Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Russia, China worried by Iran attack talk - Yahoo! News
Of course they're worried. They are worried that their precious Iranian fuel won't be coming to them at a cheap price and that they'll be shown to be at least in cahoots with Iran.
Russia and China expressed alarm on Tuesday over comments by France's foreign minister that Paris should prepare for the prospect of war with Iran, which the West accuses of secretly developing nuclear weapons.
Want to avoid war? Support sanctions like you said you would in previous UN actions. Keep your word Russia and China, I know it's a departure from what you're used to, but at least give it a shot.
Travis
Labels: China, iran, nuclear program, Nuclear Weapons, Russia
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
FOXNews.com - U.S. Officials Begin Crafting Iran Bombing Plan - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum
A recent decision by German officials to withhold support for any new sanctions against Iran has pushed a broad spectrum of officials in Washington to develop potential scenarios for a military attack on the Islamic regime, FOX News confirmed Tuesday.
Germany — a pivotal player among three European nations to rein in Iran's nuclear program over the last two-and-a-half years through a mixture of diplomacy and sanctions supported by the United States — notified its allies last week that the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel refuses to support the imposition of any further sanctions against Iran that could be imposed by the U.N. Security Council.
The Germans voiced concern about the damaging effects any further sanctions on Iran would have on the German economy — and also, according to diplomats from other countries, gave the distinct impression that they would privately welcome, while publicly protesting, an American bombing campaign against Iran's nuclear facilities.
Well we tried the diplomatic route. Unfortunately, the Germans, Russians, and the Chinese are all too concerned about their economy to worry about a known terrorist nation getting a hold of a nuclear weapon.
Consequently, according to a well-placed Bush administration source, "everyone in town" is now participating in a broad discussion about the costs and benefits of military action against Iran, with the likely timeframe for any such course of action being over the next eight to 10 months, after the presidential primaries have probably been decided, but well before the November 2008 elections.
The discussions are now focused on two basic options: less invasive scenarios under which the U.S. might blockade Iranian imports of gasoline or exports of oil, actions generally thought to exact too high a cost on the Iranian people but not enough on the regime in Tehran; and full-scale aerial bombardment.
I think the blockade idea might work very well. The Iranian government is very wobbly right now and if the populace gets uppity, they certainly will have a major problem on their hands. Added financial sanctions against Iran might work well in our favor as well.
That being said, the time for diplomacy is certainly running out fast. The Israeli's certainly aren't going to take this on the chin. They have rumored to have hit nuclear facilities in Syria, so what do you think they'll do about a nation that's directly threatening them?
Iran certainly has to know that the situation in Iraq isn't going to be the same as the Iranian one. I'm willing to bet that there are people inside of Iran who think that simply because we're "bogged down" in Iraq that they can get away with this kind of thing, but there's got to be at least one or two higher up guys who say "guys, they don't have to rebuild our nation. If Americans want our nuclear program dead, it's almost a done deal".
That's what people don't seem to realize. They think that if we attack Iran, that all of a sudden we have to invade with ground forces and such. That's not the case. We don't care about anything other than their nuclear programs.
If Germany, Russia and China aren't willing to stand up and be responsible world players in the UN, then what's the point of even HAVING the UN? They all voted for sanctions against Iran and gave them X amount of time to stop enriching Uranium. That time has passed because Iran knows that they only have to convince one country to back them. Well if the time has passed, then those three countries have an obligation to go through with further measures because the previous ones were ignored. That's how it's SUPPOSED to work.
And of course, they'll gladly welcome any military attack on Iran. They don't have to get their hands dirty. They don't have to take the Iranian backlash. They only have to have big, bad America spend more money and more lives on deal with the problem and they all benefit.
That's bullshit and they should be called to carpet on it.
Travis
Labels: China, Germany, iran, nuclear program, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, un
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Bush, China's Hu tackle thorny issues - CNN.com
Although Bush hinted to reporters on Wednesday that he might bring it up, neither Hu nor the president said the recent cyber attack on the Pentagon was discussed Thursday.
The United States has not officially accused Beijing of hacking into the military e-mail system that serves Defense Secretary Robert Gates and hundreds of other department employees, but behind the scenes a senior Bush administration official told CNN that China is the No. 1 suspect in the June hacking incident.
On Monday, the Financial Times of London also reported that Washington believed China was responsible. Meanwhile the Chinese government dismisses such allegations as "groundless."
I kind of wished he had brought it up. There's no doubt in my mind that China's gearing up for a potential fight over Taiwan. They've been attempting to gain access to our military technology for years and it's simply idiotic not to call them to the carpet and let them know we know about it and our responses to it might be swift and severe if they continue.
In addition to discussing the delicate North Korean nuclear issue and the violence in the Sudanese region of Darfur, Bush said Hu was "quite articulate" about the contentious issue of product safety, given the string of recalls on defective Chinese-made products -- which have spanned from tainted food to hazardous toys.
