Category: GeoPolitics
The analysis published under this category are as follows.Sunday, November 21, 2010
Russia, India and China Forming Strategic Geopolitical Alliance / Politics / GeoPolitics
Russia, India and China are pursuing common goals in their international policies and economic development.
In what is the latest step to promote trilateral cooperation in a variety of fields, the foreign ministers of China, Russia and India met for two days last week in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province. Tenth of its kind, the meeting was shown as being conducive to deepening trilateral ties between Beijing, Moscow and New Delhi.
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Sunday, November 21, 2010
Russia Flexes Its Muscles, War for Caspian Sea Inevitable? / Politics / GeoPolitics
The countries of the Caspian region are trying to find a solution to a long-standing dispute about the Caspian Sea. There is something to argue about indeed: sturgeons, crude and natural gas deposits, as well as the transportation of oil and gas. The leaders of Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan gathered in Baku (the capital of Azerbaijan) to discuss the problem in detail.
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Friday, November 19, 2010
NATO Encircling Russia, Targeting China as Part of U.S. Grand Strategy / Politics / GeoPolitics
Diana Johnstone writes: On November 19 and 20, NATO leaders meet in Lisbon for what is billed as a summit on “NATO’s Strategic Concept”. Among topics of discussion will be an array of scary “threats”, from cyberwar to climate change, as well as nice protective things like nuclear weapons and a high tech Maginot Line boondoggle supposed to stop enemy missiles in mid-air. The NATO leaders will be unable to avoid talking about the war in Afghanistan, that endless crusade that unites the civilized world against the elusive Old Man of the Mountain, Hassan i Sabah, eleventh century chief of the Assassins in his latest reincarnation as Osama bin Laden. There will no doubt be much talk of “our shared values”.
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Friday, November 12, 2010
China India Growing Space Rivalry / Politics / GeoPolitics
SITUATION: China has directed a $13 million loan to Pakistan toward a joint communications satellite project, while space cooperation between America and India reaches new levels of sophistication.
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Thursday, November 11, 2010
Google Got Flack Over Leaked Diaoyu/Senkaku Sino-Japanese Boat Clash Videos / Politics / GeoPolitics
The video of the infamous collision between Japanese coastguard vessel and a Chinese fishing boat off the disputed Diaoyu or Senkaku Islands in September was recently leaked and surfaced on YouTube (below).
From the YouTube video, the Chinese fishing boat--Minjinyu 5179--collided twice with Japanese coast guard ships Yonakuni, and another collision with patrol boat the Mizuki. The whole footage was 44-minute long, and only the actual collision part is posted here.
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Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Top 10 Most Corrupt and Clean Countries / Politics / GeoPolitics
After recent reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other government officials received bags of cash from Iran, it's no surprise that Afghanistan would be near the top of a ranking published last week of the most corrupt countries in the world.
The Corruption Perceptions Index from Transparency International, a nongovernmental organization based in Berlin and operating in 70 countries, ranked the Central Asian country second only to Somalia and tied with Myanmar for its perceived level of government corruption.
Saturday, November 06, 2010
QE2 and U.S. China Politics, Shrewd as Serpents / Politics / GeoPolitics
Everyone has heard about the Prisoners' Dilemma before, I suppose. For those who don't know, here is the gist: It is about a situation between two players that if they cooperate, they will get the biggest benefit. However, if one decides to cooperate yet get betrayed later, he will suffer more than if he simply betrayed the other guy in the first place. Logically, the two players should simply cooperate, but sometimes when you are uncertain about the other player's sincerity, the situation becomes tricky.
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Friday, October 22, 2010
U.S. China Currency War Drifting towards Military Conflict / Politics / GeoPolitics
The United States conducts monetary policy the same way it conducts foreign policy; unilaterally. When Fed chairman Ben Bernanke signaled last week that he was planning to restart his bond purchasing program (Quantitative Easing) he didn't consult with allies at the IMF, the G-20 or the WTO. He simply issued his edict, and that was that. The fact that the Fed's policy will flood emerging markets with cheap capital, pushing up the value of their currencies and igniting inflation, is of no concern to Bernanke. He operates on the same theory as former Treasury Secretary John Connally who breezily quipped to a group of euro finance ministers, “The dollar is our currency, but your problem.”
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Friday, October 22, 2010
How the U.S. and U.K. Lost the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars / Politics / GeoPolitics
Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja writes: Wars are planned, financed and fought by governments, not by groups or ordinary people. Wars are based on political agendas bent on complete control over resources, people and territory. Most wars have multiple reasons, domestic, foreign and global outreach. The U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are fought to maintain US domination worldwide, to occupy the untapped natural resources of the Middle East, in particular oil and gas, and to protect the value of U.S. dollar as a stable international reserve currency.
