Hopefully this German media report is true: "European Union is seriously jeopardizing its global climate leadership role"

German Der Spiegel reports that the European Union "is seriously jeopardizing its global leadership role":

The EU's reputation as a model of environmental responsibility may soon be history. The European Commission wants to forgo ambitious climate protection goals and pave the way for fracking -- jeopardizing Germany's touted energy revolution in the process.

The climate between Brussels and Berlin is polluted, something European Commission officials attribute, among other things, to the "reckless" way German Chancellor Angela Merkel blocked stricter exhaust emissions during her re-election campaign to placate domestic automotive manufacturers like Daimler and BMW. This kind of blatant self-interest, officials complained at the time, is poisoning the climate.

But now it seems that the climate is no longer of much importance to the European Commission, the EU's executive branch, either. Commission sources have long been hinting that the body intends to move away from ambitious climate protection goals. On Tuesday, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported as much.

At the request of Commission President José Manuel Barroso, EU member states are no longer to receive specific guidelines for the development of renewable energy. The stated aim of increasing the share of green energy across the EU to up to 27 percent will hold. But how seriously countries tackle this project will no longer be regulated within the plan. As of 2020 at the latest -- when the current commitment to further increase the share of green energy expires -- climate protection in the EU will apparently be pursued on a voluntary basis.--

In addition, the authority wants to pave the way in the EU for the controversial practice of fracking, according to the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The report says the Commission does not intend to establish strict rules for the extraction of shale gas, but only minimum health and environmental standards.

One can only hope that what the German media report turns out to be true. In that case the European Union could be on its way to real economic - and even environmental - leadership.

The importance of Lord Lawson's message

Nigel Lawson (now Lord Lawson of Blaby), Margaret Thatcher's longest-serving Chancellor yesterday showed why he is head and shoulders above the pygmy  politicians now in charge of the UK government: 

The British former chancellor of the exchequer, Lord Lawson, has urged the UK to leave the European Union, arguing that economic gains from an exit "would substantially outweigh the costs".

Writing in the Times, he describes the EU as "a bureaucratic monstrosity" and added that after an association with Brussels of 40 years "the case for exit is clear".

The peer - who was Margaret Thatcher's chancellor for six years - believes that leaving the EU would prove to be a wake-up call for business leaders.

He said that too many of them were content to be in "the warm embrace of the European single market" when the great export opportunities lay in the developing world, particularly Asia.

"The heart of the matter is that the relevant economic context nowadays is not Europe but globalisation. I strongly suspect that there would be a positive economic advantage to the UK in leaving the single market."

"The heart of the matter is that the very nature of the European Union, and of this country's relationship with it, has fundamentally changed after the coming into being of the European monetary union and the creation of the eurozone, of which - quite rightly - we are not a part."

For these reasons, Lord Lawson says, having voted to stay in the European Common Market, as the EU was known in 1975, "I shall be voting "out" in 2017".

"Not only do our interests increasingly differ from those of the eurozone members but, while never "at the heart of Europe" (as our political leaders have from time to time foolishly claimed), we are now becoming increasingly marginalised as we are doomed to being consistently outvoted by the eurozone bloc."

"You do not need to be within the single market to be able to export to the European Union, as we see from the wide range of goods on our shelves every day. The statistics are eloquent.

"Over the past decade, UK exports to the EU have risen in cash terms by some 40%. Over the same period, exports to the EU from those outside it have risen by 75%.

"The heart of the matter is that the relevant economic context nowadays is not Europe but globalisation, including global free trade, with the World Trade Organisation as its monitor."

PS

Lord Lawson's message is an important milestone in the process of bringing the slow motion Titanic, called the European Union, to its final destination. It will inspire wise people also in the other present members countries, where opposition against the EU, and particularly the euro is fast growing.

The European Union's new propaganda video: "They called me Herman"

"THEY CALLED ME HERMAN"!

The European Union has published a new propaganda video, starring the SchuBarRom Trio (presidents Van Rompuy, Barroso and Schulz), each of them praising their own work. The completely useless video, which has been viewed a whopping 3500 times (probably mainly by EU staff) , at 6,43, includes one memorable moment, when Haiku Herman Van Rompuy describes his first European Council meeting:

"But I was surprised the first time I took part as Belgian Prime Minister that everyone was on first name terms. I suddenly had to say Nicolas, Angela, they called me Herman."

