Protectionism

[ParticleMan]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-23/clinton-s-china-sea-spats-threaten-asia-peace.html

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that escalating tensions in the South China Sea risk disrupting trade and called on Asian countries to use international legal principles to back territorial claims.

“The United States is concerned that recent incidents in the South China Sea threaten the peace and stability on which the remarkable progress of the Asia-Pacific region has been built,” Clinton told a regional security forum yesterday in Bali, Indonesia. “These incidents endanger the safety of life at sea, escalate tensions, undermine freedom of navigation and pose risks to lawful, unimpeded commerce.”

Clinton commended China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations for agreeing to guidelines for joint activities in the waters last week and urged them to accelerate a legally binding code of conduct. She called on countries to “exercise self-restraint” and avoid occupying uninhabited islands in the disputed waters.

The U.S.’s alliance with the Philippines and naval power in the Asia-Pacific has led to tensions with China, which claims most of the South China Sea as its own. The Philippines and Vietnam have pushed ahead with oil and gas exploration over objections from China, which has used patrol boats to disrupt hydrocarbon surveys in disputed waters.

‘Clarify Claims’

Clinton called on the countries “to clarify their claims in the South China Sea in terms consistent with customary international law, including as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention,” Clinton said, according to prepared remarks that were given to reporters. “Consistent with international law, claims to maritime space in the South China Sea should be derived solely from legitimate claims to land features.”

Philippines Foreign Secretary Albert F. del Rosario told that forum that China’s claims are “baseless.” Those remarks are “totally groundless” and will complicate the situation, Xinhua cited Liu Weimin, a spokesman for China’s delegation at the talks, as saying.

Clinton is asking states to lay out their claims very clearly and unambiguously and to explain the legal basis for them, said a State Department official present for meetings on the South China Sea. That will force countries to look carefully at their approaches, especially given that almost all claims to the waters are exaggerated, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

‘Nine-Dash Map’

China last week rejected an attempt by the Philippines to have the UN’s International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea decide the territorial dispute. The Philippines plans to ask another UN arbitration panel to demarcate disputed areas of the sea “to prove our claim,” Del Rosario said on July 20.

Along with the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia have released statements to the UN saying China’s “nine-dash map” of the waters has no basis in international law.

China says its claims “are supported by abundant historical and legal evidence,” according to an April submission to the UN. It said the Philippines “started to invade and occupy” its islands in the 1970s.

Chinese ships cut survey cables of Vietnam Oil & Gas Group vessels twice in the past few months and in March chased away a boat working for U.K.-based Forum Energy Plc (FEP) that was surveying the area. A Chinese frigate fired warning shots at Philippine trawlers on Feb. 25.

China’s actions in the waters provoked protests in Hanoi over the past month and prompted a group of Philippine lawmakers to travel last week to the disputed Spratly Islands, which are also claimed by Malaysia, Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam and China. All those countries except Brunei have troops stationed in the area.

“It’s impossible to solve it here and now,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told reporters after the meetings concluded yesterday. “It takes time. It’s a marathon; it’s not a sprint.”

[awaytogo]

I dont think we need fear the chinese.

This week I bought a skeleton gun to squeeze out silicon and it busted first squeeze.

I bought a hacksaw with blade installed and the blade broke into 6 pieces on the first pass over the metal.

Evidently some of the stuff is good and some is total rubbish.

Yep, but we used to make these Items and they were good quality.now we make very little, as this Goverment and the last helped it all go to china and other cheap labour countries.

[ParticleMan]

http://www.economist.com/node/21525960

ON AUGUST 10th, after years of secretive work, the Chinese navy launched its first aircraft-carrier on its maiden voyage. The Chinese media hailed the vessel as a sign of China’s emergence as a sea power, one they insist has only peaceful intent. Its neighbours are not so delighted.

State-controlled media had been predicting the ship’s imminent launch for weeks, prompting Chinese military enthusiasts to converge on the north-eastern port city of Dalian in the hope of seeing it set out. One newspaper said a fire escape on a nearby IKEA store was a good vantage point, but the Chinese navy kept quiet about when the date would be.

