Chinese election move sparks HK protests

Thousands protested in Hong Kong on Sunday against a Chinese plan for electoral reform that would prevent critics of Beijing from running for chief executive in the former British colony.
China revealed a framework for universal suffrage – one person, one vote – for the 2017 election of chief executive, the top political job in the Chinese territory, but set tough conditions that would ensure Beijing could vet candidates.

“Hong Kong people will have one person, one vote, but Beijing will select all the candidates – puppets. What is the difference between a rotten apple, a rotten orange and a rotten banana,” said Martin Lee, founder of the Democratic party. “We want genuine universal suffrage and not democracy with Chinese characteristics.”

Occupy Central, a pro-democracy group backed by media tycoon Jimmy Lai, said it would proceed with a civil disobedience campaign that would involve blocking a key business district.

Some Chinese commentators have said China might deploy soldiers on the Hong Kong streets if police are unable to control the protests.

“Fight for democracy; never give up . . . Civil disobedience; never bow our heads,” Chan Kin-man, one of the founders of Occupy Central, chanted to the protesters.

After months of heated debate and rallies over Hong Kong’s political future, China on Sunday said potential candidates for chief executive must receive majority backing from a nomination committee that would consist of 1,200 mostly pro-Beijing members. It would also allow no more than two or three candidates on the ballot.

“This is a very dark day for Hong Kong,” said Anson Chan, the former head of the Hong Kong civil service. “The rest of the world should condemn this decision for what it is . . . it is a colossal big step backwards.”

The US state department said Washington believed “the legitimacy of the chief executive will be greatly enhanced if the promise of universal suffrage is fulfilled and if the election provides the people of Hong Kong a genuine choice of candidates representative of the voters’ will”. London said it was studying the ruling.

The ruling will trigger an intense debate in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (Legco), where a two-thirds majority is needed to approve the plan. CY Leung, the pro-Beijing chief executive, will face an uphill battle persuading Democrats to back the proposal.

Under the existing system, a candidate for chief executive needs support from one-eighth of the committee – which has twice allowed Democrats to run. By requiring a majority backing,

China has ensured that no Democrat can get on the ballot. Mrs Chan said there was “no chance” any Democrat would support the framework.

Li Fei, deputy secretary-general of China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee, said it would be a “big step backwards” if Legco did not back the plan. If it does not pass, the 2017 election will be run under the current system where the chief executive is elected by a 1,200-strong, mostly pro-Beijing, committee.

The debate over democracy has polarised Hong Kong. While people have more political rights than they had under British rule, critics of China are worried that the Communist party is weakening the territory’s freedoms.

Under the deal agreed by Margaret Thatcher and Deng Xiaoping, Hong Kong is governed under a “one country, two systems” principle that guarantees autonomy – except over foreign and defence policy – for 50 years after the 1997 handover.

But pro-democracy activists and many locals are increasingly concerned about the growing influence of China on Hong Kong.

In June, China published a “white paper” on Hong Kong which sparked concern by suggesting that Hong Kong judges needed to be “patriotic”, raisingquestions about judicial independence.

Putin call for ‘statehood’ talks on southeast Ukraine raises fears

Vladimir Putin has called for talks on the “statehood” of southeast Ukraine, in a provocative comment that will heighten fears Moscow is seeking the partition of the country.

The comments by the Russian president are the latest escalation in rhetoric from the Kremlin and come as Europe prepares to impose tougher sanctions against Moscow. They follow an intensification of fighting in eastern Ukraine that Kiev and western governments say is being fuelled by an inflow of Russian soldiers and equipment.

“We must immediately begin substantive, meaningful negotiations, not on technical questions but on questions of the political structure of society and of the statehood of southeast Ukraine in order to guarantee the legal interests of people who live there,” Mr Putin said in a television interview.

The use of the word “statehood”, while imprecise, is likely to antagonise Kiev. Dmitry Peskov, the president’s spokesman, sought to play down the remarks. He said Mr Putin had been calling for inclusive talks with the separatists to start as soon as possible, but that it was “absolutely wrong” to interpret his words as calling for independence for eastern Ukraine.

However, the escalation in the Ukraine conflict is likely to draw a western response this week. General Philip Breedlove, Nato’s supreme allied commander in Europe, said the alliance would “take head on” the engagement of Russian troops in Ukraine at a summit in Wales starting on Thursday. European leaders agreed on Saturday to prepare new sanctions against Moscow within a week.

In his TV interview, Mr Putin indirectly addressed allegations that Russian troops were fighting in Ukraine. “It must be taken into account that Russia cannot remain indifferent to the fact that people are being shot almost point-blank,” he said, before clarifying that he was referring to the Russian people, not the government.

Russia, which annexed Crimea following a disputed referendum in March, has been calling for the federalisation of Ukraine since the pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovich was ousted in February. However, Moscow has stopped short of calling for the independence or annexation of eastern Ukraine.

Mr Peskov said Mr Putin’s words were a call for “negotiations within Ukraine, addressing the internal, Ukrainian structures which would take into account the interests of the eastern regions of the country”.

Late last week, Mr Putin made an address to “the militia of Novorossiya” – a politically loaded term that rebels and Russian nationalists use for areas of south and eastern Ukraine for which they seek independence. Mr Putin has only used the term publicly once before.

The EU will this week begin drawing up a comprehensive blacklist of people and companies involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

However, there is still disagreement over the extent to which sanctions should be strengthened. Although Britain, France and Germany want harder measures against the Russian financial and energy sectors by the end of the week, many eastern European countries fear that a trade war with Moscow could cripple their economies.

The EU summit came after Kiev and the west accused Russia of direct military incursions to help pro-Russian separatists launch a new front with Ukraine’s army. Separatists seized the town of Novoazovsk which borders Russia in the country’s far south-eastern corner. Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the conflict.

On a recent visit to Novoazovsk, the FT saw a handful of better-equipped soldiers, standing out from average rebel forces. They resembled the so-called “green men”, Russian soldiers without identifying insignias who appeared throughout Crimea earlier this year.

 

However, none admitted to be being from Russia. Nato’s Gen Breedlove said “it’s clear Russian troops are engaged in eastern Ukraine”.

The capture of Novoazovsk threatens to reverse gains made by Ukraine’s army in past weeks towards encircling separatists in Donetsk and Lugansk, their stronghold cities further north.

Nato allies at odds over response to Russian aggression

Paratroopers from the US 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team participate in training exercises with the Polish 6th Airborne Brigade in north west Poland in May

In late March, Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, made a plea to Nato: put 10,000 troops in Poland, permanently, he asked.

