PERSONNEL
Total Population: 71,892,808 [2008]
Population Available: 39,645,893 [2008]
Fit for Military Service: 33,444,999 [2008]
Reaching Military Age Annually: 1,298,979 [2008]
Active Military Personnel: 514,000 [2008]
Active Military Reserve: 380,000 [2008]
Active Paramilitary Units: 148,700 [2008]
ARMY
Total Land-Based Weapons: 6,672
Tanks: 4,205 [2007]
Armored Personnel Carriers: 830 [2007]
Towed Artillery: 685 [2007]
Self-Propelled Guns: 868 [2007]
Multiple Rocket Launch Systems: 84 [2007]
Mortars: 5,813 [2007]
Anti-Tank Guided Weapons: 1,283 [2007]
Anti-Aircraft Weapons: 1,664 [2007]
NAVY
Total Navy Ships: 182
Merchant Marine Strength: 602 [2008]
Major Ports and Harbors: 6
Aircraft Carriers: 0 [2008]
Destroyers: 0 [2008]
Submarines: 13 [2007]
Frigates: 24 [2007]
Patrol & Coastal Craft: 28 [2007]
Mine Warfare Craft: 24 [2007]
Amphibious Craft: 8 [2007]
AIR FORCE
Total Aircraft: 1,199 [2007]
Helicopters: 336 [2007]
Serviceable Airports: 117 [2007]
FINANCES (USD)
Defense Budget: $30,936,000,000 [2009]
Foreign Exch. & Gold: $76,510,000,000 [2007]
Purchasing Power: $853,900,000,000 [2007]
OIL
Oil Production: 45,460 bbl/day [2005]
Oil Consumption: 660,800 bbl/day [2005]
Proven Oil Reserves: 300,000,000 bbl [2006]
LOGISTICAL
Labor Force: 23,530,000 [2007]
Roadways: 426,906 km
Railways: 8,697 km
GEOGRAPHIC
Waterways: 1,200 km
Coastline: 7,200 km
Square Land Area: 780,580 km
Turkey is 4th largest army of the world and Nato 2th after USA
Duration : 0:5:9
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A report in the UKs Independent newspaper says Brazil, China, Russia, Japan and the Gulf states plan to stop using the dollar in oil trading. The newspaper claims the countries have been in ongoing secret talks on the matter.
Duration : 0:3:26
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Recorded Oct 6, 2009 – 8:30 EDT
On the Front Page of today’s Independent – The demise of the dollar:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/the-demise-of-the-dollar-1798175.html
I have an image of today’s Front Page of the Independent on my blog at http://feveriam.blogspot.com
Iran replaces Dollar with Euro in FX:
http://presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=106669§ionid=351020102
Dollar’s demise plotted by oil producers, China and France, report says:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/currency/6263992/Dollars-demise-plotted-by-oil-producers-China-and-France-report-says.html
Potential end of dollar-based oil deals helps gold shine:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/potential-end-of-dollar-based-oil-deals-lifts-gold-2009-10-06
Banks brace for Latvia’s collapse:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/6263039/Banks-brace-for-Latvias-collapse.html
Ireland votes ‘Yes’ to EU Lisbon Treaty:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ireland/6257640/Ireland-votes-Yes-to-EU-Lisbon-Treaty.html
The result in Ireland shows that Europe’s usurpers have succeeded:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/6259211/The-result-in-Ireland-shows-that-Europes-usurpers-have-succeeded.html
Michael O’Leary admits that Ryanair’s Yes campaign is to get Aer Lingus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSAIAhMVFzc
Irish vote sends Tony Blair racing to EU presidency:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/04/tony-blair-eu-presidency-race
Web-bot predictions of ‘Economic Collapse’:
http://urbansurvival.com/nl20091003.htm
The mystery investor who is turning the tin market on its head:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/6259436/The-mystery-investor-who-is-turning-the-tin-market-on-its-head.html
Goldman Sachs, CIT in talks to amend loan terms-WSJ:
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0539416220091005
Just for a laugh:
Why women have sex:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/28/sex-women-relationships-tanya-gold
Peace and Love
Duration : 0:10:43
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Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) — Ben Westmore, an energy and minerals economist at National Australia Bank Ltd., talks with Bloomberg’s Haslinda Amin about his forecast for the price of oil.