It has reason to be diffident. The ship is hardly a symbol of China’s prowess in technology. It was bought in 1998 from Ukraine, where it had been rusting half-finished since its first launch a decade earlier. The Ukrainians were told it would be used as a floating casino (they sold it without weapons or engines). But unlike two other ex-Soviet carriers in China that ended up as theme parks, this one was taken to a navy shipyard where, in 2005, it got a telltale coat of Chinese military paint. It was not until July that China confirmed it had been refitting the ship.

China has been mulling plans to build an aircraft-carrier since at least the 1970s. Officials debated how useful one would be in a conflict over Taiwan, the military planners’ main preoccupation until a few years ago. Land-based aircraft and missiles could be deployed easily across the Taiwan Strait. But in the past decade China has become more focused on acquiring the means to project power farther afield, the better to defend shipping lanes, it says, and to help relief efforts.

Other countries in the region believe China also wants to assert territorial claims in the South China Sea more vigorously. Vietnam and the Philippines have been complaining in recent months about what they see as a more aggressive posture by China in that area. There had been speculation that the aircraft-carrier would be launched in time for the Communist Party’s 90th birthday on July 1st. It is possible that its leaders decided that a lower-key affair a few weeks later might avoid stoking the neighbours’ suspicions.

For the time being the region’s pre-eminent naval power, America, is showing little sign of concern. The Chinese carrier’s actual deployment might yet be years away. China will take longer still to gain the expertise needed to deploy a carrier-based battle group, with all its supporting vessels. It is reportedly building two more aircraft-carriers (from scratch, this time). But the Americans worry more about other bits of China’s rapidly improving arsenal, from carrier-busting missiles to submarines and land-based fighter jets.

Unlike the Soviets, the Chinese appear not to be trying to match the size and capability of America’s huge fleet. Officials describe the aircraft-carrier programme partly as a prestige project. China has been acutely conscious of being the only permanent member of the United Nations without a carrier. Its rival India has long had one. Thailand has one too. Japan, another rival, has a carrier for helicopters that could be adapted for fighters.

China’s ship does not yet have a name. In Soviet hands it was the Varyag (a sister ship is the only operational carrier in Russia’s navy). Chinese internet users have made many suggestions. Some believe it should be named after a province. Chinese heroes are also popular, especially Shi Lang, a Chinese admiral who conquered Taiwan in the 17th century. Officials would be wise to avoid that one.

[geezer466]

Be Afraid.......Be Very Afraid

[South Lorne]

Be Afraid.......Be Very Afraid

..remember the Spanish Armada ..and the power of the German U-Boats....don't be afraid ...be aware ....

[R K]

I hope they kept the receipt if it's anything like their f****ng kettles.

[geezer466]

..remember the Spanish Armada ..and the power of the German U-Boats....don't be afraid ...be aware ....

The power in a carrier is its ability to place an air wing anywhere in the world you may want to deploy it. The ship itself is merely a means of transport for the strike aircraft it carries.

Us Brits (even though we don't have any now) and the Americans are well trained in surrounding their carriers with a battle group whenever they proceed to sea. The purpose of the handful of frigates, other assets and a sub or two will simply be to protect the carrier itself from both air and submersible attack.

This is where the Chinese will be found wanting as they have nil experience in this game. Nice ship though!!

[ParticleMan]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-06/u-s-senate-votes-62-38-to-limit-debate-on-chinese-currency-legislation.html

The Senate advanced legislation letting U.S. companies seek duties to compensate for an undervalued Chinese yuan, setting up a vote on the measure as soon as today.

The Senate approved 62-38 a motion limiting debate on the bill backed by Democrats such as Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Charles Schumer of New York and Republicans including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Sessions of Alabama.

The legislation, opposed by business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, may stall in the House. Republican Speaker John Boehner of Ohio said today that the bill could start a trade war.

“To force the Chinese to do what is arguably very difficult to do I think is wrong, it’s dangerous,” Boehner said today at the Washington Ideas Forum, sponsored by Atlantic magazine and the Aspen Institute. “Given the economic uncertainty around the world, it’s just very dangerous and we should not be engaged in this.

‘‘I frankly think the president agrees with me but why isn’t the president speaking out?,” Boehner said. “Is he too busy campaigning?”

President Barack Obama said at a press conference today that while “China has been very aggressive in gaming the trading system to its advantage and to the disadvantage of other countries, particularly the United States,” he wants to make sure the U.S. doesn’t pass laws that “are symbolic, knowing that they’re probably not going to be upheld by the World Trade Organization.”

