As a religious ideology, Salafism is gaining wide acceptance in the Muslim world while attracting increasing attention in the West today. Many Muslims embrace it as the authentic Islam. What are the features that make Salafism so appealing to many Muslims?

By Mohamed Bin Ali and Ahmad Saiful Rijal Bin Hassan*

The use of the term Salafism in the current discourse on Islam is largely ambiguous and often confusing. This ambiguity stems from the realisation that many Salafis themselves are not entirely clear as to what Salafism entails, assuming that it is simply to follow the Quran and the Sunnah (the Prophetic Traditions). This is a problematic definition since it implies that others do not.

Furthermore, due to the ambiguity of the term, Salafism in a broader sense, is claimed by all Muslims in that the universal Islamic ideal is to emulate the Prophet and the pioneering Muslim community. In this respect, the term Salafism connotes authenticity and legitimacy. Despite the amorphous nature of Salafism, there is growing interest among the Muslims today towards Salafism. Many are attracted to the ideals of Salafism. Why is this so? At the same time, there is a need to have a finer understanding of the term “Salafism” given that it has generally been used rather loosely to connote something controversial.

What is Salafism?

The term Salafism as used today refers to a religious inclination or tendency towards a set of ideas and identity. These ideas and identity are subscribed to by Muslims who advocate strict adherence to their understanding of Islamic practices as enjoined by Prophet Muhammad, the final prophet of Islam, and subsequently practised by the early pious predecessors known as the salaf al-salih. Following the salaf is the reason for their self-designation as Salafis.

The ideas and tenets of Salafism are those that reflect moral, social and political interests and commitments of Salafis today and constitute their ideology of how the world and its system should work. This belief system is based on pure, undiluted teachings of the Quran, the Sunnah and practices of the early Muslim generations (the salaf).

Salafis advocate a return to Islamic sources by emulating and following the footsteps of early generation of Muslims. Many of them tend to disregard the ways of Muslims who came after the third generation of Islam as they see that Islam during this subsequent period has been tainted with innovations and many Islamic practices are seen as heretical. Some prefer to call them “neo-Salafis” to distinguish them from the salaf al-salih – the pioneering generations of Muslims.

Appeal of Salafism

Many Muslims especially the younger generation are attracted to Salafism due to its appealing ideas and tenets which could be summarised as follows:

Legitimacy and Authenticity:

Salafism’s basic proposition is that legitimacy, whether in the religious, social, or political realms, must be explicitly derived from the earliest Islamic precedents. As such, Salafis assert that Muslims must refer only to the original textual sources of the Quran, Sunnah of the Prophet and traditions of the authentic salaf on all issues. When a modern problem arises, it should be resolved through interpreting the original sources of Islam without being bound to the interpretive precedents of the earlier Muslim generation.

In their fervour to return to a “pure” interpretation of the religion, Salafis tend to reject ‘any kind of rationalist orientation in a wide variety of Islamic intellectual teachings’. This somewhat distinguishes the Salafis as those who generally disregard the Islamic intellectual heritage as an important reference in pursuing Islamic scholarship and guidance.

This includes a rejection of exercising “ijtihad”(Arabic: “effort”) which in Islamic law refers to the independent or original interpretation of problems not precisely covered by the Quran and Hadith (the Prophet’s Sayings), and ijma’(scholarly consensus). By rejecting ijtihad, Salafis believe they can circumvent the human dimension (original thinking, personal judgment and analytical reasoning) which may dilute the divine messages with possible human errors, biases and miscalculations. Hence, the appeal is one of purity of divine guidance.

Providing Solutions:

Salafis claim that Salafism offers solutions to dilemmas faced by Muslims today by providing a simplistic demarcation of the realm of belief and disbelief. They assert that by adhering strictly to the Quran and Sunnah, Muslims can lead a pure, Islamic way of life. Salafism offers Muslims simple answers and quick fixes to almost any issues at hand. For example, any issues pertaining to Islam that is not from the Sunnah is considered by them as haram or not permissible.

This dichotomous choice is simpler in nature and easier to apply in a globalised world where there are many grey areas affecting Muslims in matters of their faith and day-to-day living. Hence, Salafism offers an anchor for Muslims looking for a definite collective identity in a world that seems to relentlessly erode their identity. It offers signposts and guidelines for Muslims searching to practise Islam in a world seemingly at odds with Islamic principles.

Activism:

Salafism positions itself in the political, social and economic spheres as the main ideology – that a believer is not just bound to individual salvation but is also an active agent for social change. In other words, Salafism as an ideology does not confine itself to how an individual should practise Islam, but also to shape how the Islamic society should live according to the Salafis’ reading of religious texts.

This characteristic in particular attracts the idealistic Muslim youths, keen on social reform. For some Salafi movements, they are involved in social welfare activities aimed at changing the society using the ground-up approach. Other Salafis are active in political participation. They see the importance of applying the Salafi tenets to the political arena, which they believe will impact social justice and the right of God alone to legislate.

Again, in an environment that is seen to be increasingly hostile to Muslims and their practices, Salafism offers an active solution whereby their followers are able to do something to change their situations. Thus the appeal is one of productive activity to bring about change on various levels.

Salafism vis-à-vis the Modern World

Today, Muslims increasingly live as minority communities in many parts of the world and under secular or non-Islamic systems. They travel from one place to another and integrate with other communities. Though its appeal is multi-factorial, Salafism’s distinct and exclusive teachings pose a great challenge to the prospect of Muslim and non-Muslim relationship and interaction.

It can be also argued that accepting Salafism could have profound implications in the context of today’s socio-political reality. This is especially so where the world continues to witness a unidirectional move of Muslims from Muslim-majority countries to countries where Muslims form a minority. In these realities, practising Salafism would be inconvenient for the Muslims, to say the very least. At the very worst, it becomes the basis for violent Islamist movements such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS to incite hatred and legitimise violence against the disbelieving majority.

*Mohamed Bin Ali is Assistant Professor and Ahmad Saiful Rijal Bin Hassan is Senior Analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Both studied Islamic law at Al-Azhar University, Cairo and are counsellors with the Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG).

The Spanish government said that 38 refugees, 33 of Syrian nationality and five of Iraqi nationality, arrived in Spain from Greece on Tuesday, 27 September, under the European Union Relocation Program, set up to tackle the humanitarian consequences of the war in Syria.

This new group of asylum-seekers, made up of 14 men, nine women and 15 children, arrived at midday at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, and were subsequently transferred to the locations where they will be taken in, the Spanish government said, adding that on this occasion, five will live in Cadiz, five in Malaga (all Iraqis), four in Seville, six in Madrid, four in Salamanca, four in Valladolid and 10 in Murcia.

Following the arrival of these 38 refugees in Madrid on Tuesday, Spain has now received a total of 642 asylum-seekers, 363 under the re-location program and 279 under the re-settlement program, according to the government.

The Spanish System for the Reception and Integration of applicants/beneficiaries of international protection offers its beneficiaries a stay at a reception center of the Ministry of Employment and Social Security or of an NGO (subsidized by the government) at which they are guaranteed lodging, meals, legal advice, psychological assistance, social care and advice, accompaniment to education centres, public health and social centres, language learning and basic social skills, guidance and intermediation for vocational training and job reinsertion, cultural activities and economic aid.

On October 1, the Chinese renminbi officially becomes the fifth international reserve currency. Until recently, Washington played geopolitics to defer the renminbi’s internationalization. But what about Wall Street?

On October 1, 2016, the Chinese renminbi (RMB) will officially join the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) international reserve assets; that is, the SDR (Special Drawing Rights) basket. From the perspective of the IMF, this is a ready affirmation of China’s success in opening up its markets. The inclusion of the renminbi into the ranks of the most important international currencies codifies the acceleration of bilateral and multilateral RMB transactions worldwide.

As almost a year has passed since the IMF’s decision, the U.S. has finally, though quietly and belatedly, begun to participate in the RMB internationalization. Nevertheless, as the RMB’s expansion is rapidly accelerating, Wall Street’s moves are still too little too late.

Three waves of capital inflows

After October 1, RMB asset are likely to benefit from three consequent waves of capital inflows. The first wave involved the very inclusion of the RMB among the IMF international reserve assets. That caused a re-weighting of the SDR basket, which is currently valued at $285 billion. Before the RMB inclusion, the basket was dominated by the U.S. dollar (41.9%), followed by the euro (37.4%), UK pound (8.1%) and yen (8.3%). As the RMB was included in the SDR assets, the shares were re-weighted.

Today, the SDR assets remain dominated by the weights of the US dollar (41.7%), the euro (30.9%) and Chinese renminbi (10.9%), followed by the UK pound (8.1%) and Japanese yen (9 percent). The weight of the RMB translates to about $31billion into the RMB assets starting in October, probably gradually over half a decade.

As long as China’s economic growth prevails, even as it decelerates, and financial reforms continue, the RMB inclusion is likely to prompt another wave of capital inflows by central banks, reserve managers and sovereign wealth funds. Today, the allocated part of the global foreign exchange reserves – which the IMF calls the Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves, or COFER – amounts to $7.2 trillion. The US dollar still accounts for nearly two-thirds of the total, against a fifth by the euro, while the pound and the yen are less than 5% each.

Now, assuming that China’s current share of global reserves is about 1 percent, the IMF’s decision could cause a significant capital inflow (5%) – about the weight of the yen or pound – into the RMB assets, which would translate to some $360 billion by 2020. If, on the other hand, the RMB’s COFER share would reflect its SDR weight (10.9%), the inflow of capital could more than double to over $780 billion.

A third capital inflow is likely to ensue as private institutional and individual investors follow in the footprints of the IMF and public investors. If these allocations rise to just 1 percent, they could unleash about $200 billion into the RMB assets by 2020. But again, if these allocations would reflect the renminbi’s SDR weight, capital inflows could double, triple or increase by a magnitude.

Conservative $1 trillion scenarios

In a favorable scenario, the total expected capital inflows to the RMB assets by the IMF, public and private sector investors could soar to an accumulated $600 billion by 2020. That is a conservative scenario. With different assumptions, the real figure could double, triple or far more.

Also, China’s current share of global reserves may be higher than estimated, as the IMF’s total foreign exchange reserves also include $3.8 trillion worth of unallocated reserves. Furthermore, after half a decade of stagnation in the major advanced economies, all investors are struggling to achieve higher yields and to diversify their assets. So, any major new crisis in the advanced economies could accelerate capital inflows in the RMB assets.

The current RMB/USD exchange rate is 6.67 but expected to soften to about 6.75 by the year-end, which means the renminbi’s continued weakening against the trade-weighted basket in the near-term. Based on current trends, the RMB appreciation will pick pace and is likely to return to 6.40 levels by early 2020s. Nevertheless, the recent renminbi deceleration has been seized as a pretext for caution and complacency in the West, particularly after the volatility of Chinese markets in summer 2015.

Nevertheless, policy stances are no longer identical on both sides of the Atlantic. For years, New York City’s Wall Street and London’s City have competed for the role of the financial capital of the world. Seen purely in terms of size, the New York Stock Exchange has a market capitalization of close to $19 trillion; and NASDAQ $7.5 trillion, whereas that of the London Stock Exchange is over $3.6 trillion. However, historical experience suggests that leadership in international financial services requires that these global financial hubs to remain close to both advanced and emerging markets and the innovation frontier. Yet, unlike London, Wall Street is embracing the renminbi very slowly.
Wall Street hesitation is paced by Washington’s geopolitics. Take, for instance, the case of China-proposed Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB). In spring 2015, many countries in Asia and elsewhere joined the AIIB, while Europeans initially stood aside. What changed the game was the UK’s decision as the first major Western country to participate in the AIIB. It paved the way for the rest of Europe to follow in its footprints.