But to the consternation of many in Poland and the Baltics, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, last week slapped down any notion of Nato boots in a long-term positioning on eastern European soil during a visit to Latvia.

In the wake of Russia’s land-grab in Ukraine, the debate over how Nato should respond has been an impassioned one that threatens to divide the alliance.

“What Ukraine has done is put in perspective Russia’s policy, which is threatening to overturn the basic principles of European security,” says Michael Clarke, director-general of the Royal United Services Institute in London. “There’s almost a view for some that we are walking into a new Cold War or a new 1930s.”

At its biennial summit this week, Nato will hope to bridge the member states’ divisions with the unveiling of its new “readiness action plan”, the result of weeks of detailed negotiation among alliance ambassadors in Brussels.

The plan is not yet set in stone and, hawkish critics warn, is at risk of degenerating into a feat of linguistic acrobatics with little substance.

The key sticking point has been whether Nato should discard – or bend – rules laid out in the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty and subsequent documents, which proscribe “new” permanent deployments of troops, effectively ruling out bases in eastern Europe and the Baltics.

Though Russia itself declared a moratorium on the CFE Treaty in 2007, Nato members such as Germany believe the alliance should still abide by the spirit of the document.

In crafting its new policy, Nato has therefore walked a careful line on troop deployments.

“We are not going to use any reference, not even in colloquial communication, on permanent basing,” says one senior Nato official. “We will talk about ‘appropriate presence’.”

What such “appropriate presence” may amount to has been left deliberately open-ended, the official added. The crucial shift in language, for the alliance, is on how the readiness plan will focus on Nato’s “frontier” – a reference to the Baltics and eastern Europe.

The plan calls for it to be strengthened with improved swift deployment capabilities and increased military exercises and deployments in frontier states.

“The deal with the Russians that there wouldn’t be any forward Nato positions in these ‘no mans’ states’ cannot be sustained,” says Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the chair of Britain’s parliamentary intelligence and security committee. “Nato assets must be positioned in all Nato countries that require them,” he says.

Sven Mikser, Estonia’s defence minister, told the Financial Times that he wants to see “an Allied presence on our soil as a way of reassurance and deterrence.”

But, Mr Mikser added: “We don’t mean The Cold War-style of a very heavy, static presence. We are not talking of divisions.”

The alliance’s plan will feature a new high-readiness brigade, capable of being deployed in hours and significant propositioning of materiel in Poland, as well as a permanent command centre at Szczecin on the Baltic coast.

Some of this will dovetail with ongoing Nato work. The US has just begun to put in place its new “European Activity Set”, a battalion-sized arsenal first used in military exercises in June. Currently based in Grafenwoehr in Germany, it will be relatively easy to relocate the EAS to Poland, replicate it there, or augment it.

A more significant part of the plan will be the increased military exercises and deployments.

Nato allies have already ramped up their efforts in the wake of the Ukraine crisis. The US, for example, has deployed 600 paratroopers from its 173rd Airborne Brigade equally divided between basis at Swidwin in Poland, Paldiski in Estonia, Adazi in Latvia, and Rukla in Lithuania. Denmark, France and Britain have meanwhile sent fighter jets to Amari in Estonia and Malbork in Poland.

But even Nato’s biggest military exercises do not come close to matching the scale of those undertaken on its borders by Russia. Spring Storm, the largest ever Baltic war game in late May involved 6,000 troops. By comparison, Russia’s emergency war-games on the Ukrainian and Baltic state borders in February involved 150,000 troops.

“I don’t think we will go back to a full Cold War-type posture where we had millions of troops involved in exercises on both sides of the Fulda Gap,” says Admiral James Stavridis, who until last year was Nato’s supreme allied commander and is now dean of the Fletcher School at Tuft’s university. But Mr Stavridis predicted a sizeable increase from the slimmed-down exercises of the past decade.

“In two words,” he says, “the message we need to send is unity and capability.”

Update: The Netherlands set to join Nato rapid reaction force in Ukraine

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has described Russia’s latest moves in Ukraine as ‘extremely worrying’ as claims emerge the Netherlands is to join a 10,000 strong Nato mission to halt Putin’s expansionism.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels, Rutte said Russia is doing nothing to stabilise the situation in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops are fighting alongside pro-Russian rebels.

Rutte also wants the European Commission to investigate the impact of European sanctions against Russia to date. He believes the economic consequences are considerable but that Russian president Vladimir Putin is ignoring them, news agency ANP reported.

Bitcoin promoter to plead guilty to unlicensed money transmission

Bitcoin entrepreneur Charlie Shrem has reached a plea deal to resolve U.S. charges that he engaged in a scheme to sell over $1 million of the digital currency to users of illicit online marketplace Silk Road, his lawyer said Friday.

Shrem, the former vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, will plead guilty next Thursday in New York federal court to unlicensed money transmission, Marc Agnifilo, his lawyer told Reuters in an email.

Prosecutors had previously charged Shrem with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, money laundering conspiracy and failing to file suspicious activity reports with government banking authorities.

Federal authorities shut down Silk Road last year, though a new Internet marketplace under the same name was launched in November. Prosecutors contend Silk Road enabled users to buy and sell illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services.

Soon after his arrest in January, Shrem stepped down from his role at the Bitcoin Foundation, a well-known trade group. He was previously CEO of BitInstant, a bitcoin exchange company.

A notice of a plea hearing in the case of Shrem and his co-defendant, Robert Faiella, was included in a calendar distributed by court officials earlier Friday.

It was not immediately clear if Faiella, a Florida man who faced similar charges as Shrem, will plead guilty or move ahead with trial Sept. 22. He has previously pleaded not guilty.

But Faiella, 54, is expected to fly to New York for the hearing, according to a court order filed Friday.

A lawyer for Faiella did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara declined comment.

Prosecutors are pursuing a separate case against Ross William Ulbricht, the man accused of creating and operating Silk Road under the name “Dread Pirate Roberts.” He is set to face trial Nov. 3.

The case is U.S. v. Faiella, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 14-cr-00243.

Turkish army chief says has not seen road map for Kurdish peace process

Turkish army chief Necdet Özel and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during Victory Day ceremonies. AA Photo

Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel said he does not know the content of the road map of the peace process led by the government to end the 30-year-long Kurdish issue.

