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Saudi Arabia launches military operation in Yemen

A massive escalation of the tribal conflict in Yemen has brought the region closer to an all-out war.

The Shi’ite Houthi rebels have ousted the sitting president and control large parts of the country, a move that riled Saudi-Arabia.

Airstrikes by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, supported by Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Pakistan, Jordan
Saudi-Arabia are concentrating 150,000 troops near the Saudi-Yemenite border.

The US was informed in advance and supports the operation. The Saudi-led air campaign against the Houthis in Yemen has been called “Decisive Storm”.

Saudi Arabia has warned international shipping firms not to approach any Yemenite harbor while Houthi rebels have threatened to escalate and push the entire region into a hot war.

With the military campaign initiated by Saudi Arabia, the risk of an escalation of the conflict with Iran grows as Saudi Arabia is an American ally.

In a sign of the broadening scope of Barack Obama’s intervention across the region, officials in Washington said the US was establishing a “joint planning cell” with Saudi Arabia to co-ordinate the air strikes on the Houthi forces.

A widening Yemen conflict could pose risks for global oil supplies, and Brent crude oil prices shot up nearly 6% soon after the operation began.

Heroin addict Angelina Jolie’s latest bizarre op

Angelina Jolie, an alleged a heroin addict, said she has had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed to avoid the risk of ovarian cancer.

Her latest bizarre announcement in a New York Times column printed on Tuesday came nearly two years after the rights campaigner and mother-of-six had a double mastectomy after learning she had also inherited a risk of breast cancer.

Jolie’s earlier announcement of undergoing the double mastectomy (surgically removing both breasts) even though she had no breast cancer might not have been the innocent, spontaneous, “heroic choice” that has been portrayed in the mainstream media.

Some even claim she never had the actual operation, but is promoting androgyny by pretending to have had her breasts removed.

According to Natural News the latest operation is all part of well-timed PR campaign that has been planned for months and just happens to coincide with the upcoming US Supreme Court decision on the viability of the BRCA1 patent.

It caused women to rush out and seek BRCA1 gene testing procedures. Because of this patent, BRCA1 tests can cost $3,000 – $4,000 each. The testing alone is a multi-billion-dollar market, but only if the patent is upheld in an upcoming Supreme Court decision.

It caused the stock price of Myriad Genetics (MYGN) to skyrocket to a 52-week high. “Myriad’s stock closed up 3% Tuesday, following the publication of the New York Times op-ed,” wrote marketwatch.com.

It drove public opinion to influence the US Supreme Court decision to rule in favor of corporate ownership of human genes, an even bigger nightmare than the corporate ownership of genetically modified fruits and vegetables.

Jolie, 39, said she had gone public with her decision to tell other women about the options available to them. But by promoting DNA tests, Jolie is aiding Big Brother to map more DNA, and to pay for the “privilege”.

Promoting the removal of healthy ovaries also seems like an easy way to control population growth.

Despite being a drug addict, she is Goodwill Ambassador to the UN and member of CFR, and using her profile as mother to a malnourished multicultural brood, to promote NATO’s genocidal ‘humanitarian intervention’ war doctrine.

Jolie’s directorial debut, In the land of Blood and Honey, justified NATO’s butchery in Bosnia during the 1990s, and Jolie even specifically refered to Syria in her Al Jazeera interview. She put forth a string of utterly hollow gripes about the inactivity of the ‘international community’ as civilians suffer and die but with her selective morality she did not once mention Libya.

“I feel feminine, and grounded in the choices I am making for myself and my family. I know my children will never have to say, ‘Mom died of ovarian cancer,'” the fashionably anorexic junky wrote, who likes to carry the blood of people on necklaces around her neck.

The procedure had triggered menopause, she added. “I will not be able to have any more children, and I expect some physical changes. But I feel at ease with whatever will come, not because I am strong but because this is a part of life. It is nothing to be feared.”

‘US spies feel at home in Switzerland’

US spies operate in Switzerland without much fear of being unmasked, because Swiss intelligence, though knowledgeable and very professional, poses no threat to them, former NSA contributor Edward Snowden told Swiss TV.

