World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[AssassinsMace]

I find that even more strange since both China and India were worse off then. Also that picture has been used in the recent past to compare North and South Korean development.

 

[jackliu]

And I think that photo is somewhat accurate, because most of the Chinese population are concentrated towards the coast, there is only so much brightness you can have on mega cities like Shanghai and Beijing. While vast areas like Tibetan plateau and Xinjing are empty.

 

[Quickie]

That famous picture was made in 1980s, NASA has not updated it since.

Electrical power comsumption now in China is many times that of the 1980s, probably 10 times.

 

[delft]

Southern California has small scale brown outs from time to time. At least in San Diego they do. Here in Iowa the juice is always flowing.

What occurred in India may be unprecedented in the history of mans use of electricity.

The Washington Post published a scary story today about the electricity supply in the US:

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[bd popeye]

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Kofi Annan said Thursday he will step down from his high-profile role as special envoy for Syria at the end of the month, delivering blistering criticism of world powers’ failure to unite over the country’s escalating violence.

At an impromptu news conference, Mr. Annan said he accepted the role when it seemed the international community led by the UN Security Council could help end the violence, enforce a ceasefire and bring about a political transition.

But the former UN secretary-general told reporters he cannot go on when the 15-nation council provides no backing for his role, particularly because of the standoff between its five veto-wielding members: Russia and China on one side, the United States, Britain and France on the other.

Mr. Annan has served as the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria since February. He came up with a six-point peace plan to resolve the crisis in the Arab state, including a ceasefire that was supposed to take effect in mid-April.

But, despite the presence of hundreds of UN observers on the ground, the ceasefire never took hold and the violence in Syria has spread into a civil war.

Rights activists say that more than 19,000 people have died since the popular uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad began in March, 2011.

“When the Syrian people desperately need action, there continues to be finger pointing and name calling in the Security Council,” Mr. Annan told reporters in Geneva. “It is impossible for me or anyone to compel the Syrian government and also the opposition to take the steps to bring about the political process.”

“As an envoy, I can’t want peace more than the protagonists, more than Security Council or the international community, for that matter,” he added.

Mr. Annan said the failed six-point plan commonly referred to as the Annan plan is actually the Security Council’s, since it was endorsed by them.

He did not rule out the idea of a successor being appointed by the current UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, since “the world is full of crazy people like me, so don’t be surprised if someone else decides to take it on.”

Mr. Ban said in a statement he accepted the resignation with deep regret, and is discussing possible successors with the Arab League.

“I remain convinced that yet more bloodshed is not the answer; each day of it will only make the solution more difficult while bringing deeper suffering to the country and greater peril to the region,” Mr. Ban said.

“The hand extended to turn away from violence in favour of dialogue and diplomacy — as spelled out in the six-point plan — has not been not taken even though it still remains the best hope for the people of Syria.”

Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said that Moscow also regrets Mr. Annan’s decision to step down, according to the RIA Novosti news agency. But Mr. Churkin said he was encouraged by Mr. Ban’s search for a replacement.

 

[plawolf]

This is sad but did anyone realistically expect any other outcome?

The Annan Plan never had any serious backing from anyone. For the US, Britain and France, the failure of the Annan Plan would be a stepping stone to more direct military involvement. For the Russians and Chinese, the Plan was just a means to stave off western direct military action.

How could there be a negotiated peace when the Arab League and Turkey are all but openly arming, training, funding and harboring anti-government forces? What they are doing is an open act of war, and Syria would be well within it's rights to impose sanctions or even to bomb rebel training camps in Turkey as America is with camps in Pakistan right this moment. The only difference is America has the military might to bomb Pakistan with the Pakistani government not daring to stop them, while Syria does not have the military might to do the same thing to Turkey. Hell, Turkey itself should appreciate the irony if Syria did bomb them since Turkish warplanes have done more than their fair share of cross boarder bombing of training camps in Iraqi Turkistan.

