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Islamophobia: From Unfounded Fear To Racism – Analysis

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By JTW

By Fatma Yilmaz Elmas

Briefly described as an “unfounded fear of Islam”, Islamophobia is a phenomena which undeniably results in discrimination against Muslim individuals and communities, leading to their political and social exclusion. The United States and Europe provide many examples of targets of verbal and physical Islamophobic attacks. Indeed, in the U.S. in October, a public bus driver kicked off a 10-year-old Muslim child who recited a prayer while searching for his card. The bus driver, who is currently being sued by the child’s family, accused the child of being a “terrorist” because he spoke Arabic. Actually, even this singular event can demonstrate how Islamophobia is “a behavior pattern that includes specific beliefs”. For according to this understanding, “Islam is a belief system which contains a violent political ideology and a religion of violence that supports terrorism by nature”. The driver apparently made the connection between the child’s Quranic words and violence, terrorism, and politics, and felt the need to intervene.

The perception in Western world about the supposed relationship between Islam and violence after the 9/11 attacks has certainly shaped patterns of behavior toward Muslims within Western societies. However, this understanding is related to historical prejudices and Orientalist perspectives, reflecting not only religious discrimination but also white superiority and “othering” approaches. In addition, in many aspects it is not far from the racism debate.

The religion-violence link

Looking from the current data showing Islamophobia in the West as a manifest reality, back to the past-to let’s say 9/11 as a starting point- we see that Islamophobic reactions in the U.S. and in Europe have worsened over time. The violence-religion link was formalized by then U.S. President George W. Bush’s declaration of the beginning of a “crusade” against terrorism. Bin Laden became the basis of a terrorist typology that, in the eyes of Islamophobes, has persisted until today as the physical/visual representation of Islam.

Indeed, Chris Allen, from the University of Birmingham, affirmed this approach with his November 2013 study investigating “the impact of anti-Muslim hate on British Muslim women”. Allen reveals that some in the UK still call out “Mrs. Osama bin Laden” to Muslim women who dress according to their religious beliefs despite 12 years passing since the events of 9/11. Muslims condemned because “they believe in a religion that connects religion to violence” are exposed to verbal and physical violence from a mentality which sees Islamophobia as legitimate.

According to the findings of Tell Mama, an organization documenting anti-Muslim attacks, 58 percent of the anti-Muslim incidents reported to the organization are directed at women. Of the women who are subjected to verbal and physical abuse, 80% wear visually religious symbols like burqas, headscarves, or veils. On 19 August a pregnant Muslim woman was attacked in Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, because of her headscarf.

Islamophobic incidents are not limited to just people. The number of attacks on Muslim places of worship are too high to be dismissed. For example, in the last 10 years about 200 mosques in the Netherlands have been attacked in different ways. According to the Collective against Islamophobia and Discrimination (CTID), 200 mosques were set on fire, violated with animal limbs, or subjected to harassment in many different ways. According to the Tell Mama report, about 700 places of worship have been attacked in the UK since 2001.

Matthew Feldman, an expert on fascist ideology and the contemporary far-right, thinks that Islamophobia has turned into a “cumulative extremism” due to the radical right. In this regard, the most violent voice in this process of “cumulative extremism” has certainly been Anders Behring Breivik, whose attack caused the death of 77 Norwegian youth on the island of Utøya on 22 July 2001. According to Breivik, who carried out his attack in the name of a “European civil war” to end Islam in Europe, “Islam is a religion that should be confined to small Eastern and Middle Eastern countries”. Categorizing Muslims as “terrorists”, Breivik emphasizes in his manifesto that “the peaceful aspect of Islam which rejects any kind of violence is actually a hoax.” Breivik, who links Islam and violence, omits the part where he has murdered with his own terrorist mentality.

It is a fact that Islamophobic perceptions in the West were 24 percent in 2002 and over 50 percent in 2012 (even if not to the cumulative-extremist extent of Breivik). It’s true that the violence in the Middle East and Arab world has affected this perception. However, it is also true that no one, especially in the Muslim world, has interpreted the Breivik case through Christianity. What’s more, when the story first broke the Western media sought the perpetrator among “Islamic terrorist” organizations. By neglecting socio-economic, political, and personal conditions, Islamophobia is a skewed understanding that reduces all differences to religion.

The Reflections of a Racist Philosophy

Despite appearing to be a religiously-based prejudice, Islamophobia is blatantly derived from an identity-centered understanding, especially in Europe. Moreover, as stated by Raymond Taras, “Islamophobia is a cryptic articulation of race and racism.” In this sense, Islamophobia has long been at the center of an academic debate as a new form of racism. For by linking Islam with radical events, this phenomena has turned into the expression of aggression and prejudice towards Islam – expressions which can reach the level of verbal and physical harassment, torching mosques, and even armed attacks.

Islamophobia thus forms the basis of racism and xenophobia against Muslim-origin immigrants. Islamophobia not only expresses fear and hate toward foreigners of Muslim identity, but it also supports claims of superiority of one group over another. Today, Muslim immigrants are perceived as a threat to the superiority of white Christians in the West. Setting aside the “enemy inside” perception caused by the 9/11 attacks, Muslim minorities are exposed to social exclusion because of the reason that they “threaten European values and European identity itself”.

To conclude, Islam continues to be a reference point, introduced as the “other” and humiliated. The orientalist understanding that identifies the East as barbaric and backward -in opposition to the socially, politically, and economically developed, civilized West-is still valid to an important degree. So Islamophobia, which finds its grounds for legitimacy in the seething Middle East and Arab world, continues to represent an approach that “others” Muslims wholesale.

* This piece was initially published in the Analist, a Turkish monthly journal, in December 2013.

The article Islamophobia: From Unfounded Fear To Racism – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.


Merkel Visits UK: ‘British Euroskepticism’ In Agenda

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By JTW

By Öznur Akcalı

German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits London today. During her one-day visit, Ms. Merkel is to address the Houses of Parliament in Westminster and have tea with the Queen at Buckingham Palace. Known as the most powerful politician in the European Union, Ms. Merkel is expected to ask the British to remain members of the EU.

Ms. Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said that Germany and the UK are important partners for each other, not only bilaterally but in Europe. The spokesman added that “That will naturally be a theme of the visit . . . we want an active, strong UK in the EU.”

Chancellor Merkel is likely to talk about the pressing issues on Europe’s agenda, such as the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the eurozone’s economy. The agenda of British PM David Cameron are mainly EU treaties and immigration policy.

Besides Seibert’s statement and the issues mentioned by analysts, the visit seems symbolic and is being interpreted as meaningful for the future of EU.

Ms. Merkel’s visit is mainly being read in terms of EU policies. One of the most popular German/European newspapers, Deutsche Welle, thinks that the visit can be read as a search for a new political alliance in Europe for the future of EU. The newspaper also points out the relationship between Germany and France and claims that the two countries have started to diverge in terms of EU policies, especially over economic and budget issues. Thus, according to DW, Germany desires new cooperation.

Another interpretation of Chancellor Merkel’s visit to the UK is regarding British Euroskepticism. PM Cameron has said if the Conservatives are still in power in Westminster by 2017 he wants to give Britons a referendum on EU membership. Also, the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) is rising in public opinion polls.

The article Merkel Visits UK: ‘British Euroskepticism’ In Agenda appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Syria: What To Do Now – OpEd

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By Palestine Chronicle

By Richard Falk

There is a new mood of moral desperation associated with the ongoing strife in Syria that has resulted in at least 135,000 deaths, 9.3 millions Syrians displaced, countless atrocities, Palestinian refugee communities attacked, blockaded, and dispersed, and urban sieges designed to starve civilians perceived to be hostile. As the second round of negotiations in Geneva-2 ended as fruitlessly as the earlier round, there is a sense that diplomacy is a performance ritual without any serious intent to engage in conflict-resolving negotiations. Expectations couldn’t be lower for the as yet unscheduled, but still planned, third round of this Geneva-2 process.

The Damascus regime wants an end to armed opposition, while the insurgency insists upon setting up a transition process that is independently administered and committed to the election of a new political leadership.The gap between the parties is too big, and getting bigger, especially as the Damascus government correctly perceives the combat tide as turning in its favor, leading the main opposition forces seemingly to seek to achieve politically and diplomatically what they appear unable to do militarily. Also, it is unclear whether the opposition presence in Geneva has the authority to speak on behalf of several opposition groups in the field in Syria.

In light of these frustrations it is not surprising to observe an acrimonious debate unfolding between American interventionists who believe that only force, or at least its threat, can thread the needle of hope. The interventionists, invoking the responsibility to protect norm that was used effectively to mobilize support in the Security Council to mandate a no fly zone in Libya back in 2011, suggest that such an approach should be used again in 2014 either to establish a no fly zone opening a corridor that will allow humanitarian aid to flow to besieged cities or to achieve regime change in Syria as the only way to end the ordeal by ridding the country of a governing process guilty of repeated mass atrocities against its own people.

