Miscellaneous News

[SteelBird]

I understand that discussing what Trump has signed these few days is considered as political and not allowed by the forum rules; however, I just express my feeling that I'm shocked and expect the world will go viral and mess under Trump's rules.

 

[solarz]

I understand that discussing what Trump has signed these few days is considered as political and not allowed by the forum rules; however, I just express my feeling that I'm shocked and expect the world will go viral and mess under Trump's rules.

Just received a company-wide email from my CEO. We're located in Toronto but have offices in the US. Lots of people regularly travel to the US for business. The senior management is scrambling to find ways to continue normal operations in light of the ban. I think we will be seeing a lot of business disruptions in the next few weeks.

 

[Miragedriver]

Over 200 chines fishing vessels fishing in Argentine territorial waters

Link:

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[Jura The idiot]

now spent coupla minutes with the claim
Published on Jan 30, 2017
1-30-17
Houthis target a Saudi Navy Al-Madinah Class Frigate with anti-ship missile of the coast of Western Yemen.

and I think the silhouette fits:​

(I now reposted in https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/yemen-crisis-conflict-the-decisive-storm-coalition.t7260/ where this claim, true or false, can be discussed)​

 

[Franklin]

As someone who lives in Europe these 2 stories caught my eye. It seems that Trump does not only want to take on China and mexico when it comes to trade but also the EU as well.

Donald Trump's likely EU ambassador Ted Malloch wants to tame the bloc 'like he brought down Soviet Union'

'Maybe there's another union that needs a little taming'

Donald Trump's likely pick for ambassador to the European Union has suggested he wants to bring down the bloc.

On BBC Two's This Week, Ted Malloch was asked why he wanted to be US ambassador to the EU considering he is clearly not a fan of Brussels.

Mr Malloch replied: "I had in a previous career a diplomatic post where I helped bring down the Soviet Union. So maybe there's another union that needs a little taming."

The businessman and strident Brexiteer also referred to European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker as a "very adequate mayor of some city in Luxembourg."

Mr Juncker was prime minister of Luxembourg between 1995 and 2013.

The potential ambassador also said Mr Trump dislikes the idea of EU integration.

"He doesn't like an organisation that is suprenational, that is unelected, where the bureaucrats run amok, and is not frankly a proper democracy," he said.

On Wednesday, Mr Malloch said he believes the euro could soon collapse.

On Friday, Theresa May became the first foreign leader to visit the US president at the White House.

Ms May hopes the meeting will renew the special relationship between Britain and America.

Top of the agenda for Ms May will be preparations for a free trade deal between the UK and US after Britain has withdrawn from the EU.

But the pair will also discuss security challenges including Syria, Russia and the threat from Islamist terror.

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Euro spikes after Trump's trade adviser says Germany is using 'grossly undervalued' currency

Germany is using a "grossly undervalued" euro to gain advantage over the United States and its own European Union partners, Donald Trump's top trade adviser told the Financial Times, echoing a sentiment he gave last week on CNBC.

Peter Navarro, the head of Trump's new National Trade Council, told the newspaper that the euro was like an "implicit Deutsche Mark" whose low valuation gave Germany a competitive advantage over its main partners.

Navarro said that Germany was one of the main hurdles to a U.S.-EU trade deal and that talks over a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) were dead, the newspaper reported.

"A big obstacle to viewing TTIP as a bilateral deal is Germany, which continues to exploit other countries in the EU as well as the U.S. with an 'implicit Deutsche Mark' that is grossly undervalued," the FT quoted Navarro as saying on Tuesday.

"The German structural imbalance in trade with the rest of the EU and the U.S. underscores the economic heterogeneity within the EU — ergo, this is a multilateral deal in bilateral dress."

The euro climbed after the comments, reaching a five-day high of $1.0764 and knocking the dollar index down 0.4 percent to below 100 for the first time in five days.

"Euro/dollar received a significant push high in the European session by the head of the U.S. National Trade Council, Peter Navarro, who accused Germany of being a currency manipulator," said Commonwealth Bank currency strategist Adam Myers.

