The last time I read something about North Korea ( where? IIRC in WaPo a few weeks ago ) it said the economic growth was quite impressive. A few years ago my favourite radio station interviewed a Dutchman who was exporting modern glass houses to the country to improve the growing of vegetables.
Miscellaneous News
- Thread starter bd popeye
- Start date
Return of the Queen
Hillary Clinton formally announces 2016 bid for US presidency
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton formally launched her candidacy for the U.S. presidency on Sunday, becoming the third officially declared candidate of the 2016 election cycle amid hopes to 'break the glass ceiling' as the first female leader of the free world.
Striking a populist message, the former First Lady said that she sought to be a "champion" for the average citizen in her second attempt at capturing the prize that eluded her in 2008.
The news first came via an email to party stalwarts from John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chair and a longtime loyalist, who said Clinton would soon embark on a tour in Iowa, an early caucus state that she lost in 2008. The email preceded the launch of a campaign website and YouTube page.
Her widely anticipated second bid for the White House comes as the former U.S. First Lady and junior senator of New York just this week unveiled a campaign headquarters in Brooklyn — one of New York City's hippest redoubts and a bastion of Democratic votes.
Yet her putative challengers in both the Democratic and Republican parties have a head start in making their case, and have spent weeks launching salvos at her record and image.
Former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley, a presumptive challenger for the Democratic nomination, has spent weeks attacking the idea of the presidency as "a crown to be passed between two families," an allusion to the Bush and Clinton dynasties that have dominated the political scene for more than two decades.
The anticipation surrounding Clinton's intentions, as well as the timing of the announcement itself, made her name one of top trending topics on Twitter and other social media outlets on Sunday.
Clinton served as the U.S.'s top foreign policy official from 2009 to 2013 and served in the senate seat once held by Daniel Patrick Moynihan. She was the first lady of the United States during the presidency of husband Bill Clinton, whom she met at Yale Law School.
Clinton ran in the 2008 president election, ultimately narrowly losing the Democratic Party's nomination to Barack Obama despite beginning the primary season as the front-runner.
Her announcement comes at an auspicious juncture for her presidential aspirations. Although she departed Foggy Bottom with high approval ratings, renewed questions about her character and trustworthiness have surfaced amid a scandal involving the use of a private email server to conduct government business.
The scandal has taken a toll on her poll numbers: recent surveys show Clinton is the prohibitive favorite to win her party's nomination. However, she is now running neck and neck with virtually every major Republican challenger in key "swing" states—vote-rich places that often switch between support for Democratic and GOP candidates and are considered critical to winning the White House.
In anticipation of her announcement, potential Republican opponents have sharpened their attacks on Clinton's record and perceived trustworthiness. Kentucky Senator and GOP presidential hopeful Rand Paul said on Sunday that the former top U.S. diplomat's role in the death of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya during her tenure cast doubt on her ability to serve as commander in chief.
At a speech before the National Rifle Association just days ago, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, the first officially declared candidate of the 2016 election cycle, excoriated both President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the issues of foreign policy and gun rights.
Separately, former Florida governor Jeb Bush — who has yet to declare his own widely expected bid — released a video through his political action committee that said the country "must do better than the Obama-Clinton foreign policy that has damaged relationships with our allies and emboldened our enemies.''
As Secretary of State, Clinton won plaudits for her focus on empowering women worldwide and promoting commercial ties as a form of American soft power. She has drawn criticism, however, for a lack of any signature agreements or breakthroughs during her tenure.
Others have criticized Clinton's handling of the 2012 attack on a consulate in Benghazi, which saw the death of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. Some lawmakers accused the State Department of severe security failings and claimed Clinton participated in a subsequent cover-up.
Meanwhile, questions have swirled around the finances of the Clinton Foundation, the massive philanthropy run by the former president, the Secretary of State and their daughter Chelsea. The organization's acceptance of foreign contributions, some during Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State, has ignited widespread concerns about conflicts of interest.
Despite the looming controversies, a 2016 Clinton presidential run has seemed inevitable to many in the Democratic party. Most national polls cite her as an easy favorite for the Democratic nomination—even after a recent furor over her use of a private email server while at Foggy Bottom.
Equation
Lieutenant General
Just kidding...just kidding.
broadsword
Brigadier
First Gentleman.
But more likely is "first hubby".
Miragedriver
Brigadier
China Tells Its Tourists: Behave Overseas, Or Else...
After years of chiding its tourists to behave better overseas, China is in full “this-is-why-we-can’t-have-nice-things” lecture mode. Now, Beijing is taking another step in making sure its citizens watch themselves when they travel.
China’s tourism agency just announced it’s going to start keeping records of “uncivilized” behavior by its tourists for up to two years. According to , the (CNTA) says badly behaved Chinese tourists have “tarnished” China’s image and caused the nation to “blush with shame.” The tourist offenders, says the agency, need to “learn a lesson.”
An example of the bad behavior the CNTA was talking about: an in-flight brawl on an Air China flight (Photo: Twitter)
reports, the CNTA will be keeping tabs on such transgressions as “violating order on public transportation — including flights — damaging public facilities or historical relics, ignoring social customs at tourism destinations, and becoming involved with gambling or prostitution.”
Reuters says China’s new naughty list would derive from “tips from local tourism bureaus, media reports, and the general public.” The CNTA says violators, in some cases, could be handed over to the authorities.
Related:
The strict policy change is a response to recent international headlines, which have been full of stories of ill behaved Chinese tourists Clark Griswolding their way through vacation misadventures within China and overseas:
Last December, a Chinese tourist opened an emergency door, deploying the plane’s escape chute, because he didn’t want to wait to get off the plane. (Photo: Daily Mail)
Back to bottling my Grenache
After years of chiding its tourists to behave better overseas, China is in full “this-is-why-we-can’t-have-nice-things” lecture mode. Now, Beijing is taking another step in making sure its citizens watch themselves when they travel.
