Former Turkish air force chief Akin Ozturk has confessed his role in the coup plot which attempted to overthrow Erdogan’s government over the weekend, according to reports from state-run Anadolu Agency on Monday.

The failed coup left over 200 people dead after a faction in the army sealed off a bridge across the Bosphorus, attempted to capture Istanbul’s main airport and sent tanks to parliament in Ankara Friday night.

Original article

A former U.S. Marine has been identified as the gunman who shot and killed three police officers and wounded three others Sunday morning in the southern U.S. city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a city already on edge following the point -blank shooting earlier this month of a black man by the police.

Military officials say Gavin Long of Kansas City, Missouri, on his 29th birthday, was the masked gunman who opened fire on the officers with an assault rifle. He served in the Marines from 2005 to 2010, earning the rank of sergeant. Long was deployed to Iraq from 2008 to 2009.

“[Long] came here from somewhere else to do harm to our community, specifically to lawmakers in our community,” said Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards during a press conference Monday, describing the shooter’s acts as “pure, unadulterated evil.”

State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson said police are confident that he was the “only shooter at the scene” actively involved in the attack. “His intentions were accurate, they were engaging and they were all aimed at police officers.”

Edmonson says police have recovered two rifles and a 9mm pistol believed to be used in the attack

Police said Long appears to have “used social media extensively,” including up to the time of the attack.

Long’s online identity was the name Cosmos. His website, ConvosWithCosmos.com, features his blog and podcasts about nutrition, fitness and personal transformation, as well as information about his personal coaching fees and links to his “self-actualization” books sold on Amazon.

One of the ramblings posted on his Twitter account on July 13 read: “At what point do you stand up so that your people don’t become the Native Americans … EXTINCT?”

His postings sometimes described violence as an answer to what he viewed as oppression of African-Americans.

He says on the site that he had a “spiritual revelation that resulted in him dropping out of college, selling his two cars, giving away all of his material possessions, packing two suitcases and journeying to Africa — his ancestral homeland.”

A tweet on his account Saturday, the day before he gunned down police in Baton Rouge read: “And just bc [because] you shed your physical body doesn’t mean that you’re dead.”

The director of the Center on Extremism for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Oren Segal, said there was no information linking Long to any extremist groups, but the ADL and others were investigating Long’s use of aliases.

Long was killed in a shootout with police after killing two Baton Rouge police officers — Montrell Jackson and Matthew Gerald — and one officer of the East Baton Rouge sheriff’s office — Brad Garafola.

A fourth officer, a deputy sheriff, remains in critical condition after undergoing emergency surgery. Two other officers received hospital treatment for non-life threatening wounds.

Edmonson said an investigation is ongoing “with a lot of moving parts.”

Speaking alongside Edmonson, Gov. Edwards sought to reassure Baton Rouge residents still grappling with the July 5 police shooting of a black man that sparked widespread protests in cities across the country. Long, Sunday’s shooter, was black. One of the officers killed Sunday, Jackson, was black, the other two were white.

Edwards did not address the earlier shooting death in his comments, instead focusing on Sunday’s violence, which he called an “absolutely unspeakable, heinous attack.” He also said the probe has the full cooperation of federal authorities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Obama condemns killings

President Barack Obama, speaking on national television, condemned the killings, saying such attacks “are “happening far too often.” He called on Americans to “avoid divisive rhetoric” in the aftermath of the latest violence, which he earlier had described as “cowardly attacks on public servants, on the rule of law, and on civil society.”

Obama also noted that Sunday’s shootings, and other recent deadly violence involving police in Dallas, Texas; Baton Rouge; and in Minnesota, come ahead of both Republican and Democratic nominating conventions. He said that convention rhetoric “tends to get hotter than usual,” and he urged candidates and their supporters to avoid “careless accusations” that could further heighten tensions.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch condemned the shootings Monday “in the strongest terms possible” and said “families are again mourning loved ones robbed from them by senseless violence.” She said federal law enforcement agencies are in Baton Rouge helping with the investigation.

Trump, Clinton react

Both Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Donald Trump issued brief statements, with Clinton saying “there is no justification for violence, hate [or] for attacks on men and women who put their lives on the line every day.”

Trump, writing on Twitter, extended condolences to police and their families, and placed blame for the attack on a lack of leadership. He did not elaborate, but wrote: “We demand law and order.”

How crime unfolded

Superintendent Edmonson said events began to unfold Sunday at 8:40 a.m. when an unidentified caller told police someone was carrying a rifle as he walked along a main roadway in the city. Nearby, as police approached the suspect a short while later, gunfire erupted behind a storefront where authorities believe the officers and the gunman were shot.

Baton Rouge was the scene of a fatal police shooting of a black man nearly two weeks ago.

The shooting death of Alton Sterling was partially recorded on a cellphone and widely circulated on social media.

Sterling’s death triggered intense protests that stretched for days in Baton Rouge. A day later, a Minnesota man was fatally shot during a traffic stop; the following day, five Dallas police officers were shot and killed by a heavily armed lone gunman.

As French leaders gathered to honor the victims of the terrorist attack in Nice, they were met by boos and jeers from a crowd fed up with the government’s inability to prevent terrorist attacks.

On Monday, French leaders held a moment of silence to mourn the 84 killed in the Bastille Day attack last Thursday. In Nice, however, the site of the attack, this moment was bookended by loud cries of protest aimed at Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

Gathers chanted “resign, resign,” with others also calling for French President Francois Hollande to step down.

“The government promises us things but nothing sticks,” Nice city resident Antony Fernandez said. “What have they done up to now to make us feel safe? And yet what do we expect? Every six months we’re going to mourn for more dead?”

Last week’s attack occurred just eight months after the coordinated shootings and bombings across Paris that left 130 people dead. The terrorist group Daesh, also known as IS/Islamic State, claimed responsibility for both incidents.

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy also weighed in, blaming the failures of the current administration for the violence.

“I know there’s no zero risk, I know perfectly well that we don’t pull each other apart before the victims have even been buried,” he said.

“But I want to say, because it’s the truth, that everything that should have been done over the last 18 months…wasn’t done.”

In a study of patients with hypertension, those with resistant hypertension—meaning that their blood pressure remained elevated despite concurrent use of three antihypertensive agents of different classes—had a higher rate of sleep apnea (9.6%) than those without resistant hypertension (7.2%).

Resistant hypertensive patients with sleep apnea had an increased risk of ischemic heart events and congestive heart failure compared with patients with sleep apnea and non-resistant hypertension. There were no differences in risk of stroke and premature death in patients with resistant versus non-resistant hypertension, however.

The study included 470,386 hypertensive individuals. Patients were identified from 2006 through 2010 and were followed until the end of 2010.

“Our study suggests that the risk for cardiovascular outcomes is increased in sleep apnea patients with resistant hypertension compared with those with non-resistant hypertension,” said Dr. Simran K. Bhandari, lead author of the Respirology study.

I visited Iraq in 1999. At the time, there were no so-called “jihadists” espousing the principles of “jihad,” whatever the interpretation may be. On the outskirts of Baghdad was a military training camp, not for “Al-Qaeda,” but for “Mojahedin-e-Khalq,” an Iranian militant exile group that worked, with foreign funding and arms, to overthrow the Iranian Republic.

At the time, the late Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, used the exiled organization to settle scores with his rivals in Tehran, just as they, too, espoused anti-Iraqi government militias to achieve the exact same purpose. Iraq was hardly peaceful then. But most of the bombs that exploded in that country were American. In fact, when Iraqis spoke of “terrorism,” they only referred to “Al-Irhab Al-Amriki” – American terrorism.

Suicide bombings were hardly a daily occurrence; in fact, never an occurrence at all, anywhere in Iraq. As soon as the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 followed by Iraq in 2003, all hell broke loose. The 25 years prior to 2008 witnessed 1,840 suicide attacks, according to data compiled by US government experts and cited in the “Washington Post.” Of all these attacks, 86 percent occurred post-US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact, between 2001 and the publishing of the data in 2008, 920 suicide bombings took place in Iraq and 260 in Afghanistan.

A fuller picture emerged in 2010, with the publishing of more commanding and detailed research conducted by the University of Chicago’s Project on Security and Terrorism. “More than 95 percent of all suicide attacks are in response to foreign occupation,” it emerged.

“As the US has occupied Afghanistan and Iraq … total suicide attacks worldwide have risen dramatically — from about 300 from 1980 to 2003, to 1,800 from 2004 to 2009,” wrote Robert Pape in Foreign Policy.

Tellingly, it was also concluded, “Over 90 percent of suicide attacks worldwide are now anti-American. The vast majority of suicide terrorists hail from the local region threatened by foreign troops, which is why 90 percent of suicide attackers in Afghanistan are Afghans.”

When I visited Iraq in 1999, “Al-Qaeda” was merely a name on the Iraqi TV news, referring to a group of militants that operated mostly in Afghanistan. It was first established to unite Arab fighters against the Soviet presence in that country, and they were largely overlooked as a global security threat at the time.

It was years after the Soviets left Afghanistan in 1988, that “Al-Qaeda” became a global phenomenon. After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the US’ misguided responses — invading and destroying countries — created the very haven that have espoused today’s militancy and terror.

In no time, following the US invasion of Iraq, Al-Qaeda extended its dark shadows over a country that was already overwhelmed with a death toll that surpassed hundreds of thousands. It is hardly difficult to follow the thread of Daesh’s formation, the deadliest of all such groups that mostly originated from Al-Qaeda in Iraq, itself wrought by the US invasion. It was born from the unity of various militants groups in October 2006, when Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia joined ranks with “Mujahedeen Shoura Council in Iraq,” “Jund Al-Sahaba” and the “Islamic State of Iraq” (ISI).
Daesh has been in existence since then, in various forms and capacities, but only jumped to the scene as a horrifically violent organization with territorial ambitions when a Syrian uprising turned into a deadly platform for regional rivalries. What existed as a “state” at a virtual, cerebral level had, in fact, morphed into a “state” of actual landmass, oil fields and martial law.

