By Al-Shorfa

By Waleed Abu al-Khair

A new phenomenon emerged last month in Syria’s al-Raqa province, where the al-Qaeda inspired “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL) had been battling other opposition groups including al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria Jabhat al-Nusra: the formation of an ISIL armed women’s battalion.

“The rejection of ISIL is growing in al-Raqa, especially after the formation of the women’s battalion,” said Halim Moatez, a retired teacher and province resident.

In late January, the ISIL announced that it has opened the door for women to join ISIL’s all-female battalion in Syria, which goes by two names, al-Khansaa and Umm Rayyan, after its leader.

The announcement came soon after ISIL members released four statements imposing restrictions on residents in areas under its control in al-Raqa province, including clear threats of punishment for violators, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The first restricts the movement of women and imposes a dress code on them; the second bans music and pictures of men or women in shops; the third bans the sale of cigarettes and shisha; and the fourth demands that all men attend all prayers at a mosque, the monitoring group said.

On March 4th, Al-Arabiya satellite news channel broadcast a statement by al-Raqa resident Mohammed al-Raqqawi, who said al-Khansaa raided two girls’ schools in the province the previous week, arresting 10 girls between the ages of 15 and 17 and flogging them for violating the “laws” set by ISIL for women’s attire.

The violations ranged from “showing the eyebrows from underneath the veil” to “wearing a hair curler”, according to Al-Arabiya.

ISIL women can be seen in the city “patrolling commercial areas on foot, or conducting patrols in white vans camouflaged in mud driven by an ISIL member,” said Moatez. They also search women at ISIL checkpoints at entrances to the city.

The women of al-Khansaa reportedly wear black abayas that reveal only their eyes, and follow women and girls at markets, punishing those who do not wear the veil or who walk unaccompanied by a male guardian.

Moatez said he personally witnessed three cases of flogging carried out by the women’s battalion on girls who did not wear the veil in public, according to standards set by ISIL.

“The sight of ISIL women wearing black abayas that cover the entire body is unusual in the region,” Moatez said. “The issue of headscarves is left to the personal convictions of girls and women and is not imposed, even though the people of al-Raqa are religious.”

Al-Khansaa is under the command of a Tunisian woman named Umm Rayyan, who is assisted by two other women named Umm Hamza and Umm Muhajir, he said. The battalion is based in al-Karnak Hotel in the city of al-Raqa.
‘Between a rock and a hard place’

“The people of the area are between a rock and hard place,” Moatez told Al-Shorfa. “The first is ISIL and the actions of its members, which are getting worse by the day, especially after the emergence of the women’s battalion. The second is their fear that the girls and women of al-Raqa will be subject to revenge attacks by ISIL if resistance to ISIL grows.”

“Many ISIL members have married girls from al-Raqa and forced them to take up arms, and thus it becomes difficult for local residents to fight the women’s battalion because it may include girls and women from the region,” he said.

Initially, the battalion comprised the wives, daughters and sisters of foreign jihadists who joined ISIL, Moatez said, adding that later it included local girls whose families were pressured or offered cash, given the difficult financial situation many people in al-Raqa face.

“Pressure was also exerted on local ISIL members to enlist their female relatives to join the battalion,” said Moatez, who estimates that around 100 women carry arms and fight with the battalion.

In January, ISIL circulated a video via social networking sites showing a group of masked ISIL women. Two of the women in the video spoke in German and French, while the others spoke Arabic.

“The video is clear evidence of the presence of females and their activities in ISIL, and reveals the multiple nationalities of women in the group,” said researcher Sami Ghait of Al-Sharq Centre for Regional and Strategic Studies.

Extremist groups in Syria, particularly ISIL, use such videos to attract more recruits from Arab and European countries for what they describe as “jihad” in Syria, he said.

He said he expected increasing tensions between al-Raqa residents and ISIL elements, “which is why the group has increased its systemic repression, and proceeded to marry some of its members to girls from local tribes to avoid confrontation”.
Al-Qaeda tactic

This is not the first time al-Qaeda has used women in terrorist acts, said strategy analyst Maj. Gen. Yahya Mohammed Ali, who is retired from the Egyptian army.

In Iraq’s Anbar province, a Saudi woman called Umm al-Meqdad was arrested in January for serving as ISIL’s “women’s emir” and recruiting women from the province for the group, Al-Masdar News reported.

In Afghanistan, Taliban extremists exploit women sexually to attract young recruits, Ali added.

Most female ISIL members are either illiterate, or “grew up in an environment receptive to extremist ideas, and they are influenced by the self-serving fatwas issued by these groups”, he said.

The article Al-Qaeda-Inspired Women’s Battalion In Syria Draws Outcry appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By FPIF

By John Feffer

The Cold War is history. For those growing up today, the Cold War is as distant in time as World War II was for those came of age in the 1970s. In both cases, empires collapsed and maps were redrawn. Repugnant ideologies were laid bare and then laid to rest, though patches of nostalgia persist.

Surely the Cold War has been consigned to the textbooks as irrevocably as the Battle of the Bulge. The Berlin Wall is in pieces. The U.S. president speaks of the abolition of nuclear weapons. The “common European home” from the Atlantic to the Urals—a conceit embraced by such odd bedfellows as De Gaulle and Gorbachev—beckons on the horizon, with the OSCE in place and the European Union creeping ever eastward. Tensions inevitably crop up, but they’re nothing worth exchanging ICBMs over.

What was once confrontation has turned into joint efforts to address global challenges: stabilizing the world economy, negotiating nuclear agreements with Iran, ending the war in Syria. A long article in The New Yorker on a multi-billion dollar nuclear fusion project being constructed in France reminds us that this quest for a sustainable replacement for fossil fuels began as a late Cold War agreement between Moscow and Washington. Impending environmental catastrophe is gradually uniting all sides in much the same way that Ronald Reagan once imagined that a Martian invasion would.

And then there’s Ukraine.

Just when you thought it was safe to get back into geopolitics, the Cold War has reared its ugly head once again. All your favorite characters have returned to the footlights—the iron-fisted Russian leader, the thundering American secretary of state, troops of multiple nations on alert, and lots of cloak-and-dagger intrigue behind the scenes. And starring in the role of Prague 1968 is that new and untested actor: Crimea 2014. We can only hope that history is repeating itself as farce, not as a tragic tale told twice.

But there are some crucial differences in this restaging of the Cold War classic. The West has not been practicing containment of Russia so much as rollback of its influence by expanding NATO and the EU up to the country’s doorstep. And Moscow is not invoking some form of internationalism in support of ideological compatriots but nationalism pure and simple to safeguard its ethnic brethren. Moreover, this is a democratic age: Russian military intervention now comes with the Duma’s imprimatur. From the West, so far, has come much sound and fury, including the threat of economic sanctions and other penalties, but a military response remains off the table. There is still time to find a diplomatic solution that can preserve Ukrainian sovereignty, address the concerns of Russians on both sides of the border, and revive that old vision of a common European home that treats Russia as a member, not a mobster.

When people speak of “Russia’s doorstep,” they mean Ukraine. No one aspires to be a doorstep, because that’s what people walk on with their muddy boots. As Timothy Snyder has detailed in his book Bloodlands, Ukraine has suffered incalculable losses because of its location, first as a locus of potential resistance to Soviet control and then as a battleground during World War II. War pushed the country’s boundaries westward to incorporate what had once been parts of Poland. Changing the map only further emphasized Ukraine’s centrality to the fate of Europe, particularly after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991. The western sections have leaned Europe-ward while large numbers of Russian speakers in the east feel some measure of allegiance to Moscow.

It’s not just language that pulls Ukraine in two directions like the poor baby in King Solomon’s parable. It’s also a question of which collective entity to huddle in for shelter. Ukraine joined Russia and Belarus to create the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in December 1991 as the Soviet Union fell to pieces around them. But Ukraine was also the first CIS member to join NATO’s Partnership for Peace program in 1994. Fifteen years later, Ukraine signed up for the European Union’s Eastern Partnership. Russia has not been happy about either of these partnerships. Moscow put together its own partnership, the Eurasian Economic Community, more than a dozen years ago, but Ukraine is only an observer.

A clash of partnerships is now threatening to break out on the peninsula of Crimea. This semi-autonomous region is the only part of Ukraine with a majority of Russian speakers, and it also hosts Russia’s Black Sea fleet. In Crimea’s 2010 parliamentary elections, Viktor Yanukovych’s Russophone Party of Regions scored a huge victory. But a large population of Crimean Tatars—15 percent of the 2 million people who live on the peninsula—has rallied in support of the new government in Kiev. The sympathies of Crimeans are clearly divided.

And now, it seems, Crimea itself is divided. Armed men stormed the Crimean parliament last week and forced the appointment of Sergei Aksyonov as the new prime minister of the peninsula. Aksyonov immediately appealed to Russia for assistance and set a date for a referendum on Crimean independence. Russian troops have spread throughout the peninsula to secure both civilian and military installations. Russian guards are posted outside Ukrainian military bases. The peninsula is divided between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian forces, with Aksyonov already declaring a new Crimean army that he insists Ukrainian soldiers must join. Russian troops conducting exercises at the border recently returned home, and Vladimir Putin has said that his country has no intention of swallowing Crimea. Indeed, absorption might not be his goal, for even the tastiest morsels have a habit of sticking in the throat.

Crimea is not the only challenge to Ukraine’s unity. Kharkiv, located a scant 40 kilometers from the border with Russia, is the country’s second largest city. Earlier in the week, a group of Cossacks seized control of the city hall and hoisted a Russian flag. But the new Ukrainian authorities eventually reestablished control. Places like Crimea and Kharkiv could swing either way in their sympathies. Russian troops plus separatist sentiment could produce an Abkhazian or Transnistrian scenario: breakaway provinces recognized by only a handful of countries around the world. Only compromise—a free-and-fair referendum, the preservation of minority rights, a moratorium on NATO expansion—can prevent fracture.

