zerbaijani authorities have jailed Mehman Aliyev, the director of the country’s last remaining independent media outlet, filing charges on alleged tax and other offenses against him in retaliation for his journalism, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should drop the criminal charges against Aliyev and immediately free him.

Aliyev (no relation to Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev) is the director of Turan, an independent news agency that has reported on a wide range of political, economic, and social issues since its founding in 1990. On August 25, 2017, a court in Baku placed Aliyev in pretrial detention for three months during the investigation against him on charges of tax evasion, abuse of office, and illegal business activity. If convicted, Aliyev could face a maximum seven-year prison sentence.

“Aliyev, and Turan, are the latest victims in the government’s campaign to erase independent media in Azerbaijan,” said Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of locking up journalists, the Azerbaijan government should just let them do their work.”

Thorbjorn Jagland, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, and the French Foreign Ministry have publicly expressed concern about Aliyev’s arrest and about the investigation into Turan.

The charges stem from an investigation that the Taxation Ministry opened into Turan on August 7. The ministry told media outlets that Aliyev is accused of violating Azerbaijani law on grants, which requires groups to register all grant contracts. The ministry stated that Aliyev bore responsibility for the agency’s failure to register 148,310 AZN (US$87,268) in grants that it received from 2010 to 2014, and for its failure to pay AZN 60,080 (US$35,352) for the period 2010 to 2016.

Human Rights Watch and other groups have repeatedly called on the Azerbaijani government to reform its laws imposing overly cumbersome grant-registration requirements, which allow the authorities virtually unlimited powers to deny the registration of grant funds.

Turan’s bank accounts have been frozen, and its staff announced in a statement that it would suspend its activities starting September 1.

Turan and Aliyev had fully cooperated with the investigation, but authorities raided the agency’s office on August 16, confiscating documents and the accountant’s computer. On August 24, Aliyev went voluntarily with his lawyer to the Taxation Ministry for questioning, in response to a request from an investigator and a prosecutor.

Officials refused to allow Aliyev’s lawyer, Fuad Agayev, to be present, claiming that Aliyev’s status in the investigation had changed from “witness” to “suspect,” and that Agayev would need to get official permission to represent his client. This was not possible because it was the end of the working day. Regardless of the time of day or night, an individual in interrogation custody has the right to a lawyer, Human Rights Watch said.

Azerbaijan has a long record of state antagonism toward independent and opposition media, Human Rights Watch said.

Azerbaijani authorities have used bogus tax-related and other charges to jail critical journalists and bloggers. In July, authorities sentenced Faig Amirli, financial director of the already closed, pro-opposition Azadlig newspaper, to three years and three months in prison. Aziz Orujov, head of the recently-closed Kanal 13 online TV channel, has been awaiting trial on tax-related charges since June.

Aliyev’s arrest and the investigation against Turan are the latest government moves in its vicious crackdown on critical media in the country. Reporters Without Borders ranks Azerbaijan 162 among 180 countries for press freedom. At least eight journalists and bloggers are in prison on politically motivated charges. Among them is Mehman Huseynov, one of the country’s most popular journalists and bloggers, who is serving two years in prison on bogus defamation charges.

Azerbaijani authorities have permanently blocked the websites of some major media outlets critical of the government, and in March amended laws to tighten control over online media.

In its August 25 statement, Turan said that high-level government officials had in recent weeks offered Aliyev “some government-backed ‘financial aid’ for Turan’s operations in exchange of ‘loyalty,’ . . . [and] things became rather complicated when [Aliyev] publicly criticized the government’s campaign” to give free apartments to journalists on National Press Day.

Starting in 2014, the authorities used the same combination of tax and illegal business activity charges that Aliyev is facing against a number of the country’s leading independent human rights groups and their leaders. The leaders were imprisoned, and most were released by 2016. The organizations had to close following spurious tax audits and criminal investigations.

“Who at this point can seriously believe that this is not politically motivated case to silence a strong, independent voice in Azerbaijan’s deserted independent media landscape,” Denber said. “If the Azerbaijani authorities truly have well-founded financial claims against Turan, there is no reason these could not be sorted out without resort to prison or other excess. It’s not too late for the Azerbaijani to come clean, and free Aliyev.”

In conjunction with Independence/Merdeka Day on August 31, 2017, I have these brief messages of peace to both the next leader and the people led. We cannot know who will be the next prime minister, and which coalition or party will help us through this mess, but I hope this message is clear and simple: we hope for an election as clean as a sarong pelikat washed with Clorox.

Mr or Ms prime minister (who doesn’t have to be a Malay-Muslim, only a good man or woman), help all Malaysians, not just Malays or your own people, if you and your coalition are going to redesign strategies for peace, equality, and social justice.

We are all bumiputeras now; today’s generation of Malaysians, be they from Chinese, Indian, Malay, Kadazan-Dusun, Iban, Orang Asal, ‘orang hybrid’ or this or that heritage. Those have been here long enough to no longer call this land Tanah Melayu, but Bumi Bangsa Malaysia. We have toiled for the soil.

And you must remind yourself that you are prime minister for all. Not just for you, your family, and members of your family.

Poverty now cuts across racial lines, with an increasing number of those in the middle class now falling into the trap. Even the middle class are struggling to put food on their table.

There is no strong rationale any more, after 60 years of independence and being a country called Malaysia, to continue policies based on racial lines. Continuing these policies will guarantee another 50 years of race and class antagonism.

In the field of education especially, scholarships need to be given based on merit, talent, and needs, not because one is a bumiputera or a Malay, or because of birthright. If you are a Malaysian citizen, you ought to be enjoying the rights and privileges as well as the responsibilities that come with being a citizen. It’s that simple.

Let us not continue our policy of educational apartheid, Mr or Ms prime minister, if you and your party are to enjoy the support of all Malaysians. One crucial aspect of change is to dismantle the all-Malay, all-bumiputera, all-privileged school, and use its philosophy, paradigm, and pedagogical process to democratise education for all races.

Many of those in the elite and privileged boarding or residential schools, such as in Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM), are not from families that cannot afford a good education. Many are from wealthy families.

There are deserving children from all races that must be given every opportunity to excel, just like abject poor Malays were given the chance to back in the early 1970s, when the MRSM system was first introduced.

Mr or Ms prime minister, you must be fair and just to people of all races.

For example, open up privileged schools such as MRSM to children of all races. Open all monocultural educational institutions, such as Universiti Teknologi Mara, to Malaysians of all races. It will be better for the nation.

Look at the plight of other Malaysians. Promising billions of ringgit in educational, entrepreneurial, and economic aid to only one race defined by a one-dimensional construct is a political act with ill intent. Be wise in the political time you and your party have been given.

Again, reverse the apartheidisation trend in education – for the sake of our children’s future. Education is one of the best means of social reproduction to ensure the evolution of a just and progressive nation.

The New Economic Policy has been replaced with the New Economic Agenda, which promises fairness for all, not just for Malays and bumiputeras. Honour that.

In concluding this part of my plea I say this: in our country, there is enough to go around for everybody, not just to feed the greed of the few.

To the ultras

I also have a message for the ultra-Malays misrepresenting their race, showing the world that Malays are amok-loving and buffoonish, allergic to reason and good dialogue, always ready to wield the parang andkeris even if not challenged, and love to perform theatrics in public to scare the hell out of other races and even their own race. And most of the time, for lousy reasons.

Leave this drama. Malays are not like that. We have more class than Hang Tuah or Hang Jebat, the two historical fools we read about in textbooks – fools who served the sex-crazed, women-snatching, human-trafficking, drunkard sultan who thought he owned the world with control over a river only big enough for Donald Trump’s yacht.

To the red shirts, who do not represent the Malays, here is my message:

I can understand what has happened and how this is an unhealthy development that goes against the hopes and aspirations of a nation wishing to move forward. But here is my advice, especially to those who have children.

It is better to focus on raising your children well to adjust to an ever-changing and increasingly globalised and diversified society. Raising your children to be good citizens able to realise their limitless potential in a multicultural and liberal world. There is so much to gain from networking with others.

Teach them to understand others, improve their English, steady their moral compass, encourage them to think well of and befriend those of other races and religions, and be grateful that schools offer a great opportunity to love and respect friends and teachers of different races.

Teach them of the dangers of generalising, stereotyping, and projecting hate that leads to mass deception, encourage them to learn about other cultures and religions, and teach them that all of us in Malaysia are now Malaysians, not this or that group of immigrants.

Teach them that we all are migrants in time and space and in history, and all humans with emotions, struggles, challenges, histories of joy and despair, memories of pain and pleasure.

Teach them that all of us merely differ in skin tone, born to speak different languages, believe in different things about salvation, all of us travellers in this life.

This is what we are, and have no need for moments of history where hate is cultivated, for there is a bigger picture of oppression that we may not understand. We may all be mere pawns in this great political game of big-time plunderers and multiethnic robber barons skilled at mass deception and distraction.

We should be grateful that we are still alive, and we must think of ourselves as Malaysians for each and every one of us to prosper in peace.

Come back to our senses. Our strength as Malaysians will still come from diversity and the cultivation of talent. On Merdeka Day, we should rejoice and celebrate the achievements of this nation for that beautiful concept of unity in diversity, not rally to spew hatred and invoke the horrors of May 13.

Let us design a safer journey towards a more progressive and harmonious Malaysia, beyond this red-shirted river of blood that marches through the city because of some mangled, manufactured propaganda of ‘Malay dignity’.

What laaahhh you, Malay dignity gang

Malu lah kita majoriti orang Melayu

Kita tarak macam tu lor

Lu, gua, kita semua sama, tapi manyak lain-lain lor

Kita manyak hormat sama semua-semua bangsa lor

Seriously folks, chill, we are a great nation of different peoples, unity in diversity

Our strength is drawn from the creativity of many

Let’s have a party

Not just a party but a nasi lemak and teh tarik kaw kaw party

A truly Malaysian party

Muhibbah late night party

Because we love our country

We just don’t want it to turn into a Zimbab-wee!

But first, dismantle all race-based and racist parties, can we?

Now that rhymes, wouldn’t you agree?

It is in New Delhi’s interests to maintain cordial relations with Iran.

By Ketan Mehta

The visit of Minister of Road Transport Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari who as India’s representative attended Hassan Rouhani’s swearing in ceremony signifies the high stakes for New Delhi in Iran where its investments in infrastructure and energy sectors have future implications. The recent India-Iran dispute over the development of the Farzad B gas field and the stagnant trilateral partnership between New Delhi, Tehran and Kabul to balance the rise of China complicates the dynamics of their relationship. In this context, India has to safeguard its own interests in the region and not enrage Iran over the question of its territorial and political sovereignty.

These developments come at a juncture when China’s grand One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative is being welcomed in the region. Nonetheless, two of Asia’s largest ventures in the form of OBOR and India’s trilateral partnership have political, socio-economic, and security ramifications. As partnership with Tehran is crucial for both New Delhi and Beijing, the recent uproar over the development of Farzad B gas field upsetting New Delhi signifies the dynamics of New Delhi-Tehran relations are much more complex than it seems.

Indian demand and Farzad B gas field

With an ever-increasing demand of fuel and having recently ratified the Paris Agreement to cut emissions, gas, which is plentiful in Iran, remains a precious commodity to be secured for India.   However, New Delhi a significant consumer of Iranian oil and gas recently locked horns over the Iranian decision to float a tender for developing the Farzad B gas field.

Interestingly, India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd. had discovered the potential of Farzad B gas field in 2009. At that time, India lost interest in the project as Western sanctions made progress difficult. Despite that, New Delhi had continued to buy Iranian oil and pay for it in dollars much to the dismay of Washington. The tightening of sanctions by the Obama administration in 2011 over Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme making investments, and access to international banking a lot harder; which led India to first use Euro and finally Indian Rupee as a mode of payment to facilitate oil imports.

This was evident when Iranian foreign minister Javed Zarif who during his visit to India, acknowledged New Delhi’s support during tumultuous times. Indian interests in the gas field rekindled after Tehran signed the historic nuclear agreement in 2015 with the West, which allowed oil and gas companies to redeem operations.

However, the initial clearance to Russian gas giant Gazprom to develop the gas field suggests that Iran is not ready to extend undue favors to the Indian consortium ONGC-VL, which interestingly also has investments with Gazprom in Russia. Ironically, Gazprom too is in a predicament as the Trump’s administration and US Congress’ new sanctions bill threaten Moscow’s gas exports to Europe. Therefore, it is in India’s best interest to push for the developmental rights for the project at this point of time especially when the Trump administration new sanctions against Tehran, can be quite uncertain in the near future threatening its energy exports. New Delhi’s hardball tactic of reducing oil imports from Iran, which emerged as India’s third largest oil supplier, would only displease Tehran, making future investments difficult.