It is easy — perhaps, convenient — to forget all of this. Connecting the proverbial dots can be costly for some, for it will unravel a trajectory of violence that is rooted in foreign intervention. For many western commentators and politicians it is much easier — let alone safer — to discuss ISIS within impractical contexts, for example, Islam, than to take moral responsibility. I pity those researchers who spent years examining the thesis of Daesh as a religious theology or Daesh and the apocalypse. Talk about missing the forest for the trees. What good did that bring about, anyway?
American military and political interventions have always been accompanied by attempting to also intervene in school curricula of invaded countries.

The war on Afghanistan was also joined with a war on its “madrasas” and unruly “ulemas.” None of this helped. If anything, it backfired, for it compounded the feeling of threat and sense of victimization among Muslims all around the world.

When a French-Tunisian truck driver rammed into a crowd of celebrating people in the streets of Nice, the French police moved quickly to find connections between him and Daesh, or any other militant group. No clues were immediately revealed, yet, strangely, President François Hollande was quick to declare his intentions to respond militarily.

What good did France’s military adventurism achieve in recent years? Libya has turned into an oasis of chaos. Iraq and Syria remain places for unmitigated violence. What about Mali? Maybe the French had better luck there. Writing for Al Jazeera, Pape Samba Kane described the terrible reality that Mali has become following the French intervention in January 2003. Their so-called “Operation Serval” turned into “Operation Barkhane” and neither did Mali become a peaceful place nor did French forces leave the country.

The French, according to Kane are now Occupiers, not liberators, and according to all rationale data — like the ones highlighted above — we all know what foreign occupation does. Yet the French, like the Americans, the British and others, continue to evade this obvious reality at their own peril. By refusing to accept the fact that Daesh is only a component of a much larger and disturbing course of violence that is rooted in foreign intervention, is to allow violence everywhere to perpetuate. Defeating Daesh requires that we also confront and defeat the thinking that led to its inception: To defeat the logic of the George W. Bushes, Tony Blairs and John Howards of this world.

No matter how violent Daesh members or supporters are, it is ultimately a group of angry, alienated, radicalized young men seeking to alter their desperate situation by carrying out despicable acts of vengeance, even if it means ending their lives in the process. Bombing may destroy some of their military facilities but it will not eradicate the very idea that allowed them to recruit thousands of young men all over the world. They are the product of violent thinking that was spawned, not only in the Middle East but, initially, in various western capitals.

Daesh will fizzle out and die when its leaders lose their appeal and ability to recruit young men seeking answers and revenge. The war option has, thus far, proved the least affective. Daesh will remain and metamorphose if necessary, as long as war remains on the agenda. To end Daesh, we must end war and foreign occupations. It is as simple as that.

Recent events and the tense atmosphere that has formed around international sport and the Olympic movement involuntarily recall the situation in the early 1980s. Back then, many Western countries, citing the deployment of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, boycotted the Moscow Olympics. Four years later, the Soviet Union retaliated by boycotting the Los Angeles Olympics, using the pretext of an allegedly insufficient level of security for the Soviet team. The result was that many Soviet and American athletes and athletes from other countries were caught up in this campaign of reciprocal boycotts and lost the chance to add their names to world sporting history. Their years of long and hard effort and training were in vain. In short, people had their dreams broken and became hostages of political confrontation. The Olympic movement found itself in a serious crisis and faced divisions within. Later, some of the political figures of that era on both sides admitted that this had been a mistake.

Today, we see a dangerous return to this policy of letting politics interfere with sport. Yes, this intervention takes different forms today, but the essence remains the same; to make sport an instrument for geopolitical pressure and use it to form a negative image of countries and peoples. The Olympic movement, which is a tremendous force for uniting humanity, once again could find itself on the brink of division.

Today, so-called ‘doping scandals’ are the method used, attempts to apply sanctions for detected cases of doping to all athletes, including those who are ‘clean’, supposedly to protect their interests. But unlike in the 1980s, athletes undergo very strict and comprehensive anti-doping tests during competition and during the entire training process. Over the last 6 months, all Russian athletes have undergone anti-doping tests on WADA’s recommendations, with the tests overseen by the UK Anti-Doping Agency and other anti-doping laboratories abroad.

The accusations against Russia’s athletes are based on information given by one single person, an individual with a notorious reputation. Criminal charges were opened against him in 2012 for violating anti-doping laws, but there was not enough evidence against him at that moment and the case was dropped. On June 17 this year, following his allegations of involvement in using banned substances and information from Russian athletes concerning extortion, a criminal case was reopened against him in connection with the new circumstances that had come to light. One of his close relatives, who used to work under his direction, has already been convicted in Russia for illegal trade in anabolic steroids. The question arises as to how much trust we can place in arguments based solely on the allegations of people of this kind, and how much weight can such allegations have.

The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and several anti-doping agencies in other countries, without waiting for the official publication of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s commission, have hastened to demand that the entire Russian team be banned from taking part in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

What is behind this haste? Is it an attempt to create the needed media atmosphere and apply pressure? We have the impression that the USADA experts had access to what is an unpublished report at the very least, and have set its tone and even its content themselves. If this is the case, one country’s national organisation is again trying to dictate its will to the entire world sports community.

The officials named in the commission’s report as directly involved will be temporarily removed from their posts until a full investigation is complete. But to be able to make a final decision on these officials’ responsibility, we ask the WADA commission to provide fuller and more objective fact-based information so that Russia’s law enforcement and investigative agencies can use it in their investigation. We can guarantee that their work will be seen through to its conclusion and that all subsequent measures will be taken in full to prevent violation of Russian law and ensure that our country fulfils its international obligations.

We have always taken the clear position that there is no place for doping in sport. It endangers athletes’ health and lives and discredits fair sporting competition. We are consistent in eliminating this scourge, improve our national laws in this area, and cooperate openly with the relevant international organisations and the International Olympic Committee. We are unfailing in meeting our obligations.

Russia is well aware of the Olympic movement’s immense significance and constructive force, and shares in full the Olympic movement’s values of mutual respect, solidarity, fairness, and the spirit of friendship and cooperation.

This is the only way to preserve the Olympic family’s unity and ensure international sport’s development in the interest of bringing peoples and cultures closer together. Russia is open to cooperation on achieving these noble goals.

The Second Strategic Discussions between the Armed Forces of India and Sri Lanka was held July 13-15 at Sri Lanka’s Office of the Chief of Defense Staff.

The Indian delegation was headed by Air Marshal AS Bhonsle, Officiating Chief of Integrated Defense Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, and consisted of Brigadier SL Joshi, Captain Prakash Gopalan, Defense Adviser, Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka, and Wing Commander AA Kelkar.

Air Chief Marshal Kolitha Gunatilleke Chief of Defense Staff headed the Sri Lankan delegation comprised of Major General MP Peiris Chief of Staff Sri Lanka Army, Rear Admiral SS Ranasinghe Chief of Staff Sri Lanka Navy, Air Vice Marshal CR Gurusinghe Chief of Staff Sri Lanka Air Force, DIG (Retd) ANS Mendis Chief of National Intelligence, Rear Admiral GDAS Wimalathunga Director General Sri Lanka Coast Guard, and representative from Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs.

The Strategic discussion between the two sides was initiated in 2013 to promote professional and mutually beneficial relations between the Armed Forces of the two countries. This discussion is designed to improve bilateral cooperation and understanding between the Armed Forces through direct and open exchange of facts on matters of mutual interest.

This year’s discussions focused its attention on strategic concerns of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean, the Emergence of Asia Pacific Region as a Geo-strategically important region and concerns on the global security scenario including terrorism and extremism.

The importance of continuing this dialog to strengthen security strategies to enhance maritime security in and around the Indian Ocean was emphasized. Both delegations deliberated the importance of exchange of ideas and sharing of experience to enhance the knowledge, trust, confidence and friendship between the two countries to chart the courses of success to keep the strategic sea routes safe and to secure national interests.

For the first time, researchers have successfully measured in detail the flow of solar energy, in and between different parts of a photosynthetic organism. The result is a first step in research that could ultimately contribute to the development of technologies that use solar energy far more efficiently than what is currently possible.

For about 80 years, researchers have known that photochemical reactions inside an organism do not occur in the same place as where it absorbs sunlight. What has not been known, however, is how and along what routes the solar energy is transported into the photosynthetic organism – until now.

“Not even the best solar cells that we as humans are capable of producing can be compared to what nature performs in the first stages of energy conversion. That is why new knowledge about photosynthesis will become useful for the development of future solar technologies,” said Donatas Zigmantas, Faculty of Science at Lund University, Sweden.

Together with his colleagues Jakub Dostál, Lund University, and Jakub Pšenčík, Charles University in Prague, Donatas Zigmantas has studied the photosynthesis of bacterial cells. Using ultrafast spectroscopy – a measurement method that uses light to study molecules etc. – they were able to locate the routes along which solar energy is transported. The routes run both within and between the components of a photosynthetic cell. According to the researchers, their discovery demonstrates how the biological machinery is connected.

The research results show that the transport of solar energy is much more efficient within, than between, different cell components. It limits the transfer of energy between the components and thereby also the efficiency of the entire photosynthetic energy conversion process.

“We have identified the transport routes as well as the bottlenecks that cause congestion in the photosynthetic energy conversion. In the future, this knowledge can be used within solar cell technology,” said Donatas Zigmantas.

So far this is basic research – more studies of how energy is transported in both natural and artificial systems are needed before the results can be turned into practice.

“However, in the longer term, our results might well provide the basis for the development and manufacturing of systems on a molecular level that collect, store and transport sunlight to the solar cells,” said Donatas Zigmantas.

The Lund researchers’ discoveries were recently published in an article in the scientific journal Nature Chemistry.

Sufism by virtue of its syncretic nature and of its focus on things not of this world is far better suited than any government agency to provide a bulwark against the spread of Islamist radicalism, according to Marat Smagulov, a specialist on Islam at Kazakhstan’s Foundation for the Support of Islamic Culture and Education.

He points out that the Hanafi trend within Sunni Islam followed by most Muslims in Kazakhstan is less well positioned to defend its followers from the appeals of politicized Muslim leaders unless they are influenced as well by Sufism which helped spread of Islam among Kazakhs (camonitor.kz/24366-islam-v-kazahstane-i-sufizm-istoriya-i-perspektiva.html).

