A Third Sino-Japanese War?

For centuries, the relationship between China and Japan may be best described as tense to turbulent with two Sino-Japanese wars all within the last century or so. The accord between the two neighboring Asian countries has progressed in recent years with official visits, trade pact and joint venture agreements.

Fishing Boat Incident & Border Dispute

However, the fuse was lit again this month when Japan seized a Chinese fishing boat near a disputed island chain in the East China Sea and the subsequent arrest of the captain. Japan government believes he intentionally rammed two Japanese vessels during a high-seas chase on September 7.

The islands in dispute--called Diaoyu in China, Senkaku in Japan-- are also claimed by Taiwan. They are uninhabited, but believed to have oil and gas deposits, and on rich fishing grounds.

China Turning Up The Heat On Bordeaux Futures

Booming demand from emerging economies--especially China-- in addition to near-perfect weather in western France, is sending prices of Bordeaux soaring 28% within a one-month time.

WSJ reported that Château Lafite Rothschild's 2009 Bordeaux began its advance sales in early July at $18,000 a case. They were sold out in four days and the same case now is going for $23,000 (see graph from WSJ).

A Little Rice Wine Spat: Taiwan vs. U.S. and EU

By Static Choas

Taiwan, (aka The Republic of China, ROC), the tiny island just across the Strait from China-- found itself taking considerable heat from the United States and European Union (EU)—two biggest exporters of alcoholic beverages to the Taiwanese market--over a planned tax cut on its locally brewed rice wine.

As Asia Times reported, both Western governments allege that the local liquor will become an unfair competitor to imported whisky, cognac and brandy after the tax cut. The US and the EU consider Taiwan's move a violation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations and have threatened to file a WTO case against Tawian. 

Mega Private Equity Deal in 2010: Some Fundamentals in Place

By Static Chaos

With Merger and Acquisition really picking up steam in the last month, the question arises whether private equity will be able to complete a major move in the remainder of 2010. This past week Intel acquired software security firm McAfee for $7.7 billion in an all cash deal and the prior week BHP offered $40 Billion to take over Potash Corp. from shareholders.

New Jersey With The Luck Of The Irish

By Static Chaos

One of the headline news today was that New Jersey became the first U.S. state sued by the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) for security fraud. Here is the low-down according to WSJ (my summary):

The SEC cited the case involved municipal bonds in 79 separate offerings totaling $26 billion from 2001 to 2007 where the state didn't disclose it had abandoned a five-year plan to fund the pension plans. The filing described NJ used a series of accounting maneuvers to create an illusion that it was funding the two pensions totaling $62 billion, when it actually was just moving money around, and alleged misled investors.

In Defense of the HP Board

By Static Chaos

The HP board has taken a lot of heat for their decision to vote out CEO and Chairman Mark Hurd. But the HP board had no other choice in the matter. Some of the confusion surrounding the Mark Hurd saga is the fact that the media is looking for some bigger story than there actually is, after all, controversy sells in their business. Moreover, Mark Hurd who is trying to conduct spin and damage control to save his future corporate career is making a pretty clear cut, necessary, and deserved firing look more mysterious than it actually is. This is a no-brainer, and every board, including Larry Ellison`s would have come to the same conclusion: namely, Mark Hurd had to go.

Oil Espionage: Don’t Mess With China!

By Static Chaos

An American geologist-- Xue Feng--was sentenced to eight years in prison for gathering data on China's oil industry, as reported by the Associated Press today:

“[The] verdict said Xue received documents on geological conditions of onshore oil wells and a database that gave the coordinates of more than 30,000 oil and gas wells belonging to China National Petroleum Corporation and listed subsidiary PetroChina Ltd. That information….was sold to IHS Energy, the U.S. consultancy Xue worked for and now known as IHS Inc.”

Offshore Drilling Moratorium: Hear It From The Little People

By Static Chaos

Hornbeck, a $400-million vessel company in Louisiana, filed a lawsuit against the administration on June 7, a month after the moratorium started.

CNN Money reports that Hornbeck, like many Gulf oil service providers, has one-third of its sales coming  from contracting its 200-plus-foot vessels to provide transport services for deepwater drilling operations in the Gulf. Without drilling, vessels were sitting idle. While larger players may seek work in the international water by redeploying vessels and personnel, it is quite cost inhibitive for smaller companies like Hornbeck to pursue that route.

Gulf to N. Atlantic: Computer Simulation of a Four-Month Oil Spill Flow

By Static Chaos

A video showing a computer simulation of the Gulf oil spill in four months, courtesy of McGraw-Hill Construction:  

The National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, and collaborators, simulated the four-month migration of oil from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico by modeling how currents would move dye injected at the site of the spill for two months.

From the simulation, it looks the flow could go into the North Atlantic coast area. That is, the entire U.S. coast line could be at risk.

Judge Who Overturned Drilling Ban Held Oil Stocks Back in 2008, So What??

By Static Chaos

The ink of the ruling against the offshore drilling moratorium is not even dry yet, the media is already jumping all over that Judge Martin Feldman is "greased with oil investments", says Mr. Christopher Helman, an Associate Editor of Forbes.

A "blog" at Forbes penned by Helman cited the NewsWatch Energy blog at Houston Chronicle that