Schumer’s Past Efforts

Schumer, who has proposed similar measures on China’s currency over the past six years, has failed so far to get an up-or-down Senate vote on a bill.

Supporters say the legislation has a better chance of passing the Senate this time because China, the world’s second- biggest economy after the U.S., has become a target for lawmakers frustrated by the widening trade deficit with that nation and domestic unemployment stuck at 9.1 percent.

The bill mandates that the Treasury Department identify misaligned currencies, instead of finding that a currency was manipulated, as is currently required. Governments that undervalue their currencies and don’t take corrective action would face penalties, including increased dumping duties, a ban on federal procurement in the U.S. and ineligibility to receive financing form the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

The yuan has appreciated 5.1 percent against the U.S. dollar in the past year and 24 percent in the past five years, the steepest advance among 25 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg. China limits currency conversions for investment purposes and buys dollars to slow the yuan’s advance and preserve the competitiveness of China’s exports.

Edited October 9, 2011 by ParticleMan

[Police]

To early for a Financial Protectionism bump?

[Nuggets Mahoney]

Us Brits (even though we don't have any now) and the Americans are well trained in surrounding their carriers with a battle group whenever they proceed to sea. The purpose of the handful of frigates, other assets and a sub or two will simply be to protect the carrier itself from both air and submersible attack.

This is where the Chinese will be found wanting as they have nil experience in this game. Nice ship though!!

Got any post WW2 examples of a US or UK carrier group which has successfully defended itself against a serious attack?

The US is well trained in keeping its carrier groups out of harm's way and only using them against Z grade opponents. Otherwise there's a very good possibly they'd be turned into scrap in next to no time...

Lieutenant General Paul K. Van Riper

Millennium Challenge 2002

U Sank My Carrier!

THIS IS HOW THE CARRIERS WILL DIE

Edited December 11, 2011 by Charlton Peston

[R K]

http://www.kitco.com/ind/Nadler/feb012012.html

S

peaking of China, it appears that perhaps so-called ‘rare earths’ are possibly set to become less ‘rare’ (they really are anything but) now that the World Trade Organization has issued a ruling against China's restrictions on raw material exports. Such an official ‘slap’ could force changes to some of its rare earth export policies. The WTO said on Monday that China had “violated global trading rules by curbing exports of raw materials like bauxite, coke, magnesium, manganese and zinc, which inflated prices and gave domestic Chinese firms an unfair competitive advantage.”

Protectionism then 'correctionism' then........

[ParticleMan]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-11/japan-replaces-ambassadors-to-china-south-korea-amid-disputes.html

China deployed patrol boats near a disputed island chain after Japan strengthened its assertion of control over them, escalating a standoff between the world’s second and third-largest economies.

The official Xinhua News Agency said two ships from the China Marine Surveillance reached waters around the East China Sea islands today. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s government earlier reached a deal to buy the islands, known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, from a private owner for 2.05 billion yen ($26.2 million).

Protesters hold a banner reading "Diaoyu islands belong to China" as people march down a street in the eastern city of Weihai,

Chinese denunciations of the move come as the ruling Communist Party prepares for a generational leadership change this year. The standoff is one of several territorial disputes both countries have with neighbors over resource rich waters, and maritime spats were a focus of last week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Vladivostok, Russia.

“China sees it as a pretext for Japan to reaffirm its sovereignty of the islands, and the Chinese leadership cannot afford to be seen as being complacent in light of this,” said Stephanie Klein-Ahlbrandt, the Beijing-based North East Asia project director for the International Crisis Group. “We will see more tensions over this disputed area, with higher risk for skirmishes or incidents that could be hard to de-escalate.”

Embassy Protest

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei today accused Japan of stealing the islands, and Defense Ministry spokesman Gen Yansheng said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website that the military’s determination “to defend the country’s territorial sovereignty is unwavering.”

Protests over the Japanese move occurred in at least three Chinese cities today, Xinhua said. Demonstrators in the eastern city of Weihai demanded a boycott of Japanese goods, while about 10 protesters gathered at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing and “several people” shouted slogans outside the Japanese Consulate in Guangzhou, it said.

Japan’s nationalization of the chain follows an April proposal by Tokyo governor and China critic Shintaro Ishihara to buy and develop them. While Noda’s government has stressed that the purchase will prevent such plans and sought to minimize the impact of the move, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday reiterated his country’s claims and said it would make no concessions on the issue.

