On China and its maritime ambitions

Assistant Defense Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs David Shear, left, and Adm. Harry Harris, Jr., US Navy Commander, U.S. Pacific Command, take their seats on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015, prior to testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on maritime security strategy in the Asia-Pacific region. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
AP Photo Assistant Defense Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs David Shear, left, and Adm. Harry Harris, Jr., US Navy Commander, U.S. Pacific Command, take their seats on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015, prior to testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on maritime security strategy in the Asia-Pacific region. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

“I’m not sure this administration would recognize provocation if it were slapped in the face.”

– Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), in reference to China’s recent provocative cruise through the Bering Sea.

“I agree that the South China Sea is no more China’s than the Gulf of Mexico is Mexico’s”

– Adm. Harry Harris, Jr., commander of U.S. Pacific Command

Source: News from The Associated Press

Syrian war spurs first withdrawal from doomsday Arctic seed vault | Reuters

That’s kind of heavy, when you think about it.

Syria’s civil war has prompted the first withdrawal of seeds from a “doomsday” vault built in an Arctic mountainside to safeguard global food supplies, officials said on Monday.

Source: Syrian war spurs first withdrawal from doomsday Arctic seed vault | Reuters

With South African pulpit, Mao speaks from beyond the grave

The US, it says, is trying to destabilise China on three fronts: by portraying it as the world’s worst polluter and a danger to the environment; by parading to the world counter-revolution in China as a popular uprising and counter-revolutionaries as human rights activists; and by exploiting China’s dispute with some of its Asian neighbours over the North and South China Sea islands to rally these neighbours against China.

Source: South Africa adopts strong anti-western stance