The anti-interventionists point out that the Libyan precedent of 2011 is tainted by the deliberate expansion of the humanitarian scope of what was authorized by the UN Security Council to undertake a much wider campaign with the clear intent of regime change, which in fact ended with the capture and execution of Qaddafi, then the head of state in Libya. It is also somewhat tarnished by the post-Qaddafi realities of widespread militia violence and the failure to develop a coherent and legitimate governance structure. The anti-interventionist argue that introducing external military force almost always makes matters worse, more killing, more devastation, and no politically sustainable outcome, and there is no good reason to think this will not happen in Syria. Furthermore, without a Security Council mandate such a use of military force would once again be undertaken in violation of the UN Charter and international law as it could not be justified as self-defense.

Providing humanitarian relief in a situation mainly free of internal political struggle should be sharply distinguished from the realities amid serious civil strife. The response to the Somali breakdown of governability during the presidency of George H. W. Bush in 1992, is illustrative of a seemingly pure humanitarian response to famine and disease characterized by a posture of political non-interference and by the shipment of food and medical supplies to a people in desperate need. This contrasted with the supposedly more muscular response to a troubled Somalia during the early stages of the Clinton presidency in 1993 when the humanitarian mission was fused with anti-‘warlord’ and political reconstruction goals. Difficulties soon emerged as robust national armed resistance was encountered culminating in the Blackhawk Down incident that resulted in 18 deaths of American soldiers, prompting an almost immediate American pullout from Somalia under a cloud of intense criticism of the diplomacy of ‘humanitarian intervention’ within the United States. This had the disastrous spillover effect of leading the supposedly liberal Clinton White House to discourage even a minimal humanitarian response to the onset of genocide in Rwanda in 1994, which might have saved hundreds of thousand of lives.  In the Rwanda context the United States Government even discouraged a modest upgraded response by the United Nations that already had a peacekeeping presence in the country, and whose commander urged reinforcements and authority to protect the targets of genocidal massacres. This failure to act in Rwanda remains a terrible stain on America’s reputation as a humane and respected world leader, and is frequently interpreted as a racist disregard of threats confronting an African population when no major strategic interest of Western countries were present on the side of the victims.

The Syrian reality since its inception was dominated by a political uprising, later an insurgency, demanding regime change in Damascus.  It was also beset with a leadership deficit and by factionalism that only became worse with the passage of time. It was further complicated and confused by its proxy dimensions, both in relation to the supply of arms and with respect to diplomatic alignment.

The humanitarian relief argument to be credible, much less persuasive, needs to deal with the complexities of Somalia 2, and not act as if the humanitarian response can be addressed in detachment from the political struggle as was the case in Somalia 1. When political objectives become intertwined with a humanitarian rationale, forces of national resistance are activated on the reasonable assumption that the real goal of the mission is the political one, and the humanitarian relief is being used as a cover. As we can foresee, this complexity makes for a stiffer climb facing an advocate of humanitarian intervention in the current Syrian tragedy. There exists a more difficult burden of persuasion, although not an impossible one. Indeed, against the background of recent failed interventions, every proposed intervention confronts such a burden at some level. The Syrian case makes this burden more formidable, given the record of past interventions in the region and considering the mixture of forces that make up ‘the opposition,’ which is so far from unified even in carrying on the struggle against the Assad regime, on occasion diverting attention to take action against a rival faction.

In fact, the Syrian situation has an originality that makes the Somalia template clarifying, but hardly definitive. The Syrian political struggle is more acute and vicious than was the case in Somalia 2. Also the humanitarian crisis is deeper and the plight of many Syrians caught in the maelstrom of this horrifying war that is both internal and contains regional proxy elements in ways that make it more confusing as to the probable effects of threats and uses of force on behalf of genuine humanitarian goals.

My basic contention is that there are no easy answers at this stage as to what should be done about the Syrian situation, and dogmatic discourse for or against intervention misses the deeply tragic nature of the policy predicament for all political actors. I would feel more comfortable about the intervention debate if it were expressed in a discourse that accords prominence to the virtue of humility. Too much in Syria remains unknowable to have any confidence that a clear line of advocacy will be historically vindicated.

For me the fundamental question is what it is best to do or not do in such a desperate situation of radical uncertainty. It is not only that the interventionists, and perhaps the anti-interventionists are motivated by a convergence of humanitarian/moral considerations with geostrategic ambitions, but that the nature of these hidden calculations are discussed in governmental circles behind locked doors and transcribed in secret policy memoranda. Until we address these questions of consequences and secret goals in the context of uncertainty and unknowability, the public discourse on what to do about Syria offers limited insight into how best to evaluate policy options being endorsed by policymakers and leaders. I hope that such a discussion will ensue, and replace the rather pointless and dogmatic self-righteous indignation of both interventionists and anti-interventionists.

I remember hearing the senior State Department diplomat, George Ball, speak just weeks after he left the government in the closing years of the Vietnam War. His primary message was that he only began to understand the war when he stopped reading the cables, that is the secret highly classified messages being sent by the military commanders and their civilian counterparts in the war zone. In effect, rather than make policy more transparent its counter-intuitive reality was to shroud the reality of Vietnam in greater obscurity. It is easy to explain why. Those in the field were committed to achieving victory, and were determined to provide reassurance, however false, to the leaders back in Washington so that they could deal with growing anti-war pressures that were a combination of public fatigue after almost a decade of engagement  and skepticism based on what became known as ‘the credibility gap’ between the claims of continuing progress in the war and what was actually taking place in Vietnam.

- Richard Falk is Albert G Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and Research Fellow, Orfalea Center of Global Studies. He is also the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights. Visit his blog.

The article Syria: What To Do Now – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Eavesdropping By Algorithm Is Still Eavesdropping – OpEd

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By Paul Woodward

Bruce Schneier writes: Increasingly, we are watched not by people but by algorithms. Amazon and Netflix track the books we buy and the movies we stream, and suggest other books and movies based on our habits. Google and Facebook watch what we do and what we say, and show us advertisements based on our behavior. Google even modifies our web search results based on our previous behavior. Smartphone navigation apps watch us as we drive, and update suggested route information based on traffic congestion. And the National Security Agency, of course, monitors our phone calls, emails and locations, then uses that information to try to identify terrorists.

Documents provided by Edwards Snowden and revealed by the Guardian today show that the UK spy agency GHCQ, with help from the NSA, has been collecting millions of webcam images from innocent Yahoo users. And that speaks to a key distinction in the age of algorithmic surveillance: is it really okay for a computer to monitor you online, and for that data collection and analysis only to count as a potential privacy invasion when a person sees it? I say it’s not, and the latest Snowden leaks only make more clear how important this distinction is.

The robots-vs-spies divide is especially important as we decide what to do about NSA and GCHQ surveillance. The spy community and the Justice Department have reported back early on President Obama’s request for changing how the NSA “collects” your data, but the potential reforms – FBI monitoring, holding on to your phone records and more – still largely depend on what the meaning of “collects” is. [Continue reading...]

Those who claim a special privilege to define words in their own way, defying the dictates of everyday usage, are also claiming a right to employ their own definitions of truthfulness and lying. This might have some legal utility, but the price for going this route is that language, thus constrained, becomes worthless.

As Schneier notes, Google has also fallen back on the dumb-machine defense when claiming that it does not read our email.

Back when Gmail was introduced, this was Google’s defense, too, about its context-sensitive advertising. Googles computers examine each individual email and insert an advertisement nearby, related to the contents of your email. But no person at Google reads any Gmail messages; only a computer does. In the words of one Google executive: “Worrying about a computer reading your email is like worrying about your dog seeing you naked”.

The absence of human eyes does not add a layer of privacy. On the contrary it constitutes a glaring lack of oversight by promoting a fiction: that what people don’t see, must be harmless.

Google is not a dumb companion, eager to please and dependably obedient; its only loyalty is to its own commercial interests and it currently sees those interests best served by pursuing an ambition to dominate the field of machine learning.

The data analysis being performed by computers enables surveillance more sweeping than could ever be carried out by people.

Although most Americans seem more afraid of government than commerce, the powers being exercised by the NSA are dwarfed by those that have been acquired by companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook. Indeed the intelligence community has been doing little more than opportunistically taking a piggyback ride on the shoulders of Silicon Valley.

The article Eavesdropping By Algorithm Is Still Eavesdropping – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Lobbying For Tollbooths And Speed Bumps On Our Information Superhighway – OpEd

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By Other Words

By Sam Pizzigati

Back in the infancy of the Internet Age, our hippest policy wonks orated endlessly about the emerging “information superhighway.”