“The reason that made Switzerland so interesting as the capital of espionage – particularly Geneva – has not changed,” Snowden said in an interview to Darius Rochebin on RTS, a Swiss broadcaster. The two spoke at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights on March 5. The transcript of the interview waspublished in le Temps, a Swiss French-language newspaper, this Saturday.

“There have always been international headquarters, the United Nations, WTO, WHO, ICRC [in Geneva]. There are representations of foreign governments, embassies, international organizations, NGOs … A number of organizations, and all of them are in one city [Geneva]!”

According to Snowden, other Swiss cities have also been “affected” by US spies.

“You have exceptional flows of capital and money in Zurich. You have bilateral agreements and international trade in Bern,” he said.

The ex-NSA man recalled the time he was working in Geneva as an undercover US agent. He said the Americans weren’t afraid of Swiss intelligence.

“Swiss services were not considered as a threat. [They] are also very knowledgeable and very professional. But they are small in numbers.”

Snowden compared Swiss intelligence to spying agencies in France, saying they respected French spies who are known to be “sophisticated and aggressive.”

He drew examples of CIA operations concerning weapons of mass destruction, adding that people “involved in nuclear proliferation” were violating the law in Switzerland, Germany and neighboring countries.

And unfortunately, “political influence” was seen in these cases, which “rose to the highest level in the government.”

“That’s why representatives of the US government, even when they violate the Swiss laws, have a certain level of comfort, knowing that there will be no consequences,” Snowden concluded.

China ready to shut down foreign NGOs

New law that would allow Beijing to filter out foreign funding of groups, seen as a matter of national security

After years of operating in a precarious legal limbo, foreign non-governmental organizations in China are facing a moment of truth that could force many of them to close their doors.

The Chinese government is drafting a new foreign NGO law that is widely expected to make work more difficult, if not impossible, for many of the 6,000 overseas non-profits that operate here in a broad range of fields from education and the environment to HIV-Aids and legal education.

Under the new law, foreign non-profits would not be allowed to open more than one office, or to raise funds locally, or be allowed to fund projects deemed counter to what is being called “Chinese society’s moral customs,” according to excerpts seen by The Christian Science Monitor of the still unpublished bill.

At the heart of the proposed law is a view that foreign non-profits are a potential threat to national security.

“We need to protect their legitimate interests, to let them play a greater role, but on the other hand they need more effective management, to sufficiently protect our national security and social stability,” said Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament, before it opened its annual session last week.

The bill was presented last December to the Standing Committee of the NPC by Yang Huanning, Vice Minister of Public Security. It came on the heels of a survey of foreign-funded NGOs ordered last summer by the National Security Commission, headed by President Xi Jinping.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs, traditionally responsible for non-governmental organizations, appears to play no role in the drafting of the legal text, according to people familiar with the situation.

The draft law puts the Ministry of Public Security in charge of registering foreign NGOs, which are obliged to find a government agency to sponsor them. They would also have to submit annual work plans, including all funding proposals, in advance to their sponsoring agency such as a ministry or local government authority.

NGO’s, especially those who work in politically sensitive areas such as gay rights, journalism training or labor relations fear that the new law will be used to shut them down. “This law, from what we have heard, gives unprecedented power to the police,” says one activist with a foreign NGO in Beijing. “They want to show a heavy hand.”

The new bill, now under closed-door discussion, is expected to pass by the end of this year.

Source: csmonitor.com

France, Germany, Italy join China’s Infrastructure Investment Bank

France, Germany and Italy have confirmed they’ll join China’s new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Participation in the rival to the US-led World Bank is seen as a setback for the Obama administration.

The three European countries on Tuesday confirmed in a statement they intend “to become founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank,” according to AFP.

“We want to bring our long experience… to help the bank build a solid reputation,” said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, speaking also for Italy and France at a joint press conference with Chinese Deputy-Premier Ma Kai on Tuesday in Berlin. He added that the three countries want to make a contribution to the positive development of the Asian economy, in which German companies were actively taking part.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei welcomed the decision, saying “the AIIB is an open and inclusive multilateral investment institution.”

“Participation by countries outside the region will intensify the extensive representatives of the AIIB,” he added.

The decision of the three European countries comes after Britain last week became the first Western country to agree to become a founding member of the AIIB, FT reports. The UK government said the decision was in the country’s national interest, but it got a negative reaction from the United States.