However, the US has kept its distance.

Washington’s mistake, Wall Street’s loss

Nevertheless, Wall Street cannot afford to fall behind in global financial rivalries. Washington’s geopolitical uni-polarity does not work well in the increasingly multipolar world economy and global markets.

Today, there are more than 20 offshore RMB clearing hubs appointed by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). Characterized by strong Chinese trading and investment ties, these hubs are strategically located around the world to cover all time zones and major world regions.

Not so long ago, Hong Kong still dominated all renminbi payments internationally. However, things are changing. Last spring, UK became the largest center for the renminbi outside of greater China, according to SWIFT. Hong Kong is still dominant (70%) but in relative decline, followed by the UK (6.5%), and Singapore (4.5%).

The good news in Wall Street is that the US is now the fourth largest RMB center in the world (3.1%). The bad news is that, with its snail pace, it is barely ahead of Taiwan (2.5%) and South Korea (2.1%).
With $2.15 trillion traded daily, London remains the world’s largest single foreign-exchange trading center. The RMB is today the eighth most-traded currency in the city and involved in 1.8 percent of transactions. That amounts to about $39 billion of deals but is way behind $1.9 trillion for the dollar and $837 billion for the euro. However, if the spotlight is shifted on relative growth, which is based on future expectations, rather than absolute volume, which reflects past glory, Chinese renminbi is flying.

What we have seen so far of the international renminbi revolution is just the tip of the iceberg. When Beijing is accelerating its opening-up policies, Washington should not resort to containment policies. American financial intermediaries need the renminbi to achieve adequate yields in the coming decades. Conversely, Chinese financial intermediaries hope to diversify in the advanced markets to optimize diversification.

All integration – including financial integration – is a two-way street.

The original commentary was released on September 27, 2016, by China-US Focus.

It was reported that millions of people around the world watched the live debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the two US Presidential candidates. As these two persons aspire to become the President of the most powerful country in the world, many must have expected to listen to a high quality debate concerning US and global economy, world conflicts and peace, the issues relating to liberty and suppression and the responsibility of USA,`which appears to be considering itself as the watchdog of the world.

Unfortunately, to the disappointment of millions of people, the debate happened to become a damp squib and perhaps, giving an impression that both the candidates are not prolific thinkers and lack matured outlook and long term world vision. While some economic issues concerning US were discussed, what ultimately stayed in the mind of the audience was the attempt by both the candidates to accuse each other and question the honesty and integrity of the other person.

The focus of Hillary was to somehow embarrass Trump by calling him a tax dodger and accusing him of fraudulent business practices. Trump responded in a weak manner by calling himself as a smart business man and has acted as per the law. He could not say that he acted based on ethical principles.

For his part, Trump focused on humiliating Hillary by accusing her of destroying some 33,000 emails from the time when she was Secretary of State. Hillary could not give a proper explanation and appeared to be really embarrassed. The debate somewhat became ugly when Trump said that Hillary lacks stamina. Many would have been surprised when Hillary said that she was no longer supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal and she conveniently ignored when Trump asked “so was it President Obama’s fault?”

The debate moderator too was no better than the two Presidential candidates, as he appeared to give more time to Hillary and also appeared to put more difficult questions to Trump.

All in all, the debate ended like what we usually see between young students at school level ,when one would try to focus more on humiliating and discomforting the opponent rather than using the opportunity to explain his views with conviction in a lucid manner. The younger generation who aspire to occupy high political posts in future would wonder as to whether this would all be the merits and the competence level required for the US Presidential candidates.

What is even more surprising was that several reporters and media personnel immediately hailed Hillary as the winner of the debate though for an impartial and discerning observer, it looked as if neither did better and perhaps, both exposed their inadequacies and limitations.

With two more debates to follow, one would hope that both the candidates would prepare themselves better and put forth more healthy debate that would do justice to the reputation of USA.

Of course, there was one bright spot. At the end of the debate, Trump clearly said that he would support Hillary if she would win the election as the President of USA. This was a gracious remark that does not seem to have received the appreciation that it deserves from the media.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was unanimously passed by the United States Senate on October 12, 1998, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 28 the same year.

The Act was put into law to interpret and enact two 1996 World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) treaties which dealt with copyright circumvention and providing Internet service providers (ISP) and online service providers (OSP) safe harbour against copyright liability, provided they meet specific requirements.

The DMCA criminalises the production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures (commonly called digital rights management) that control access to copyrighted works. Further, the DMCA also criminalises the act of circumventing any access control, even if there is no actual infringement of the copyrighted material itself, i.e., providing a mere link to a third site where suspected copyright material exists is criminal.

The Act has extended the reach of US law beyond its traditional geographical jurisdiction. Moreover, the Act has given copyright right holders a “lethal weapon” to utilise against parties who allegedly breach their claimed copyright.

That is, the ability to claim copyright breach directly against any individual. Further, the Act enables copyright holders to force ISPs and OSPs to take down any identified alleged infringing material immediately from any Internet site.

However, the Act doesn’t give respondents any recourse against a DMCA takedown notice before any material is taken down by the ISPs and OSPs.

Through the DMCA takedown notice procedure a copyright holder becomes a prosecuting judge. A copyright holder need only serve a takedown notice on an ISP or OSP to take down any third party’s material from the Internet to have it instantly removed.

The rules and procedures of this process are prescribed under section 512 of the Act. ISPs and OSPs are given immunity from prosecution from both the copyright holders and respondents to takedown notices, if they strictly adhere to the takedown and counter-takedown notice procedures prescribed in Section 512.

This “safe harbour” provision gives ISPs and OSPs incentive to co-operate with copyright holders who are in the majority corporations.

Section 512 even exempts ISPs and OSPs from “good faith” in the removal of any material, i.e., they may know the takedown notice is flawed in some way, providing the procedures are followed.

In effect ISPs and OSPs become the agents of the copyright holders and aren’t obliged to consider the interests of their users, except through facilitating the counter-takedown notice procedure.

As mentioned above, the material identified in any takedown notice must be removed from the site identified. The respondent can only respond to the copyright holder through issuing a counter notice which identifies the person who put up the material, submits to the jurisdiction of a US court, and subjects the respondent to the laws of perjury in the response.

It is the responsibility of the ISP or OSP to pass on the counter notice to the copyright holder and if legal action hasn’t been taken against the respondent in the takedown notice within 10-14 days, the ISP/OSP may reinstate the original material to their website.

The DMCA takedown notice procedure deems a respondent of a takedown notice guilty. There is no provision for a hearing from the respondent to either the purported copyright holder or ISP/OSP before the material is removed. At a minimum any material subject to a takedown notice cannot reappear for at least 14 days.

The takedown notice procedure is dreadfully biased towards the purported copyright holder. Section 512 gives copyright holders protection and power over respondents to takedown notices.

For example, unlike respondents who decide to file a counter notice, the copyright holder issuing the takedown notice in the first place, need not submit itself to the jurisdiction of the US legal system.

The issuer of a DMCA takedown notice may be, and is in many cases, a foreign corporation with no intention to submit itself to the jurisdiction of US law. The corporation can use the DMCA for convenience to rid the Internet of some material at its own whim, where it is almost practically impossible by a respondent to make legal claim for issuing a false takedown notice.

If a respondent of a DMCA takedown notice takes a copyright holder to court, there is no guarantee that the issuer of the notice will submit itself to US law, unless it is already a US legal entity. Even within the US itself, some issuers of takedown notices have escaped jurisdiction of the US court system.

Sadly, US case law has tended to protect the issuers of false takedown notices. In 2004, the decision in Rossi V. the Motion Picture Association of America found that the DMCA takedown notice issuer had to actually know their claim was false and not merely lazy or mistaken for a respondent to succeed in their claim against a party who issued a false takedown notice.

Further, the issuer of a DMCA takedown notice bears little responsibility for false notices. Although Section 512 (f) makes the issuer of any false notice liable for damages, the cost, time and effort to take a copyright holder to court for issuing a false notice according to current case law in the United States would most likely only compensate the respondent for his or her legal costs in direct relation to the takedown notice and minimal damages.

There is nothing within Section 512 that restrains copyright holders from issuing DMCA takedown notices through the principle of fair use. The legally enshrined principle of fair use allows for the copying of small amounts of material for comment, criticism, or parody.

Such use can be done without the need to get permission from the copyright holder. Section 1201 (c) states the underlying substantive copyright infringement rights, remedies, and defences, doesn’t allow the use of fair use for defence of a DMCA takedown notice. Fair use is not exempted as a circumvention action and is thus not exempted from criminality under DMCA.

This weakness in the DMCA has allowed for the exponential growth of DMCA takedown notices since the Act became law almost 18 years ago.

Twitter receives about 10,000 DMCA takedown notices per month which has grown 58 per cent from the year before. WordPress receives about 700-800 DMCA takedown notices per month, up 55 per cent from the year before. Google receives about 80,000 DMCA takedown notices per month, which has grown also around 50 per cent in volume from the previous year.

If the fair use provision was upheld in section 512, the number of takedown notices would be far less and more manageable by ISPs and OSPs to handle. Instead we are reaching a situation where free speech, expression, and even creativity are being stifled by the DMCA.

Earlier this year, Jennifer Urban and Brianna Schofield from University of California, with Joe Karaganis of Columbia University found in a 160 page in-depth study looking at 100 million notices, that more than 32 per cent of DMCA takedown notices were either flawed or had characteristics which raised questions about their validity.

This equates to more than 35 million notices. This somewhat agrees with Twitter’s own data indicating that around 33 per cent of notices it receives are ineffective. WordPress found 60 per cent of the DMCA takedown notices it receives as being ineffective.

One very recent case that illustrates the above issues and highlights several sinister aspects of DMCA abusers’ behaviour relates to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its Legal Director Howard Stupp.

Howard Stupp is well known for his vigilance in protecting IOC intellectual property, and even made a ban on the use of short GIFs on social media during the recent Olympic Games.

Stupp instituted an automated system which systematically searched the Internet for key words. The system was so sophisticated that winners’ names were added as keywords to pick out new postings during the games.

However what was apparently absent was any human interface to ensure that the system didn’t mistakenly highlight postings that didn’t breach IOC copyright. As a result in one such case, a DMCA takedown notice was sent to Twitter claiming a posting had breached IOC copyright by showing a GIF of the recent games, when in fact the Tweet was posted weeks before the games and GIF was of another sporting event not under the jurisdiction of the IOC.

Like the example above, the use of automated systems leads to questions about accuracy and fairness in due process of copyright holders issuing DMCA takedown notices.

Human interface is required to ensure copyright holders exercise a duty of care. Automated search systems have turned the DMCA takedown system into a massive fishing expedition where individuals who breach copyright may be caught along with a large group of innocent individuals.

In the case above, the recipient of the DMCA takedown notice issued by the IOC attempted to contact the organisation through the email given in the takedown notice (The issuer of a DMCA notice doesn’t have to state their address like the requirement for respondents to do so.) to point out their mistake, but this was to no avail. Repeated emails were just left with silence.

The fact that the IOC refuses to enter into any correspondence with respondents indicates the principle of “good faith” is not being adhered to.

The IOC, like many other corporations not registered in the United States, are difficult to actually locate and thus beyond the jurisdiction of US law. This makes it extremely difficult to take any legal action against parties who issue false DMCA takedown notices.