But that mouthful of a moniker would soon fall out of fashion. Anyone today who talks about the “information superhighway” comes across as a hopelessly uncool 1990s throwback. The irony here? If we truly treated the Internet as a “superhighway,” maybe we wouldn’t find ourselves in the online mess that now envelops us.

Americans currently pay much more for Internet access than just about everybody else in the developed world. Many other countries have established fast, cheap Internet access as a given of modern life. In the United States, we surf the Net at Model T speeds — and tens of millions of Americans still have no broadband at all.

This pitiful situation may soon get even worse. Two corporate giants, Comcast and Time Warner, are now seeking regulatory approval for a $45 billion merger that would leave Comcast controlling the bulk of the nation’s broadband access.

In 19 of the nation’s 20 largest metro areas, the “only choice for a high-capacity wired connection will be Comcast,” points out telecom industry watchdog Susan Crawford.

So how would thinking “superhighway” help us out of this mess? America’s only actual “superhighway” — our Interstate road network — demonstrates quite neatly the wonders we can realize once we start thinking about basic infrastructure as a public good, not a source of grand private fortune.

Our Interstate’s greatest champion, President Dwight Eisenhower, believed that every citizen had a “vital interest” in a “safe and adequate highway system.” In 1956, Ike signed legislation that authorized America’s largest public works project ever, the construction of a new superhighway that would operate totally under public control.

This public control simply seemed the only way to go for Americans in the middle of the 20th century — and not just for highways. These years would see a vast expansion of public infrastructure, for everything from recreation to education.

What explains this golden age of infrastructure? Relative economic equality certainly played a prime role. By the 1950s, the nation’s original plutocracy had faded away. A mass middle class, the world’s first ever, had jumped onto political center stage.

Most Americans in this new, more equal America faced similar problems. Public solutions just seemed common sense. Build the Interstate with public tax dollars? Operate the Interstate under public control? Of course. Americans of the mid-20th century could see no alternative.

An alternative — we know today in our much more unequal America — does exist: Private interests could control our public goods. We could have decided 60 years ago to lease out the Interstate to private companies.

If we had organized the Interstate along these lines, anyone wanting to ride the system would have been paying tribute all these years to private corporations. And the execs in those corporations would have become rich enough to corrupt our political system — and keep their monopoly power secure.

This scenario should all sound a bit familiar. In contemporary America, we’ve let private corporations determine who can access our data superhighway. That control has generated grand fortunes — and formidable political power.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts has become a billionaire. His top lobbyist used to sit on the Federal Communications Commission, the agency that has to decide whether to approve the Comcast merger with Time Warner. The other federal body with a say in the merger has a chief who helped grease the skids, as a corporate attorney, for Comcast’s 2011 takeover of NBC Universal.

Brian Roberts and his corporate counterparts have essentially created a giant wealth extraction machine, sucking on average over $150 a month per household for TV, phone, and Internet, a bundle that costs a French household in Paris much less than one-third that price.

What’s the first step toward turning this situation around? Stop the Comcast and Time Warner merger.

OtherWords columnist Sam Pizzigati, an Institute for Policy Studies associate fellow, edits the inequality weekly Too Much. His latest book is The Rich Don’t Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class.

The article Lobbying For Tollbooths And Speed Bumps On Our Information Superhighway – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Brazil: Social Movements Are Victims Of Corporate Espionage

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By Latinamerica Press

On Feb. 24, 2013, members of the Xingu Alive Forever Movement from the northeastern state of Para discovered that a new member identified as Antônio was recording a planning meeting which local and international environmental and human rights organizations attended, including Amazon Watch, Global Justice and Brazil’s Socio-environmental Institute. These organizations work with the movement and the communities affected by the Belo Monte Dam and demand that the Belo Monte Construction Consortium (CCBM) comply with the law and respect human rights.

Antônio revealed that CCBM hired him to spy on the movement and that he had sent photos and information about the participants and meetings he had attended to a consortium employee.

Likewise, members of the organization Justiça No Trilhos, which defends communities affected by mining projects, were also victims of espionage carried out by the mining company Vale since 2008. A former security director of the company, identified as André Almeida in an Oct. 2013 hearing before the Senate Human Rights Commission, provided information about the relationship between Vale and the government, which included the support of agents from the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN).

Investigative task force

These two cases were investigated by a Feb. 9-14 mission of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT). The mission concluded that Vale and CCBM were involved in “acts of corruption, that they illegally obtained access to confidential information and access to databases, made illegal recordings, were involved in identity theft, and conducted unfounded employee dismissals.”

“These offenses have been perpetrated with the complicity of state agents.” points out a FIDH press release. “Documents have been unearthed that substantiate both the bribing of state agents and possible assistance provided by the Brazilian State Agency (ABIN).”

In statements at the end of the mission, the French lawyer Alexandre Faro revealed that “Vale spends between 200,000 to 500,000 reales [US$84,000 to $210,000] to investigate social movements.” He added that the company had access to Infoseg, the personal information network of government entities, “which is absolutely illegal [and] shows that state company employees are probably complicit.”

The members of the mission got together with those social organizations that were victims of espionage, government representatives, and the judiciary, among others.

Jimena Reyes, who is in charge of the Americas Office of the FIDH and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, said that “the spying activities conducted by multinational corporations on social movements in Brazil raises serious questions about human rights respect by companies. These activities undermine freedom of expression and the right to protest, which form one of the fundamental pillars of a democratic state.”

The article Brazil: Social Movements Are Victims Of Corporate Espionage appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Settlers Bulldoze Palestinian Lands Near Nablus To Expand Outpost

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By Maan

Israeli settlers on Thursday bulldozed private Palestinian lands near the northern West Bank village of Jalud south of Nablus in order to expand an illegal settlement outpost, a Palestinian Authority official said.

Ghassan Daghlas, a PA official who monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an that settlers from the Shvut Rachel outpost had decided to expand their illegal settlement at the expense of nearby private Palestinian landowners.

The fields that were leveled belong to Ahmad Ibrahim Hajj Muhammad, he added.

Daghlas said that the Israeli government had granted the settlers construction licenses.

Jalud is located directly beside a number of notoriously violent Jewish outposts and settlements, and hundreds of acres of its agricultural lands have been confiscated by Israeli authorities for their construction.

Settlers regularly attack the village, burning cars and uprooting olive trees, and in January locals captured a group of marauding settler youth before turning them over to security forces.

In 2013, there were 399 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Over 90 percent of investigations into settler violence by Israeli police fail to lead to an indictment.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law.

The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.

The article Settlers Bulldoze Palestinian Lands Near Nablus To Expand Outpost appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Wi-Fi Computer Virus Goes Airborn Like Common Cold

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By MINA

Researchers in Britain have shown for the first time how a computer virus can spread through Wi-Fi “as efficiently as the common cold spreads between humans.” The ‘Chameleon’ Wi-Fi AP-AP virus infiltrates dense networks and spreads at an alarming rate.

Chameleon was designed by a team of researchers from the University of Liverpool, and displayed a ‘remarkable amount of intelligence’ in its capacity to spread in a similar way to the common cold.

The virus “was able to avoid detection and identify the points at which Wi-Fi access is least protected by encryption and passwords,” according to a release published on the university’s website. The areas which are generally ‘least protected’ are public access points – such as free Wi-Fi in cafes and airports.

Network Security Professor, Alan Marshall, stated that the virus doesn’t attempt to damage existing networks but instead infiltrates the data of all users connected to a network via Wi-Fi .

“WiFi connections are increasingly a target for computer hackers because of well-documented security vulnerabilities, which make it difficult to detect and defend against a virus,” said Marshall.

“It was assumed, however, that it wasn’t possible to develop a virus that could attack Wi-Fi networks but we demonstrated that this is possible and that it can spread quickly. We are now able to use the data generated from this study to develop a new technique to identify when an attack is likely,” he added.

Chameleon’s success lies in the means by which it avoids detection – the majority of anti-virus software packages looks for infections which are present on computers and the Internet, rather than publicly-used Wi-Fi networks.

“When Chameleon attacked an AP (access point) it didn’t affect how it worked, but was able to collect and report the credentials of all other Wi-Fi users who connected to it. The virus then sought out other Wi-Fi APs that it could connect to and infect,” Marshall said. That the virus doesn’t disrupt the network itself, but instead those connecting to it, makes it all the more subversive and dangerous.

The virus was found to travel the most quickly between access points which were within a distance of 160 feet, prompting the ‘common cold’ comparison.

“As demand drives up the availability and use of WiFi, the geographical area that an attack can exploit increases exponentially,” the study noted.

The article Wi-Fi Computer Virus Goes Airborn Like Common Cold appeared first on Eurasia Review.


