Days after the US and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran on February 28, 2026, the Chinese government published the draft of its 15 th  Five-Year Plan for the PRC economy, which outlines key economic benchmarks for the next five-year economic cycle. Building new energy infrastructure is a key priority and among the projects listed there was a intriguing sentence about “advancing preliminary work”  on the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline from Russia to China.  Given the...

Days after the US and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran on February 28, 2026, the Chinese government published the draft of its 15 th  Five-Year Plan for the PRC economy, which outlines key economic benchmarks for the next five-year economic cycle. Building new energy infrastructure is a key priority and among the projects listed there was a intriguing sentence about “advancing preliminary work”  on the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline from Russia to China.  Given the...

The Xue Long Polar-Capable Research Vessel. Photo : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_icebreaker_Xue_Long.jpg In January we visited the Maritime Museum  in Vancouver, British Columbia which exhibits the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Arctic patrol vessel, the St. Roch , the second vessel to transit the Northwest Passage (in 1940-42) after Roald Amundsen’s pioneering voyage (1903-06). The RCMP St. Roch in the Vancouver Harbour; Photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Ro...