The continuing crisis in Ukraine has generated its share of Cold War-style inanities. One favorite trope of that period was the “mote in your eye” accusation. Secretary of State John Kerry, who apparently only lives in the present, recently intoned that “you just don’t invade another country on phony pretexts in order to assert your interests.” Then there’s the “if they only had nukes” argument. John Mearsheimer thinks Ukraine shouldn’t have given up its nuclear arsenal back in 1994 because those weapons would have made Russia think twice about sending troops into Crimea. Will the MAD scientists never learn? The situation in Ukraine is bad enough without adding WMD to the mix whether in the form of deliberate attack, accidental use, or loose nukes.

But the chief inanity is the one that has governed Western policy since 1991—that there would be no costs to the expansion of NATO and the European Union. Leaders in Washington and Brussels have been repeatedly warned by those with even just a passing familiarity with Russian history and culture that encroachment in Moscow’s sphere of influence—its “near abroad”—is tantamount to poking the bear. Yes, it’s true that both institutions are responding to genuine interest “on the ground.” But the stakes here are very high. It’s not just about “losing Ukraine.” It would be an even greater catastrophe to “lose Russia.” And here I mean not the Cold War game of winning and losing but the more universal struggle between a liberating order and a debilitating chaos.

Indeed, with the rise of Putin and the freeze that has settled over freedom of expression and assembly, Russia is already being lost by degrees. It can’t be allowed to drift further into the politics of reaction. But the traditional approach to “saving Russia” has been a dual strategy of rolling back its influence externally and funding democracy initiatives within the country. However much I would love to see Ukraine in the European Union one day and however much I support civil society initiatives inside Russia, enthusiasts for these projects must recognize that they strengthen the hands of those who argue the West is only interested in neutering Mother Russia. Backlash is almost inevitable.

Policymakers in Washington and Brussels should take a much longer view. Instead of concentrating on “partnerships” that put Russia beyond the pale, they have to revive a much more encompassing vision of European security. As long as we continue to shave away at the habitat where the bear lives, it will swipe at its encroachers and defend its ground. “Some days you’ll eat the bear,” goes the old Joan Armatrading song, while “some days the bear will eat you.”

It might seem ridiculous to talk about grand partnerships with Russia at the very moment when the international community wants to put Putin in the penalty box. But Russia is much bigger than just Vladimir Putin, despite the man’s penchant for self-aggrandizement. Making a place at the table for this vast country is a chief challenge for the 21^st century. So, even as we condemn the introduction of Russian troops in Crimea and decry the narrowing of democratic freedoms in Moscow, we have to remember that the Cold War is over, it should never return, and both sides must act that way.

John Feffer is the co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus.

This article is a joint publication of Foreign Policy In Focus and TheNation.com.

The article Ukraine: The Clash Of Partnerships – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Maan

Israeli prime minister has expressed opposition to freezing settlement construction on the Palestinian land as a condition for the extension of talks between Tel Aviv and the Palestinian Authority.

Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the suspension of settlement activities “would serve nothing.”

The comments come as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is mediating the talks between the two sides, asked the negotiators to agree on a framework for extending the negotiations beyond an April 29 deadline.

However, acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas said that prolonging the talks is possible only if Tel Aviv halts its illegal settlement expansion on the Palestinian land.

Negotiators representing the Palestinian Authority and Israel began the latest round of talks in July 2013. Since the resumption of the direct talks, Palestinians have objected to a number of issues, including the settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The last round of the talks broke down in 2010, when Tel Aviv refused to halt its settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territories.

On March 10, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics released data showing that Tel Aviv had begun work on more than 2,530 settlement units in 2013, compared to a figure of over 1,130 in 2012.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Jerusalem in 1967.

The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on the occupied lands.

Original article

The article Netanyahu Rejects Calls For Israeli Settlement Freeze As Peace Talks Precondition appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Paul Woodward

“We are often told our actions are illegitimate, but when I ask, ‘Do you think everything you do is legitimate?,’ they say ‘yes’,” President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference on Tuesday. “Then I have to recall the actions of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, where they either acted without any U.N. sanction or completely distorted the content of such resolutions, as was the case with Libya.”

For many critics of U.S. military action over the last thirteen years, Putin’s words resonate deeply.

There’s no question that when U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says, “You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pre-text,” the hypocrisy in a top U.S. government official saying this, is glaring.

But here’s the problem: it’s starting to sound like for many of the people now chanting “Hypocrisy!”, they see hypocrisy as worse than occupation. Indeed, this insistence on focusing on the lack of integrity of Western political leaders is becoming an excuse to ignore or legitimize the Russian invasion of Crimea.

In his latest report from Crimea, Simon Ostrovsky offers a close-up view of the Russian occupation.

A Serb commander belonging to the Chetnik movement, controlling a checkpoint between Sevastopol and Simferpol and supporting the occupation, says — without a hint of irony — “it would be better to resolve this issue internally.” He sees himself and the Russians as part of this “internal” solution. (It should be noted that the Chetniks have a history of involvement in ethnic cleansing, mass murder and other war crimes.)

If a Serb, having traveled hundreds of miles to Crimea, identifies himself as part of an internal solution, this begs the question: how would he define external?

I guess an example would be OSCE observers invited by Ukraine’s interim government — that’s why they got shot at when they attempted to enter Crimea.

But here’s a final thought: if you think occupation is only a problem when it’s conducted by Americans or Israelis, then maybe it’s time to ask yourself whether you really understand the meaning of the word hypocrisy.

The article This Is What Occupation Looks Like: Russian Provocation And Serbian Chetniks In Crimea – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Arab News

Selfishness causes many worries for society, according to Sheikh Saud Al-Shuraim, imam of the Grand Mosque.

In his Friday sermon, he told Muslims to fear God, obey Him and stay away from the things prohibited.

Al-Shuraim said that selfishness means loving oneself and putting whims and desires before that of everything else, disregarding public and private rights. It means benefiting oneself without paying much attention to Muslim interests. “Selfish individuals don’t have family or community interest in their moral dictionary. A selfish man sees life as meaningful for himself only,” he said.

He added that Allah has deprived selfish people of the sweetness of belief, which can’t be felt by people who have this character trait. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “One isn’t a believer unless he wishes for others what he wishes for himself.”

He said the word “I” begins with pride and arrogance until it becomes a moral and mental tumor. If this individual is asked to do something, he wants to know what’s in it for him first. In this respect he is similar to the Pharaoh, Nimrud and Lucifer who said to His Creator, “I am better than him. You created me from fire and him from clay.”

Al-Shuraim said that no society will succeed if its individuals only know the word “I.” Society is like a big family, where all members take part in fostering what’s good for the whole family and keeping away from harmful things, keeping in mind the public benefit.

Communities will not rise unless people perform their duties in a manner satisfactory to God.

He said: “Our religion encourages people to alleviate themselves from demeaning behavior, including arrogance, self-admiration and pride. These characteristics lead to preferring personal interests over public benefits.”

He quoted Ibn Al-Qayim as saying: “Be careful of ‘Me, ‘I have’ and ‘I owe’, because these words were used by Lucifer, the Pharaoh and Qarun.”

The article Grand Mosque Imam’s Advice: Put Society Before Self appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Eurasia Review

(CORDIS) — The amount of public sector information data available has snowballed in recent years and continues to grow. With all of this data at their finger tips, the information managers of SMEs are increasingly concerned with how to link and combine these datasets with other data. They need standards-based tools, yet many SMEs simply don’t have the resources to produce them. Meanwhile, public organisations themselves often struggle to provide re-usable, machine-processable Linked Data that can be easily integrated by SMEs. The LINDA project (‘Enabling Linked Data and Analytics for SMEs by renovating public sector information’) aims to develop tools that will assist SMEs and data providers in renovating public sector information, and ease the process of analysing and interlinking it with enterprise data.

Linked Data is essentially about using the Web to connect related data that wasn’t previously linked, or using the Web to lower the barriers to linking data currently linked using other methods. Launched in December 2013 and set to run for two years, the LINDA project aims to develop two key tools that will encourage SMEs to adopt the Linked Data paradigm. The first is a cross-platform, extensible software framework that can be used to develop custom solutions for SMEs and public sector organisations or be integrated into existing open data applications, in order to support the automated conversion of data into Linked Data. The second is a repository which will allow SMEs to reference and use metadata shared by multiple SMEs and data providers across different data endpoints, thus allowing automatic interlinking of datasets.

The LINDA project will build on the work of previous and ongoing EU-funded projects focused on Linked Data. LATC (‘LOD Around-The-Clock’), which ran between 2010 and 2012, supported institutions and individuals in publishing and consuming quality Linked Data online. The ongoing LOD2 project is promoting Linked Data among developers to ultimately make it the model of choice for next-generation IT systems and applications. Although these efforts and other emerging tools offer considerable support for Linked Data in terms of storage, linkage and publishing, there are very limited options for renovating existing data into Linked Data. That is why the work of LINDA is so critical.

A member of the LINDA team notes, ‘The results of the LINDA project are foreseen to have a significant impact on the efficiency of the information management of enterprises, especially SMEs that in most cases cannot afford the development and maintenance of dedicated information analysis and management departments … This will give them a strong competitive advantage in the market, and will in this way contribute to the competence of the European industry’.

The outcomes of the LINDA project will be tested and validated through three pilot cases involving a network of business intelligence management consultants, an ICT company and a broadcaster. By using pilot cases, the LINDA team ensures that SMEs are involved in the development of the project from the beginning and also guarantees that their work is showcased to encourage a rapid take up of the LINDA toolset.

The article Linking Data For Better Information Management In SMEs appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By IPCS

By Geeta Kochhar

On a March 1, 2014, a group of men launched a deadly knife attack on people at the Kunming Railway station in China, killing 33 people and injuring over 130.. On October 28, 2013, an SUV slammed into a crowd killing two people and injuring 40. Both these events took place around the same time as major Chinese events –the ‘Two sessions’ of the legislature and advisory body (the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference), and the 18th Party Congress, respectively. Interestingly, the Chinese official media blamed the Uyghur people from Xinjiang province for both these incidents.

