Australia (click here) is playing a role in helping China develop its rival global positioning system that will be used for guiding missiles and other military technology, according to a leading expert.
New Zealand academic Anne-Marie Brady — who says she has faced a campaign of harassment and intimidation for her research on the Chinese Communist Party — said the "BeiDou" alternative to the American-controlled GPS carries significant benefits for the Chinese military.
A tracking station in Perth has been a key factor in the global advance of the BeiDou satellite navigation system, Professor Brady said, with the Western Australian infrastructure the first to be established in the critical Pacific region.
"Australia is playing a small part in helping China to get a GPS system as effective as the US system," she told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
"China is aiming to have a better one than the US has by 2020, and so is Russia. They need ground stations to co-ordinate their satellites and they need them in the Pacific. Their first ground station in the Pacific region was built in Perth."...
Of all places to look for stable governments, poverty will tell the tale. This is from Oxfam.
There is growing concern (click here) about increasing instability and tensions in the Pacific. In Melanesian societies, particularly Papua New Guinea/Bougainville, Solomon Islands and Fiji, instability is characterised by ethnic or tribal clashes, soaring crime rates and a deterioration in government control and accountability.
The circumstances and causes of conflict in each country are unique, but there are some common and interrelated causes....
The more poverty that exists, the greater chances of corruption and vast instability.
January 28, 2019
Tensions between China (click here) and both the Philippines and Vietnam have recently cooled, even as China increased its military activity in the South China Sea by conducting a series of naval maneuvers and exercises in March and April 2018. Meanwhile, China continues to construct military and industrial outposts on artificial islands it has built in disputed waters.
The United States has also recently stepped up its military activity and naval presence in the region, including freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) in January and March 2018. In a speech during his November 2017 visit to Southeast Asia, President Donald J. Trump emphasized the importance of such operations, and of ensuring free and open access to the South China Sea. Since May 2017, the United States has conducted six FONOPs in the region....
It is becoming increasingly difficult to guarantee peace. Russian politics demands the fight rather than have an economy that is stable, growing and people taken care of with equality of national wealth. With Russia a regional player and communism entrenched in China, the future is still unpredictable, especially when a USA president rather isolation over allies.
Oxfam was founded in Great Britain in 1942. This is an article brought to the attention of the Free World
21 January 2019
Billionaire fortunes (click here) increased by 12 percent last year – or $2.5 billion a day - while the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity saw their wealth decline by 11 percent, reveals a new report from Oxfam today. The report is being launched as political and business leaders gather for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
‘Public Good or Private Wealth’ shows the growing gap between rich and poor is undermining the fight against poverty, damaging our economies and fuelling public anger across the globe. It reveals how governments are exacerbating inequality by underfunding public services, such as healthcare and education, on the one hand, while under taxing corporations and the wealthy, and failing to clamp down on tax dodging, on the other. It also finds that women and girls are hardest hit by rising economic inequality.
Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, said:
“The size of your bank account should not dictate how many years your children spend in school, or how long you live – yet this is the reality in too many countries across the globe. While corporations and the super-rich enjoy low tax bills, millions of girls are denied a decent education and women are dying for lack of maternity care.”...