"It's quite a strange experience."

PS
From a citizen's point of view, the really "strange experience" is watching the endless line of useless EU "summits", where "Herman" meets "Angela", "Nicolas", François and the rest.  

Germany´s failed foreign minister tries to save the euro with the help of his predecessors

The opposition against chanellor Angela Merkel´s policy of "more Europe" in order to save the euro is growing in Germany: 

Prominent euro-skeptic Frank Schäffler, who voted against a rescue package for Spanish banks in July, said that German taxpayer dollars shouldn't be put on the line to bail out governments of other European countries. "Things are moving closer and closer to a transfer union," he warned at the vote.

Bavaria's Finance Minister Markus Söder, a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and a crucial part of her governing coalition, said recently that Greece should leave the euro by the end of the year. Söder told the Sunday tabloid Bild am Sonntag that "each new aid measure, every easing of the demands, would be the wrong path."

Most prominent, however, have been the comments from Merkel's economy minister and vice chancellor Philipp Rösler, who said recently that a Greek exit from the common currency zone has "long since lost its horrors" for him. Rösler, as it happens, is also the current head of the FDP and was widely criticized for his comments.

Der Spiegel now tells us that Merkel´s foreign minister Guido Westerwelle - easily the worst foreign minister in Germany after WW II - is planning to save euro with  the help of some of his predecessors:

With Europe's common currency in trouble and the entire EU weakened as a result, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is determined to do his part to keep the euro from disintegrating. Indeed, he is now reportedly organizing a joint appearance with several former German foreign ministers from a trio of different political parties.

With the slogan, "We are for Europe," Westerwelle, of the business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP), is planning an appearance with his predecessors Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Klaus Kinkel, also of the FDP, Joschka Fischer of the environmentalist Green Party and Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the opposition center-left Social Democrats (SPD).

It is fortunately highly unlikely that Westerwelle´s project will have any influence on the more and more critical attitudes of ordinary Germans. When the reality of the European Union´s - and 

Germany´s - failed policies is fully exposed within the next few months, Germans will realize that Westerwelle´s and  his predecessor´s campaign is just another piece of empty rhetorics. 

Warmists John Kerry and Barbara Boxer disappoint enviro-fundamentalist Oxfam America

The US Congress - including global warming alarmists John Kerry and Barbara Boxer - is to be congratulated;  it must have done the right thing, because it arouses the ire of enviro-fundamentalist Oxfam America: 


A vote passed Tuesday in the Senate Commerce Committee takes climate bashing in a whole new direction. The “Thune bill” (S.1956) actually makes it illegal for the airline industry to even comply with another country’s climate law. (Since when is the European Union a country? NNoN)

Just imagine what would happen, for example, if European countries voted to make it illegal for their foods, like champagne or chocolates, to comply with US health and safety standards? That’s how bad this is.
 
At issue is the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) which applies a uniform rule to all flights landing in or departing from EU airports regardless of origin or destination and regardless of the airline’s home country. The law was upheld in EU Court of Justice (similar to the U.S. Supreme Court) last year in a lawsuit that was brought by U.S. airlines. Since then, the House of Representatives voted to prohibit U.S. airlines from complying with the law and now the Senate has voted its companion bill out of committee with almost unanimous approval. The bill could be attached to all sorts of legislation headed to the president’s desk.
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At issue is the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) which applies a uniform rule to all flights landing in or departing from EU airports regardless of origin or destination and regardless of the airline’s home country. 


Even some of the most reliable stalwarts on climate in the Senate voted for the bill, including Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), further demonstrating the way that the aviation industry has been able to strong-arm the process. It is astounding and confounding that they would cast this vote. This may be the worst vote by Senate Democrats on climate issues since the Byrd-Hagel resolution in 1997, which cut the legs out from under U.S. engagement in international climate policy for at least a decade.