Scholars on China debate on whether or not there is a rise in ethnic tension in China. The propositions are based on the spate of incidents in recent years, ranging from the 2008 Tibetan uprising to the 2009 clashes in Xinjiang, and the numerous intermittent self-immolation cases by Tibetan monks. However, the larger issue that warrants attention and rethinking is: why has there been a rise in such incidents now, when China steadily climbing the global ladder to become the second largest economy of the world. Is it really that certain regions and ethnic groups within China have a heightened desire to secede from China? Alternatively, is it that the people in China have become more conscious of their rights within this nation-state concept, and are demanding a more rational status, by adopting pressure tactics of various kinds?

The ‘Chinese Nation’ is a term used by the government of China to represent all the 56 nationalities as one entity within and outside the political territorial parameters of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Sun Yat-sen, the founding father and the first President the Republic of China, promoted the concept of ‘Republic of Five Nationalities’ (or Five Races under One Union) to bind the Hans, the Manchus, the Mongolians, the Huis, and the Tibetans with the idea of unity based on blood ties – especially when the abdication of the emperor of the Qing dynasty led to a dilemma over the status of Tibet and Mongolia, given that they owed no allegiance to the New Republic.

However, historically, there has been a clear distinction made between the ‘insider’ and the ‘outsider’, whereby the civilized Xia (the Han nationality) people represented the ‘insider’, and the rest of the peripheral communities (the Yi in the east, the Di in the west, the Rong in the north, and the Man in the south) were viewed as ’outsiders’ – and referred to as ‘barbarians’. Hence, the exclusion of the peripheral communities was deep-rooted among the majority and dominating ethnicity – the Hans. Sun Yat-sen’s proposition of the ‘Chinese Nation’ tried to pacify this distinction with a call to unite all ethnic groups, within the region as well as overseas, to fight foreign aggressors.

The discourse on the unity of the ‘Chinese Nation’ with all ethnic groups in the post-reform period has transcended geography, to promote economic linkages with Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore. The bonding envisaged by the Chinese government is based on racial affiliations instead of politico-territorial unity. However, in the increasing globalised world replete with advanced technological linkages, the improved living standards, has on the contrary, created spaces where some nationalities have become more conscious of their own cultural identities and belongingness.

Issues of fundamental rights of minorities have gained supranational mobilisation with transnational actors of multiple nationalities and ethnicity collating to drive the movement. These issues often clash with the politically defined national rights granted to the citizens of China.

Even as the Chinese State defined the fixed boundaries to root out differences among various nationalities, the issue of national loyalties associated with territorial state remains, which is also visible in the English translation of the Chinese word Minzu to ’ethnic’ over the past few years; the original meaning, that is, ‘nationalities’, is avoided in official parlance to subdue any implication of entitlement to political demands or claims of territory.

Although, in September 2009, the Chinese government issued a White Paper on Ethnic Policy highlighting the importance of accelerating economic and social development of minority communities and areas to solve ethnic issues, there has been an increase in issues in regions with considerable minority populations – that can be linked to the differences in regional economic development. This is evident in the fact that China’s western regions comprising mostly of the minority groups lags far behind the eastern regions.

The transnational linkages mooted by the Chinese State for purpose of inculcating Chinese nationalist sentiments against foreign aggressors so as to promote economic development has turned into a double-edged sword. The new Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call to realize the ‘China Dream’, a vision to rejuvenate the concept of the ‘Chinese Nation’, faces tough challenges, as this unity lies in the demolition of the historical and cultural structure of ’insider‘ and ’outsider‘ – that which is a daunting task.

Dr Geeta Kochar is an Assistant Professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

The article Challenges To The ‘Chinese Nation’ Dream – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Jim Kouri

While the conflict between the Ukraine and Russia continues to garner global attention, a report from that region on Saturday claims a cyber attack was launched against Ukrainian government computer systems by cyber terrorists or saboteurs.

According to police and security forces in Ukraine, suspected cyber-terrorists initiated attacks on systems and networks in order to deprive government agencies access to the Internet or data systems.

The Ukrainian Security and Defense Council revealed: “There was a massive DoS-attack on communication channels of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, which was apparently aimed at hindering a response to the challenges faced by our state. The Ukrainian state-run news agency, Ukrinform, has also suffered a similar attack.”

Some Internet and telecommunications networks were also attacked following the seizure of airfields and key military installations in Crimea, officials said.

The security officials in Kiev have told the nation’s ministries to enhance their protection measures in order to prevent their websites from being blocked or damaged. They also advised law enforcement agencies to investigate complaints and allegations of cyber attacks and arrest, if possible, suspected “hackers.”

Ukrainian officials have claimed that it is very possible that an Internet weapon called “Snake” has been unleashed to infect and cripple Ukraine’s computer networks which would contribute to a government shutdown.

“Also known as Ouroboros, a giant and deadly serpent in Greek mythology, Snake is as powerful as the “virus” that disrupted Iran’s uranium enrichment program in 2010. The new weapon is suspected to have been developed in an area that encompasses Russia’s main city, Moscow,” according to Infowars.

The article Suspected Saboteurs Striking Ukraine’s Government Cyber System‏ appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Eurasia Review

By Gaurav Dixit

Pakistan in order to revive its security plans before the drawdown of international troops from Afghanistan in 2014 has come up with its first ever National Internal Security Policy (NISP).

The 94-page policy document is an introspection of the current political and security problems in Pakistan, as well as defining strategic level intervention to end internal disputes to bring peace and reconciliation. The policy purported at defending the national security of Pakistan includes Secret, Strategic, and Operational components.

One of the crucial components of the envisioned policy document aimed at combating extremism is to bring all the religious madrassas or Islamic religious schools under its national education system within one year. The aim is to curb the religious hatred these madrassas allegedly promote against its own government and neighbouring countries. Some of these madrassas allegedly support and are patrons of regional terrorist groups like Taliban and Al Qaeda.

The NISP paper claims that some of the country’s 22,052 madrassas are responsible for spreading extremism, most of them outside the purview of the Pakistan government. The document claims that although all madrassas are not home to terrorists, there are problems with some madrassas which are spreading extremism. The madrassas are also being financed by unidentified sources and the publication and distribution of hate material is prevalent.

Earlier in 2013, Ganj madrassa in Peshawar was put on economic sanctions after being branded as a terrorist training centre supporting Al Qaeda and the Taliban. According to the US treasury, the centre was used as training and recruiting base by the militant groups, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba blamed for the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

There are huge networks of the Deobandi and Ahl-e Hadith madrassas where youths are indoctrinated into jihadi philosophy. They are deployed at regional training centres, and ultimately sent to terrorist training camps.

In 2009, then-principal officer at the US consulate in Lahore in his initial study of southern Punjab had found a disturbing nexus between the madrassas and foreign donors facilitating the indoctrination of poor children in the radical educational institutions developed in Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan Divisions. Majority of these networks are actively waging war against India in Kashmir.

Undoubtedly there are some serious concerns about the madrassas and seminaries in Pakistan, many of them found to be vigorous patrons of the conservative and radical groups promoting sectarian hatred, anti-India and anti-US sentiments. The madrassas have become a sort of hunting ground for future terrorists in the name of Islamic war promoted and vigorously lobbied by Arab and Gulf funds. The adoption of rigid and conservative curriculum based on narrow principles of Islam isolates the students from universal understanding of more secular and liberal forms of education. It pushes the students towards a more radicalised understanding of the religion and as crusaders of puritanical Islam.

In the case of Pakistan where madrassas are fast turning into indoctrination camps, ample studies demonstrate the lack of political will and commitment to fight against extremism. It is also seen as a product of the mistrust and fear existing between the government and the religious organisations controlled by madrassas. In some cases, Pakistani authorities have intentionally pushed these madrassas to morph into indoctrination centres and terrorist camps, either for strategic gain or as part of a policy of appeasement for a section of the populace.

Last year, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an organisation on the UN terror blacklist, the parent body of banned terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba run by Hafiz Saeed, was granted more than Rs.6.1 crore by the Punjab province government, along with dedicated sanction of Rs.35 crore for setting up a ‘Knowledge Park’ at the centre and other development initiatives. Jamaat-ud-Dawa and four senior Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders were added to a UN sanctions list in December 2008 after the Mumbai attacks. Lashkar-e-Taiba is active in India and is accused in various terrorist attacks in the last one decade.

The problem with the Pakistan government in the past was its inability to devise a policy to curb growing extremism, even though there was ample evidence of the diabolic schemes sprouting in these madrassas. The most disturbing trend about these seminaries and madrassas is not only their inherent ability to promote certain kind of ideology, but also the ability spread it among society through its coalesced network.

According to Ayesha Siddiqa, a Pakistan based geo-strategist, these organisations do not allow pupils and society to look at alternative perspectives within the religious discourse, thus promoting a worldview which leads to opposition of any alternative discourse.

The Pakistan government has found it quite tough to handle the issue, considering the size and strength of madrassas during last couple of decades. Any panoptic solution will need to look into various other components of society such as poverty, educational facilities and resources, to curb the growing menace of hate preaching madrassas. This time, however, the government has come up with an extensive plan to tackle extremism and curtail such groups, with a vision to develop a national narrative based on tolerance, harmony and the right of the people to make religious, political and social choices. It would be tough to predict the outcome of this policy now. But, a positive approach will certainly help to de-radicalise a large number of such organisations which are promoting extremism.

(Gaurav Dixit is an independent strategic analyst based in New Delhi. He can be contacted at gauravdixit04@gmail.com)

This article was published at South Asia Monitor.

The article Pakistan’s New Security Policy And Madrassas: Will It Curb The Venom? – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Dr. Bibhu Prasad Routray

In July 2013, a commander of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) asserted that the fighting army of the outfit he represents has a definite edge over the security forces. He said, “Our honesty, dedication and selflessness, coupled with public support, have kept us firm and strong over the years.” Maoist literature is replete with such affirmations. While such statements are mostly rhetorical, typical of an extremist movement trying to assert moral superiority vis-a-vis its adversaries, these do contain some truths. At least in terms of attachment to an objective, the extremists are much ahead of the security forces who are merely to trying to prevent an end game.