“The government has a policy and this policy is ongoing. We do not know the road map of the peace process. Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay has said their work would be sent to public institutions, nothing has been sent [to us] yet,”

Gen. Özel told reporters during a reception on Victory Day on Aug. 30 at the Çankaya Presidential Palace in Ankara, hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his wife.

Özel said he can comment on the road map after he sees it.

 

Özel also said “what’s necessary will be done if the red lines are exceeded.” Responding a question pertaining to whether the “red lines” have changed in past decade over the issue,

Özel said there are some differences over the definition of “red lines” on the Kurdish issue today compared to 10 years ago. Recalling that the government seeks to end the Kurdish problem with the ongoing peace process,

Özel said “They [the government] say mothers should not cry any more. This is what we want too.” Özel also underlined that the unity of the country is significant for them and that is the red line.

In a separate subject, Gen. Özel said they have not received any official application over the introduction of paid military service yet. Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz previously said they have been working on reintroducing paid military service.

Özel also responded the question over the release of several military officers, including high-level soldiers, from the prison after the Constitutional Court’s decision over the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) coup plot case trials.

“The Constitutional Court made its decision, our friends are free. What’s important for me is they are free now. I am relieved right now, but the cases have not concluded yet. I will be very happy if they are acquitted. This is what I wish now. It’s important to close this case,” he said upon questions about the release of Balyoz case suspects.

Gen. Özel also said they have demanded information and files from the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the Security General Directorate over the claims about the “parallel structure” within the army.

The term “parallel structure” is widely used by the Turkish government to define the members of the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen who allegedly infiltrated the state institutions and collected information for their own agenda. Özel said they cannot take any action with notices and need concrete files and evidences.

EU to expand Russia sanctions in a week

The EU gave itself one more week to decide how to expand economic sanctions against Moscow on Sunday, although Ukraine’s president warned that time was running out to prevent a full-scale war.

Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president, attended an EU summit in Brussels to urge the 28-member bloc – Russia’s most significant trade partner – to use its economic leverage to prevent an escalation of the conflict.

“I think that we are very close to the point of no-return. The point of no return is full-scale war, which has already happened in the territory controlled by separatists and regular Russian troops,” Mr Poroshenko said.

Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, insisted the EU would select more targets for sanctions within a week but rejected suggestions that the West could arm Ukraine.

“We shouldn’t even create the impression that with weapons shipments and strengthening the Ukrainian army we could create a solution,” she said.

In their conclusions recommending sanctions, the 28 states said the European Commission, the EU’s legislative arm, should “include in its proposal a provision on the basis of which every person and institution dealing with the separatist groups in the Donbass will be listed.”

Despite increasing evidence of Russian troops fighting in eastern Ukraine, the EU remains divided on how severely to toughen sanctions.

Several nations fear that harder measures will spark an open trade war with Russia, which has threatened to retaliate against core European manufacturing industries. Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Cyprus expressed concerns about a tightened embargo, which must be unanimously agreed, a diplomatic source told the Financial Times.

Still, the larger EU nations such as Britain and France are likely to secure a list of further targets by the end of the week. François Hollande, French president, said the sanctions “have to be set and fully implemented and durably so”.

Ms Merkel said that the forthcoming sanctions would target the same sectors as earlier measures, meaning banking, energy and defence.

Russia reacted to last month’s sanctions imposed by Brussels by banning food imports from the EU. Threatening a deeper trade conflict, Moscow has said that it could extend its embargo to aerospace, cars and shipbuilding.

Dalia Grybauskaite, Lithuania’s president, had argued before the summit that EU support should go further than the imposition of sanctions. “Russia is practically at war with Europe,” she said. “We need militarily to support and send military materials to Ukraine.

Mr Poroshenko declined to answer whether he would seek foreign arms, against the wishes of Ms Merkel and Mr Hollande, but said that military relations between Ukraine and the West were reaching a “new stage” before a Nato summit in Wales next week.

Vladimir Chizhov, the Russian ambassador to the EU, said accusations Russian troops had joined the fight were “highly regrettable” and said they were the work of “Kiev’s propaganda” intended to goad European leaders into another round of sanctions.

The most hardline approach to further sanctions would involve preventing Russia from selling sovereign bonds, limiting its access to syndicated bank loans and restricting its purchases of high-tech gas equipment.

But diplomats said it was more likely that those measures would be kept in reserve and that a greater range of Russian companies would be denied access to western financial instruments.

Earlier sanctions targeted sales of high-tech European equipment needed for Russian oil projects. The next round could expand this to include kit needed for gas projects, including liquefied natural gas.

Fears of massacre after accusations Russians reneged on safe passage for rebels

Ukrainian forces said pro-Putin forces went back on a promise to allow them to leave encircled town

Ukrainian volunteer battalions claim “hundreds” of their men have been killed and dozens taken prisoner after pro-Russian forces reneged on an agreement to allow them to withdraw from a besieged town 20 miles east of Donetsk.

The losses came during attempts to withdraw from Ilovaisk, a town of southeast of Donetsk where a Ukrainian force had been surrounded for more than 10 days.

Following days of intense fighting and repeated failures to relieve the trapped troops, the Ukrainian government announced it would surrender the town on Saturday, under a deal that would allow them to withdraw through a so-called “green corridor.”

But Ukrainian troops who escaped the encirclement yesterday said that pro-Russian forces had reneged on the agreement, firing on them as they tried to escape.

“We came from Ilovaisk bearing white flags,” said one soldier told AP.“They shot us from all sides. We were not engaged in military actions. We were just on the move.”

The exact extent of Ukrainian losses is still unclear, but the pro-Kiev Crimea battalion, one of the groups fighting in the area, said “hundreds of bodies” littered the corridor and “dozens of prisoners” had been taken.

^{Ukrainian troops sit in a truck outside the village of Starobesheve after fleeing from the town of Ilovaisk, which was encircled by Russian-backed rebels over a number of days (AP)}

“There was no kind of corridor at all. They started shooting at the column. We broke through two encirclements to get out,” the battalion said on its official Facebook page.

Videos that have emerged online show dozens of Ukrainian prisoners being interrogated by their captors.

Meanwhile, pictures emerged on social media of the remains of destroyed Ukrainian columns who were reportedly fired upon as they fled through a “corridor” created to allow them to withdraw.

Semyon Semenchenko, the commander of the largest volunteer battalion trapped in the town, claimed that his men had surrendered not to rebel fighters but to Russian soldiers.