The new China-led bank is expected to challenge the Washington-based World Bank, so the US is increasing pressure on its allies not to join the institution. The US’ concern is that the new investment bank might not have high standards of governance and environmental and social safeguards.

The new bank is expected to challenge the Western dominance of the US-led World Bank and IMF in global infrastructure projects, which experts believe will create healthy competition.

South Korea, Switzerland and Luxembourg were also considering joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Financial Times reported.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he would make a final decision on AIIB membership soon. South Korea and other countries are in discussions with China over possible participation.

China’s main regional rival Japan said earlier this month that Asian countries including Japan have until March 31 to decide on becoming AIIB founding members.

“They told us they are considering. Whether Japan will join, we do not know. It is Japan’s own decision,” Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Nearly 30 countries have confirmed their participation in the AIIB, which is aimed at helping finance infrastructure projects across Asia and is expected to come into being this year.

The AIIB was formally launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014, and is expected to become a tool of a broader Chinese push for growing international power and economic significance.

US turns to UN to hold off ICC case against Israel

The White House is about to turn to the UN to help force a deal between Israel and the Palestinians. The development also reflects deepening pessimism over the prospect of negotiations delivering peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

After years of blocking efforts to pressure Israelis and Palestinians into accepting a lasting two-state solution, the United States is moving toward supporting a UN Security Council resolution that would call for the resumption of political talks to conclude a final peace settlement, according to Western diplomats.

The move follows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decisive re-election Tuesday after the incumbent publicly abandoned his commitment to negotiate a Palestinian state — the basis of more than 20 years of US diplomatic efforts — and promised to continue the construction of settlements on occupied territory.

The prospect of direct negotiations appeared to evaporate with Netanyahu’s pre-election declaration that he would never allow the creation of a Palestinian state.

The comment completely reversed the Israeli leader’s previous support for an independent Palestine as part of a permanent peace deal between the two sides.

On Wednesday, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s top diplomat in the United States told Foreign Policy the Palestinians would move forward with plans to use the ICC to try to hold Israel accountable for alleged war crimes during last summer’s war in Gaza.

“The fact that we have a government in Israel publicly opposing a two-state solution just reinforces our position that this conflict must be handled by the international community,” Maen Rashid Areikat said.

The United States would actively seek guarantees from the international community to hold off on ICC activity in exchange for a Security Council resolution outlining international standards for a final peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians.

American diplomats receive Russian ‘gifts’

American diplomats, US Embassy consul for political affairs, Andrea Brouillet-Rodriguez and second secretary of the US Embassy, Christopher Grossman were presented with Russian “gifts”.

One of the presented photos, “Gorlovka Madonna,” is considered one of the symbols of war in Donbass. A young mother with a ten-month baby in her arms from Gorlovka was killed by the Ukrainian punishers.

The guests were also presented with the photo of brutally murdered Vadim Papura who died on May 2, 2014 in Odessa.

Andrea Brouillet-Rodriguez hastened to turn away when receiving the photos, her eyes barely had caught the sight of the images.

“The purpose of our present is ‘let’s be friends’. Let us recall the experience of our grandfathers, who together forged victory. A certain contribution to our victory over the Nazis was made by the Americans. It is better to combine our efforts today to win over the worst evil on the planet,” the Russian communist deputy, Bair Tsyrenov said.

He also reminded the American visitors about the approaching 70th anniversary of the Soviet Victory in the Great Patriotic war.

The communists expressed hope that the two countries entered into another confrontation can find common ground in the struggle for world peace, just as they did 70 years ago.

China producing arms at a faster clip than West

China has surpassed Germany to become the world’s third largest arms exporter, a Stockholm-based think tank said in a report on Monday.

China’s military spending has seen double-digit growth for decades, and Beijing has poured funds into modernizing its armed forces as it takes a more assertive stance on territorial disputes in the region.

Exports of major arms from the world’s second largest economy grew 143 percent over the years 2010 to 2014, versus the previous five-year period, when China had ranked ninth globally, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report.

“Asian countries continue to expand their military capabilities, with an emphasis on maritime assets,” Siemon Wezeman, senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme, said in a news release.