Unfortunately, he says, the government of Kazakhstan like many of the other post-Soviet states has not come up with “specific and effective measures” to oppose “the ideology of Wahhabism.” Instead, these regimes have focused “on the consequences rather than the causes” of this phenomenon.”

Thus, the struggle so far has been “senseless,” and in Smagulov’s view, “only by opposition the ideology of Sufism against Wahhabism will there be a positive result.”

Sufism, he continues, is “a doctrine not only about who an individual is but also about how he should be.” It arose in the earliest period of the Muslim era as “a science about morality” and one might call it “the spiritual-intellectual school of Islam” from which all Muslims interested in their faith can draw.

“One of the specific aspects of Sufism,” he continues, is its willingness and ability to adapt rapidly to local conditions rather than demand that local values be rejected and overthrown. “This aspect too has helped preserve pre-Islamic faiths and traditions in the popular Islam of Kazakhstan.”

According to Smagulov, “the process of the Islamization of the Kazakhs developed as a result of the significant impact and influence of Sufi ideas” precisely because Kazakhs were not forced to choose between them and the Islam offered by some other trends and by politicized Islam at all times.

Sufism appeared in what is now Kazakhstan at the time of the Golden Horde. It grew in importance when Tatar, Bashkir and Caucasian Sufis who fought for Emelyan Pugachev against the tsarist regime came to the Kazakh steppe after his defeat. And Sufi sheikhs helped keep Islam alive during Soviet repressions.

In considering how to use Sufism to oppose Islamist fundamentalism, Smagulov continues, “it isn’t necessary to reinvent the wheel. The Naqshbandia tariqat, which just like the Kazakhs is part of the Hanafi rite,” stands ready and able to oppose those who exploit Islam for political purposes.

One should note, the Kazakh expert says, that “attempts to destroy Sufism or minimize its influence on Muslims always have been one of the main tasks of those who are unhappy with the existence of Islam on earth” and who want to reduce the faith to “a primitive social-political ideology in favor of some mercantile interest or other.”

“Unfortunately, Sufism in Kazakhstan has not yet been studied sufficiently,” and that gap is being used by “pseudo-Sufi movements” to undermine its influence. They are assisted in this by “pseudo-Salafis who are only concerned with discrediting Sufism when they speak out on its behalf.

Sufism can be especially effective in opposing Islamist radicalism in Kazakhstan because Sufism and the Kazakh people share so many values: respect for the dead and family, support for popular traditions, and promotion of the arts, all things the Islamist radicals oppose, Smagulov argues.

And he concludes by saying that those countries where the governments support Sufism as Turkey does the Naqshbandia order rely on it as “an effective barrier against the ideology of terrorism,” a set of ideas that promotes “stability and peace.” Kazakhstan could benefit by doing the same.

It is common knowledge that the modern turtle shell is largely used for protection. No other living vertebrate has so drastically altered its body to form such an impenetrable protective structure as the turtle.

However a new study by an international group of scientists, including those from the Evolutionary Science Institute at Wits University, on the earliest partially shelled fossil turtles suggests the broad ribbed proto shell was initially an adaptation, not for protection, but rather for burrowing underground.

Lead author Dr. Tyler Lyson of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science said, “Why the turtle shell evolved is a very Dr. Seuss like question and the answer seems pretty obvious – it was for protection. But just like the bird feather did not initially evolve for flight – we now have early relatives of birds such as tyrannosaur dinosaurs with feathers that definitely were not flying – the earliest beginnings of the turtle shell was not for protection but rather for digging underground to escape the harsh South African environment where these early proto turtles lived”.

The early evolution of the turtle shell had long puzzled scientists.

“We knew from both the fossil record and observing how the turtle shell develops in modern turtles that one of the first major changes towards a shell was the broadening of the ribs,” said Dr. Lyson. While distinctly broadened ribs may not seem like a significant modification, it has a serious impact on both breathing and speed in quadrupedal animals.

Ribs are used to support the body during locomotion and play a crucial role in ventilating your lungs. Distinctly broadened ribs stiffen the torso, which shortens an animal’s stride length and slows it down and interferes with breathing. “The integral role of ribs in both locomotion and breathing is likely why we don’t see much variation in the shape of ribs,” said Dr. Lyson. “Ribs are generally pretty boring bones. The ribs of whales, snakes, dinosaurs, humans, and pretty much all other animals look the same. Turtles are the one exception, where they are highly modified to form the majority of the shell.”

A big breakthrough came with the discovery of several specimens of the oldest (260 million year old) partially shelled proto turtle, Eunotosaurus africanus, from the Karoo Basin of South Africa. Several of these specimens were discovered by two of the studies’ co-authors, Drs. Roger Smith and Bruce Rubidge from the University of Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg but the most important specimen was found by a then eight-year-old South African boy on his father’s farm in the Western Cape of South Africa.

This specimen, which is about 15 cm long, comprises a well preserved skeleton together with the fully articulated hands and feet. “I want to thank Kobus Snyman and shake his hand because without Kobus both finding the specimen and taking it to his local museum, the Fransie Pienaar Museum in Prince Albert, this study would not have been possible,” said Prof Rubidge.

By Manpreet Sethi*

Provocations, sobered by abundant caution, were the hallmark of the first year of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), simply called the Iran deal. For now, the supporters of the agreement can breathe easy that it has lived to celebrate its first anniversary. Given that it took the international community 13 long years of difficult negotiations peppered with allegations and counter-allegations to resolve the ‘Iranian nuclear issue’, it is heartening that all parties managed to stay the course despite distractions.

President Obama, who provided dogged support during the negotiations in face of strong opposition from the Republicans and even some influential Democrats, besides a very vocal Israel, displayed his commitment to the deal in the last 12 months. President Rouhani too showed a personal conviction in its implementation. Luckily, he has also had the backing of the Supreme Leader. Meanwhile, proactive diplomacy by the EU, China’s economic interest in mainstreaming Iran, and Russian desire to be seen as playing a constructive role at the international high table have also been equally critical in making the JCPOA endure.

The Iran deal is an interesting agreement that has been subject to many interpretations. Western countries value it for its ability to remove the near-time risk of Iran’s nuclear weapons breakout. Iran considers it a tool to remove the sanctions pressure that was adversely impacting its economy, besides using it also to showcase the country’s strength to stand up to major powers by having managed to retain the right to enrichment, even if to low levels. Thus, the country vindicated its pride and position.

Over the last year, the JCPOA has provided a useful framework for Iran to resume meaningful relations with the international community. The most immediate benefits have been in the upsurge in its oil exports. By April 2016, Iran had begun exporting oil to the tune of 1.7 million barrels per day (mpbd), up from 700,000 mbpd during the period of the sanctions. Meanwhile some of the formerly blacklisted Iranian banks have reconnected to SWIFT and inflation is down to 12 per cent compared to 40 per cent in mid-2013. However, the quick economic gains that the public was expecting are yet to materialise, leading to impatience and disenchantment. This is partly because Iran itself has yet to get its institutions and entrepreneurial skills ready to exploit the opening. Besides an opaque banking system, it also suffers from corruption, an inflexible labour market, traditional dominance of the public sector, and multiple political power centres often in conflict with each other.

While resolution of the structural issues will take time, the sense of disappointment in public given the slow trickledown effect could be utilised by deal naysayers, particularly the hardliners in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Council (IRGC), to fan nationalism and hostility. It may be recalled that the IRGC had described the deal as ‘nuclear sedition’, and tried to scuttle it, including by undertaking missile launches in March. More such attempts could put Iran’s engagement with the world again under a cloud. For the moment though, President Rouhani seems relatively better placed after the recent elections in March 2016. The vote was seen as a sort of a referendum on the nuclear agreement, indicating a desire of the Iranian people to support leaders who could get them out of political and economic isolation.

Meanwhile, there are chances of things going wrong at the US end particularly as the domestic political situation heats up in the run up to the presidential elections later this year. Already, not many Americans, in the Congress or out of it, have solidly put their weight behind the deal. A Gallup poll in mid-Feb 2016 showed 57 per cent of the Americans as being opposed to the agreement and only 30 per cent approving it. President Obama is doing his best to kill any legislative action that could jeopardise the JCPOA, but its future would seriously depend on the next occupant of the White House.

Given the volatility in Iran and the US, other stakeholders such as the EU, China, and Russia will have to remain constructively engaged with the implementation process and watch out for any drastic action by either Iran or the US that could rock the JCPOA. For now, Russia has already started receiving enriched uranium that Iran must remove from its territory and China has started work on re-designing the Arak reactor. Slowly, as all sides build confidence in each other and as benefits flow into Iran start to make a difference, the deal would acquire surer footing. There would develop a vested interest of each to avoid violation of the agreement.

The next helpful step in this direction would now be to initiate measures that could help resolve regional issues to make all players more secure. Of particular relevance in this context is the need to find a way of establishing a Middle East WMD Free Zone. This has been a long-standing objective of the NPT. In fact the NPT RevCon 1995 had secured an unconditional and indefinite extension of the treaty on the promise of resolving the Middle East nuclear conundrum, particularly with reference to Israel’s undeclared but well-known nuclear weapons capability. The Iranian nuclear issue would receive a more secure sense of resolution if regional security issues could be addressed through the elimination of all nuclear weapons from the region. The task will certainly not be easy. In fact, even a conference of the regional powers to discuss the issues under the aegis of the special authority appointed in the form of an ambassador from Finland in 2010 has not yet been possible. Nevertheless, work must be started on this next step after the JCPOA. It will be a long journey but one that must get started.

* Manpreet Sethi
ICSSR Senior Fellow affiliated with the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS)

A leading church official in the Philippines has expressed opposition to a proposal in the country’s congress that will lower the age at which minors can be imprisoned for severe crimes.

Father Rudy Diamante, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Prison and Pastoral Care, said the church is against a bill that has been submitted that will lower the prosecution age to 9 years old.

“It is severe poverty that forces children to commit crimes or break laws,” said Father Diamante in an interview with Radio Veritas.

He urged the government to instead give young people opportunities to combat poverty.

“No child should be in detention. The government should instead provide programs especially for out of school youths,” said the priest.

The country’s Juvenile Justice Law provides that persons ages 15 years old and below cannot be imprisoned for severe crimes such as rape and murder.