India’s desperation to keep its energy stake in Iran is evident from the fact that the Indian consortium is willing to invest as much as USD 11 billion in the project. This ambitious push comes at a point where the majority of the oil demand in the world is expected to come from India, according to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). While the demand for gas is likely to go up, India’s import of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) is forecasted to increase to a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.92 per cent. The year 2016 was marked by the highest growth rate of fuel sales at 10.7 per cent. This thirst for oil and gas supplies is driven by rapid urbanisation and economic growth, making Iran with second largest proven gas reserves an irreplaceable supply partner.

However, India is not the only one vying for oil and gas in the region. For New Delhi, a part of the Iranian engagement is driven by the Chinese ambition of linking the Mainland with Iran. Contemplating the growing role of China in Pakistan’s strategic Gwadar port, New Delhi responded by emboldening its commitment in the Iranian province of Sistan-Balochistan where India has invested in the Chabahar port project.

Trilateral partnership: Still a long way to go

Keeping a friendly Iran is central to India’s concern in the region. This was expressed by India’s Minister of Road Transport Highways and Shipping, “Chabahar will not only boost ties between Iran and India but we will be closer to Afghanistan and then Russia.. We can export goods till Russia. This will be a direct route.”  Having signed the historical tripartite agreement in 2016, which brings Iran, India, and Afghanistan closer by bypassing Islamabad is a move that exemplifies the stretch of geopolitical rivalry between Beijing and New Delhi to increase influence in the region.

The fact that Indian investments in Chabahar are meagre as compared to the mammoth Chinese investments in the Gwadar Port project, New Delhi’s anxiety can be gauged from the fact that it has built the Delaram-Zaranj highway connecting Iran and landlocked Afghanistan. However, keeping the rhetoric aside, Chabahar can never substitute for the geographically gifted Gwadar port, which is a deep-sea port. This is complemented by the fact that Tehran is still awaiting the promised USD 150 million soft loan and the USD 500 million investment in the special economic zone to be developed around Chabahar. And, then a trilateral partnership which New Delhi has long eyed can only be realised when peace and stability is achieved in Afghanistan. Most importantly, the relationship between New Delhi and Iran is not a zero-sum game which can guarantee India a freeway. This is unlike the China-Pakistan equation where Beijing has developed a significantly advantageous relationship with Islamabad.

Then, Iran-China relationship has already advanced to a stage where Beijing is Tehran’s largest trade partner with significant investments in energy sector across Iran. This means that achieving Indian aims in the region are lot harder, especially when Beijing committed to USD 600 billion trade with Iran, a lot more than the latter’s GDP. Then, post sanctions, Chinese exports to Iran will have to compete with others, which was hardly the case during the tumultuous period in 2011. This means that China’s USD 24 billion exports are not going to jump as per Beijing’s expectations which is good news for India-Iran trade.

In all, India-Iranian relations have been pleasant even in times when Tehran was under pressure for pursuing a disruptive foreign policy in the region and running an ambitious nuclear programme. It is in New Delhi’s interests to maintain cordial relations with Iran, keeping in mind Tehran holds the key to energy security, is a gateway to Eurasia, and New Delhi should avoid pressuring Tehran on matters that infringe its sovereignty.

The author is a research intern at Observer Research Foundation New Delhi.

In attempt to understand or rather to justify the atrocities that occurred in Barcelona and Cambrills, some media outlets chose the easy path to blame the origin of the perpetrators (in this case Morocco) of those vile acts. However and it is widely known and recognized that Morocco, in its pre-emptive war against terrorism, has been largely successful to disrupt a number of terrorist recruitment efforts in the kingdom. Moroccan security services known for their vigilance continue to break up and dismantle organizations and secret cells recruiting fighters for Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan.

Morocco follows a complex anti-terrorism policy borne largely out of the state’s reactions to the events of 16 May 2003, when a group, later found to be associated with al-Qaeda, attacked a number of sites in the city of Casablanca with home-made suicide bombs, killing about three dozen people including most of their own. The terrorist attacks of that day continue to shape anti-terrorism policy, broadly speaking, although with some recent and significant modifications. The strategy adapted after 16 May 2003 included an anti-terrorism law, social assistance programmes and a reform of the religious sector. In each of these three sectors Morocco has registered a number of successes. These positive achievements have encouraged many European countries to develop and reinforce their security partnership with Morocco in an effort to prevent terrorist acts. In fact, it was Moroccan counter terrorism intelligence that helped France and Belgium thwart a number of terror attacks and it was Moroccan intelligence that helped to locate the mastermind of the November 2015 atrocities in Paris Abdelhamid Abaaoud. In September 2016 Morocco’s intelligence service also alerted German counterparts that Anas Amiri was about to perpetrate a terrorist attack on German soil three months before he did.

Following the widely condemned terrorist acts in Barcelona, King Mohammed VI was among the first world leaders to condemn the atrocities that occurred in Barcelona qualifying them as an “odious criminal act, contrary to all human values and religious precepts”

Most of these atrocious terrorists and thugs are born and raised and more importantly radicalized in Europe. In 2016, the British think tank International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence released a study in which it stated that “jihadism offered redemption for crime while satisfying the personal needs and desires that led them to become involved in it, making the jump from criminality to terrorism smaller than is commonly perceived.” The British think tank found that the boundary between criminal gangs and jihadists is becoming increasingly blurred, with “up to 40 percent of terrorist plots in Europe” being partially financed by street crimes such as drug-dealing and burglaries, and adding that “in many European countries, the majority of jihadist foreign fighters are former criminals.” So, we cannot come today and blame the origin of those criminals for perpetrating those odious acts.

In fact, Europe should be blamed for its failed integration policy of its immigrants. Many feel marginalized and at a total loss of any identity that they become an easy prey in the hands of the terrorist cells. The youth perpetrating the Barcelona and Cambrills criminal attacks are more Spanish than they are Moroccan. Some of them were born in Spain and others were raised there, went to Spanish schools and they even speak Spanish better than Arabic. Spanish authorities and local media say that they have been radicalized in a local mosque in Ripol. The Imam of the mosque, Abdelbaki Es Satty, has been subject to numerous investigations. Yet, he managed to stay in Spain.

Many of the terrorist acts perpetrators are composed of second-or third-generation immigrants from Muslim countries who feel totally disconnected from both their home country and that of their parents or grandparents. They are always on a perpetual search for a sense of purpose and identity that unfortunately ISIS offers and thus they become potential threats for their own communities and their host nations. In total fairness, Europe has to learn a great deal from the successful American integration system. In the United States, immigrants tend to resemble born Americans over time. They can mix in U.S society and therefore many aspects of their lives improve. And in general, Americans have very positive attitudes towards immigration and immigrants. So, it is in the vital interest of many European countries to reconsider and improve their integration system to allow immigrants and especially the youngsters to fully and successfully integrate their societies.

So instead of sowing confusion and blaming the origin of the terrorist acts perpetrators, Europe should focus on the deep roots of radicalization ( that occurs in Europe) and find out the real reasons that encouraged those to embrace fully the criminal ideology of ISIS or any other terrorist organization. It’s better to stop spreading amalgams and wrongfully blaming immigrants and their origins for all the problems and threats that Europe is experiencing. Following the atrocities in Barcelona, backlash against Moroccans living in Spain started to erupt. This has to stop. The wise thing to do is to mobilize everybody regardless of their origin, religion, language or background against this global threat. Terrorism has no religion, no nation… In short no space in our universe.

Morocco is and will remain a true and credible security partner with many European countries. Morocco has set up a model for other neighboring nations to fight terrorism and extremist ideologies. So far it has been successful but certainly an international effective cooperation will put an end to this threat that does not menace only countries in north Africa and Sub Saharan Africa but Europe and even the United States.

In these tense moments, the world should focus on the universal values ​​that all religions share in common (as the pursuit of happiness, the love of the family, tolerance of racial and religious differences and the promotion of peace.) The world should inspire young people to engage in interfaith dialogue. Blaming the others for their religion or origin will only backfire and serve the interest and goal of the world’s number one enemy: Terrorism.

On June 5, 2017, without any sort of warning, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain broke off diplomatic relations with Qatar. In addition they suspended all land, air and sea traffic with the Gulf state, and gave any Qatari citizens within their borders 14 days to leave. At the same time Qatar was expelled from the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iranian-backed forces in Yemen. Soon other Arab states joined the anti-Qatar alliance, including Jordan, Yemen, the Maldives and Libya’s crippled government based in Tobruk.

This bombshell initiative was preceded by two relevant events. The more recent was the visit of US President Donald Trump to Saudi Arabia on 20 May 2017 for a meeting with some 50 leaders of the Arab world. On the subject of Islamist extremism he was characteristically blunt. “A better future is only possible if your nations drive out the terrorists and extremists. Drive them out! Drive them out of your places of worship. Drive them out of your communities. Drive them out of your holy lands. And drive them out of this Earth.”

Did he already know of the action to be taken only 16 days later by an influential band of the leaders he was addressing?

This was not the first time that Qatar’s neighbors had lost patience with that stand-alone kingdom. Back in January 2014 underlying tensions, brewing for years, suddenly surfaced, and Gulf states tried to induce Qatar to sign an agreement undertaking not to support extremist groups and to refrain from interfering in the affairs of other Gulf states.

When Qatar flatly refused to comply, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain broke off diplomatic relations. In March 2014 Qatar’s 33-year-old Emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, had been in power for less than a year, and the pressure proved too great. In April the Qataris signed the Riyadh Agreement whose terms, though never made public, were believed to be virtually the same as those they had refused to sign a few weeks earlier.

Whatever the Riyadh Agreement exactly specifies, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain clearly took away a very different view of what had been agreed than the Qataris. They expected Qatar to curtail its support for extreme Islamism, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters. They believed that Qatar had agreed to remove, or at least reduce, the appearance of Islamists on Al Jazeera and other Qatari media, and especially to eliminate or soften the constant Muslim Brotherhood-based criticism of Egypt’s government and its president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. They also expected Qatar to expel, or at least silence, the provocative Islamist figures that dominated its media platforms, including Muslim Brotherhood preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi and the Palestinian Arab nationalist firebrand Azmi Bisha.

However, they were soon to find that Qatar had no intention of meeting their expectations, and simply continued along its chosen independent path – backing Islamists while also offering itself as a key US ally. Qatar’s policy is rooted in pragmatism: it wants to extend its influence by being friends with everybody. “We don’t do enemies,” said Qatar’s foreign minister, Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah. “We talk to everyone.”

That philosophy proved a miscalculation. Their patience exhausted, the Gulf states and Egypt, backed by some 10 other Arab nations, finally took drastic action. “We want to see Qatar implement the promises it made a few years back with regard to its support of extremist groups, to its hostile media and interference in affairs of other countries,” said Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister.

On June 23, 2017 the anti-Qatar coalition delivered a 13-item list of issues to be addressed before the standoff could be resolved. These included shutting down the Al-Jazeera media network, severing ties with terrorist organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hezbollah, and immediately closing Turkey’s military base outside the Qatari capital. Qatar was given 10 days to comply.

Allowing the 10 days to expire, Qatar then did nothing more than issue its response to the ultimatum in a letter from Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Its contents have not been disclosed, but the anti-Qatar bloc described it as “negative”.

However Qatar was not without support. Whether or not the US president had helped initiate the crisis, Washington now urged conciliation. One consideration, no doubt, was the fact that Al Udeid Air Base, outside the Qatari capital, Doha, is home to more than 11,000 American and coalition service members, and that Qatar houses the regional headquarters of the US Central Command and an American intelligence hub.

And then German foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel, declaring that the 13-demand list was “very provocative”, said that Germany was in close touch with all sides, and that efforts were under way to define which conditions Qatar could accept. He followed this up by visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and mediator Kuwait, and then announcing that Germany’s intelligence service would be involved in investigating the accusation that Qatar supports terrorist groups.

Meanwhile August 30 marks the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, when something like two million people pour into Saudi Arabia. There was initially some doubt as to whether Saudi Arabian airplanes would be allowed to ferry pilgrims into and out of Qatar. After some initial squabbling, a degree of cooperation was hammered out allowing pilgrims to fly on Saudi airlines from Qatar to Mecca.

Pilgrims are a special case, but most major trade routes into and out of Qatar have been closed off by its neighbors. All the same, Qatar is being sustained by continuous shiploads of food and other goods sent in by Iran and Turkey. As for exports, Qatar is the largest global exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), a position it is determined to retain against US, Russian and Australian competition.

On July 2, as the opening shot in a price war, Qatar announced its intention to boost LNG output by 30 percent to 100 million tonnes per year. Market analysts say that with low production costs and infrastructure already in place, Qatar is well placed to come out on top.