The DMCA takedown notice system is allowing people like Howard Stupp to act without any duty of care and legal responsibility. The IOC must be aware that some of its DMCA are false through mistaken identification of content (i.e., no one has checked the links the automated system has identified).

Organisations like the IOC will continue to issue frivolous takedown notices in a contemptuous and arrogant manner, and ISP/OSPs like Twitter will continue to support large corporations against their own users because of the nature of the current takedown and counter notice procedures in section 512. These are all massive abuses of the system which must be corrected.

There are numerous other well reported abuses which indicate the DMCA is being used by corporations for other motives than seeking out copyright infringement.

Warner Bros filed DMCA takedown notices with Google as a tool to takedown websites which would lead to possible infringing content, rather than infringing content on websites as the DMCA specifies.

Sony has been trying to obtain licence fees on the fair use of their copyrighted material. A web security firm used the DMCA takedown system to silence a vocal critic of its services in the guise of copyright infringement.

The London Sunday Times sent a DMCA takedown notice to eliminate a critical article written in The Intercept. Some organisations have issued DMCA takedown notices against bloggers just to find out their identity. The DMCA takedown notice procedure is cheaper to utilise against critics than using defamation laws, which many corporations are taking advantage of. People with a grudge use the DMCA takedown notice procedure to attack and force suspension of their social media accounts.

The safe harbour provision of Section 512 makes the ISP and OSP willing collaborators with organisations which use DMCA takedown notices as a tool for other agenda that the Act was not intended for.

DMCA takedown notices only allege breaches of copyright infringement. DMCA takedown notices do not prove cases of copyright infringement.

This is a denial of natural justice where the takedown and counter notice procedure assumes guilt before innocence, contrary to common law.

With the large number of DMCA takedown notices coming in to ISP/OSPs, it is time consuming and costly for these organisations to deal with each individual notice. They are doing the work of copyright holders and bearing all the costs involved.

The unbalanced onuses placed upon the recipient in filing a counter notice, and fear of the costs of defending any potential action in a court of law is the probable reason why there are very few counter notices.

DMCA takedown notices, as can be seen by the example above are intimidating to many people who receive them. Further, liability is unbalanced and favours copyright holders.

Many corporations don’t fear suits as they aren’t within the jurisdiction of a US court unlike the respondents who must formally put themselves under US court jurisdiction in filing a counter notice.

Large corporations like Sony, Disney, Comcast, Viacom, and others used automated systems to issue DMCA takedown notices which often misidentify material. This is an injustice upon innocent parties who are at risk of having their social media accounts closed if they receive three takedown notices under the multiple offender provision of the DMCA.

The DMCA takedown notice procedure has harassed many Internet and social media users, silenced critics of corporations, and disrupted people running blogs.

Section 512 (f) is toothless in restraining corporations using automated software and takedown notices go on “fishing expeditions” to seek out copyright infringers.

Innocent peoples’ rights are being violated and in some cases damage done to them where no practical recourses exist to remedy the injustice. The Howard Stupps of the corporations are free to run their agendas disregarding the principles of ‘good faith’ and fairness. They appear immune from responsibility for their reckless actions.

Section 512 has failed to protect people from false takedown notices and allowed the DMCA to be abused by corporations for their own ends. The use of the DMCA to silence critics and eliminate articles written by journalists in all probability if challenged in a US court could even be found unconstitutional due to its incongruence with the 1st Amendment that guarantees freedom of speech and the press.

Let’s hope the US Copyright Office corrects these shortfalls of the DMCA in its current review of the legislation and considers the introduction of statutory damages and/or bonds to decrease the issuing of false notices.

* This article represents the opinion of the author.

By Harish Venugoapalan

One election that never fails to catch the eyes of the entire world is the American elections. This election has been no different. Generally, in any election, the presidential candidates’ popularity is discussed. But in this election, for a change, the candidates’ unpopularity is being discussed. The latest opinion poll shows that among registered voters, 39 percent view Hillary Clinton favourably while 57 percent view her unfavourably. Donald Trump is viewed by 38 percent of the registered voters in a favourable manner while 57 percent of them view him unfavourably.

One more significant point to note is that the media has come out dominantly in support of Hillary Clinton. The same media has come out in full strength against Donald Trump. This has been the case right from the beginning when Donald Trump was contesting the Republican Primaries. Then, columns and articles used to be dominated with titles like ‘Why Trump can never become a Presidential candidate?’, ‘Why it is important to stop Trump?’ etc. Once he was elected as the Presidential candidate, the topic shifted. But the tone did not. It is about ‘How America cannot afford to have Trump as President.’ The New York Times published an editorial a couple of days back endorsing Hillary Clinton as its President titled ‘Hillary Clinton for President.’ It followed it up with another editorial ‘Why Donald Trump should not be President’. The Washington Post posted an editorial with the heading ‘It’s beyond debate that Donald Trump is unfit to be President.’ There is another group that has named itself ‘Historians against Trump’ which published an open letter to the American People to warn against the dangers of electing Donald Trump as President of the USA. Everyone seems to have ganged up against Trump these days.

Is a Trump Presidency all that bad for the US or the rest of the world? To begin with, Trump gave out a lot of dangerous statements initially. His remarks about Muslims, Mexicans and women were extreme and dangerous. But it is also true that he has moderated himself enormously in particular after his new campaign team came into force. Now he has started talking about how he won’t allow people from ‘enemy countries’ instead of saying that Muslims will not be allowed in. Earlier, he compared Mexican immigrants to rapists and mentioned that Mexico is sending people who commit crimes, who are killers and who are rapists and that he will build a wall along the border for which the Mexican government will pay. Recently, he went to Mexico, met the President there and came back and gave out a statement that ‘Mexicans are great people and they will pay for the wall.’ Lastly, he has stopped making the ‘misagonystic’ statements that he used to make. These are all improvements. It is all about moderation. Of course, not many in the liberal media have pointed these out!

Many people accuse Trump of being a populist. But if one looks at his statements, it is clear that in many of the issues, his stand goes against the mainstream stand of the Republican Party. For one, the Republicans thrive by seeing Russians as their enemies. But Trump probably is the first Presidential candidate who has openly called for good ties with Russia. His lauding Putin and going to the extent of saying that the Crimea annexation should be recognised is not going to win him many votes. Yet, he has done that. One wonders ‘would better American-Russian ties have resolved the Syrian crisis by now?’ Surely the answer is ‘yes’. How many less deaths would that have caused? We are speaking in thousands. He has also promised to pull back the American troops from the Middle East and other parts of the world. Is this really possible and good too? But at least, it will not lead to disasters like Iraq and Libya for which both the Republicans and Democrats are responsible — the Republicans for the former and the Democrats for the latter. Whatever one might say about Trump, he speaks his mind. That cannot be refuted.

Also, when he has been requesting the African American community to vote for him, one thing is clear. He is not going to win many votes from them because of the fact that most of them vote for the Democrats. It is clear that he wants to be seen as a moderate among the wider white voters — especially among many from the Republican Party itself who accuse him of being a demagogue and an extremist. Even if that is so, he should be appreciated at least for making the attempts to reach out to the African Americans. Yet, he is more often ridiculed for this. That is not to say that Trump should not be criticised at all. There are plenty of things to criticise about Trump right from his non-submission of IT returns to obscene remarks that he has made repeatedly during the course of the election campaign to many other issues. The point that this writer is making is that ganging up against Trump in totality and making the point (or attempting feebly) that it would be the end of the world if Trump gets elected as President is not the right thing to do.

Also, the ‘intellectuals’ coming together is comparable to something that happened in India a couple of years back. Back then, in April 2014, before the general elections, 26 intellectuals wrote in The Guardian warning that the secular fabric of India would be destroyed if Narendra Modi becomes the Prime Minister of India. Well, it has been two years since Narendra Modi has become the Prime Minister of India!! Nothing seems to have happened to the ‘secular fabric’ of the country. It is safe and sound. Modi may also well be on the path of becoming the Prime Minister for a second time in 2019 — much to the chagrin of these so-called intellectuals. Instead, it is the intellectuals themselves who are having the last bite of the humble pie that they have bitten.

Let’s get this one right — a Trump Presidency is not only possible but also probable. If the Americans think that Donald is the trump card that they have, they have a right to say ‘yes’ to that. About these people who want to do everything within their power and stop Trump, to substitute from the famous ‘Rasputin’ song by ‘Boney-M’, ‘Oh………those intellectuals.’

Source:
This article was published at Modern Diplomacy.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., joined Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and other sponsors of a comprehensive data security and breach notification bill that requires companies to take reasonable steps to secure their customers’ sensitive data and notify customers in the event of a hack, and called on the leader of Yahoo! to disclose how a massive hack at their company went unnoticed for two years.

In a letter to Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, Wyden, Leahy and leading Democratic Senators asked the company to provide a timeline of the hack, which compromised at least 500 million accounts, and when law enforcement and users were notified.  The lawmakers are also seeking information about how widespread the hack is, and what Yahoo! is doing to prevent such a hack in the future.

“The stolen data included usernames, passwords, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and security questions and answers.  This is highly sensitive, personal information that hackers can use not only to access Yahoo customer accounts, but also potentially to gain access to any other account or service that users access with similar login or personal information, including bank information and social media profiles,” the letter states.

The letter continues: “We are even more disturbed that user information was first compromised in 2014, yet the company only announced the breach last week.  That means millions of Americans’ data may have been compromised for two years.  This is unacceptable.  This breach is the latest in a series of data breaches that have impacted the privacy of millions of American consumers in recent years, but it is by far the largest.  Consumers put their trust in companies when they share personal and sensitive information with them, and they expect all possible steps be taken to protect that information.”

Wyden co-sponsored the Consumer Privacy Protection Act authored by Leahy last year to establish a comprehensive approach to data security by requiring companies to take preventative steps to defend against cyber attacks and prevent data breaches, and to quickly notify customers in the event a data breach occurs.

The measure addresses the kinds of security breaches that have affected retail stores in recent years, as well as breaches of personal email, online accounts, and cloud computing that have sent Americans’ personal information, photos and even location out into public view.

Cosponsors of the consumer privacy legislation also joined Tuesday in the letter to Yahoo!.  Democratic Senators signing the letter include: Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Al Franken (Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), and Edward J. Markey (Mass.).

A copy of the September 27 letter to CEO Marissa Mayer is below.

# # # # #

September 27, 2016

Ms. Marissa Mayer

Chief Executive Officer

Yahoo Inc.

701 First Avenue

Sunnyvale, CA 94089

Dear Ms. Mayer:

We write following your company’s troubling announcement that account information for more than 500 million Yahoo users was stolen by hackers, compromising users’ personal information across the Yahoo platform and on its sister sites, including Yahoo Mail, Flickr, Yahoo Finance, and Yahoo Fantasy Sports.  The stolen data included usernames, passwords, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and security questions and answers.  This is highly sensitive, personal information that hackers can use not only to access Yahoo customer accounts, but also potentially to gain access to any other account or service that users access with similar login or personal information, including bank information and social media profiles.

We are even more disturbed that user information was first compromised in 2014, yet the company only announced the breach last week. That means millions of Americans’ data may have been compromised for two years.  This is unacceptable.  This breach is the latest in a series of data breaches that have impacted the privacy of millions of American consumers in recent years, but it is by far the largest.  Consumers put their trust in companies when they share personal and sensitive information with them, and they expect all possible steps be taken to protect that information.

In light of these troubling revelations, please answer the following questions to help Congress and the public better understand what went wrong and how Yahoo intends to safeguard data and protect its users, both now and in the future.  We also request that Yahoo provide a briefing to our staff on the company’s investigation into the breach, its interaction with appropriate law enforcement and national security authorities, and how it intends to protect affected users.