The French Bid For Grandeur In The Middle East – Analysis

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By Geopolitical Monitor

By Emanuele Scimia

It is a time of revival in the Middle East. And much like Russia, there is mounting evidence that France is exploiting the war in Syria to stage a comeback in the region.

On February 15, the French Foreign Ministry bluntly pointed the finger at the Syrian government for the failure of the second round of peace talks in Geneva. Earlier this month, Paris had voiced concern about Damascus’ delays in delivering its chemical weapons to the international community under the program mediated by the United States and Moscow last fall.

France and the United States have reportedly given Saudi Arabia and Qatar the green light to mastermind the recent offensive of “moderate” Islamist insurgents against the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), in a war within the three-year-long civil war pitting forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against the rebellion.

Among Western powers, Paris is the most supportive of the Syrian National Coalition, the main opposition group against Assad and his acolytes on paper. In the aftermath of the chemical attack in Damascus’ suburbs late in August 2013, and ahead of US President Barack Obama’s turnaround and accommodation with the Kremlin to dismantle Syria’s chemical arsenal, the French government aligned with the White House for punitive military action against the Syrian regime.

All the same, French intelligence would have an open channel with the Assad government to monitor the flow of European citizens filling the ranks of jihadist rebels in the Levant, according to a January 15 report by Reuters.

While Washington’s interest in the Middle East appears to be waning as a consequence of its strategic rebalancing to the Far East and its primary focus on economic recovery and energy self-sufficiency, the government of French President Francois Hollande is trying to carve out a prominent role in the area spanning from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf by pandering to Washington’s search for burden-sharing in that turbulent space.

France and the United States have already given rise to a geostrategic division of labor by pooling military and diplomatic assets in Africa, where Paris still vaunts an informal empire to defend from the Saharan-Sahelian basin to the Gulf of Guinea.

After its West African colonies won independence in the early 1960s, France has continued to exert political and economic leverage over them. This system of indirect rule, later renamed “Françafrique,” has been nurtured for years by proverbial back channels of influence-peddling involving French rulers of whatever political stripe and their African counterparts.

The armed interventions that France is conducting in Mali and the Central African Republic (CAR) have showcased its readiness to dispatch military personnel and hardware from both permanent and temporary bases in Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Cameroon.

However, the Middle East is hardly Africa. In spite of its past as a colonial power in Syria and Lebanon, Paris is now a parvenu of sorts in this area, where it cannot rely on a system of power comparable to Francafrique.

France maintains a military base in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but for the time being this seems to be a diplomatic tool rather than an operational outpost connecting the Arabian Peninsula with its military installations in Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa. Diplomacy and not power politics is also behind Paris’ participation in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), in which its 830 peacekeepers remain substantially “neutralized” along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

France keeps having fluctuating relations with the Israeli government. Paris has been recently accused by Israel’s Foreign Ministry of having biased, pro-Palestinian tendencies like Italy, Britain and Spain, while its tough position over the Iranian nuclear program has been praised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Furthermore, the French government has from the outset expressed aversion to Tehran’s possible involvement in the Syrian peace process.

After the breakout of the civil confrontation in Syria, France has reinforced its ties with the Qatari sheikdom. Paris and Doha have in stages promoted the creation of protected civilian zones in northern Syria, along the Turkish border. Now that from Egypt to Syria the influence of Qatar over the Arab revolts appears to be declining to Saudi Arabia’s advantage, France is cementing a community of interests with the Saudi Kingdom.

In August 2013, Defense News reported that France had secured a $1.3 billion defense deal to upgrade Riyadh’s two refuelling vessels and four frigates. Two months later, the French military held joint drills with the Saudi armed forces in the mountains of Taif, near Mecca. In addition, during Hollande’s visit to Saudi Arabia at the end of December 2013, Paris and Riyadh devised a commercial triangulation under which the Lebanese army would buy French military equipment through a $3 billion grant from the Saudi government.

Though France is gaining ground in the Middle East, it is quite far from being considered an autonomous player in the region.

Suffice it to say that France still depends on US military technology and expertise. The armed intervention that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) unleashed against the Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, whose command was in the hands of Paris and London, highlighted the inability of European countries to run military operations without US support in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) activities and air-to-air refueling.

France-led military action against Islamist militants in northern Mali is suffering the same operational problems that plagued the NATO mission in Libya. In mid-December 2013, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian remarked that the 12 Reaper drones planned to hunt down jihadist fighters across the Sahel had been bought from the US General Atomics, since no European defense enterprise could provide this kind of surveillance assets, whose individual development would demand prohibitive high investments for the Old Continent’s cash-strapped nations.

Countries such as Saudi Arabia, which are apparently trying to diversify their diplomatic and military ties away from the special relationship with the United States, had better assess the strengths and weaknesses of France’s bid for a refurbished geopolitical “grandeur” in the Middle East.

Emanuele Scimia is a contributor to Geopoliticalmonitor.com

The article The French Bid For Grandeur In The Middle East – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Peace In Mindanao: The Challenge Of Disarming Rebels – Analysis

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By RSIS

A military offensive against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) reduced the threat of “spoilers” to rekindle violence. However, failing to reintegrate BIFF communities can lead to the emergence of a new generation of violent militants, posing a threat to the wider region.

By Joseph Franco

ACCOLADES FOLLOWED the 25 January 2014 signing of the Normalisation Annex between the Philippine government (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This was, afterall, the last remaining hurdle before the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement.

The Annex detailed the phased decommissioning of MILF combatants, the redeployment of Philippine security forces, and the overall reduction of illicit firearms in Mindanao, Southern Phiilippines. Optimistic projections forecast the legislation of a Bangsamoro Basic Law by the end of 2014 and the subsequent creation of an autonomous Bangsamoro region by 2016.

Operation Darkhorse: a qualified success

The far-reaching consequences of the impending peace deal attracted the attention of spoilers such as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), which broke away from the MILF in 2011. The BIFF purported itself as the new vanguard of the Muslim secessionist movement and pledged to continue using armed violence.

Operation Darkhorse was launched in 27 January 2014 by the Philippine Army in support of a police operation to arrest the leadership of the BIFF. Mechanised infantry units were able to take four BIFF camps, including their headquarters and primary IED or bomb-making facility. From a military perspective, Darkhorse accomplished its goal of severely damaging the BIFF’s capability to wage a guerrilla campaign.

There are however, important details that may have been overlooked by some observers. Prior to the symbolic raising of the Philippine flag at the BIFF’s main encampment, several media personalities invited to cover the event were wounded in an IED attack. While there had been prior IED incidents attributed to the BIFF, the 1 February 2014 explosion was the first time an attack was filmed and subsequently broadcast to a wider audience.

Child combatants as potential militants

But aside from the BIFF’s use of IEDs, the group’s casualty statistics underscore a troubling trend. Of the 52 rebels killed, three were confirmed child combatants. Anecdotes from soldiers reveal how unarmed minors in BIFF uniform accompany their older male relatives into skirmishes. Once the older BIFF combatant is killed or injured, the minor picks up the weapon and presses on the fight.

Involvement by children is a recurring feature of internal conflict in the Philippines, a manifestation of what can be described as a ‘vocational transference’ of extremist behaviour. As in other internal conflicts, it is human and not physical geography that matters more. The BIFF’s ‘camps’ are typical rural communities. In fact, camps of various threat groups are not demarcated by barbed wire or fencing but have diffuse boundaries – agricultural communities with hastily-built fighting positions.

Regardless of political affiliation, the homes of members of pro-government militias, secessionist movements like the MILF and the BIFF, Islamist-inspired groups such as the Abu Sayyaf, and private armed groups would often have a common feature—fortifications built from simple and often fragile resources such as compacted earth or coconut lumber. Even without an organised armed conflict, the pervasive lack of governance in Central Mindanao makes it susceptible to violence, which in turn incentivises the ownership of illicit firearms and prompts the organisation of self-defence groups.

The BIFF even has greater propensity to attract children to its campaign, considering its limited number of personnel compared to groups such as the MILF. Prior to Darkhorse, foreign and Philippine media have independently confirmed the disproportionate number of child combatants swelling the ranks of the BIFF. Contrary to the experience of child soldiers in Africa and Latin America, there is a distinct lack of coercion for the recruitment of young combatants in Mindanao.

Prior to the peace process, succeeding generations in MILF communities would join the secessionist movement. Membership in armed groups is an ubiquitous event, an attractive vocation for young men with limited socioeconomic prospects. Children are raised in an environment where firearms are plentiful and are passed on from older male relatives as heirlooms.

Consequences of failed normalisation

The greatest risk is for this generation of BIFF child combatants to grow older and more radical. The dismantling of BIFF communities could only serve to diffuse latent resentment for the Philippine government and the prospective Bangsamoro – a conflict ready to ignite once infused with ideological motive. The Normalisation Annex intends to prevent this, by guaranteeing the “pursuit of sustainable livelihood”, “political participation”, and a “peaceful deliberative society”.

