Latest News Clips 2017.02.06

                      

1.      5 to 10 years between China and the United States must have a war?

DW.COM     Feb.3 2017

Trump's several high-profile confidants on different occasions in China have said the smell of gunpowder is very strong, even five to 10 years will go to war. But some scholars believe that the possibility of Sino-US war is almost zero.

Steve Baron

Trump's nominee US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, was passed in the Senate on Wednesday, with 56 votes in favor and 43 votes against it. The vote reflects his appointment in the United States political controversy, when Kerry Obama was nominated by the Secretary of State in the Senate is 93 to 3 votes, Hillary Clinton to 94 to 2 votes a smooth clearance. Senator Tillerson's distrust is mainly based on his close contacts with Russia in recent years, in 2013 Russian President Vladimir Putin has personally awarded Tillerson "Friendship Medal."

For China, the former chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil Group has aroused strong words to the attention of people. "We have to send a clear signal to China," Tillerson said in response to a question on China's South China Sea. "First, stop building the island; second, do not allow China to land," Tillerson said in a Senate hearing on Jan. 11 this year. "These are artificial islands," he said, adding that "building islands and setting up military posts is no different than Russian annexation of the Crimea."

But at the hearing Tillerson did not say what the United States would use to prevent China from landing above the island. "Global Times" published the next day, "Tillerson to prevent China to enter the Nansha Islands reef," the editorial, the article states that "the United States to implement the requirements of effective methods and means simply does not exist, unless Washington is prepared in the South China Sea A large-scale war, and other attempts to prevent China's access to those islands are the children of the plan. "The mouthpiece of this party officially referred to the word" war ". Western observers also believe that Tillerson's conversation is full of provocative color, Australian retired political science professor Seyier (Carlyle A. Thayer) on the "New York Times" said, "Tillerson's speech will lead to serious confrontation, this confrontation Will soon evolve into a military conflict. "

Baron also said to play

Some analysts believe that Tillerson because of anxious to erase a close tie with Putin, the Senate passed, it was issued to the Chinese side, "relentless." But there are plenty of people in Trump's cabinet who advocate a tough policy toward China. Steve Bannon, who was appointed to the National Security Council last week, spoke of his stance on China as early as he ran for Trump. His remarks did not attract much attention. "In five to 10 years, we will fight a war in the South China Sea, is not it? There should be no doubt about it," he continued, "they will be reefs in the islands," he said. Into a fixed aircraft carrier and where the missile is placed.There they come to you, you know how important face, tell you this is their ancient territorial waters.

Bannon for Trump win the election made a contribution, was a campaign in the soul of the group. Later Trump appointed him as assistant to the president and director of strategic affairs. In the new National Security Council, Bannon will play an important role in the formulation of national foreign policy. Trump's "American priority" inaugural address was written by Bannon.

"I think the possibility of war between China and the United States is almost zero, the reason is very simple, Trump do not want to fight." Bannon said the war about the recent stir-fried, the University of Bonn, director of Global Research Center, Professor Gu Xuewu said. Once the war, his 'great American re - grand' goal immediately ashes; China does not want to fight, once the war, Xi Jinping 'China Dream' will go into thin air.

But do not war, does not mean that there will not be low-level wiped out the fire, Professor Gu Xuewu that China and the United States will not give up, or even tense situation to the edge of the fire tension. "But the day of the fire, it is the time when China and the United States to shake hands to avoid the double-fat do not want a full-scale war."

China is ready to meet

On the other hand, according to the South China Morning Post, China is preparing for an increased risk of hostility between the two countries during Trump's administration, particularly in the naval defense field. For the development of the Navy, China has invested billions of dollars. The Chinese navy frequently away from their waters in the exercise, in an attempt to strengthen the combat capability. No matter how much Tillerson's "verbal bombs" on speech in the South China Sea, the People's Daily said a few days ago would not prevent Chinese troops from carrying out normal training.

2.      Not ‘Lone Wolves’ After All: How ISIS Guides World’s Terror Plots From Afar

The New York Times   FEB. 4, 2017

The authorities in India say a group of men plotting a terrorist attack in Hyderabad were instructed by an Islamic State handler to collect explosives material from this spot on the outskirts of the city.CreditAtul Loke for The New York Times

HYDERABAD, India — When the Islamic State identified a promising young recruit willing to carry out an attack in one of India’s major tech hubs, the group made sure to arrange everything down to the bullets he needed to kill victims.