1. When and how did Yahoo first learn that its users’ information may have been compromised?   Please provide a timeline detailing the nature of the breach, when and how it was discovered, when Yahoo notified law enforcement or other government authorities about the breach, and when Yahoo notified its customers.
2. Press reports indicate the breach first occurred in 2014, but was not discovered until August of this year.  If this is accurate, how could such a large intrusion of Yahoo’s systems have gone undetected?
3. What Yahoo accounts, services, or sister sites have been affected?
4. How many total users are affected?  How were these users notified?
5. What protection is Yahoo providing the 500 million Yahoo customers whose identities and personal information are now compromised?
6. What steps can consumers take to best protect the information that may have been compromised in the Yahoo breach?
7. What is Yahoo doing to prevent another breach in the future?  Has Yahoo changed its security protocols, and in what manner?
8. Did anyone in the U.S. government warn Yahoo of a possible hacking attempt by state-sponsored hackers or other bad actors?  When was this warning issued?

Thank you for your prompt attention to this critical matter.

Sincerely,

According to the Sri Lanka government, a severe drought situation is reported in Ampara, Polonnaruwa, Trincomalee, Hambantota, and Monaragala Districts causing a water shortage for public use.

Considering the situation, the Sri Lanka Ministry of Disaster Management has taken steps to supply the required water for these areas through temporary tanks.

A 24-hour hotline, ‘117’ has been introduced for those areas to inform problems related to the water shortage, said the Assistant Director of the Disaster Management Center Pradeep Kodippili.

The US Senate voted 97-1 to override President Barack Obama’s veto of the bill that would allow Americans to potentially sue Saudi Arabia for 9/11. This is the first veto override during the Obama presidency.

Obama vetoed the bill last week, explaining that the “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act” (JASTA) would erode the doctrine of sovereign immunity and expose the US to lawsuits around the world.

JASTA, which passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate, allows US judges to waive sovereign immunity claims when dealing with acts of terrorism committed on American soil – potentially allowing lawsuits against Saudi Arabia over the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Fifteen of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi nationals.

The issue appears to cross party lines, with Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) pushing for a veto override while Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) is concerned it would “end up exporting [US] foreign policy to trial lawyers.”

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has argued that allowing JASTA to become law could lead to US being sued in foreign courts and subjected to an “intrusive discovery process.”

This could put Washington in the “difficult position of choosing between disclosing classified or otherwise sensitive information or suffering adverse rulings and potentially large damage awards for our refusal to do so,” Carter wrote to House Armed Services Committee chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) earlier this week, according to the Military Times.

The House is expected hold a veto override vote later on Wednesday.

If Obama’s veto is successfully overridden in the House, it would be 111th time in US history that this has happened, and the first in Obama’s presidential term.

The first-ever veto override took place in March 1845 and involved President John Tyler’s attempt to build military ships without the approval of Congress. Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) holds the record for most vetoes overridden at 15, while Harry Truman (1945-1953) and Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) are tied at second place with 12.

The South Africa-Iran Deputy Ministerial Working Group (DMWG) will kick off on Thursday in Pretoria.

To be hosted by International Relations and Cooperation Deputy Minister Nomaindiya Mfeketo, the session is expected to review and enhance bilateral relations between Tehran and Pretoria.

“The DMWG provides impetus to the Structured Bilateral Mechanism and is mandated to track progress in normalising trade and financial relations between the respective countries in the post-sanctions era and to guide and institute measures in this respect,” South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said on Wednesday.

The DMWG is meant to ensure the South Africa-Iran bilateral relationship progresses into a substantive strategic partnership within targeted sectors.

Thursday’s meeting will focus on the outcomes of the April Presidential State visit to Iran, as well as the enhancement of trade, investment and economic relations.

“In addition, the DMWG will assess the implementation of the South Africa-Iran Strategic Framework. It is expected that the outcome of the meeting will subsequently inform the substantive part of the South Africa-Iran Joint Commission,” the department said.

During the State visit in April, President Jacob Zuma signed several agreements and commitments by both sides to take economic and trade relations to greater heights, following the lifting of sanctions against Iran.

President Zuma and his Iranian counterpart undertook to take cooperation to a higher level in the fields of trade, education and skills development, science and technology, energy, agriculture, mining and mineral beneficiation, infrastructure development and transport, finance, banking as well as insurance and tourism.

South Africa views Iran as a strategic trading partner within the Middle East and Central Asian region.

The two sides share a long historical relationship, with Iran having stood with and supported the struggle for liberation in South Africa, while South Africa supported Iran in the face of unilaterally imposed sanctions.

The European Union once again prolonged the application of the restrictive measures against Russian and Ukrainian individuals and businesses. These sanctions consist of an asset freeze and a travel ban against 146 persons and 37 entities.

“The assessment of the situation did not justify a change in the regime of sanctions nor in the list of persons and entities under restrictive measures,” says the statement published on the European Council’s website on Thursday, 15.

Moreover, economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy are currently in place until the end of January 2017; and restrictive measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol, limited to the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol are in place until the end of June 2017.

Meanwhile, many experts and politicians believe that the sanctions do not bring the desired effect and cause significant damage to the business in both Russia and the West. According to some analysts, Moscow has already got used to the existing restrictive measures, which cannot isolate the country on the international arena.

Commenting on the situation, Arne Melchior, Senior Policy Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs expressed regret about further extension of sanctions.

“It is unfortunate that sanctions had to be extended once more. I hope for a solution to the crisis so that trade and business can return to normal,” he told PenzaNews.

It is true that businesses are hurt by sanctions on both sides, he said.

“Norway is particularly hit by Russian sanctions since most of our exports to Russia were seafood. So exports have been strongly hurt, much more than Norway’s imports from Russia. There is also long-term damage to the Eurasian regions when Ukraine is ridden by conflict and crisis instead of reform and recovery. Russia is larger but it will create a deep economic loss in the long run if its neighborhood is drowned in conflict and poverty,” Arne Melchior explained.

According to him, solving the Ukrainian conflict is a key issue.

“Between Norway and Russia, cooperation continues in many other areas. We hope to return to a positive relationship in all areas. I think CIS countries except Russia could play a more active role for solving the conflicts,” he added.

Meanwhile, Arnaud Dubien, Director of the Observatoire Analytical Centre of the Franco-Russian Chamber of Commerce, reminded that the restrictive measures against individuals and organizations comply with the EU official position of non-recognition of the Crimea illegal annexation.

“These are not sectoral sanctions which negative impact on business is discussed a lot and which are opposed by many European countries. These sanctions do not cause any debates, […] debates are only about the members of parliament who are on the list. They can be the first to be excluded from the list; that will demonstrate the move forward,” the expert said.

However, according to him, the situation obviously showed that both Russia’s and the West’s political ambitions have prevailed over economic expediency.

“The EU countries and especially Angela Merkel have sacrificed economic interests of their businesses in Russia. French business proved to be more resistant to non-market impact from the outside than German. The Russian government introduced food embargo that caused consumer inflation, which hurts millions of people. It is irrational, and both sides should think about the way-out from this dead end,” Arnaud Dubien said.

From his opinion, the situation can fundamentally change only after the change of leadership in a number of Western countries.

“I think that the present European leaders will not change their opinion about Russia and their actions towards it. They all have a deep-seated position. It is much personified and highly connected with the personality of Vladimir Putin. The future will largely depend on the outcome of the election race in the United States and European countries, including Germany and France,” said Director of the Observatoire Analytical Centre of the Franco-Russian Chamber of Commerce.

“One thing is clear: under any scenario, Russia will not be the first to make concessions in this situation. It is obvious that we should not expect to find the way out soon. Improvements are possible only as a result of new leaders’ strong decisions, or in the case of potential new catastrophes, which can still be avoided,” he added.

In turn, Oleg Prozorov, Director General, the Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in the Russian Federation, also pointed out the negative impact of restrictive measures on the development of business relations.

“Being the head of the Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in Russia and expressing the opinion of the majority of the business community, I regret that the restrictions continue fueling the economic crisis,” the expert said.

However, according to him, the work in this direction goes on, different opinions and situation in the economy are being explored.

“At every opportunity we voice the futility of the idea to isolate the country, the distance from the capital of which is closer to New York City than to its own Vladivostok. I am personally convinced of the need to take measures to normalize [relations], and lift sanctions as an instrument that contradicts the progress,” Oleg Prozorov said.

At the same time, he reminded that the EU consists of 28 countries and the decision requires consensus.

“I think it is difficult to recognize the fallacy of the measures that have been taken, and openly declare about it. But there is a historical necessity: we are a single civilization, and we are geographically, economically, culturally bound together. The differences must be overcome, and the sooner politicians reach a compromise, the freer the business will be,” said Director General of the Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in the Russia.

In turn, Andreas Metz, Head of Press and Communications Department at the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, reminded that so far, the EU extended the economic sanctions to the end of January 2017, and if there will be real progress in the Minsk peace process during the next months, there is a real chance that some of them will be reduced.

At the same time, he stressed that all decisions on sanctions may only be taken by democratically elected politicians, not businessmen.

“But it makes sense that politicians are listening carefully to the standpoint of business. The war in Ukraine and the conflict between the West and Russia is a lose-lose situation for everyone. Business always needs a peaceful, stable and open environment to flourish. We expect the politicians on both sides to find a way out of the sanctions and this dead-end situation and to guarantee a peaceful and save environment for people and business,” Andreas Metz explained.

In his opinion, mistakes were made on both sides, so both sides have to find a way out of the dead end situation.

“Russia has a strong position in the conflict zone in Eastern Ukraine; it can contribute more to the peace process. We hope for progress in the peace process until December. Currently there is a cease fire in Eastern Ukraine and there might be a summit in Berlin in the Normandy format in autumn. Hopefully we see elections in Eastern Ukraine by the end of this year. This is the precondition for the lifting of some economic sanctions,” the expert said.

In turn, William Courtney, former US Ambassador to Georgia and Kazakhstan, former member of the US National Security Council, an adjunct senior fellow at the RAND Corporation, expressed an opposite view, pointing to the absence of any conditions to change the situation.

“Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine has led the European Union and America to impose economic sanctions on Russia’s energy, finance, and defense industry sectors. This aggression persists. Sanctions will be removed after Russia withdraws from eastern Ukraine,” said a retired American diplomat, who has served as Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasian affairs in the Bill Clinton administration.

Answering the question whether senior Western officials should listen to the business community who oppose oppressive economic sanctions, he pointed to the fact that US and European politicians protect all the interests of their states.

“Democratic governments in the European Union and America seek to protect all of their countries’ interests, including economic and political,” William Courtney said.

According to him, the political mood of the Europeans can only be changed with Russian withdrawal from eastern Ukraine.

“Moscow will eventually withdraw. Military intervention in eastern Ukraine has been a strategic blunder for Russia. Withdrawal will help improve its economy and international stature,” he said.

Meanwhile, Fernand Kartheiser, Luxembourg Parliament member for the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR), called the restrictive measures impractical.

“I persist in thinking that the sanctions are not only useless and but also counterproductive. They harm the economy on both sides, in the West especially the agricultural sector,” the politician stated.

Moreover, according to him, the justification for the sanctions is not convincing.

“For instance, the enquiries into the MH17 case have, at least until now, not been able to prove any direct Russian responsibility in the downing of that plane, nevertheless the additional sanctions against Russia introduced as a consequence of that tragedy still remain in place,” Fernand Kartheiser explained.