The critical step is to diminish the amount of illicit weapons in Mindanao and disincentivise the use of violence. Even with the disbandment of organised armed groups, the resulting glut of weapons would find its way into the illicit small arms trade. This dynamic would be accelerated if promised improvements to livelihoods do not materialise. Alongside economic well-being, political arrangements and institutional arrangements must be in place to create meaningful autonomy to the Bangsamoro.

Failure to pursue normalisation poses consequences not only to the Philippine peace process but to the wider Southeast Asian region. Rifles from the military and handguns from the Philippine National Police had found use in sectarian conflict in Poso, Indonesia. The 2001 Jemaah Islamiyah plot to bomb foreign missions in Singapore was also facilitated by the conflict in Mindanao – as a place to procure explosives like ammonium nitrate and firearms.

Moreover, the existence of latent extremists, child combatants grown up, could create enclaves untouchable to authorities. This is not without precedent in Central Mindanao, which for years played host to a Jemaah Islamiyah training camp, until its destruction in 2005. These areas are contiguous to the locations of BIFF communities.

It is not too far-fetched to see a future where violent ideologues could either buy or recruit the services of former child combatants who fail to reintegrate into mainstream society. The apparent proficiency of the BIFF in using IEDs compared to other Philippine threat groups constitute an attractive skill set for other violent extremists seeking to enhance their capability to launch attacks.

In short, the infusion of a violent extremist ideology to previously un-ideological but nonetheless experienced combatants can create a potent mix that can destabilise the Southeast Asian region.

Joseph Franco is an Associate Research Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for National Security at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.

The article Peace In Mindanao: The Challenge Of Disarming Rebels – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Shinzo Abe’s Visit To India: Reviewing The Strategic Partnership – Analysis

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By IDSA

By Titli Basu

The India-Japan summit level meeting held on 25 January 2014 and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s presence as the chief guest of India’s Republic Day parade the following day marked the deepening bond between the two countries. There has been a high-level of bilateral exchanges between the two countries from Manmohan Singh’s visit to Tokyo in May 2013 to Abe’s latest visit. Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited India in November 2013 followed by the visit of the Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera in January. Clearly, a push towards strengthening the strategic partnership between India and Japan is ongoing.

On 25 January 2014, the leadership signed eight agreements. The currency swap arrangement expanded from US$15 to 50 billion effective from January 2014. To further consolidate the relation and strengthen maritime cooperation, India has invited Japan to participate in the Malabar naval exercise 2014 despite Chinese reservations witnessed in 2007. The Japanese Coast Guards and their Indian counterparts performed a joint exercise off the coast of Kochi and Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) and the Indian Navy conducted second bilateral exercise off the coast of Chennai in January 2014 and December 2013 respectively. A dialogue mechanism between the Secretary-General of National Security Secretariat of Japan, Shotaro Yachi, and India’s National Security Advisor, Shivshankar Menon, has been instituted. Joint Working Group (JWG) negotiation on the ShinMaywa Industries Utility Seaplane Mark 2 (US-2) amphibian aircraft is scheduled for March 2014. Both the countries are weighing the possibility of assembling the US-2 aircraft in India, which will provide India the opportunity to access Japanese military technology.

Despite evident proximity, one of the challenges in the bilateral relation is negotiating the Agreement for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy. Fundamental differences on CTBT continue to make the negotiations difficult. While Japan underscores the importance of CTBT, India reiterates its commitment towards voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing. Following the 2008 NSG waiver, India has entered into civil nuclear agreements with several countries despite being a non-signatory to the CTBT. Moreover, the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement of 2008 is the framework on which India wants to model subsequent agreements. Additionally, Abe is navigating through the difficult choice of Japan’s position on nuclear non-proliferation and the commercial interests of Japanese nuclear businesses, struggling to cope with the post-Fukushima financial loss. The agreement is also important for the French and US nuclear businesses. Their projects in India are affected since critical components for the nuclear reactors are expected to be provided by the Japanese corporations. Toshiba, Hitachi and Mitsubishi have stakes in Westinghouse, General Electric and Areva respectively. Nuclear lobby is exerting pressure on the political leadership of Japan to facilitate nuclear technology export to compensate for the loss post-Fukushima accident. Delay in negotiation runs the risk of escalating cost.

While the bilateral trade figure is expanding following the 2011 Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), it reflects trade imbalance in favour of Japan, which is likely to continue in the near future. Bilateral trade in 2012-13 totalled US$18.51 billion. This figure leaves much to be desired when compared to the bilateral trade figures between Japan and China, which amounts to $334 billion despite the developments following the nationalisation of the Senkaku islands.

Export Import Statistics

\Year 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013
EXPORT 3,025.70 3,629.54 5,091.24 6,328.54 6,100.06
%Growth 19.96 40.27 24.3 -3.61
India’s Total Export 185,295.36 178,751.43 251,136.19 305,963.92 300,400.68
%Growth -3.53 40.49 21.83 -1.82
%Share 1.63 2.03 2.03 2.07 2.03
IMPORT 7,886.27 6,734.18 8,632.03 11,999.43 12,412.29
%Growth -14.61 28.18 39.01 3.44
India’s Total Import 303,696.31 288,372.88 369,769.13 489,319.49 490,736.65
%Growth -5.05 28.23 32.33 0.29
%Share 2.6 2.34 2.33 2.45 2.53
TOTAL TRADE 10,911.97 10,363.72 13,723.27 18,327.97 18,512.35
%Growth -5.02 32.42 33.55 1.01
India’s Total Trade 488,991.67 467,124.31 620,905.32 795,283.41 791,137.33
%Growth -4.47 32.92 28.08 -0.52
%Share 2.23 2.22 2.21 2.3 2.34
TRADE BALANCE
India’s Trade Balance -118,400.95 -109,621.45 -118,632.94 -183,355.57 -190,335.97

Values in US $ Millions
Source: Department of Commerce Export Import Data Bank
Japan is concerned about what is perceived as an assertive China particularly following the developments in the East China Sea. Japan has for long relied on the US-Japan security alliance, but there is a school of thought, which argues that US is worried about getting dragged into Japan’s conflict. Following Abe’s Yasukuni shrine visit, the US conveyed its disappointment stating that “Japan’s leadership has taken an action that would exacerbate tensions with Japan’s neighbours”.1 Abe realises that solely relying on the US-Japan security alliance might not serve national interest in the fast evolving regional security architecture. So the leadership is diversifying its options and strengthening cooperation with countries like India and Australia. Moreover, Abe is working hard to garner support for reviving the debate on Article 9 of the Constitution and restructuring Japan’s pacifist orientation which, if matures, is expected to redefine Japan’s role in international politics.

China has keenly observed the progress of the India-Japan relations that it perceives as a part of a broader attempt by Abe to encircle China. Chinese media has been restrained this time compared to the previous year following Manmohan Singh’s visit, when People’s Daily in May 2013 referred to Japanese politicians as “petty burglars” for courting India. The Global Times on 30 May 2013 reported that “Japan’s wishful thinking of “encircling China” is just an illusion. Besides sneaking a few bargains from its competition with China, Japan does not have the strength to prevail over China’s influence in Asia”.2 Chinese media perceived the recent visit as “aims at pinning down China but hardly looks like succeeding”.3 The Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Qin Gang, on January 2014 conveyed a measured response by stating that “We hope that development of defence cooperation between both countries will be conducive to peace, stability and security of the whole region”.

Abe, who is known for his hawkish foreign policy, is friendly towards India. It was under his leadership that Japan signed the Strategic and Global Partnership with India in 2006. His historic speech on the Confluence of the Two Seas and his concept of Democratic Security Diamond underscore that India is perceived as an important partner. The National Security Strategy and the National Defence Program Guidelines released in December 2013 articulated that “Japan will strengthen its relationship with India in a broad range of fields, including maritime security”.4 Japan has enormous opportunity to invest since India is planning $1 trillion investment in infrastructure over five years. The footprints of Japanese ODA in Indian infrastructure/developmental projects are expanding. There remains no historical baggage between India and Japan. The leadership should address the concerns and realise the full potential of the strategic partnership. While India is scheduled to head for elections shortly, there would be no major shift in overall policy position in case of change of leadership in New Delhi. Both India and Japan will continue to deepen their strategic partnership while responding to the evolving regional security landscape in the coming days.

Views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDSA or of the Government of India.