So although the credit ratings agency Moody’s has downgraded the emirate’s outlook from stable to negative because of the crisis, Qatar seems to be weathering the economic blockade and appears reasonably well placed to sustain itself for some time ahead. The question is whether it can win its political battle with half the Arab world.

Dear Mr. Annan,

I am very disappointed with your statement, dated August 25, 2017, concerning the latest violence in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. You stated, “I am saddened to hear of the loss of life of members of the security forces. The alleged scale and gravity of these attacks mark a worrying escalation of violence. No cause can justify such brutality and senseless killing. Perpetrators should be held to account.”

From the first sentence of that paragraph, it is not difficult to understand where your sympathy lies. It is, sadly, with the Myanmar government that sponsored your Commission and its criminal perpetrators – the Myanmar security forces and surely not with the Rohingya victims who should have deserved such. You equivocated when it was necessary to take the moral high ground and to call a spade a spade. I am very worried that such mixed messaging will only justify the on-going genocidal crimes against the Rohingyas, much like what happened in Rwanda that you continue to regret for happening under your watch as the UN Chief.

Has not history taught us all that violence is the last resort of an oppressed community when all pleas and other non-violent means for stopping violence directed against it have been ignored or shut down by the oppressor? And even then, the so-called violence of the oppressed against the much better armed, equipped and financed oppressor is motivated by the single factor: defending or protecting its own community. It would be gross misjudgment to equate their struggle for self-defense with the extermination campaign of the more powerful oppressor.

I am sorry to observe that you have been misinformed.

It is an irony that the victims of the genocide – the Rohingyas – are now framed as the ones in the wrong side because of their alleged attacks on Myanmar security forces this past week or back in October of last year. Forgotten in that calculus are decades of genocidal crimes of the successive military regimes since the days of General Ne Win that were to continue full-blown to this very date under Suu Kyi’s government.

Overlooked in that context is the mere fact that being denied citizenship simply because of its racial and religious identity more than half the Rohingya population has been forced out of its ancestral land in Arakan (Rakhine state). Ignored also are the facts that Myanmar epitomizes apartheid policy in our time and flouts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by denying such rights to the Rohingya people. As a matter of fact, when it comes to the Rohingya – rightly recognized by the United Nations (that you once led) as the ‘most persecuted people’ in our planet – not even one of the thirty rights (Articles) enshrined in the UDHR is honored by the Apartheid Myanmar.

I would like to believe that as the Chairperson of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, you know that the Burmese military (a.k.a. Tatmadaw – long known as the Rapist Burmese Army) has been building its troops in Rohingya areas of northern Arakan since August 10, effectively blockading those areas and terrorizing the already marginalized community. Under the name of interrogation, hundreds of Rohingya men and boys were taken away by military from the IDP camps. They were tortured and many were killed while Rohingya women left behind were raped as a weapon of war to ethnically cleanse them. Their homes were torched, too. The UN and Human Rights Watch, amongst many human rights groups, all were asking the Myanmar military to back off but to no avail.

The latest episodes of atrocities perpetrated by the military resulted in fresh influx of thousands of Rohingyas into Bangladesh. That is despite stepped-up patrols by Bangladeshi border and coast guards, who last week had pushed back a boat carrying 31 Rohingya, including children. The Balukhali camp (in Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh) alone saw new arrivals of some 3,000 Rohingya refugees in the last few days. And all these happened days before the alleged attack by the Rohingya ‘insurgents’ against Rakhine police.

As I write this letter, per credible reports, on August 25, in the early AM hours 25 Rohingya villages were bombed by Burmese military reportedly using six gunship helicopters, navy ships and tanks as Rohingyas were sleeping in the middle of the night. It is feared that hundreds of Rohingyas have been slaughtered and more than a thousand homes set on fire on Friday making tens of thousands of Rohingyas homeless because of the latest military action.

When life on earth has become unbearable and worse than death for the oppressed Rohingya is it difficult to fathom why some would ‘radicalize’ and choose to fight back – and justifiably so – with whatever means available? Now the criminal Burmese military claims that 59 “insurgents” and 12 soldiers were killed after Thursday midnight. They say that “insurgents” were armed with machetes. As you know too well, farmers use machetes, “insurgents” don’t.

No one would disagree with you that violence is not the solution and that exercising restraint is important to avoid further escalation. However, the ball is in the military’s court and it is they who need to be restrained from harming the Rohingya people. Truly, if our world leaders had the moral fortitude these war criminals would have been tried long time ago in the International Criminal Court for their decades of crimes against humanity – which by no means were limited to the Rohingyas alone but also to other ethnic minorities that have been fighting for their survival. It would be sensible to reflect that for the last 40 plus years Rohingyas have been peacefully asking for the restoration of their citizenship and other rights whereas the other ethnic groups, non-Bamar Buddhists and Christian, in Myanmar are fighting the government with guns.

Suu Kyi and her brutal military have been too cunning for too long to deflect international pressure. Bluntly put, the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State that you chaired was one such window-dressing attempt by the Myanmar government to ease pressures from the international community and humanize the hideous face of Myanmarism that has contributed to so much human suffering: the destruction of tens of thousands of homes, businesses, schools and mosques, the encampment of some 140,000 Rohingyas in the concentration-like IDP camps, widespread rape of women, let alone the forced exodus of nearly 87,000 to neighboring Bangladesh, since 2012 alone. [According to the UN, 52% of the women they surveyed in refugee camps in Bangladesh were raped by the Tadmadaw. Seventy percent of these 87,000 refugees are women and children since men are either killed or imprisoned.]

Suu Kyi’s government won’t even allow any international investigation team to visit the troubled Rakhine state and inquire about serious charges of war crimes perpetrated by the government security forces – all committed in cahoots with ever growing fascist elements within the broader Buddhist society that see no place for religious minorities to live inside Myanmar.

Mr. Annan, you have admitted in your own report the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State that she formed “is a national entity and the majority of its members are from Myanmar”. Its mandate did not allow the use the term ‘Rohingya’ in accordance with the wishes of Ms. Suu Kyi. In spite of such obstacles you faced, I am glad that the report you submitted is a milestone for the Rohingya by calling for lifting restrictions on movement and citizenship for its persecuted Rohingya minority if Myanmar wants to avoid fueling “extremism” and bring peace to the Rakhine state.

Suu Kyi, sadly, has never been sincere to resolving the Rohingya problem. She has denied their very existence and has been widely condemned by all quarters, including fellow Nobel Laureates.

Did you ever ponder about why the so-called insurgency of the Rohingya who had hitherto, by all accounts, been the most non-violent minority happened just shortly after your appointment as the chair to the commission and also within hours of submission of your final report this week? Who benefits from such violence, and who loses?

It is the Rohingya that loses the game played in such an uneven playing field. It is the Myanmar government and its Tatmadaw that win. They never wanted a peaceful solution to the decades-long problem, which they had initiated. And they don’t want to implement the recommendations you have put forth in your commission report either. So, they planned, moved to the Rohingya areas, cordoned off and committed war crimes to trigger off the latest episode blaming once again their victims to justify their on-going atrocities under the pretext of being attacked by the insurgents. The violence that they unleashed this week and before is all part of a very sinister long-term strategy to ethnically cleanse minority Rohingyas. It was no accident and did not happen in vacuum!

Your commission report rightly noted that if human rights were not respected and “the population remain politically and economically marginalised – northern Rakhine State may provide fertile ground for radicalisation, as local communities may become increasingly vulnerable to recruitment by extremists”. “While Myanmar has every right to defend its own territory, a highly militarised response is unlikely to bring peace to the area,” the report also said.

The perpetrators of violence are the Myanmar security forces who should be held to account. They have failed to heed to your recommendations, and won’t be sobered by mixed messaging coming from world dignitaries like you. It is high time to try these brutes and savages in the International Criminal Court to save humanity, failing which I am afraid, Mr. Annan, we may see the end of Rohingya community in the den of intolerance called Myanmar. She remains the last vestige of an apartheid state in our time.

On March 26, 2004, you stated with respect to Rwanda genocide, “If the United Nations, government officials, the international media and other observers had paid more attention to the gathering signs of disaster, and taken timely action, it might have been averted.  Warnings were missed.”

Sir, there is no excuse this time. There is no ‘guilt of sin of omission’ within us. Ms. Yanghee Lee, the United Nations special rapporteur, has warned us; the international media, Human Rights Watch, Fortify Rights, Amnesty International and other observers have all warned us repeatedly about the Rohingya catastrophe. It needs a leader like you to stop their extinction. In this regard, remember that genocide is a process and not an outcome. Stop it when it is not late.

Please, be forceful in condemning Myanmarism and its viciousness that have caused so much human suffering in our time. If it is not you, who will? The lessons from Rwanda should make you better prepared to stop this slow-burning genocide that the minority Rohingyas are facing today. Help them to survive and live as equal citizens in Myanmar. Please, take the lead in this noble cause.

Thanking you for reading my letter.

Kind regards,

(Dr.) Habib Siddiqui
Philadelphia, USA
saeva@aol.com

International Organizations: Augmentation

Alliances and international organizations should be understood as opportunities for leadership and a means to expand our influence, not as constraints on our power as aptly opined by Charles Timothy Hagel aka Chuck Hagel, former US Defense Secretary in Obama Administration.

One of the few aftermaths of WWI and WWII has been advent and upsurge of international organizations, multilateral and bilateral alliances at international and regional levels to address the special and general geostrategic and geopolitical issues.

The proliferation of international organizations through arrangements evolved among the states is a reflection of the fact that politics existing between the states has been institutionalized. However, the matter is of such importance that it is now considered as a separate fragment of international law in a larger debate of fragmentation of international law commonly bracketed under the name of the “Laws of International Organization” in the contemporary world of legal pluralism. The modern nation-states in a Globalizing World do take steps to integrate themselves with an architecture of world governance under the rubrics of international organizations that bestow upon spaces to negotiate multilateral, bilateral and intergovernmental trajectories of global concerns.

The spark of its evolution is not without any explanation; rather it had significant causes attached to it. It had brought certain uniformity in the relations between states which were more or less amorphous in the wake of the Montevideo Convention where under the Rights and Duties of States had been agreed upon at Montevideo in Uruguay on December 26, 1933, during the 7th International Conference of American States. The chances of war had been minimized and the future generation has undoubtedly been saved from the scourge of deadly or ghastly wars which world witnessed in the 20th century. It had opened more forums for settlement of disputes and thereby minimized confrontation amongst the states. Most importantly it had brought countries and their leaders to the table for cooperation and mustered their commitments towards global harmony. It is not as if there was no international organization prevailing before world wars, but lately, it had sculpted itself as the savior of international politics which suffered a significant blow during world wars. Therefore, it would be in the fitness of things to assume that there had been a major shift in the paradigm of international organization post-World Wars.

Mutability and Modernization

The idea of mutability in the architectural and structural transformation of international institutions in terms of their mandate while addressing time, space and requirements are germane to their existentialism. Thus, scholars have always observed international organization as phenomena while calculating its magnitude and contours. Their approach towards the study of international organization indicates the fact that it had been subject to various changes. These changes range from membership to subjects dealt by such organizations. These changes also attest that international organization does take into account certain changing elements of international politics existing between the member states. Therefore it indoctrinates a dire need to appreciate the consequences of such vicissitudes and variations.

First and the foremost aspect is an enhancement in the subject or field which international organization deals with. It would not come as amazement that in the contemporary world order, international organization is almost dealing with every aspect of international law. It had broadened its ambit to govern and entrench the policies on security, environment, territory, diplomatic privileges, human rights, and trade, etc. The second facet is changed in the dimension of membership resulting into the birth of various actors of international law apart from nation-states. Lots of Non-Governmental Organizations and the Inter-Governmental organization have been brought into the limelight due to it. Following which there has been an increasing participation in international organizations. The third factor is the birth of various principal and subsidiary organs which have diversified the functioning of such international organization.

These vicissitudes have in larger context contributed to the modernization of international organization. The modernization was in its own turn, dependent on various factors, like globalization, international cooperation, and diplomatic ties, technological advancement, facilitating management of common problems of state’s, etc. The concerns of under-developed nations, developing countries, countries with colonial legacy were highlighted and it became a major showcase of this portent. But the institutional growth of these organizations, in the form of modernization, has not been even. It had eventually raised certain eyebrows due to its conduct in a manner which was contrary to the expectation of some nation. Therefore some concerns relating north-south divide, the democratic legitimacy of United Nation Security Council, accountability of highly industrialized country in the environmental regime, etc. remain in a vacuum.

