The next hotspot in the world

Don't think that as the year draws to a close that 2013 might be a "quieter" one around the world. Reading this piece in The Atlantic ought to give anyone a jolt that we are going to be looking at another hotspot in the next little while.

"If you're worn out worrying about Syria, Gaza, Iran, you name it, I give you: the announcement today by police on China's large southern island of Hainan that, starting on January 1, they will assert a right to stop and board any vessel they consider to have violated China's very expansive claim of territorial waters in the South China Sea.

Take a look at this rendering of the area over which China asserts territorial sovereignty. More details below, but the red line encloses what China considers its own sovereign area; the blue shows Vietnam's claims; the purple shows those of the Philippines; the yellow is Malaysia's; and the green is from Brunei."

Continue reading here.

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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