1. “Statement on Prime Minister Abe’s December 26 Visit to Yasukuni Shrine”, December 26, 2013

http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/p/tp-20131226-01.html

2. “Diplomatic row due to disoriented Japan”, Global Times 2013-5-30

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/785417.shtml#.Uvmpo_tRLSg

3. “Abe cozies up to India”, Global Times, January 27, 2014

http://www.globaltimes.cn/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Pri…

4. National Defence Program Guidelines For FY 2014 and Beyond, December 2013

http://www.mod.go.jp/j/approach/agenda/guideline/2014/pdf/20131217_e2.pdf

Originally published by Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (www.idsa.in) at http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/ShinzoAbesVisittoIndia_tbasu_270214

The article Shinzo Abe’s Visit To India: Reviewing The Strategic Partnership – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Ukraine: In Crimea, A Simmering Cauldron – Analysis

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By RFE RL

By Robert Coalson

(RFE/RL) — This week’s standoff in Crimea was a long time coming.

The emerging crisis pitting ethnic Russians seeking integration with Moscow and Crimean Tatars who wish to remain in Ukraine is emblematic of the smoldering tensions that have been a fact of daily life on the sunny Black Sea peninsula for the last quarter-century.

Because of the region’s unique and tortured history, Crimean Tatars are afraid, says Igor Semivolos, director of the Center for Near East Studies in Kyiv. He says that the Tatars feel “threats from the Russian-speaking population, or more concretely, from groups of Cossacks and other formations that are now being created under the conditions of political hysteria that we see now in Crimea. And [Tatars] see a threat to themselves from these groups — including a physical threat.”

At the same time, Semivolos adds, Russians in Crimea themselves feel cut off from their own homeland and see themselves and their culture as threatened by Ukrainian nationalism and Tatar claims in Crimea. “I think that the Russians correspondingly feel the same about all actions by the Crimean Tatars — as attacks,” he says. “That is, it is a classic situation of conflict in which both sides feel they are defending themselves.”

Crimean Tatars stormed the regional parliament in Simferopol on February 26 and the Kremlin launched military exercises near Ukraine’s border. The next day, apparently pro-Moscow gunmen seized government buildings and raised the Russian flag.

During a visit to the peninsula earlier this month, it was clear that this simmering cauldron — fueled since by the fall of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s pro-Russian government and increased talk of separatism by ethnic Russians — could easily boil over.

Refat Chubarov, the head of the Tatar community’s self-government organ, the Mejlis, and a deputy in the Crimean parliament, tells RFE/RL Tatars consider the current political crisis an existential threat.

“Any risk or danger that, in our view, could lead to the partitioning of Ukraine or to its loss of sovereignty or part of its sovereignty is unacceptable for us,” Chubarov explains. “Because we understand that if — God forbid! — that happens, the first ones to suffer will be us, Crimean Tatars, because we would once again be in a situation where such cataclysms destroy any chance for us to restore our rights or, in general, for us to exist [as a nation].”

Deported By Stalin

In calmer times, ethnic Russians and Tatars in Crimea live side by side, coexisting and sometimes intermingling. In the ancient city of Bakhchyseray, Russian tourists in the former palace of the Crimean khan photograph one another by a fountain that was immortalized by Aleksandr Pushkin in one of the classic poems of Russian literature. As the guide tells the story of the “fountain of tears,” a call to prayer rings out from a nearby mosque.

Crimean roads and seafronts are lined with cafes and restaurants advertising the delights of Tatar cuisine. The clientele is overwhelmingly drawn from the 60 percent of the population that is ethnic Russian.

But the roads are also lined with primitive block buildings, often without windows or roofs. They are the settlements of Tatar squatters, who build the structures on vacant land as they try to persuade the government to give them the title.

In May 1944, the entire population of 200,000 Crimean Tatars was forcibly deported by Josef Stalin’s Red Army to Russia and Central Asia. Nearly half of the population died within the first year of the deportation. Stalin then resettled the strategic peninsula with Russians, moving them into Tatar homes and handing over Tatar property to them.

The Tatars, however, never put down roots in their places of exile, and the dream of returning to Crimea never died for them. Mudeser Dzhelyalov, who owns two restaurants in Simferopol, says he knew his whole life that he would return. “As soon as I learned how to write, I already — according to my father’s dictation — wrote a letter to [Soviet leader Leonid] Brezhnev: ‘Dear Grandpa Brezhnev! Help our people return to their homeland in Crimea,’” he says.

‘Experience Of Genocide’

As the Soviet Union collapsed, they began returning. Now they make up some 12 percent of the population.

But they have had to claw their way back among a Russian population that largely denies they suffered particularly under the Soviet government and that still believes in the Stalin-created myth that the entire Tatar nation collaborated with the Nazis in World War II.

Analyst Semivolos says the Crimean Tatars, as a nation, have a “post-genocidal mentality.” “Crimean Tatars in many ways are still living through the experience of genocide to the present day. For them, in many ways, it isn’t over, the process of returning, in many ways it is continuing,” he explains.

“That is why there is this perception of threats, of existential threats, threats to their lives, their physical existence. And they view all sorts of actions, even ones that Russians themselves consider defensive, but for Crimean Tatars, they are attacks.”

Officials in the Russian-dominated local administrations have resisted the returning Tatars ever since they began coming back. Tatars have had to fight to get land and build homes, to open schools, and to build mosques.

Fighting Official Intransigence

Perhaps the most eloquent symbol of official resistance is an open field on the outskirts of Simferopol. It is surrounded by a high wall of rough blocks — the same blocks the Tatar squatter huts are made of. The land will be the site of Simferopol’s future central mosque, the biggest one in Crimea, that will serve the 60,000 Muslims in the surrounding area.

Although under Ukrainian law, the government is supposed to provide free land for houses of worship, the Tatar community struggled for about a decade before securing this site in 2011. The government continues to throw up obstacles that have blocked the beginning of construction.

Aider Ismailov, the deputy mufti of the Crimea Muslim Spiritual Directorate, is a soft-spoken, measured young man. But when asked about the new mosque, the anger rises quickly in his voice.

“Our request [for land] was justified. How? By the fact that for more than 15 years, Muslims in Simferopol have been holding their holiday prayers — that is, twice a year — in a rented gymnasium in the Palace of Labor Unions,” he says. “Fifteen years! This is shameful, for Crimea, for the capital, and for the whole country. That is, Muslims have been demanding land for the construction of a new mosque for 10 years because they are holding their holiday prayers in a gymnasium.”

The current central mosque, a neat little whitewashed building in the center of town that was used as a book bindery in Soviet times, is the oldest building in Simferopol. It has been the city’s main mosque for more than five centuries.

Mejlis head Chubarov says that such perceived injustices explain why Tatars are arguably even more insistent than ethnic Ukrainians that Ukraine’s future must be with the European Union. “We know that if Ukraine gains even associate status [with the European Union], then the government and politicians will have to — at least to some extent — follow [international] standards and not just do things like they do now,” he explains. “There won’t be corruption like now. There won’t be such lawlessness in the courts. And there won’t be such injustice to such a large group of people as the Crimean Tatars.”

‘They Love Our Food’

Despite the growing tensions on the peninsula, restaurant owner Dzhelyalov is looking to the future. On a corner lot on the very edge of Simferopol, with a view of the airport on one side and a mosque on the other, he is building his dream — a vast, two-story restaurant and event center in the traditional style of Tatar khans. In every detail, from tiles to fountains, it recalls the Khan’s palace at Bakhchyseray.

One night earlier this month, construction crews were busy on both floors at nearly midnight, and light was pouring out of the vast windows into the dark night. Standing on a concrete floor under a bare light bulb, Dzhelyalov explained with a smile that the hall had already been booked for a Russian couple’s wedding in April.

Despite all the obstacles he has overcome since he returned to Crimea in 1992 — or perhaps because he has overcome them — Dzhelyalov is confident and optimistic. His restaurants bustle with a mixed crowd huddled around plates of traditional Tatar dishes — meat pies, stuffed grape leaves, shish-kebab, plov, and more.

And that is the recipe for his optimism. “From the very beginning, from the very beginning, they came eagerly. And the more they learned about us and about me and about the food…,” he explains. “Today in Simferopol and everywhere in Crimea the most developed cuisine is ours. People like our food, Crimean Tatar food, best of all.”

Dilyaver Osmanov of RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service contributed to this report

The article Ukraine: In Crimea, A Simmering Cauldron – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Wyden, Udall, Heinrich Statement On Reported Bulk Collection Of Private Videos‏

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By Eurasia Review

United States Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Martin Heinrich (D- N.M.) issued the following joint statement in response to reports that a large number of individuals, including Americans, may have had private online webcam videos intercepted in bulk by British intelligence agencies.

“We are extremely troubled by today’s press report that a very large number of individuals – including law-abiding Americans – may have had private videos of themselves and their families intercepted and stored without any suspicion of wrongdoing. If this report is accurate it would show a breathtaking lack of respect for the privacy and civil liberties of law-abiding citizens.