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Thursday, October 21, 2010
China's Naval Ambitions Spur New Regional Strategic Planning / Politics / GeoPolitics
SITUATION: Defense planning efforts in East Asia have been markedly influenced by China's bellicose response to the detention of a Chinese fisherman for ramming a Japanese naval boat in disputed waters.
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Tuesday, October 12, 2010
NATO's Lack of a Strategic Concept / Politics / GeoPolitics
Twenty-eight heads of state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will meet in Lisbon on Nov. 20 to approve a new “Strategic Concept,” the alliance’s mission statement for the next decade. This will be NATO’s third Strategic Concept since the Cold War ended. The last two came in 1991 — as the Soviet Union was collapsing — and 1999 — as NATO intervened in Yugoslavia, undertaking its first serious military engagement.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Floating Alternative to Nabucco Natural Gas Pipeline Materializes, Stabilizing European Energy Supplies / Politics / GeoPolitics
The “floating alternative to the US-sponsored Nabucco” pipeline network to bring Central Asian gas supplies to Europe and the Mediterranean has begun to materialize, further transforming or limiting the prospects for the Nabucco project which has been emerging as an expensive option led by the US strategy to bring Turkey into the European mainstream.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, September 30, 2010
China Cuts off Supply of Rare Earth Metals Hits Pentagon Laser Guided Bombs / Politics / GeoPolitics
Last Sunday in Prepare for Currency/Trade Wars; How Might China Respond to US Tariffs? I mentioned the possibility China might shut off exports of rare earth metals used in making glass for solar panels, motors that help propel hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius, and laser guided bombs.
Indeed, it was the shutoff of rare earth metals to Japan that caused Japan to "cry uncle" and release a Chinese boat captain detained by the Japanese in disputed waters.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
SEC Denies China's Dagong of Market Entry After U.S. Debt Downgrade / Politics / GeoPolitics
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday denied the application by China's largest credit rating firm--Dagone Global Credit Rating Co.--to become a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) in the U.S.
The SEC cited concern regarding cross boarder supervision since “It does not appear possible at this time for Dagong to comply with the record keeping, production, and examination requirements of the federal securities laws."
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
The Game is Changing and the U.S. is Now on the Defensive / Politics / GeoPolitics
The People’s Republic of China’s PLAN in the Indian and Pacific Oceans: The Game is Changing and the US is Now on the DefensiveTwo warships of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) docked at a port in Myanmar on August 29, 2010, in the first publicized PLAN ship visit — but not the first actual PLAN visit — to Myanmar.
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Tuesday, September 21, 2010
A Change of Course in Cuba and Venezuela? / Politics / GeoPolitics
Strange statements are coming out of Cuba these days. Fidel Castro, in the course of a five-hour interview in late August, reportedly told Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic and Julia Sweig of the Council on Foreign Relations that “the Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore.”
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Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Real 'Merchants of Death' / Politics / GeoPolitics
Conn Hallinan writes: Accused Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout is a centerpiece for the book Merchant of Death and the model for the Hollywood movie The Lord of War. He is the archetypal bad guy. Washington apparently traded military hardware to the Thais to get him extradited from a Bangkok jail.
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Sunday, September 19, 2010
A Third Sino Japanese War? / Politics / GeoPolitics
For centuries, the relationship between China and Japan may be best described as tense to turbulent with two Sino-Japanese wars all within the last century or so. The accord between the two neighboring Asian countries has progressed in recent years with official visits, trade pact and joint venture agreements.
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Saturday, September 18, 2010
The Strategic Outlook: Fear and Uncertainty Have Paths of Their Own / Politics / GeoPolitics
Fear and uncertainty create patterns, paths of their own. And societies are again in a mosaic of uncertainty -- and resultant fear -- over the fate and durability of the social and security frameworks once taken for granted. Mass reaction to these fears will trigger transformative change. But there will be opportunities to seize and command change.
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Friday, September 17, 2010
Real Versus Fake Crises, Concealing The Risk of An All Out Nuclear War / Politics / GeoPolitics
We have reached a turning point in our history. The US and its allies are preparing to launch a nuclear war with devastating consequences.
During the Cold War, the concept of "mutual assured destruction" (MAD) was put forth. An understanding of the consequences of nuclear war largely contributed to avoiding the outbreak of war between the US and the Soviet Union.
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