I'm trying to get through the BG coverage as fast as I can, dear readers.
"Hackers in China rifled oil firms’ files; Analysts deem it industry spying" by Joe McDonald, Associated Press / February 11, 2011
BEIJING — Hackers operating from China stole sensitive information from Western oil companies, a US security firm reported yesterday, adding to complaints about pervasive Internet crime traced to the country.
The report by McAfee Inc. did not identify the companies but said the “coordinated, covert, and targeted’’ attacks began in November 2009 and targeted computers of oil and gas companies in the United States, Taiwan, Greece, and Kazakhstan. It said the attackers stole information on operations, bidding for oil fields, and financing.
“We have identified the tools, techniques, and network activities used in these continuing attacks — which we have dubbed Night Dragon — as originating primarily in China,’’ said the report.
Yet the report did not offer evidence that the attacks were anything other than the standard flavor of corporate espionage that plagues businesses around the world and in which the United States and China have both accused each other of being deeply involved.
Oh, hey, when AmeriKa does it that's okay.
The fact that oil companies were targeted may speak more to the value of their inside information than any attempt to cause damage to pipelines. McAfee called the attack methods unsophisticated but said the culprits were patient. They may have been inside the networks for years....
Josh Shaul, vice president of product management at Application Security Inc., a New York-based database security software maker that wasn’t involved in McAfee’s research: “It all seemed to me like someone trying to get ahead in the oil industry rather than doing something more nefarious.’’
The intruders were prolific in their purloining, snatching files including configurations for the oil companies’ control systems, but Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research for McAfee, said they did not appear to be trying to figure out how to blow up a pipeline or destroy equipment....
The Chinese government has denied it is involved.
And I believe them.
See: The Boston Globe's Invisible Ink: Israeli Virus Infects Iran
It has also infected my newspaper.
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"US-China space venture appears unlikely for now; Mutual suspicion hinders progress on cooperation" by Keith B. Richburg, Washington Post / February 6, 2011
BEIJING — China’s grand ambitions extend literally to the stars, with the country now embarked on a multipronged program to establish its own global navigational system, launch a space laboratory, and put a Chinese astronaut on the moon within the next decade.
The Obama administration, which has overseen large cutbacks in the US space program, views space as ripe territory for cooperation with China. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called it one of four potential areas of “strategic dialogue,’’ along with cyber security, missile defense, and nuclear weapons. And President Obama and President Hu Jintao vowed after their recent summit to “deepen dialogue and exchanges’’ in the field.
But as China steps up its space initiatives, the diplomatic talk of cooperation has so far found little traction. The Chinese leadership has shown scant interest in opening up the most sensitive details of its program, much of which is controlled by the People’s Liberation Army.
At the same time, Chinese scientists and space officials say US wariness of China’s extraterrestrial intentions, as well as bans on some high-technology exports, makes cooperation problematic.
Related: Spy Satellite Shit and Rods From God
Shouldn't the world be wary of that?
For now, the US-China relationship in space appears to mirror the one on Earth: a still-dominant but fading superpower facing a new and ambitious rival, with suspicion on both sides.
That certainly is where the war-promoting paper would like things to go.
“Without establishing mutual strategic trust between the two countries, there won’t be any substantial cooperation in the space field,’’ said Song Xiaojun, a military specialist and commentator on China’s CCTV. “It depends on whether the US can put away its pride and treat China as a partner to cooperate on equal terms.’’
China did not launch its first astronaut until 2003, but it has made some notable strides in recent months and years and plans seem on track for some major breakthroughs....
A third track is devoted to the development of a Chinese global navigational system, called Beidou, or “Compass,’’ to challenge the American global positioning system, or GPS.
Oh, there is the REAL RUB, huh?
A CHALLENGE to the EMPIRE!
Chinese academics involved in the space program said Beidou is crucial for China’s military. Without its own navigational system, Chinese troops and naval vessels must rely almost exclusively on the American GPS system, which could be manipulated or blocked during a conflict.
Which means all the war talk is a lot of hot gas, huh? Just turn off their GPS.
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Related:
"The government of Taiwan has arrested a general on accusations of spying for China in what could be the most prominent espionage case in Taiwan in decades....
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Gee, just when they were working closer than ever.
I'm tired of the war talk; isn't there a place to go to relax and have a smoke in China?
"China’s new ‘Hawaii’ drives growth, worry" by Keith B. Richburg, Washington Post / February 5, 2011
WANNING, China — The “Hawaii of the East.’’
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Lavish resorts, seaside villas, spas, and a helicopter landing pad for wealthy visitors with no time to waste.
And then there are golf courses — plenty of them. By one local estimate, as many as 300 golf courses are being planned for the tropical island, which is about the size of Belgium....
I don't like golf, sorry.
The dizzying pace of construction has forced thousands of indigenous farmers off their land, driven property prices up tenfold and higher, and led many residents to ask how much development is too much.
“Hainan is a real-life example of that film ‘Avatar,’ ’’ said Liu, who moved here 22 years ago to work in the island province’s forestry ministry. “Except in Avatar, they could organize together to fight back.’’ On Hainan, he said, “I don’t have much hope — nothing can stop this change.’’
See: The Lesson of Avatar
The Chinese going to edit out Weaver's inhaling?
As for the change, I think the Arab masses in the streets shot that one down.
Hainan residents and environmentalists say the rapid development is damaging the island’s ecosystem, and they are concerned mostly about the destruction of the coastal forests, which for centuries have served as a natural bulwark against typhoons, tsunamis, and soil erosion. They are particularly worried about the mangroves of Australian pine and rare indigenous Vatica mangachapoi, which has been a protected resource since the Qing dynasty....
Chen Zuming, 63, a farmer from the indigenous ethnic Li minority, recalls how these mangrove forests also played a role in China’s recent history, providing a redoubt for guerrillas battling the Japanese occupation during World War II and later for China’s Communist forces fighting the Nationalists.
Huge tracts of the mangroves have been chopped down to make way for seaside hotels and apartments and the paved highways to connect them. Three thousand villagers, including Chen, have been told that they have to relocate to a town 18 miles away, giving up their homes, their farmland, even the burial grounds of their ancestors.
That's usually called progress here in AmeriKa.
As farmers and fishermen, they worry that they won’t be able to make a living in that town.
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Yup, AmeriKa's enemy-making media still swinging the ax.
Also see: Hawaii lawmakers OK same-sex civil unions
That's our Hawaii.