“As much as the Minsk process is concerned, one has to realize that much of the work that the Ukraine has to do has not yet been done, nevertheless the sanctions against Russia remain unilaterally in place,” the deputy added.

In the present case the political approach towards Russia is simply wrong and business may indeed be more intelligent, he believes.

“I do support the development of economic relations with Russia. Even though the Russian democracy is not perfect, it proves to be stable and largely reliable. The West should support the democratic development in Russia instead of creating tensions where it is not necessary,” the politician stressed.

In his opinion, the mood in the EU suffers very much from the sanctions.

“More and more Western European Nations want to put an end to them, others, more to the East, demand even tougher sanctions. Since a decision has to be taken unanimously there is, at least for the time being, no way out except by a breach of the rules which will then even weaken more the European Union. In addition the leading role played by Berlin and Paris is not really welcome in many member States that do not easily accept the self-proclaimed leadership of Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande,” Fernand Kartheiser said.

A change of policy in Washington would of course be of paramount importance, he added.

“Europe is in a process of rapid destabilization. There are too many crises simultaneously: monetary crisis, public debt, illegal migration, institutional questions and Brexit, different approaches towards Turkey and towards Russia, loss of confidence within the EU, security challenges around Europe. In many countries new parties form and can obtain impressive electoral successes. The recipes that we had for the last 40 years will not be good enough to give Europe a new start. Time for fundamental change has come,” the politician concluded.
Source: https://penzanews.ru/en/analysis/62805-2016

Out of all the pressures we face in our everyday lives, there’s no denying that the nature of time has the most profound effect. As our days, weeks, months, and years go by, time moves from past to present to future, and never the other way around.

But according to the physics that govern our Universe, the same things will occur regardless of what direction time is travelling in. And now physicists suggest that gravity isn’t strong enough to force every object in the Universe into a forward-moving direction anyway.

So does time as we know it actually exist, or is it all in our heads? First off, let’s run through a little refresher about the so-called arrow of time.

Thanks to the forward-facing arrow of time, young becomes old, and the past becomes the present, which was once the future. You can’t unscramble your eggs, and you can’t Control Z a broken leg.

But if we forget our own perspective for a second, zoom right out, and look at the Universe as a whole, as far as we can tell, the only thing that governs the behaviour of the Universe are the laws of physics.

And the problem is that all but one of these laws are considered to be completely time-reversible – meaning that the same effects will occur, regardless of whether time is running forwards or backwards.

“Whether through Newton’s gravitation, Maxwell’s electrodynamics, Einstein’s special and general relativity, or quantum mechanics, all the equations that best describe our Universe work perfectly if time flows forward or backward,” Lee Billings writes for Scientific American.

One example of this ‘time-reversible’ quality in the Universe is the path of a planet orbiting a star, according to the force of gravity.

“Whether time runs forwards or backwards, planetary orbits follow the exact same paths. The only difference is the direction of the orbit,” Brendan Cole explained for us earlier in the year.

So time is subjective? That might be what Einstein’s special theory of relativity says, but there’s a little something called second law of thermodynamics.

According to the second law of thermodynamics, as time goes by, the amount of disorder – or entropy – in the Universe will always increase. This goes back to those scrambled eggs – once they’ve been disordered, you can’t go back and lessen the amount of disorder applied to a particular system.

“Physicists have, for this reason, reluctantly settled on the second law as the source of time’s arrow: disorder always has to increase after something happens, which requires that time can only move in one direction,” Cole explains.

If it’s all starting to sound a bit messy to you, that’s because it is.

Many physicists now suspect that when gravity forces enough tiny particles to interact with each other, the forward-facing arrow of time emerges, and entropy can increase. The rules then change to favour a more directionless Universe only once these tiny particles start interacting with much larger things.

But for that to work, entropy must have increased, which means the Universe had to have started off more ordered than it is now – something that some physicists have tried to explain by suggesting there are parallel universes where time runs forwards, backwards, sideways, you name it.

In an effort to get to the bottom of one of the biggest conundrums in modern science, a pair of physicists decided to test the assumption that gravity is the force behind all this craziness.

The point at which particles are thought to transition from being governed by the arrow of time to being governed by the directionless laws of the Universe is known as decoherence.

As Nick Stockton explains for Wired, the most prominent hypothesis explaining decoherence is the Wheeler-DeWitt equation, which predicts when the seams between quantum and classical mechanics are erased thanks to gravity.

But when physicists Dmitry Podolsky, from Harvard University, and Robert Lanza, head of Astellas Global Regenerative Medicine, ran measurements of gravity through the Wheeler-DeWitt equation, they found that once you do the maths, the equation doesn’t explain how time’s forward-moving direction actually emerges.

In fact, according to their results, gravity’s effects kick in far too slowly to account for a universal arrow of time.

As Stockton points out, if gravity is too weak to be the thing that’s holding an interaction between molecules together as they ‘decohere’ into something larger, it can’t possibly be strong enough to force them into the same direction, time-wise.

“Our paper shows that time doesn’t just exist ‘out there’ ticking away from past to future, but rather is an emergent property that depends on the observer’s ability to preserve information about experienced events,” Lanza writes for Discover.

This suggests that time’s arrow is subjective, and determined by the observer, which means us.

“In his papers on relativity, Einstein showed that time was relative to the observer,” Lanza told Wired. “Our paper takes this one step further, arguing that the observer actually creates it.”

The idea is of course controversial, because as Yasunori Nomura, a physicist at UC Berkeley who was not involved in the study, points out, the pair have failed to take the fabric of spacetime into consideration, and have introduced a quality into the equation – ‘observer time’ – that no one’s even sure is real.

“The answer depends on whether the concept of time can be defined mathematically without including observers in the system,” says Nomura.

If we want to explain the strangeness of time in the Universe, we’re not there yet, but as Lanza and Podolsky suggest, maybe we’re missing something. And as researchers suggested earlier this year, could that something be dark energy?

The region of the Americas is the first in the world to have eliminated measles, a viral disease that can cause severe health problems, the United Nations health agency has declared.

“This is an historic day for our region and indeed the world,” said Carissa F. Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization of the UN World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) yesterday, noting that the achievement culminates a 22-year effort involving mass vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella throughout the Americas.

“It is proof of the remarkable success that can be achieved when countries work together in solidarity towards a common goal. It is the result of a commitment made more than two decades ago, in 1994, when the countries of the Americas pledged to end measles circulation by the turn of the 21st century,” she added.

The announcement was made during the 55th Directing Council of PAHO/WHO, which is currently under way and is being attended by ministers of health from throughout the Americas.

Measles is the fifth vaccine-preventable disease to be eliminated from the Americas, after the regional eradication of smallpox in 1971, poliomyelitis in 1994, and rubella and congenital rubella syndrome in 2015.

Before mass vaccination was initiated in 1980, measles caused nearly 2.6 million annual deaths worldwide. In the Americas, 101,800 deaths were attributable to measles between 1971 and 1979. A cost-effectiveness study on measles elimination in Latin America and the Caribbean has estimated that with vaccination, 3.2 million measles cases and 16,000 deaths between 2000 and 2020 will have been prevented in the region, WHO said.

“This historic milestone would never have been possible without the strong political commitment of our Member States in ensuring that all children have access to life-saving vaccines,” Ms. Etienne said.

“It would not have been possible without the generosity and commitment of health workers and volunteers who have worked so hard to take the benefits of vaccines to all people, including those in vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities. Indeed it would not have been possible without the strong leadership and coordination provided by PAHO, Regional Office for the Americas of WHO,” she added.

Process to eliminate measles

Measles transmission had been considered interrupted in the region since 2002, when the last endemic case was reported in the Americas. However, as the disease had continued to circulate in other parts the world, some countries in the Americas experienced imported cases, according to WHO.

The International Expert Committee for Documenting and Verifying Measles, Rubella, and Congenital Rubella Syndrome Elimination in the Americas reviewed evidence on measles elimination presented by all the countries of the region between 2015 and August 2016 and decided that it met the established criteria for elimination. The process included six years of work with countries to document evidence of the elimination.

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases and affects primarily children. It is transmitted by airborne droplets or via direct contact with secretions from the nose, mouth, and throat of infected individuals. Symptoms include high fever, generalized rash all over the body, stuffy nose, and reddened eyes. It can cause serious complications including blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhoea, ear infections and pneumonia, particularly in children with nutritional problems and in immunocompromised patients.

WHO highlighted that as a result of global measles elimination efforts, only 244,704 measles cases were reported worldwide in 2015, representing a significant decline from earlier years. However, more than a half of these reported cases were notified in Africa and Asia.

To maintain measles elimination, PAHO/WHO and the International Expert Committee have recommended that all countries of the Americas strengthen active surveillance and maintain their populations’ immunity through vaccination.

“I would like to emphasize that our work on this front is not yet done,” warned Ms. Etienne. “It is critical that we continue to maintain high vaccination coverage rates, and it is crucial that any suspected measles cases be immediately reported to the authorities for rapid follow-up.”

PAHO, founded in 1902, works with its member countries to improve the health and the quality of life of the people of the Americas. It serves as the regional office for the Americas of WHO and is the specialized health agency of the inter-American system.

Saudi Arabia and its allies could retaliate against US legislation allowing the kingdom to be sued for the 9/11 attacks, including scaling back investment in the US economy or restricting access to important regional air bases, experts claim.

“This should be clear to America and to the rest of the world. When one Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) state is targeted unfairly, the others stand around it,” Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, a professor of political science at United Arab Emirates University, told Associated Press.

“All the states will stand by Saudi Arabia in every way possible.”

On Wednesday, Congress overwhelmingly voted to override President Barack Obama’s veto of the bill that would allow Americans to potentially sue Saudi Arabia for 9/11. Lawmakers said their priority was not Saudi Arabia, but victims and families.

The “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA)” would allow US judges to waive sovereign immunity claims when dealing with acts of terrorism committed on American soil – potentially allowing lawsuits against Saudi Arabia over the 9/11 attacks. 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals.

Chas Freeman, former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm, told AP that Saudi Arabia could respond in a way that risks US strategic interests.

That could include Saudi restricting its rules for overflight between Europe and Asia and the Qatari air base from which US military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria are directed, Freeman says.

“The souring of relations and curtailing of official contacts that this legislation would inevitably produce could also jeopardize Saudi cooperation against anti-American terrorism,” Freeman told AP.

Obama vetoed JASTA last week, saying it would erode the doctrine of sovereign immunity and expose the US to lawsuits around the world.

Earlier this month, the group expressed “deep concern” over JASTA, with its Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani calling it “contrary to the foundations and principles of relations between states and the principle of sovereign immunity enjoyed by states.”

In a separate statement, the government of Qatar said JASTA ”violates international law, particularly the principle of sovereign equality between states,” according to Reuters.

“Such laws will negatively affect the international efforts and international cooperation to combat terrorism,” said the Emirates Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to the state news agency WAM. Two of the 9/11 hijackers were Emirati.

By Die Morina and Gordana Andric

Kosovo police’s director in the Mitrovica area, Nehat Thaci, has been arrested at a border crossing by the Serbian authorities on terrorism charges, although the specific allegations remain unknown.

The Serbian interior ministry said on Thursday that Nehat Thaci had been arrested the previous evening on terrorism charges on a warrant dating back to 2010, but did not give any more information about the allegations against him.

“Members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrested N.T. (born 1976) from Urosevac on the basis of a warrant issued by the High Court in Nis for the criminal act of terrorism,” the ministry said in a statement.

