Iran sees Sanctions, raises Strait of Hormuz

Iran is preemptively responding to threats of escalating sanctions by conducting a big naval exercise, Vilayat-90, in the Straits of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Iran is making the point that if it wants to, it can close the straits, through which about 17% of the world’s petroleum exports flow. Any interruption in that flow would cause a global energy crisis. An Iranian admiral has said that closing the straits would be as easy as “drinking a glass of water.”

…The problem with imposing an embargo on Iran’s petroleum exports, which the US Senate wants to do by sanctioning Iran’s central bank, is that it is like cutting off your nose to spite your face. It would be South Korea, Japan, India and Italy that would suffer, i.e. US allies (along with China, which wouldn’t be happy and is not without resources to fight back).  >continue<

Oil threats over sanctions row  |  Winners & losers

Arabian Gauntlet  |  Accelerating Spiral | ZeitVox Iran coverage

Falklands Tensions Flare Anew

In 1910, a 17,000-word memo was commissioned by the Foreign Office to look at the historical dispute over sovereignty. The study highlighted many weaknesses in the British case and can be seen as our equivalent of the Pentagon Papers, the leaked study of US policy in Vietnam.

The holes in the British case shocked many officials in Whitehall. The head of the Foreign Office’s American department, Gerald Spicer, wrote: “From a perusal of this memo it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Argentine government’s attitude is not altogether unjustified and that our action has been somewhat high-handed.”  >link<

‘Somewhat highhanded’  |  Big Oil & Gas finds spark fury

UK committed  |  Falklands/Malvinas History
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update: Peru cancels Royal Navy visit  |  Brit plurality says keep ‘at all costs’

And by the way, which one’s Pink?

Reports of abnormal gulf oil seepage continue:

Al Jazeera flew to the area on Sunday, September 11, and spotted a swath of silvery oil sheen, approximately 7 km long and 10 to 50 meters wide, at a location roughly 19 km northeast of the now-capped Macondo 252 well.

According to oil trackers with the organisation On Wings of Care, who have been monitoring the new oil since early August, rainbow-tinted slicks and thicker globs of oil have been consistently visible in the area…

…oil seepage in the Gulf of Mexico is a natural phenomenon and can cause sheens, but the current oil and sheen is suspect due to their size and location near the Macondo well. >continue<

While a new report on the Deepwater Horizon crisis focuses on events of last year, a constellation of sightings indicate the problem may still be unfolding. Tests on some samples match the fingerprint of the BP oil.  In the wake of tropical storm Lee, oil was documented on beaches east of New Orleans. Today Chevron also confirms a leak in the Gulf. Though distinct from the Macondo (Deepwater) well, the latter only adds complexities in sorting out the scope and nature of the problem. Some fear geological idiosyncrasies in the Gulf could compound the scenario, possibly outstripping any current capacities for a fix.

New Great Game in Afghanistan

Today, Afghanistan’s natural resources are estimated to be worth billions of dollars. The resources in the neighboring Central Asian states are thought to be worth even more - the cake is huge and as yet largely untouched.

…The Chinese government has been conducting an offensive “shopping spree” in Afghanistan and other Central Asian states for some time now. To Washington’s displeasure, Beijing was able to secure the exploitation rights for the region’s biggest copper mine, by shelling out three billion dollars. Now, fully-laden trucks head from the mine in eastern Afghanistan to China on roads built by the Americans.  >continue<

Vast Mineral Riches  |  New Oil Deposits in Afghanistan

“We do the heavy lifting…they pick the fruit”

China isn’t exactly restrained in its claims to resources in the Spratlys and the South China Sea. Tensions and talk begin to reach a dangerous pitch - as China prepares to launch its first aircraft carrier:

Vietnam and the Dragon

…hundreds gathered in Hanoi to protest Chinese aggression in the South China Sea. On May 26, a Chinese patrol boat allegedly snipped the surveying cable of a Vietnamese vessel that was conducting seismic research within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. Vietnam also says Chinese ships fired warning shots at Vietnamese fishermen working in territorial waters on June 1. Ho Chi Minh City saw protests over the weekend too, and Vietnam’s state-controlled press has been on a tear decrying Beijing’s bullying.  >continue<

Enmity between China and Vietnam revived  |  Tensions Grow

China Communist Party newspaper cautions Vietnam

Saturday’s editorial mixed righteous indignation with patronizing language in a reflection of the condescension with which Beijing frequently regards its smaller Communist neighbor. While China assisted Vietnam’s Communists against France and the United States, relations soon soured and China briefly invaded in 1979 in retaliation for Hanoi’s toppling of Beijing’s Khmer Rouge allies in Cambodia.  >continue<

Update 6/12: Vietnam seeks US support  « ft.com (subs/register required)

nationalpost:

Graphic: Southern Sudan: The birth of an African nation

The ramifications of splitting Sudan could contain the seeds of another genocide, ignite a firestorm of separatism across the rest of Africa, or see central Africa plunge once more into a war that has already killed more than 2.5 million people

Goodspeed Analysis: Sudanese referendum may reignite civil war