Understanding Institutionalization: Justifications

In the midst of these narratives, it becomes inevitable to establish a substantial jurisprudence for deciphering relevance of institutionalization, its functional aspect, norms and value so fostered and fixing the responsibility to remain committed towards it. The term institutionalization denotes to a process of establishing particular conception, in the form of norms or belief or convention or mode of behavior or value, within an organization or an institution.

Institutionalisation is largely a sociopolitical phenomenon through which a particular structure either in the form of organization or institution experiences positive growth. This increase is a direct outcome of that conception which are furthered in the form of values, norms, belief, convention, etc. within a particular structure. e.g.: During 20th and 21st-century world had witnessed institutionalization in the form of growth and development of the role of an international organization which includes namely; decision-making, adjudication, research work, collective security, providing a platform for the multilateral trading system, providing financial assistance, etc. These values had significantly added to the laudable growth of an international organization like United Nations, WTO, NATO, SAARC, World Bank & IMF, etc.

However, it needs special mention over here that jurists dealing with this process are more concerned about “what law ought to be” as against “what law is.” It instills absolute moral values to deal with. To structure this uneven growth of the international organization, it becomes necessary that such organization must further those values and norms which shall enhance its proficiency. The body, of any nature, which is prone to this process, is bound to be impacted severely, as it cannot grow in the longer period and thereby affecting the participation of its member. The process insulates those values, which regarding an international organization, could not be compromised. Hence, establishing the relevance of institutionalization.

When it comes to the functional aspect, one can broadly divide the whole process into two stages, namely: creation and introduction of those norms or values and internalization. The inception of this phenomenon begins with creation and presentation of those norms or values which ought to be studied in respect of its establishment in an international organization. It is a job of a researcher or academician to explore those concepts, which are to an extent very vague. Professor Galit Sarfaty says that when a new norm is introduced into an organization, different professional groups visit the standard from various perspectives and evaluate the norm and its relevance to their work from various points of view.

The next step in this process is the internalization of those norms into an organization. Whether norms will be internalized in an organization or not depends a lot on the way they are framed. An essential condition for the internalization of a standard is finding an ‘institutional fit’ with the organizational culture. Finding the institutional fitness that requires models become vernacularized so that they resonate with preexisting understandings within an organization. Proponents of a rule should act strategically – for example, through norm framing, cutting, or persuasion – to ensure the congruence with the organizational culture.

It is for the organization to decide, by vetting its existing regime, which values ought to be fostered. It will differ for every organization, given its nature and function. These values and norms must have few things in common: that they must not be ultra vires the charter or covered agreement itself, they must cater to the changing need of such organization, it should be in coherence with other norms or conventions, and it should reflect the growth potential of such organization. While furthering these standards, the process of making institutionalization functional ought to be kept in mind as it brings certain sense into carrying out of these norms systematically.

The responsibility of carrying out this process lies undoubtedly on the actors of an international organization. They are states in general and the member states have to shoulder this responsibility to conduct this process. The states form organization, it architect its structure, perform its function, oversees its implementation and defends its value in one or the other way. Therefore it’s the responsibility of those member states to conduct research and further those norms which shall promote an institutional reform within that organization, lest it will lead to stall mate as it occurs today in many of the international organizations. Therefore state must remain committed towards it.

Peacekeeping Force: The Pragmatic Application

The principle discussed in this article is not alien to international organization existing around the globe. Rather, its practical significance is realized and appreciated every moment because it furthers their growth.

One such example is Peacekeeping force within the domain of United Nation Charter, 1945. It is a function of UNSC to keep order about international peace and security, as per the charter. It also augurs their inherent responsibility within United Nation organization.

Though peace-keeping is just another method or mode to further peace and security aspect, yet its uniqueness lies in this fact that it doesn’t find any mention of any provision of the charter. It is largely developed through the process of institutionalization. It encompasses a peaceful method of deploying security forces in the disturbed region by UNSC. The responsibility of those forces is mostly established and regulated by UNSC and is mainly to ensure a ceasefire. The ambivalence of its legality in the application was a matter of debate once, but now it is regarded as part of Chapter 6 ½ of the UN Charter. Though there is no such chapter within the framework of the UN Charter it is considered as a “deemed chapter.” The inception and its promulgation are to be credited to these socio-political phenomena of institutionalization. But the wars are still going on without deciding their numbers and status in the present world scenarios. Therefore, the influence of institutionalization upon international organizations and their place in the scheme of international law as contemplated by the UN system might change the forms, content and context of international organizations. However, the influence of institutionalization takes the sovereign actions, institutional interventions rendered by the UN Security Council, UNGA, UN Special Tribunals, UN Specialized Agencies, WHO, and TRCs etc. raises the challenges to institutionalization process within the socket of legal positivism, customary notions of sovereignty and rule of law enveloped in the transcendental institutionalism to escape the false pretentions of international institutions.

Note: This article is an extensive work in the field of law of international organisation. It brings about a scenario justifying the need for institutionalisation of an international organisation. The article is jointly produced and co-authored by Nafees Ahmed and Saurabh Sharma.

*About the authors:
Nafees Ahmad, Ph. D., LL.M, Faculty of Legal Studies, South Asian University (SAARC)-New Delhi, Nafees Ahmad is an Indian national who holds a Doctorate (Ph.D.) in International Refugee Law and Human Rights. Author teaches and writes on International Forced Migrations, Climate Change Refugees & Human Displacement Refugee, Policy, Asylum, Durable Solutions and Extradition Issus. He conducted research on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Jammu & Kashmir and North-East Region in India and has worked with several research scholars from US, UK and India and consulted with several research institutions and NGO’s in the area of human displacement and forced migration. He has introduced a new Program called Comparative Constitutional Law of SAARC Nations for LLM along with International Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law and International Refugee Law. He has been serving since 2010 as Senior Visiting Faculty to World Learning (WL)-India under the India-Health and Human Rights Program organized by the World Learning, 1 Kipling Road, Brattleboro VT-05302, USA for Fall & Spring Semesters Batches of US Students by its School for International Training (SIT Study Abroad) in New Delhi-INDIA nafeestarana@gmail.com, drnafeesahmad@sau.ac.in

Saurabh Sharma, LL.M. (International Law), Faculty of Legal Studies South Asian University-New Delhi, Saurabh Sharma is an Indian national who is pursuing his Master’s in International Law. Author has a core research interest in the field of Public International Law and also has made academic contributions in this regard. Author is thankful to Dr. Nafees Ahmed for guiding and collaborating for this article. Author could be reached at saurabh_bbps@yahoo.in saurabhbbps559@gmail.com.

In the wake of the fire unleashed by the North Korean leader on the United States, President Donald Trump is left with few options to rein in Pyongyang: He must now reach out to former allies, push the narrative on democracy and human rights under the carpet and accept that the security challenge cannot be surmounted without the cooperation of countries in East Asia.

The US’s security hinges on its capacity to transform the geopolitics of the Asia Pacific region – this cannot be achieved without engagement. Thus, as the US re-envisions its relations with East Asian countries, it must reach out to its oldest allies in the region.

While the US has bilateral treaty alliances with five countries – Australia, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand – in the Asia Pacific region, and numerous other long-standing security partnerships, including with New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan, Thailand is the United States’ oldest Asian treaty ally. In fact, the United States and Thailand have been friends since 1833. This friendship matured in to a strategic and economic partnership post World War II, when the US had access to military bases during the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars.

US Looks Away After Thailand’s 2014 Military Coup

When the military (US-trained) of Thailand overthrew the Yingluck Shinawatra government, in the coup of June 2014), the USA chose to distance itself from Thailand and withdrew its grant to Thailand of USD$10 million per year soon after the coup.

The Obama administration, while being vocal in its criticism of the military’s seizure of power suspended training for military officers and some weapons assistance programs to Bangkok, it continued the annual Cobra Gold exercise in a smaller form and the CARAT Thailand naval training exercises in Thailand.1

That Thailand’s geo-strategic location is critical for the United States may not be comprehended by the State Department, but it is well understood by the Pentagon. The US’ turning away in 2014 was responded to by Bangkok bolstering its ties with Beijing, including buying some Chinese tanks and announcing that it would purchase Chinese submarines.

In the past few months, Thailand has approved purchases of more than USD $500 million worth of Chinese submarines, tanks and helicopters, besides construction of a new rail link. China has now increasingly used the strategic space vacated by USA to manoeuvre Thailand for its own core interests and ensure the latter’s primacy in the Belt and Road Initiative. Thailand has also reacted strongly to the US’ meddling in its internal affairs. The protest was articulated after Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Daniel Russel (speaking to students at a Bangkok university) called for more inclusive politics and the end of martial law.2

Thailand’s Geo-Strategic Eminence

Given the rising ambitions of China as well as the challenge posed by North Korea, Thailand’s position of geo-strategic eminence could not be ignored any more especially by Pentagon.

Even before Trump assumed the presidency on January 20, 2017, the Pentagon signaled towards restoring US troop participation in Cobra Gold to pre-coup levels. It also announced that Thailand would be visited by none other than the top commander in the US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris. The visit took place in February 2017.

Thailand’s importance in arresting the belligerence of the North Korean leader comes not only from the fact that its largest embassy in South East Asia is in Bangkok, but also because Thailand is Pyongyang’s fourth largest partner, with USD $53 million in official trade with North Korea in 2016.

It is well known that Thailand and North Korea have a thriving trade partnership mainly because of North Korea’s desire to reduce its over dependence on goods from China. To quote George McLeod, a Thailand-based political risk consultant, “From Thailand’s perspective, the main concern is to avoid credibility damage from having the ‘Made in Thailand’ label on goods appearing in North Korea,” he said. “To avoid this, goods from Thailand are exported to two border towns” in China along the Chinese-North Korean frontier. According to McLeod these goods are then re-labelled as Chinese goods and exported by truck to North Korea. This trade is unofficial and undertaken mainly through individual businessmen.3

It is not surprising then that only a few weeks preceding US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s stopover in Bangkok, that US Ambassador to Thailand, Glyn Davies asked Bangkok’s military government to support international sanctions against North Korea. “As a leader of ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Thailand has an important role to play in the broad effort to signal to North Korea it will be isolated if it does not suspend its weapons programs and return to talks on the basis of a verifiable commitment to denuclearize,” Davies said.

The visit of Rex Tillerson to the Philippines, where he met the leaders of all the ASEAN countries was focused on seeking their cooperation in containing North Korea’s weapons and missiles programs. The next stopover for Tillerson was Bangkok. He became the top US official to visit Thailand since the nation’s military seized power from an elected civilian government three years ago, causing relations with the US to sour.

The response from Thailand was measured and non-committal. “Thailand is committed to its obligations to the United Nations and has clearly expressed its stance through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. So there should be no need to set any conditions for the country,” General Prayuth Chan-o-Cha, Thailand’s Prime Minister said, without elaborating.

The ASEAN statement was also as expected. It simply read as, “We reiterate our support for the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner, call for the exercise of self-restraint, and underscore the importance of creating conditions conducive for dialogue to de-escalate tensions.”4 A very restrained statement by ASEAN that did not specify any timeline or specific sanctions against North Korea.

Although the focus of talks between Tillerson and Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai was the North Korean crisis, the issue of cyber-attacks was also discussed. The talks which lasted for about 45 minutes was an attempt to refurbish relations and build some understanding on several aspects of the bilateral relations. The issue of human rights or governance were not discussed, presumably as the US does not want to be seen as interfering with Thailand’s internal matters at a time it needs to woo its ally for exerting pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program.

The uncomfortable issue of Thailand’s trade surplus with the US was also not brought up.

Thailand’s foreign Minister’s statement that trade between North Korea and Thailand declined by 94 percent between January to June in 2017 as compared to the same period in 2016 was a positive assurance for the visitor. Tillerson also met Thai Prime Minister Prayuth during his visit, and paid his respects to the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who passed away in October 2016.

A Win-Win Opportunity

Could the Tillerson visit be viewed as one which could revive and revitalize bilateral relations? Both the US and Thailand need each other not only because of the North Korea factor, which has direct or indirect ramifications for all countries, but also due to the changing geo-politics in Asia-both in the continental and the maritime space.

China’s aggressive posturing has been witnessed by both South East Asian and South Asian countries, in no uncertain measure – From the South China Sea (directly impacting at least 4 South East Asian countries) to the recent Doklam impasse (directly affecting India and Bhutan, but signalling to India’s neighbours China’s relentless push for territorial gains).

Thailand’s growing closeness to China must not result in its compromising its sovereignty under the Belt and Road Initiative. Civil society groups, academics and intellectuals are increasingly suspicious of China’s infrastructure build through Laos, comprising not only acquisition of land but also the threats to livelihoods of the fishing communities due to the building of dams on the Mekong river and capturing of businesses in Thailand’s north to name a few.