In recent decades, largely isolated national communications systems have been replaced by a single, globally interconnected communications network. While this has had incredibly positive benefits, it has also dramatically increased the likelihood of innocent Americans being swept up in intelligence collection nominally aimed at foreigners. It is becoming clearer and clearer that more needs to be done to ensure that “foreign” intelligence collection does not intrude unnecessarily on the rights of law-abiding people or needlessly undermine the competitiveness of America’s leading industries.

We commend Chairman Feinstein for her decision to conduct a comprehensive review of ongoing surveillance programs, and we plan to thoroughly investigate these most recent reports as that review goes forward. Any involvement of US agencies in the alleged activities reported today will need to be closely scrutinized.”

The article Wyden, Udall, Heinrich Statement On Reported Bulk Collection Of Private Videos‏ appeared first on Eurasia Review.

UK Spy Agency Collected Millions Of Yahoo Webcam Images

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By VOR

US senators said British and US spy agencies showed a “breathtaking lack of respect” for privacy after reports they had intercepted and stored images from webcams used by millions of Yahoo users.

Files from Britain’s communications spy agency GCHQ leaked by former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed how the Optic Nerve program collected still images of webcam chats regardless of whether individual users were suspects or not, the Guardian newspaper reported.

In one six-month period in 2008, the British spy agency collected webcam imagery from more than 1.8 million Yahoo user accounts around the world, the Guardian said.

The data collected, which was available to NSA analysts through routine information sharing, contained a significant amount of sexual content.

“We are extremely troubled by today’s press report that a very large number of individuals – including law-abiding Americans – may have had private videos of themselves and their families intercepted and stored without any suspicion of wrongdoing,” Democratic US Senators Ron Wyden, Mark Udall and Martin Heinrich said in a joint statement.

“If this report is accurate, it would show a breathtaking lack of respect for the privacy and civil liberties of law-abiding citizens.”

They promised to investigate the activity as part of an ongoing comprehensive review of surveillance programs, with close scrutiny to any role US agencies may have played.

“It is becoming clearer and clearer that more needs to be done to ensure that ‘foreign’ intelligence collection does not intrude unnecessarily on the rights of law-abiding people or needlessly undermine the competitiveness of America’s leading industries,” the senators added.

Yahoo, which was apparently chosen because its webcam system was known to be used by GCHQ targets, expressed outrage at the reported surveillance.

“We were not aware of nor would we condone this reported activity,” a spokeswoman for the US technology firm told AFP in an email statement.

“This report, if true, represents a whole new level of violation of our users’ privacy that is completely unacceptable.
“We are committed to preserving our users’ trust and security and continue our efforts to expand encryption across all of our services.”

Leaked GCHQ documents from 2008 to 2010 explicitly refer to the surveillance program, although the Guardian said later information suggested it was still active in 2012.

The data was used for experiments in automated facial recognition, as well as to monitor existing GCHQ targets and discover new ones, the British paper said.

The program reportedly saved one image every five minutes from a webcam user’s feed, partly to comply with human rights legislation and partly to cut down the sheer amount of data being collected.

GCHQ analysts were able to search the metadata, such as location and length of webcam chat, and they could view the actual images where the username was similar to a surveillance target.

In a statement to the Guardian, GCHQ said all of its work was “carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework which ensures that our activities are authorized, necessary and proportionate”.

The article UK Spy Agency Collected Millions Of Yahoo Webcam Images appeared first on Eurasia Review.

India Set To Pay Part Of Oil Debt To Iran

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By Radio Zamaneh

With the easing of international sanctions on Iran, India says it is now prepared to pay Iran $1.5 billion to clear part of its debt for oil shipments.

Indian Oil Secretary Vivek Rae announced on Tuesday February 26 that India is prepared to pay off a portion of its oil purchase debts to Iran.

Iran and the world powers reached an interim agreement in November 2013, amid ongoing nuclear negotiations, which allows Iran access to $4.2 billion in frozen oil revenues from a number of countries. The funds are to be paid in eight transfers. Japan made the first such payment on February 1, transferring $550 million.

India began increasing its oil imports from Iran last month. Iran’s oil revenues were cut by about 50 percent due to the international sanctions imposed by the U.S. on Iran’s crude imports and financial sector.

The article India Set To Pay Part Of Oil Debt To Iran appeared first on Eurasia Review.


74 Iranian Wildlife Species Red-Listed By Environment Department

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By Radio Zamaneh

At least 74 species of Iranian wildlife are on the red list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a sign of serious threats against the country’s biodiversity.

The Iranian Department of Environment published a report in advance of World Wildlife Day on March 3, detailing the state of animal biodiversity in Iran. The report lists 1,140 animal species in Iran, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish living in internal lakes as well as surrounding seas.

The Department of Environment has warned, however, that 74 of these species are on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and if there is no calculated effort to save rare and endangered Iranian species such as the onager, Iranian cheetah, black bear and yellow deer, they will soon become extinct.

In less than 100 years, rare species such as the Iranian lion and Mazandaran tiger have become extinct. According to the Department of Environment’s chart, the Iranian cheetah (Asiatic cheetah) is now in a critical situation, while the Iranian yellow deer, onager (Persian zebra), Caspian seal, blue whale and wing whale are at risk of extinction. Other mammals such as the Persian ibex, deer, long-fingered bat, Armenian mouflon and black bear are placed in the “vulnerable” category.

A number of birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish are also endangered or even near extinction. The white-backed vulture, Great Spotted Eagle, Eagle-beaked Turtle lagoon crocodile, Lorestan salamander, sturgeon and wild carp are among the species listed as endangered or in critical condition.

Why is Iranian wildlife declining?

The Department of Environment has offered three main reasons for the decline of so many Iranian wildlife species: factors related to urban development and human activities, natural factors, and factors related to the lack of adequate protection. In terms of urban development and human activities, the main issues have been identified as the availability of illegal weapons, the overexploitation of wildlife habitat for livestock, and the trade in wildlife species and their body parts.

In terms of natural factors, repeated droughts have had the most adverse effect on the habitat and lives of Iranian wildlife. However, the issue of the growing list of endangered and extinct species in Iran cannot be completely understood without looking at the weaknesses in the legal structure and environmental efforts to protect wildlife. In general, there are insufficient personnel and resources available to protect wildlife, and laws and regulations are too lax to ward off transgressors.

There are 272 conservation areas around Iran for a total of 17 million hectares under the supervision of the Department of the Environment, variously named national parks, protected areas, and natural wildlife refuges, all meant to protect the genetic resources of the country. There are only 2,617 rangers and 430 environmental monitoring units engaged in protecting these vast areas, which amounts to 6,500 hectares to cover for each ranger. Optimum protection at international standards would require at least 1,000 environmental monitoring units to cover that much territory.

Meanwhile, the legal system does not offer much protection for Iranian wildlife. Penalties for poachers are by no means prohibitive or commensurate with the offences, and Parliament has been showing disregard for wildlife by passing laws and regulations such as the act that lets the Ministry of Industries and Mines exploit mines without the involvement of the Department of the Environment, and by approving large national development projects without demanding comprehensive study of their impact on wildlife habitats.

The article 74 Iranian Wildlife Species Red-Listed By Environment Department appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Strategies For Developing New Antiviral Flu Drugs

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By Eurasia Review

New analysis of the influenza A virus by scientists at the University of Hertfordshire shows potential for developing new anti-viral drugs which are more likely to be universally effective against the flu virus originating from avian, swine or human virus strains.

The influenza A virus has led to deadly pandemics killing millions of people – such as the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918/19 which killed at least 40 million people, the latest swine flu pandemic in 2009 which killed an estimated 300,000 people, through to the emergence of the current threat of avian H7N7 flu which caused 72 deaths in Asia up to early 2014.

Each year small changes in the influenza virus surface proteins mean that they can escape the human immune system and a new vaccination is necessary. In addition, antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu, become ineffective.

Dr Andreas Kukol, from the University of Hertfordshire’s School of Life and Medical Sciences, said: “Our study set out to identify common regions within the various influenza subtypes to identify areas which could be used to develop antiviral drugs. Such antivirals would be effective against all influenza subtypes and also without leading to resistance.”

The researchers looked at the nucleoprotein of the influenza virus as this is the area which is active in the infectious life cycle of the virus – and compared the nucleoprotein across different virus types and hosts. They identified regions within the nucleoprotein that are the same across all virus types – called conserved regions.

Dr Kukol continued: “Some of these ‘conserved regions’ which we identified on the nucleoprotein also overlap with those areas of the protein which antiviral drugs can bind to. Researchers will be able to develop new antiviral drugs using these particular binding sites which will be more likely to be universally effective against the different influenza viruses – and, more than that, they will remain effective as they do not lead to resistance.”

