Tag Archives: Geopolitics

Sophisticated Spy Tool ‘The Mask’ Rages Undetected for 7 Years

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“Stuxnet was reportedly created by the U.S. and Israel. There are no signs that Mask was created by the same group. Kaspersky instead found evidence that the attackers may be native Spanish speakers. Raiu said it’s the first APT malware they’ve seen with Spanish language snippets; usually, it’s Chinese.  Kaspersky believes the espionage operation belongs to a nation state because of its sophistication and because of an exploit the attackers used that the Kaspersky researchers believe may have been sold to the attackers by Vupen, a company in France that sells zero-day exploits to law enforcement and intelligence agencies.”

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2014/02/mask/

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Kiev Riots at Fever Pitch: The Fiery Scene in 30 Photos

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“Riots in Kiev, Ukraine, hit an all-time high this week after the nation’s parliament passed laws to crack down on mass demonstrations. Opposition leaders called the move ‘a constitutional coup d’état.’  Protesters swarmed police, throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. In return, police fired rubber bullets and flash grenades. At time of writing, the violence hadn’t died down. Here are images from the thick of it.”

http://mashable.com/2014/01/21/kiev-ukraine-protest-photos/

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China Seen by Bloomberg Industries Boosting Bank Gold Reserves

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“China may have vaulted ahead of Italy and France last year to become the third-largest holder of gold, according to a Bloomberg Industries report.  Assets were probably about 2,710 metric tons, compared with the last reported holdings of 1,054 tons in April 2009, according to the report. Italy’s holdings are 2,451.8 tons, and France owns 2,435.4 tons, according to the World Gold Council data. The U.S. is the biggest holder with 8,133.5 tons. China’s central bank probably added 622 tons last year after reserves increased 380 tons in 2012, according to the report by Kenneth W Hoffman, senior metals and mining analyst at Bloomberg Industries.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-10/china-seen-by-bloomberg-industries-boosting-bank-gold-reserves.html

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How Putin Conquered South Africa

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“This time, the battleground has been South Africa, where Russia’s state-owned nuclear power company, Rosatom, has just signed an agreement to build eight new reactors. Once all of them are operational, South Africa’s nuclear capacity will increase more than sixfold—from 1.8 gigawatts (GW) to 11.4 GW over the next 15 years.  This means that Russia will help develop the entirety of South Africa’s nuclear energy sector, including financing and training.  And just as importantly, South Africa will be using Russia’s nuclear fuel.  Rosatom has been busy signing these types of deals with other foreign countries as well—Finland, Turkey, Ukraine, even the United Kingdom.”

http://www.caseyresearch.com/cdd/how-putin-conquered-south-africa

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Saudi Arabia warns of shift away from U.S. over Syria, Iran

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“Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief is vowing that the kingdom will make a ‘major shift’ in relations with the United States to protest perceived American inaction over Syria’s civil war as well as recent U.S. overtures to Iran.  The United States and Saudi Arabia have been allies since the kingdom was declared in 1932, giving Riyadh a powerful military protector and Washington secure oil supplies.  Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, ploughs much of its earnings back into U.S. assets. Most of the Saudi central bank’s net foreign assets of $690 billion are thought to be denominated in dollars, much of them in U.S. Treasury bonds.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/22/us-saudi-usa-idUSBRE99L0K120131022

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China’s planned crude oil futures may be priced in yuan

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“China, which overtook the United States as the world’s top oil importer in September, hopes the contract will become a benchmark in Asia and has said it would allow foreign investors to trade in the contract without setting up a local subsidiary.  The SHFE is awaiting Beijing’s final approval to launch the contract. That may come soon as the bourse has set up an international energy trading platform in the Shanghai free-trade zone, which is touted as a testing ground for China’s financial reforms, especially on yuan convertability and interest rates. A successful launch could pave the way for the opening of other Chinese commodities futures to more foreign investment.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/21/china-crudeoil-idUSL4N0J62M120131121

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Mongolia looks for second chance with foreign investors

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“Saruul Ganbaatar, the deputy head of Mongolia’s stock exchange, hopes the country’s days of interventionist economic policies are over and new laws ensuring foreign investors’ access to the frontier market’s industries will bring back sorely needed cash.
In mid-2012, Mongolia rushed into law restrictions on foreign ownership of strategic sectors such as mining, telecommunications and banking. The government hastily created the legislation to block Chinese state-owned Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) from gaining a controlling stake in Mongolia-focused coal miner SouthGobi Resources. As a consequence Mongolia suffered a 52% year-on-year drop in foreign direct investment.”

http://www.brecorder.com/market-data/stocks-a-bonds/0/1268982/

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Paul Craig Roberts: Washington Drives the World Toward War

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“The fatal war for humanity is the war with Russia and China toward which Washington is driving the US and Washington’s NATO and Asian puppet states. There are a number of factors contributing to Washington’s drive toward the final war, but the overarching one is the doctrine of American exceptionalism.  According to this self-righteous doctrine, America is the indispensable country. What this means is that the US has been chosen by history to establish the hegemony of secular ‘democratic capitalism’ over the world. The primacy of this goal places the US government above traditional morality and above all law, both its own and international.”

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2013/12/14/washington-drives-world-toward-war-paul-craig-roberts/

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Stay Out of Petty Island Disputes in East Asia

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“Although it is true that of the more numerous East Asian contenders, only China has such weapons, the United States has formal alliance commitments to defend three of the countries in competition with China over the islands—the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea—and an informal alliance with Taiwan. Unbeknownst to most Americans, those outdated alliances left over from the Cold War implicitly still commit the United States to sacrifice Seattle or Los Angeles to save Manila, Tokyo, Seoul, or Taipei, should one of these countries get into a shooting war with China.  The United States just interjected itself by flying B-52 bombers through this air space to support its ally Japan.”

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=4822

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Is War With China Inevitable?

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“China has stopped future increases of dollar forex holdings, and has cut the use of the dollar in bilateral trade agreements with multiple countries.  Oil-producing nations are shifting alliances to China because it is now the world’s largest consumer of petroleum. And, China has clearly been preparing for this eventuality for years. So, given these circumstances, how can the U.S. government conceive of confrontation with the East? Challenging one’s creditors to a duel does not usually end well. At the very least, it would be economic suicide. But perhaps that is the point. Perhaps America is meant to make this seemingly idiotic leap.”

http://www.alt-market.com/articles/1866-is-war-with-china-inevitable

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