Lost in Spades

 Pakistan (green) and China (orange) respective location on the globe [Image per User:SSYoung, Wikimedia Commons] During this the first Chinese state visit to Pakistan in nine years,   "the two countries are expected to agree on economic and energy deals worth more than $40 billion." Read it at Voice of America: China Reaches Out to Pakistan With Massive Economic Plan

For America the issues include an overstated and overplayed fracking hand, the strategic energy ellipse in the Heartland, Russia's 20 Trillion ruble Razvitie (Trans-Eurasian Belt) continental land bridge, and China's New Iron Silk Road. Hence the US pivot to Iran. Nothing is certain except the expectation that it will be very interesting from herein. See Iron Silk Road  diagram  One, it's a transit corridor between Europe and eastern Asia, established with all the modern and ‘smart’ functions. Second, it’s the creation and the development of a network of industrial economic corridors within the territory of the Russian Federation. See Europe-Asia link megaproject will reshape world economic map  

US Global Hawk drones flying over Black Sea, Ukraine   In March, U.S. Global Hawk drones appeared for the first time in the airspace over Ukraine, according to Gen Andrei Kartapolov, Chief of the Main Department for Operations at the Russian General Staff.

Thousands flee as ISIS fighters advance on Ramadi Al-Bayan, the English-language radio station of ISIS, claimed the fighters were in complete control of at least six areas and most of a seventh to the east of Ramadi since Wednesday, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S. group that monitors militant websites. Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Abadi denied that he had come to Washington with a shopping list of weapons. But he said he had received assurances that a number of F16 planes would be delivered on time.

The US missile defense system and NATO European Missile Defense System  

AIIB Approves 57 Founding Members The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved 57 countries as founding members after including an extra seven ... Sweden, Israel, South Africa, Azerbaijan, Iceland, Portugal and Poland.  

What’s in your bag? -Cojones This guy took the joke and brought it to a whole new level of punk. He turned it into an actual protest, and a powerful one.

When was the last time a coalition of medium-size nations came together to address a regional security problem, as Saudi Arabia and other nations are doing in Yemen, without boundaries being set for them by a geopolitical hegemon? A world without a hegemon  

From Handel's ‘Floridante’

Yesterday we posted data from the American Nuclear Society website, stating that "the average [radiation] dose per person from all sources is about 6.20 mSv per year", but can vary "largely due to medical procedures we may undergo." Exposure to as much as 50 mSv a year is allowable for those who work with and around radioactive material. A chest X-Ray is equivalent to 0.10 mSv radiation exposure. In this article the robot is exposed to 10 Sieverts (equivalent to 100,000 chest X-Rays) per hour.

The average [radiation] dose per person from all sources is about 620 mrems per year . It is not, however, uncommon for any of us to receive less or more than that in a given year (largely due to medical procedures we may undergo). International Standards allow exposure to as much as 5,000 mrems a year for those who work with and around radioactive material. X-Ray dose: mrem Mammogram: 42 Skull: 10 Chest: 10 Cervical Spine (neck): 20 Lumbar Spine: 600 Abdomen (kidney/bladder): 700 Pelvis: 60 Hip: 70 Dental Bitewing/Image: 0.5 Extremity (hand/foot): 0.5 CT Scan dose: mrem Head: 200 Chest: 700 Angiography (heart): 2000 Angiography (head): 500 Abdomen/Pelvis: 1000 Extremity: 10 Spine: 1000 Whole Body: 1000 You can calculate your annual (including background radiation) exposure at http://www.ans.org/pi/resources/dosechart/  The folllowing chart describes acute radiation poisoning. Please note that it describes exposure measured in milliSieverts (mSv), and not millirem (mr...

The Sevastopol will leave the port of Saint-Nazaire for just three days to test the navigation equipment, floating stability and maneuverability In June 2011, Russia signed a €1.12 billion contract for the construction of two French Mistral-type helicopter carriers, but delivery suspended over the Ukraine dispute. The Sevastopol will leave the port of Saint-Nazaire for new sea trials on April 14, with two months left for an agreement to be reached on its delivery.

Israel: Iran may share S-300 missiles with Hizballah and Syria US Secretary of State John Kerry protested that the S-300 in Iranian hands could endanger America’s allies in the Middle East. Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov replied that the missile was a defensive system rather than a weapon of attack, and it therefore threatened no one, certainly not Israel. S-300s have a range of 200 km. Source: Jerusalem Post Yes, but how do you take out their nuclear facilities, if need be, once the S-300s are in place?

Doing the El-Sisi Shuffle: After terrorists claim 13 lives in Sinai, El-Sisi reshuffles top army, navy, intelligence and Suez Canal chiefs Northern Sinai, due to the increasing frequency and scale of terrorist attacks, is beginning to resemble Baghdad. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who was head of the Egyptian Armed Forces under Mohamed Morsi, is feeling the Islamist-Sunni heat while also having to contend with militant Shiite filtering up from Sudan and the Red. Cairo will ultimately be surrounded by MB-Islamists (with Turkish help) or Iranian-backed militia. Source: Offshore Energy Today

‘Warm blob’ in Pacific Ocean linked to weird weather across the U.S. These findings coincide with a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released last month, which said that West Coast waters are becoming less biologically productive as they become warmer. The report attributed the stranded 1,500 starving sea lion pups, the decline in tiny crustaceans, and other environmental shifts to the expanding “blob.”

A Fourth Kingdom — The Terrible Beast Legend Beginning as a small eighth century BCE Italian town on the Tiber, Rome comes to dominate the Mediterranean, continental Europe and Britain. Yet, the Eternal City's — that sits on seven hills — days may be numbered.     Ancestor twins of a fleeing Trojan prince who ultimately fought and conquered the Etruscans, Romulus and Remus then duelled for the rights to the city’s name. In the end, as is oft the case, siblicide won out ca. 753 BCE. Republic   The dynasty runs through seven kingships before a populous uprising leads to the formation of a representative ruling Senate — in contrast to the hitherto advisory body to the king — and a Republic ( res publica : “matters of the state”) is born. The Senate appoints a consul who rule for a year at a time. Societal structure is four-fold — owned slaves , free but relatively powerless plebeians , wealthy equestrians (knights), and ...

https://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/mass-beaching-fuels-unscientific-japan-earthquake-fears/ The mass beaching of more than 150 melon-headed whales [a dolphin specie] on Japan’s shores has fuelled fears of a repeat of a seemingly unrelated event in the country — the devastating 2011 undersea earthquake that killed around 19,000 people.