To begin with, the country’s political leaders had less faith in the security forces. In his address at the Chief Minister’s Conference of Internal Security in New Delhi on 20 December 2007, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “Inadequate, ill-equipped, ill-trained, poorly-motivated personnel cannot take on Naxalite extremists who are increasingly getting better equipped and organised.” In the next six years, enormous resources were spent to create a force that can discard these loopholes. The country continues to incur such expenses in modernisation programmes.

Improvements, as a result, have been achieved in terms of amassing a large contingent of fighting men, building on their capacities, and also the equipments in their possession. The days when the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) used to admit that the insurgents are better armed than the state police force personnel are far behind. Most of the police posts today are much better protected and are no longer sitting ducks they used to be half a decade back. While a large scope for improvement in the operating standards remains, the security forces combating the Maoists are much better dressed, fed, and equipped today than earlier.

Contrast this imagery of a security force personnel with that of a Maoist. In spite of the reports of the CPI-Maoist collecting millions of rupees as extortion and establishing arms smuggling networks through India’s northeast, living conditions of an average rebel has not undergone any improvement over the years. His/ her life is constantly on the run with access to the most basic diet just enough to survive and to crude weapons (only the senior cadres have access to sophisticated weapons) for purposes of inflicting fatalities on the enemy as well as self-defence. It is apparent from the descriptions of the media persons who have spent time in Maoist camps that with the state’s military approach gathering steam, such operating conditions have become even more precarious and inhospitable.

While one can go on debating the way the CPI-Maoist has been able to transform the cadres recruited through a range of methods into die hard revolutionaries, the fact remains that the steadfast attachment to an end game invariably differentiates the extremists from the security force personnel. While doubting the gallantry quotient among the security forces is none of the purposes of this article, the reality is that the left-wing extremism affected theatres of the country, much like the insurgency-affected states of the Northeast, are marked by a contest between resolute attachment to an ideology and personal bravery. Somehow, the rigorous training modules and expenses on firearms incurred on the security forces have not been able to bridge the crucial gap between competency and commitment.

Data on desertion among the security forces and surrender of Maoist cadres provide a useful, albeit not the most ideal, empirical evidence for this argument. Between 2009 and 2012, central police organisations like the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF) and the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) lost 36,618 personnel to resignations and voluntary retirement. In 2013, another 8,500 personnel left their services. Experts attribute such mass-scale attrition to reasons such as stress, continued deployment in conflict zones and absence of peace time postings; hostile operating environments; and lack of basic facilities.

In comparison, 1533 Maoist cadres surrendered between 2009 and 2013. Some attributed their decisions to an ideological disconnect, some to ill health and some others to the hardships in the forests. Even considering the fact that not all the resigning security force personnel were deployed in Maoist affected areas and also that the total strength of the paramilitary forces is several multiples of the number of the Maoists, the retiree/ surrendered personnel to total force ratio is alarmingly higher among the security forces than the extremists. In simple terms, in spite of much worse operational conditions, most Maoists chose to remain with the outfit.

While several factors lie at the root of the “trend of attrition” among the security forces, three prominent ones are worth mentioning. One, there is a persisting command and control problem with the security forces, exemplified by forces being led during operations by less qualified commanders which result in operational goof ups. Second, in the absence of a national policy on extremism, force operations resemble a blow hot and blow cold engagement, inducting a sense of bewilderment among the soldiers regarding the nature of the adversary. And thirdly, in spite of their value to the government’s endeavours in the extremist affected areas, the forces continue to be treated as fully expendable. Stories of families of slain security force personnel being treated shabbily by the government are by no means infrequent. When national unity is still a contested notion, dying or getting maimed for a seemingly incomprehensible cause could be a completely worthless affair to these men in uniform. The extent to which recent proposals such as stationing security force personnel in the propinquity of their families during their entire career can address such serious operational anomalies is debatable.

Among the state’s several inherent advantages over the extremists, enormous resources are the key to ensure that there is never a shortage of fighting men. Hardly anybody anticipates a Maoist takeover of India. Over the past couple of years, fatalities in the Maoist theatre have been reduced. And yet an outright victory over the extremists remains a difficult proposition. This means that significant stretches of the country would remain no go areas for the state agencies. Under the circumstances, implementing a strategy of gradual expansion of state control through force domination and administrative penetration, through the efforts of these poorly motivated security forces, would be excruciatingly sluggish, if not unachievable.

This article was published at Pragati and reprinted with permission.

The article Your Soldiers, Our Soldiers – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Eurasia Review

By Alberto Manuel Poletti Adorno

PARAGUAY: 25 YEARS OF FREEDOMS

As in every country, is not possible to understand its particularities and the legal system without knowing something of their history. Paraguay celebrated in Feb 3rd 2014 the 25th Anniversary of Paraguay’s Democracy. We are not here to talk about the past, but to mention why people should go to Paraguay and invest there. For that, it is essential to talk about the legal system and we can present some of the positive aspects that took place recently.
Some of these relate to the Administration and form of Government (I) and the other matters are concerning the recent legislations and answers to the Paraguayan society to social needs (II).

I) FORM OF GOVERNMENT

Like most occidental countries, Paraguay is a Republic with a Presidential System of Government and the common division of three branches of power1.

The Executive Power is exercised by the President of the Republic, a public office elected by direct vote.  Elected for a five year term, and not entitled to reelection, the President represents the State, directs the nation’s general administration, obeys and executes the Constitution and the Law, directs external relations and is Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.

The Legislative Power is exercised by the National Congress, constituted by the Chamber of Senators, also called the High Chamber; and the Chamber of Deputies, or Lower Chamber.  The principal members of both chambers are elected directly by the people in general elections for five years, at the same moment of the Presidential Election.  Senatorial elections are national, while elections for Deputies are departmental. Comparing to other system, the Congress of Paraguay disposes of large power and it is able to block and interfere with the work of Executive branch.
The Judiciary is exercised by the Supreme Court of Justice, the Tribunals and the Courts. Judges remain in the office for five years, later they need to approve a new exam of merits before acquiring stability until the age of 75 years.

It seems necessary to talk about the administration. As in the United States, the Ministers/Secretaries are in charge of different sectors of public administration. Their decisions are however subject to a judicial review and can be modified by the courts in some aspects.
There have been many changes since 1989. Eight Presidents have occupied the Seat in the Lopez Palace (the headquarters of the Presidency) after 6 General Elections and two Impeachment Processes.

Paraguay has started a process to finish with the isolation and to look for foreign direct investments. The country has increased the participation in international organizations and is a founding member of MERCOSUR, the integration process with other South American countries, as well as an observing member of the Pacific Alliance.

So we must mention which remedies have been used to try to solve most of the endemic problems: corruption (A) and poverty (B)

A) THE SHADOW OF CORRUPTION

It has been said that “Corruption in Paraguay became an art form under the Alfredo Stroessner military dictatorship when military officials helped organize and participated in the narcotics and contraband trade with complete impunity”2. I am not going to mention that Paraguay is a country free of corruption, but nevertheless, I will mention that there is a high possibility for suing corrupt officers in the country.

American legal students and lawyers will remember the case FILARTIGA VS. PEÑA IRALA that set in 1980 the precedent for United States federal courts to punish non-American citizens for tortious acts committed outside the United States that were in violation of public international law (the law of nations) or any treaties to which the United States is a party. It thus extends the jurisdiction of United States courts to tortious acts committed around the world. The case was decided by a panel of judges from the United States Court of Appeals in the Second Circuit.
Paraguay is probably still looking for its similar landmark decision since there are many people facing process that lacks condemnation. But many efforts were done.

Not only an entire reform of the Criminal system started in 1997 that allows oral and public hearing at the court were initiated but also some of the accused persons related to corruption and violation of human rights were put under bars.

The election of a new Supreme Court in 1995 partly renovated in some occasions from there established interesting decisions regarding the right of people to access to public information and also the fundamental rights of citizens.

Scholars have mentioned that the fight against corruption is related to human rights and should not be subject to prescription delays. However, the Congress established a period of three to four years of judgment. Some of the cases lasted for more than this period and the judges and prosecutors were not able to continue the cases.

It is also a question to inform that the Contraloría General de la República, an authority created by the current Constitution of 1992 is entitled to verify the accounts of public administration. But again, some judicial actions didn’t allow them to work properly. There is believed that the judicial branch should exclusively review this matter, so this may help to create confusion about the role of the Contraloría and its role of accounting. Nevertheless, this authority is accomplishing some of its duties as for example asking all civil servants to present a list of their property when entering and leaving office. Also, the Contraloría produce reports that they send to other authorities regarding the execution of the accounts.

Some bills are currently on the Congress to try to bring a solution to these problems. We may mention that the wrong use of public money leads also to another problem.

B) THE FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY

Poverty is not just an issue, is the biggest problem in Paraguay where 38% of its population lives in poverty, an average higher than other countries in the region whose percentage reaches to 29%.
Many situations are at the origins of this problem: the concentration of a big part of land in the hand of a small percentage of population, the lack of diversity in the production of agricultural products that are mainly primary goods without added value, and the reduced public works investment by the government.

Many of the governments tried to enact a reform in the distribution of lands that is prescribed in the Constitution. There have been advances in this aspect but the task is not finished.

According to some studies, Paraguay is one of the least industrialized nations in Latin America. Manufactured exports, by most definitions, accounted for less than 5 percent of total exports3. Also, a recent analysis of REDIEX shows that five Paraguayan enterprises generate more than 53% of the exported products.4
The World Bank mentioned that public expenditures in the social sectors have been lower in Paraguay than other countries of the region. The positive side of this outcome is that, in the absence of programs supported by the public sector, community participation has flourished. This suggests that, at least in the case of Paraguay, encouraging community participation and keeping income in the hands of those who earn it is more effective than giving it to the government for redistribution, as the example of Hogar del Paso5 that was mentioned during the Paraguay Economic Forum. In the last few years, however, social spending has been increasing drastically; unfortunately, there is little evidence that this has affected the quality or quantity of services delivered — higher expenditures have been tied to higher wages, and have been unrelated to productivity improvements6.

