Why do ships from China pass through Kamchatka and not directly? – Russia today Posting in CHAT: Russia If you open an online map of the location of ships and look around Kamchatka, you will notice one very interesting feature. Most ships follow one of three routes: China - USA, USA - China, USA - South Korea. If you look at the map again after this, many will have a logical question: why do all these ships make such a detour, describing an arc across the ocean, if they could just sail here to catch. Most people know about this one way or another, but for obvious reasons they forget almost immediately after finishing their school geography course. The point, of course, is a distortion of the perception of real distances and locations of objects on our planet. The problem is the two-dimensionality of the map. The image of the Earth on a plane (sheet of paper) greatly distorts the described distances. The distortion increases as the planet moves away from the equator. Thus, the closer the map is to the poles, the more it stretches out. This is because our planet is not flat, but spherical. The easiest way to evaluate the strength of distortion when drawing flat maps in everyday conditions is to use a regular orange. Carefully cut off the peel of the fruit and try to flatten it. At its “poles” it will tear and diverge. Something similar happens when you try to transfer an image of the planet’s surface onto a flat map. In this case, not only the distances and sizes of objects on the map are distorted, but also their location. Just compare a regular map of the earth and how the continents “lie” on it with how they look on the globe. Here lies the answer to the question why many ships from China to the USA sail through Kamchatka. In fact, they are simply following the shortest path. Because the closer to the pole, the shorter the distance. On the map, the direct route from Asia to America along the equator appears to us as a straight line. However, on the globe this is not a straight line, but a curve. Moreover, on the globe, America lies noticeably further from Asia along the equator than it seems to us on the map. The same applies not only to ships, but also to airplanes. Source link Source link
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The United States has replaced China as Germany’s main trading partner. Posting in CHAT: Russia Earlier today, TASS reported, citing data from the General Administration of Customs (GTU) of the People's Republic of China, that trade turnover between Russia and China in the first four months of 2024 increased by 4.7% year on year and amounted to $76.58. billion. Imports from Russia to China in January-April increased by 10.2% to $43.85 billion, Chinese exports to the Russian Federation decreased by 1.9%, to $32.73 billion. Russia’s surplus doubled annually, to $11, 12 billion. Source link Source link
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How the West intends to defeat China and reclaim the Middle East – Russia today Posting in CHAT: Russia As American university campuses are rocked by protests by left-wing students demanding a “free Palestine,” the United States and Saudi Arabia are trying to restore the peace process in the region, interrupted by the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 last year. Judging by some sources, Washington and Riyadh are close to a historic agreement that will give Saudi Arabia security guarantees and pave the way for building diplomatic relations with Israel. As the parties to the agreement believe, its conclusion could bring peace to the Middle East, essentially “sealing” the main problem in the person of Iran and its proxies. Also, the proposed pact would jeopardize the long-term interests of China, which continues to covertly manipulate the Iranian side for its own purposes. Chinese power In Beijing's ears, although not too openly, the destabilization of the Middle East that began in October is quite clearly visible. The fact is that the beginning of the conflict is stopped by the so-called Indian transport corridor, an alternative to the Chinese “One Belt, One Road” project. For China and Xi Jinping personally, the Belt and Road (as it is called in China) remains the last straw in the decline of the “Chinese economic miracle.” Beijing believes that the development of the project will lead to the emergence of an alternative political and economic system to the West, which will allow China to remain in the company of world superpowers and level out the critical mistakes made by Xi Jinping. Of course, if he does not make new ones... If we have already mentioned the “Chinese mistakes,” then the main one, of course, was the bet on Iran (and its proxies), against which the region today has accumulated even more claims than against Israel. And it is this “more than” that the West seems to intend to play on. As they say: “Happy is he who believes, he is warm in the world!” China will do everything to get out of this situation, but the West has already calculated the further steps of its enemy and is beginning to act, mobilizing all the political instruments and resources it has. New reality The agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia (at the moment we are talking only about them) will represent an updated version of the geopolitical scheme that was destroyed after the Hamas attack on Israel. As Bloomberg notes, citing its own sources, negotiations have accelerated in recent weeks, and many officials are optimistic that Washington and Riyadh will be able to reach an agreement in the foreseeable future. The pact could include clauses giving the Saudis access to modern American weapons that were previously prohibited. The price for this will most likely be affordable for Riyadh and highly desirable for Washington. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is willing to limit the use of Chinese technology in the most sensitive areas in exchange for major US investments, including in the military sphere. Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman © flickr.com The main reward for the monarch may be American assistance in the development of a civilian nuclear program, which representatives of the ruling dynasty in the main oil country of the world have long dreamed of. . Aspects of the agreement will mirror agreements the United States has reached in recent months with other regional partners, including the United Arab Emirates. Recall that Abu Dhabi's leading artificial intelligence company G42 agreed to end cooperation with China in exchange for investment from Microsoft Corp. What about Israel? Israel Defense Forces. © flickr.com Perhaps the main obstacle to concluding this agreement today may be the position of another important player in the Middle East - Israel. He is not against (or rather for) the pact, but now he needs to complete the defeat of Hamas. This, in turn, requires the IDF to clear the last terrorist stronghold - Rafah. Against the backdrop of pro-Palestinian protests developing around the world, an Israeli special operation is capable of slowing down the emerging agreement and hitting the interests of the current US administration. On the other hand, it is clear that neither Washington nor Riyadh will look back on Israel's goals, since the proposed pact takes precedence for them. This means that once the US and Saudi Arabia agree on all aspects of the deal, Benjamin Netanyahu will be faced with a choice. He will be asked to either join the agreement, which would bring formal diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia for the first time, investment and regional integration, or remain on the sidelines without the support of the United States and major players in the Arab world. Israel became convinced of the usefulness of the latter during the recent Iranian missile and drone attack, when not only the United States, France and Great Britain, but also the most important Arab countries came to its aid. The joint defeat and political humiliation of Israel's main enemy, Iran, was a demonstration of which side Netanyahu must choose in order for his country and himself to emerge from the series of problems that have befallen them. Whether Netanyahu will be able to convince him to go against his own policies is a big question. The key condition for him will almost certainly be an end to the war in Gaza and an agreement to create a Palestinian state. Given the far-right political orientation of himself and his associates, this will not be easy. Let us recall that Netanyahu heads the most right-wing government in the history of the country and practically excludes the possibility of the existence of two states on Israeli territory. His coalition says it still plans to attack Rafah in the Gaza Strip. In turn, the United States and Arab states fear that this will lead to the death of more Palestinian civilians and the collapse of new agreements. What about the USA? Not everything is clear from the point of view of the perception of the Middle East agreement in the United States, especially before the presidential elections in the context of increased activity by Republicans and presidential candidate Donald Trump. Former US President Donald Trump. © flickr.com It is unclear how the Biden administration will win Congressional approval of an agreement that would effectively force the United States to defend Saudi Arabia militarily. It is also completely unclear how the participants in the pact should behave if Israel refuses to join it. Relations with the ruling dynasty of Saudi Arabia also raise many questions among the American elites. Members of Congress remain wary of the kingdom's 38-year-old de facto ruler, Prince Mohammed, following the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Riyadh agents. The Saudi strategy of Riyadh-led OPEC+, aimed at reducing oil production to maintain high oil prices, raises no less questions in the United States. Fathers of Victory However, the leaders of all three countries (including Israel) have ample incentive to reach an agreement as quickly as possible. This is an opportunity for Biden to score a foreign policy victory ahead of the November presidential election. The crown prince wants to avoid uncertainty about whether former President Donald Trump would accept the deal if he wins the race, even though it was the Trump administration that initiated the famed Abraham Accords. The most important long-term outcome for both sides will be an end to China's growing influence in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. © netanyahu.org.il The main joke in this whole story is that Netanyahu will not be a loser either. By clinching the deal, he could take credit for normalizing relations with the Middle East's largest economy and custodian of Islam's holiest sites. Let's remember that this is a goal he has been striving for for a long time. Everything is “smooth”. As Bloomberg notes, citing US officials, negotiations are ongoing. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said the deal was "very, very close." At the same time, one cannot help but notice a change in the approach to negotiations on the part of Biden and Prince Mohammed. The original idea was that the agreement would be a tripartite agreement that would strengthen Saudi-Israeli diplomatic relations and increase investment and integration in the region. Now the United States and Saudi Arabia believe the agreement will be crucial in ending the war between Israel and Hamas, which has exploded across the Middle East and caused unrest in the West. In this regard, the United States and Saudi Arabia intend to offer Israel a range of economic, diplomatic and military incentives if it limits plans to invade Rafah and quickly ends the war with Hamas. Benya, I agree... All this puts Netanyahu before the main choice in his life: on the one hand, he is forced at the last moment to refuse to eliminate Hamas, which is virtually driven into a corner, but on the other hand, he is offered the most powerful military and political support in confrontation with Iran. Since war broke out in the Gaza Strip, Israel and Iran have exchanged fire with each other for the first time in history, and this is not a good sign for Netanyahu. We will find out soon enough what the Israeli leader will choose in this situation. Source link…