The euro fell 23 percent against the dollar in the three years to December, and earlier this month traded as low as $1.0339, its lowest in 14 years.

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[kwaigonegin]

Damnit! I was rooting for ATL. They played a much better game...NE dynasty needs to come to and end. Need a new team at the top.

I guess just like real battles sometimes you can do everything right and still lose.

 

[Jura The idiot]

Jan 30, 2017

...

and I think the silhouette fits:​

(I now reposted in https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/yemen-crisis-conflict-the-decisive-storm-coalition.t7260/ where this claim, true or false, can be discussed)​

now I'll repost here from
Yemen Crisis/Conflict & the "Decisive Storm" Coalition

... and now found the vid which purports to show the attack viewed from ... the other side:

people in Russian Internet were skeptical, one marked where the FIAC could be:

I looked at the helo, it would need to be a Dauphin as in

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I guess

LOL no, I can't read Arabic

EDIT
sorry if it's a fake ... but with so many experts around here, it should be easy to debunk it, huh?

 

[Miragedriver]

Chinese Fishing fleet in Argentine territorial waters (without permits)

 

[plawolf]

Jan 30, 2017
now I'll repost here from
Yemen Crisis/Conflict & the "Decisive Storm" Coalition

... and now found the vid which purports to show the attack viewed from ... the other side:

people in Russian Internet were skeptical, one marked where the FIAC could be:

I looked at the helo, it would need to be a Dauphin as in

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

I guess

LOL no, I can't read Arabic

EDIT
sorry if it's a fake ... but with so many experts around here, it should be easy to debunk it, huh?

Looks like a speedboat, which makes sense. I would have been disappointed with the C802 did so little damage.

 

[PanAsian]

Chinese Fishing fleet in Argentine territorial waters (without permits)

Can't find much about it. The most informative is this article from May 2016 which raises as many questions as answers:

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Argentina's patience snaps on China's illegal fishing
Milko Schvartzman
20.05.2016
The sinking of a Chinese boat highlights lack of regulation in South Atlantic, writes Milko Schvartzman

Diplomatic relations between China and Argentina took a marked turn for the worse in March after two Chinese fishing vessels were shot at by Argentine coastguards in separate incidents.

While both boats managed to escape the South American country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), one Chinese vessel was captured, its crew evacuated and then sank by the Argentine navy. It was an exceptional event, garnering worldwide media attention.

One fishing vessel which initially escaped, the Hua Li 8, was later captured far away from the South Atlantic.

The confrontation with the Argentine navy did not escape the attention of the Chinese government, whose embassy in Buenos Aires called for an official investigation into the sinking of the Lu Yan Yuan Yu 010.

These events may seem unusual, but they are all too familiar for those who follow regional and global fishing contexts closely in this region. Nonetheless, the incidents serve as a reminder of the importance of better international coordination in efforts to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems.

A unique region

The South Atlantic is one of the regions with the most marine biodiversity on the planet. The meeting of the warm current from Brazil, and the cold one from the seas around Falklands/Malvinas islands, helps create the conditions for abundant marine life, as does a vast plain of a seabed which plunges steeply at the edge of the continental shelf.

Because of the 1982 conflict between Argentina and the UK over the Falklands/Malvinas, attempts by both countries to regulate fishing in the region and expel illegal, unregulated or unregistered (IUU) boats, have largely failed. This has meant the UK opted to open its controlled area to almost any boat that pays an annual levy, without rigorous requirements on security, working conditions or environmental protection.

For Argentina’s part, it is almost impossible to control 100% of the thousands of kilometres of maritime border and prevent the illegal entry of boats into its EEZ. In the main, its attempts to tackle illegal fishing there, or in adjoining international waters, have been weak or non-existent.

A lack of oversight, regional agreements or a multilateral organisation to regulate and limit exploitation of the South Atlantic has tempted vessels to take advantage.

Empty oceans

According to the latest data from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 90% of the world's fishing grounds are over-exploited, at the limit of what can be fished sustainably, or have collapsed.