To solve these problems and to further reduce poverty, the World Bank report recommends maintaining a sound macroeconomic framework, and keeping the size of the public sector small (and lower tax burden). Indeed, there is good news from these measures: Paraguay’s economy grew 14% in 2013 maintaining a good performance that started years ago. Some of the laws enacted by the Congress also tried to amplify the numbers of tax payers without affecting the law burden. Just to give an example, Paraguay has a 10% tax on TVA and 1% in property tax in the cities, amount that may be even lower in the rural areas.

It is true that the main part of the national Budget is used in payment of salaries, not in creating infrastructure or destined to public expenditures. Something must be done in order to change this situation, but it requires political decision that may affect small groups, therefore it may be done progressively and with a huge consensus by the political class. There were some initiatives on this way but there is not yet an agreement.

The new President’s statement when he took office on August 15th, 2013 is that he wishes to reduce poverty. It is true that similar statements were made by all his predecessors. But Mr. Cartes has (until now) one point in favor: he still has the support of a simple majority of the Congress, which continues to follow his government programs.

II) RECENT LEGISLATIONS AND ANSWERS TO THE PARAGUAYAN NEEDS

In order to combat some of the problems of the Paraguayan administration, some initiatives were taken regarding the civil service (A), the access to public information (B) and security and infrastructure (C).

A) THE CIVIL SERVANT AND THE PUBLIC EXAM FOR ENTRANCE

In 2000 Paraguay adopted a Law that establishes the public exam of candidates to be admitted in a public office7. Nevertheless, there were so many exceptions to this norm caused by the lack of interest by many authorities who pointed out the need to work with “people of their confidence” and that it is still normal for many people to go into a public service thanks to personal friendship or political bindings.

Nevertheless, there are more and more public offices that prepare an exam for admittance and this leads to a better public service. This year, when the President received the National Budget, he ordered that, in order to receive any salary from this budget, the person should have passed through a public examination. This will lead to a high reduction in the public administration of workers without preparation.

Besides, due to problems of nepotism, some initiatives were adopted to restrain some of the high authorities to nominate relatives, friends or close relatives in their offices.

The Law 2777/2005 reaffirms the need of a public exam for entrance at the civil service and there are many bills in the Congress that are aimed to reduce the possibility to nominate people under the process of “people of their confidence”.

However, there are some places where it is extremely difficult to accomplish this reform. One of them is the Legislative branch, where many offices in both chambers nominate supporters or family members without a civil service exam. Also, an ambiguous norm of the Electoral Code was invoked to nominate adherents of political parties at the Electoral Courts. This leads to a number of workers that have a lot of work only on Elections, and remain in the public sector after the end of the electoral process, with a high cost for the public treasury.

Due to recent scandals in the Congress on this subject, a criminal judge required permission by the Senate to judge one of his members. It was not a surprise that the majority of the Senate decided to preserve the immunity of the Senator, considering that he was prosecuted for political reasons and that nominating a person of his entourage was a prerogative of the Legislative’s members. Senators did not expect a public indignation where even private business and supermarkets, restaurants, shopping malls and many other places declared that the members of the Senate who voted against the possibility of starting a judicial inquiry were “not welcomed”. This caused the Senate to review his decision and allow the prosecution. Actually, there are more members of both Chambers being investigated and subject to criminal procedures8.

B) THE ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION AND RESSOURCES

It is very common in all democratic governments to use the excuse of national security or privacy to hide information to its citizens. In a democracy, the citizens need to know all the details regarding public aspects of life and how the public money is used, is one of those issues.

As a result, two leading cases in 2008 and 2013 mentioned that there is not a valid argument to avoid giving making the information public about the use of money in local government and the amount of salary to public servants. Following a rule established by the Supreme Court, almost all of the administration offices published the list of workers and their wages.

Access to information procedure has also been ratified by recent laws. In 2012, Law 6979 establishes that every public administration must specify the entire process, step by step, since the presentation to its ending, establishing the name of the section, department and unity.

Recent laws adopted last year like budget responsibility and public private partnership for infrastructure works also stipulated the right of the citizen to ask for specific information.

But these are not the only things that deserve to be mentioned. Like many countries, Paraguay did not allow many funds for research. This year, the Congress allowed 97 millions of US$ Dollars for research development in the next five years9. The funds are already available and will help to improve the technological development and the conditions of the country. The Chancellor of the UNE has already spoken about it and we had the wonderful opportunity to set up a direct conference with Minister David Ocampos of the National Secretary of Technology, Communication and Information (SENATICS) from Paraguay.

C) TOWARDS MORE INFRASTRUCTURE AND SECURITY

Some studies show that, because of Paraguay’s position at an equidistant position from several of the main financial centers of the region (Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, among others) there is a strategic location which makes it a strong candidate to develop in it a services-based economy with a particular focus in services associated with transport and logistics.  Its geographic location makes the country the best territory to articulate commercial traffic and goods exchanged between the Pacific and the Atlantic, as well as between the Northern and Southern regions in the Southern part of the hemisphere10.

But, in order to fulfill this potential transport and logistics-hub role, some conditions need to be satisfied, namely: a strong and reliable connectivity network; availability of sufficient resources and sufficient expertise to ensure the reliability of the network (ongoing maintenance), and; local policies oriented towards boosting transport and logistics services.

The Government has enacted a law that allows public private partnerships to take part into infrastructure works. It is expected to start building highways, trains, airports as well as other projects in an alliance between the State and private corporations.

There has been a debate about the authority who should decide on this subject. The Congress mentioned its constitutional duties stating that they must decide the public use of funds in each case. But finally, it was decided that the President would be on charge. This doesn’t mean of course that the Congress renounces to his prerogative of controlling public money, but only that the President will be in charge for most of the aspects of the process.

As mentioned at the beginning of this part, security is an important concern for investors. Paraguay does not have any conflicts of race or a higher rate of crime like other places, but there is still a high number of suspects in pre-trial detention11.There is a concern about only poor people go to prison while awaiting their trial. Nevertheless, heinous crimes and drug traffic laws don’t allow any bail to avoid prison.

Finally, we should mention that the investment law provides equal treatment to locals and foreigners. The income rate has fallen down from 30% to 10% when the Personal Income Tax was introduced on 2004 and there are several incentives in place, such as the “maquila” program12, free trade zones, Investment Incentive Act 60/90, as well as PPP mentioned above.

CONCLUSION

Paraguay has a good weather almost the entire year, which assures a high quality of life. Different governments have further improved a business-friendly environment, offering a wide range of opportunities with cheap non manufactured products, electric energy, land and other natural resources.

From 1989 to 2014, various governments enacted politics that ameliorate the security for the people and investments. There has not been a single project that has gone through public expropriation, as it has randomly happened in Venezuela and Argentina, neither we have had an unstable economy. Just to mention one important fact, Fitch and Moodys13 Ratings raised its outlook on Paraguay. The outlook for Paraguay’s double-B-minus ratings was recently raised to positive from its stable economy. The agency mentioned that economic problems of their main partners did not severely affect the country and recent laws help to ameliorate the perception of the country14.

We can only expect that all the benefits showed above will improve the decision of foreign financiers to invest in the country. You will find not only a bright sun during the entire year but also a majority of young people with different level of preparations that are able to work on different tasks, as well as good labor laws and the possibility to use either arbitration or the judiciary for the defense of the rights.

Finally, I would like to mention one phrase by a Paraguayan great writer, Augusto Roa Bastos. He has said that “Paraguay is an island surrounded by land”. It is true that there are many countries and places in the world that deserve to be visited and that there are still some difficulties for some persons to reach this country. All we can say is, that if you arrive there, we expect that this experience will change your life in a good way, not only because of the particularity of an island with no ocean, but mainly because of the things that you will see there.

This paper was presented by Alberto Manuel Poletti Adorno in the Paraguay Economic Forum, Milwaukee, United States, February 6th, 2014 (Alverno College).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to thank the warming receiving of the authorities of Alverno College at Wisconsin: the Dean Horton, Professor Carol Pope Vollmer, the students and Professors and especially Mr. Peter Tase and his family for their wonderful hospitality.

We have heard during the Forum so interesting information about History, Economics, Life Experiences and other things about Paraguay. Thanks to Professor and Chancellor Víctor Brítez Chamorro, Chancellor of the Universidad Nacional del Este, Mrs. Myrian Medina de Brítez, Mr. José Otaño, the Commercial Attaché of Paraguay in Miami, the MBA Students Alex Bartoszewicz, Sue DaBaco as well as all students for their remarks and for sharing with us their works.

Notes:

[1] For a view of the current Constitution enacted in 1992: http://pdba.georgetown.edu/constitutions/paraguay/para1992.html

[2] STADIUS, Eric: En Route to a Failed State—Corruption in the Paraguayan Legal System, the Illicit Market, and Transnational Security, COHA, July 10th, 2012. http://www.coha.org/en-route-to-a-failed-state-corruption-in-the-paraguayan-legal-system-the-illicit-market-and-transnational-security/

[3] Paraguay Country Data: http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-10135.html

[4] Paraguay Exporta, REDIEX, 2013: http://issuu.com/rediexparaguay/docs/exportaciones_2013

[5] Information provided by Dioceses of Ciudad del Este:

http://www.diocesiscde.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3120:gran-apostolado-de-las-voluntarias-del-hogar-del-paso-sagrada-familia-en-la-diocesis&catid=232:noticias

[6] World Bank. Poverty Analysis on Paraguay: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTPOVERTY/EXTPA/0,,contentMDK:20207843~isCURL:Y~menuPK:435735~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:430367,00.html

[7]MANNING, Nick: Merit and responsiveness in public service, Secretaría de la Función Pública, Paraguay, 2008.

http://www.sfp.gov.py/pdfs/Simposio%20Internacional/EE%20UU/Merit_and_Responsiveness.pdf

[8] BBC News Latin America. Paraguay senator loses immunity after public pressure, Nov 28, 2013. Internet:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25148732

[9] ABC Color, 26 de diciembre de 2013. Política. Gobierno impulsa Prociencia. http://www.abc.com.py/edicion-impresa/politica/destinan-us-97-millones-a-investigacion-cientifica-1199938.html

