Transatlantic relations

2 June 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  633 minutes

Transatlanticism symbol: a hybrid out of the Europa and Stars and Stripes © Patrikpluhar/cc-by-sa-3.0

Transatlantic symbol: A hybrid of the European flag and the Stars and Stripes © Patrikpluhar/cc-by-sa-3.0

(Latest update: 23 August 2022) Transatlantic relations refer to the historic, cultural, political, economic and social relations between countries on both side of the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes specifically those between the United States, Canada and the countries in Europe, although other meanings are possible. There are a number of issues over which the United States and Europe generally disagree. Some of these are cultural, such as the U.S. use of the death penalty, some are international issues such as the Middle East peace process where the United States is often seen as pro-Israel and where Europe is often seen as pro-Arab (Arab–Israeli conflict), and many others are trade related. The current U.S. policies are often described as being unilateral in nature, whereas the European Union and Canada are often said to take a more multilateral approach, relying more on the United Nations and other international institutions to help solve issues. There are many other issues upon which they agree. This article refers to the relations between the EU (Culture of Europe, Economy of the European Union, History of Europe, and Politics of the European Union) and the USA (Culture of the United States, Economy of the United States, History of the United States, and Politics of the United States).   read more…

Shenyang in China

16 March 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  27 minutes

West Pagoda Street © Ecabal/cc-by-sa-4.0

West Pagoda Street © Ecabal/cc-by-sa-4.0

Shenyang, formerly known by its Manchu name Mukden or Fengtian, is the provincial capital and the largest city of Liaoning Province in the People’s Republic of China, as well as the largest city in Northeast China by urban population. The city’s urban area has 6.3 million inhabitants, while the total population of the Shenyang municipality, which holds the administrative status of a sub-provincial city, is up to 8.1 million. Shenyang’s city region includes the ten metropolitan districts of Shenyang proper, the county-level city of Xinmin, and two counties of Kangping and Faku. In the 17th century, Shenyang was conquered by the Manchu people and briefly used as the capital of the Qing dynasty.   read more…

Arab–Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflict

6 January 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  1987 minutes

© Oncenawhile

© Oncenawhile

(Latest update: 23 August 2022) The Arab–Israeli conflict is the political tension, military conflicts and disputes between a number of Arab countries and Israel. The roots (European colonial period, Ottoman Empire, widespread Antisemitism in Europe, Jews in the Russian Empire, Baron Edmond James de Rothschild (Jewish land purchase in Palestine), Theodor Herzl, Jewish National Fund (Israel Bonds), timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, World War I, Sykes–Picot Agreement (San Remo conference, Mandate for Palestine, UN Charter, Chapter XII – International Trusteeship System, Article 80 (commonly known as the “Palestine Article” used by both conflict parties, Israel and Palestine, to create the wildest interpretations, speculations and conspiracy theories to assert the respective alleged right to the total land area), McMahon–Hussein Correspondence), Balfour Declaration, World War II, The Holocaust (International Holocaust Remembrance Day), Évian Conference, Mandatory Palestine, Forced displacement, and United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine) of the modern Arab–Israeli conflict (or the history of collective failure) are bound in the rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism towards the end of the 19th century. Territory regarded by the Jewish people as their historical homeland is also regarded by the Pan-Arab movement as historically and currently belonging to the Palestinians, and in the Pan-Islamic context, as Muslim lands. The sectarian conflict between Palestinian Jews and Arabs emerged in the early 20th century, peaking into a full-scale civil war in 1947 and transforming into the First Arab–Israeli War in May 1948 following the Israeli Declaration of Independence (Nakba and the assassination of UN mediator Folke Bernadotte by the terror organization Lehi/Stern gang. Among them, the later Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir). Large-scale hostilities mostly ended with the cease-fire agreements after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War, or October War. Peace agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979, resulting in Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula and abolishment of the military governance system in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in favor of Israeli Civil Administration and consequent unilateral, internationally not recognized, annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. Even when the text is about 556 pages long, it is just a summary. The multitude of links point out that there is a lot more to learn in detail. At first, it is a timeline of the major developments in the region and it leads to today’s challenges. The starting point is the view of the international community, especially the European Union and North America, on the conflict, enriched with excursions into the ideas, convictions, believes, and thoughts of the direct and indirect involved parties to the conflict.   read more…

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Zhuhai in South China

29 May 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

Xianglu Bay © Shasha Zhuhai/cc-by-sa-4.0

Xianglu Bay © Shasha Zhuhai/cc-by-sa-4.0

Zhuhai (literally: “Pearl Sea”) is a prefecture-level city on the southern coast of Guangdong province in China. Located in the Pearl River Delta, Zhuhai borders Jiangmen to the northwest, Zhongshan to the north, and Macau to the south. Zhuhai was one of the original Special Economic Zones established in the 1980s. Zhuhai is also one of China’s premier tourist destinations, being called the Chinese Riviera. While the city is located in the traditionally Cantonese-speaking region of Guangdong Province, a significant portion of population is now made up of Mandarin speaking economic migrants from inland Chinese provinces. The northern area of the city, the Xiangzhou district, is now part of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen built-up area, the biggest built-up area in the world with more than 44,478,513 inhabitants at the 2010 census encompassing the whole Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, Zhongshan, Macao cities, main part of Guangzhou, and small parts of Jiangmen and Huizhou cities. According to a report released in 2014 by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Zhuhai is the most livable city in China.   read more…