It also states that a child above 12 to 15 years old who committed crimes will be deemed a “neglected child” and mandatorily placed in a youth care facility.

By Ambreen Agha*

Pakistan’s famed and much celebrated devotional Sufi singer Amjad Sabri (45) was killed in a targeted attack in broad daylight while he was traveling in his car in the Liaquatabad Town of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, on June 22, 2016. Sabri’s relative and co-traveler, Saleem Sabri, was also killed in the attack. Qari Saifullah Mehsud, spokesperson for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)-Hakimullah Mehsud faction claimed responsibility for the killing, which he justified on account of “his (Sabri’s) blasphemous Qawwalis” (Sufi devotional music).

In a bizarre judicial ruling in 2014, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had issued a blasphemy notice to Amjad Sabri and Geo TV for playing a Qawwali during a morning show. Sabri was booked after one of his songs mentioned the names of the family members of Prophet Muhammad who are revered and followed in Shia and Sufi Islam. This was considered offensive by the hardline and puritanical Wahhabi Islam that has come to dominate Pakistan with al Qaeda-like extremism, Taliban-style misogyny and Islamic State (IS)-style savagery and terrorism.

The slapping of a blasphemy case on Sabri added to his vulnerability in both the public and private space. Lamenting the loss of her son, Amjad Sabri’s mother Asghari Begum disclosed that about six months ago three unidentified armed assailants barged into their house frantically looking for Sabri. Not finding him at his residence they left. Knowing his precarious situation, Sabri had earlier submitted an application to Government for security. The Sindh Board of Film Censors Chairman, Fakhre Alam, claimed on Twitter that despite the submission of a security application by Sabri, “the Home Department refused to follow up on it.”

The Sabri killing is part of the larger canvas of religious intolerance, censorship and violence in Pakistan. An alarming situation has arisen for the freedom of artistic expression in the country. Musicians, artists, and alternative Muslim voices have faced brutal attacks by fanatical forces. Expanding their war strategy beyond state institutions, extremist and sectarian outfits like the TTP are targeting civilians and worshipers in mosques, shrines and marketplaces.

Sufism (mystical Islam) and Sufi shrines are a dominant and integral part of traditional Pashtun culture. There are more than hundred Sufi shrines in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) that have served as centres of spirituality and recreation. However, the Wahhabi ideology of the Taliban considers music and shrine culture un-Islamic and has attacked 50 such shrines since 2001 in tribal areas alone, according to Center for Peace and Cultural Studies (CPCS), Peshawar, Report published on February 24, 2014,

In one of the worst attacks on Sufi mosques and shrines, two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the Data Darbar shrine in Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab on July 1, 2010, killing at least 42 people and injuring 172. Again, on April 3, 2011, at least 51 persons were killed and more than 100 were injured when two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the shrine of Sufi saint Ahmed Sultan, popularly known as Sakhi Sarwar in Dera Ghazi Khan District of Punjab.

In other such attacks, terrorists have targeted Sufi shrine workers across Pakistan. Thus, on January 7, 2014, six dead bodies were found near a shrine in the Gulshan-e-Maymar area of Gadap Town in Karachi. Of these, two men had been beheaded, while the rest had their throats slit. On January 10, 2014, two workers at the shrine of Ghazi Shah Baba were shot dead in the Mardan District of KP.

Several artists have also been killed by the extremist religious vanguards of Islamism. Successive post-Zia-ul-Haq Governments in Pakistan have destroyed music by persecuting musicians, even as Islamist terrorists have killed many and silenced even more. A CPCS Report observes that at least 18 persons have reportedly been killed since 2001 because of their direct involvement in music. Of these, 12 cases are of female artists. Most of these killings have taken place in the tribal area of KP, where TTP once ran the show. On January 2, 2009, Shabana, one of Pakistan’s celebrated dancers, was dragged out of her house and shot dead by TTP’s Swat Chapter in the Mingora city of Swat District, after defying its ban on music and dance.

Despite the much claimed “military success” in Swat Valley in 2009, the dread of terror remained. On August 19, 2015, Pashto telefilm actress Mussarat Shaheen was shot dead in a targeted attack by fanatical assailants in Nowshera District.

The hold of fanatical forces in KP is not surprising. Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Government in KP, in a shocking gesture, ‘gifted’ PKR 300 million to Darul Uloom Haqqania, the most notorious seminary and birthplace of the Afghan Taliban, located in Akora Khattak town of Nowshehra District, for the financial year 2016-17. Slashing the minority funding from 52.70 per cent in 2015 to 23.49 per cent this year, KP Information Minister Shah Farman unabashedly told the Provincial Assembly on June 17, 2016, “I am proudly announcing that Darul Uloom Haqqania Nowshehra will get PKR 300 million to meet its annual expenditures.”

Darul Uloom Haqqania, founded in 1947, is the alma mater of many prominent Afghan Taliban leaders, including its former ‘chief’ Mullah Omar, who received an honorary doctorate from the seminary. Currently headed by Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, the leader of Jama’at Ulema-e-Islam – Sami (JUI-Sami), the seminary is well known as the breeding ground for the Taliban. Haq is also the chairman of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council, an umbrella coalition of more than 40 radical religious formations, including Hafiz Muhammad Saeed’s Jama’at-ud-Dawa (JuD), the front organization of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Significantly, on February 26, 2015, during the hearing of the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto murder case at the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) established inside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi District of Punjab, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Peshawar Inspector Naseer Ahmed and Sub-Inspector Adnan told the ATC, headed by Justice Pervez Ismail, about the involvement of Darul Uloom Haqqania’s students in the former Prime Minister’s assassination on December 27, 2007. The suspects who had received their education from the seminary and were accused of involvement were identified as Abdullah aka Saddam Nadir aka Qari Ismail, Rasheed aka Turabi and Faiz Muhammad.

Further demonstrating the links between the Islamic seminary and terrorism, former President Asif Ali Zardari, on June 26, 2016, expressed concern over the allocation of PKR 300 million to Dar ul Uloom Haqqania, a privately owned seminary, from the public funds. Dismayed over this development, Zardari claimed that the head of the Haqqania madrassa is an “acknowledged sympathizer” and an “undeclared spokesperson” of the Taliban. In a public statement Zardari asserted,

Haqqania seminary is known for its links with the militant Taliban. This is nothing but legitimization of militancy and the Taliban that will undermine the nation’s resolve to fight militants to the finish. Although the National Action Plan calls for disallowing banned outfits from resurrecting, yet they have resurrected and are openly promoting their militant agenda with impunity… is the revival of the jihadi project by design or by default?

The release of state funds to private seminaries was routine before 2002. The Former Secretary of Religious Affairs, KP, Vakil Khan, thus observed, “Before that (2002), a fund was set up for seminaries during the Zia era and that was from Zakat, not tax revenue.” Further, KP Provincial Minister of Higher Education and Information Mushtaq Ghani, on June 22, 2016, noted that this had been a practice during the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Government (2002-07), an alliance of religious parties, and was only resumed by the current PTI administration.

MMA’s alliance of six religious parties enjoyed an absolute majority at both Provincial and Federal levels after the ‘managed’ elections of 2002, under the Pervez Musharraf dictatorship. On 25 November 2002, the pro-Taliban MMA formed the Government in KP, after the alliance’s huge success in the Province, at both the Provincial and National level. After taking control of the Province, the Islamist political alliance banned music on public transport, medical examinations of women by male doctors, male coaches for women athletes, male journalists from covering women’s sports, and orchestrated the destruction of the music market in Mingora and other areas of Swat District. The MMA Governments directives led to the closure of shops dealing in musical instruments.

In the wake of the intensified attacks on music centres the MMA Government banned all cultural activity and laid down a deep foundation for puritanical Islam and religious militancy. This alarming trend gradually gathered momentum across Pakistan, leading to raids on theatres in Lahore and illegal detention of performers on fake charges of ‘indecency’ and ‘vulgarity’.

The atmosphere of extremism and impunity that dominates the cultural landscape in Pakistan has also given rise to increasing crimes against women and a continuous stream of ‘honour’ killings. The latest incident involved both cultural censorship and the deep rooted misogyny that underpins this phenomenon. On July 15, 2016, Fouzia Azeem alias Qandeel Baloch (26), a model, actress, and social media celebrity, was strangulated to death by her brother Waseem Baloch in the Multan District of Punjab Province to ‘protect family honour’. While confessing his crime, Waseem stated that he killed Qandeel because she brought “dishonour to the Baloch name” by posting risqué videos and statements on social media. This phenomenon of honour killings has claimed thousands of lives across Pakistan. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) database, a total of 1,096 women were killed in cases of honour crimes in 2015 alone; another 1,005 in 2014; and 869 in 2013. The primary reasons for these killings have been alleged illicit affairs, exercising the right of choice in marriage and domestic disputes, but the underlying cause, as one commentator on the Qandeel Baloch killing observed, is “because we hate women who don’t conform.”

The current revival of the jihadi project is both by “design and default”. Former HRCP chairperson Asma Jahangir points to “unnerving tales of how politics empowered bigotry, laws were used for persecuting religious minorities and liberal Pakistanis, and how an easy-going Muslim population was turned into an insufferable “puritanical” society.” The targeted killing of alternative voices, intimidation, religious bigotry, suppression of women, intimidation and killing of artists, State censorship, and fear of terrorism have done serious and irreparable damage to culture and freedom of expression in Pakistan, and have created the conditions for the further exacerbation of the ongoing war within Islam.

*Ambreen Agha
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

“For the past 25 years, the center-left has told the bottom 60% of the income distribution in their countries the following story: “Globalization is good for you. It’s awesome. It’s really great. We’re going to sign these trade agreements. Don’t worry, there will be compensation. You’ll be fine. You’ll all end up as computer programmers. It’ll be fantastic. And, by the way, we don’t really care because we’re all going to move to the middle because that’s where the voters are, and they’re the ones with the money, and they’re the only ones we really care about…and you basically take the bottom 30% of the income distribution and you say, “We don’t care what happens to you. You’re now something to be policed. You’re now something that has to have its behavior changed. We’re going to nudge you into better parts…

It’s a very paternal, patronizing relationship. This is no longer the warm embrace of social democracy, arm in arm in solidarity with the working classes. They are to policed and excluded in their housing estates, so you can feel safe in your neighborhoods and private schools.