“N.T. was arrested last night, around 8pm, at the Konculj administrative crossing, while he was being issued confirmation for entry to the territory of central Serbia,” the statement added.

The ministry said that Thaci, who is a former Kosovo Liberation Army member, has been taken to a detention unit.

Kosovo police spokesperson Daut Hoxha confirmed the arrest.

“Last night around 12.10am we were notified that the director of the Kosovo Police for the Mitrovica region, Nehat Thaci, has been arrested,” Hoxha told BIRN.

Hoxha said that Kosovo Police have asked, through the EU’s rule-of law mission EULEX, for the Serbian authorities to give the reasons for Thaci’s arrest.

Glauk Konjufca, an MP from the opposition Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party, urged the authorities to clarify the situation.

He made his comments after Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa spoke at a parliamentary session about the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia under the ongoing EU-backed dialogue in Brussels.

“Earlier, the prime minister referred many times to good relations with Serbia. Not long ago, last night, we had a Kosovo Police director arrested by Serbia,” Konjufca said.

“I expected a statement from the PM or the interior minister about this. Even worse, the indictment is for terrorism, just because he was a member of the KLA,” he added.

Many former KLA members are on Serbian wanted lists, accused of terrorism, but the lists are not public.

The chairman of the Council for Protection of Rights and Freedoms in Kosovo, Behgjet Shala, warned last month that any Kosovo Albanian who was involved in the war could be at risk of arrest if they enter Serbia.

“Serbia has not made public the list of those who are wanted, so as long as we don’t have any official explanation regarding those lists, I call upon all those who think they could be stopped by the Serbian authorities to avoid passing through the territory of Serbia,” Shala told BIRN.

By Sadia Tasleem*

Title: Not War, Not Peace? Motivating Pakistan to Prevent Cross-Border Terrorism
Authors: George Perkovich, Toby Dalton
Publisher: Oxford University Press, India, 2016,
Pages: 298

An upcoming book titled, ‘Not War, Not Peace? Motivating Pakistan to Prevent Cross-Border Terrorism’ authored by George Perkovich and Toby Dalton – two of the US’ most acclaimed and well-versed scholars on India-Pakistan issues – has already generated heat in Pakistan as well as in India. Given the peculiar dynamics of India and Pakistan, it is seen by some as paternalistic; and by others as favorably biased toward the Indian narrative. However, this rigorous and engaging work has a lot more to offer if it is viewed not from the vantage point of narrow national identity but a broader lens focusing on critical questions and policy-related challenges in view of greater interest of regional stability.

This book is first of its kind, offering an exhaustive analysis of one of the most perennial problems that haunts prospects of peace between India and Pakistan. It is widely believed that a future Mumbai type terrorist attack traced back to actors in Pakistan will result in a war that might turn nuclear. This fear has strong basis in India’s growing frustration over Pakistan’s alleged support to anti-India militant organisations that are accused of fomenting terrorism in India. Indian thinkers and strategists continue to articulate strategies to prevent “cross-border terrorism” and prepare response options to punish the perpetrators in the wake of a terrorist attack. The Indian discourse developed over the past fifteen years presents a variety of response options, including proactive operations, air strikes, covert operations and Pakistan’s diplomatic isolation by non-violent means.

Dalton and Perkovich in their seminal work take stock of the Indian policy discourse and evaluate the feasibility of India’s options against India’s material and non-material capabilities. They further analyse the utility of each option by asking a set of questions: what are the short and long term strategic objectives that India could fulfill by exercising a given policy option? Will the policy choices under consideration help satisfy domestic political demand for retribution? More importantly, to what extent will India be in a position to influence the behaviour of Pakistani decision-makers and persuade them to take decisive action against anti-India militant groups in Pakistan?

Recognising the limitations of the decision-makers in Pakistan, the authors argue that it may not be operationally feasible for Pakistan to move against the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD)/Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) given Pakistan’s ongoing military operations against the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). They contend that a realistic expectation on the part of India would be to persuade Pakistan to demobilise the LeT/JuD. The authors caution against the danger of pushing Pakistan too hard to turn it into a pariah state. Conversely, such cognizance hinders the possibility of challenging the status quo.

The book, thus, deserves careful reading and attention. It opens with an incisive chapter on ‘The Decision-Making Setting’ in India. It identifies lack of civilian expertise in defence and security matters as well as the military’s limited input in the decision-making process as key challenges for informed decision-making in India.

The chapters on ‘Proactive strategy, Air Power, Covert Operations and Nuclear Capabilities’ evaluate India’s capabilities in the respective domains and assess the feasibility of each of these options against India’s key objectives vis-à-vis Pakistan. After a thorough analysis, the authors conclude that India’s existing capabilities are not commensurate with the strategic goals that India seeks to achieve against Pakistan. More importantly, they highlight the risks of escalation associated with the pursuit of strategies that the adversary may find disproportionate to India’s strategic objectives.

The chapters on ‘Covert Operations and Nonviolent Compellence’ are the most fascinating, given the almost non-existing academic inquiry in these areas. The authors provide an overview of the history of covert operations between India and Pakistan. Acknowledging India’s covert operations in Balochistan and Karachi they write, “…it is safe to say that India has not been purely abstemious in the use of covert agents and actions against Pakistan… But Indian authorities have been very careful to preserve their reputational advantage over Pakistan in this domain of statecraft.” (P.149) They wisely state, “it is intuitively ‘fair’ to take an eye for an eye (though it can lead to mutual blindness).” (Pp. 170-171).

The authors consider “Non-violent Compellence” as a preferable option mainly because it would help India achieve its objectives without fighting. This approach would bring India reputational advantages without any serious risks. While the authors provide a comprehensive list of non-violent compellence options, they also put forward a troublesome proposition writing, “India’s political leaders, diplomats, and globally-renowned civil society figures – including authors, musicians, economists, Bollywood stars, cricket players, etc. – have untapped potential to mobilise their counterparts and audiences in other countries to ostracize Pakistan for failures to combat terrorism emanating from its territory.” (P.227)

Seeking an active role of civil society and Bollywood stars “to ostracize Pakistan” would entail many risks. Such an approach would reinforce narrow national identities on an issue that demands transcendence to a universally shared humane perspective. Also, the role of civil society perceived as the B-team of the Indian government would further shrink the space for liberal voices in Pakistan. The secular and progressive voices in Pakistan will face tremendous pressure to perform a similar role on behest of their own government.

India can only muster support among Pakistanis by presenting itself a democratic and progressive actor in the region – a role model worth emulating – as opposed to an India that projects its identity in oppositional-nationalist terms. Phantom, an Indian movie about Mumbai attacks meant to uncover the LeT/JuD, generated hostile reactions in Pakistan. On the other hand, critical movies like Parzania (on the Gujarat carnage), Haider (about the plight of Kashmiri people), and My Name is Khan (about Islamophobia) to name only a few, created positive impact conveying a strong message that India is a democracy tolerant enough to allow dissent. That is the India that the Pakistan military would dread to see.

Also, a judicious reading of this book helps the reader identify areas that require further research. For instance, the authors support the case for India’s military growth and deeper interaction between Indian civilian and military leaders. This, however, warrants careful deliberation. The authors acknowledge that, “In some respects, India has done better than most major powers in avoiding international security debacles and unaffordable defence spending, despite or perhaps because of the lack of military participation in policymaking.”

The question is, given India’s improved status and performance over the past two decades, what additional objectives might have been served, had India placed more emphasis on military policies, doctrines and capabilities? Why should India abandon what has worked for what may or may not deliver?

Also, the authors repeatedly refer to the pressures faced by the political government in India to satisfy popular demand for reprisals in the wake of a terrorist attack. Given the fact that Dr. Manmohan Singh was re-elected as India’s prime minister only few months after the Mumbai crisis, the political cost of inaction need to be investigated more thoroughly.

Lastly, Dalton and Perkovich argue that India’s long term strategy vis-à-vis Pakistan should be the democratisation of the country and “normalization of relations.” It remains to be seen if India – particularly under incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tainted government – possesses the capacity and moral legitimacy to “encourage democratization of Pakistan?” A future research should explore the kind of capabilities and policies India needs to pursue in order to achieve these goals.

“Not War, Not Peace” is engaging, thought provoking and compelling. This book can play an instrumental role in expanding the understanding of policy analysis. Beyond the casual and academic readers, this book must be read by policymakers in India, Pakistan and the US.

* Sadia Tasleem
Lecturer, Department of Defence & Strategic Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad
E-mail: sadia.tasleem@gmail.com

By Christopher Solomon* for Syria Comment

Nearly 52 years ago, a Syrian political leader hiding in exile was killed in the heart of Brazil. As Syria watchers continue to monitor and understand the country’s grinding civil war, the era of the former Syrian political figure Adib Al-Shishakli could yield some clues.

The flag of the Syrian opposition factions bares the green, white, and black tricolor with three red stars. The very same flag once flew over Syria from its independence until the late 1950’s, a turbulent era marked by political intrigue, military coups, early experiments with democracy, and authoritarian rule. At the center of this era was a powerful political figure now barely remembered both outside of Syria, Adib Al-Shishakli.

As policy makers in capitals across the Western World grapple with Syria’s endless violence, Shishakli’s legacy and the lessons from his time are worth remembering today. Shishakli’s rule over Syria, geopolitical trends, his relationship with the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), and his ensuing ouster yield some clues on what we might expect as the civil war prepares to enter its sixth year.

Coups, Stability, and Authoritarian Rule

Adib Al-Shishakli

Hailing from Hama, Shishakli was a Syrian Kurd who served in the Arab armies that took part in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. His exploits on the front lines earned him a following among Syria’s officer corps. Though Shishakli was not known to be an ideologically driven figure, he entertained many of the nascent political activists at the officer’s club in Damascus. Shishakli was largely known for his close association with Antoun Saadeh’s SSNP, also sometimes referred to as the Parti Populaire Syrien (PPS). In addition, his participation in nationalist inspired actions against the French, such as the take over and occupation of the Hama citadel in 1944, only added to his reputation as a man of action.

Syria’s politically turbulent years in the wake of independence saw the reigns of leadership held by prominent nationalist personalities, such as Shukri Quwatli, and subsequent power squabbles between his National Bloc and the pro-Iraqi Aleppo-based People’s Party, with plenty of political intrigue from the SSNP and its primary competitor, the student dominated Baath movement. The country was soon rocked by a series of coups that turned the country into a pariah state.

Shishakli came to power in 1950 with the third military coup which brought about a short period of stability. Shishakli had aided General Husni Ziam in Syria’s first coup by leading an army division. However, it was Shishakli’s rule which marked the first time the military would fully enter political life in an Arab country, establishing a trend that would acquaint regional armies with the taste of high office.

For some, the period of military rule had benefits. The Shishakli regime cracked down on crime, enforced strict control of Syria’s porous borders, and work to build the army into a modern force. Shishakli also harnessed the power of the radio and was well known throughout the region even before Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser for his oratory and zeal that reverberated through the airwaves. He was the first post-independence Arab leader to cultivate a cult of personality with his pictures appearing in every shop window and established a government ministry of information and propaganda.

His spies and security agents were posted throughout the country to monitor any potential anti-Shishakli activity. All political parties were banned, especially religious parties. Long before Egypt’s deadly cat and mouse game with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Shishakli barred the Islamic Socialist Front (Syria’s early incarnation of the MB) from participation in politics. Maarouf al-Dawalibi of the MB, was close to the Aleppo’s People Party and was removed as the Minister of Economy after Shishakli’s coup.

