Brazil - Communists riot on Bara da Tijuca Beach

Most Brazilians have a more relaxed view of demonstrations.

Communists try to block development of Brazil's oil

• The anti-oil Communists in Brazil appear to have received their talking points directly from America's anti-oil, pipeline blocking, Dear Leader Obama.
• The Leftists try to take advantage of legitimate concerns of Brazilians over the the degree of foreign ownership of the nation's resources.

Brazilian protesters clashed with police on Rio de Janeiro's beachfront during a multi-billion dollar oil rights auction that was held in a nearby luxury beachfront hotel.

In the last of a series of violent demonstrations fuelled by black-clad "Black Bloc" anarchists to hit Brazil in recent months, stone-hurling protesters overturned the car of one local TV channel and set it ablaze before being dispersed by police that fired rubber bullets and tear gas.

About 300 demonstrators had gathered to protest against the involvement of foreign companies in Brazil's oil production reports the International Business Times.

Somehow I think Brazilians have
more interesting things to think about
than Marxist attacks on "evil" oil.

They were met by some 1,100 security personnel who had been deployed to protect premises of Hotel Windsor, in the upmarket district of Barra de Tijuca, where government official and oil companies' representative were taking part in the auction for Libra, an offshore field that could hold up to 12 billion barrels of oil.

Sunbathers and tourists watched the chaotic scenes, in which several protesters were injured. Demonstrators later moved in central Rio to demonstrate in fort of the headquarters of state-run oil giant Petrobras.

Rights to right to develop the site were won by the sole bidder: a consortium led by Petrobras and backed Shell, Total, two Chinese firms.

Under a recently approved legal framework Petrobras has been designated as the sole operator of new found oil deposits has to hold a minimum 30% stake in oil blocks.

The company added a 10% stake on top of what it was already entitled. The remaining shares were divided between Shell and Total, each accounting for 20% and Chinese firms CNOOC and CNPC with 10% each.

The auction was described as a success by of the government's National Petroleum Agency.

"It is hard to imagine a more successful outcome. These companies are among the world's 10 most valuable in the energy branch," the agency president, Magda Chambriard told the BBC.

Also see RT News - Brazil

Creating Jobs and Wealth
What a contrast of nations.
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Brazil - President Dilma Rousseff (a former radical leftist) is doing everything in her power to develop oil fields and create jobs and wealth. 
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USA - Comrade President Obama is doing everything in his power to prevent the development of oil and coal fields and stop the creation of jobs and wealth.

Brazilian Communists line up to take advantage of social unrest.

Commies in their Che Guevara shirts protesting oil.

  

While Communists were protesting in Rio de Janeiro against auction of the drilling rights to one of the world's largest offshore oil discoveries, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff hailed the auction's outcome, promising that it would bring a "small revolution" for Brazil.

A demonstrator from the group called Black Bloc runs outside the City Hall.

A Brazil's Forca Nacional member fires a rubber bullet from shotgun at activists protesting auctioning off oil deposit drilling rights, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  'Libra' Atlantic oilfield has brought Brazil's proven oil reserves to 15.3 billion barrels, making country's reserves second-largest in South America after Venezuela.

After all, it is Brazil.
If you are a Leftist loon with a screw loose you can parade around in your Che Guevara shirt demanding a Worker's Paradise or you can head to the beach like normal people do.

Police protecting the beach entrance to the hotel oil gathering.

 

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Democracy in Brazil
Some food for thought.  The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies consists of 21 political parties representing every possible faction of society.
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While back in the USA the same two corrupt political parties "magically" win 100% of all elections to Congress.  Call me "crazy" but it looks like we need election reform in the U.S.
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For more see  Chamber of Deputies (Brazil)

 

Sharia Law and Hand Chopping Declared in Brunei

Sultan of Brunei Declares Sharia Law

• In March 2006, the Sultan amended the constitution to make himself infallible under Bruneian law.
• The Sultan's official residence is the Istana Nurul Iman, with 1,888 rooms, 290 bathrooms, and a floor area of 2,152,782 square feet (200,000 m²), a banquet hall that can be expanded to accommodate up to 5,000 guests, a mosque accommodating 1,500 people. The palace also includes a 110-car garage, an air conditioned stable for the Sultan's 200 polo ponies, and 5 swimming pools.  No wonder there are revolutions against kings.

The sultan of Brunei announced Tuesday that Shariah law will now dictate how certain crimes are penalized — and that means thieves will lose limbs and adulterers will be stoned to death.

Those convicted of drinking alcohol or committing other violations – such as abortion – could be flogged.

Brunei is about Muslim 67%, Buddhist 13%, Christian 10%, indigenous beliefs and non-religious, Atheist or Agnostic 10%

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah – who is thought to be worth about $20bn (£12.3bn) and exercises tight control over the Muslim-majority country – described the legislation as "part of the great history of our nation" and a form of "special guidance" from God reports the UK Guardian.