So once this has evolved over 20 years, you have this revolt, not just against Brexit. It’s not about the EU. It’s about the elites. It’s about the 1%. It’s about the fact that your parties, have sold you down the river.” (Excerpt from Mark Blyth’s “Brexit” on YouTube)

Liberals and progressives love to point across the aisle and accuse their opponents of racism, misogyny and xenophobia, but that’s not what the Trump campaign is all about. And that’s not what Brexit was about. While it’s true that anti-immigrant sentiment is on the rise in Europe and the US, the hostility has less to do with race than it does jobs and wages. In other words, Brexit is a revolt against a free trade regime in which all the benefits have accrued to the uber-rich while everyone else has seen their incomes slide, their future’s dim and their standard of living plunge. As Vincent Bevins of the Los Angeles Times said:

“Both Brexit and Trumpism are the very, very wrong answers to legitimate questions that urban elites have refused to ask for thirty years”…“since the 1980s the elites in rich countries have overplayed their hand, taking all the gains for themselves and just covering their ears when anyone else talks, and now they are watching in horror as voters revolt.”

Fake liberals like Tony Blair and Bill Clinton have been big proponents of free trade and thus contributed greatly to this groundswell revolution against condescending elites and technocrats whose ultimate goal is to level the playing field so that workers in the developed countries compete nose to nose with underpaid wage slaves in China, Vietnam and across Asia. As Blyth says in the YouTube piece:

“Because the long run effect of the euro is going to be to drive western European wages down to eastern European levels.”

Bingo. More and more people know that this this is the real objective of free trade, to lower wages and crush organized labor in order to boost profits. And this is why the media has been unable to undermine public support from Brexit or Trump, because the issues impact working people and their standard of living DIRECTLY. The majority of voters now believe that these elite-backed policies are destructive to their interests and a threat to their survival. That’s why they remain indifferent to the media’s charges of racism.

Elites understand what’s going on. They know they got too greedy and went overboard. They also know the public is mad as hell and want blood which is why the markets have gone crazy. Investors have driven “safe haven” bonds into record territory which signals the big money guys are terrified of the changes that the election could bring. What does that tell you? Check this out from Fortune magazine:

“Wealthy US investors are hoarding record cash balances out of fear that US presidential election will wreak havoc on their retirement accounts a senior USB Group AG executive said … Although the US stock market hit a new high this week, many clients would rather sit on the sidelines than risk the kind of losses they faced in 2008, he said…

A UBS survey of 2,200 high net worth investors found that 84% of them think the election will have a significant impact on their financial health, McCann said, citing a report to be released later in July.” (“Wealthy are hoarding cash out of fear of what the election will bring”, Fortune)

So moneybags investors think that there’s going to be a day of reckoning and that all the anti-free trade, protectionist rhetoric emerging from the various campaigns is going to weigh on the markets?

It sure looks that way, and some would say that that day has already arrived. This is from the World Socialist Web Site:

“A report issued by the GTA on Wednesday said the term “slowdown” created the impression that, while it is losing momentum, world trade is still growing and one country’s exports do not come at the expense of others. These “rosy impressions” should be set aside because its analysis revealed that world export volume reached a plateau at the beginning of 2015. World trade was not only slowing down, but not growing at all….

The report warned that a “negative feedback loop” could develop where zero trade growth fuelled the resort to ever-more protectionist measures, leading to a further decline in trade. While the report did not draw out the implications of its warning, they are clear. It was such a feedback loop that developed in the 1930s, intensifying the Great Depression and ultimately leading to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.”
(“Global trade stagnates amid wave of protectionism”, Nick Beams, World Socialist Web Site)

Global trade has already been hammered by misguided central bank policies that merely try to steal export-share by weakening the currency. (The race to the bottom) But now we are embarking a period of strong economic nationalism which threatens to break up the Eurozone, intensify the call for protective tariffs on foreign-manufactured goods, and launch a full-blown trade war on China. And it’s all a reaction to the way that free trade was rigged to benefit the 1 percent alone. Elites can only blame themselves. Here’s how Glenn Greenwald summed it up in a recent article at The Intercept:

“Brexit….could have been a positive development. But that would require that elites…react to the shock of this repudiation by spending some time reflecting on their own flaws, analyzing what they have done to contribute to such mass outrage and deprivation, in order to engage in course correction…

Instead of acknowledging and addressing the fundamental flaws within themselves, they are devoting their energies to demonizing the victims of their corruption, all in order to de-legitimize those grievances and thus relieve themselves of responsibility to meaningfully address them. That reaction only serves to bolster, if not vindicate, the animating perceptions that these elite institutions are hopelessly self-interested, toxic, and destructive and thus cannot be reformed but rather must be destroyed. That, in turn, only ensures that there will be many more Brexits, and Trumps, in our collective future.” (“Brexit is only the latest proof of the insularity and failure of western establishment institutions”, Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept)

Western elites were shocked by Brexit, shocked that all their fear mongering and finger-wagging amounted to nothing. The same is true in the US, where the media’s daily attacks on Trump have failed to erode his base of support at all, in fact, they may have added to it.

Why is that? Why has the media’s repudiation of Trump only increased his popularity and strengthened the resolve of his supporters? Has the media lost its power to influence or is something else going on?

The media hasn’t lost its power, it’s just that personal experience is more powerful than propaganda.

What personal experience are we talking about?

Economic insecurity. Brexit was about economic insecurity. The Trump phenom is about economic insecurity. The rise of left and right-wing groups across Europe and the US is about economic insecurity. This isn’t about ideology, it’s about reality; the reality of not knowing if you’re ever going to be able to retire or put your kids through school or make your house payment or scrape by until payday. The reality of muddling by in an economy where the prospects for survival look worse with every passing day. That’s the reality that made Trump possible, and that’s what this election is about, economic insecurity.

By Mrinal Kanta Das*

On July 16, 2016, at least four Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres were killed in an encounter with Security Force (SF) personnel in the forests of Bijapur District. SFs recovered four bodies along with rifles, pipe bombs and other supplies during an area search operation. Commenting on the operation, Bastar Range Inspector General of Police (IGP) S.R.P. Kalluri disclosed that a joint force led by Laxman Kewat, Inspector-in-Charge Awapalli Police Station and Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) Commander Ashok Kumar carried out the encounter in the forests of Pamed in Bijapur District.

At least two unidentified CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an intelligence based operation on the bank of the Indravati River in Bastar District on July 13, 2016, according to Bastar Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Vijay Pande. However, the Police could not recover any bodies. The joint Police team of the Special Task Force (STF) and District Reserve Guard (DRG) also destroyed a boat belonging to the Maoists which was hidden near the river.

Three days earlier, on July 10, 2016, four Maoists were killed in an encounter with the Police in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur District. Giving details about the incident, S.R.P. Kalluri, IGP, Bastar Range, noted, “An encounter took place near Tumnar village of Bijapur District late last night. The spot of the encounter is around five kilometers from Bijapur. Four dead bodies of Maoists have been recovered so far from the spot. The number of Maoists killed is likely to go up.” One 9 mm pistol was also recovered from the encounter spot. Two out of the four dead Maoists were identified as Ukesh, the Local Guerrilla Squad (LGS) ‘commander’ in the Gangaloor area, and Raju, the ‘section commander’ of the CPI-Maoist’s Company No.2.

Earlier, on June 28, 2016, three Maoists were killed in an encounter with SF personnel at Badesatti village near Bandem under Gadiras Police Station limits in Sukma District. ‘Tiffin bombs’ [IED’s packed into Tiffin boxes] and other Maoist-related items were found from the spot.

These are not isolated incidents. Rather they reflect the growing consolidation of the SFs against the Maoists over a period of time. It is crucial to note here that SF personnel have achieved considerable success against the Maoists in Chhattisgarh, particularly since October 2015. These incidents only carry forward the past momentum.

The Maoists are facing a challenging time across all theatres of conflict in India, but the pressure on them in their own backyard – Chhattisgarh – is the most significant SF gain.

According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database, 118 people including 26 civilians, 22 SF personnel and 70 Maoists, have been killed in Chhattisgarh in 2016 (till July 17), in comparison to 67 persons, including 16 civilians, 33 SF personnel and 18 Maoists, killed in the corresponding period of 2015.

As reflected from the data, the first half of 2016 has recorded the lowest number of SF deaths and the maximum number of Maoist casualty in five and a half years. The neutralization of the Maoists in 2016 has seen a staggering growth of 388.88 per cent growth against the 2015 figure.

Significantly, this success comes on two fronts: firstly, the SFs neutralised more Maoists at a ratio never seen in the last five and half years; more importantly the lowest SF fatalities have been recorded since 2011. What is disturbing, however, here is that civilian killings by the Maoists have seen a spike, registering their highest numbers in 2016, with the exception of 2013.

SF personnel also arrested 257 Maoists in 2016, till July 17, as against 221 arrests through 2015. Moreover, the surrender of 596 Maoists thus far in 2016 in comparison to 279 in 2015 will also go a long way in demoralizing and weakening the ultras.

Crucially, in the worst case scenario for the Maoists, the local support that they enjoyed in what have for long been their ‘heartland’ areas, is also dwindling. Between March and May 2016, locals in Sukma District decided to oppose Maoist atrocities. Armed with bows and arrows and other traditional weapons, youth in the area have been patrolling the peripheral areas of their villages throughout the night to ban the entry of Maoists. The practice started in Kumakoleng and Nama villages under the Kumakoleng gram panchayat (village level local self government institution). Aayta Karma, a resident of Nama village stated, “We were disturbed with the Maoists’ act of obstructing development which had resulted in lack of power supply and no proper road connectivity in our villages. In the name of police informers, innocent villagers have been killed.”

Despite these reverses, rebel violence continues. On July 4, 2016 for instance, an Assistant Constable of Chhattisgarh Police, identified as Tirupati, was killed by Maoists in Bijapur District while he was returning to the Police camp after having a meal at home. On the same day an Assistant Constable, identified as Madkam Ganga, was picked up from a bus on the Jagargunda-Dornapal road in Sukma District by around 40 Maoists. The whereabouts of the Assistant Constable are not known.