Upon returning from Egypt, Shishakli was greeted at the airport by the pro-Baath army officer, Adnan al-Malki with demands for political reform. Shishakli had Malki compile a list of everyone involved in the confrontation and threw them in prison.

Despite the crackdown, there are those who recall Shishakli’s era, or have studied it, that speak fondly of him, remembering the avant garde laws that were enacted during his time. The Damascus International Fair of 1954 was one of Shishakli’s development projects to raise the country’s international profile, along with the Port of Latakia. The first woman to run for office was schoolteacher Thuraya al-Hafez, who sat in Shishakli’s 1953 Parliament. Even after his overthrow, Syrians were for years in awe of his rule.

The Assad regime maintains the aura of stability, modernity, and progressive attitude towards women over the territories it controls. Despite being part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance, Assad’s regime still embraces secularism to generate support from Syria’s religious minorities and those who wish to keep Sunni Islamists from dominating the public sphere.

Regional and geopolitical trends

“Syria is the current official name for that country which lies within the artificial frontiers drawn up by imperialism.” The famous quote from Shishakli from 1953 still holds a measure of truth.

Syria’s borders have constantly been subjected to bouts of internal secessionism or tested by neighboring states. Historical examples include the Golan Heights, Hatay, and most recently, Rojova. Analysts often speak of creating an Alawite state. Just as internal political and ethnic rivalries fostered instability, so did the region’s geopolitics, which during Shishakli’s time was primarily a contest of dominance between Iraq and its British-backed Hashemite rulers, and the Egyptian-Saudi alliance. For the West, Syria was viewed through the prism of the Cold War and the battle against Communism. France continued to vie for influence in its former colonial dominion in order to check the British.

Aside from his coup and military rule, Shishakli was known for preserving Syria’s independence and sovereignty during a period of heightened Western influence in the region. He shunned military aid from the Eisenhower Administration and but also kept Syria from falling into the Soviet Bloc. The Fertile Crescent Project (sometimes referred to as the Baghdad Pact) was the primary driver of the region’s geopolitical trends during his time. The British sphere of influence extended over Iraq and though there was a desire to erase the artificial borders, the potential threat of Western interference led the nationalist forces inside Syria to keep prospects of a union between Damascus and Baghdad at bay.

Syrians are fiercely protective against potential foreign interference, real or perceived. For Assad, the role of safe guarding Syria’s independence from foreign influence remains a primary factor in resisting the negotiations in Geneva and the notion of a political transition. Assad’s recent anti-Western comments outside Daraya mosque further demonstrates this resistance. The heavily reliance on Russia and Iran is regarded by Assad’s supporters as a genuine friendship and it is not yet known how their increased influence will impact Syria for the remaining duration of the war.

Shishakli was able to court Egypt and Saudi Arabia and allowed France to maintain a level of nominal influence inside of the country. Just as Assad has leveraged Russia and Iran, Shishakli knew how to utilize the region’s players to keep Syria neutral during the Cold War and safeguard its independence. Iraq was a key instrument in fomenting internal dissent and organizing the forces that ultimately united against him.

It is easy to see how Syria’s central government historically wrestled with control over various regions. Towards the end of his rule, Homs was the key center of anti-Shishakli activity. However, he perceived the Druze as a threat to his regime. Shishakli was perhaps most notorious for his efforts to curtail the tribal-based power of the Druze located in southern Syria. The Druze never forgave him for the shelling and military assault on Jabal Druze (Druze Mountain) and many Druze officers in the Syrian army later formed the backbone of the coalition (supported by the Iraqi government) that conspired against him.

Today, regional agitation plays out in all parts of Syria. Aleppo remains the central stronghold for anti-Assad Arab rebel activity. In addition, the Baath Party’s years of brutal Arabization policies towards the Kurds in northeastern Syria present a similar case. The Kurds and the Assad loyalists have frequently clashed in the city of Hasakah. A central component of the Islamic State’s strategy to recruit Sunnis and hijack anti-Assad sentiment of the Syrian rebellion was the border destroying ideology of its so-called caliphate.

Whether consolidating power over Syria from Damascus or Raqqa, figurehead leaders have relied on a strategy of projecting the image of strength and an absolutist position to maintain the state’s sovereignty over the country. As it was difficult to enforce during Shishakli’s time, it is overwhelmingly obvious for Assad. If Syria is to remain united, the same will hold true for whoever follows him.

Shishakli, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, and the Arab Liberation Movement

Secular and progressive, the SSNP enjoyed the height of its popularity during Shishakli’s Syria. It wasn’t until after Shishakli’s overthrow that the SSNP’s political fortunes took a turn for the worse. Lebanon acted as a hideout for political exiles, such as the Baath Party ideologue Michael Aflaq, who returned to Syria to enact revenge on the SSNP after Shishakli’s downfall.  After the 1955 assassination of the widely popular Baath Party member and army Deputy Chief of Staff Malki, the SSNP was blacklisted and effectively driven underground by the rising Baath.

Shishakli entertained the SSNP during the first year of his rule. However, he eventually abstained from fully embracing the party’s central tenant of Pan-Syrianism in favor of the more vastly popular Pan-Arabism. He founded his own party, the Arab Liberation Movement (ALM) to cultivate this trend.

While there are no ideological ties between the SSNP and ALM, there is a strong influence of the first over the latter in terms of party structure, salute, hierarchy of power, etc. The ALM worked to embrace pan-Arabism whereas the SSNP emphasized its concoction of nationalism, mythicism and pan-Syrianism. Both of these parties, along with the Baath and Communist Party, were progressive in nature, allowing women and Syrians regardless of sect to join.

As for the Arab Liberation Movement, it has disappeared completely. In 1954, President Hashem al-Atasi, picking up the pieces after Shishakli’s departure, choose not ban the former dictator’s party, and even allowed the ALM secretary Maamoun al-Kuzbari to run for parliament (and obtain a seat). The ALM eventually died out with the start of the Syrian-Egyptian Union.

The ALM was ultimately unable to survive without Shishakli. A few hidden reminders of the ALM remain in plain sight. There is a major square in Damascus, when entering the Christian sectors, called “Sahet al-Tahrir” which was actually named after the Arab Liberation Movement (Freedom or Liberation in Arabic is Tahrir, noted in the name of the party, Haraket al-Tahrir al-Arabi).

Al-Kuzbari (who later became Prime Minister) was allowed to be buried in Damascus when he died in 1998 and was given a semi-official funeral. As of 2016, his picture hangs in the main hall of Syrian Parliament to honor his role as the speaker of Parliament during the Shishakli era.

The SSNP suffered both persecution and a popular decline in Lebanon and Syria until the late 1960s, when many of the SSNP leaders were freed from Lebanese prisons and began to rebuild the party during the 70s and 80s. It was during the Lebanese Civil War, that the party tentatively tested a friendship with Hafez al-Assad. This friendship later paid off. The SSNP has not only survived but has seen a resurgence during the Syrian Civil War.

The Baath have always held a distain for Shishakli, regarding him as a foreign stooge. There are no references to Shishakli in the SSNP’s party literature, since it would antagonize Syrian Druze and the Baathists, the latter are their political allies and who the SSNP are backing in the civil war.

The SSNP’s older generation still speaks very fondly of Shishakli, but always in private. “Party President Issam al-Mahayri stepped down in late 2015 and was a good friend of Shishakli. When giving a four-part interview to the semi-official Al-Dunia TV channel in 2010, al-Mahayri spoke positively of Shishakli and his words were aired on state TV uncensored,” said Sami Moubayed, the founder of the Damascus History Foundation.

The SSNP’s leadership is proud of the fact that he and his brother Salah were early members of the party, along with Akram al-Hawrani, who later became a key member of the Baath Party. However, Shishakli was never instrumental as an ideological figure in the party and his influence is more nostalgic than anything else. Shishakli is thus still celebrated by the SSNP as a VIP member without ideological the inspiration.

Despite this, should the Assad regime win, the SSNP may play a greater role in post-war Syria as a vehicle for fostering a renewed notion of national unity. With so much harm coming from Syria’s Arab neighbors, the Baath’s concept of pan-Arabism might truly be dead. If the SSNP increases their political influence, Shishakli could perhaps become rehabilitated in the public discourse.

Shishakli’s downfall in 1954 and his legacy in Syria

Shishakli began to scale back the role of the military in Syria’s political scene in an effort to legitimize his rule. Many well-connected officers who suddenly felt detached and disenfranchised turned to Shishakli’s political enemies. With the help of Iraq, factions of the army were able to present a united front to subsequently oust him from Damascus. Once the Baath came to power, they worked to erase his existence from Syria’s collective memory. For many years, the ruling party worked to erase him from Syrian history. In private, he is still regarded and respected as a prominent and transformative Syrian leader.

“There is no mention of Shishakli in school books, at any level, and he is never mentioned on Syrian TV with the one exception of a television series called Hammam Al Qishani produced during the 1990s, where a Syrian actor, Ussama Roumani, played his role. Only one book was published in Syria about Shishakli since his resignation in 1954, and it was a mediocre one that failed to do him any justice,” explained Moubayed.

In Damascus, there is not a single monument or a plaque bearing his name. Even the official history of the Presidential Palace that Shishakli constructed at the tip of Abu Rummaneh Boulevard (now office of Vice-President Najah al-Attar) is obscured. The palace is usually associated with Nasser, who addressed Syria from its balcony in 1958 to herald in the country’s ill-fated union with Egypt.

Shishakli never returned to the presidency in Syria after leaving office in February 1954. Though there are two examples of when Shishakli had planned to return to power. First, it was revealed that immediately after his departure he tried to reroute the plane to Beirut when his supporters urged him to return. This effort, however, was stymied by the U.S. State Department and his plane was denied a landing permit at the Beirut International Airport.

The second event was a few years later when the SSNP facilitated several rounds of secret meetings in Beirut with Shishakli, his brother Salah, and a group of coup-plotters. However, Shishakli, a military man through and through, knew that the plot did not have the support of the Syrian army and decided against participating. Should Assad eventually decide to seek exile in Russia, it is possible that following years of political turbulence and terrorism, he could orchestrate his own return to power. To enact such a maneuver would be dependent on the level of support both in and outside of Syria.

The elections that followed Shishakli’s four years of dictatorship brought about the short-lived union with Egypt, a union that’s end brought about years of political squabbles. This was compounded by the breakdown of the army, which became factionalized and rudderless without Shishakli. An array of officers organized and formed their own secret networks of political patrons. An alliance of mutual interests between Aflaq’s Baath Party and the Syrian Communists ushered in a new era of authoritarian rule that led to the Neo-Baathist coup of 1966 and ultimately the Assad family’s current dynasty.

When considering Shishakli and his time, it is important to recall that when confronted with the news of rebellion, he could have resorted to the use of force (he did, after all, still control loyal factions of the military including heavy armor divisions) but abdicated in favor of self-imposed exile and avoided certain civil war. It is possible he knew that Syria, with its fragile political foundations and regional rivalries, would be at risk for long term turmoil. This very fear that Shishakli sought to avoid continues to play out in full earnest today.

For Syrians who remember him, Shishakli was a divisive leader, either regarded as transformative and progressive or despised as a dictator. His eventual assassination in Ceres, Brazil, coupled with the many years of rule by the Baath helped to cement the shroud over the memories of his existence. As the Syrian independence flag once again flutters in a period of uncertainty, it recalls the history of Shishakli and Syria’s forgotten past.

*Christopher Solomon is an analyst with Global Risk Insights. Chris traveled to Lebanon and Syria in 2004 with the CONNECT program at the University of Balamand. He earned his MA from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) at the University of Pittsburgh. He also interned at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC.