Hu said he has a desire "to work for further development and the growth and business ties of our countries through dialogue and consultations."
How about you let the Chinese deal with a lot of "help us" kinds of missions around the world that only the US gets looked at with dealing with?
How about we talk about the trade deficit and China's continued artificially lowering of their currency? How about you talk about the illegal tax breaks China gives to it's businesses in order for them to compete on the world stage?
You can't have a meeting with a world leader if you don't talk about your major problems with one another and how to solve them. Otherwise it's just a photo op that no one cares about.
Travis
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
FT.com / World - Chinese military hacked into Pentagon
While I imagine we're doing the same thing against just about every nation on Earth, I do wonder why the Chinese were successful in their attack? Of course they deny it, but you know damned good and well it was them.
Even Lieutenant General Robert Elder says that just about everyone routinely scans our networks.
What I'd like to know is, how difficult would it be to simply ban every IP originating from China when you're in the Pentagon? I mean I don't understand hacking to a degree that professionals would, but when I have a spammer who tries to get into my networks, I simply ban their IP address at the firewall and within iptables.
Can't we do the same with China? Is it really that difficult? Why are computers with secrets even physically connected to the internet? Can't they use a private network of satellites or something?
There's 101 things that you can do to stop attacks like this, but I wonder if there's no simple way to fix it or if I have a huge career ahead of me working at the Pentagon. :)
Travis
Labels: China, Internet, military, Security
Friday, August 31, 2007
China Using Underhanded Tactics In Financial War?
It certainly would make sense if China is making illegal concessions to keep costs low and profits high for it's various businesses.
But the World Trade Organization is looking into it and we'll see what happens. The article is a little short on details, but one part did strike me:
The North American countries accuse Beijing of using WTO-prohibited tax breaks to encourage Chinese companies to boost exports, while imposing tax and tariff penalties to limit purchases of foreign products in China.
If that's true, then China should be severely financially punished for such actions.
Travis
China says one-child policy helps protect climate - Yahoo! News
Oh of course it's for the climate. Why didn't we all see it before? Such strict birth control sounds good on paper, but wait until you hear all the horror stories about women who are forced to have an abortion or have their babies ripped out of them and beaten against rocks until the child is dead.
Yes, for the climate indeed. It's a barbaric policy that needs to have a spotlight shown on it for the horrible practices that China engages in. If America has to have it's dirty laundry aired, then it's only fair that China gets the same treatment.
Travis
Labels: China, Environment
Thursday, August 30, 2007
China says toy recall scare shows protectionist agenda | Reuters
Well that would be a reasonable argument China, if Mattel was the only product recall that has happened to you. However, just TODAY Toys R' Us has had to recall Chinese made toys. I'm quite sure that Toys R' Us is in on the whole "government protectionism conspiracy" that will probably cost them millions.
I'm sure that all companies are just part of a vast conspiracy with the US government, because the Chinese would NEVER make cheap items with as few safety and quality parts and techniques as possible.
Let's cut to the chase, everyone knows China makes inferior grade items and that's why we get them so cheap. The minute that there's a widespread notion of that and a public backlash is when you'll either see the Chinese shape up, or have their economy suffer accordingly.
Travis
Labels: China
Monday, August 27, 2007
China blames U.S. for toy scares - CNN.com
Well of course it's the US' fault, isn't it? Everything else seems to be. China is desperate to share the blame for their crappy quality control and constant cutting corners to save a few bucks, so they don't want to be seen as the sole person responsible.
Solution? Why, let's blame Americans! Everyone blames Americans! Hurricanes, Tsunamis, Recession? It's the American's fault!
Grow up China, the only real person to blame here is you for your lead based paint and poisoned pajamas. Design flaw? Perhaps, but only in this one instance. Everyone knows you make cheap quality items at a low price because you artificially keep your currency low, use of slave labor, and cut corners on quality at every turn.
Travis
Labels: China
Friday, August 24, 2007
China Searches For Missing Uranium
How the hell do you misplace Uranium? China really needs to get it's act together if it can't find 17 pounds worth of Uranium. That's enough to make a very small nuclear weapon.
As just an added "odd item", Isn't 17 pounds worth of Uranium HIGHLY desired by Iran? Just a thought.
Travis
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
China says US soybeans unsafe
Looks like China's trying to deflect from recent reports of product safety coming out of their country. They are saying that US soybeans are unsafe. While that very well may be the case, their wording doesn't leave a lot to be desired.
"We have reported this to the US side, demanding that it look into the causes and adobe effective measures to ensure that a situation like this does not repeat itself."
Pretty strong wording, however they don't seem to be reciprocating on their part when we tell them about unsafe products on their end.
It seems like this is a common theme with China. They will do or say whatever it takes to maintain their economy, but they have no problem throwing you under the bus if it's a means to deflect from their own problems. They do this with military exercises, product exports, and the world economy.
If they keep pissing people off, they will soon find themselves wondering why all the manufacturing went to another country that's more friendly to businesses.
Travis
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