Stocks in the South Atlantic's fishing grounds plummeted by end of the 1990s, following the massive and uncontrolled entry of Spanish vessels into its waters, authorised by Argentina’s then government.

In the last few decades, China’s fishing fleets have sought new fishing grounds, due to increasing shortages in its own waters, a growing appetite at home for fish, and the reluctance of Asian neighbours to enter into fishing agreements.

Among the 500 or so foreign boats that operate in the South Atlantic, the most visible flag carried is that of China (PRC), which accounts for 45% of the total. Taiwan follows with 20%, South Korea with 17% and Spain with 13% (some of these fleets fishing under the Falklands flag).

One reason these floating cities are able to continue fishing in these waters for years on end is that they receive logistical support from Port Montevideo and Port Argentina in the Falklands/Malvinas.

Without this support, slack environmental oversight and even alleged slave labour, it would otherwise be too expensive for many of these fleets to remain in the region.

A Chinese port in Uruguay

Uruguay, which unlike Argentina hasn’t been a major destination for Chinese economic investment, is an increasingly a port of call for Chinese fishing fleets.

The vast wealth of fishing boats and reefer ships (which provide replenishment and cold storage) in the port of Montevideo has promopted Chinese company ShanDong BaoMa Grupo de Pesquería to propose a US$200 million (1.3 billion yuan) port investment in Uruguay, including workshops and refrigerated storehouses.

By sealing the deal to build the port, BoaMa group would virtually guarantee China a piece of sovereign territory in the South Atlantic. Such was the case with a Finnish paper mill, installed on the eastern banks of the Río Uruguay and which includes a free economic zone, allowing it to dispatch boats without the interference of the Uruguayan state.

China would literally have some sovereignty over the Río de la Plata, an attractive logistical and commercial advantage for migratory fishing floats.

Inestimable environmental impacts

IUU fleets mainly seek squid, hake, whiting, Patagonian toothfish, and cod. Overfishing of these species has huge knock on effects through the marine food chain.

Squid is one of the principal sources of food for hake, Argentina’s other main commercial fish. Squid also feeds species of dolphins, whales and birds, such as penguins.

During its migratory cycle, squid enters the EEZ’s of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, the zone that encircles Falklands/ Malvinas, and international waters.

Despite the absence of scientific studies on the impacts of over-fishing on the ecosystem, there have been sharp declines in the penguin and sea lion populations, with numbers for the former falling by 80%.

It is not known exactly how much fish stocks there are, although estimates place the amount of squid caught by foreign fleets annually at 600,000 tonnes, worth US$600 million (3.9 billion yuan) based on the 2015 price of US$1,000 (6,550 yuan) per tonne.

Little is known the stocks of many other species and very little about the extent of accidental catches. There are no rules about the size or age of species caught, which has a huge impact on its ability to replenish its population.

In addition, the South Atlantic's marine environment is also damaged by the discharge of fuel, rubbish and other toxic substances, but there are few punishments for transgressors.

Reduction and control

In order to avoid a collapse of the marine ecosystem in the South Atlantic, there needs to be less fishing and effective controls over all boats operating in the region.

All boats should comply with labour regulations, as required by the International Maritime Organization, and have onboard observers appointed multilaterally by regional neighbours. Such measures are necessary as an initial precaution. Disposing of waste on the high seas must be prohibited and enforced.

Port authorities should be more transparent and information on catches and other incidents should be publicly available. At the same time, no boats with a record of illegal activities should be allowed to fish in the region, either in EEZs or surrounding international waters. The satellite system of identification for every boat should be obligatory and permanent.

Complying with these requirements would reduce the size of the fishing fleet by 20%.

States and companies who want to fish in the region should respect sustainability, the health of the ecosystem, the dignity of workers, local economies and security of navigation.

In addition, the recent wave of fishing incidents involving boats flying Chinese flags in overseas waters should prompt the world’s largest fishing fleet to rethink its actions.

Failing to change course will lead to more incidents, perhaps with even more serious consequences than those which occurred in March.