^{An injured Ukrainian fighter of the national guard’s paramilitary Donbass battalion, lies on the floor after a fight with separatist militants in Ilovaisk (EPA)}

He neared the Russian units involved as from the 137th Regiment of the 32nd Division of the Russian army and the Ninth Tank Brigade.

The claims could not be immediately verified.

The battle for Ilovaisk has exposed growing tensions within the Ukrainian war-effort, with Mr Semenchenko more than once openly criticising the government for failing to send a relief force to rescue the trapped troops.

In a Facebook post, Mr Semenchenko said his main goal was “to save people,” and that he would be entering intense negotiations to get the prisoners released.

The catastrophe is the latest defeat in a series of setbacks for Ukrainian forces since pro-Russian separatists launched multi-pronged counter-offensive last week.

^{People of Ilovaisk hide from bombardment by the Ukrainian Army, in the basement of a residential house (CAMERA PRESS)}

The Ukrainian and Western governments say that the offensive has been bolstered by regular Russian army troops, who have brought artillery and armour to bear to turn the tide in the bitter conflict here.

Russia denies its troops are involved in the fighting.

Putin: Impossible to say when political crisis in Ukraine will end

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on Kiev to start substantial talks on deescalating the crisis in eastern Ukraine. He added that it’s an illusion to expect that the rebels would calmly watch their homes being destroyed.

“We have agreed on a plan, so its realization must be pursued,” Putin told Channel 1 TV, adding that the Ukrainian government “must immediately start substantial talks – not a technical discussion – on the political organization of society and the state in southeast Ukraine so that the interests of people who live there are protected.”

Putin said that, while the resolution of the crisis now mostly depends on Kiev, it is impossible to say when it may end. He said it could be explained by the upcoming Ukrainian parliamentary elections.

“All the participants in the electoral race will want to show how cool they are,” Putin said. “Everyone will want to show they are strongmen or strongwomen, and as the political struggle sharpens it is hard to expect anyone to seek a peaceful resolution and not a military one.”

At the same time, the rebels can hardly be expected to sit and patiently wait for the promised talks to start, Putin noted, especially when they see “cities and towns in Ukraine’s south-east are shelled to ground point-blank.”

While Obama is distracted by ISIS, Russia and China pounce

Russia and China are betting that they can score points against President Obama while he’s tied up dealing with the growing threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

In the past week, Russian troops have crossed into Ukraine to aid separatists fighting the government in Kiev, and Chinese officials increased their rhetorical assault on U.S. surveillance flights over the South China Sea — in spite of talks designed to prevent incidents such as the Aug. 19 near-collision between a U.S. Navy spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet sent to intercept it.

The cascade of crises is leading some to ask if the president is becoming predictable to adversaries such as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“He’s clearly playing off the reality that the United States is eyeball-deep in another crisis in theMiddle East,” retired Lt. Gen. David Barno said of Putin.

Aside from the political pressure for decisive action against ISIS from lawmakers of both parties, Obama must deal with the fact that the Islamist extremist group is an immediate threat to the safety of U.S. troops and diplomats advising Iraqi Arab and Kurdish leaders, as well as captured journalist Steven Sotloff. The group has already killed U.S. journalist James Foley.

Though he admitted Thursday that “we don’t have a strategy yet,” Obama convened a National Security Council meeting to discuss measures for dealing with ISIS, saying before the meeting that “my priority at this point is to make sure that the gains that [ISIS] made in Iraq are rolled back, and that Iraq has the opportunity to govern itself effectively and secure itself.”

Meanwhile, Obama deferred further action on Ukraine until next week’s NATO summit in Britain and stopped short of calling Russia’s action an “invasion,” as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko described it.

But Barno, a former U.S. commander in Afghanistan who is now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, noted that U.S. priorities “could change overnight. This is an extraordinarily volatile situation.”

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk seemed to prove that point Friday when he announced that his government would ask parliament to put the country on the path toward NATO membership— a step that would obligate the United States to defend Ukraine.

That’s a distinction Obama took pains to note in his statement, saying the U.S. takes seriously its treaty commitment to defend every NATO country from aggression. Though he also said Americans “stand shoulder to shoulder” with Ukraine and announced that Poroshenko would visit the White House on Sept. 18, Obama made clear that “we are not taking military action to solve the Ukrainian problem.”

Obama is also facing pressure from within his own administration. At an emergency Security Council meeting, U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power pointedly declared that Russian aggression in Ukraine must be stopped.

“How can we tell those countries that border Russia that their peace and sovereignty is guaranteed if we do not make our message heard on Ukraine?” she asked. “Why should they believe it will be different if tomorrow, President Putin decides to start supporting armed separatists and allowing soldiers ‘on vacation’ to fight in their countries? And, just as important, what message are we sending to other countries with similarly alarming ambitions around the world, when we let Russia violate these rules without sufficient consequences?

“In the face of this threat, the cost of inaction is unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, at a news conference Thursday, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters that U.S. surveillance near China’s coastline must stop — a demand the Pentagon has already rejected.

“If the United States does not want to affect bilateral ties, it must reduce and ultimately stop such reconnaissance,” Yang said.

The official People’s Daily newspaper reprinted an editorial from a tabloid it controls that suggested if the U.S. flights do not stop, China would conduct its own reconnaissance off U.S. coasts.

The best way for Obama to stop being pulled in different directions is to change his approach to foreign policy, which feeds the impression that the U.S. isn’t always paying attention, said James Carafano, vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the Heritage Foundation and a former columnist for the Washington Examiner.

U.S. rivals have had six years to watch Obama, and have noticed a clear pattern of passive, incremental, risk-averse behavior toward international crises that offer opportunities to gain ground at U.S. expense, he said.

“He’s been very, very predictable,” Carafano said.

Iraqi Forces Start Operation to Liberate Amerly District against Islamic State

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iraqi security forces started a military operation to liberate Amerly district in Salahuddin province from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists.

“The volunteers and the security forces supported by the air force started a military operation to liberate Amerly district from the ISIL terrorists,” an informed source said.

“The operation will break the siege imposed over Amerly district,” General Commander of Dijla Operations Command Abdulameer al-Zaidi stated.

Thousands of Turkmen Shiites have been under the siege of Takfiri militants in Tuz Khurmatu, Salahuddin province in Iraq.

Nearly 30,000 Turkmen residents are suffering lack of food and water due to the siege imposed by the so-called ISIL terrorists in Amerly town.

The ISIL militants have besieged the residents of Amerly for over 80 days now.