This article was published at Syria Comment, and is reprinted with permission.

Myanmar’s capacity in managing skilled labour and human capital development is at a fledgling state. The country struggles to overhaul the education system to facilitate Myanmar’s integration into the open market economy.

By Arunajeet Kaur*

Myanmar stands amid a wave of political, social and economic reforms. Since the return of civilian rule in 2011 the new government has initiated various measures to turn around a political and economic system which lags behind the rest of ASEAN. Foundations are being laid for an open market economy. Analysts in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the McKinsey Global Institute are predicting promising results with an improvement in most economic and some social indicators for Myanmar.

The country has a large working-age population (aged 15-64), estimated at 46 million out of a population of 60 million. However according to the Human Capital Report 2015 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), which measures learning and employment outcomes, Myanmar is ranked 112 out of 124 countries on the Human Capital Index. This means only 53 per cent of Myanmar’s working population has participated in economically significant activities tracked by the WEF Report.

Reform: Formidable Task

Myanmar’s agriculture sector will continue to employ 15 million people; but to achieve rapid economic growth Myanmar’s policymakers have to invest in and expand manufacturing, infrastructure, energy/mining, tourism, financial services and telecommunications. Myanmar’s current development is occurring in a post-Internet world that has the potential to deliver public and commercial services using digital technology.

However, like the push towards urbanisation and sector shift from agriculture to manufacturing, digital leapfrogging will require renewed or enhanced skills acquisition. Hence heavy investment in developing skills through improvements in education and vocational training is necessary to ensure that Myanmar is able to generate the capital investment required to sustain growth and provide for a sufficient pool of labour for foreign investors.

The education budget in the year 2016-17 accounted for seven per cent of total government spending, up from 6.8 per cent in the previous year. The spending increase has not been significant. Myanmar is still below the ASEAN average. A new blueprint, National Education Sector Plan (NESP), was highlighted to introduce modernised learning methods prioritising problem solving and critical thinking skills.

However, shifts in education policy are realised only years, if not decades, after implementation. For almost 50 years (1962-2010), under successive military regimes, education suffered in Myanmar. The country once had an enviable education system; today it is one of the worst in Asia. The key reasons for this decline: the shift away from English as a mode of instruction; the closure for more than a decade of tertiary institutions nationwide following the 1988 student-led demonstrations; and the severely inadequate expenditure on education.

Possible Solutions: e-education?

In public schooling, net attendance in primary schools is at 82 per cent for boys and girls but only 41 percent of boys and 38 percent of girls make it into secondary school. The high dropout rates can be a result of the high direct costs in sending children to school such as purchasing school uniforms and books. Private schools are available and popular at the pre-elementary, elementary, secondary and higher education levels to cater to the demand in English language, computing, accounting and business-related training.

However for some time, these private schools have not been allowed to operate as an alternative to the state system. There are primary and secondary supplementary schools teaching in English, international schools, and pre-collegiate programmes to facilitate higher education abroad. It is usually the well-to-do families, forming only a small percentage of the Myanmar population, who can afford these educational outlets. The poor resort to the ethnic school-based systems in their area, monastic schools or Christian mission schools.

Quick reforms such as enhancing Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and the government’s launch of Comprehensive Education Sector Review (CESR) in 2012 have faced bottlenecks in education finance, accessibility and infrastructural or logistical inadequacies.

An optimistic solution to this has been to promote e-education using mobile technology. Teachers can be made available through virtual classrooms. Self-directed learning and assessments can also be used by the government to reach remote agrarian populations.

But this would entail a highly digitised and computer literate society in a very short span of time where a) more public investment is needed beyond the seven per cent allotted in government spending in education; and b) households have to increase their spending beyond the estimated average on education to include computers, internet coverage and computer literacy upgrade courses.

The Diaspora: What Can it Do?

Myanmar’s diaspora has been identified by officials and analysts as an important source of income and talent or knowledge transfer. There are approximately 100,000 Myanmar people in the United States, significant communities in Europe, Asia, especially India, China and Singapore, and some millions in semi-skilled or low skilled labour in Malaysia and Thailand. With the change of government and the concern of state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi over Myanmar work migrants in Malaysia and Thailand, many have expressed the desire to return home.

Myanmar officials are interested in long-term pacts with Malaysia and Thailand that could be based on a concept of ‘circular migration’ – temporary and repeat migration for the purpose of employment. It is hoped that Malaysia and Thailand could help Myanmar migrants go beyond just sending remittances home but also acquire better skills.

Myanmar officials have reported in local tabloids that thousands of ‘repats’ – short form for repatriates – have returned to Myanmar to capitalise on the business opportunities and expanding employment in the high skilled sector under a more liberalised society. However the Myanmar diaspora in the US, Europe and Singapore have been reluctant to return as the future of the new government and reform is still unpredictable.

Many in the diaspora were political refugees from Myanmar and are not sure how to readjust to life back home. Moreover, skilled professionals, having invested in education overseas, find better pay and value for their money abroad. It would take Myanmar a few more years of consistent and effective reform, economic growth and job creation to be able to draw its best and brightest home.

*Arunajeet Kaur PhD is a Visiting Research Fellow with the Centre for Non Traditional Security (NTS) Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She works on migration, human capital development and ethnic minority issues on Southeast Asia including ASEAN.

Three Catholic priests have been ordained in Laos, bringing the total number of priests in the communist-run state to 20, reports Agenzia Fides.

The three new Laotian priests were ordained on Sept.16 at a celebration in the city of Savannakhet, where the main seminary that provides the formation of Laotian seminarians is situated.

“First of all let us thank the Lord for his great gift. We are very happy for the three new priests who will work full time in the small Catholic Church in Laos,” said Father Tito Banchong Thopanhong, Apostolic Administrator of Luang Prabang, reported Agenzia Fides.

“All three will dedicate themselves, in particular, to the pastoral work in the Vicariate of Luang Prabang: for me it will be a great help,” he said.

Two Laotian bishops, a bishop from Thailand and another from France attended the event, as did 54 priests from Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, numerous religious women and over a thousand Laotian Catholics.

Christians make up 1 percent of Lao’s six million people of whom 45,000 are Catholics.

Authorities at a maximum security prison in Cairo that holds many political prisoners routinely abuse inmates in ways that may have contributed to some of their deaths, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

Staff at Scorpion Prison beat inmates severely, isolate them in cramped “discipline” cells, cut off access to families and lawyers, and interfere with medical treatment, according to the 80-page report, “‘We Are in Tombs’: Abuses in Egypt’s Scorpion Prison.” The report documents cruel and inhuman treatment by officers of Egypt’s Interior Ministry that probably amounts to torture in some cases and violates basic international norms for the treatment of prisoners.

The abuse in Scorpion, where inmates are held in cells without beds or items for basic hygiene, has persisted with almost no oversight from prosecutors and other watchdogs, behind a wall of secrecy kept in place by the Interior Ministry.

“Scorpion Prison sits at the end of the state’s repressive pipeline, ensuring that political opponents are left with no voice and no hope,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Its purpose seems to be little more than a place to throw government critics and forget them.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed 20 relatives of inmates held in Scorpion, two lawyers, and one former prisoner, and reviewed medical files and photos of sick and deceased prisoners.

Since July 2013, when Egypt’s military, led by then-Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, overthrew Mohamed Morsy, the country’s first freely elected leader and a high-ranking Muslim Brotherhood member, the Egyptian authorities have engaged in one of the widest arrest campaigns in the country’s modern history, targeting a broad spectrum of political opponents.

Relatives said that conditions in Scorpion deteriorated drastically in March 2015, when al-Sisi, who was elected president in 2014, appointed Magdy Abd al-Ghaffar as interior minister. Between March and August 2015, Interior Ministry officials banned all visits by families and lawyers, essentially cutting off the prison from the outside world.

The ban prevented families from delivering much-needed food and medicine otherwise unavailable in the prison – where there is no hospital or regular visits from a doctor – and amounted to what relatives described as a “starvation” policy that left inmates sick and gaunt.

Between May and October 2015, at least six Scorpion inmates died in custody. Three of their families agreed to speak with Human Rights Watch. Two of the men had been diagnosed with cancer and one with diabetes. Their relatives said that the authorities prevented the men from receiving timely treatment or medicine deliveries, refused to consider conditionally releasing them on medical grounds, and failed to investigate their deaths.

In one case, Interior Ministry authorities refused to provide Essam Derbala, a high-ranking member of al-Gama`a al-Islamiyya (the Islamic Group), with his prescription diabetes medicine, despite orders from a judge and prosecutor, Derbala’s brother and lawyer said. The authorities refused even after Derbala appeared at an August 2015 court hearing shaking, semi-conscious, and unable to control his urination. Derbala died hours after the hearing.

Another inmate, Farid Ismail, a former member of parliament for the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, suffered from Hepatitis C and died in May 2015, after passing out in a hepatic coma inside the prison.

Aisha al-Shater, the daughter of Muslim Brotherhood deputy supreme guide Khairat al-Shater, said that when Ismail failed to answer a daily roll call devised by her father and others in the cellblock during a period when they were confined to their cells, they told the guards, who responded that it was “none of their business.” The next day, guards discovered Ismail unconscious in his cell. He died in an outside hospital about a week later.

“Afterward, even calling to each other was prohibited,” Aisha al-Shater said. “So right now, they say, ‘We are in tombs. We’re living, but we are in tombs.’”

Since the months-long visit ban in 2015, authorities at Scorpion have continued to arbitrarily ban inmates from meeting their families or lawyers for weeks or months. They do not allow inmates to meet privately with their lawyers at any time. Officers, including some high-ranking Interior Ministry officials, have beaten and threatened inmates who went on hunger strike to protest conditions and humiliated and mistreated prominent prisoners during cell searches.

Between Morsy’s overthrow and May 2014, Egyptian authorities arrested or charged at least 41,000 people, according to one documented count, and 26,000 more may have been arrested since the beginning of 2015, lawyers and human rights researchers say. The government has admitted to making nearly 34,000 arrests.

While detainees at other prisons in Egypt have alleged serious abuses, Scorpion has emerged, not for the first time in its history, as the central site for those deemed the most dangerous enemies of the state.

Constructed in 1993 and officially known as Tora Maximum Security Prison, Scorpion was intended to hold “preventive detainees in state security cases,” according to the decree that established the prison.

“It was designed so that those who go in don’t come out again unless dead,” Major General Ibrahim Abd al-Ghaffar, a former Scorpion warden, said during a television interview in 2012. “It was designed for political prisoners.”

The National Security Agency of the Interior Ministry, then known as State Security Investigations, effectively ran Scorpion with extrajudicial authority, ignoring scores of court orders to lift arbitrary bans on access.

Today, little seems to have changed in Scorpion, which holds about 1,000 prisoners, relatives estimate. They include most of the Muslim Brotherhood’s top leadership, alleged members of the Islamic State extremist group, and various critics of al-Sisi’s government, including journalists and doctors.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry should immediately end arbitrary visit bans, ensure regular access to doctors and medical treatment, and provide prisoners with minimum necessities for hygiene and comfort. The Egyptian government should allow international detention monitors to visit Scorpion, and form an independent national committee with the authority to make snap visits to prisons and other detention sites and submit complaints to a special prosecutor.

The Egyptian public prosecution should investigate deaths in custody and charge those with command responsibility for Scorpion in connection with any acts of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment.

“Egypt’s detention system is overflowing with critics of the government,” Stork said. “Ending the abuses at Scorpion is a small step toward improving dire conditions across the country.”