For 17 months, terrorist operatives guided the recruit, a young engineer named Mohammed Ibrahim Yazdani, through every step of what they planned to be the Islamic State’s first strike on Indian soil.

Mohammed Ibrahim Yazdani, left, and his younger brother Ilyas, whom he recruited to participate in the Hyderabad plot.

They vetted each new member of the cell as Mr. Yazdani recruited helpers. They taught him how to pledge allegiance to the terrorist group and securely send the statement.

And from Syria, investigators believe, the group’s virtual plotters organized for the delivery of weapons as well as the precursor chemicals used to make explosives, directing the Indian men to hidden pickup spots.

Until just moments before the arrest of the Indian cell, here last June, the Islamic State’s cyberplanners kept in near-constant touch with the men, according to the interrogation records of three of the eight suspects obtained by The New York Times.

As officials around the world have faced a confusing barrage of attacks dedicated to the Islamic State, cases like Mr. Yazdani’s offer troubling examples of what counterterrorism experts are calling enabled or remote-controlled attacks: violence conceived and guided by operatives in areas controlled by the Islamic State whose only connection to the would-be attacker is the internet.

In the most basic enabled attacks, Islamic State handlers acted as confidants and coaches, coaxing recruits to embrace violence. In the Hyderabad plot, among the most involved found so far, the terrorist group reached deep into a country with strict gun laws to arrange for pistols and ammunition to be left in a bag swinging from the branches of a tree.

For the most part, the operatives who are conceiving and guiding such attacks are doing so from behind a wall of anonymity. When the Hyderabad plotters were arrested last summer, they could not so much as confirm the nationalities of their interlocutors in the Islamic State, let alone describe what they looked like. Because the recruits are instructed to use encrypted messaging applications, the guiding role played by the terrorist group often remains obscured.

As a result, remotely guided plots in Europe, Asia and the United States in recent years, including the attack on a community center in Garland, Tex., were initially labeled the work of “lone wolves,” with no operational ties to the Islamic State, and only later was direct communication with the group discovered.

ISIS Attacks, Outside of Its Self-proclaimed Caliphate

In at least 10 executed attacks, officials have found that the assailant was in direct communication with planners from the Islamic State.

The Islamic State has declared its caliphate to include parts of Syria, Iraq and about a dozen other countries where it has affiliates.

3.      Snapchat owner worth up to $25bn despite making losses

BBC  3 February 2017 

Snap, owner of the Snapchat messaging app popular with teenagers, is to sell its shares on the US stock market.

    

The California-based tech firm, which allows users to send images and messages that vanish within seconds, is set to be one of the major US share listings of recent years.

The flotation is expected to value the business at between $20bn and $25bn, although Snap has never made a profit.

It will turn the company's founders into multi-billionaires.

Snap wants to raise $3bn through the share sale, a small percentage but one that will set the market price for the rest of the company.

Snap's formal announcement to regulators of its plans revealed that the company made sales of $404m last year, but a loss of $515m.

The documents also disclose that the shares being sold will, unusually, not carry voting rights, enabling Snap's founders to retain control.

The company began in 2011 when co-founder and chief executive, 26-year-old Evan Spiegel, was still at university.

Mr Spiegel and fellow founder Bobby Murphy, 28, have stakes in Snap that would be worth about $5bn.

Snap now has nearly 160 million daily users and last year revenues grew by nearly 600%, the listing documents revealed.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionEvan Spiegel, seen here with his fiance Miranda Kerr, would remain a major shareholder in the company

Heavy costs, including from marketing and research, dragged Snap into even deeper losses than the $373m it lost in 2015.

'Facebook story'

Snap said in the filing that it expected "to incur operating losses in the future, and may never achieve or maintain profitability".

Despite the losses - and that warning - some investors see Snapchat as the next potential Facebook, said CCS Insights analyst Martin Garner.

"If it can repeat the Facebook story to some extent, it's going to be hugely profitable," he said.

Most of Snapchat's revenue comes from advertising, and it is seen as an appealing way for companies to reach young people, with over half of its users aged between 13 and 24.

Analysts predicted its US stock market listing would be the biggest since the launch of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2014, and before that Facebook's $81bn valuation in 2012.

It would also mean a big payout for Mr Spiegel, who is set to remain a major shareholder.

Just over three years ago, he turned down an offer from Facebook's co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to buy Snapchat for $3bn.

The company is now seeking to raise $3bn from the share sale, according to reports, valuing the company at much more.