Moreover, while both USA and China are the most important destinations for Thailand’s exports (A share of 11.4% and 11.3%, respectively), Thailand has a rising trade surplus with USA (increased from approx. USD $14 billion in 2013 to USD $19 billion in 2016); on the contrary, it has a trade deficit of approx. USD $17 billion with China.

The surplus with the USA in 2016 represented 68 percent of Thailand’s total trade surplus of $17.9 billion, a surplus which is imperative for Thailand’s economy. Boosting relations with USA also implies that Thailand may be able to negotiate out of the “crosshairs” of Trump’s trade policy which seeks stringent action against 16 identified countries with large trade surpluses.

As both economic and military ties between Thailand and China forge ahead, it is imperative that the former does not become subservient to China’s interests, but maintains its independent foreign policy and continues engagement under its ‘Look West policy’ both with countries as USA (former closest ally in Asia) and India, with whom it is celebrating seventy years of diplomatic ties. As stated by Paul Chambers, an advisor for International Affairs with Naresuan University in Thailand, “China today perceives Southeast Asia as within its economic and geopolitical orbit.

As such, Chinese trade, investment and aid are one of the highest in the region. For Beijing, influence across the region offers strategic flexibility,” he said. Again, words of caution by Ruth Banomyong, who said “China sees this area of the world as part of its hinterland. I wouldn’t be surprised if they consider Laos and Thailand as future provinces of the Middle Kingdom.” 5

General Prayut Chan-o-Cha would do well to accept Trump’s invitation to the White House this year. The visit would help not only to beef up both economic and military ties but also underline that Thailand has not closed itself to the West. Beijing, on its part, may caution Thailand not to fall into the “trap” that was being laid, to pit Bangkok against Beijing, by Washington, as part of its “pivot to Asia” doctrine. However, Thailand must counter assert that the visit to the White House is a win-win opportunity for both Bangkok and Washington.

*About the author:
Dr. Reena Marwah, Senior fellow, Indian Council for Social Science Research, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India. Currently based at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies ( CSDS) and
Founding Editor, Millennial Asia- A Sage Publication ( A biannual Journal of Asian studies)

Notes:
1. Sifton John Rex Tillerson and the Thai Regime, Bangkok Post, August 4, 2017, accessed on August 12, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/08/04/rex-tillerson-and-thai-regime
2. Sawitta Lefevr, Amy (2015), “Thailand warns U.S. to mind its own business over politics”, Accessed on 16 February 2015, URL: ehttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/28/us-thailand-politics idUSKBN0L10LZ20150128
3. Ehrlich Richard, AsiaTimes June 22, 2017,accessed on August 12, 2017; http://www.atimes.com/article/thailand-north-korea-ties-spotlight/
4. ASEAN Foreign Ministers Statement on the Developments in the Korean Peninsula, August 5, 2017; https://www.asean2017.ph/asean-foreign-ministers-statement-on-the-developments-in-the-korean-peninsula/; accessed on August 14, 2017
5. Penna Michele, China Starts Controversial Lao Rail Project, Asia Sentinel, March 7, 2017; https://www.asiasentinel.com/econ-business/china-laos-railroad-project/, accessed on 15/08/2017

Modern Jews can see in the annual Muslim Hajj, some of the wonderful spiritual uplift that occurs when large numbers of people from all over the world travel to one holy place and join together in a traditional religious ceremony. Muslims in turn, can see some similarities in the ancient Jewish practice of Hajj ceremonies.

Very few Jews realize that for more than 1.000 years, while Jerusalem’s First and Second Temple–Bait ul Muqaddas/Beit HaMiqdash stood, the Jewish festival of Hag Sukkot was celebrated as a Hajj, a pilgrimage festival. In Biblical times the Hebrew word Hag was pronounced Hajj.

In the centuries after the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed; pilgrimage ceased. Today the great majority of Jews outside the Land of Israel live in Protestant countries where pilgrimage plays little or no role in religious life. Thus, it is very hard for most Jews to feel the tremendous spiritual uplift that can occur to pilgrims on the long path to, and amidst the mass tumult of, a uniquely holy and sacred place.

The Torah declares, “Celebrate Hajj Sukkot for seven days after you have harvested the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.

For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete. Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place He will choose: at the Hajj of Matzah, the Hajj of Weeks, and the Hajj of Sukkot. (Deuteronomy 16:13-16)

On each of the first six days of Hajj Sukkot it was traditional to circle the Temple alter while reciting psalms. On the seventh day of Hajj Sukkot the custom was to circle the Temple alter seven times. As the Oral Torah says: “It was customary to make one procession around the altar on each day of Hajj Sukkot, and seven on the seventh day.” (Mishnah Sukkah 4:5).

Each circle is done in honor of a prophet; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron and David.

Muslims will see some similarities and many differences between the Jewish Hajj and the Islamic Hajj.

With the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE, the pilgrimage aspect of the week long harvest festival began a gradual decline in the spiritual consciousness of the Jewish People. Most of the many thousands of Jews from foreign lands outside the Land of Israel; and the tens of thousands of Jews from all over the Land of Israel outside the city of Jerusalem; who used to came each year to celebrate the week of Sukkot in Jerusalem at Bait ul-Muqaddas, the furthest sanctuary; ceased coming.

Two generations later, after a second major Jewish revolt (132-135 CE) in the land of Israel, the Romans rebuilt Jerusalem as a pagan city filled with idols, That stopped all Jews from coming to the ruined site of the Jerusalem Temple–Bait ul Muqaddas/Beit HaMiqdash.

But even centuries after the destruction of the Temple, and the end of pilgrimage, generations of Jews repeated wonderful tales about pilgrimage experiences in Jerusalem and at the Holy Temple.

Crowded as Jerusalem was, there always seemed to be enough room to squeeze everyone in. Indeed, every year it seemed a continuing miracle that pregnant woman didn’t suffer a miscarriage, a rain shower never quenched the fire on the alter, the wind never blew smoke from the fire into the crowds of worshipers, and no one was ever bitten by a scorpion or a snake. Most amazing of all, no one complained, “It is difficult for me to find lodging in Jerusalem”. (Pirkay Avot 5:8)

For Muslims, the Furthest Sanctuary is located in Jerusalem. “Glory to He Who carried His servant by night, from the Holy Sanctuary to the Furthest Sanctuary, the precincts of which We have blessed. so that We might show him some of Our signs. Surely He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. (Qur’an 17:1)

It is significant that the ruins of the Jerusalem Temple was the site of Prophet Muhammad’s ascension—miraj– up to the heavens.

The Ka’ba built by Abraham and Ishmael, was some centuries later polluted by the introduction of idols. Some centuries later Solomon built a Temple on the site where Abraham bound Isaac as an offering.

Some centuries later the Temple of Solomon was destroyed by the Babylonians. It was then rebuilt only to again be destroyed some centuries later by the Romans, who would later pollute the whole site with a Roman city with buildings and streets filled with idols,

The destruction of the Furthest Sanctuary center of monotheistic pilgrimage in Jerusalem by the pagan Romans, was five and a half centuries afterward overcome by Prophet Muhammad’s ascension—miraj up to the heavens and then the removal by Muhammad of idols from the paganized Ka’ba (Holy Sanctuary) in Makka.

The Jerusalem Temple will not be rebuilt by human hands, but Christians and Jews in large numbers still make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem similar to the Muslim Umrah.

According to the Hajj Ministry of Saudi Arabia, 5 million Umrah visas were issued in 2013 and 6 million each during 2014 and 2015. It expects to issue more than 20 million visas by 2018. More than 1.4 million pilgrims from abroad, plus over 100,000 Saudis, will perform the Hajj this year.

To the north, some 1.09 million tourist entries into #Israel were recorded in the first four months of 2017, a 28 percent increase over the same period last year. A record 349,000 Christian and Jewish foreigners visited during April (the Easter and Passover seasons), an increase of 38 percent over last year.

To this very day, Jerusalem and Mecca remain much smaller than the capitals of the great empires of the distant past, like Rome and Constantinople, and the recent past, London and France. Yet the spirit that continues to rush forth from those two geographically tiny places provides inspiration to billions of Christians, Jews, and Muslims throughout the world.

The Prophet Zechariah envisions a future time when God helps humans to establish worldwide peace. Then all the nations in the world then may travel to Makka or Jerusalem to worship God.

During Hajj Sukkot, a future Jerusalem will welcome both Jews and non-Jews, even including those who were previously Israel’s enemies: “Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem, will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate Hajj Sukkot.” (Zechariah 14:16)

Just as the Ka’ba has always welcomed all Muslims who answer the call: “Call upon the people for Hajj. They will come to you on their bare feet, or riding any weak camel, and they come to you from every far desert. (Qur’an 22:27).

Radio frequency ID tags were supposed to revolutionize supply chain management. The dirt-cheap, battery-free tags, which receive power wirelessly from scanners and then broadcast identifying numbers, enable warehouse managers to log inventory much more efficiently than they could by reading box numbers and recording them manually.

But the scale of modern retail operations makes even radio frequency ID (RFID) scanning inefficient. Walmart, for instance, reported that in 2013 it lost $3 billion in revenue because of mismatches between its inventory records and its stock. Even with RFID technology, it can take a single large retail store three months to perform a complete inventory review, which means that mismatches often go undiscovered until exposed by a customer request.

MIT researchers have now developed a system that enables small, safe, aerial drones to read RFID tags from tens of meters away while identifying the tags’ locations with an average error of about 19 centimeters. The researchers envision that the system could be used in large warehouses for both continuous monitoring, to prevent inventory mismatches, and location of individual items, so that employees can rapidly and reliably meet customer requests.

The central challenge in designing the system was that, with the current state of autonomous navigation, the only drones safe enough to fly within close range of humans are small, lightweight drones with plastic rotors, which wouldn’t cause injuries in the event of a collision. But those drones are too small to carry RFID readers with a range of more than a few centimeters.

The researchers met this challenge by using the drones to relay signals emitted by a standard RFID reader. This not only solves the safety problem but also means that drones could be deployed in conjunction with existing RFID inventory systems, without the need for new tags, readers, or reader software.

“Between 2003 and 2011, the U.S. Army lost track of $5.8 billion of supplies among its warehouses,” says Fadel Adib, the Sony Corporation Career Development Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, whose group at the MIT Media Lab developed the new system. “In 2016, the U.S. National Retail Federation reported that shrinkage — loss of items in retail stores — averaged around $45.2 billion annually. By enabling drones to find and localize items and equipment, this research will provide a fundamental technological advancement for solving these problems.”

The MIT researchers describe their system, dubbed RFly, in a paper they presented this week at the annual conference of the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Data Communications. Adib is the senior author on the paper, and he’s joined by Yunfei Ma, a postdoc in the Media Lab, and Nicholas Selby, an MIT graduate student in mechanical engineering.

Phase shift

Relaying RFID signals and using them to determine tags’ locations poses some thorny signal-processing problems. One is that, because the RFID tag is powered wirelessly by the reader, the reader and the tag transmit simultaneously at the same frequency. A relay system adds another pair of simultaneous transmissions: two between the relay and the tag and two between the relay and the reader. That’s four simultaneous transmissions at the same frequency, all interfering with each other.

This problem is compounded by the requirement that the system determine the location of the RFID tag. The location-detection — or “localization” — system uses a variation on a device called an antenna array. If several antennas are clustered together, a signal broadcast toward them at an angle will reach each antenna at a slightly different time. That means that the signals detected by the antennas will be slightly out of phase: The troughs and crests of their electromagnetic waves won’t coincide perfectly. From those phase differences, software can deduce the angle of transmission and thus the location of the transmitter.

The drone is too small to carry an array of antennas, but it is continuously moving, so readings it takes at different times are also taken at different locations, simulating the multiple antenna elements of an array.

Ordinarily, to combat interference, the drone would digitally decode the transmission it receives from the tag and re-encode it for transmission to the reader. But in this case, the delays imposed by the decoding-encoding process would change the signals’ relative phases, making it impossible to accurately gauge location.

All radio systems encode information by modulating a base transmission frequency, usually by shifting it slightly up and down. But because an RFID tag has no independent power source, its modulations are detectably smaller than those of the reader. So the MIT researchers devised an analog filter that would subtract the base transmission frequency from the signals that reach the reader and then separate the low-frequency and high-frequency components. The low-frequency component — the signal from the tag — is then added back onto the base frequency.

Frame of reference

At this point, however, another problem still remains. Because the drone is moving, the phase shift of the signals that reach the reader result from not only the drone’s position relative to the RFID tag but also its position relative to the reader. On the basis of the received signal alone, the reader has no way to tell how much each of those two factors contributed to the total phase shift.