Read the entire article here

Barroso´s only British fan revealed

A portrait of José Manuel Barroso´s only  known  fan  in  the  UK

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, on the European Union in an interview published in the New Statesman July 11: 

"The biggest integrated market in the world, the first economy in the world, the biggest donor of development assistance in the world . . . "

After reading this speech, given on the same day, my first thought was that Barroso is beginning to repeat himself: 

"the EU is the world’s largest integrated economy. And when it comes to climate change, this union has served us well: Europe negotiates as a bloc at the UN, one with more authority than we could muster individually.By working together, we have been able to achieve so much more than we could alone. A gathering of individual agents, each fighting for different national priorities, could not have secured the Kyoto Protocol, or its extension.

We should draw strength from this legacy. Rather than letting ambition slip, we should pay tribute to our past achievements by raising our sights still higher".

However, it was not Barroso this time. It was David Cameron´s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Edward Jonathan Davey, Barroso´s probably only remaining public fan in Britain. (Although one suspects that there still are a number of closet Barroso fans around)

Maybe Barroso´s and Davey´s friendship goes as far as to sharing the same speechwriter? Who knows.

A delusional commander of Putin´s armed forces

There are numerous signs showing that lifetime president Vladimir Putin´s Russia is becoming increasingly delusional. Putin´s commander of the armed forces, General Nikolai Makarov, appears to be one of the worst afflicted. He seems think that he is living in the Soviet Union of the 70s: 


Russia's efforts to re-establish its great power status and to increase its influence in great power politics are manifesting themselves on a concrete level in policy toward Finland.
      Moscow has made note of Finland’s defence and security policy decisions, and the Russian government is becoming more open in attempts to influence those decisions.
      Perhaps the bluntest message in recent history came when General Nikolai Makarov, the commander of the Russian armed forces, offered a fusillade of views concerning Finland at an event organised by the Finnish National Defence Course Association at the University of Helsinki.
      
In previous years Russia’s official stance was that it is up to Finland to decide whether or not to join NATO. However, this view now seems to have changed quite radically.
      Makarov warned directly that possible NATO membership for Finland would constitute a military threat against Russia. Russia is also concerned about closer military cooperation between Finland and NATO.
      General Makarov mentioned as examples the military exercises held in Northern Norway earlier this year, as well as the manoeuvres held in the Baltic Sea in 2010.
      
Even defence cooperation among the Nordic Countries was seen by Makarov to be a military threat to Russia.
      Makarov did not stop at the international activities of Finland's Defence Forces. In his speech he wondered why the Finnish Air Force is holding so many exercises near the Russian border, and why an exercise by the Army was given the name “East”.
      “We feel that these kinds of actions are not compatible with the aim for bilateral cooperation”, Makarov said.
      
One of the participants in the meeting was Charly Salonius-Pasternak, a researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, who said that such straight talk has not been heard in Finland in recent times. In her view, it is clear that the general’s warnings about cooperation with NATO had the approval of the highest political level.
      “Russia wants to show that it is a regional great power, an in its view, all neighbouring countries are part of its sphere of interest”, Salonius-Pasternak said.
      
Minister of Defence Stefan Wallin (Swed. People’s Party) commented on the speech by saying that Finland is a free country, where people can express their opinions freely.
      “Finland evaluates its relationship with NATO in a manner consistent with its government policy programme on the basis of its own security and defence policy interests. This sentence says that Finland makes its assessments and deci,sions itself and independently”, Wallin told Helsingin Sanomat.
      
PS
Maybe Russia´s strategic partner, the European Union, could make an offer to the general to be treated at some appropriate institution in e.g. Germany, France or the UK? Or maybe the Obama administration would be able to locate the required treatment for this representative of its reset partner in one of the excellent US military hospitals? 

Pew Research survey: "European Unity on the Rocks"

It is now becoming increasingly clear that the entire European project has failed. The EU political leaders and the unelected Brussels bureaucrats still blabber about "ever closer integration" and economic and political union, but the Pew Research Center´s latest survey reveals the reality: 

The European project, which began with the creation of a small Common Market in 1957, grew to a larger Single Market in 1992 and then created a single currency in 2002, is a major casualty of the ongoing European sovereign debt crisis.