Maintain Relations

“We want to maintain the Senkakus peaceably and stably,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said today in announcing the cabinet approval of the deal. “We hope this won’t affect overall Japan-China relations.” At a later press conference, Fujimura said the Japanese Coast Guard hadn’t confirmed the presence of Chinese ships, adding that any such patrol shouldn’t enter Japanese waters.

The boats fall under China’s State Oceanic Administration, making them law enforcement vessels, Klein-Ahlbrandt said.

“Their use is a welcome alternative to naval vessels, because they are seen as less threatening and skirmishes between them less severe,” she said. “At the same time, however, the extensive use of law enforcement vessels lowers the threshold of entry into confrontation.”

Noda met Chinese President Hu Jintao at the APEC summit on Sept. 9 to discuss the situation. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the same forum said countries in the region needed to cool their tempers on the territorial disputes.

Pull Back

“A healthy and stable China-Japan relationship is important to China, and also vitally important to Japan,” the state-run People’s Daily newspaper said in a commentary today. “We urge the Japanese government to understand the situation and pull its horse back from the cliff.”

A separate spat with South Korea over islands known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in Korean has also escalated since South Korean President Lee Myung Bak visited them in August. South Korea’s head trade negotiator said last month it would be difficult to resume talks with Japan over a free trade agreement until the issue is resolved.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry today announced that the ambassadors to China and South Korea would be replaced. Career diplomat Shinichi Nishimiya will replace Uichiro Niwa as envoy to China, while Kouro Bessho will take over from Masatoshi Muto as ambassador to South Korea, the Foreign Ministry said.

Niwa, the first private-sector appointee to become envoy to China, has been at the center of the tensions. His car was blocked and the Japanese flag attached to it ripped off by assailants last month, days after protests erupted in China following reciprocal visits to the islands by activists on both sides. He was cautioned by Noda’s government after he said Ishihara’s plan would result in an “extremely grave crisis” in bilateral ties.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry will send the head of its Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau to China today to exchange views on the bilateral dispute, Kyodo News said, without citing anyone.

[Guest_FaFa!_*]

The Senkaku Islands come under the mutual protection treaty, the US has recently confirmed this, so any fisticuffs brings in the Yanks.

The purchase by the Japanese govt was a good move, given that initially the mayor of Tokyo wanted to develop the islands. The nat govt will leave things as is. The Chinese claim is immensely weak, given that they marked the islands as Japanese right up to the point oil and gas were found there. This is being stoked up by the Chinese govt, with mobs trashing and setting in fire Japanese restaurants, supermarkets, cars etc. The media is pouring fuel on fire with front page images showng fists through Japanese flags etc.

Recently the next president of China, Xi Jinping, went missing for two weeks. There were various rumors - stroke, heart attack, cancer, an attempted assassination by car accident. The govt did nothing to step in, unlike when the rumors of Jiang Zemin's death were dismissed in a day. It appears Xi may have pissed off party elders, certainly the CCP is highly divided at the top. Doubtless this is all a good distraction for them.

The Chinese have done an immensely good job of upsetting the region and undoing the charm offensive of the last decade. First their ridiculous claims on the South China Sea, now this. PLA people are talking about Okinawa being Chinese. They appear incapable of dealing with slightest issue without some angry rent-a-mob burning down a building. I suppose it is all a by-product of the immensely greedy and selfish culture they have created, Confucius is no doubt rolling in his grave at what has become of the place. They have a massive investment bubble, shortly to come home to roost. They will have big internal problems when that thing goes down, followed shortly by having an aging, unproductive population living in a polluted, corrupt dump.

Edit: It is worth pointing out that Japan has two further territorial disputes: one with Korea over the Takeshima/Dokdo islands and another with Russia over the Chishima/Kuril islands. In both cases the islands have been developed and occupied, the Japanese are able to deal with this without burning down Korean and Russian businesses.

Edited September 16, 2012 by FaFa!

[wonderpup]

They have a massive investment bubble, shortly to come home to roost. They will have big internal problems when that thing goes down, followed shortly by having an aging, unproductive population living in a polluted, corrupt dump.

I also wonder what will happen when a people whose experience of capitalism has been one long summer will react when winter comes? Who will they blame for this unexpected turn of events?