Apart from killings, the Maoists have also been involved in other patterns of violence, including Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts. In 2016, 27 such explosions have been orchestrated, adding to 33 in 2015. Commenting on the growing number of IED blasts, a senior Police officer on March 24, 2016, observed that the Maoists had revised their strategy, choosing IED attacks over guerrilla warfare to target SF personnel. The official added “Maoists have upgraded their insurgency level by moving over to guerrilla warfare from blast attack nearly 5-6 years ago. They seem to have scaled down their insurgency level now by reverting back to the primary level of insurgency in which Security Forces are targeted with IED attacks.”

In a disturbing turn of events, several local body representatives and workers of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have resigned in Bijapur District in the recent past, allegedly due to threats and pressure from the Maoists. G. Venkat, Bijapur District President of BJP, stated on July 14, 2016, “I have received 27 resignations of local body representatives and party workers from various blocks of Bijapur District in the last one month. Some said they were resigning due to personal reasons while others claimed that the unstable situation in the region forced them to submit resignations. However, we know the resignations are due to pressure and threats from Maoists.” The series of resignations followed the killing of Ramsay Majji, a BJP Zilla Panchayat (District level local self government institution) member, by Maoists on June 10, 2016, near Sangampalli village in Bijapur District. Bijapur Superintendent of Police (SP) K.L. Dhruv confirmed that the resignations were due to Maoist threats.

Occasional errors by the SFs persist, despite major gains over the years. In a bizarre incident on May 18, 2016, a “suspected” Maoist, identified as Markam Deva, who came to surrender at a Police Station in Bijapur District, fled with sophisticated weapons. Deva expressed his wish to surrender at the Basaguda Police Station and fled moments after being interrogated by officials. Bijapur SP K.L. Dhruv disclosed that, “During the break in the interrogation that we usually do for any rebel ahead of their surrender process, Deva, who claimed himself as a Maoist, fled from the thana carrying one AK-47, 90 live cartridges, one Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL) and around 10 grenades,” There were at least 50 Policemen in the Police Station when the 23-year-old man escaped.

Chhattisgarh has witnessed 11 major incidents (each involving three or more fatalities) in 2016 (till July 17) in which 10 SF personnel and 38 Maoists have been killed in comparison to nine major incidents in which 19 SF personnel and 16 Maoists were killed in 2015. The major incidents of 2016 in Chhattisgarh are as under:

July 16: At least four CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter with SF personnel in the forests of the Bijapur District.

July 10: Four suspected CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter with the Police in the Bijapur District.

June 28: Three CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter with SF personnel in the Sukma District.

April 15: Three CPI-Maoist cadres, including a ‘Commander’, were killed while planting a bomb in the Koyalibeda area in Kanker District of Chhattisgarh during the Dandakaranya bandh (shut down strike) called by the CPI-Maoist.

March 30: Seven troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed in a landmine explosion triggered by the CPI-Maoist cadres in Dantewada District. A vehicle carrying personnel of CRPF’s 230th battalion belonging to the Ghusaras CRPF camp in Dantewada, were returning after leave for Holi, was blown up near the Malewara market on the Dantewada-Sukma Road.

March 29: Three CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter with the SF personnel in Narayanpur District of Chhattisgarh.

March 3-4: Three troopers of CoBRA were killed and at least 15 were injured in an encounter with CPI-Maoist cadres in Sukma District.

March 1: At least eight members of the CPI-Maoist Venkatapuram ‘area committee’ were killed in an encounter with SF personnel along the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border in Sukma District.

February 13: Three Maoists were killed in an encounter with SF personnel at Sendra village in Bijapur District.

January 27: Three CPI-Maoist cadres, who were allegedly involved in the Jiram Valley attack on Congress leaders in Bastar District on May 25, 2013, were killed in an encounter with SF personnel at Metapal village in Dantewada District.

January 15: Four CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter with the DRG of Bijapur District.

Further, in an indication towards a dangerous turn of events, CRPF Director General (DG) K. Durga Prasad while commenting on March 31, 2016, on the killing of seven CRPF troopers in Dantewada District on March 30, observed, “A surprise movement was under way and it was being done in a secret way. I don’t know how the news got leaked [to Maoists]. The way the incident happened, it is clear that someone gave specific inputs [to Maoists]. We will investigate to find out what went wrong.”

SFs have made tremendous advances in their campaigns against the Maoists over the last nine months, despite some setbacks. Sustaining the tempo, augmenting capacities and intelligence flows, and consolidating the major gains of the recent past will be key to ensuring that the Maoists are not able to regroup and revive their movement.

*Mrinal Kanta Das
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) is the largest populated region where the middle class is fast growing. It has an impressive array of natural resources. With attractive growth market and strategic location it has largest skilled manpower and professional managers available at competitive costs. The ‘macro’ natures of the region signify optimism for trade and investment.

Although, it has high potential to increase trade but with intra-regional trade at less than 5% of total trade, South Asia is the least integrated region in the world, dwarfed by East Asia’s 35% and Europe’s 60%. It’s 20% cheaper for India to trade with Brazil than with its neighbor Pakistan, the World Bank report 2015 says.

As far FDI is concerned its inflows to India surged by 22 per cent to about USD 34 billion improving its position to 9th top host country for FDI in 2014, over its rank of 15th in 2013, the UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2015 says.

The top four recipients in South Asia of FDI inflows were India, followed by Pakistan and Bangladesh (USD 2 billion each) and Sri Lanka (USD 1 billion).

Trade scenario

The physical infrastructures of most of the SAARC countries are not well developed. Border and customs are inefficient with congested border crossings. Moreover the circuitous routes to enter markets of the region have caused high cost to the traders and investors. There are not adequate trade agreements among the countries of the region.

There are also problems to trade due to cold relation between some SAARC countries, internal strife, violent exchange rate shifts, shifts in business regulations, non-tariff barriers and quota imposition, standards issue of the product, natural risk of flood, draught and tsunami etc.

It is utmost necessary to increase interregional trade, which will bring shared economic benefit to all countries of the region. Reduced trade frictions could increase India-Pakistan trade from less than$3billion to $20 billion and there is high possibility to raise Bangladesh export to India by 300%

Gas and oil deposits of Bangladesh and India have in fact yet to make an important impact. Maldives has a record in world renowned tuna business and world-class tourism. The tourism industry in Nepal is flourishing. Export structure of garment of various kinds and export of frozen food (shrimps and prawns) of Bangladesh are getting recognition in the international market. Bhutan has been successful in producing and exporting hydroelectric power. Pakistan has made good base for manufacturing industry and Afghanistan is also in process to regain its interrupted economic base.

Major Investments

The region is slowly improving its investment legislation features. Investors have to follow the national bank’s regulations and the Board of Revenue. And investment is increasing tremendously in India compared to other countries of the region,FDI inflows to India reached to $34 billion. In terms of sectoral composition, manufacturing is gaining strength, as policy efforts to revitalize the sector are sustained, including for instance the launch of the “Make in India” Initiative in mid-2014. The major sources of FDI in India are Japan, United States and the Republic of Korea.

A number of South Asian countries saw rising FDI from China. FDI inflows to Pakistan increased by 31 per cent to $1.7 billion as a result of rising Chinese FDI flows in services. In Sri Lanka, FDI flows from China rose as well. A joint venture between two local companies and China Merchants Holdings (International) Company has invested $500 million in Colombo International Container Terminals, the country’s largest foreign investment project.

FDI inflows to Bangladesh remained relatively high at $1.5 billion. As one of the most important foreign investors and the largest producer of natural gas in Bangladesh, Chevron (United States) invested $500 million in the Bibiyana Expansion Project and prepared to invest another $650 million to Petrobangla, the local State-owned oil company.

Nepal began to attract some FDI in hydropower and manufacture industry. Dangote Cement Nepal plans to start production within three years with an investment of US$550m. Nepal has endorsed a US$360m Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposal made by China’s Hongshi Holdings to establish a cement plant in Nepal in partnership with Nepal’s Shiva Cement. In recent years, India and China have attraction investing in Nepal’s hydropower sector, bringing in investors from electricity-hungry neighboring countries.

Going forward

FDI is open in most of the sectors and mostly no government approval is required in all the countries of the region. There is equal treatment to foreign and local investors. Government ensures legal protection to foreign investment against nationalization and expropriation and allows repatriation of proceeds from sales of shares and profit. Significant investment incentives exist in most of the countries.

The major sectors for trade and investment in the SAARC region are information-technology (IT), pharmaceuticals, biotech, micro biology sophisticated metallurgy, manufacturing items, infrastructure improvement etc. But SAARC lacks brand recognition.

Except Bhutan, SAARC countries have increased their bilateral agreements with global countries. A South Asian Free Trade Agreement is being eyed for coordinated regional trade.

South Asia can do to achieve better integration and boost its regional trade. To go forward, it is urgently needed to reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers, no quota imposition, leverage private and intergovernmental investment. Moreover investing in efficient connectivity and border crossings and liberalize services such as logistics, shipping, air travel etc. are also very essential.

*The author is a former Under Secretary at Ministry of Finance and was associated with United Nations Development Program Sierra Leone and South Sudan. He is also writer of a novella – The Violent Nile

In Europe, Turkey, unfortunately, is facing the destabilization threats like any other Muslim nation in Asia, especially in Arab world. The Turkish AKP government of Erdogan is fully aware of impediments to Islamist governance being created by the enemies of Islam and opponents of AKP in Turkey. Now that the military coup has been defeated, the government could now resume with more zeal the Islamist mission of ruling AKP for the future of Turkey and the world at large.

For realizing the government goals, Turkey needs to maintain sustained relations with its immediate neighbors. Unfortunately, the military coup occurred as President Erdogan began efforts to formulate a new friendly and productive foreign policy to pursue Turkey’s genuine interests
The defeat of military coup and success of the forces for democracy, both within Turkey and worldwide should strengthen the elected governments to worry more of coups. The Turkey case has shown that entire world has stood up to the military plotters.

The global infrastructure for freedom and democracy makes it harder for would-be strongmen in military or police uniform to succeed in coup plotting in future.