Across the eight European Union member countries surveyed, a median of only 34% think that European economic integration has strengthened their country’s economy. Indeed, majorities or near majorities in most nations now believe that the economic integration of Europe has actually weakened their economies. This is the opinion in Greece (70%), France (63%), Britain (61%), Italy (61%), the Czech Republic (59%) and Spain (50%). Only in Germany (59%) do most people say that their country has been well served by European integration.

Among the five euro area nations surveyed, a median of only 37% believes having the euro as their currency has been a good thing. This includes just 30% of the Italians and 31% of the French. At the same time, the three non-euro zone countries surveyed are quite happy they have kept their own currencies, including nearly three-quarters of the British (73%).

Moreover, as public criticism of European unity grows, faith in its benefits and institutions erodes. Since 2009, belief that European economic integration, the raison d’être of the European Union, has weakened their national economy has grown by 22 percentage points in the Czech Republic, 20 points in Italy, and 18 points in Spain. And, since 2007, the favorability of the European Union as an organization has fallen 20 points in Spain and the Czech Republic, 19 points in Italy and 14 points in Poland.

Supporters of the euro and the "European project" may take some comfort in this: 


Nevertheless, the symbols of a united Europe retain public support. Despite the falloff in EU favorability, most Europeans surveyed still see the European Union in a positive light, including 69% of the Poles, 68% of the Germans and 60% of the French and Spanish. And more than half in all five euro area countries surveyed – including 71% of the Greeks, 69% of the French and 66% of the Germans – would like to keep the euro as their currency and not return to the drachma, the franc, the mark or other national currencies.


In opinion polls it is not unusual that some of the replies conflict with the views expressed in some of the other  answers. That the "symbols of a united Europe" still retain public support reflects the fact that many people, though extremely critical in general, at least for the moment, are worried about what an end of the present system would mean. In such situations the tendency is often to favour the status quo.  However, it is likely that this will change as the economic situation in the eurozone - and in the European Union in general - continues to deteriorate. 


Germany is the "last bastion" of the europhiles, but even that is bound to change when the wheels of the German export machine are slowing down and the entire negative forces of Angela Merkel´s energy transition policy are fully felt: 


The public mood in Germany is considerably more positive than elsewhere in Europe. They are the only Europeans surveyed who are satisfied with the direction of their country and who think their economy is doing well. Germany is the only country where a majority of the population currently thinks that European economic integration has strengthened the national economy. Germans are most likely, by far, to say that EU membership has been a good thing. They are the least concerned about the lack of jobs, rising prices and the power of unions. Germany is the most admired country in the EU and its chancellor the most respected leader. 

Barroso working on a plan to bring UK closer to the European Union

This is how European stamps could soon look , if  the new Barroso  plan is  implemented

The leaders of two of the most powerful European Union member countries, Angela Merkel and Nicholas Sarkozy have lately been worried about David Cameron´s way of distancing the UK from the core of the EU.

Sources in Brussels say that José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, is now working on a plan to bring the Britain closer to the European Union. The reintegration of Britain into the EU would be done by rebranding and transforming the EU into a new kind of Commonwealth, possibly with the Queen as the formal Head of State.

David Cameron, who has gone on  record saying that "Constitutional Monarchies are the most successful form of Democracy", is reported to be supportive of the new approach, which also is in line with Barroso´s previous thinking about the nature of the European Union:

PS


Herman van Rompuy, the current President of the European Union, is reported to be less than thrilled over the new plan.  He sees it as a plot by his rival Barroso to undermine his authority as the de facto head of state of the Union. However, observers in Brussels think that van Rompuy might be prepared to change his mind if he himself would be chosen as the first royal or imperial head of the new Commonwealth of Europe.

Amidst the doom and gloom: An economic miracle in the making - but not yet in Europe

While the mainstream media in the US, and particularly in Europe, continue to focus on the doom and gloom of the financial crisis, there is an economic miracle in the making, which to a great degree goes unreported. In a must-reed article Peter C. Glover explains why, particularly in Europe, the failed "green" energy policies are seriously delaying, or even preventing a positive turnaround:

Amidst the doom and gloom headlines presaging dire prognostications for the Western economies in 2012 there is the very real promise of a global economy re-directing miracle in the making. The impact and promise of shale gas and shale oil is probably the good news story as we step into 2012. Not that you would know it, given the media’s predilection for bad news.