[ParticleMan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-19622514

China's concerns over US-Japan missile deal

The announcement that the United States is to deploy a second advanced radar system in Japan is an effort to reassure the Japanese, who have become increasingly alarmed by North Korea's developing missile arsenal.

But it is also likely to raise concerns in China, which sees Washington's growing missile defence architecture in the region as a potential threat to its own strategic interests.

Japan already deploys ballistic missile defences. It has four Kongo-class destroyers with the Aegis battle-management system and standard missiles - similar to the aegis-equipped ships that form a key element of the US Navy's own anti-missile defences.

Batteries of the PAC-3 version of the Patriot surface-to-air missile system are deployed on land. Two more aegis equipped warships are planned along with more Patriot batteries.

North Korea is the prime threat against which Japan's missile defences are directed. There was outrage in Japan in 1998 when Pyongyang fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile over its territory.

This spurred Japan's interest in missile defences, which has crystallised over the past decade as North Korea has improved its missile arsenal. However China has watched these developments with growing unease.

Different approach

There are similarities here to Russia's unhappiness with US and Nato missile defence plans in Europe.

The West says that these are intended to defend against a limited missile attack from Iran. But Moscow worries about what implications developing missile defences may have for the viability of its strategic nuclear arsenal, and thus for the future of nuclear deterrence.

China's concerns are similar. It may well realise the limited nature of the current defensive screen in Asia.

But what, ask Chinese experts, might happen if missile defences were to be spectacularly successful? Surely they would expand and thus raise questions about the effectiveness of China's own deterrent forces?

But China also has another more pressing concern.

A central element of its maritime strategy is what is termed "area denial". It is Beijing's way of countering the dominance of America's surface fleet based upon highly-capable aircraft carrier battle groups.

Rather than deploying like-for-like vessels of its own, the Chinese have taken a different approach.

They are developing and deploying a variety of shore-based weapons capable of striking far out to sea, among them the DF-21D - a ballistic missile with a range of some 2,700km (1,678 miles). A highly-capable missile defence system - especially a mobile one based upon warships and backed up by land-based radars - could represent a significant counter to a weapon that some have dubbed "the carrier-killer".

If tensions are to be reduced, what's needed is for China and the US to have a better understanding of each others' strategic thinking. Closer military-to-military ties are one aspect of this.

The US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, will have an opportunity to explain to the Chinese the thinking behind Washington's limited missile defences when he visits Beijing this week. But just as in Moscow, the Chinese see missile defence through their own strategic prism and it is a very different viewpoint from that in both Washington and Tokyo.

[ParticleMan]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-28/obama-bars-chinese-owned-company-from-building-wind-farm.html

President Barack Obama barred a Chinese-owned company from building wind farms near a U.S. Navy base in Oregon, the first time in 22 years a president has blocked a transaction as a national security risk.

Obama ordered Delaware-based Ralls Corp. to remove all property and installations from its sites within two weeks and divest all of its interests in the wind-farm project within 90 days. In the area around the sites, the Navy conducts training for bombing, electronic combat maneuvers and develops drones, according to the base’s website.

“The president’s action demonstrates the administration’s commitment to protecting national security while maintaining the United States’ longstanding policy on open investment,” the U.S. Treasury said yesterday in a statement.

[ParticleMan]

I missed this one last month somehow (but while Romney is still in the race, it's still relevant...).

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-23/china-trade-imbalance-costs-2-7-million-u-s-jobs-report.html

A $295 billion trade deficit with China resulted in the loss of 2.7 million U.S. jobs in the past decade, with the biggest impact in California’s Silicon Valley, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute.

China’s failure to let its currency appreciate while also repressing labor rights and keeping wages down has led to more than 2.1 million lost manufacturing jobs, according to the report released today in Washington. That total includes more than a million jobs in the computer and electronics parts industry. Industries including apparel, textiles and fabricated metal-products lost about 600,000 jobs, according to the report.

“The onus is on the U.S. and other nations to do something about currency manipulation,” Robert Scott, who wrote the report and is a former economist the University of Maryland, said in an interview.

President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney have pledged stronger enforcement of trade actions against China ahead of the U.S. elections in November. In recent months, the Obama administration has imposed duties on several types of products from China, prompting retaliation and an escalation of trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

The most populous U.S. states have hit hardest, according to the EPI, a group that describes itself as dedicated to policies to improve conditions for low-and middle-income workers.

