Scratches to Sketches
"Alberta Clipper currently has a Presidential Permit allowing it to ship up to 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) on the that line. To fulfill the industry's desire to increase carbon intensive tar sands extraction, Enbridge submitted an Applicationto the State Department in November of 2012 to ultimately approximately double the amount of tar sands flowing through Alberta Clipper to 880,000 bpd. This would make it larger than the controversial Keystone XL pipeline."
I am haunted by the words spoken by Lesley McSpadden immediately following the shooting death of her son, Michael Brown, at the hands of Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson almost three weeks ago. She said, "Do you know how hard it was for me to get him to stay in school and graduate? You know how many Black men graduate? Not many. Because you bring them down to this type of level, where they feel like they don't got nothing to live for anyway."
"Ding Dong, a news commentator, said that if Beijing were to openly back Moscow, this would jeopardize relations with Ukraine as well as China's image, especially as the two countries signed a joint declaration of strategic partnership at the end of 2013."
'Kirby elaborated on the incident, saying that the Chinese jet: "crossed under the aircraft with one pass having only 50-100 feet separation. The Chinese jet also passed the nose of the P-8 at 90 degrees with its belly toward the P-8 Poseidon, we believe to make a point of showing its weapons load-out. And then they flew directly under and alongside the P-8, bringing their wingtips, as I said, to within 20 feet. And then conducted a roll over the P-8, passing within 45 feet."'
"No country would be as threatened by China's acquisition of the S-400 as Taiwan. As Defense News noted earlier this year, "At present, China's land-based mobile air defense missile systems, HQ-9 and S-300 can reach only a small sliver of northwestern Taiwan….However, with the planned purchase of the 400-kilometer-range Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, China will for the first time have complete air defense coverage of Taiwan."
Discussing the implications of this for Taiwan's defense, York Chen, a former member of Taiwan's National Security Council, told Defense News: "When S-400s work together with Chinese land- and sea-based fighters, the Chinese will have more confidence in sustaining airspace dominance over the Taiwan theater, thus depriving any organized resistance by the Taiwan Air Force and deterring the American intervention."
http://thediplomat.com/2014/08/china-eyes-russias-s-400-taiwan-seeks-new-air-defense-system/"During the meeting, the two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on cooperation in the fields of natural gas, oil, coal, electricity, nuclear energy and renewable energy."
"The specter of Chinese warplanes buzzing U.S. and Japanese planes adds urgency to U.S. pressure for high-altitude defense in Asia against a still more formidable threat: that of missiles fired by North Korea and maybe even China.
Both the Pentagon and Japan's defense ministry have protested the close calls with Chinese planes while China threatens still more of them and complains about U.S. dreams of installing a "Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense" system in South Korea."
Russia and China and North Korea play a very dangerous game... Spurring on America is rather short sighted. Can have unexpected consequences from unexpected places internal to these countries.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/donaldkirk/2014/08/29/u-s-high-altitude-missile-system-for-s-korea-upsets-china-russia-n-korea-poses-problem-for-south/"Now, I hear the heir to the throne is making a determined effort to broaden his tastes with the help of the Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar, who has been preparing Indian cuisine for him at his residences.
"I have cooked Indian food for him many times," the presenter of Curry On With Atul Kochhar tells me. "I help with the Prince's Trust and also the British Asian Trust and I often get asked by him and his trustees to cook for the events, which is fantastic." While the 44-year-old Jamshedpur-born chef declines to reveal the prince's favourite dish, he let slip the meat that he loves the most. "Whenever I am cooking dinner for him, I always put mutton on the menu," he says. "He is a big promoter of British mutton and I have always loved it as it lends itself well to Indian cooking."
I am indeed envious. Perhaps, Prince Charles could invite a loyal subject for moral support?
"Meridian-based energy therapies like acupuncture are quite useful for treating a number of health problems; pain in particular. In China, acupuncture may even be used in lieu of anesthetic drugs during surgery, as demonstrated in the BBC documentary above."