There never could have been peace when none of the direct parties or their international cheerleaders and supporters really want it. Syria is a battleground for a lot more than the anti and pro-Assad armed groups, it is a battleground for influence between the west and east, Sunni and Shia muslims and Turkish ambition. Syria has long been affectionately called a melting pot of many different cultures, now all those cultures are in armed conflict with each other and the Syrian people are literally caught in the cross fire.

The pro-Assad fighters are not all daemons and the anti-Assad groups are not all angles. I hope it does not come to pass, but we have the recipe and ingredients for a perfect storm of inter-culture, race, political and religious conflicts all rolled and intermixed together, and that could unleash horrors we as a species thought we had left behind us in the pages of history.

The fighting, and especially the aftermath will be bloody and terrible. The western media will go through it in nauseatingly horrific detail if Assad wins and cleans house. That is a given, but I do wonder if the western media will collectively avert their eyes to the crimes of the opposition as they have done in Libya if Assad is overthrown and the mob takes over and reaps it's vengeance.

 

[cn_habs]

This is sad but did anyone realistically expect any other outcome?

The Annan Plan never had any serious backing from anyone. For the US, Britain and France, the failure of the Annan Plan would be a stepping stone to more direct military involvement. For the Russians and Chinese, the Plan was just a means to stave off western direct military action.

How could there be a negotiated peace when the Arab League and Turkey are all but openly arming, training, funding and harboring anti-government forces? What they are doing is an open act of war, and Syria would be well within it's rights to impose sanctions or even to bomb rebel training camps in Turkey as America is with camps in Pakistan right this moment. The only difference is America has the military might to bomb Pakistan with the Pakistani government not daring to stop them, while Syria does not have the military might to do the same thing to Turkey. Hell, Turkey itself should appreciate the irony if Syria did bomb them since Turkish warplanes have done more than their fair share of cross boarder bombing of training camps in Iraqi Turkistan.

There never could have been peace when none of the direct parties or their international cheerleaders and supporters really want it. Syria is a battleground for a lot more than the anti and pro-Assad armed groups, it is a battleground for influence between the west and east, Sunni and Shia muslims and Turkish ambition. Syria has long been affectionately called a melting pot of many different cultures, now all those cultures are in armed conflict with each other and the Syrian people are literally caught in the cross fire.

The pro-Assad fighters are not all daemons and the anti-Assad groups are not all angles. I hope it does not come to pass, but we have the recipe and ingredients for a perfect storm of inter-culture, race, political and religious conflicts all rolled and intermixed together, and that could unleash horrors we as a species thought we had left behind us in the pages of history.

The fighting, and especially the aftermath will be bloody and terrible. The western media will go through it in nauseatingly horrific detail if Assad wins and cleans house. That is a given, but I do wonder if the western media will collectively avert their eyes to the crimes of the opposition as they have done in Libya if Assad is overthrown and the mob takes over and reaps it's vengeance.

Like many members here have pointed out, most Western media have the gift of spinning any news to their liking in a believable manner whereas the Chinese state media's propaganda couldn't be more obvious.

It's really not something you can see until you've lived in both West and East.

 

[Equation]

Sadly, I guess the Syrian civil war will continue until one side gives up.

 

[bladerunner]

Like many members here have pointed out, most Western media have the gift of spinning any news to their liking in a believable manner whereas the Chinese state media's propaganda couldn't be more obvious.

It's really not something you can see until you've lived in both West and East.

I put that down to the inability to escape from their capatalist running dog mentality. Or is my viewpoint baseless? whoops thats another CCP favourite.

 

[delft]

This is of course a very political matter.
It is the duty of the legitimate authority in a state to suppress violence against it. 1861-1865 was an extreme example.
By sponsoring the insurgency Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, the US and other Western countries are in clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations. They are now responsible for the deaths of some twenty thousand people.
Let's hope that the Syrian government will be successful in defeating this insurrection otherwise the rogue states will continue to run amok, as they did in Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.