Only two obstacles stand in the way. First, bad energy policies that do not prioritise cheaper fossil fuels – dumping countless millions out of jobs and into fuel poverty. Second, environmentalist campaigners implacably opposed to any hydrocarbon-fuelled energy development. It threatens their Disney-esque utopian blueprint.

But before we glimpse a rare ray of sunshine amidst the stretching economic gloom, we must first demolish a key widely held myth that is fuelling bad energy policy-making: that oil and gas prices will only go on rising, ultimately rendering their cost comparable to expensive and feeble renewable energy generation. As economist and professor of energy policy Dieter Helm’s recent excellent article pointed out, the UK’s current bias towards expensive renewables is a direct result of energy secretary Chris Huhne’s unwavering faith that the price of fossil fuels can only go on rising.

That’s precisely the mistake an incoming Conservative Government made in 1979. Then oil prices peaked at $39 a barrel (the equivalent of $150 today). In the mid-1980s, however, the bottom dropped out of the oil price ‘barrel’ taking over 25 years to recover. As Helm points out, it is the peak oil and gas brigade – today, a useful ally to the green lobbies – who assume depleting resources based on then known reserves. As Helm says: “Nonsense – and some of it dangerous nonsense”.

Helm rightly asserts, “The Earth’s crust is riddled with fossil fuels” adding “there is enough oil and gas (and coal too) to fry the planet several times over.” And his words echo Huber and Mills’ definitive quote on the subject, “Energy supplies – for all practical purposes – are infinite”. The issue is not (and never has been) too much or too little of a given resource. It has always been whether prices are too low or too high to make extraction viable. Today, the shale gas and oil “miracle” – or rather man’s ingenuity in finding new ways to tap previously unrecoverable resources – has yet again blown a gaping hole in the peak-ist argument; as the end of year figures make only too plain.
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Equally, the new EU Energy Roadmap 2050 shows the EU is tenaciously holding onto its green dream in the vain hope that rising oil and gas prices will eventually make renewables commercially viable. But the shale gale is blowing an even greater hole in that hope.

While new processes allow vast new energy resources to permeate the world’s shales, the ‘biblical’ scale of the potential economic turnaround still has a way to go to permeate the mindset of policy-makers. Even so, the shale-fuelled miracle, able to part the sea of gloomy economic forecasts and reveal a path to a much happier 2012, is very real – despite the plague of bureaucrats.

Read the entire article here

PS

In the United States the shale gas/oil revolution has through its own force aleady changed the country´s economic outlook. This development is taking place, not because of some positive action of the present US administration, but despite of its policies. Ironically, it is quite possible that the energy centered economic turnaround, in which Obama has had no role, will in the end help to get him re-elected.

In Europe the outlook is much gloomier. We have to wait for new elections in order to replace the present failed leaders - and hope that the Poles will not allow the dark forces (Russia/Gazprom and greenies) to prevent their way to prosperity.

A British petition to Angela Merkel

We have been informed that a group of leading British europhiles, outraged at Prime Minister David Cameron´s behaviour at the recent summit in Brussels, are preparing a secret petition to Angela Merkel.

This is the leaked first version of the text:  

To Her Imperial Majesty
The Ruler of All Europeans
and
Chancellor of the Germans

May it please Your Majesty,

We the undersigned venture respectfully to approach Your Majesty as profound sympathisers with the noble and enlightened sentiments to which Your Majesty has given expression in the deliberations in Bruxelles recently. Having read and being deeply moved by the petition of the High Representatives of the Commission Européenne in which they make a solemn appeal to Your Majesty in support of the maintenance of the common currency l´euro, first confirmed by His most gracious and Imperial Majesty Helmut Josef Michael Kohl and subsequently re-affirmed in the most solemn manner by all his illustrious successors; we venture to express the hope that Your Imperial Majesty will take into consideration this petition and prayer of Your Majesty´s most humble British servants.

It would be a matter of great regret to us, as to all other admirers of Your Majesty´s enlightened views if events that transpired during the recent deliberations in Bruxelles should retard the cause of amity among your subjects in various parts of our common Empire.