So the MIT researchers also equip each of their drones with its own RFID tag. A drone alternates between relaying the reader’s signal to a tagged item and simply letting its own tag reflect the signal back, so that the reader can estimate the drone’s contribution to the total phase shift and remove it.

In experiments in the Media Lab that involved tagged objects, many of which were intentionally hidden to approximate the condition of merchandise heaped in piles on warehouse shelves, the system was able to localize the tags with 19-centimeter accuracy while extending the range of the reader tenfold in all directions, or one hundredfold cumulatively. The researchers are currently conducting a second set of experiments in the warehouse of a major Massachusetts retailer.

Scientists concerned that global warming may release huge stores of methane from reservoirs beneath Arctic tundra and deposits of marine hydrates – a theory known as the “clathrate gun” hypothesis – have turned to geologic history to search for evidence of significant methane release during past warming events.

A new study published this week in the journal Nature suggests, however, that the last ice age transition to a warmer climate some 11,500 years ago did not include massive methane flux from marine sediments or the tundra. Instead, the likely source of rising levels of atmospheric methane was from tropical wetlands, authors of the new study say.

While this certainly is good news, the study also points at a larger role of humans in the recent methane rise, noted Edward Brook, an Oregon State University paleoclimatologist and co-author on the study

“Our findings show that natural geologic emissions of methane – for example, leakage from oil seeps or gas deposits in the ground – are much smaller than previously thought,” Brook said. “That means that a greater percentage of the methane in the atmosphere today is due to human activities, including oil drilling, and the extraction and transport of natural gas.”

The study suggests that human emissions of geologic methane may be as much as 25 percent higher than previous estimates. Although not as abundant as carbon dioxide, methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas and therefore the rising levels are an important contributor to global warming.

“This means we have even more potential to fight global warming by curbing methane emissions from our fossil fuel use,” said Vasilii Petrenko, an associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Rochester, and lead author on the study.

Anthropogenic methane emissions are the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide, but there has been uncertainty as to the source of that methane and whether it has changed over time, Brook noted. The new study sheds light on the issue by analyzing levels of atmospheric methane from the last deglaciation in air bubbles that have been trapped in pristine ice cores from Antarctica’s Taylor Glacier.

The researchers were able to estimate the magnitude of methane emissions from roughly 11,500 years ago by measuring radioactive carbon isotopes in methane, (carbon-14, also known as 14C or radiocarbon), which decay fairly rapidly. Methane released from those marine hydrates and permafrost is old enough that any 14C originally present has now decayed away.

They found that amount of methane from ancient “14C-free sources” was very low – less than 10 percent of the total methane – during the entire range of sampling, from 11,800 to 11,300 years ago.

“A lot of people have painted the Arctic as a methane time bomb,” Brook said, “but this shows that it may be more stable than we thought. Past performance isn’t always a predictor of the future, but it is a good analog. We should be more concerned about anthropogenic sources of methane into the atmosphere, which continue to increase.”

The levels of 14C in the ice cores suggest that the increase in methane during the last deglaciation had another source – likely from tropical wetlands, said Christo Buizert, an Oregon State University researcher and co-author on the paper.

“Methane is not stored in the tropics for long periods of time, but produced every day by microbial activity in wetlands,” Buizert said. “We know from other studies that rainfall increased in the tropics during the last warming period, and that likely created wetlands that produced the increase in methane during the last warming period.”

Atmospheric methane has increased from 750 parts per billion in the year 1750 to more than 1,800 parts per billion today – mostly from anthropogenic sources, especially leakage from fossil fuel production, the creation of rice paddies, and cattle ranching, the researchers say.

“All of the natural gas that we mine is very old and leaking inevitably occurs during that process,” Brook said. “Natural gas is considered a cleaner energy source than coal, but it can be a significant problem depending on how much of the methane is leaking out.”

The key to documenting the source of atmospheric methane is the pristine ice cores of Taylor Glacier in Antarctica, where dry, windy conditions have allowed this ancient ice to be slowly brought to the surface. One reason scientists had yet to pin down the sources of methane during the last ice age is that the amount of 14C is so small, it takes enormous amounts of ice to get enough air to measure the isotope.

In fact, it takes some 2,000 pounds of ice, running a melting instrument over three days, to get enough air to produce one sample of measurable 14C. Drilling down in the center of the ice sheet to find that much ice from the end of the last ice age would be prohibitively costly and labor-intensive, but the unique conditions at Taylor Glacier – pushing that old ice toward the surface – made it possible.

Is the Diaspora Bengali, the brains behind the Rohingya Movement, indirectly cooperating with the Burmese military to suppress democracy and federalism in Burma? They have succeeded in compelling the Myanmar military to build up a formidable force that is by-passing the ruling government.

At the same time it has given a green light to the well-equipped 1,000 Rohingyas militants to launch coordinated attacks on two dozen police stations killing 32 people, including 11 police, as a gesture of greeting the Kofi Anan Commission. By these well synchronized actions it has proven that Myanmar military is the real government and is out to implement its final solution to the Rohingya problem.

The Most Persecuted

The Rohingya still speak their original Chittagonian dialect and have refused to learn the lingua franca, a compulsory subject for any migrant in any country with no effort to identifying themselves with the local’s customs and culture. The colonial British of the early 18th Century had encouraged them to migrate to the fertile lands of northern Arakan region at a time when Burma was considered as part of the British-Indian Empire. They stayed in that prosperous land, easing out the local Arakanese.

But in 1948 when Burma was about to gain independence from Britain, these Chittagonian Bengalese, at that time labeling themselves as Mujahids (A Mujahid an Arabic:Urdu word مجاهد Mujāhid is one who struggles for the sake of Allah and Islam) could not comprehend at the idea of living under the Arakanese Buddhists. Under the leadership of Jami-a-tul Ulema-e Islam, went over to Ali Jinnah ; ج ناح ع لی محمد leader of Muslim League and founder of Pakistan, to incorporate the northern part of the Arakan State composing of the existing Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Ratheedaung townships (about one third of the Arakan State) into what was then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

On the failure of this attempt they fielded 27,000 guerillas to fight the Burmese government. The then Prime Minister U Nu was forced to send a Karen General Smith Dun (before the Karen insurrection) to suppress these Mujahids. Many of them surrendered, but the majority ran away into East Pakistan and at the peace deal a consensus was reached that the new name of Rohingya was coined (U Rachid brokered a deal in 1950 with the Burmese ambassador to US/Canada, U Chan Htun as witness) and a ten minute Radio broadcast from the Burma Broadcasting Corporation was also permitted. However, the Rohingya allegiance was still to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, rather than their political affinity of participating in the construction of modern state of the Union of Burma.

When the Bangladesh Liberation War (মুক্তিযুদ্ধ Muktijuddho), of 1971 these Rohingyas fought on the side of the Pakistan Phatans (Pakhtun) acting as scouts and informers. Hence Bangladeshis knowing their treachery, did not want them, and many Rohingyas returned to Burma, while some of them went over to India and mixed with the Indian Bengalis although they could not get along with their local customs and traditions either.

So it was not surprising when India, which has an estimated 40,000 Rohingya including those registered with the UN, revealed its plan to deport them, as according to Reuters. Thailand, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and nobody wants them why? The answer is simple, they could not go along with anyone except their own.

Burma has a record of ethnic uprisings, but none of them ever wanted to incorporate their territory into any other foreign country, they are just struggling for autonomy. Even at the height of the Burmese Junta’s persecution in 2004, when the Burmese Muslims were targeted, more than 10,000 Muslims ran to the Thai-Burma border and the Burma Muslim Liberation Army was formed with the help of KNU, not a single Rohingya participated. Hence how can they be considered as one of Burma’s myriad ethnic nationalities. Being considered as foreigners themselves they are the first to urge the Nobel Committee to take back the Nobel Peace Prize from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, which no Burmese would ever think of.

To the Persecutor

I met U Maung Tin (former President of the Rangoon University Muslim Students Associations), a prominent faithful Muslim who joined the struggle against the Burmese Junta in the 1980s and urged the Rohingya to throw their lot in with the other Arakanese against the tyranny of the military. Because he dared to speak out the truth, the Rohingya attacked his camp and since his head was wanted both by the Junta and the Rohingya he had no choice but to seek political asylum in Canada.

According to U Maung Tin there was a Rohingya Pala (village), the most conservative type of Chittagonian Muslims, who looked down on the average local Muslims as infidels. Burma has officially 135 ethnic nationalities that fall into eight major groups. But the Rohingya refused to be categorized as one of Arakan’s numerous groups even though they have been residing there for nearly two centuries. Simple logic seems to be missing. Instead they want the world to change the name of Arakan to Rohan. This explains why the Burmese Junta adopted the horrible method of ethnic cleansing.

The crux of the problem is that the government has no inkling for compromise or a vision for the innocent mass of Rohingyas, and seems to be following the philosophy of a rude Burmese proverb that, “Once the beggar’s stomach is full, his penis stood up.”

Additionally, the government does not have a central committee to negotiate for peace, nor does it mention “Conflict Resolution.”

The average Burmese believes that someone is supplying cash and supporting the Rohingya rebels. The Myanmar military as usual has responded with continued searches and gross human rights violations and frequent blockades to keep out food and other essential supplies.

What is happening in Rakhine State is a side effect of the current worldwide outbreak of Islamic radicalism and terrorism. The Burmese fear the Rohingya will be a source of Islamic terrorists as ISIS has openly declared PARIS (Palestine, Afghanistan, Rohingya, Iraq and Syria) as their main targets. Now that ISIS has lost its base in the Middle East it is looking for a sanctuary somewhere in Southeast Asia, and it has narrowed its focus on this weak part of Southeast Asia.

The Rohingya’s sympathizers are experts in psychological warfare and international affairs, which now coupled with the naivety of the Burmese Juntas, this has propagated it in such a way that the Rohingya situation has dominated international headlines.

Everybody knows that Myanmar Military poses a substantial threat to democracy and is more of an obstruction to the democratization in Burma, which has been helped by its several military operations against ethnic nationalities.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s reluctance to engage with UN’s attempts to investigate the atrocities that have been committed and her lack of success in bringing stability to northern Burma indicates that bringing peace to the country is no longer her primary concern.

That said, Suu Kyi has attempted to solve the Rohingya problem via the neutral Kofi Anan Commission whose recommendation has already made public by accepting what U Mg Tin has often said, “To accelerate the citizenship verification of the qualified Rohingyas followed by socio economic development coupled with freedom of movement and community participation and representation. In addition security must be given to all people residing in Arakan, encouraging their cultural development and inter-communal cohesion.”

Now that the UN have whole-heartedly supported Kofi Anan’s recommendation one will have to wait and see if it will be implemented in a country where the government is driving for national reconciliation without truth, and jails any person who dares to report the truth, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi herself has endeavored to please the military at the expense of the majority non-Myanmar ethnic nationalities whose population is nearly double that of Myanmar (Burman) with the Myanmarnisation goal of, one country, one religion and one race. As such, the Rohingya problem will be a headache not only for Burma, but also to the world.

By Jim Garamone

Weather forecasters are saying Hurricane Harvey is causing “catastrophic flooding” in Southeastern Texas, as 3,000 Texas Guardsmen have now been called up to help their fellow citizens, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday during a news conference in Austin, Texas.

Harvey has been downgraded to a tropic storm, but the National Weather Service says the rain will continue. “This is really going to be an event that is going to continue to worsen,” said Daniel Porter, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Harvey is the strongest storm to hit Texas since 1961, Abbott said. The governor said the federal government has provided all the assets the state has asked for. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is the lead federal agency working with the state and local officials — 19 counties in the region have been declared disaster areas.

During a National Incident Communication Conference Call on Hurricane Harvey yesterday, FEMA requested the Defense Department to provide a search and rescue package to the area. This consists of two planners, nine helicopters, two fixed wing aircraft and refuelers, and includes pararescue teams to operate from Joint Reserve Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition, DoD was asked to provide 11 generators and 50,000 gallons of gas and 50,000 gallons diesel to Fort Hood, Texas.

A panel of nine judges of the Supreme Court of India have now given an unanimous decision that the right to privacy is a fundamental right and is essentially a natural right to every individual. The judges have said that it is indeed an inseparable and inalienable right for human beings. The judges have further said that fundamental rights are the only constitutional firewall to prevent the state’s interference with those core freedoms constituting the liberty of human being.

The judges have also opined that privacy includes at its core the preservation of personal intimacies, the sanctity of family life, marriage, procreation, the home and sexual orientation. Finally, the judges have conclusively pointed out that privacy also connotes a right to be left alone.