Westmore, speaking from Melbourne, also discusses the outlook for copper and China’s metals production. (Source: Bloomberg)
Duration : 0:5:1
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Free from Nigerian Military Custody, “Sweet Crude” Director Sandy Cioffi on Oil Politics in the Niger Delta
The Nigerian government, along with foreign oil companies, have reaped enormous profits over the years from the sale of oil and gas reserves, while the residents of the Niger Delta live in abject poverty. We speak to Sandy Cioffi, director of the the upcoming documentary Sweet Crude. She was recently arrested by the Nigerian military and held for a week before being released following international pressure. [includes rush transcript]
Duration : 0:9:12
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Government produced rap about oil and gas production commemorating 30 years of reform and opening in Xinjiang from late December 2008 concert in Urumqi. Nur Bekri and Wang Lequan in attendance. In place of hard facts about Xinjiang this is what we get… Chinese transcript and lame translation below (some video missing):
年产原油一千万吨，已是过去啦，油气总产四千五，听着你别害怕，化肥塑料天然气，连着万户千家，西北石化最重要的，就是咱们啦，现代工业大石油，经济大动脉，资源有限科学管理，意义最重大，党和政府高瞻远瞩英明做决策，石油战略大手笔油海翻浪花，滚滚石油流淌着，新疆的焰火，火光熊熊照亮了，天边的晚霞，祖国的西部新疆，经济大发展，大发展的新疆，新疆前景美如画
旗帜： 新疆维吾尔自治区纪念改革开放30周年文艺晚会
Annual production of 10 million tons of crude oil is already surpassed, total output of oil and gas is 4500 (tons?, cubic meters?), upon hearing it dont be alarmedfertilizers, plastics and natural gas, linking every household, the Northwest’s petrochemical industrys most important part, thats us!.. Modern industrialized oil is the main artery of the economy, scientific management of limited resources is most significant, the party and government have made far-sighted and wise policies, the signature of the great oil strategy is a raging sea of oil, surging oil is flowing forth as Xinjiang’s fireworks, the brightly raging firelight is the afterglow on the horizon, Xinjiang, the western part of the motherland, is developing grandly, the prospects of the greatly developing Xinjiang are pretty as a picture.
Banner: Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region evening program commemorating 30 years of reform and opening.
Duration : 0:1:42
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“Thanks for this, it is indeed a good coverage on the issue.”
Sujoy Banerjee
Director -Conservation Programme WWF-INDIA
“Your video is great.”- Wong Jim Fong WILD ASIA
“Many thanks, It is the support of people like you that makes us battle on in these critical times for wildlife. Videos like yours can help spread awareness – the key to putting governments under pressure and changing policies.”
Ritu Khanna WILDLIFE PROTECTION SOCIETY OF INDIA.
——————————————
*Dedicated to those guards who put their life on the line for low pay to protect the tiger and its habitat.
Total captive tiger numbers= 10,000 +/- in various situations. (most are Amur/Bengal mixed)
Tiger numbers in the wild:
(based on the most recent and factual data I could find)
BENGAL TIGER= 1,200-1,450 (S.Asia: India) Low numbers due to loss of habitat with population boom, need for agriculture, illegal hunting, and poor protection.
AMUR/ SIBERIAN TIGER= 400-500 (E. Asia: Russia, N.E. China) Low numbers due to illegal hunting in vast unprotected habitat as well legal hunting killing off their natural prey. Logging companies (some mafia influenced, clearing forest)
INDOCHINESE TIGER= 700-1,200 (S.E. Asia: Vietnam, Cambodia) Low numbers due to fragmented habitat, devastation of forest for palm oil production, illegal hunting and poor protection.
SUMATRAN TIGER= 300-350 (W. Indonesia: Sumatra) Low numbers due to loss of habitat, illegal hunting and poor protection.
MALAYAN TIGER= 400-600 (S.E. Asia: Malaysia, Thailand) *decleared a separate subspecies from the Indochinese tiger in 2004. Low numbers due to loss of habitat from logging and agriculture.
SOUTH CHINA TIGER= 10? (S.China) declared extinct in 2003. (One photo recently taken is being called a hoax.) Low numbers due to China’s waiting until 1977 to outlaw hunting. No protection from illegal hunting. Loss of habitat.
(A captive born male S. China tiger was born 11-23-07 in Africa)
WHAT I THINK WILL SAVE THE WILD TIGER:
Letting U.S. corporations know that we want to be aware where our resources like Palm Oil come from. Our government letting China know we are unhappy with their wildlife policies (namely tiger parts used in traditional medicine) and poor protection of their endangered animals.
Better protection for the tigers in their native habitats and their prey species by properly arming and funding the anti-poaching units, and better regulations allowing them to search for illegal trade. Less corrupt local governments to allow the people a chance at an economy that doesn’t rely on illegal trade or over farming the land.
More funding being sent over, possibly a tiger tax on all that own/exhibit tigers to go towards their conservation.
For more info:
http://www.tigrisfoundation.nl
http://wildlifealliance.org
http://www.wildasia.net
http://www.iucn.org
http://www.cawtglobal.org
http://www.wpsi-india.org
http://www.tigertrust.info
http://www.defenders.org
http://www.savethetigerfund.org
http://www.wwf.org
Please subscribe and watch my other wildlife videos.