Bruxelles and London .... December, 2011 A.D.

The Right Honourable the Lord Heseltine, CH, PC

The Right Honourable the Lord Kinnock, PC

The Right Honourable Kenneth Clarke, QC, MP

The Right Honourable Nicholas William Peter Clegg, MP



PS

We understand that a copy of the petition will separately be posted to the viceroy in Palais de l'Élysée

A new Golden Age for the EU (and the US)

A Chef as the head of the European Union could be the beginning of a New Golden Age

We live in challenging times, to say the least. The present leaders of the European Union (and also the US) seem incapable of solving the serious financial crisis and other related problems that threaten western civilization. A completely new - or in this case old - approach is needed.

Why not learn from the Chinese success story (not the present one, but another somewhat earlier one)!: 

Ancient Chinese historian and astronomer Sima Qian (145-90 BC) pushed cooking to the next higher dimension in human history. He declared that Yi Yin, the earliest well-known prime minister to Chinese emperors, became prime minister because he was a fantastic cook.

Sima Qian, or Ssi-ma Ch'ien, wrote in his celebrated Shiji, or "Records of the Historian", that Yin was originally Ah Heng, a slave of the Youxinshi family. In due course of life as a free man, Yi Yen wished to convey to Emperor Tang his humble ideas on how to run the empire.
Yen, perhaps founder of the school of thought that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, arrived for the appointment with the emperor armed with his kitchen utensils. He proceeded to cook a feast so delicious that the sated emperor decided anyone with such outstanding ability to cook would also have an outstanding ability to govern the country.

Emperor Tang, according to official Chinese history, was right. Yi Yen did a good job as prime minister.
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Other cooks flourished in ancient Chinese politics. Peng Zu, hailed as founder of Chinese cooking, became a confidant of one of the great Chinese emperors Emperor Yao, about 4,000 years ago.

Less time chewing food was converted into more time preparing elaborate feasts. Historical records say that imperial kitchens in the Zhou Dynasty (11th century BC-476 BC) had 22 departments and over 2,300 food and beverages staff. This is reckoned to be the golden age of Chinese cooking.

Read the entire article here

Think about the blessings of having the huge - and mostly uselesss - EU bureacracy in Brussels converted to food and beverages staff for a future new EU Chef President. There are now 33 or so departments (Directorates-general, DG), but the number could very well be reduced to 22, or less. There would not e.g. be any need for the Translation DG, because the language of haute cuisine is of course French.  (This is something the Francophiles are going to like!). But what should be done with the EU´s Climate Change Action Service, which is soon to be out of business anyway. Connie Hedegaard and her people could perhaps be offered jobs as dishwashers and cleaners. Former maoist José Manuel Barroso and haiku poet Herman van Rompuy will not have any problems finding new jobs - waiters are are always in demand.

As always in the EU, there is going to be a lot of internal fighting about who will be the first EU Chef President. The UK will probably insist on Gordon Ramsey, but his style of diplomacy may not be appreciated by all. Germany and France could therefore opt for a compromise candidate, like e.g. the Danish chef René Redzepi, whose Noma is the winner of the best restaurant of the year award, 2010.

My personal choice for Vice Chef President and Head Maitre´d in charge of customer relations would be Nigella Lawson.

Instead of being cought in a seemengly endlesss spiral of crisis, the European Union (and also the US) could  learn from China and head towards a New Golden Age under the stewardship of  bold new Chefs! All it takes, is to start the ball rolling and get the stove steaming!

EU:s strategic ally and Obama´s "reset" partner Russia to have joint military excercise with North Korea

While David Cameron and a number of other western "useful idiots" hobnob with Putin and his puppet Medvedev, the European Union´s strategic ally and Obama´s reset partner is set to have a joint military excercise with North Korea:

North Korea and Russia are set to hold their first joint defense drill as early as this year in an attempt to balance the United States, South Korea and Japan's influence on the Korean Peninsula, the Asahi newspaper reported Tuesday.
Members of the two neighbors' navies and air forces will take part in a joint rescue exercise at sea, following an agreement reached last month by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and President Dmitry Medvedev, Japan's Asahi said, citing a source close to the North.

Read the entire piece here