China’s tourism agency just announced it’s going to start keeping records of “uncivilized” behavior by its tourists for up to two years. According to , the (CNTA) says badly behaved Chinese tourists have “tarnished” China’s image and caused the nation to “blush with shame.” The tourist offenders, says the agency, need to “learn a lesson.”
An example of the bad behavior the CNTA was talking about: an in-flight brawl on an Air China flight (Photo: Twitter)
reports, the CNTA will be keeping tabs on such transgressions as “violating order on public transportation — including flights — damaging public facilities or historical relics, ignoring social customs at tourism destinations, and becoming involved with gambling or prostitution.”
Reuters says China’s new naughty list would derive from “tips from local tourism bureaus, media reports, and the general public.” The CNTA says violators, in some cases, could be handed over to the authorities.
Related:
The strict policy change is a response to recent international headlines, which have been full of stories of ill behaved Chinese tourists Clark Griswolding their way through vacation misadventures within China and overseas:
- In January, police in southwestern China detained a group of tourists after one of them actually on their plane as it was pushing off from the terminal. The group reportedly was upset about the plane’s long delay.
- Last December, a crying baby led to a between three women during an Air China Flight.
- Also in December, a Chinese woman on an AirAsia flight from Bangkok to China apparently on a flight attendant as her travel companion threatened to blow up the plane.
- In 2013, a Chinese teenager scratched his name on the wall of an ancient temple in Egypt.
Last December, a Chinese tourist opened an emergency door, deploying the plane’s escape chute, because he didn’t want to wait to get off the plane. (Photo: Daily Mail)
Back to bottling my Grenache
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Miragedriver
Brigadier
China isn't just expanding its military reach into the South China Sea, it's rapidly building completely new islands, and as you'd expect, that's generating plenty of anxiety from the other nations in the neighborhood.
China is taking desolate reefs among the Spratly Islands and building them into man-made bases. Some see this as no more than a navigational headache and a regional issue with little impact. Others, however, believe it's a much more subversive activity, giving China the ability to claim a vast economic exclusion zone where it could control shipping, fishing, energy production, and even air travel over one of the busiest transportation corridors in the world.
Some of China's newly built islands are rumored to eventually become highlydefended stationary "aircraft carrier battle groups" where they could house fighter aircraft, long range sensors, and missile systems – both of the surface-to-surface and surface-to-air variety. In doing so, China would be in the process of creating a fortress-like network of sea bases where it could project power and literally control the flow of a large portion of the world's shipping.
Currently, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei lay claim to some part of the Spratly Islands. None of these nations recognize China's claim on any of this territory, nor does the US. But short of a war, what can be done? Some of these emerging islands are already said to be occupied by highly trained Chinese commandos, and China is already building a to protect their creations, in addition to it rapidly expanding naval forces, which includes a carrier strike group, at its disposal.
China has recently acquired some highly unique naval capabilities that are tailored for island-to-island and sea-to-island logistics, most notably and peculiarly purchasing Between an extremely long-range "Coast Guard" naval capability and the Zubr Class' ability to provide island accessible logistics on an unprecedented scale, it's clear that China is preparing to stake its claim on the Spratly Islands in a long-term, militarized way.
Although China's mainland coast is over 500 miles to the north of the Spratly Islands, China insists it has a cultural and historical claim on the territory. China has proclaimed that their sea-going ancestors discovered the islands long ago, and since then Chinese fisherman have harvested the waters as their own. Many view these claims as possibly relevant when it comes to maintaining China's fishing access in the region, but building artificial territory for strategic purposes is another story.
The reality is that under the UN's Law and Sea Convention, an island, even a small one, gets 12 nautical miles out to sea of territory to call its own and another 200 miles in any direction of mineral and fishing rights. You can imagine that if China has a string of these reefs-turned-sea-base-islands, they can claim a continuous swath of control ranging over hundreds of miles. With , China's man-made island chain also could end up greatly offsetting its ferocious appetite for energy, the vast amount of which the Chinese are relegated to importing.
As far as what can be done about China's potentially geopolitical norm-shattering island production campaign, there are few options that don't involve armed confrontation.
Washington has played the issue very softly, mentioning it from time to time, but not doing much in terms of confronting the Chinese on the issue directly. If Washington were to change course, which is possibly under a new Administration, the best way to do so would be to work with neighboring nations to pressure China into making a deal to share the territory in a way that's mutually beneficial. The only question is why would China sign on to such an agreement if it's already highly invested in commandeering the territory and growing its military might far exceeding that of all the nations with claims on the territory combined?
In the end, the US and the rest of the world may only confront China on the issue once Flanker fighter jets are flying from these man-made islands and missile batteries are being installed on them. At that point, short of dabbling in the possibility mutually assured economic destruction, whereby the Chinese could dump US bonds if America were to threaten high tariffs on Chinese goods, or other acts of negative reinforcement, it will probably be too late.
In actuality, China has every reason not to make a deal to share this highly strategic territory with its neighbors, including energy, fishing, shipping and air travel control, and will most likely just rely on the passive threat posed by its massive military as a deterrent against aggression and intervention. The only way to really have a shot at reversing what could be the biggest and most volatile territorial dispute of our time is to engage with China directly on the issue now, before construction on these islands is complete.
Considering how distracted the Obama Administration is with a whole slew of other issues, both external and internal, it's doubtful that this will happen. Meanwhile, the play clock is ticking down, and China is well aware of this.
Back to bottling my Grenache
Miragedriver
Brigadier
More Pictures:
Back to bottling my Grenache
Back to bottling my Grenache