Foreign Confidential ™
Foreign News and Analysis Since April 2005 -- formerly China Confidential -- What's Really Happening in the World
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Der Spiegel: Israel Arming German-Made Subs With Nukes
Israel is deploying nuclear-tipped cruise missiles on three of its German-built submarines, reports Der Spiegel, a mass-circulation news magazine.
The German government has known about the Israeli nuclear program for decades, despite official denials, according to the magazine.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Spiegel, that Germany should be “proud” that it secured the existence of the state of Israel “for many years.”
US Plans Air-Sea Iran Embargo: Report
DEBKAfile is reporting that the Obama administration plans to blockade Iran in order to stop its atomic advance. Read more.
US Drone Strike in Pakistan Targeted Senior Al Qaeda Leader
One of the last surviving members of Osama Bin Laden's inner circle appears to have been killed by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan. The senior Al Qaeda terrorist was the target of the precision aerial attack, another battle in a continuing, clandestine war against the group that slaughtered some 3,000 Americans on 9/11. Read more.
Spain Says it's Losing Access to Credit Markets
Spain is warning that it is losing access to the lifeblood of its economy--credit. Read more.
Related: Euro Falls as Spain Worries Grow
Related: Euro Falls as Spain Worries Grow
N. Korea Threat Cited Wrong S. Korean Coordinates
Turns out, North Korea got the coordinates of South Korean media outlets wrong when it threatened to bomb them. Read more.
Heads will roll in North Korea over this. But the threat is no laughing matter; neither is the North's artillery a laughing matter, nor its nuclear weapons and missiles (despite the failed long-range rocket launches). Also not funny: Pyongyang's proliferation partnership with Iran.
Heads will roll in North Korea over this. But the threat is no laughing matter; neither is the North's artillery a laughing matter, nor its nuclear weapons and missiles (despite the failed long-range rocket launches). Also not funny: Pyongyang's proliferation partnership with Iran.
Monday, June 04, 2012
Volvo Successfully Tests Biomass-Based DME Fuel in Trucks
'We Have a New Fuel and It's Working' - Volvo's Lars Martensson
Volvo is running successful field tests with trucks powered by bio-DME, a second-generation liquid biofuel.
Since last autumn, 10 specially adapted Volvo trucks have been operating on Swedish roads. They do not stand out in the traffic--they do not travel more slowly and they do not look any different--but they are revolutionary. The reason is that they are powered by bio-DME, a fuel that is produced from biomass--renewable, totally natural raw materials--which reduces carbon emissions by 95 per cent compared with diesel.
The field tests have now reached the halfway point, and the results so far have both met and exceeded expectations.
“We have, for example, demonstrated both that the technology works in practice, when it comes to both the production of fuel and trucks in traffic, and that the infrastructure with filling stations in different parts of Sweden works effectively. The test results bode well for the future,” says Lars Mårtensson, environmental director at Volvo Trucks.
The field tests, which are being conducted in collaboration with companies including Preem and the Swedish company, Chemrec, which is responsible for fuel production, has aroused interest worldwide--an unexpected bonus, according to Lars Mårtensson.
“We have shown that it’s possible to take an idea from the laboratory to full-scale operation and we have also successfully spread this knowledge all over the world. There is now a clear-cut interest from countries including China, Russia and the USA and they are markets with huge potential,” he says.
Converting Wood or Agricultural Waste into Liquid Biofuel
Bio-DME, dimethyl ether produced from biomass, is a liquid, so-called second-generation biofuel that can be made from wood or by-products and waste from agricultural production. “According to the calculations, bio-DME could replace up to 50 per cent of the diesel that is currently being consumed by commercial vehicles in Europe within the next 20 years. We have a chance to make a fantastic contribution to help the environment,” he adds.
The bio-DME that is being used in the Volvo Trucks field tests is made from black liquor, a by-product from the production of pulp. The black liquor is actually used in the flow of energy that powers the pulp mill. Chemrec’s process takes part of the black liquor, gasifies it and turns it into usable fuel which can currently, during the on-going field tests, be obtained at four filling stations in different parts of Sweden.
Bio-DME production is still in its infancy, but the potential is enormous. As a fuel in a diesel engine, bio-DME produces the same level of efficiency and lower noise levels compared with a traditional engine. Compared with diesel, bio-DME generates no less that 95 per cent fewer carbon emissions. Combustion also produces extremely low levels of particulates and nitrogen oxide. Taken as a whole, this makes bio-DME an ideal fuel for diesel engines.
DME is a gas, but it is converted into liquid at a pressure of just 5 bar. Handling is uncomplicated and resembles that of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). DME can be produced from both natural gas and different kinds of biomass. When it is made from biomass, the fuel is called bio-DME.
Chavismo Without Chavez: Analysis
Venezuelan Movement Likely to Hold Onto Power
Venezuela is more than oil-rich; it is incredibly oil rich. The Orinoco River belt, an area approximately the size of Massachusetts, sits atop the largest oil deposits in the world, estimated at 1.3 trillion barrels of oil “in place," including molasses-like heavy crude and semisolid tar sands. An estimated 270 billion barrels of this oil is regarded as recoverable--roughly matching the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. Improved technologies and/or higher oil prices could increase the size of the reserves even further.
Back in the days of the first big U.S. energy crisis, under the Carter administration, the United States had a golden opportunity to form a Western Hemisphere energy alliance with Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and other nations; but proposals fell on deaf ears. Carter and his advisors painted with a broad brush; they practically viewed all oil as evil, regardless of who produced it, and therefore had to be pressured into lifting price controls on domestic heavy oils that had hampered development of the neglected resource.
In Depth: Quebec's Student Strike
Carlos Fraenkel and Adam Etinson report on "100 Days of Students Protests in Quebec:"
Read the whole article.
Bill 78, the emergency law passed on May 18, may be a turning point…. It suspended the semester at striking colleges and universities until August, prohibited protest activities on campus and demonstrations anywhere without advance police approval, and imposed hefty fines—from $1,000 for individuals to $125,000 for student associations—on anyone failing to comply. The bill is widely perceived as a declaration of war against the students and as an assault on fundamental rights enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The enormous turnout of defiant protesters on May 22 suggests that the bill achieved the opposite of what it set out to do: it not only gave a boost to the student movement but helped forge a large coalition of citizens—separatists, unionists, intellectuals, artists, and so on—concerned about Québec’s future. What started as a protest against an ostensibly modest raise of university tuition fees 100 days ago has thus become the midwife of a vigorous public debate about the political, social, and cultural physiognomy of Québec.
Read the whole article.
N. Korea Threatens to Launch 'Merciless Sacred War' Against Seven South Korean Media Outlets; Specific Coordinates Cited
The threat is unusually specific--and quite serious. Click here for the news.
Related: IAEA Sees No Prospect for N. Korea Visit
Related: IAEA Sees No Prospect for N. Korea Visit
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