"It is because of our need that Allah the Almighty, in all his generosity, has created laws for us, so that we can utilize them to obtain justice," the 67-year-old was quoted as saying in local media.

Chop a hand for Allah.

The oil-rich sultanate already forbids the sale of alcohol and bans the evangelism of religions other than Islam.

It is known for practising a more conservative form of Islam than its majority-Muslim neighbour Malaysia.

While sharia law already exists within the small south-east Asian nation – which is home to roughly 406,000 people, two-thirds of whom are Muslim – the Islamic court has, to date, primarily handled family-related affairs like marriage and inheritance.

The new penal code will be enforced in phases, local media reported, and will apply only to Muslims.

However, visitors to the Brunei could be flogged under existing secular laws for crimes including immigration offences. Caning is also used as punishment in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
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Many in the country seem to welcome the new legislation, with many taking to social media to write "long live the sultan" and "praise be to Allah". Human rights activists denounced the move as "feudal" and "abhorrent".

Brunei's leading Islamic scholar described the sharia code as "guarantee[d] justice for everyone".

Mufti Awang Abdul Aziz told a legal conference on Tuesday: "Let us not just look at the hand-cutting or the stoning or the caning per se. It is not indiscriminate cutting or stoning or caning. There are conditions and there are methods that are just and fair."

 

He said that tourists should not fear the new legislation as long as they were law-abiding.

"Do all potential tourists to Brunei plan to steal? If they do not, then what do they need to fear? Believe me when I say that with our sharia criminal law, everyone – including tourists – will receive proper protection," he said.

The sultan – who has reigned since 1967 and lives in an 1,800-room palace – also implied that those outside Brunei would do better not to judge the adoption of the new code.

"We view others … without any form of prejudice," he said. "In return, we also have the right to expect that others will view Brunei in the same light."

Invited Guests Entered The Main Gate Of The Nurul Iman Palace To Enjoy A Dinner

Crude oil and natural gas production account for about 90% of Brunei's GDP. About 167,000 barrels of oil are produced every day, making Brunei the fourth-largest producer of oil in Southeast Asia. It also produces approximately 895,000,000 cubic feet of liquefied natural gas per day, making Brunei the ninth-largest exporter of the substance in the world.

Is the Syrian war really about control oil and gas?

Iraq, Iran & Syria sign $10 Billion

Gas Pipeline Deal

(EDITOR  -  Follow the money trail for the answer to 90% of news stories.  Crazy ass Islamists are an issue in the Middle East, but money and oil trumps all.  Could the war boil down to natural gas?  You decide.) 


Wall Street Journal  -  The oil ministers of Iraq, Iran and Syria in July signed a preliminary agreement for a $10 billion natural-gas-pipeline deal, the official Iranian News Agency IRNA and other Iranian media reported.
 

The document was inked in the Assalouyeh industrial region located in the southern province of Bushehr by Iranian oil minister Mohammad Aliabadi, Iraq's oil minister Abdul Kareem Luaiby, and Syrian counterpart Sufian Alow, the agency said.

Iraqi oil officials confirmed that Mr. Luaiby was in Iran to sign the agreement. They gave no further details.

Iranian oil & gas competes with
Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Iranian oil officials said Syria would purchase between 20 million to 25 million cubic meters a day of Iranian gas. Iraq has already signed a deal with Tehran to purchase up to 25 million cubic meters a day to feed its power stations.

The project requires some $10 billion investment and will be constructed within three years, the semi-official Iranian news agency Mehr reported.

The pipeline length is more than 1,500 kilometers and will run from Assalouyeh to Damascus while passing through Iraq, with a transfer capacity of 110 million cubic meters of natural gas a day, it said.

The gas will be produced from the Iranian South Pars gas field in the Gulf, which Iran shares with Qatar, and holds estimated reserves of 16 trillion cubic meters of recoverable gas.

Iranian officials have said Iran is producing some 600 million cubic meters of gas a day, of which only 37 million cubic meters are exported. Tehran also aims to extend the pipeline to Lebanon and the Mediterranean to supply gas to Europe, they said.

Iran has been approaching its allies in the region such as Iraq and Syria to export its gas after western firms have pulled out of Iran's lucrative energy sector because of international dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, which the West and the U.S. suspect is aimed at producing nuclear bombs.

 

A gas pipeline linking Iran, Iraq and Syria.

Is "war" in Syria really about Iran & oil?
The agreement is between the Iraqi Oil Ministry, the Iranian Oil Ministry, and the Syrian Oil and Mineral Resources Ministry, and it relates to the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran through Iraq and Syria and onwards to Europe. The line could also be used to export Iraqi gas.
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See more at Iraq-Business News.com

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in places like the Congo. 
But no one cares about them because there is little oil or gas.