A local Iraqi official Abu Ali said that the central government has sent humanitarian aid to the region, but the aid consignments are insufficient because the terrorists have blocked many entries to the district.

The Turkmen Shiites also suffer from the power cut and medical treatment insufficiencies, Abu Ali warned.

ISIL militants besieged Amerly town on June 10, after they managed to occupy some villages in the area.

More than a hundred of Iraqi legislators have called for holding an emergency meeting to discuss the exacerbation of the situation in Amerly.

Pakistan Protests: 144 Injured, 4 Women Dead as Police Fires Tear Gas on Protesters near PM House

As anti-government protesters marched towards Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s official residence to overthrow the government on Saturday (30 August), security forces fired at the protesters with tear gas, targeting a majority of women and children, injuring 144 and leaving 4 women reportedly dead, confirmed ARY News.

“The government has a limit as well. No one forced women and children to take part in the protests, they joined in willingly. You live by sword, you die by sword. We were forced to take action. We had no choice but to use force,” said Defence Minister, Khawaja Asif.

Approximately 144 people are injured, with a majority of casualties reportedly being women and children. Four women have also been confirmed dead at the Polyclinic Hospital in Islamabad, reported ARY News.

Meanwhile PM Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister, Chaudhry Nisar, are turning a blind eye to the security forces offensive.

“A mob wants to capture the Parliament House and the Prime Minister house. Police and I have taken an oath to protect Pakistan and all institutions and this is what they [police] are doing,” said Nisar as he met with the police at the Red Zone area in Islamabad.

Earlier in the day, PM Sharif played down the protests as a small storm that will pass.

“The demands that were acceptable have been accepted. You have seen how many people there are at the protests and how many chairs are empty,” said PM Sharif.

Both Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader, Imran Khan, and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT)  leader, Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri, had requested their supporters to peacefully march towards the PM house before the situation got bloody. 

Targeted Attacks on Women and Children

Critics on ARY News said that the attacks on women and children were planned so the men could be deterred from marching ahead and progressing the Azadi (Freedom) March.

It has also been reported that injured people are being hidden behind police containers in the Red Zone to prevent the mounting casulaties from being reported in the media.

Doctors across the capital have also been instructed not to comment on the number reportedly injured, as the government wants to take ownership of the media, reported ARY News.

In other news, two helicopters have reportedly flown from Islamabad to Lahore carrying gold and other valuables from PM Nawaz Sharif’s house.

NATO’s summit – Mr Putin’s wake-up call

The Western alliance is responding better to Russian aggression in Ukraine. But there is more to do

THE fighting in Ukraine, which Vladimir Putin further escalated this week by sending Russian forces over the border, provides a sombre backdrop to the NATO summit in Wales.

But it ensures that the meeting on September 4th will not have to spend time agonising over what the 65-year-old alliance is for (see article). The timing was originally meant to coincide with the end of combat operations in Afghanistan in January.

Around 14,000 American and NATO troops may remain in the country to “train, advise and assist” Afghan security forces for a few years more.

 

But the summit’s main task, thanks to Mr Putin, is a return to NATO’s old business: ensuring that when it pledges to defend its members, it can do so.

The alliance was hesitant, at first, when Russia forcibly annexed Crimea in March. It took a few modest steps to reassure the new members closest to Russia that NATO stood by its obligation under Article 5: an attack on one is an attack on all.

But despite the energetic leadership of the outgoing secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, some members (notably the Germans, the Italians and the Dutch) were loth to be “provocative” towards the Russians; a subsequent Polish request for 10,000 troops, including a sizeable American contingent, to be permanently based in that country was rejected, because it was too close to Russia’s borders.

Thankfully, appeasement of Mr Putin is no longer on the cards. Russia’s orchestration of the civil war in east Ukraine and the shooting down of MH17, with 193 Dutch nationals on board, by separatists recklessly armed by the Kremlin have hardened European opinion.

It is clear that the alliance must prepare to deal with an antagonistic Russia for a long time to come. Yet, even now, the risk is that NATO will do too little.

The summit is likely to back a “readiness action plan” aimed at strengthening deterrence. It is good—but not good enough. A new high-readiness brigade will be formed, deployable within hours; heavy weapons will be pre-positioned in Poland which could be used later by “follow-on” forces; and a new command-centre will be established.

Yet NATO would send a stronger signal to Russia if it had followed the Polish suggestion and set up a base for 10,000 combat troops there.

One-way street

This would contravene the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act, which was intended to end the mutual suspicions of the cold war and pave the way for partnership between the alliance and Russia. However, Mr Putin has never treated NATO as anything but an enemy. So NATO members have no need to feel bound by a document that is not honoured by the other side.

NATO’s European members should show their serious intent in another way, too. Fiscal austerity and a false sense of security have resulted in years of defence-budget cuts, whereas Russia has doubled its military spending (in nominal terms) since 2007.

The complacent assumption in European capitals has always been that America would fill any capability gaps. Mr Rasmussen says that Mr Putin’s “wake-up call” has jolted half of NATO’s members into promising not to cut further, but that is not enough. In 2006 all member countries pledged to spend 2% of their GDP on defence.

In Europe only Britain, France, Greece and Estonia come even close (although Poland is getting there). What NATO needs above all is more deployable and better-equipped forces—and European leaders prepared to tell their voters why they should pay for them.

Dozens of UN troops trapped by Syrian rebels freed under fire

Around three dozen Filipino UN peacekeepers surrounded and trapped by Syrian rebels for the past few days were rescued under fire by other UN forces, news agencies reported Saturday evening.

Irish UNDOF soldiers participated in the rescue efforts, according to a statement by the Irish forces.

“Irish forces secured a route for the captured UNDOF troops to retreat to, and escorted them until they reached [safety],” the statement said.

“They were safely extracted, nearly three dozen of them,” a UN official told Reuters, though he noted that several dozen others were still trapped by rebel forces, with another 44 Fijian peacekeepers being held by the militants.

Earlier Saturday 75 UNDOF peacekeepers in the Golan Heights fled Syrian territory for the Israeli-controlled Golan after their positions were attacked by rebel forces.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that a number of UN peacekeepers entered Israel. He spoke on condition of anonymity. Channel 2 said 75 UN troops had crossed the borders, after two UN positions on the Syrian side of the border were targeted by al-Nusra rebel forces.

Clashes continued in the area through Saturday.

Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told reporters Saturday in a series of text messages that Filipino troops manning one UN encampment had been “extricated,” while soldiers in another encampment were “now under attack.”