California lost 474,700 jobs, or almost 3 percent of its workforce, from the trade imbalance, according to the report. Texas lost 239,600 jobs and New York lost 158,800, according to the report.

A representative from the Chinese embassy in Washington didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.

The jobs that remain pay less as U.S. producers try to compete with the cheaper imports, further hurting the economy, according to the report. China’s growth has been “unbalanced and unsustainable” as inflation continues to increase and the nation remains too dependent on exports rather than domestic demand, the institute said in the report.

Edited September 29, 2012 by ParticleMan

[ParticleMan]

A brief glimpse of sunshine through the fog.

http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=5117

Presenter: Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta September 19, 2012

:

Secretary Panetta Delivers Remarks to the Engineering Academy of Armored Forces in Beijing, China

:

Many countries -- and many millions of people -- in this region have benefited from this rules-based order, and that includes China. China's extraordinary economic growth and its rise as a major power made it a key stakeholder in this system. Over the long term, I believe that it will benefit all of our nations and create opportunities for us to work together to achieve common objectives, particularly in areas like maritime security, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and peacekeeping.

But these opportunities won't come to pass unless both of our nations -- and both of our militaries -- work together to seize these opportunities. That is why an essential element of our rebalancing effort is a constructive, bilateral relationship with China. And that is why I will continue to make it a priority for the Department of Defense to expand our defense dialogues, our defense exchanges with China.

We are already seeing momentum building as a result of our renewed dialogue over the last year, not only in high-level visits, like General Liang's trip to the United States in May and my visit here this week, but in regular exchanges between our armed forces at all levels.

Earlier this week, United States and Chinese ships participated in a joint counter-piracy exercise in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. This is an area of strategic and economic priority to both of our countries, and both the United States and China benefit from ensuring the free flow of commerce through the gulf. This exercise not only gave our two navies the opportunity to increase their capacity to confront the threat of piracy; it gave our sailors the experience of working alongside one another toward a common objective. These kinds of opportunities are invaluable when it comes to building trust between our two militaries.

Therefore, it was my privilege, on behalf of the United States, to invite China to participate in the RIMPAC 2014 exercises. This is the world's largest multilateral naval exercise, held off the shores of Hawaii. I am committed to identifying additional opportunities for Chinese participation in multilateral exercises.

Edited September 29, 2012 by ParticleMan

[ParticleMan]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/10/navy-drone-boat/

Killer robots have officially gone out to sea. For the first time, the Navy has fired missiles from a remote-controlled boat, as shown in the video above.

The firing came as part of a test off the Maryland coast on Wednesday. Six of Rafael’s anti-armor Spike missiles got fired off a moving inflatable hulled watercraft, aiming for a floating target about two miles away. The missile firings and the boat’s controls were all handled remotely by Navy personnel on shore at the Navy’s Patuxent River base.

It’s the “first significant step forward in weaponizing surface unmanned combat capability,” Mark Moses, the Navy’s program manager for the armed drone boat project, tells Danger Room. Sure, the U.S. military has no shortage of armed robotic planes and — soon — helicopters. But it doesn’t have weaponized drones that patrol the seas, either above it or below it. The Navy’s early experiments with robotic submarines are for spying and mine clearance, not for attack. Until this week’s tests at Pax River, the Navy didn’t have a robotic surface vessel capable of firing a weapon — the fulfillment of a goal the Navy set for itself in 2007.

The Navy’s been tricking out this 11-meter inflatable boat for the past several years at its base in Newport, Rhode Island, to do just that. Mounted on the boat is a dual-pod missile launcher and an Mk-49 mounting system, all made by Rafael and fully automated, which the Navy’s calling a “Precision Engagement Module.” The Navy seems the module as the sort of thing that could protect U.S. coastline without danger to sailors or coastguardsmen, or prevent pirates or Iranian sailors from maneuvering their small, fast boats between targets that Navy Destroyers can’t risk hitting.

The Precision Engagement Module “could be used in a number of applications including harbor security, defensive operations against fast attach craft and swam scenarios, which is of primary concern for the Navy,” says Moses. “However, it is probably most effective when targets try and hide among commercial vessels –for example, congested waterways.”