An attempted coup d’état in Turkey July 15 failed for a host of internal reasons, notably the fumbling nature of the military faction trying to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As President Erdogan tries to use the bungled putsch to further strengthen his rule, he should recognize just how many forces for democracy, both within Turkey and worldwide, saved both elected presidency and his elected AKP government.

In a stroke, some members of Turkey’s military – the second-largest force in NATO and a powerful bastion of secularism that has toppled four civilian governments since 1960 – showed that they were unhappy with Turkey’s Islamist and authoritarian trajectory, and believed they were in a position to stop it.

President Erdogan – the man with a mission for society who for years has fought to eclipse the military’s role in politics in the name of democracy – used Face Time to foil the coup – at the same time exposing the weaknesses of his divisive vision of majoritarian rule. The attempt comes as Turkey faces an unprecedented array of threats, and its stability is critical to a region reeling from the Syrian civil war, the refugee crisis, and the presence of the self-declared Islamic State.

Turkey’s four main political parties issued a statement condemning the military coup, a rare case of national unity. Turkish people, even Erdogan critics, quickly used social media to take to the streets to defend the country’s democracy.

Turkey received universal support for regaining democratic strength. The USA, European Union, and many other democracy backers hailed Turkey’s political success and opposed the coup. Even Russian leader Vladimir Putin spoke up.

Bloody footprints still stained Istanbul’s Taksim Square as thousands of Turks heeded the call by President Erdoğan to celebrate a victory of democracy over an attempted military coup that failed before dawn, just hours after it began. With so much digital information available about the military leaders who opposed the coup, the plotters were easily seen as small in number.

Any person or group trying to thwart a democracy these days is up against a global infrastructure of freedom cum democracy that has been built up since World War II. Many more countries have democratic activists operating in civil society groups. Many governments now have democracy-promotion efforts, such as election support and monitoring. The creation of the International Criminal Court acts as a deterrent to would-be dictators, though some colonialist countries continue to attack neighboring or its own illegal colonies – like Israeli intermittent aggression of Palestine, killing civilians including children and women.

Before the failed military coup over the weekend and the ensuing purge by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of thousands of personnel in the military, police, and judiciary, the country’s political climate had become increasingly authoritarian and toxic. But the military coup could only make the trend firmer.

Obviously, enemies of Islam do not want Muslim children to learn and know Islam. While the AKP government is keen to make school education purposeful for the fullest possible development of Islamic mindset and concern for Islamic values, opponents of Islam play mischief in Turkey’s educational system. The roles of politics and religion in the classroom have been emotive issues in Turkey for decades. The debate has often focused on Imam Hatips: religious schools that are the preferred choice for pious parents who want their children to receive a higher-than-usual dose of Sunni Islamic teaching. In the mid-1990s, around 10 percent of all high school pupils attended Imam Hatips, but that proportion fell dramatically after a crackdown on religious education in 1998.

The Erdogan era has strengthened Islamic system of education as foundation for an Islamist society for glorious life of people. In the past six years, the schools have made a dramatic comeback under the AKP. Several hundred public high schools have been converted into Imam Hatips, and they are now close to surpassing their peak in the 1990s.

However, the latest protests take the debate into new territory, since the schools affected comprise the cream of the education system: the elite high schools that provide free education to the brightest children and have produced a large proportion of its political, intellectual, and cultural leaders.
In March 2015, 44 of these schools were placed under tighter supervision as part of the new Project Schools initiative, which officials say is intended to boost excellence. Istanbul High School is among them. Its famous alumni run the gamut, from academics and poets to pop stars and three former prime ministers.

Turkish government tries to inculcate Islamic values through education. But there have been concerted efforts b anti-Islamic forces operating in Turkey and influencing form across the borders try to complicate the AKP’s educational programs. A section argues, Turkey is a majority Muslim country, but education and religion should be separated from each other for the sake of “secularism”. The organization behind the petition – Mr. Çelik’s Turkish High Schools Union – is linked to a fringe political group that espouses hard-line secular nationalist values.

President Erdoğan has dismissed the protests against Islamization of education and society and a petition in this regard as the work of fringe groups hoping to revive the mass antigovernment protests that shook the country in 2013. “We are seeing that some forces that have still not learned from the past are now provoking university and high school students,” Erdoğan said in a speech on July 16. The government now seems increasingly unwilling to allow children to be educated in an anti-Islamic atmosphere in which they might be exposed to politically oppositional or controversial ideas that could ruin Islam in them , out of fear that this could aalso damage Turkey’s stability and growth. AKP government needs to protect and safeguard the gains of Islamist rule.

The battle for Turkey’s soul – AKP party and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – has been revealed in a flash during a coup attempt. The government needs to be firm about the AKP party program and principles to make Turkey truly Islamic state. How Erdogan’s post-coup crackdown impacts the clash over school curriculum and administration remains to be seen.

Democracy has suffered setbacks in the past 15 years. But the number of democracies in the world is at an all-time high and 40 percent of the world’s population still lives under fairly elected governments. More people seek the freedoms of democracy and have more tools to push for it. The world was reminded of this progress in Turkey’s failed coup. That country must now move toward more democracy while ensure mechanisms to deny the military plotters to destroy elected governments. .

A number of coups has fallen over the past quarter century but plotters can continence to attack democracy and cause disorder and destabilization. And would-be strongmen must think twice about offending a range of institutions set up to promote democracy, fight corruption, and defend human rights.

Turkey’s membership in NATO may have reduced the willingness of Turkey’s top brass to join in this latest coup attempt. Turkey seeks to join the EU, which requires it to improve its democratic credentials but coups can harm that effort. The country also needs foreign investment, which means that financial bodies such as the International Monetary Fund look hard at its democratic stability.

The violent bid to oust President Erdoğan has exposed weaknesses in his divisive rule with freedom for subversive politics – and could test Turkey’s stability at a time of unprecedented threats at home and in the region. . Unnecessary compromises with anti-Islamic forces operating within and across the borders could damage the Islamist ideals.

While many argue the event will help Erdoğan consolidate power, he would advance Islamist agenda for turkey. There is huge division in the Turkish military and in Turkish society, and they don’t go away, but they make the person who’s in charge more likely to respond to threats effectively and logically.

By Gabriel Mitchell*

Just as darkness was about to settle along the Bosphorus Friday evening, a faction of officers within Turkey’s military launched a coup d’état against the state. In the ensuing chaos, which included the bombing of the Turkish parliament, gunfights between soldiers and police officers, and a violent exchange with unarmed protestors, 265 people were killed and over 1,400 wounded. As is the case with most defining events in Turkey’s history, the finer details of the coup—in particular the who and the why—will be subject to intense debate for decades to come, but there is little question that it managed overnight both to strengthen the position of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and thrust his country into the unknown.

The coup, rushed by its organizers perhaps out of fear they might soon be found out, was a failure. And yet it came very close to decapitating Turkey’s leadership. Special Forces reportedly raided the hotel where Erdoğan was vacationing, and two F-16s harassed the president’s jet while he was en route to Istanbul. For reasons unknown, they didn’t open fire, but the threat was very real.

What the leaders behind this putsch seemed to overestimate was the support they would receive from the Turkish public. Instead, they found themselves alone, rejected by a population still traumatized by previous coups. Every major political party spoke out against the plot, demanding respect for the democratic process.

The putschists also underestimated Erdoğan, whose swift response amidst the chaos managed to reverse the tide. His decision to go on-air via FaceTime while the state television network was being held at gunpoint proved to be a masterstroke, galvanizing his constituency to take back the streets despite the very real threat of being fired upon by armed soldiers and tanks. Equally shrewd was Erdoğan’s directive to the Diyanet (Turkey’s religious authority) to conscript a people’s army by turning minarets across the country into megaphones for the cause. By the time he landed at Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport, the coup had been transformed into a nationwide mass protest.

Mobbed at the airport entrance in manner that resembled Ayatollah Khomeini’s return to Tehran in 1979, Erdoğan, with unbridled optimism, told a sea of iPhone-wielding supporters that “This uprising is a gift from Allah to us because this will be a reason to cleanse our army.”

Erdoğan’s performance wasn’t entirely improvised. After all, much of his previous political success was built upon challenging Turkey’s secular institutions, in particular the military. In December 1997, Erdoğan (then mayor of Istanbul) recited a controversial quatrain from a nationalist poem during a public address in the southeastern city of Siirt. “The mosques are our barracks,” he told the crowd, “the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets, and the believers our soldiers.” Threatened by this rising political star, the state summarily tried and convicted Erdoğan for “inciting hatred based on religious differences.” But the move backfired, turning Erdoğan into a national figure. When he journeyed to Thrace to begin serving his four-month sentence in 1999, thousands escorted him to the prison gates.

This isn’t to say that Erdoğan contrived the recent coup in order to advance his goal of one-man rule, as some have argued. But Erdoğan was certainly ready to seize the opportunity once it presented itself.

An Erdoğan-directed purge has already begun. Working from what can only be assumed a partially preconceived list, the Turkish government has already detained 30 provincial governors, 47 district governors, 103 high-ranking military officials, and more than 3,000 soldiers. By the end of the weekend 2,745 judges were dismissed from their posts. So far, the government’s attention has been focused on identifying affiliates of the Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen, Erdoğan’s partner-turned-rival and the coup’s alleged mastermind. But if previous trials of the Erdoğan era are any indication, many innocent individuals will likely find their names added to the list, as well.

It is natural for a government that has survived a coup to take extraordinary measures in order to reassure the people of its legitimacy. Nevertheless, a purge that further weakens the country’s institutions and polarizes an already divided public will have a negative impact on Turkish democracy and make larger portions of the population vulnerable to radicalization. The latest events have already sent Turkey’s economy into a massive freefall. Hunting down real or perceived putschists will also draw vital government resources away from other critical challenges, most notably the ongoing campaign against the PKK and the threat posed by Islamic State.

All coups, successful or not, generate uncertainty. Erdoğan may have succeeded in overcoming a deadly challenge to his authority, but in the process he has only confirmed a great many existing fears about where Turkish democracy is heading in the future.