Portrait: Sun Tzu, The Art of War

26 April 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  12 minutes

Statue of Sun Tzu © 663highland/cc-by-2.5

Statue of Sun Tzu © 663highland/cc-by-2.5

Sun Tzu was a Chinese general, military strategist, and philosopher who lived in the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China. Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the author of The Art of War, a widely influential work of military strategy that has affected both Western and Eastern philosophy. Aside from his legacy as the author of The Art of War, Sun Tzu is revered in Chinese and the Culture of Asia as a legendary historical figure. His birth name was Sun Wu, and he was known outside of his family by his courtesy name Changqing. The name Sun Tzu by which he is best known in the West is an honorific which means “Master Sun.” Sun Tzu’s historicity is uncertain. Sima Qian and other traditional historians placed him as a minister to King Helü of Wu and dated his lifetime to 544–496 BC.   read more…

The National Library of China in Beijing

6 May 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  5 minutes

© flickr.com - Shanghai.Dennis/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Shanghai.Dennis/cc-by-sa-2.0

The National Library of China or NLC in Beijing is the national library of the People’s Republic of China. With a collection of over 33,78 million items, it is one of the largest libraries in Asia and one of the largest in the world. It holds the largest collections of Chinese literature and historical documents in the world.   read more…

The Venetian Macao

13 April 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hotels Reading Time:  5 minutes

© flickr.com - Dennis Wong/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Dennis Wong/cc-by-2.0

The Venetian Macao is a luxury hotel and casino resort in Macau owned by Las Vegas Sands. The Venetian is a 39-story, $2.4 billion anchor for the seven hotels on the Cotai Strip in Macau. The 10,500,000-square-foot (980,000 m2) Venetian Macao is modeled on its sister casino resort The Venetian Las Vegas, and is the seventh-largest building in the world by floor area. The Venetian Macao is also the largest casino in the world, and the largest single structure hotel building in Asia. The main hotel tower was finished in July 2007 and the resort officially opened on 28 August 2007. The resort has 3000 suites, 1,200,000 sq ft (110,000 m2) of convention space, 1,600,000 sq ft (150,000 m2) of retail, 550,000 square feet (51,000 m2) of casino space – with 3400 slot machines and 800 gambling tables and a 15,000 seat CotaiArena for entertainment and sports events.   read more…

Zhongnanhai in Beijing

29 January 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  6 minutes

Xinhua Gate, Gate of New China © PENG, Yanan/cc-by-sa-3.0

Xinhua Gate, Gate of New China © PENG, Yanan/cc-by-sa-3.0

Zhongnanhai is an imperial garden in central Beijing, adjacent to the Forbidden City; it serves as the central headquarters for the Communist Party of China and the State Council (Central government) of the People’s Republic of China. The term Zhongnanhai is closely linked with the central government and senior Communist Party officials. It is often used as a metonym for the Chinese leadership at large. The state leaders, including Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, and other top CPC and PRC leadership figures carry out many of their day-to-day administrative activities inside the compound, such as meetings with foreign dignitaries. China Central Television frequently shows footage of meetings inside the compound, but limits its coverage largely to views of the interior of buildings.   read more…

The Quantum of the Seas

14 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Cruise Ships, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  8 minutes

© royalcaribbean.de

© royalcaribbean.de

Quantum class is an upcoming class of cruise ships from Royal Caribbean International. On February 11, 2011, Royal Caribbean announced that they had ordered the first of a new class of ships from the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg scheduled to be delivered by Fall 2014. At the time, the project was code-named “Project Sunshine”. The Quantum-class ships will surpass the earlier Freedom-class ships by over 14,000 GT, becoming the second largest class of passenger ships behind Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis class ships on a gross tonnage basis. The first three ships of this class, Quantum of the Seas, delivered in November 2014, Anthem of the Seas, expected to be delivered in November 2014, and Ovation of the Seas, expected to be delivered in Fall 2016. Quantum of the Seas will spend its inaugural 2014-2015 season sailing from Cape Liberty in Bayonne, New Jersey, before repositioning to China in May 2015. Beginning late June 2015, the ship will sail three- to eight-night itineraries year-round from Shanghai to Japan and Korea. Anthem of the Seas will spend its inaugural 2015 season sailing from Southampton, Hampshire, before repositioning to Cape Liberty in November 2015. As of April 2014, no ports or itineraries have been announced for Ovation of the Seas.   read more…

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