[10]VOUGA, Rodolfo and LLAMOSAS, Cecilia: Latin America Infrastructure Investment Information, May 2012. http://www.liquarterly.com/108/institutions/an-optimistic-outlook-for-infrastructure-transport-and-logistics-services-in-paraguay.html

[11] Paraguay. Crime. http://www.nationmaster.com/red/country/pa-paraguay/cri-crime&all=1

[12] “Maquila” Regime, investors may import goods or products to be assembled, repaired, improved, worked on or processed with the purpose of exporting such goods or products, prior addition of value or the “Paraguayan component”

[13] Moodys Rating 2014. https://www.moodys.com/credit-ratings/Paraguay-Government-of-credit-rating-600044126

14 KELL, John: Fitch Raises Paraguay View as Economy Picks Up, The Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2014. Internet: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20140131-709971.html

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

CAVALLARO, James; VILLAGRA DE BIEDERMANN, Soledad and others: Security in Paraguay, Analysis and Responses in Comparative Perspective, Harvard University Press, 2008
Spanish: http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Security/citizensecurity/paraguay/documentos/harvard.pdf
English:

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780979639500

MANNING, Nick: Merit and responsiveness in public service, Secretaría de la Función Pública, Paraguay, 2008.

http://www.sfp.gov.py/pdfs/Simposio%20Internacional/EE%20UU/Merit_and_Responsiveness.pdf

OAS: Legal system of Paraguay. http://www.oas.org/juridico/mla/en/pry/en_pry-int-des-sj.pdf

PWC: Investment and tax incentives for foreign investors in Paraguay, June 2013. http://www.pwc.com/es_PY/py/boletin-tributario-y-legal/assets/pwc-investment-and-tax-incentives-for-foreign-investors-vert.pdf

RURAL POVERTY PORTAL/IFAD: Rural poverty approaches, policies & strategies in Paraguay

http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/country/approaches/tags/paraguay

ROLÓN, Ana: A Guide to the Legal System and Legal Research in Paraguay, Hauser Global Law School Program, New York University School of Law.

http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/paraguay.htm

The article Interactions Between Law And Economy: The Case Of Paraguay – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Observer Research Foundation

By C. Raja Mohan

As the crisis in Crimea deepens, the formal arguments between Russia and the West are about two perennial themes in international politics —sovereignty and intervention. The US and its allies accuse Russia of violating the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine, and thereby international law, in gaining control over Crimea. Moscow says its actions are ¬entirely in tune with international law and that it is merely protecting the legitimate rights of Russian citizens and other “compatriots” in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. According to Moscow, it is the new regime in Kiev that has ousted a democratically elected president and is threatening the rights of the Russian minorities in the eastern and southern parts of the country.

Legal arguments are always interesting, but rarely drive the evolution of any crisis in international politics. What matters is the change in the distribution of power within and around the crisis zone. The current legal contestation on Ukraine marks an int¬eresting reversal of Russian and American positions on sovereignty and intervention. Russia routinely ¬opposes Western interventions around the world and is an articulate defender of the principle of inviolable territorial sovereignty in international politics.

In Crimea today, Russia is finding ways to justify its intervention in Ukraine. Europeans and Americans, who never tire of telling Asians that the concept of territorial sovereignty is overrated, are the ones at the forefront of defending Ukraine’s territorial ¬sovereignty. Internationalists, multilateralists and liberal imperialists in the West have long insisted that outsiders have a right to intervene in another country if the rights of minorities or civilian populations are threatened by the state. But the Western champions of the “Responsibility to Protect” find it difficult to accept the Russian justification on securing the rights of minorities in Ukraine.

Put simply, the legal positions that major powers take are about the nature of their perceived political interests in a given place at a specific point of time. Territorial sovereignty and non-intervention are not absolute principles, but are defined by circumstances and distribution of power. Where you stand on sovereignty and intervention depends on where you sit.

Near Abroad

To understand the developments in Ukraine, we must look beyond international law to the logic of power politics. The seemingly outdated idea of “spheres of influence” helps us gain insight into the contemporary struggle between Russia and the West in Eurasia. All great powers claim spheres of influence on their periphery, where they seek to limit the role of rival powers and prevent internal developments in their neighbourhood that threaten their interests.

Russia calls its sphere of influence in Eurasia the “near abroad”. In the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow lost much ground, thanks to the eastwards expansion of Nato, the integration of Russia’s western neighbours into the European Union, and the US attempts to promote regime change in Eurasia. Russian President Vladimir Putin is saying enough is enough. He is ¬determined to restore Moscow’s primacy in Russia’s near abroad. But Russia is not the only one ¬seeking a sphere of influence.

The US has had its Monroe Doctrine in Latin America since the early 19th century. India has a variant of it in the subcontinent inherited from the Raj. Japan tried, unsuccessfully, to develop one in the first half of the 20th century. China is bound to create one in Asia as it rises to become a great power.

Buffer States

There is one other allegedly 19th-century concept of buffer states that offers an insight into the conflict between Russia and the West in Ukraine. “Ukraina” is an old Slavic word for a borderland and has been used to refer to Russia’s southwestern frontiers. When Ukraine became an independent state in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, its challenge was to learn the rules of being a buffer state between a sulking Russia and a triumphant West.

Buffer states do seek a measure of autonomy from the powerful neighbour, but are always aware of the dangers of going too far. Internal developments in Ukraine and encouragement from the West have broken this delicate balance and set the stage for the current crisis. The resolution lies in restoring the ¬internal political equilibrium in Ukraine and negotiating a set of agreed rules of the road for Moscow, Brussels and Washington in Russia’s near abroad. The reported talks between Russia and the West to de-escalate the crisis are likely to be focused on these two elements.

(The writer is a Distinguished Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, Delhi and a contributing editor for ’The Indian Express’)

Courtesy : The Indian Express, March 5, 2014

The article Crimean Acts – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By RT

Malaysia has launched a terror probe into the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane which vanished from radars en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing while carrying 239 people on Saturday. Debris from the jet has reportedly been spotted.

The massive search operation for the Boeing 777, which has been ongoing for about two days, might have brought forth its first results, with possible debris from the aircraft reportedly found in the sea off the coast of south Vietnam.

“We received information from a Vietnamese plane saying that they found two broken objects, which seem like those of an aircraft, located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the south-west of Tho Chu Island,” an unnamed official from the National Committee for Search and Rescue told AFP. “As it is night they cannot fish them out for proper identification. They have located the position of the areas and flown back to the land.”

These objects are believed to be a piece of the jetliner’s tail and part of its inner door, The Wall Street Journal reported.

But, a US team involved in the search operation in the South China Sea refuted reports that the debris found belonged to the missing plane, Vietnam’s Tuoi Tre news reported.

According to the US embassy representative in Hanoi, Jacky Ly Thang, the American team carried out an investigation and concluded that the object found 100 kilometers southwest of the Vietnamese island of Tho Chu has no connection to the missing aircraft.

So far there has been no official confirmation from Malaysian authorities that the debris is connected to flight MH370, which lost touch with Subang Air Traffic Control around 02:40 local time on Saturday morning. The plane was carrying 227 passengers, including two infants, and 12 crew members.

Officials investigating the mysterious disappearance of the aircraft are considering the possibility of the airliner’s mid-air disintegration, a source involved in the investigations told Reuters.

“The fact that we are unable to find any debris so far appears to indicate that the aircraft is likely to have disintegrated at around 35,000 feet,” said the source on condition of anonymity. If the aircraft had plunged intact from such a height, breaking up only upon impact with the water, search teams would have expected to find a fairly concentrated pattern of debris, the source added.

Earlier Sunday, China sent two more navy ships to join the search, China Central Television reported. The US was also reported to have dispatched additional aircraft.

Adding more mystery to the story, the family of one of the passengers aboard the missing plane successfully rang the person’s cell phone, but nobody answered, Mirror Online reported.

The relatives asked Malaysia Airlines to use satellite technologies and intercept the phone signal before its battery is run down.

The article Malaysia Launches Terror Probe Over Missing Plane appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Eurasia Review

Iran’s government should immediately and unconditionally free three female rights defenders unlawfully detained for their support of women, students, and political dissidents, Human Rights Watch said today, International Women’s Day. On March 2, 2014, one of the three was sentenced to seven years in prison. The others were already serving prison terms.

The three activists are among at least 14 women in the women’s political prisoners ward at Tehran’s Evin Prison. The Iranian government should also address gender discrimination codified in the country’s legal system, Human Rights Watch said.

“International Women’s Day is an occasion to shed light on the courageous women behind bars in Iran solely because they spoke out for people’s rights or called for an overhaul of the country’s discriminatory laws,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director. “The detention of these women activists is a stark reminder that Iran’s government deprives its people of their most basic and fundamental rights.”

On March 2, a revolutionary court found Maryam Shafipour, a student rights activist, guilty of violating the country’s national security and sentenced her to seven years in prison.

Bahareh Hedayat, a women’s and students’ rights defender, was sentenced in May 2010 to 10 years in prison in relation to her peaceful activities. Since her arrest in 2009, her husband told Human Rights Watch that authorities have not allowed her to get adequate medical treatment outside of prison for serious gynecological problems. The lack of gynecological services in prison and the denial of such treatment outside jail could amount to gender-based discrimination, Human Rights Watch said.

The third activist, Hakimeh Shokri, is serving a three-year sentence for peaceful activities in support of political prisoners and protesters killed during the 2009 postelection violence.

Shafipour, 27, was summoned to the Evin Prison prosecutor’s office on July 27, 2013, and then arrested. She had spent several years advocating for the rights of university students barred from higher education because of their activism and for the release of political prisoners, including the 2009 presidential candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, who is under house arrest.

A source close to the family told Human Rights Watch that Shafipour spent seven months in pretrial detention, including over two months in solitary confinement, during which she had no access to her lawyer. Another source told Human Rights Watch that during her pretrial detention, interrogation officials subjected her to psychological and physical abuse, including kicking her.

