some current members on their toes" and allow the globalist body to more accurately "reflect global economic and political power."
The G8 is merely a more publicly presentable front group for the real powerbrokers of the new world order - the Bilderberg group - of which Solana is a long-serving member. Bilderberg is a quasi-secret organization that meets once a year to set global policy and includes amongst its ranks the elite of the elite from the world of politics, business, oil, banking, media and academia.
Over the past few years, Bilderberg has become increasingly nervous about China's growing economic clout and domination of the marketplace, and Solana's manifesto is seemingly an attempt to fully recruit China into the ranks of the controlling global elite to offset concerns that other parties within China will seek greater leverage to pursue their own narrow geopolitical agenda, potentially putting China and the New World Order at loggerheads.
Is China starting to turn away from the internationalists to pursue its own agenda? Former Forbes writer Benjamin Fulford caused controversy recently when he went public with the claim that a Chinese secret society with 6 million members, including 1.8 million Asian gangsters and 100,000 professional assassins, had sworn to target figureheads of the global elite because they had discovered a plan to use race-specific bio-weapons to reduce the Asian population to just 500 million.
Though sensational in its context, Fulford's position as Forbes' former Asian Pacific bureau chief lends the story credibility and he had no apparent motive in making it up.
A yearning to thin the world's population on behalf of the global elite is an often stated goal.
According to Fulford, China's recent threat to sell their vast dollar reserves is also part of a deadly game of brinkmanship between the globalists and the Asian superpower.
Solana's plea that China be delicately persuaded to join and even lead the new world order is a potential sign that the Bilderbergers are desperate to entice the Chinese rather than take the risk of creating an enemy out of them.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
"NATO OF THE EAST": The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO): Index Timeline
by Sarah Meyer - Oct 16, 2007
What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?
“Logic: if such a thing as an irresistible force exists, then no object is immovable, and vice versa. It is logically impossible to have these two entities (a force that cannot be resisted and an object that cannot be moved by any force) in the same universe.
Semantics: if there is such a thing as an irresistible force, then the phrase immovable object is meaningless in that context, and vice versa, and the issue amounts to the same thing as asking, e.g., for a triangle that has four sides.” ―Wikipedia.
Two events delighted me last week: the Nobel Prizes, and Condoleeza Rice’s initial discomfort while talking with Vladimir Putin in his dacha outside Moscow. Ms. Rice has never endeared herself to Mr.Putin. At this meeting, Ms. Rice said Iran (like Iraq) was "LYING." This from a Gold Star member of the US Lying Factory. The U.S. objects to Iran oil deals as well as the Iranian shift from the Dollar to the Euro. It is really hard for the rest of the world to believe that mainstream media are again drum-thumping the Bush-Cheney nuclear accusations for their next war for oil, in Iran. The real US problems with Iran lie unexplored.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was founded in 2001 by the leaders of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Other countries are clamouring to be part of this group. The SCO's member states cover an area of over 30 million km2, or about three fifths of Eurasia, with a population of 1.455 billion, about a quarter of the world's total.Its working languages are Chinese and Russian. There is a US / Russian 'special interests' tiff over Azerbaijan. "The strategic course of Eurasia and global energy reserves hangs in the balance at the Caspian Sea Summit" in Tehran.
The members of the SCO say NO to American "interests." This is unlike the Arab League, who perhaps succumb too easily to the extortions and $s in Condi's pockets on her imperial itinerary. With the resistance of Russia and China and other SCO members, has the United States met its Waterloo? Is the U.S. intentionally setting up another 'cold war' between US-NATO and the SCO? Ms. Rice said "No". Will the thrust of the destructive U.S. drive be reined in by Russia and China? Further, it doesn't take much imagination to guess which country allegedly wants Putin dead.
Most of the western Mainstream Media continue to give scant attention to the SCO. Open your eyes, corporate darlings … there is an interesting crossroad ahead! Don't get blogger-snookered as you did with Bremer's oil law. Do some proper research this time before another US disastrous war engulfs us all.
You will find the rest of this great new blog by Sarah here: THE SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANISATION (SCO)
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