NATO's Jens Stoltenberg has a wet dream : "NATO must become more political and global", says alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg

NATO needs to become politically stronger in order to face the challenges of the next decade, the head of the alliance said on Monday, highlighting that the rise of China is "fundamentally shifting the global balance of power".

Note EU-Digest: Yes indeed this is a wet dream, specially given the derogatory comments  President Trump of the US has made about European members of the NATO

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NATO must become more political and global, says alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg | Euronews

Hotel Industry: Airbnb reveals new hotel-like service called Airbnb Plus - by Nick Statt

Airbnb has announced a new hotel-like tier of service on its platform that the company is calling Airbnb Plus. The news went live today on Airbnb’s website in conjunction with a story in The New York Times ahead of a big reveal event in San Francisco this morning. It confirms rumors that Airbnb has been working on a higher-end accommodations offering that would let it more easily compete with hotels. Airbnb Plus is being marketed as a more standardized style of service that is “verified for quality” and includes a set of amenities one might typically find in a hotel.

Read more: Airbnb reveals new hotel-like service called Airbnb Plus - The Verge

Israel: Emboldened by Trump, Israel Approves a Wave of West Bank Settlement Expansion - by Isabel Kershner

n a pointed act of defiance against international pressure, Israel on Tuesday approved a huge new wave of settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.

The announcement made clear that just a few days into the Trump presidency, the Israeli government feels emboldened to shake off the constraints imposed by the Obama administration and more willing to disregard international condemnation.

Leaders from 70 countries met in Paris more than a week ago and issued a warning that the two-state peace solution was imperiled by Israel’s expanding of settlements in Palestinian-claimed territory in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as violence against Israelis. But even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has endorsed the principle of side-by-side states, in the past few days Israel’s campaign of settlement building has only accelerated.

The first step came on Sunday, when the Jerusalem City Council approved 566 new housing units in East Jerusalem that had been delayed over President Barack Obama’s objections.

Read more: Emboldened by Trump, Israel Approves a Wave of West Bank Settlement Expansion - The New York Times

Far East: Tension rising in South China Sea - by Paul Koring

US President Barack Obama’s much-hyped “pivot” to the Pacific, supposedly shifting U.S. foreign policy and military focus away from the Middle East to face the emerging strategic challenges posed by China, has, so far, not amounted to much: a few hundred Marines stationed in Australia, ramped-up military exercises with the Philippines, more bombers deployed to Guam.

But in recent months, Mr. Obama has seemed willing to go beyond rhetoric and symbolism. He has rallied China’s regional rivals, reaffirmed the United States’ hard pledges to defend Pacific allies and started to paint some red lines in the seas Beijing regards as its own.

U.S. warships and aircraft may soon be crisscrossing the South China Sea, deliberately ignoring the 12-nautical-mile lines that could be claimed as territorial waters should Beijing attempt to assert full sovereignty over the islands it is creating from reefs and rocks, according to senior defence officials.
Predictably, Beijing has responded with its own tough talk.

“Freedom of navigation certainly does not mean that foreign military ships and aircraft can enter another country’s territorial waters or airspace at will,” Hua Chunying, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said in response to reports that Defence Secretary Ash Carter had ordered up options for sending U.S. warships and aircraft into the area.

Read more: Tension rising in South China Sea - The Globe and Mail

China: Keep Your Eye on Beijing

You better watch out Uncle Sam

While the world focuses on the tragic downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine and the deepening Israeli-Palestinian conflict, tensions in another of the world's hot spots -- the periphery of China -- continue to simmer. There is widespread concern among many of China's neighbors -- including Japan, Vietnam, and India -- that Beijing's territorial ambitions could lead to military conflict. And that concern appears to be growing. Even the Chinese are now worried about whether such frictions could lead to war.

The United States and Europe may be distracted by pressing events in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, but Asians don't have that luxury. Tensions closer to home preoccupy them, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of nearly 15,000 people in 11 Asian nations.

When asked, majorities in six of 10 Asian nations, not including China itself, express a favorable opinion of China. But Asian views of Beijing vary widely. There are few fans of Beijing in either Japan (7 percent favorable view of China) or in Vietnam (16 percent), both of which share long-standing territorial disputes with China that have rekindled old animosities. (The animus goes both ways. Just 8 percent of Chinese voice support for Japan, a distaste that also has its roots in history.) Moreover, the Japanese, Filipinos, and Vietnamese consider China the greatest threat to their country when asked about their top allies and threats.

At the same time, more than seven in 10 Pakistanis (78 percent), Bangladeshis (77 percent), Malaysians (74 percent), and Thais (72 percent) express a positive view of China. This may, in part, be due to the fact that 75 percent of Thais, 70 percent of Bangladeshis and 69 percent of Malaysians see China's growing economy as good for them. Moreover, both the Malaysians and the Pakistanis see Beijing as their principal ally.

Beijing is Asia's largest economic and military power, and with that status comes growing frictions with its neighbors. Given that fact, there is widespread concern among publics in East, Southeast, and South Asia that Beijing's territorial ambitions and attendant disputes could boil over into military conflicts. That apprehension is also shared by many Americans looking on from afar. 

Read more: Keep Your Eye on Beijing

European Oil Explorations: New development expected to arrest European offshore decline - by Matt Cook

After playing a pivotal role in the European economy for decades, offshore hydrocarbon production has declined steeply in recent years and is struggling to arrest the dive. Since 2000, offshore oil and gas output has fallen 41% to 5.6 MMboe/d in 2013 from 9.7 MMboe/d (Fig. 1).

The decline is largely the result of outdated regulation, aging infrastructure, and depleted fields. Well completions during 2000-13 have dropped at about half the rate of production, suggesting more greenfield projects are desperately needed as average well flow rates plummet.