The source close to the family told Human Rights Watch that branch 28 of Tehran’s revolutionary court convicted Shafipour of “propaganda against the state,” “assembly and collusion against the national security,” and “membership in an illegal group” that the source said was defending the rights of university students barred from education. The source said evidence, presented by the prosecutor’s office as proof of these “crimes,” included information posted on her Facebook page about the situation of political prisoners, and her peaceful activities and statements she signed in support of students barred from higher education. The sentence against Shafipour includes a two-year ban on the use of Facebook and other social media sites upon release.

In 2010, Emam Khomeini International University officials in the northwestern city of Ghazvin barred Shafipour from continuing her university studies because of her rights activities. The activities included visiting family members of political prisoners and her affiliation with Karroubi’s presidential campaign. Shafipour has 20 days to appeal her conviction and sentence.

Shafipour and Shokri are both members of the Mothers of Laleh Park, a group established in June 2009 by mothers whose children lost their lives in the violent government-sanctioned response to protests following Iran’s disputed June 12 election. The group has also shown solidarity with political prisoners and their families. Authorities have repeatedly targeted the group, previously named “Mourning Mothers,” arrested its members, and prevented them from gathering at Laleh Park in Tehran and other public places.

A Tehran revolutionary court convicted Shokri on charges of “propaganda against the state” and “acting against the national security” in April 2012 because of her activities with the group, according to rights activists. Security forces arrested her and several other members of the group on December 5, 2010, as they gathered at a Tehran cemetery to commemorate the death of a protester killed by security forces during the 2009 postelection violence.

Hedayat, 32, is the first secretary of the Women’s Commission of the Office to Foster Unity (Tahkim-e Vahdat), one of the country’s largest student groups, which has been banned since 2009, and the first – and only – woman elected to its central committee. Authorities arrested her on December 30, 2009, and eventually charged her with various national security crimes, including “propaganda against the system,” “disturbing public order,” “participating in illegal gatherings,” “insulting the Supreme Leader,” and “insulting the president.” An appeals court upheld the sentence in July 2010.

Amin Ahmadian, Hedayat’s husband, told Human Rights Watch that Hedayat is serving an eight year sentence because of public speeches and joint statements she made as a central committee member of Takhim-e Vahdat criticizing the government clampdown on political dissidents and students in the wake of the 2009 presidential election. He said Hedayat is serving an additional two years based on a previous suspended sentence in connection with public demonstrations she attended in 2006 with the One Million Signatures Campaign, a grass-roots campaign aimed at overturning laws that discriminate against women.

Ahmadian said that although Hedayat is suffering from a chronic reproductive system complication that requires immediate medical attention, judiciary and prison authorities have refused her an adequate medical leave.

Iran’s judiciary should release Hedayat and other political prisoners based on recent amendments to Iran’s penal code, Human Rights Watch said. Under article 134, a person convicted of multiple charges may only receive the maximum penalty for their most serious charge, instead of a compounded sentence based on each individual charge. Article 134 also allows the judiciary to free Hedayat after she has served half her sentence.

Since 2005, and especially since the 2009 presidential election, Iran has stepped up arrests and other repressive measures against activists, including those who advocate student’s rights and speak out against discriminatory laws based on gender. Iranian women face discrimination in personal status matters related to marriage, divorce, inheritance, and child custody. A woman needs her male guardian’s approval for marriage regardless of her age, and cannot pass on her nationality to her foreign-born spouse or their children.

On August 1, 2013, Human Rights Watch wrote to then-President Hassan Rouhani asking him to take concrete steps in several key reform areas, ranging from freeing political prisoners to expanding academic freedom in universities and respecting women’s rights. Human Rights Watch urged Rouhani to remove disciplinary boards that unlawfully monitor students’ activities and suspend or expel them solely because they have exercised their fundamental rights, and to allow organizations like Tahkim-e Vahdat to resume operating.

Human Rights Watch also urged Rouhani to work toward gender equality in the country, noting that while “the president has limited ability to directly change the discriminatory personal status laws related to marriage, inheritance, and child custody … [he] should nonetheless support efforts to amend or abolish such laws” and support groups like the One Million Signatures Campaign.

On November 26, President Rouhani’s official website presented a draft Citizens’ Rights Charter for public comment. In a joint letter Human Rights Watch and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran noted that many of the draft charter’s provisions, including those addressing women’s rights, fail to protect rights adequately or violate Iran’s legal obligations under international law. Among the problems are limitations on rights based on seemingly subjective criteria such as “national security” and “principles of Islam.”

“Iran’s judiciary bears primary responsibility for freeing rights defenders like Shafipour, Hedayat, and Shokri from prison, and ensuring that the country abides by its international rights obligations,” Whitson said. “But Rouhani’s government can also play a critical role by advocating the release of these rights defenders and pressing security and intelligence forces to stop harassing and targeting activists.”

The article Call For Iran To Free Women Activists appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By JTW

Prime Minister Erdoğan explained in a TV program that Facebook and YouTube could be banned after the local elections held on March 30 due to the leaked tapes of phone call between Erdoğan and his son, Bilal Erdoğan, in which they discussed about how to get rid of their million dollars.

Erdoğan claimed that social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are manipulated by his enemies through “fabricated” audio recordings posted on those internet sites purportedly revealing corruption in his inner circle.

Erdoğan stated that, ” We will not leave tour nation at the mercy of socail media sites manipulation, so that we will take the necessary steps in order to eliminate this”, and he answered the question of the reporter about whether he could ban the internet as, “Banning of internet is included in our measures”.

According to PM Erdoğan, the release of audio records is the part of a campaign to disgrace him and AKP government which has been ruling Turkey for more than a decade.

Conversely, Gülen movement denies any involvement in the recordings and rejects the claims that the movement is using a network of information leakege to discredit Erdoğan or to influence Turkish politics.

Five more recordings have appeared on YouTube this week. In the most recent one on YouTube which appeared on Thursday, Erdoğan is purportedly suggesting the dismissal of two journalists who are responsible for a front-page story about Kurdish peace talk efforts on Milliyet newspaper.

Erdoğan gave the message of that a criminal investigation could be started against Gülen movement for the leakages.

Asked about the statements of Erdoğan about the probability of banning the internet, President Gül said it is not possible to ban it.

The article Turkey: Erdoğan Considers Ban On Facebook And YouTube appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Khalil Nouri

The brouhaha about the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) between Hamid Karzai with the White House and the fully acceptance by a 2,500 – Loya Jirga, Grand Assembly of elders after four days of deliberation in Kabul (November 21-24) has been stalled by Karzai’s conditions. He says that he’ll ignore signing the already consented agreement until after the April presidential election in which, as per Afghanistan’s constitutional provisions, he is not even a candidate. On the contrary, the Obama administration’s frustration with Karzai has taken them to a different level to sign the BSA with the new President of Afghanistan when he is elected. Although all the contenders in the Afghan election have agreed to sign the BSA,  it remains to be seen as to what supposedly last Karzai’s scam effort may bring.

The views of some top Afghan politicians are that Karzai’s pressure exerted on the U.S. administration to accept his choice of Afghan president in Kabul’s Arg Palace is a planned coercion that Karzai has been hiding under his sleeve for some time. That said, a complicated two-round voting system in the Afghan presidential election means there is little expectation a new leader will be in office before the end of the summer. Thus, if not Karzai then whoever signs, it will raise the question as what will be the future prospect and the U.S. position in the fragile country.

So far, amongst the eleven presidential contender only one candidate, Hamid Karzai’s brother, Qayoum Karzai is out of the race, and in due time he’ll grant his endorsement for Karzai’s Foreign Minister, Dr. Zalmai Rassoul, a medical physician, who has been jockeyed by the Presidential Palace to steal the upcoming election in Afghanistan.

In Afghan politics, however, this is a very convoluted scenario for many to grasp, specifically for those who are non-Afghans. The exact plan appears to be to replace one of their own with Hamid Karzai.
It is a familiar election conspiracy, in fact in-line with the Russian election of Putin-Medvedev “job-swap” style that has been effective for the past 14 years in Kremlin.

Mahmud Karzai, another brother of Hamid Karzai in his interview with WSJ said, “The constituency of both candidates is practically the same.” He further adds, “Both teams are paying close attention to the Afghan traditions, to tribal traditions. So we wanted to make sure that our constituents are in line with our thinking.” Then, the senior aide to Qayoum Karzai said, “There will be no change in the ticket. What we are trying to do is to convince everybody who is our supporter on voting day to not vote for Qayoum, but vote for Rassoul.”

In fact, this is the first conspiracy step to use Qayoum Karzai as bait, collecting votes under the name of  the “President’s Brother” and then divert them for Rassoul.

The question is why will Rassoul be chosen to run for President?

One reason is that he was born into a prominent Pashtun—Mohamadzai—family of those from former royal elites that ruled Afghanistan for centuries. In fact, this is a high mark to quell many people who are embedded with the past mentality of monarchial sentiment, particularly in Southern and Eastern Afghanistan where the insurgency hotbeds reside.

Secondly, the corrupt individuals who are part of the Karzai administration will hide behind Rassoul so they can carry on their “business-as-usual” of corruption schemes.

Thirdly, this power swap, but with no change to the current government structure — in which, Karzai will be acting as a nonofficial, but with tremendous weight — also guarantees the flow of donor aid money for Afghanistan to be in their sphere of control, which also guarantees future elections to be illicitly controlled and manipulated by the new government when Rassoul takes over.

In this case the White House should consider to order its military commanders to include the so called “zero option” in its planning scenarios. A formal order to plan for a full withdrawal of U.S. and NATO military personnel should be of use.

The U.S. public opinion is supportive of the withdrawal process and would be sympathetic to arguments that a continued presence is not wanted by the majority of Afghans, of course if another corrupt Karzai style government takes over.

But, Karzai is clearly making sure that his man, Rassoul, must take over; or else a collapsed BSA will leave the country to the wolves.
In fact, Karzai is underestimating the extent of American disengagement from the war, as his spokesman said, “We don’t believe there is a zero option.”

Afghans are giving their hope for a better outcome in the next election, but if the conspiracy of Putin-Medvedev style carries on with no end in sight of Karzai government corruption, embezzlement, drug trafficking, nepotism and the list goes on — then no matter if the BSA is signed, or not, peace will be a distant dream in Afghanistan.