Asked if there was a fresh firefight Saturday, Gazmin replied: “Yes.”

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala later told AFP that “there is still an ongoing standoff but there was a firefight earlier today.”

“All our troops are safe,” he said.

Activists and officials confirmed to AP that clashes had erupted between the al-Qaida-linked Syrian rebels and UN peacekeepers, after the militants surrounded their encampment.

They also said other UN peacekeepers were able to flee from a different encampment that that was also surrounded by rebels of the Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate.

The clashes came after Syrian rebel groups, including the Nusra Front, overran the Quneitra crossing — located on the frontier between Syrian and Israeli controlled parts of the Golan Heights — on Wednesday, seizing the 44 Fijian peacekeepers.

The Nusra Front also surrounded the nearby Rwihana and Breiqa encampments, where other UN peacekeepers were holed up.

Saturday’s gunbattle began early in the morning at the Rwihana base some 1.5 miles (2.3 kilometers) from Quneitra, where 40 Filipino peacekeepers were surrounded by Nusra fighters who were ordering them to surrender, said Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Abdurrahman, whose information comes from a network of activists throughout Syria, said he was not aware of any fatalities among the 40 Filipino peacekeepers in the Rwihana encampment as sporadic fighting continued throughout the day.

The 35 Filipino UN peacekeepers at the Breiqa encampment were extracted on Saturday morning, with the assistance of Irish peacekeepers who rushed to the scene, said officials.

The Irish UN peacekeeper battalion, which is tasked with emergency responses, evacuated all the Filipino UN peacekeepers on Saturday morning, said a military official.

He said there was no shooting involved, and no injuries. He said that the Irish battalion also evacuated another base on Friday but provided no further details.

Gazmin confirmed that peacekeepers from his country were “extricated.”

The Nusra Front has recently seized hostages to exchange for prisoners detained in Syria and Lebanon.

The situation of the peacekeepers, tasked with monitoring a 1974 disengagement accord between Syria and Israel, remains “very, very fluid,” the UN secretary-general’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters Friday at the UN headquarters in New York.

The UN said in a statement that it had received assurances from credible sources that the 44 Fijian peacekeepers seized Wednesday “are safe and in good health.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the detention of the Fijians and called for their immediate release.

The UN mission, known as UNDOF, has 1,223 troops from six countries: Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands and the Philippines.

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk expected to become top EU official

EU leaders have unanimously chosen Poland’s prime minister as president of the European Council, giving a country from the ex-Communist bloc its first European leadership position since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Donald Tusk, who will now chair all EU summits and represent the bloc’s prime minsters in legislative fights, will be joined atop the union’s Brussels-based bureaucracy by Federica Mogherini, the Italian foreign minister who was chosen EU foreign policy chief.

Mr Tusk, the centre-right premier since 2007, had faced some opposition from Europe’s centre-left Socialists and other leaders concerned that his limited language skills – he speaks poor English and no French – would make it hard for him to broker deals among the EU’s 28 leaders, the Council president’s primary job.

David Cameron, the UK prime minister, had also resisted his candidacy last month after the two had fallen out over EU migration issues. That gave new life to Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the Danish prime minister who was originally backed by Mr Cameron and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.

But once Mr Cameron reached a truce with Mr Tusk in a phone call last week, opposition began to fade away, and the Pole was selected quickly by leaders at a Brussels summit.

“I come from a country that deeply believes in a united Europe,” Mr Tusk said after the vote. “I am also convinced there is no intelligent alternative to the EU.”

“I congratulate Donald Tusk. He is a very competent and experienced politician who has been important to Poland,” Ms Thorning-Schmidt said after his selection. “He will be a good and result-oriented president of the European Council who will listen to member states. I look forward to co-operating with him.”

Ms Mogherini’s selection could prove more controversial. Italy’s foreign minister for only six months with a record that some eastern European countries believe is insufficiently tough on Russia, Ms Mogherini’s nomination appeared stalled last month after the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

But intensive lobbying by Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, and the selection of Mr Tusk – who represents a country that is among the most hardline on Russia policy within the EU – placated the holdouts. In addition, Ms Merkel told colleagues she did not want to pick a fight with Mr Renzi at a time when she had more substantive disagreements with Rome on economic policy.

 

Nepal: 249 dead, 252 missing, 153 injured in floods, landslide

In the flood and landslide incidents across the country, 249 people have died, 252 are missing and 153 are wounded, while the destruction amounts to more than Rs 470 million as of now, says the Home Ministry.

Flood and landslide have affected 41 districts. Most of the destructions have been recorded in Sindhupalchowk district, as 50 have died there and the number of missing is 124.

Likewise, in Surkhet, 34 have died and 91 are missing and in Bardiya, 27 have died and 12 are missing. In Dang and Banke, 15 people each have died.

A total of 16169 families have been displaced, says the National Emergency Work Performance Centre.

Various organizations have donated more than RS 250 million to the Prime Minister’s Central Natural Disaster Relief Fund.

However, Rs 96.6 million has been released and only Rs 26.6 million has been distributed to the flood and landslide victims, so far.

The government has been alleged of being slow in distributing relief to the victims. On this, the government officials admit that there is some delay in their works.

“Government work is unlike an NGO work where a single man takes the decision, as we have to accomplish so many processes and that’s why there is certain level of delay,” the government officials say.

Various NGOs including Nepal Red Cross, Save the Children, Oxfam, Care Nepal, etc have focused their relief distribution works on mostly affected people, pregnant women and children.

Despite efforts from the government and NGOs to provide relief to the victims, a sustainable solution to their plight still appears as a distant dream.

Russia Says It Will Respond To NATO Troop Rotations In East

Moscow will take steps to respond if NATO begins regular troop rotations in the Baltics, Russia’s permanent mission to NATO said on Wednesday.

The warnings come after NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told The Guardian newspaper it was likely there would be regular troops rotations in the Baltics.

Baltic officials have called for a permanent NATO presence in the region amid the crisis in the Ukraine and what they see as a threat from Russia.

Soldiers with the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo during a military exercise in July.

But Russia’s Foreign Ministry say the NATO military drills would harm security in the region.

“More visible NATO military presence in the east will be detrimental to the Euro-Atlantic stability. Russia will react to NATO moves eastwards with a view to ensure its security,” the foreign ministry wrote on its twitter account.

“NATO is willing to satisfy its eastern allies in their phobias. What about fighting real challenges to international security?” another “tweet” indicates.

“One should not be misled by the term “rotation”. What matters is permanence of NATO presence in the East,” the ministry also said.