The article Strategies For Developing New Antiviral Flu Drugs appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Israeli Navy Intercepts Alleged Iranian Arms Shipment Near Sudanese Port – OpEd

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By Richard Silverstein

The NY Times reports that the Israeli Navy captured a shipment of Iranian weapons on a ship in international waters near a Sudanese port.  Israel is claiming the Syrian-made advanced rockets were sent by Iran and destined for shipment to Gaza.  The commander of the Navy, Ram Rothenberg, led the operation himself, indicating how important the interception was both militarily, but even more importantly, politically.

Israel was quick to make unproven claims that the shipment represents the official political position of the Iranian government, meaning that it may not be trusted either with nuclear weapons or even in the negotiations about its nuclear program:

The apparent intelligence and operational coup provided Israel’s leaders with an opportunity to underscore their arguments about the true nature of the Iranian government at a time when the jworld powers are engaged in talks with Iran to curb its nuclear program.

“At a time when it is talking to the major powers, Iran smiles and says all sorts of nice things,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…said in a statement. “The same Iran is sending deadly weapons to terrorist organizations.”

Iran is doing so, he said, “via a ramified network of secret operations in order to send rockets, missiles and other deadly weapons that will be used to harm innocent citizens.”

He continued: “This is the true Iran, and this state cannot possess nuclear weapons. We will continue to do whatever is necessary in order to defend Israel’s citizens.”

This, of course, is nonsense.  This is no more the official policy of the Iranian political echelon than saying that Israeli arms shipments to Syria rebels in the Golan represent Israel’s official position regarding the Syrian civil war.  Further, this sort of statement disregards the political situation within Iran.  Because of decades of military threat from Israel, the U.S. and other Gulf States, Iran has ceded massive amounts of power to its military arm, the Revolutionary Guards.  They are an autonomous center of power in much the same way that the Egyptian army, which wrested civilian control in a coup, is.

Here is how Prof. Muhammad Sahimi characterized the incident:

It is either fabrication, or carried out by hardliners in Tehran in order to scuttle the negotiations. They are opposed to the nuclear agreement and know that if a permanent agreement is signed, they will lose their economic and political power.

We have had at least two other similar operations by the hardliners in the past, in order to disrupt rapprochement between Iran and the West, one during Rafsanjani['s rule] and one during Khatami…

So, if the ship is from Iran, it was sent by rouge elements within IRGC without authorization even from Khamenei. That is what happened with the Karin-1 incident.

This is why people like me have been urging the West to be realistic with Iran, and recognize that with a reasonable agreement, Rouhani will be able to largely neutralize Tehran’s hardliners, but if the West demands too much, the hardliners will eventually remove him or neutralize him, in which case we will have war.

Alex Fishman, one of Israel’s best security reporters confirms the likelihood that the shipment is intended to undermine Iran’s political leadership:

Knowledgable sources in Israel concede that it is possible that that the civilian leadership, which is seeking to restrain the power of the Revolutionary Guards and impose its more conciliatory policies upon them, wasn’t aware of the arms shipment. This may’ve been an act of defiance against Pres. Rouhani, and something which could lead to an overt break between him and the IRG.

The latter portion of this quotation sounds a bit too much like Mossad machinations to divide and conquer Iran as it has the Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians. Israeli intelligence might remember that a showdown between Iran’s civilian leadership and the IRG could lead to a military coup in which the hardliners assume control of the political apparatus as well. Though this eventuality too might be attractive to Israel’s Machiavellian strategists since it would drive Iran farther into international isolation.

What I so object to regardingly Israel’s policy toward Iran is that it is like the bettor at the track who bets on all the horses to lose, rather than betting on one horse to win.  Israel doesn’t want any Iranian “horse” to win.  It wants them all to be weak and/or lose.  This sort of policy is essentially nihilistic, value-free, and almost rudderless.

Returning to Pres. Rouhani, he no more sent those weapons to Sudan than Bibi Netanyahu armed the former IDF soldiers who are fighting today in Ukraine.  My own confidential Israeli source has offered important information about the raid not reported elsewhere, which provides needed context.  This was an operation of the Revolutionary Guards.  The shipment was meant for the Islamic Jihad in Gaza.  The IRG, after dumping Hamas during the Syrian civil war, has embraced IJ as its new ally in Gaza.

What is most interesting and ironic about this if what Prof. Sahimi says is true, is that both the current Israeli government and Iranian hardliners have a common interest in scuttling the negotiations.  The IRG sent the shipment to sabotage the moderate political leadership and their happy collaborator in exposing the shipment was the Israeli government, which also wants the same thing.  It makes you wonder…

The State Department has taken the unusual step of taking credit for U.S. intelligence involvement in tracking the shipment and its interception.  This too appears to be an attempt by the U.S. to minimize the amount of hay Bibi can make from this incident.  If we knew about the shipment all along, we also presumably would’ve known the Iranian political echelon had no idea of what was happening.  Were this not the case, I’m certain we would be publicly denouncing Rouhani and Khamenei right now.

Israel gleaned the intelligence for this operation through two agents it had turned, one inside the IRG headquarters in Teheran and another in the IJ military wing.  According to my source, these double agents have been directed to leave Gaza and Iran, respectively, which is why Israel can expose the operation now.  Israeli SIGINT (Unit 8200) also was used in determining what the Iranians had planned and when to intercept them.

My source also confirms that while the timing of the operation itself was not political (they timed it for the moment when the ship was nearest Eilat, where the Navy’s operational base is), the timing of the release of the information is definitely political.  It was intended for maximum impact during Bibi’s visit to Washington and the day after his speech to Aipac, during which he excoriated Iran.  It is also meant to damage (though it’s questionable just how much it will) the P5+1 talks with Iran.  The Navy would have preferred not announcing the operation now, because its forces are still at sea and not back on Israeli territory.  But political considerations trumped the safety of Israeli personnel.

This incident raises several important issues which no U.S. or Israeli leader will address.  One is that the Syrian civil war is a tinder box that must be extinguished through negotiation with Iran and Syria’s other allies.  The longer we allow Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, and the Gulf States to turn that country into a proxy war, the more likely a huge regional explosion will occur.  Second, the failure to address the problems of Gaza including Israel’s siege there, is causing massive disruption to regional stability.  Even the current Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have intentionally refused to include Gaza: a major mistake.  You cannot truly resolve this conflict without a comprehensive solution that addresses Palestine as a single entity.  Another reason why ultimately, these talks must fail and why continued instability, exemplified by this arms shipment, will plague the region.

This article appeared at Tikun Olam

The article Israeli Navy Intercepts Alleged Iranian Arms Shipment Near Sudanese Port – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Libya Says Niger Extradited Gaddafi Son

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By PanArmenian

The Libyan government said former leader Col Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Saadi, was extradited from Niger and is now in custody in Tripoli.

According to BBC News, pictures posted on the internet apparently showed him having his head and beard shaved.

Saadi Gaddafi fled after his father was killed in the 2011 revolution. He is accused of shooting protesters and other crimes during his father’s rule, when he was head of Libya’s special forces.

Niger had previously refused Libyan requests to extradite him, with the justice minister saying he was “certain to face the death penalty”.

In 2012, Interpol issued a “red notice”, obliging member countries to arrest him.

The article Libya Says Niger Extradited Gaddafi Son appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Microsoft Rolling Out Significant System Update To Xbox One

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By PanArmenian

Microsoft has begun rolling out the most significant system update to the Xbox One since the game console launched in November 2013, The Telegraph reports.

First announced in February, the update adds new features and fixes issues related to the Xbox One’s matchmaking, ‘party chat’ and friends features.

The friends list is now front and centre on the homepage of the Friends app, allowing users to see who is online and what they are doing. Party chat is also turned on by default, allowing users to chat with their friends who are online, or everyone playing the game.

The ‘Invite friends to game’ option is also now available, making it easier to set up multiplayer battles. Players can also see a list of Xbox Live members they have recently played with, making it easier to stay in touch with friends or report a player for bad behavior.

Other updates include support for live streaming on the game-streaming app Twitch, 5.1 Dolby Digital sound, and 50Hz output to Xbox One, as well as a host of general improvements such as volume control, notifications of Xbox Live messages through SmartGlass, and support for Xbox One accessories.

The system update comes ahead of the launch of Titanfall, the highly anticipated first-person shooter game, which is arguably the most anticipated game to hit store shelves since the launch of the Xbox One.

The game is being published by Electronic Arts exclusively for Microsoft and will launch on Windows and Xbox One on March 11, before making its way to the Xbox 360 on March 25.

Rival console maker Sony announced that it has sold 6 million PlayStation 4 units globally in the four months since its launch, compared to an estimated 3.5 million Xbox One units over the same period.

The article Microsoft Rolling Out Significant System Update To Xbox One appeared first on Eurasia Review.

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