US troops to Philippines to counter China threat



Philippine and US marines storm the beach during a joint military exercise at
San Antonio in Zambales province northwest of Manila.

From the Halls of Montezuma

to the shores of Subic Bay

Philippine officials say they will soon begin negotiations with the United States on a larger American military presence to help deter what they say is increasing Chinese aggression in Philippine-claimed waters in the South China Sea.

In a letter to Philippine congressional leaders, the secretaries of national defense and foreign affairs said that allowing American troops to have an “increased rotational presence” will help the country attain a “minimum credible defense” to guard its territory while it struggles to modernize its own military, one of Asia’s weakest.

A larger American presence would also mean more resources and training for responding to disasters in a nation often battered by typhoons and earthquakes, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said in their letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press reports Arab News.


China Tension Rises as U S and Philippines stage War Games

U.S. and Filipino soldiers are seen on a boat during a joint mock beachfront assault on
the shore of Ulugan Bay on Palawan island in the Philippines April 25, 2012.

“The Philippines will shortly enter into consultations and negotiations with the United States on a possible framework agreement that would implement our agreed policy of increased rotational presence,” Gazmin and del Rosario said.

US officials were not immediately available for comment.

The presence of foreign troops is a sensitive issue in the Philippines, a former American colony. The Philippine Senate voted in 1991 to close down major American bases at Subic and Clark, near Manila.

The Philippine Constitution forbids foreign troops from being permanently based in the country, but the Senate ratified a 1999 pact with the United States that allows temporary visits by American forces.

Gazmin and del Rosario assured lawmakers that any new accord with Washington “will be consistent with our constitution.”

Several of China’s neighbors have been alarmed by Beijing’s recent assertiveness in claiming large areas of the South China Sea.

Manila’s desire to bolster its external defense and security has dovetailed with Washington’s intention to pivot away from years of heavy military engagement in the Middle East to Asia, where it has been fostering closer economic and military alliances with countries such as the Philippines, partly as a counterweight to China’s rising clout.

The realignment of American forces in the Asia-Pacific also involves the deployment of up to 2,500 US Marines in northern Australia and the stationing of US combat vessels in Singapore.

The amphibious dock landing ship USS Tortuga departs Subic Bay in this October 20, 2012.
The Philippine military has revived plans to build new air and naval bases at Subic Bay, a former
U.S. naval base that American forces could use to counter China's creeping presence in
the disputed South China Sea. (Photo - Reuters)



American and Philippine Troops rehearsed a mock attack on the western province of
Palawan, near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
See more:  UK Daily Mail

Gazmin has said that additional American troops would only be allowed to have access to the country’s existing military bases under terms the Philippines would negotiate with the US government. The two sides would have to negotiate the length of any agreement allowing more US troops, planes, ships and other equipment.

Under the current Visiting Forces Agreement, hundreds of American counterterrorism troops have been allowed to stay in the Philippines’ volatile southern Mindanao region since 2002 to train Filipino soldiers battling Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants and a handful of foreign terrorist suspects from Indonesia and Malaysia.

Gazmin and del Rosario stressed in their letter the importance of the Philippines’ decades-old military alliance with the United States, saying “this relationship is useful not only in our diplomacy but also in enhancing our capabilities at the vital task of territorial defense.”

The Philippines has reached out to the United States for help in modernizing its outdated fleet of warships and planes and in training its troops amid renewed tensions over the long-running territorial disputes with China.

President Benigno Aquino III said last month that foreign troops, if given access to local military camps, would not become a “permanent fixture.” He stressed that while such an arrangement would allow the country to better prepare for any security contingency, the Philippines as a matter of policy renounces war and chooses diplomacy to resolve territorial claims.

Confrontations involving Chinese patrol ships and vessels from the Philippines and Vietnam over disputed islands and reefs have raised tensions in the potentially oil- and gas-rich waters.

China claims much of the South China Sea on historical grounds. The Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan have rejected Beijing’s massive claims, sparking fears the disputes might turn violent and set off an armed conflict.

Confidential Philippine military surveillance reports seen by the AP said that 61 Chinese vessels were sighted in Manila-claimed areas of the disputed Spratly Islands from July 4 to 10. China has also turned Mischief Reef, which it occupied in 1995 amid protests from Manila, into a logistical base to help Chinese ships better patrol the seas.

China has also erected two concrete posts at the narrow entrance of a vast lagoon to erect a rope barrier and better control entry into Scarborough Shoal, a rich fishing ground which came under Beijing’s control after Philippine ships backed off from a tense face-off last year.

Some 8,000 US and Filipinos soldiers, including ships, combat and support aircraft as well as
various types of vehicles, are taking part in the 2013 annual joint exercises, the biggest among
several similar military cooperation activities by the two countries.

The South China Sea
The blue line shows the region claimed by China.