More than 68 percent of Chinese exports went to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Beijing also sold major arms to 18 African states.

The volume of US exports of major weapons rose by 23 per cent between 2005–2009 and 2010–14. The USA’s share of the volume of international arms exports was 31 per cent in 2010–14, compared with 27 per cent for Russia. Russian exports of major weapons increased by 37 per cent between 2005–2009 and 2010–14. During the same period, Chinese exports of major arms increased by 143 per cent, making it the third largest supplier in 2010–14, however still significantly behind the USA and Russia.

‘The USA has long seen arms exports as a major foreign policy and security tool, but in recent years exports are increasingly needed to help the US arms industry maintain production levels at a time of decreasing US military expenditure’, said Dr Aude Fleurant, Director of the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme.

Analysts say Chinese-made equipment has found eager buyers among countries at odds with the United States and its allies.

Source: Reuters

Swiss diplomat dissects diverging US, EU interests

It is important to understand that US interests are fundamentally different from those of Europeans, Lena Lio, a former Swiss politician and diplomat, expert on Russian studies, told the newspaper 24 Heures.

The instability in Eastern Europe is beneficial for Washington, as the ongoing conflict in Ukraine will lead to a weak Europe, implying also that mostly white nations will suffer the consequences.

The weak Europe, in turn, cannot pose an economic threat or political competition to the United States. That is one reason why Washington passionately hates “nationalists”, the real backbone of the EU.

If Europe manages to solve its internal problems, it will be a dangerous challenger for the US hegemony, Lio said.

Unable to remain the top dog in international politics, the United States deliberately destabilizes its potential competitors by creating conflicts and fueling existing disputes.

The United States is losing its dominance in the international arena and that is why Washington deliberately tries to destabilize and crush any potential competition.

Most Americans now see Russia – ahead of North Korea, China and Iran – as the US’s public enemy number one and the greatest threat to the US due to a relentless demonization campaign. Americans regard Europeans as “appeasers”.

But the EU has no energy security in the Middle East and North Africa, and without their reliable partner Russia, will have no energy security at all.

The United States can thus no longer remain the only hegemon in the world, the position it has become so used to since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Cold War.

Therefore, unable to stay on the top, the United States uses aggressive style of conducting politics by deliberately damaging relations between other countries, such as fueling disputes between China and Japan, destabilizing Eastern Europe by supporting the conflict in Ukraine, artificially driving down global oil prices and damaging the Russian economy by imposing economic sanctions, said the former Swiss diplomat.

NATO in Europe embodies the ultimate geopolitical existential paradox; an alliance that exists to manage the chaos it perpetuates.

‘Israel should nuke Germany and Iran’

An Israeli newspaper, Israel National News, published an opinion piece on Tuesday in which it called for Israel to attack Germany and Iran with nuclear bombs. The article claims that only through the nuclear annihilation of Germany and Iran, with 20 or 30 nuclear bombs, can Israelis prevent destruction of the state.

„If Israel does not follow the way of the Torah, it will be almost completely destroyed by a severe punishment and only a few will survive“ writes Chen Ben-Eliyahu, the author of the piece, in Hebrew.

Israel must respond in kind in order to prevent this. “We must answer an existential threat with an existential threat”; he writes, “not with speeches to the US-Congress. We must make it clear to the Iranians that Israel will wipe out their nuclear program and Teheran and Isfahan as well.

“If an enemy sets out to destroy you, then you must destroy him first. Twenty or thirty nuclear bombs will get the job done”, he explains.

He reminds the Israelis of their near destruction at the hands of the Nazis and calls for revenge on Germany, although the German government is now, next to the US, Israel’s biggest supporter.

Ben-Eliyahu demands a turnaround of the „Final Solution“ and writes „twenty to thirty nuclear bombs on Berlin, Munich, Nuremberg, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Dresden, Dortmund and so on will ensure obliteration.” And in allusion to the “Thousand Year Reich” he continues, “afterwards the country will be quiet for a thousand years“.

The editors of the newspaper „Israel National News“ refused to react to queries about why this opinion had been published in the first place. For it is a racist’s expression of pure hate and it incites genocide.

His reasons are anyway based on the lie that Iran has a nuclear weapons program. Such a person should be accused, convicted and imprisoned for sedition and sanctioning nuclear war.