A major NATO summit in Wales next week will discuss the deployment of allied armed forces in military bases in east Europe, Rasmussen told “The Guardian” on Tuesday.

The Cardiff summit is likely to come up with a solution for calls to a permanent NATO presence, alliance sources said, which would avoid the term “permanent” for the new bases. But the impact will be to have constantly manned NATO facilities east of what used to be the iron curtain.

Rasmussen said that the bases could be established on a rotation basis.

“The point is that any potential aggressor should know that if they were to even think of an attack against a NATO ally they will meet not only soldiers from that specific country but they will meet NATO troops. This is what is important,” said Rasmussen.

When asked whether there would be permanent international deployments under a NATO flag in east Europe, Rasmussen said:

“The brief answer is yes. To prevent misunderstanding I use the phrase “for as long as necessary”. Our eastern allies will be satisfied when they see what is actually in the readiness action plan.”

The Mysteries and Tragedy of Russia’s Bottomless Karst Lake (PHOTOS)

The water is serene but deathly cold – and danger lurks beneath its surface. Yet, in the aquatic depths the promise of discovering hidden underwater caves and relics of our past awaits. Here, beauty and allure belie risks – but risks that some are prepared to take.

“A sapphire in a ring of green trees.” That’s how this stunning lake has been described. Even on overcast days, the water has a deep, crystal blue color like the gemstone to which it has been compared.

But there is much more than splendor to this lake. Beneath its smooth surface lie mysteries as yet unsolved. And some of these are secrets that the lake will not easily give up; at least, not if the recent tragic death of one diving explorer and the hospitalization of another are read as telltale signs.

9 Magical Zen Gardens

Zen garden is an interesting and deeply spiritual aspect of Japanese gardening traditions. The typical Zen garden consists of an enclosed and shallow sand box of sorts which features predominantly sand or gravel with rocks of various shapes and sizes.

The rocks and sand (or gravel) are the chief elements of the garden, which generally creates the scene of islands in the sea. The sand or gravel in a Zen garden represents the sea or ocean and is used instead of water. It will be carefully raked by tending monks to create the impression of waves on the surface of a body of water.

The rocks themselves represent islands or rock formations jutting out from the water. The overall goal is to create a small-scale recreation of an aerial or cliff-top view of an intricate coastal scene. One of the primary differences between a Zen garden and most other varieties is the lack of living elements. Although grass may sometimes be included, no other plant or flower species will be found in a classic Zen garden.

This can be both unusual and exotically appealing to people with no past experience with the history and meaning of a Zen garden.

The world’s most extraordinary hotels in pictures

Mihir Garh, Rajasthan 
“The fort sits in splendid isolation amid the Thar Desert near Jodhpur. It looks like an enormous sandcastle, a mirage, and is not just a unique place to stay; it’s a shrine to the artistic and architectural traditions of Rajasthan in general and Jodhpur in particular.”

Planet Baobab, Botswana
“Botswana’s Makgadigadi Pan comprises the world’s largest network of salt pans – a thirsty, mirage-inducing landscape of flat, shimmering expanses under hard blue skies. Halfway along the sole tarred road through this arid moonscape, a statue of an anteater towers at the dusty verge. It is a surreal sight, and an appropriate signpost for the distinctive Planet Baobab.”

Prendiparte B&B, Bologna, Italy
“A medieval high-rise turned romantic hideaway, the Torre Prendiparte is unlike anywhere else you’ll ever stay. The living area is on the first two floors and comprises a snug, classically-furnished living room, mezzanine bedroom, and kitchen. Above this is the former jail where you can still see graffiti left by prisoners on the 2m-thick walls.”

Qasr al Sarab, UAE
“Rising from the shifting sands, Qasr Al Sarab appears like a mirage on the edge of the vast Empty Quarter desert. Outside high crenellated walls echo fortresses of old. Inside rooms continue the dream of Arabian Nights with sumptuous fabrics, carved Islamic designs, woven rugs, wooden doors and metalwork lanterns.”

Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, Tasmania, Australia
“A stay at Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge plunges you into the heart of Tasmania’s wilderness, with luxury that feels as organic as your surrounds. The cabins are nestled privately in the bushland, with wallabies bounding past the windows and wombats shuffling amid the trees.”

Free Spirit Spheres, British Columbia, Canada
“Suspended in the trees on sturdy guide ropes, Vancouver Island’s Free Spirit Spheres look like giant eyeballs peering deep into the British Columbia woodlands. Step inside and the handmade orbs – accessed via spiral rope staircases or slender steel bridges – are lined like comfy boat cabins with built-in beds and cabinets.”

Taskonak Hotel, Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey
“Göreme has dozens of beautiful cave-hotels but Taşkonak manages to dish up the cave-suites and stupendous views Cappadocia is famous for without breaking your budget.”

Thonga Beach Lodge, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa
“One of few such lodges within the extraordinary 328,000 hectare iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a Unesco world heritage site.”

Saugerties Lighthouse, New York state, USA
“Saugerties Lighthouse is a historic 1869 landmark that makes a wonderful base for exploring the scenic Hudson valley. It is 100 miles north of New York City, and the red brick building has played a pivotal role in safely guiding steamboats, barges and other vessels safely along the Hudson river over the years. More recently (in the mid 1990s), the lighthouse was transformed into a two-room B&B, providing safe haven of a different sort.”

The Gibbon Experience Treehouse, Bokeo Reserve, Laos
“The tree houses erected by conservation group Animo are a thing of architectural wonder, straddling the giant trunks of strangler fig trees. But more extraordinary still is that to reach these vertiginous eyries you’ll have to trek through the fecund realm of the tiger, then catch a series of exhilarating zip lines strung across the forest canopy, before flying into your night’s accommodation.”