For this to happen, however, exploration activity must increase. This is particularly the case in the UK, which has seen the most dramatic production decline since the peak in the late 1990s.

Offshore oil production in the UK has plummeted since 2000 with 2012 output equaling 35% of 2000 levels. This cannot be put down to the UK Continental Shelf's (UKCS) extreme maturity alone (Fig. 2).
Outdated regulation also has played a part. When the UK's offshore production regulations were drawn up in the 1970s, developments were confined to the largest UKCS fields. Such fields allowed for high taxes and single-minded infrastructure due to the geographical spacing of projects.

Of the 300 fields now producing offshore UK, many are relatively small and unsuitable for tax regimes devised for large fields. Ideally, such small fields would be served by infrastructure developed by several operators for multiple projects-currently this is not encouraged by the UK Treasury or the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

The recent Wood Review highlighted the significance of these problems and suggested field allowances be addressed project by project with collaboration among operators to produce more effective, less costly infrastructure

Discoveries off Sicily have increased reserves in recent years and could lead to offshore output peaking at 0.4 MMboe/d in 2018, necessitating around 80 wells to be drilled in the interim. This will be an increase on recent years due to a reduction in drilling activities following the Gulf of Mexico Macondo well blowout and oil spill .

As with the UK, this scenario would be affirmed by ebb in Russia's gas supplies, which accounted for 42% of total Italian imports in 2013.

Despite being a small entity in the North Sea, compared with Norway and the UK, Denmark is the EU's only net exporter of oil; its first offshore oil discovery was in 1965

Read more: New development expected to arrest European offshore decline - Oil & Gas Journal

European Aircraft Industry: Turkish Airlines considering acquiring Airbus A380 or Boeing 747-8 says chairman

Airbus A380 and Alpha Jets

Flag carrier Turkish Airlines is continuing feasibility work on acquiring either the Airbus A380 or Boeing 747-8, Chairman Hamdi Topcu said on Thursday.

Turkish Airlines, Europe's fourth-biggest airline, is also continuing talks with Germany's Lufthansa on whether the two companies can form "synergies," Topcu said in an interview with CNN Turk that was broadcast live.

Read more: Turkish Airlines considering acquiring Airbus A380 or Boeing 747-8, chairman says | Reuters

Eurozone recovery still slow, but Germany and France doing better than expected

Europe's overall economy may be weak, but eurozone growth continues.

Indeed it was slightly stronger-than-expected in the bloc’s two biggest economies – Germany and France – in the final three months of last year.

Analysts said the growth was mainly driven by exports and investment.
German GDP expanded 0.4 percent from the previous quarter, France’s by 0.3 percent and Italy’s by 0.1 percent

The figures, from Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, show 0.3 percent growth region-wide compared to the previous quarter.

Upwardly revised third quarter numbers meant France managed to avoid slipping back into recession and had growth of 0.3 percent for the whole of last year.

French company and public investment rose and household spending recovered. But the finance minister said faster growth was needed to create more jobs with unemployment at nearly 11 percent.

Italy, which is once again in political turmoil, dragged itself back to growth for the first time since mid-2011.

But the final quarter’s 0.1 percent expansion was not enough to keep GDP from contracting by 1.9 percent over the whole of 2013.

One positive sign is that – significantly – for the first time in almost three years, all of the six largest eurozone economies did manage quarterly expansions.

Read more: Eurozone recovery still slow, but Germany and France doing better than expected | euronews, economy

Should Russia become a member of the EU ?

The German TV and Radio Network Deutsche Welle recently did a survey which showed that the ongoing euro crisis appears to have diminished the enthusiasm of the Russian people towards the European Union. They have become much more critical over the past year with regards to Russia's relations with the EU. This is what the current DW-Trend for Russia in June appears to show. Opinion research institute IFAK, on behalf of DW's Russian department, surveyed 1,000 people between the ages of 18 and 65 living in Russia.

The number of supporters for Russia becoming a member of the EU (38 percent) appears to have stayed the same, but the number of opponents has increased. Almost half of the respondents (47 percent) reject the idea that Russia should join the EU. That is 11 percent more than last year.

Forty percent of those surveyed believe a main objective of the EU is territorial expansion. One in five said it was the development of a universal security system, the same number who believed it was to further European interests in the world. This presents a fundamental problem. Nearly 30 percent of Russians support the development of a common European security system, but few are for the territorial expansion of the EU and furthering European interests globally.

At the same time, Russians do not think their country has an especially positive image within Europe. They believe Russia is seen by many within Europe as a supplier of raw materials and cheap labor (35 percent). Just under a quarter of respondents say Russia is thought of as a reliable strategic partner.

Twenty-two percent of EU Citizens on the other hand were more skeptical, suggesting that Russia, especially within Europe is seen as a wayward superpower with imperial ambitions. This attitude has barely changed since 2011. From the Russian people's point of view, Russia was unable to positively change its image and influence within Europe over the last few months.

Weakness within the European Union has also had an effect on any bilateral relationship between the EU and Russia. In April 2011, 52 percent of those surveyed rated relations as friendly and amicable; current DW-Trend respondents indicate this has dropped to 43 percent.

A significant majority of the Russian population was critical of the decision by some EU politicians not to travel to the Euro 2012 soccer tournament as a protest against human rights abuses in Ukraine. Sixty percent think the decision was wrong, with only 17 percent thinking it was the right thing to do.

Nevertheless more progressive European scholars and politicians believe that eventually the European Union will have to seriously start considering a more independent, stronger, and secure Union by including Russia and Turkey as full fledged members into this equation.

EU-Digest