The above judgement of the Supreme Court has been widely welcomed in India and has been hailed as historic verdict of far-reaching significance.

While the above judgement has occupied considerable media space, cartoons are also appearing that a son refuses to show his grades to his parent claiming it to be a matter of fundamental rights and a subject of his privacy. The advocates of lesbian practices say that their sexuality is now a fundamental right for them. Next, prostitution will also be hailed to be a fundamental right. There are also demands that the government should not ask for any personal details from citizens such as fingerprints, photographs etc. which have been made mandatory by the government for issuing the Aadhaar card (identity card). The ridiculous arguments in defense of privacy go on endlessly.

In India, the demand for privacy and fundamental rights of individual citizens are being taken to such an extreme level that is not prevailing in any other country in the world, including the USA and Western Europe, which boast being the latest models of democracy.

Many well-meaning critics of Indian democracy often term the country as having a chaotic democracy, with demonstrations and protests on one issue or other having become the order of the day all over India. In a country of 1300 million people, often it is seen that a group of one thousand protesting people can bring any project or scheme to a standstill by demonstrating on public roads or obstructing traffic in busy thoroughfares. The government often adopts a tolerant attitude towards such protestors, viewing it as their fundamental and birthright to protest. Several well-meaning projects now remain stranded in India due to such protests by a minuscule percentage of the population.

There are critics who argue that India is paying too big a price for its nearly unrestricted freedom given to the people. It is also pointed out that Indian economic and industrial progress have considerably slowed down due to such excessive freedom. In spite of the fact that the Indian population has now reached and alarming level and is still continuing to increase at an unacceptable pace causing huge issues for the country, the government does not have the courage to force the population to adopt limited family norms. China, a country not known for freedom for people, adopted a one child policy and brought the population surge under control that has benefited China. In the atmosphere of freedom in India, this cannot be done.

The unanimous judgement given by the Supreme Court of India in favor of privacy may lead to a situation that the power and authority of government may be severely restricted in implementing policies and programs that are urgently needed for the progress of India.

It remains to be seen that after pronouncing such unanimous views, whether the Supreme Court judges will clarify that even while granting the fundamental rights of privacy, the freedom for individuals cannot be absolute and has to be curtailed when it is a matter of national need or security is required. While the judges have made some vague observations on these lines, they are yet to put down their views very clearly, so that “the freedom lovers” will not go astray.

The judges have to clearly say that liberty is not a personal affair, but a social contract. It is an adjustment of individual interests. While one has the liberty to play piano with high volume in the middle of the night, he cannot do this while disturbing the sleep of his neighbor. Will the “freedom lovers” in India realize this?

After experimenting for 70 years with democracy after Independence, there probably is a strong case for a controlled democracy in India, as different from the free-run democracy that the country has hitherto seen.

All said and done, the privacy and fundamental right issue in India is blown out of proportions, and that threatens to mar the progress of India.

This will be the first Labor Day of the presidency of Donald J. Trump, who came to office riding a wave of anti-establishment anger from average working people. No one can say they didn’t see it coming.

By the time Trump was elected, the typical American household had a net worth 14 percent lower than the typical household in 1984. The richest 1 percent owned more than the bottom 90 percent.

Last year’s annual Wall Street bonus pool alone was larger than the annual year-round earnings of all 3.3 million Americans working full time at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

While 90 percent of US adults born in the early 1940s were earning more than their parents by the time they reached their prime earning years, only half of adults born in the mid-1980s are earning more than their parents in their prime earning years.

Most also have less economic security than their parents.  Nearly one out of every five American workers is in a part-time job. Two-thirds are living paycheck to paycheck.

Most are working more hours than they worked decades ago and taking fewer sick days or vacations.

The gap in life expectancy between the nation’s most affluent and everyone else is also widening.

Increasing numbers of Americans on the downward economic escalator are succumbing to opiods, chronic liver cirrhosis, and poisonings that include drug overdoses.

The standard explanation for why all this has occurred is that most American workers are no longer “worth” as much as they were before digital technologies and globalization. So they must now settle for lower wages and less security.

Rubbish.

This doesn’t explain why workers in other advanced economies facing similar forces haven’t succumbed to them nearly as dramatically as have workers in the United States.

Or why the pay of top executives at big companies has soared from an average of 20 times that of the typical worker 40 years ago to almost 300 times now.

Or why the denizens of Wall Street, who in the 1950s and 1960s earned comparatively modest sums, are now paid tens or hundreds of millions annually.

And it can’t account for the decline in the starting wages of recent college graduates. A college education is now a prerequisite for joining the middle class but no longer a sure means for gaining ground once admitted to it.

To attribute all this to the impersonal workings of the market, and assume it’s because most workers aren’t “worth” as much as before, is to ignore the increasing ability of moneyed interests to alter the system for their own benefit – demolishing trade unions, turning full-time employees into contract workers, and monopolizing industry.

America’s economic and political elites could have used their growing political and economic clout to help workers get ahead – through better schools and more affordable college, comprehensive job retraining, wage insurance, better public transportation, and expanded unemployment insurance.

They could have pushed for universal health insurance.

They could have paid for all this by accepting, even lobbying for, higher taxes on themselves.

They could have sought to reduce their own political clout by demanding limits on campaign spending.

But they did the reverse: They spent more and more of their ever-growing wealth and power to rig the game to their own advantage.

As a result, trust in all the major institutions of our society has plummeted.

In 1964 more than 60 percent of Americans thought government was “run for the benefit of all the people” while just 29 percent said government was “pretty much run by a few big interests looking out for themselves.”

Nowadays the numbers are almost reversed, with 76 percent believing government is run “by a few big interest” and just 19 percent saying government is run “for the benefit of all.”

In the early 1960s most Americans said they had a “great deal of confidence” in the nation’s major companies, banks, and financial institutions.

Now just one in ten has a great deal of confidence in them.

In his first seven months as president, Trump has done nothing for American workers. In fact, his attempt to undermine the Affordable Care Act, his retreat from Labor Department regulations boosting overtime pay, and his proposed tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations will make most workers worse off.

But he is in office because of their anger and distrust, and he’s still feeding off it. “The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country,” Trump said in his inaugural address. “Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs.”

Tragically, Trump was right.

Now all of us are paying the price.

This year, the Muslim holiday of Kurban Bayram occurs on September 1, the same day Russian schools are scheduled to open. Officials in the Russian capital have decided to postpone the opening of three schools near a mosque in the capital, a move that has outraged some Russians and prompted Muslim leaders to call for a compromise.

Moscow media are reporting that the city’s educational authorities have postponed the opening of three Russian schools near a mosque where thousands of Muslims will assemble for Kurban Bayram which this year occurs on September 1 for three days (znak.com/2017-08-24/v_neskolkih_shkolah_moskvy_lineyki_dnya_znaniy_perenesut_iz_za_kurban_bayrama).

Although they have not said why, the authorities apparently have done so to avoid problems for parents and children who would have to navigate through the enormous crowds. But some parents are outraged because they object to the idea that the children in these schools won’t attend opening ceremonies until September 4 because of the Muslims.

(The three-day delay reflects the fact that September 1 this year falls on a Friday, and because that is the normal day for Muslims to come to the mosque, officials have good reason to expect that Kurban Bayram celebrations at the six Moscow mosques will be even larger than is usually the case.)

Fearful that this action will spark a backlash, Muslim leaders have proposed a compromise. Damir Gizatullin, first deputy head of the Muslim Spiritual Directorate (MSD) of Russia, has suggested that the school openings not be postponed for three days but perhaps for two to three hours (lenta.ru/news/2017/08/24/kurban/).

He says that Muslims will be at the mosque only for about an hour beginning at seven in the morning and then will travel to the outskirts of the city because the animal sacrifices required for the holiday are not allowed within the city limits. (There are 16 sites in Moscow oblast where such ceremonies are permitted.)

Consequently, Gizatullin says, the Muslims will have moved from the mosque by 8:30 at the latest and the schools could open. That is unlikely to satisfy some other Muscovites who view any such adjustment of all-Russian schedules to the Islamic community as unwarranted and wrong.

This controversy is likely to intensify in the next few days; but however it ends, the fact that it is taking place at all highlights the growing size of the Muslim community in the Russian capital and the fact that the authorities have not allowed the construction of new mosques there has created conflicts by forcing Muslims to meet in only a few places.

By Fatjona Mejdini

Prime Minister Edi Rama has announced his new cabinet, retaining several close allies, dissolving the European integration ministry and forming ministry for diaspora.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced Albania’s new government Sunday. For the next four years, 13 ministers will aid him in running the country after his Socialist Party, PS, won an overwhelming majority in the June 25 elections.

The new cabinet has been downsized to 13, 11 of whom will be standard ministers, while two will be without portfolio. The outgoing cabinet contains 19 ministers, with 16 standard ministers and three ministers without portfolio.

In the new one, six ministries will be run by women while seven will be headed up by men.

The new deputy prime minister will be a woman, newly-elected Shkodra MP, Senida Mesi.

After almost two hours long speach in the Socialist Assembly, Rama also made the announcement that he was reshuffling key ministries.

One of the most significant changes he announced was the disillusion of the European integration ministry. A new state ministry to support Albanians living outside the nation’s borders was established, to be directed by former Prime Minister Pandeli Majko.

A new state ministry for the protection of entrepreneurs was created, which will be directed by the current head of Agency of Property Return and Compensation, Sonila Qato.

The new team will assume the official mandate in mid-September after the new parliament is constituted.

However, the core of the cabinet did not change in either structure or name. Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati retained the position, while Fatmir Xhafaj remained the minister of the interior, and Arben Ahmetaj held onto the role of minister of finance. This ministry will also supervise the economy.

The ministry of education will still be run by Lindita Nikolla, and it will also absorb the sports and youth ministries. The ministry of health will take on responsibility for social care too, and will be headed by Orgerta Manastirliu.

The ministry of energy will merge with the ministry of infrastructure, which will be run by Damian Gjiknuri. The culture ministry will be directed by Mirela Kumbaro. Etilda Gjonajt will head the ministry of justice, while the ministry of defence will be led by Olta Xhacka.

The new minister for agriculture and rural development will be the former deputy prime minister, Niko Peleshi, while Blendi Klosi will be the minister of tourism and the environment.

Rama said that the keywords of his new government will be work and prosperity.

“This is the hardest mandate that I have ever had when it comes to responsibilities. We have to be super motivated and organised and govern together with citizens,” he said.

For the first time in the 25 years of pluralistic Albanian history, all the cabinet ministers belong to the same party, with no other party allies in the government.

This came as result of the fact that PS got 74 MPs out of 140 in the Parliament, eliminating the necessity to join part of a coalition in order to form the new government.

“We asked a mandate all for us and we got it. Now we have to rise above ourselves in order to be loyal to the citizens who trusted us,” Rama said.

By Jayshree Sengupta

India at 70 has 101 dollar billionaires and 236,000 dollar millionaires. But it also has a large number of people lacking basic amenities like toilets and piped water. In big cities, mansions belonging to the rich and miles of shanty towns and slums coexist. The Indian economy is huge with GDP amounting to $9.4 trillion (PPP) but there are pockets of extreme deprivation and visible inequality. While inequality of income and wealth is inevitable and is present in all countries, rising inequality has become prominent in India in the last three decades.  There has been a rapid rise in the gap between the rich and everyone else.

The wealthy have increased their influence in politics and economics of the country while the declining influence of low income marginalised groups has undermined democracy and stifled the voices of ordinary citizens.  The degree of inequality however is different across the world and many countries have been able to reduce inequality faster than others by taking appropriate policy measures.

It destroys people’s self-worth and confidence, breeds crime, leads to various illnesses due to inadequate public healthcare facilities and can lead to terrorist activities and environmental degradation. It definitely does not lead to a happy or harmonious society.

A recent report by Oxfam and Development and Finance Inc. (July 2017) has ranked governments according to their commitment to reduce inequalities across the world.  An index has been computed by them regarding the commitment of countries and India ranks very low at 132^nd among 152 countries.

Even though the NDA government is pursuing policies of financial inclusion to reduce inequalities, there seem to be few debates on the subject. Clearly, we only want to project India as the fastest growing Emerging Economy with great investment prospects. While it is true that extreme poverty has come down in India, there are still 250 million people earning less than $2 a day. Extreme inequality has been shown to inhibit social mobility which means that children of poor parents will stay poor. Unless they come from privileged backgrounds, the young people of India will have fewer opportunities to make the most of their skills and talents. There have been a few exceptions of course!

In the Oxfam and DFI report, different governments’ active role in reducing poverty and inequality has been assessed. The 13 developing countries that have reduced their overall inequality have done so because of an increase in public services, progressive taxation and labour rights.  These three areas have been found to be critical for reducing inequality. India has fared poorly on labour rights as well as respect for women in the work place.