About the author:
*Gabriel Mitchell, PhD Candidate, Government & International Affairs, Virginia Tech University

Source:
This article was published by the Hudson Institute

By Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan

On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) came out with its ruling on South China Sea. The verdict was that China’s nine-dash line and its claims based on historical rights are null and void. As expected, China has rejected the ruling as invalid. This is clearly a victory for the Philippines which had taken the case to the PCA. Invalidation of China’s historical claims to the South China Sea is also a big boost for other claimants, including Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam. Taiwan, the other claimant, and China have claimed almost 90 percent of the South China Sea territories, whereas the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei each have claimed sovereignty over different islands and reefs in this area. The claimant countries have also laid claims to exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles around each island, as per UNCLOS regulations. Even as the South China Sea has been contested for decades, the recent legal battle became unavoidable in the face of China forcibly taking control of the Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines in 2012 over fishing disputes, leaving the weaker Philippines little choice but to take the case to the PCA in February 2013.

Taiwan’s position on the South China Sea and the East China Sea is similar to that of China. It must also be noted that Taiwan controls Itu Aba/Taiping Island, the largest naturally formed island in the Spratly group of islands in the South China Sea. However, until recently, it appeared that Taiwan had made a political call not to assert those claims or talk about them openly.  In the run-up to and following the PCA verdict, Taiwan has taken a more active position on these conflicts. In January 2016, then President Ma Ying-jeou visited Taiping Island, possibly illustrating its long-standing claim and sovereignty over the island. Even though previous leaders have also visited the island, a visit so close to the South China Sea verdict was seen as sending a message about its own historical claims. The question is whether Taiwan is departing from its earlier policy and if so, whether it is pragmatic to do so?

In May 2015, then President Ma Ying-jeou had come out with a South China Sea Peace Initiative asking claimant countries to put aside the disputes and finalise resource-sharing agreements. The initiative called upon “all parties concerned to exercise restraint in the South China Sea; observe relevant international law, including the UN Charter and UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and settle disputes peacefully, while jointly guaranteeing freedom of navigation and overflight; shelve sovereignty disputes and cooperate on the development of resources; and establish coordination mechanisms for non-traditional security issues such as scientific research, environmental protection, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.”  President Ma went on to highlight that “sovereignty cannot be divided, but resources can be shared.”

Taking this line forward, Taiwan’s new President Tsai Ing-wen in her May 20 inaugural speech called upon countries that have made claims to both East China Sea and South China Sea to shelve their disputes and work towards joint development of the region.

Most recently, in the run up to the PCA’s ruling, Taiwan has taken steps that can be construed as assertive. Taiwan’s defence minister Feng Shih-kuan stated on July 7 in the legislature that “Taiwan’s military is prepared for a possible escalation of tensions in the region following the tribunal’s ruling on June 12.” Following the PCA verdict, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang has come out saying, “We hereby stress that the Republic of China [ROC] enjoys rights as afforded by international law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea over South China Sea islands and their relevant waters.” Minister of Foreign Affairs, David Tawei Lee too rejected the verdict and said it is totally “unacceptable.” A day after the PCA verdict, the Cabinet spokesperson Tung Chen-yuan stated that Taipei will “strengthen its Coast Guard patrols.. in order to protect its fishermen there [Taiping Island].” An 1800-ton “Wei Hsing” patrol vessel has been in the area since July 10 for the same purpose.  Additionally, Taiwan plans to send a 1000-ton Coast Guard Administration (CGA) patrol vessel, “Taitung” and it is meant to remain in the island indefinitely. On July 13, Taiwan has also sent a La Fayette-class Navy frigate on a patrol mission. Before it set sail for the island, the President addressed the crew on the vessel saying, “This patrol mission (will) demonstrate our determination to protect our country’s interests.”

Recent statements from Taiwan as well as the military deployments must be particularly pleasing to Beijing. China may have found a perfect ally to raise the pitch in making these territorial claims and rubbishing the legal verdict. But Taipei’s position does not appear to be the consequence of any desire to improve ties with the mainland by supporting it on this issue, but more a consequence of greater nationalism of the new government. This makes Taiwan’s reaction particularly problematic because Taiwan’s actions will likely anger the other claimant countries and it could possibly lose some  friends that it needs in the long term. Taiwan has to approach the territorial issues from a pragmatic and political basis rather than a nationalistic sentiment which is what is driving the current approach. Taiwan’s earlier call to approach the sovereignty and territorial issues from a political and economic perspective was a judicious one. If Taipei were to continue with this new, nationalist approach, it could get further isolated. Taiwan should also recognise that these developments are taking place at a time when China has become most assertive under the nationalistic leadership of Xi Jinping. The change of dispensation in Taiwan has not been particularly welcomed by Beijing and Cross Strait relations are not at its best. This is certainly not the best time for Taiwan to  alienate itself from its friends in the region. If there is military adventurism by China directed at Taiwan, Taipei would need all the support it can get. Therefore, Taiwan has to take extra care not to isolate itself from the larger Asian community. It may not be wise to pick fights on multiple fronts.

A freshly released IMF’s World Economic Outlook brings no comforting picture to anyone within the G-7, especially in the US and EU. The Brexit after-shock is still to reverberate around.

In one other EXIT, Sartre’s Garcin famously says: ‘Hell is other people’. Business of othering remains lucrative. The NATO summit in Warsaw desperately looked for enemies. Escalation is the best way to preserve eroded unity, requires the confrontational nostalgia dictatum. Will the passionately US-pushed cross-Atlantic Free Trade Area save the day? Or, would that Pact-push drag the things over the edge of reinvigorating nationalisms, and mark an end of the unionistic Europe?

Is the extended EU conflict with Russia actually a beginning of the Atlantic-Central Europe’s conflict over Russia, an internalization of mega geopolitical and geo-economic dilemma – who accommodates with whom, in and out of the post-Brexit Union? Finally, does more Ukrainian (Eastern Europe’s or MENA) calamities pave the road for a new cross-continental grand accommodation, of either austerity-tired France or über-performing Germany with Russia, therefore the end of the EU? Southeast flank already enormously suffer. Hasty castling of foes and friends caused colossal geopolitical vertigo in Turkey, whose accelerated spin produces more and more victims.

For whose sake Eastern Europe has been barred of all important debates such as that of Slavism, identity, social cohesion (disintegrated by the plunder called ‘privatization’), secularism and antifascism? Why do we suddenly wonder that all around Germany-led Central Europe, the neo-Nazism gains ground while only Russia insists on antifascism and (pan-)Slavism?

Before answering that, let us examine what is (the meaning and size of) our Europe? Where, how and – very importantly – when is our Europe?

Is the EU an authentic post-Westphalian conglomerate and the only logical post-Metternich concert of different Europes, the world’s last cosmopolitan enjoying its postmodern holiday from history? Is that possibly the lost Atlántida or mythical Arcadia– a Hegelian end of history world? Thus, should this OZ be a mix of the endemically domesticated Marx-Engels grand utopia and Kennedy’s dream-world “where the weak are safe and the strong are just”?

Or, is it maybe as Charles Kupchan calls it a ‘postmodern imperium’? Something that exhorts its well-off status quo by notoriously exporting its transformative powers of free trade dogma and human rights stigma–a modified continuation of colonial legacy when the European conquerors, with fire and sword, spread commerce, Christianity and civilization overseas – a kind of ‘new Byzantium’, or is that more of a Richard Young’s declining, unreformed and rigid Rome? Hence, is this a post-Hobbesian (yet, not quite a Kantian) world, in which the letzte Mensch expelled Übermensch?

Could it be as one old graffiti in Prague implies: EU=SU²? Does the EU-ization of Europe equals to a restoration of the universalistic world of Rome’s Papacy, to a restaging of the Roman-Catholic Caliphate? Is this Union a Leonard’s runner of the 21st century, or is it perhaps Kagan’s ‘Venus’– gloomy and opaque world, warmer but equally distant and unforeseen like ‘Mars’?

Is this a supersized Switzerland (ruled by the cacophony of many languages and enveloped in economic egotism of its self-centered people), with the cantons (MS, Council of EU) still far more powerful than the central government (the EU Parliament, Brussels’ Commission, ECJ), while Swiss themselves –although in the geographic heart of that Union – stubbornly continue to defy any membership. Does it really matter (and if so, to what extent) that Niall Ferguson wonders: “…the EU lacks a common language, a common postal system, a common soccer team (Britain as well, rem. A.B.) even a standard electric socket…”?

Kissinger himself was allegedly looking for a phone number of Europe, too. Baron Ridley portrayed the Union as a Fourth Reich, not only dominated by Germany, but also institutionally Germanized. Another conservative Briton, Larry Siedentop, remarked in his Democracy in Europe that it is actually France who is running the EU ‘show’, in the typical French way – less than accountable bureaucracy that prevents any evolution of the European into an American-style United States. Thus, Siedentop’s EU is more of a Third Bonapartistic Empire than possibly a Fourth German Reich. The Heartland or Rimland?

Despite different names and categorizations attached, historical analogies and descriptions used, most scholars would agree upon the very geopolitical definition of the EU: Grand re-approachment of France and Germany after WWII, culminating in the Elysée accords of 1961. An interpretation of this instrument is rather simple: a bilateral peace treaty through achieved consensus by which Germany accepted a predominant French say in political affairs of EU/Europe, and France – in return – accepted a more dominant German say in economic matters of EU/Europe. All that tacitly blessed by a perfect balancer– Britain, attempting to conveniently return to its splendid isolation from the Continent in the post-WWII years. Hence, living its Brexit distance from the continental Europe for most of its history.

Consequently, nearly all scholars would agree that the Franco-German alliance actually represents a geopolitical axis, a backbone of the Union.

However, the inner unionistic equilibrium will be maintained only if the Atlantic-Central Europe skillfully calibrates and balances its own equidistance from both assertive Russia and the omnipresent US. Any alternative to the current Union is a grand accommodation of either France or Germany with Russia. This means a return to Europe of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries – namely, direct confrontations over the Continent’s core sectors, perpetual animosities wars and destructions. Both Russia and the US has demonstrated ability for a skillful and persistent conduct of international affairs, passions and visions to fight for their agendas. Despite of any Grexit or Brexit, it is a high time for Brussels to live up to its very idea, and to show the same. Biology and geopolitics share one basic rule: comply or die.