What Chen Ben-Eliyahu admits with his demand for an attack on Iran and Germany with „twenty or thirty nuclear bombs“ is that Israel possesses a nuclear arsenal, a fact which Israeli government has hitherto vehemently denied.

Translated from German

Source: Alles Schall und Rauch

Brimming with oil

Across much of the U.S. Facilities in the Midwest are about 70 percent full, while the East Coast is at about 85 percent capacity. This has some analysts beginning to wonder if the U.S. has enough room to store all its oil. Ed Morse, the global head of commodities research at Citigroup, raised that concern on Feb. 23 at an oil symposium hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “The fact of the matter is, we’re running out of storage capacity in the U.S.,” he said.

If oil supplies do overwhelm the ability to store them, the U.S. will likely cut back on imports and finally slow down the pace of its own production, since there won’t be anywhere to put excess supply. Prices could also fall, perhaps by a lot. Morse and his team of analysts at Citigroup have predicted that sometime this spring, as tanks reach their limits, oil prices will again nosedive, potentially all the way to $20 a barrel. With no place to store crude, producers and trading companies would likely have to sell their oil to refineries at discounted prices, which could finally persuade producers to stop pumping.

Oil investors appear to be coming around to the notion that a lack of storage capacity could lead to another price crash. In the futures market, hedge funds have spent the past few weeks cutting their bets that oil prices will rise. Instead, they’ve built up a record short position, increasing their wagers that prices will fall. During a March 11 interview on CNBC, Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn said he’s concerned the U.S. is running out of storage, particularly as refineries enter their seasonal maintenance period, to prepare for the summer driving season. Around this time they usually cut the amount of crude they buy. Cohn said prices could go as low as $30 a barrel.

The math on this can be a bit tricky. The U.S. Department of Energy measures oil storage capacity twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall. As of September 2014, the U.S. had 521 million barrels of working capacity, up from 500 million in 2013. That includes the space inside tank farms and on-site at refineries. It doesn’t, however, include the amount of oil that can be stored in pipelines or storage tanks near oil wells; nor does it include the amount of capacity in tankers off the coast, in transit from Alaska, or on trains. Of the 449 million barrels of total crude stocks, about 327 million are stored in tank farms or on-site at refineries.

According to data from the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. is using about 63 percent of its storage capacity, up from 48 percent a year ago. “We have more space than some people tend to believe,” says Andy Lipow, an energy consultant in Houston. The most recent estimate of storage capacity also doesn’t include tanks built since September in North Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, and Texas, he says.

Running out of room inside the nation’s storage tanks might be the only way to keep companies from pumping more oil. “These producers have kept chugging away when they should have been shutting down,” says Dominick Chirichella, co-president of the Energy Management Institute, a New York-based advisory group. “At some point, the fact that supply is outstripping demand has to have its moment of truth.”

Source: Bloomberg

Black Hawks head to Europe

An additional 450 soldiers and 25 Black Hawk helicopters will join the expanding roster of NATO forces converging on Eastern Europe in March

Pilots, flight and ground crews from the 4th Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade out of Hunter Army Air Field, Ga., will be deploying to Illesheim, Germany, later this month.

From the staging ground there, they will then deploy in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, a multinational training mission to reassure Poland and the Baltic countries of NATO’s commitment in the face of Russia’s aggressive moves in Ukraine.

The unit will remain deployed for about nine months, U.S. Army Europe said in a March 3 news release.

While in Europe they will serve as a supporting element to the Operation Atlantic Resolve ground forces, led by the 1st Armor Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, from Fort Stewart, Ga., as that unit assumes the role of the regionally aligned force in the area. The Vilseck-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment is currently holding that position.

About 100 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division from Fort Carson, Colo., make up the regionally aligned force operational command element, led in part by Brig. Gen. Randy George, the 4th ID deputy commander.

“USAREUR right now is running [Operation Atlantic Resolve], but the commander of USAREUR also has responsibilities elsewhere throughout Europe,” said 4th ID mission command element deputy chief of staff Maj. George H. Johnson. “He just has somebody now that he can give particular direction to.”

George will run the first iteration of the mission command element in Europe. His first task, according to Johnson, will be to coordinate the transition with the outgoing 2CR.