On labour rights India performs poorly because majority of the labour force works in the agricultural and informal sectors which lack union organization. Labour unions are useful for collective wage bargaining but since the era of economic liberalization began unions have become weaker even in the organized sector. Strong labour rights in a country help young people secure a fair wage.

In South Asia, surprisingly Nepal ranks first according to the index for Commitment to reduce inequality, Maldives stands 2^nd, India 3^rd, Sri Lanka 4^th, Pakistan 5^th Bangladesh 6^th Bhutan 7^th and Afghanistan 8^th. Nigeria is the worst performer among all countries and Sweden is number one.

The measure of inequality taken into consideration is the Palma ratio which compares the incomes of top 10 per cent to the bottom 40 per cent. This is considered the best measure of inequality because it takes into account the incomes of the extremes of the income distribution whereas the Gini coefficient focuses more on incomes of those in the middle and can underestimate the importance of top incomes. In Sweden, the Palma ratio is less than 1 because the top 10 per cent is earning the same as the bottom 40 per cent. According to the report all countries should aim at a Palma ratio of no more than 1. India’s is at 1.5.

Although the three pillars used in the calculation of the index are important, other government policies are also important for reducing inequality. For example, policies towards small and medium enterprises, rural development and agricultural spending by state governments are important for reducing inequalities.

India’s huge number of small and marginal farmers and landless labour need help in various ways for raising their incomes. Government spending on infrastructure is important in rural areas and this has not been taken into account in the index. Lack of connectivity and good roads lead to isolation of villages from towns and cities and this can increase poverty. Similarly corruption also leads to a rise in inequality. The NDA government’s interest in eradicating corruption is in the right direction but it will take long to do so though the demonetization experiment has helped a little.

The government’s spending on education is 3.1 per cent of the GDP but the quality of primary education remains a problem and needs improvement. Government expenditure on health is very inadequate at 1.3 percent of the GDP as a result of which there are not enough public hospitals easily accessible to the poor. They have to go for private healthcare which is expensive and often unreliable with many add on costs. The out of pocket expenditure for citizens in India is one of the highest in the world.  The result is an increase in inequality as middle income people lose their assets and savings undergoing private medical treatment and sink into poverty.

More jobs will reduce inequalities as it will increase family incomes. This is taking place at a tardy pace and remains a sore point. More manufacturing jobs will give employment to unskilled labour but unfortunately industrial growth has shrunk by 0.1 percent. A social safety net for the informal sector workers like life insurance and pension policies is important and has been initiated by the Modi government. But a lot needs to be done to have growth with equity.

By Georgia N. Gleoudi*

The calendars would write “Year 1900” when three French Catholic monks of the African Mission would arrive for the first time in Samos Island, a remoted island of the Eastern Aegean Sea, near Turkey. Shortly thereafter, the White Fathers, as they were called, would establish their monastic community and parish in the Vathy area of Samos.

The Catholic Parish Assumption of the Blessed Virgin or “Fragoklissia” would serve in the early 1900s a small community of Catholics, which would outnumber about 80 people. Over the years, the Catholic community would begin to flourish in favor of the commercial links and of the consulates of the Catholic doctrine that were being hosted by the island.

On March 19th, 1901, the French School of Saint Joseph would open its doors. Until the end of their presence on the island, on June 28th, 1971, St. Joseph’s nuns wouldl host and offer a high level of education to hundreds of children coming from the cities and villages of Samos, the rest of the Aegean Sea’s islands and of Athens. Famous for their charity work to all people without discrimination, they would offer a great relief to the children of the Armenian refugees in 1920 and to all the inhabitants of the island during the Second World War.

The life for the Catholic Parish would continue until the early 1970s. The monks would buy large areas of land to create the catholic cemetery, its chapel, but also to cultivate vines for the production of special wine for the celebration of Divine Liturgy and the Eucharist.

In 1970, the last French monk, Francis Gagiou, would return to France and shortly before leaving, he would sell the property of the monastic community to two families in Samos. Since then, the main building that houses the temple and an attic will belong to the Catholic parish. Gagiou would be honored by the Municipality of Samos island for his offer and services to the local community. The monk would be followed by the Saint Joseph nuns and everything showed that the end of the Catholic community had been reached.

The citizens of Samos would rejoice with great regret the monk and the nuns knowing that this meant the end of a rich cultural and tolerant society that brought great spiritual development to the place.

“Until today, older people are moved when they remember the farewell to the nuns, or when they remember their daily lives while passing by the Catholic Church,” says the current subdeacon of the Catholic parish of Samos, Mr Marios Foscolos who helped us during the research for the Catholic parish and the catholic community of Samos.

The revival and future of the community

The building of the parish was renovated in 2000, giving a new hope to the Catholic community and the island. In 2017, the Catholic community outnumbers about 200 people of all ages.

“We are constantly finding new people that we did not know that they existed and were not recorded anywhere,” says Marios Foskolos.

The main feature of the island’s catholic community is that it does not consist exclusively of Greeks but has also a huge percentage of Italians, Polish, Belgians, Albanians and other nationalities. Recently, Samos would welcome 45 Catholic French-speaking refugees from places such as Cameroon, Congo and North African states.

“With the refugee flows, our flock has Been increased and we are called upon to meet its needs and to stand next to it. Our goal is to embrace refugees and to integrate them into our community. The mass continues in the Greek language according to the regulations of the Second Vatican Council, where Latin was relegated to a second place and the mass is done in the national language of each country. However, they are being offered the opportunity to chant some hymns in French and read some extracts from the New Testament in French in order to feel intimate and fully integrated.”

In Samos the Catholic families are scattered on the island. There are families in all places, in Vathi, in Karlovasi, in Platanos or in Marathokampos. Unlike other Catholic doctrines, Greek Catholics of Samos make mixed marriages with Orthodox Christians without any problem.

“The catholic community of Samos has the happiness of being composed of all ages and especially of new ages. May all of her members not be extremely active but that does not mean that its optimistic future will stop. Indeed, there is a young Samiot who is in the second year of the sanctuary, without of course knowing if he is going return. In any case, we believe that the future is hopeful.”

Opening its doors

“It has been the right time to change the mindset that the Catholic Church is closed and remote. It was supposed to be open to the world, fearless and with perspective to re-embrace the local community. Coming here from the island of Tinos I thought that the parish should become again an active part of the island’s life.”

The last years, the Catholic parish is open to the public almost all the day. The priest comes twice a month for the mass while some gatherings are being organized in order to empower and encourage the community. During the Holy Week, two concerts of church music were held with works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Easter sacred music and others.

“The church was full of people during those two days of concerts. If we had concerts for a a whole week, I’m sure it would be full of people for all these days. Thanks to the concerts, there was a raising of the awareness regarding the existence and the mission of the parish. However, there are still a lot of people who do not know about us and we are trying to communicate our work through the local media.”

The “difficult” charity work

“We are trying to find solutions and resources as people in need hut us the door every day. Our goal is to alleviate the pain of every person. Unfortunately, our capabilities are still too limited in relation to the number of people in need and we are constantly looking for solutions.”

With the aid of Caritas, the global philanthropic organization of the Catholic Church, the Catholic Parish of Samos is trying to increase the number of families (Greeks and refugees) that support financially. Our cooperation with the Catholic parishes of other Greek islands has helped to a great extent the charity work in Samos.

“There have been requests for help mainly on the refugee issue which unfortunately we have not been able to satisfy. This is why we have approached other parishes, such as the parish of Tinos, with whom we have co-operation on charity issues. Generally with all the Catholic parishes and dioceses of the other islands we have created very good relationships and excellent cooperation and mutual assistance.”

Closing the door to the history of the Catholic Parish of Samos at 09.30 in the evening, Mr. Foskolos asked us to remember just one thing:

“The Catholic Parish of Samos is a gem for the island. Many are being moved to the memory of a robust Catholic community and parish. Now the façade of the building is ready to collapse and nothing reminds us of the glory of the past. Unfortunately, the building does not belong to the Catholic parish after 1970 but only to individuals and we would like to emphasize the need to repair it so that Samos does not lose something so precious for its history.”

About the author:
*Georgia Gleoudi is a graduate of “MA in Religious Roots in Europe: in Lund University and has a BA in International Relations and European Studies from Panteion University, Athens. She is interested in Religion and State relations, faith – based diplomacy and intercultural relations

Source:
This article was published by Modern Diplomacy

By Avasna Pandey*

According to the Nepal Disaster Report 2015 produced by the Government of Nepal, Nepal is among the top 20 on the list of the most multi-hazard-prone countries in the world. Its active tectonic plates, variable climatic conditions, rugged and fragile geophysical structure, unplanned settlement, and increasing population exposes the country to all kinds of risks, making it a disaster hotspot. The question then is not if what kind of natural disaster will beset the country, but when. This predictability thus demands vigilance and preparedness of the government, which so far have been tepid at best, and reactionary at worst.

In a span of 10 years, from 2005-2015, Nepal has faced three major floods – the Koshi flood in 2008, the 2008 flooding of the mid-west and far-west regions of Nepal, the Kailali and Babai flood of 2014 – in addition to the landslide in Jure in 2014, and the 2015 earthquake that alone killed more than 8,500 people. These disasters could actually be a great proving ground to test and better disaster management practices. However, the lack of serious coordination among government and other agencies, and inadequate risk assessments, among other factors, have had a negative impact on Nepal’s disaster management preparedness.

An Overview of Past Policies

A review of government initiatives reveals that several policies have been in place since 1982. The Disaster Relief Act 1982, Natural Calamity Relief Act 1982, and Local Self Governance Act 1999 were some initial steps taken. Following the two major deluges in 2008, the government formulated the National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management (NSDRM) in 2009, which was adopted in 2010. It aimed to develop Nepal as a disaster-resilient country by identifying priorities for disaster risk management. NSDDRM focused on building institutional capacities, assessing risk factors, installing early warning systems, developing a culture of disaster resilience, and improving preparedness and coordination for effective responses. By 2013, the government had formulated a National Disaster Response Framework, which served as a key tool for the coordination of its earthquake response in 2015.

Post NSDRM, Nepal has made significant progress in investing in risk reduction, such as retrofitting of school buildings and new constructions. There has been training and building capacity at various levels: community, local authorities, civil society, and NGOs. Also, the integration of flood early warning systems have helped save lives to some extent, and property, too. Assessing Nepal on its implementation of the NSDRM and NDRF suggests that there has been a substantial evolution from the National Calamity (Relief) Act 1988, which focused on relief and rescue, to an approach focusing on disaster risk reduction (DRR).

Scrutinising Policy

Nepal has a cornucopia of legislation that address disasters with different acts, but several gaps remain. The most common shortcoming learnt from the natural disasters that occurred between 2005-2015 has turned out be poor coordination among government and other agencies. Different acts and governmental bodies cede ownership to multiple government entities, further complicating the implementation process. Development of institutions and thorough risk assessments are also problem areas. There is a lack of emergency warehouses, and relief and rescue operations have been inadequate – consequently creating a significant gap between the needs of the affected people and delivery of services.

Furthermore, although there has been a shift from relief and rescue to DRR, Nepal has not been able to draw a national or a local strategy relevant to it. Although Nepal, along with 86 other countries, has endorsed the Sendai framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, so far only India has produced implementation plans. Moreover, there is no comprehensive and broad-based Disaster Risk Management Act in place, either. Post the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, the Disaster Risk Management Act (DMA) was amended to incorporate lessons learnt. The new DMA is not yet available. However, as of February 2017, it was confirmed that the national Disaster Management Bill – which is to be the umbrella authority for coordinating all disaster risk management activities, response, rescue operations along with and relief and rehabilitation-related tasks – is in its final stages of preparation and will soon be enacted.

Way Forward

The latest flood of 10 August 2017 in eastern Nepal where the death toll has already reached 120, is a case-in-point that again shows a lack of coordination among different agencies, thus delaying relief and rescue efforts. While relief efforts for flood victims have been deployed faster than they were during the 2015 earthquake, the lack of an umbrella institution to disseminate information and coordinate efforts have impaired efficacy. There were also allegations that the Home Ministry had not heeded the Department of Meteorology’s early warning signs regarding weather conditions, which led to significant damage that could have been prevented.

To overcome these loopholes, the way forward has to be through improved coordination – within communities, humanitarian organisations, and government institutions for DRR – all of which can happen once an umbrella authority with defined codes on disaster management is set up. Similarly, although there are different point people on disaster management in different ministries, their roles must be clarified. And, finally, if early warning signs are given, the government must attend to them, as again, the key lies in being proactive, not reactive.

* Avasna Pandey
Research Intern, IPCS