In three days’ worth of tests at Pax River this week, the Navy shot off the long-range version variant of the Spike, a 30-pound missile with an effective range of about 2 and a half miles. The video above shows six of the remote firings — and while they looked to our untrained eyes like near misses, the Navy says that’s a trick of the camera angle, and they actually hit their targets.

All this is just a demonstration; it’ll be years and many more tests before the Navy decides if it wants to purchase a fleet of remote-controlled, missile-packing boats. But “the increase in attention and effort for water borne technological advancements coincides with the drawing down of U.S. military resources in the land locked campaign in Afghanistan,” Mark notes, “and a strategic refocusing to problem regions where unconventional maritime threats must be accounted for.” In other words: put the robo-boat off Iranian or Somali waters, and let sailors at a safe distance aim and fire its missiles, much like the Air Forces drone pilots do.

[wonderpup]

Do you equip your military robots with a sense of self preservation to avoid danger? If so- do they always obey orders in dangerous situations?

Where's Asimov when you need him?

[R K]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/01/us-china-eu-solar-idUSBRE8A004820121101

(Reuters) - China said on Thursday that it would launch anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into imported European Union solar-grade polysilicon, in the latest instance of tit-for-tat trade tensions in the global solar industry.

The move comes as the EU's executive body mulls duties targeting Chinese solar producers, a probe launched in September after companies accused Chinese rivals of "dumping", or deliberately selling products for less abroad than at home.

The Commerce Ministry, in two statements posted to its website, said it would "merge" the EU investigations into ongoing probes of U.S. and South Korean-made solar products "to evaluate the accumulated impact of products from the three regions".

In October, China's largest state-owned utility, the State Grid Corp, said it was working on policies to help ailing solar power producers, including subsidies and easier access to the grid.

China's export-focused solar panel industry has been hit hard by excess manufacturing capacity and waning foreign demand as European nations cut back subsidies for green power.

Companies have slashed prices 30 percent this year as stockpiles grow, virtually erasing the industry's profits.......snip

[R K]

Reuters) - U.S. pork and beef exports to Russia could halt on Saturday following Moscow's requirement that the meat be tested and certified free of the feed additive ractopamine, a move analysts said smacked of political retaliation.

The measure by Russia - the sixth-largest market for U.S. beef and pork - comes on the heels of U.S. Senate approval of a trade bill to punish Russian human rights violators as part of a broader objective to expand bilateral commerce.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation told its members by email that since the U.S. Department of Agriculture had no testing and certification program in place for ractopamine, the Russian requirement could effectively halt U.S. pork and beef exports to the country by Saturday.

USMEF, a non-profit trade association, said more than 210 shipping containers of U.S. pork and beef valued at about $20 million were on their way to Russia.

Ractopamine is employed as a feed additive to make meat leaner, but countries such as China have banned its use. The United Nations has agreed on acceptable levels of the drug.

CANADA COMPLIES

Canada moved swiftly to meet Russia's requirement, starting the testing process on Friday.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has provided meat processors with testing guidelines and is responsible for signing certificates to make sure the products meet Russian standards, said Jacques Pomerleau, executive director of Canada Pork International, an industry body.

The USDA called on Russia to suspend the requirement immediately and offered to have further technical discussions with Moscow on the safety of ractopamine.

"We will continue to reach out to Russia to resolve our differences, as well as to encourage Russia to implement the (U.N.) Codex Alimentarius Commission's standards for imported meat products to help provide greater certainty, in keeping with their obligation as a World Trade Organization member," USDA spokesman Matt Herrick said.

"This is an important opportunity for Russia to demonstrate that it takes these commitments seriously," he said.

Russia joined the WTO in August after a 19-year wait.

Analysts said the Russian move was linked to the Senate's passage of the trade bill and noted that prices for hogs and cattle in the United States were under pressure.

"This seems to be in retaliation to the Senate's passage of the trade bill with Russia ... there is certainly no doubt about it," Rich Nelson, chief strategist at research and brokerage company Allendale Inc, said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/07/us-usa-russia-beef-idUSBRE8B611420121207

who do you think you are kidding mr putin.........

[Ruffneck]

heck even china has banned it and they still use lead paint, i stick with comrade putin on this one

[winkie]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/russianow/business/9706000/russia-british-meat-ban-lifted.html

[R K]

http://www.telegraph...ban-lifted.html

This online supplement is produced and published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia), which takes sole responsibility for the content.

Fits the topic perfectly.