Amazing color pictures from 1960s Budapest

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National Geographic Photo Contest

 

 

 

 

100 years old pictures in colours before World War I

Türkei, Bursa, Ladengeschaeft einer Confiserie, Auguste Leon, 1. Juni 1913

Vietnam. Tonkin, Leon Busy, 1914

Indien, Statue des Heiligen Stiers, Stephane Passet, 29. Januar 1914

Österreich, Wien, Judengasse, Fotograf unbekannt, 23. April 1913

Mongolei, nahe Ulaanbaatar Urga, Stéphane Passet, 23. Juli 1913

Irland, Galway, Marguerite Mespoulet, 26. Mai 1913

Indien, Uttar Pradesh, Agra. Mausoleum Taj Mahal von Shah Jahan für Mumtaz Mahal, Stéphane Passet, 19.-21. Januar 1914

Indien, Amritsar. Marmorne Strasse zum Goldenden Tempel, neben den rituellen Reinigungsbecken, dem Darbar Sahib und dem Hari Mandir, Stéphane Passet, 15. Januar 1914

China, nach Kalgan. Nomadenlager, drei Männer und ein Junge vor einer Jurte, Stéphane Passet, 18.-21. Juli 1912

Water pipe smoking. Samarkand

Mongolei, Ulaanbaatar. Der Finanzminister des unabhängigen Staats Mongolei auf dem Marktplatz, Stéphane Passet, 22. Juli 1913

Major Lazer & DJ Snake – Lean On (feat. MØ)

Listen To A Rare 1965 Recording Of Stanley Kubrick’s Most Profound Interview

When physicist and renowned author Jeremy Bernstein (born December 31, 1929) penned a terrific piece on 37-year-old burgeoning director Stanley Kubrick for The New Yorker, the story gained so much attention that Bernstein was commissioned to write an even more elaborate profile of the legendary filmmaker. Normally Kubrick would have flat-out refused, however, he agreed due to the fact that he shared a common passion with Bernstein — chess. When Bernstein travelled to Oxford, England for the conversation on November 27, 1965 it was also captured on tape. The interview remains to this day one of the most profound conversations with Kubrick ever recorded, and you can listen to it in full below.

Helios – Hope Valley Hill (Arms and Sleepers Remix)

Keith Kenniff – Helios

Mac DeMarco // “Brother” (OFFICIAL SINGLE)

 

Alan Watts: Sense of Nonsense

November 27, 1965: A Rare Recording of Stanley Kubrick’s Most Revealing Interview

“People react primarily to direct experience and not to abstractions; it is very rare to find anyone who can become emotionally involved with an abstraction.”

George Orwell on how to make the perfect cup of tea

Excerpt from Orwell’s fantastic 1946 essay outlining his 11 “golden” rules of tea /

Harald Grosskopf’s 1979 Masterpiece “Synthesist” Is 7 Minutes Of Pure Amazingness

Yesterday TEEN DAZE released a new mixtape which you can stream and download by visiting ThePlayground.co.uk.  The 8-track collection provides a perfect ambient backdrop for pretty much any situation, but the crown jewel of the mixtape is unquestionably Harald Grosskopf’s brilliant track “Synthesist”.

Shanghai Tower (650 meters)

Raskalov and Russian photographer Vadim Mahora broke into and climbed the Gensler-designed Shanghai Tower, soon to be China’s tallest and the world’s second tallest skyscraper at 632 meters (2,074 feet) high. Although the tower will eventually boast the world’s fastest elevators (reaching 40mph), the pair had to climb the 120 flights of stairs by foot (taking them about two hours); they then spent another 18 hours sleeping and waiting for the weather to clear. The staggering resulting images show not just the dizzying heights, but also fantastic views of the adjacent Jin Mao Tower and Shanghai World Financial Center (together, the trio of buildings that are re-defining the Shanghai skyline).

Adam Magyar – Stainless, 42 Street (excerpt)

High speed video recording in NYC at Grand Central station.

Tolkien & Sendak On The Psychology Of Fantasy & The Powerful Effect Of Fairy Tales On The Adult Mind

In March 1939, renowned fantasy writer J. R. R. Tolkien penned an essay enitled “On Fairy-Stories” which explores the nature of fantasy and the cultural role of fairy tales. His argument is the same — that there is no such thing as “writing for children.” Tolkien writes: “A ‘fairy-story’ is one which touches on or uses Faerie, whatever its own main purpose may be: satire, adventure, morality, fantasy. Faerie itself may perhaps most nearly be translated by Magic — but it is magic of a peculiar mood and power, at the furthest pole from the vulgar devices of the laborious, scientific, magician. There is one proviso : if there is any satire present in the tale, one thing must not be made fun of, the magic itself. That must in that story be taken seriously, neither laughed at nor explained away.”

Tolkien adds: “Creative fantasy, because it is mainly trying to do something else … may open your hoard and let all the locked things fly away like cage-birds.” You can read more excerpts from Tolkien’s essay by visiting BrainPickings.org.

The Aqualibrium Garden – The Future of Food

The Aqualibrium Garden – The Future of Food by “Aqualibrium”

The fish in the self-cleaning aquarium in the bottom chamber of the Aqualibrium Garden provide the nutrients that feed the plants in the self-watering grow space in the upper chamber. This cycle… like nature herself… is automatic, providing the potential to grow an abundance of fresh vegetables, herbs and flowering plants all year.

The Real Walter White (VIDEO)

When AMC’s Breaking Bad premiered in 2008, one of Alabama’s most successful meth cooks was already knee deep in building a massive meth empire. His name? Walter White. In this documentary, Walter tells us the secret behind his product, how he stacked up thousands of dollars per day, and why his partner is now serving two life sentences.

A new industry born from the disaster — LED indoor farm

A new industry born from the disaster — LED indoor farm

Awesome pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope

 

 

 

 

Great Gardens: “Prospect Cottage” by Howard Sooley – NOWNESS

http://vimeo.com/103807651

Great Gardens: “Prospect Cottage” by Howard Sooley – NOWNESS

Speeding Around The World in Under 5 minutes Time Lapse

17 Countries. 343 Days. 6237 Photographs. One incredible journey.

GoPro: Wild Downhill Ride with Claudio Caluori

Claudio Calouri and Will Longden takes us on a wild run through the UCI Downhill Course at Leogang in Austria.

World’s smallest cat – Big Cats

森の木琴

TOUCHWOOD SH-08C http://answer.nttdocomo.co.jp/touchwood/

“TRUMP ANTHEM” — A Bad Lip Reading of Donald Trump

Snow falls in the Sahara desert

The town of Ain Sefra, on the edge of the Sahara desert, was hit by icy weather last week – and even snow.

Snowfall is very rare in the Sahara, despite the fact that it can be cold at night – because there’s rarely enough water around for any kind of precipitation.

Unbelievable Unlikely Animal Friendships Compilation 2017

Winds on this mountain in the US will make it feel like -67C

Temperatures on a mountain peak in the US state of New Hampshire could fall so low you risk getting frostbite in just a couple of minutes.

Micro Wind Turbine

Oxmo Puccino – 365 Jours

The Future Of Transportation

The World in 2050