The Arctic Silk Road: A Huge Leap Forward for China and Russia

 

The Silk Road, renamed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is developing infrastructure along land and sea trade routes. However, little is known about China’s initiative in the Arctic Circle, which represents a new route that Beijing is now able to develop thanks to technology together with the strategic partnership with Russia.

Involving about 65 countries and affecting 4.4 billion people, constituting thirty percent of the world’s GDP, together with a total investment from Beijing that could surpass a trillion dollars, the is an immense project that requires a lot of imagination to grasp the intentions of the Chinese leadership. With a host of projects already in progress, and some almost completed (the Sino-Pakistan Corridor known as CPEC is archetypical), the overland and maritime routes are developing side by side. Plenty of ink has been used detailing Beijing’s intentions regarding the East-West connections of the super Eurasian continent. Pipelines, railway lines, fiber-optic cables, telecommunications infrastructure and highways dominate discussions, together with talks about costs, feasibility studies, the question of security, and the return on investment. The land Silk Road is certainly an imposing challenge that is not just commercial in nature but sets the foundation for greater cultural and social integration between neighbouring countries. It is a project that in the long term aims to blend together the Eurasian continent and overcome the contradictions contained therein through win-win cooperation and economic development.

MAPPED: Catalonia is NOT alone – the regions desperate for independence threatening the EU

The regions wanting more autonomy or independence [Mauldin Economics]

 

CATALONIA’S quest for independence from Spain could spark a domino effect plunging the European Union into crisis as a map reveals the other regions across the continent desperate for autonomy.

Catalonia threw Spain into a constitutional crisis yesterday after declaring independence following a controversial referendum.

But the region is not alone in its hope for independence and the aftershocks of the Catalonia crisis could further splinter the EU with dozens of regions hoping to return to autonomy and fighting their own battle to regain control.

Can a Divided America Survive?

Torn sign at a pro-Trump rally in Portland, Ore., June 4, 2017. (Reuters photo: David Ryder)

 

History has not been very kind to countries that enter a state of multicultural chaos.

The United States is currently the world’s oldest democracy.

But America is no more immune from collapse than were some of history’s most stable and impressive consensual governments. Fifth-century Athens, Republican Rome, Renaissance Florence and Venice, and many of the elected governments of early 20th-century Western European states eventually destroyed themselves, went bankrupt, or were overrun by invaders.

Russian Ambassadors Discuss Invading Miami, California In Leaked Call

 

A leaked conversation between two Russian ambassadors appears to show the diplomats joking about the crisis in Ukraine and the possibility of future incursions in the United States and Eastern Europe.

The video posted under the YouTube account “Michael Berkan” involves Igor Nilokaevich Chubarov and Sergey Viktorovich Bakharev, the Russian ambassadors to the African nations Eritrea and Zimbabwe and Malawi, respectively.

The call begins with Chubarov congratulating Bakharev on Zimbabwe’s vote against the UN resolution that declared Crimea’s referendum invalid. Chubarov expressed surprise that Eritrea abstained from the vote.

Venice votes in referendum on splitting from Rome

Voting has begin in Venice and the surrounding region on whether to break away from Italy.

Recent opinion polls suggest that two-thirds of the four million electorate favour splitting from Rome, but the vote will not be legally binding.

The poll was organised by local activists and parties, who want a future state called Republic of Veneto.