*All tiger footage filmed at Big Cat Rescue, Tampa, Fl.
Duration : 0:4:8
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Free from Nigerian Military Custody, “Sweet Crude” Director Sandy Cioffi on Oil Politics in the Niger Delta
The Nigerian government, along with foreign oil companies, have reaped enormous profits over the years from the sale of oil and gas reserves, while the residents of the Niger Delta live in abject poverty. We speak to Sandy Cioffi, director of the the upcoming documentary Sweet Crude. She was recently arrested by the Nigerian military and held for a week before being released following international pressure. [includes rush transcript]
Duration : 0:6:44
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A description of what is required to replace oil production.
Duration : 0:10:14
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Max Keiser talks to Stacy Herbert about China’s gold reverves and the dollar being dumped
recorded on April 25th 2009
China admits to building up stockpile of gold
http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/story.html?id=1530063
China has admitted what many gold bugs have long speculated: it’s been stockpiling gold since 2003.
SHANGHAI/BEIJING – China revealed on Friday that it had secretly raised its gold reserves by three-quarters since 2003, increasing its holdings to 1,054 tonnes – or a pot worth about US$30.9-billion – and confirming years of speculation it had been buying.
Hu Xiaolian, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, told Xinhua news agency in an interview that the country’s reserves had risen by 454 tonnes from 600 tonnes since 2003, when China last adjusted its state gold reserves figure.
The confirmation of its surreptitious stockpiling is likely to fuel market talk about Beijing’s ability to buy secretly and its ambitions for spending its nearly US$2-trillion pile of savings. And not just in gold: copper and other metals markets are booming thanks to China’s barely-visible hand.
Speculation has gathered speed over the last year, since the tumbling dollar has threatened to weaken China’s buying power – and give it yet more reason to diversify into gold, oil and metals.
Gold prices jumped on the news of Chinese buying and were up more than 1% on the day at US$912.05 an ounce at 0715 GMT. By a Reuters calculation, China’s holding of gold would be worth around US$30.9-billion at current prices.
That accounts for only about 1.6% of China’s total foreign exchange holdings and is little more than one-tenth of the value of the U.S. gold reserve, the world’s biggest. It also means gold has slipped as a share of China’s total reserves from about 2%, based on end-2003 prices.
Only six countries hold more than 1,000 tonnes, and China is ranked fifth, having leap-frogged Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands with its announcement.
However, the International Monetary Fund and the SPDR Gold Trust exchange traded fund are even bigger, leaving China with the world’s seventh-biggest pot of gold.
Several gold market participants said they thought China had bought on the international market, helping to absorb hundreds of tonnes sold off by central banks and the International Monetary Fund in recent years.
“China has been buying via government channels from South Africa, Russia and South America,” said Ellison Chu, director of precious metals at Standard Bank in Hong Kong.
But Hu said the increase in China’s stocks was achieved by buying on the domestic market and from domestic producers.
China is the world’s largest gold producer and does not permit exports of gold ingots, only jewellery, leaving plentiful supplies for the domestic market.
China produced 282 tonnes of gold last year, meaning the state bought around one quarter of domestic production, assuming 454 tonnes increase in state purchases were spread out over the six years since China last reported a change in its holdings.
Despite the rumours, buying by the state was partially obscured by soaring demand for gold as an investment, especially after the bursting of the Shanghai stock market bubble last year.
Investment demand in China rose to 68.9 tonnes from 25.6 tonnes in 2007. But that was still less than one third of retail demand in India, where total bullion consumption topped 660 tonnes last year.
Hu said China recently reported the change in its gold holdings to the International Monetary Fund and would include the latest change in central bank reports and balance of payment statistics.
She did not say when China notified the IMF.
Although gold rose after Hu’s comments were published, the price move was not a huge one for the highly liquid market. Prices had jumped by US$13 in the space of an hour on Thursday.
Gold market participants said the news signalled likely further buying by China.
“The comments indicate that China will buy more gold as reserve to improve its foreign reserve portfolio. This is a trend,” said Yao Haiqiao, president of Longgold Asset Management.
Hou Huimin, vice general secretary of the China Gold Association, said China should build its reserves to 5,000 tonnes.
“It’s not a matter of a few hundred, or 1,000 tonnes. China should hold more because of its new international status, and because of the financial crisis,” he said.
“The financial crisis means the U.S. dollar value is changing fast, and it may retreat from being the international reserve currency. If that happens, whoever holds gold will be at an advantage.”
The European Central Bank recommends its member banks hold 15% of their reserves in gold, but among Asian nations the percentage is far smaller, said Albert Cheng, World Gold Council managing director for the far east.
Duration : 0:8:18
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