After that, the 4th Infantry soldiers will settle in for their first long-term command of troops in Europe as Operation Atlantic Resolve continues.

“USAREUR was running that themselves and that is because there hasn’t been a division headquarters in Europe since the 1st Infantry Division left,” Johnson said. “Now they see a place where having a division headquarters in Europe could help in synchronizing between the militaries of nations, making sure that we train together and learn how to work and operate together. That’s what we’re here to do.”

Source: Stars and Stripes

American, Israeli military advisors aiding ISIS terrorists in Iraq

American and Israeli military advisors were arrested while aiding Islamic State terrorists in Iraq.

Iraqi counter-terrorism forces arrested four foreign military advisors from the United States and Israel who were aiding the Islamic State, Iranian Tasnim News Agency reports.

Three of the arrested military advisors are dual citizens of the United States and Israel, while the fourth advisor is from a Persian Gulf country, Iraq’s Sarma News Agency said.

The foreign military advisors were captured in a headquarters, from where the Islamic State organized its military operations in Iraq’s Northern Province of Nineveh.

The arrests were made during the Operation, codenamed “The Sting of a Scorpion”. A number of other Islamic State fighters have been killed during the assault. The detained foreign advisors have now been transferred to Baghdad.

Source: sputniknews.com

China, Russia to finalize yet another major gas deal

Another major energy deal with Russia shows China is eager to develop overland energy supply lines that reduce its dependence on vulnerable sea lanes

China and Russia will seal an agreement later this year on piped gas from Western Siberia, China’s foreign minister said on Sunday, a deal that will continue Russia’s economic shift towards Asia and away from Western Europe.

Russia’s split with the west over Ukraine has pushed it closer to China, which is eager to develop overland energy supply lines that reduce its dependence on vulnerable sea lanes. China has taken a carefully neutral stance on the Ukraine conflict, while more broadly expressing its support for Russia.

The relationship between the two on-again, off-again Cold War allies is “mature and stable,” Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told a press conference on Sunday. “There is enormous internal impetus and room for expansion.”

Much of that expansion will be in oil, gas and nuclear energy co-operation, he added. “We will fully begin construction of the eastern gas line and sign a co-operation agreement for the western line,” he said.

During a visit to Beijing in November, Russian president Vladimir Putin reached a preliminary agreement for Gazprom, the Kremlin-controlled energy group, to supply China’s state oil company CNPC with 30bn cubic metres of gas per year from the Altai region of western Siberia. However, most of the details — including the price of the gas — are still to be worked out.

Beijing expects the deal to be finalised later this year, leading to a pipeline that will, for the first time, allow Russia to choose between exporting gas to Asia or to Europe.

Russia has also made a commitment to sell gas from its far east to China, but gas from that area of Siberia can only be sold economically to Asia. In a $400bn agreement signed during Mr Putin’s visit to Shanghai in May, Russia agreed to sell up to 38bn cubic metres a year to China.

Chinese and Russian leaders officially inaugurated construction of the Power of Siberia pipeline in September last year, but little work can be done during the harsh Siberian winter. The two sides have also disagreed over financing for the massive projects, with Russia strapped for cash amid sanctions imposed by the West. To sweeten the deal for China, Russia has offered Chinese oil firms the chance to invest directly in its upstream operations. Russia’s deputy premier Arkardy Dvorkovich said at an investment forum last month that there are no longer political barriers to China controlling strategic assets.

Increased economic ties with Russia, particularly the Russian Far East, fall under the broader One Belt, One Road strategy of increasing exports and investment in Central Asia, Mr Wang said.

China wants to create a new Silk Road economic belt that roughly retraces trade networks active at the height of China’s presence in Central Asia, during the Han dynasty 2,000 years ago, as well as a 21st-century maritime Silk Road that revisits the greatest extent of its sea power during the early Ming dynasty.

Rising investment in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Africa would allow China to export its surplus capacity in steel, rail and other industries, an overhang that is increasingly weighing on its domestic economy.

An added attraction for energy-hungry China is the creation of overland rail, road and pipe networks, which it views as more defensible than easily blockaded sea routes including the Suez Canal and the narrow Strait of Malacca.

Source: FT