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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 8-May-2014
8-May-14 World View -- China rams Vietnamese ships in the South China Sea

Web Log - May, 2014

8-May-14 World View -- China rams Vietnamese ships in the South China Sea

Putin 'withdraws' Russian troops, and calls off Sunday's east Ukraine referendum

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

China rams Vietnamese ships in the South China Sea
Putin 'withdraws' Russian troops, and calls off Sunday's east Ukraine referendum
Vladimir Putin caught in a lie about the Crimean referendum

China rams Vietnamese ships in the South China Sea

Chinese ship sprays water cannons at smaller Vietnamese ship over the weekend

Chinese ship sprays water cannons at smaller Vietnamese ship over the weekend

Eight Vietnamese boats have been "rammed, hit or sprayed with high-pressure hoses [by Chinese boats] ... damaging Vietnamese vessels and injuring their crew members" since Saturday, according to Vietnamese officials. The Vietnamese ships were attempting a blockade to prevent China from deploying a mobile drilling rig to search for oil and gas in regions that have historically belonged to Vietnam, and which Vietnam claims as part of its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.

China has been adopting a "Lebensraum" policy of claiming all of the South China Sea as its sovereign territory, including regions that have historically belonged to Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, often for centuries. According to China, these countries have no rights to anything outside their 12-mile territorial waters, while China has the right to annex everything in sight. China has already used its vast military power to forcibly annex territories belonging to Vietnam and the Philippines, and has militarily threatened islands belonging to Malaysia.

According to Vietnamese officials, "Vietnam has exercised restraint. But if Chinese vessels continue ramming Vietnamese ships, we'll have to act out of self-defense."

In a separate incident on Wednesday, 11 Chinese fishermen hunting sea turtles were captured Wednesday by Philippine maritime police. According to the Chinese, "Several armed men forced themselves onto the boat and fired four or five shots in the air. They then took control of the boat." But the Philippine National Police rebutted this statement, saying that the Chinese fishermen had been caught with 800 sea turtles, which are protected under Philippine law. The incident took place near the Spratly Islands’ Half Moon Shoal, which the Philippines claims is within its 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

Tensions between China and other nations, particularly Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, in the East and South China Seas, have been growing steadily, along with threats and confrontations. This is a trend that seems to worsen every week, as all of these countries' populations become increasingly nationalistic. Now we have Chinese ships ramming Vietnamese ships, and we have Chinese warplanes and Japanese warplanes both surveying the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. Some accident or miscalculation could lead to a larger conflict at any time. LA Times and Thanh Nien News (Hanoi)

Putin 'withdraws' Russian troops, and calls off Sunday's east Ukraine referendum

Russia's president Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday that Russia's troops have withdrawn from the border with Ukraine. However, the Pentagon says that there's been no evidence of movement in Russia's soldiers, so apparently this was another Putin lie.

However, Putin surprised everybody on Wednesday by calling on Ukraine's pro-Russian separatists to postpone a referendum that was scheduled for this Sunday, May 11. The purpose of this referendum was to duplicate the 97% Russian victory in a similar March 16 referendum held in Crimea that Putin used as an excuse to separate Crimea from Ukraine and annex it to Russia.

This announcement was a surprise to the West, to Ukraine's government, and even to the pro-Russian separatists who were preparing for the referendum. The separatists say that they're going to hold the referendum anyway.

Possibly even more surprising, Putin announced that Ukraine's president elections, scheduled for May 25, should go ahead. Putin had previously opposed these elections because they would legitimize the government in Kiev. VOA

Vladimir Putin caught in a lie about the Crimean referendum

It's likely that the reason that Putin called for postponing or canceling Sunday's separatist referendum is because he decided that the pro-Russian side was likely to lose. In fact, there have been polls that indicate that people of eastern Ukraine dislike the Kiev government, but still don't want to be part of Russia.

But now it's emerged that the published results of the Crimean referendum were fraudulent. Putin had claimed that 97% of the Crimeans had voted to separate and join Russia. It was obvious that the 97% figure was at least an exaggeration, since no honest election ever gets such lopsided results. But now an official Russian agency, the Presidential Council on Civil Society and Human Rights, accidentally posted the real figures on its web site: that only 30% of eligible voters turned out to vote, and only 50% of those voted for annexation. So only 15% of eligible votes (50% of 30%) voted for annexation.

The 97% claim was the lynchpin of Putin's argument that Crimea should be separated from Ukraine and annexed to Russia, and now that entire justification has been invalidated. Even with the 97% figure there never was any legitimacy for one country to annex another country's territory, but now the entire operation is shown to be a sham. Washington Post and Forbes

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 8-May-14 World View -- China rams Vietnamese ships in the South China Sea thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (8-May-2014) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 8-May-2014 8-May-14 World View -- China rams Vietnamese ships in the South China Sea

China rams Vietnamese ships in the South China Sea

Putin 'withdraws' Russian troops, and calls off Sunday's east Ukraine referendum

Vladimir Putin caught in a lie about the Crimean referendum

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 8-May-2014
8-May-14 World View -- China rams Vietnamese ships in the South China Sea