The views expressed are the author’s own.

The article The BSA: Cannon Fodder For The Afghan Presidential Election – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By RFA

By Michael Lelyveld

China’s air pollution crisis is exposing political strains with public calls for officials to enforce environmental rules.

In an unusually public complaint, state media openly blasted city authorities in China’s capital Beijing for failing to limit traffic and take other restrictive steps during “hazardous” periods of smog.

“Beijing municipal government, don’t pretend to be blind in the fog,” said China Central Television (CCTV) in a social media message, cited by the official Xinhua news agency and the ruling Chinese Communist Party-affiliated paper Global Times on Feb. 16.

According to the report, the air quality index (AQI) at city monitoring stations hit the hazardous Level 6 range on that date after three days of stifling conditions.

The CCTV messages posted on the Weibo.com website implied that city officials should have declared a “red” alert and taken emergency measures under Beijing’s four-tiered system of color codes for pollution response.

“The government should not shun its responsibility or turn a blind eye to the smog,” CCTV said.

The rare criticism of an official authority by state-controlled media came four days after the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences released a report, evaluating Beijing’s environment as “almost unfavorable for human living.”

Online references to that study, initially relayed by the official English-language China Daily, were deleted by Internet censors in China, Radio Free Asia reported.

Color code system

The CCTV complaints suggested more complex forces at work as the central government tried to deal with public anger and deflect blame for worsening smog.

Last October, Beijing implemented the color code system that called for special measures including factory shutdowns and traffic bans based on odd-even license plate numbers during the highest pollution levels.

But the Beijing municipal government “has not initiated the emergency response once since the program came into effect,” Xinhua reported.

On Feb. 20, city officials appeared to take heed of the criticism, issuing a “yellow” alert for the first time and later upgrading the warning to the second-highest level of “orange.”

Over 100 factories were told to limit or stop production, Xinhua reported. Beijing authorities ordered Communist Party and political institutions to reduce vehicle use, according to China Daily, but stopped short of imposing traffic curbs through license plate numbers.

The city lifted the orange alert on Feb. 27 as a cold front cleared the air, capping one of the worst weeks of pollution in recent memory. Smog returned to the capital on Monday after a brief break over the weekend, Xinhua reported.

Growing tension

Daniel Gardner, a China scholar and history professor at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, said the open criticism from official media reflects growing tension over the smog crisis.

“The central government is altogether frustrated with local officials because, I think, the central government is desperately committed to addressing pollution problems,” Gardner said in an interview.

In early September, Beijing unveiled a five-year “action plan,” pledging to remove 25 percent of the smallest smog-forming particles from the air by 2017.

Ten days later, the central government rolled out its own “airborne pollution prevention and control action plan,” setting out five-year goals for China’s 338 cities.

Beijing’s program was widely seen as the toughest because it pledged to close all coal-fired power plants in the city by 2017, shut small polluting factories and cut emissions from major industries by 30 percent.

But citizens in the capital have felt little relief so far, with prolonged bouts of dense pollution since the plans were announced.

It may be too soon expect results from a five-year plan, but choking conditions during the recent Lunar New Year holiday suggest that officials were reluctant to impose traffic restrictions that were promised as a response.

The Xinhua report also blamed local authorities for failing to ban fireworks during the Lantern Festival on Feb. 14, despite AQI readings of more than 12 times the World Health Organization limit for “significant health impacts.”

Public pressure

State news outlets seem to have seized on the episode to vent public pressure over pollution, while making it clear where responsibility for enforcement lies.

“The central government wants to show that it’s responsive, but it really doesn’t have the wherewithal to control these municipal governments,” Gardner said.

In a recent interview with the National Bureau of Asian Research, Gardner noted that China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has only about 300 employees, compared with over 17,000 at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The weakness of enforcement at the central government level reflects the strength of economic development interests, he said.

Central government plans to cut industrial overcapacity and close inefficient production lines in smokestack industries like steel have met with similar resistance.

“Enforcement of rules has been patchy at the local level, where authorities often rely on taxes paid by polluting industries,” Gardner said a recent Reuters report.

But finger-pointing at local authorities is also problematic, since measures like driving bans and factory shutdowns are equally likely to generate complaints.

“The Beijing municipal government doesn’t want to alienate its own people,” Gardner said.

Middle class awareness

The conflict over enforcement may be camouflaging a more serious problem for improving air quality, since complaints on social media are likely to be coming from the rising middle class, which is both environmentally aware and sensitive to loss of privileges like driving.

“They are also the ones driving the cars,” said Gardner. “Do they want to make the concessions individually that are necessary to clean up the air?”

The conflicts and contradictions have been illustrated by a citizen lawsuit against the local government in Shijiazhuang, the heavily-polluted capital of northern Hebei province.

Among other things, resident Li Guixing filed the suit to protest an emergency driving ban as unfair, Xinhua reported.

“I want to show every citizen through my action that we are the victims of pollution,” Li was quoted as saying. “We are affected physically and economically, and we shouldn’t be the ones to pay for all this.”

Shift to greener growth

In one sense, tackling the smog crisis is consistent with the central government’s broad long-range plan to shift the basis of China’s economy away from smokestack industries toward more sustainable and greener growth, the service sector and consumption.

“The question is how quickly can you do that without stalling the economy, which, after all, is the basis of the Party’s legitimacy,” Gardner said.

Having lifted millions out of poverty and paved the way for a rising middle class, the Communist Party leadership now faces the challenge of the pollution that the progress has caused.

China’s leaders are now worrying that dissatisfaction with urban pollution among the middle class has become a threat to the system.

“Even if they don’t take to the streets, they’re beginning to talk about quality of life versus economic prosperity. Can we really provide them with that quality of life?” Gardner said.

China’s official press highlighted air quality as a top issue for this week’s annual legislative sessions in Beijing after President Xi Jinping toured a city neighborhood in a publicized event on Feb. 25.

“Tackling air pollution is the most urgent task for officials. It has become a key criteria for how they are judged, and the absence of progress over time could spell the end of their career,” a Xinhua commentary said.

The article Political Clouds Darken Over China Smog – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Dr Shanthie Mariet D Souza

The withdrawal of International Security Forces from Afghanistan in 2014 has become the source of infinite uncertainties in Afghanistan as well as in regional countries. In New Delhi, there are concerns about an unstable Afghanistan yet again turning into a springboard of destabilisation and terrorism, with direct impact on India’s security. There are worries that India’s developmental assistance and aid commitment of more than US$ 2 billion, which has generated tremendous popular goodwill for the country, may not be sufficient enough to sustain the country’s engagement, its reconstruction and development activities in post 2014 Afghanistan. As the discourse on the ‘draw down’ and ‘the future of Afghanistan’ gains momentum, whether India’s security, political, security interests can be sustained or even expanded, is a subject of growing importance in the strategic and policy making circles in New Delhi.

India’s Role and Interests

India’s primary interests in Afghanistan after the terror strikes of 11 September 2001 on the American homeland need to be viewed in the context of its concerns over extremist takeover, terrorism and violence emanating from the extremely volatile Pakistan-Afghanistan border and the consequent conflict spill over into India. A strong, stable, and democratic Afghanistan would reduce the probability of such dangers impinging on India’s security and destabilising the region. New Delhi’s worries are intrinsically linked to its view that Pakistan’s objective in Afghanistan is to regain ‘strategic depth’ by reinstalling a pliant Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Following the ouster of the Taliban in 2001, India renewed its diplomatic ties with Kabul and adopted ‘soft power approach’ in the reconstruction process of Afghanistan. Steering clear of a military role, India has concentrated on developmental aid, civilian, political and administrative capacity building, the re-establishment of cultural and historical links, and, for the longer term, trying to position its relationship with Afghanistan in the context of its energy and trade interests in Central Asia. India has emerged as the ‘fifth largest’ bilateral donor country, having pledged US$ 2 billion and invested in diverse areas including healthcare, education, infrastructure, social welfare, training of politicians, diplomats, and police, and institution and capacity building.

Security Concerns: Extremism and Terrorism

The much appreciated development role, notwithstanding, the recurring attacks by the Taliban and its affiliates (the Haqqani network) on Indian mission and personnel pose a significant challenge for investing in large scale high visibility projects in post-2014 Afghanistan. The gruesome and high profile symbolic attacks on the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan, in July 2008 and October 2009 continue to highlight India’s vulnerabilities in Afghanistan. Since 9/11, New Delhi’s policy has broadly been in congruence with the US goal of destroying the Taliban-Al Qaeda combine and instituting a democratic regime in Kabul. However, years later, the Taliban has been able to regroup and resurge, in addition to further intensifying its linkages with anti-India groups based in Pakistan. A worrisome development has been expansion of the terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) activities beyond Kunar and Nooristan provinces to other parts of Afghanistan, which could emerge as a centre of anti-Indian and anti-Western operations.

To a large extent, heeding to the sensitivities of its neighbour-Pakistan, India has steered clear of any direct military involvement in Afghanistan, in spite of Afghan interest and requests for military assistance. A complete international troop withdrawal would not be in India’s interest, but an Indian military footprint would feed into the insurgent propaganda and dissipate the goodwill that India has earned among the Afghans. Having avoided the military option and provided huge developmental assistance instead, New Delhi intends to keep its image as a ‘friendly and neutral country’ untarnished. In this context, India’s lack lustre responses to Afghanistan’s repeated requests for military hardware assistance, including President Karzai’s wish list during his visit in May 2013, is hardly surprising.

Political Institution building, Reintegration and Reconciliation

India has invested heavily in political, administrative and civilian capacity building. During the two-day visit to Kabul in August 2005, by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, leaders of both countries reiterated their commitment to building a new partnership for the 21st century. The highlight of the visit was the foundation-laying ceremony of the Afghan Parliament building to be built by India, which is a symbol of New Delhi’s desire to play a catalysing role in the rebuilding of Afghanistan’s democracy. Over the years, India has invested in addition in training and capacity building, working with legislators, parliamentary staff, and diplomats to build the political and democratic institution building.

As the talk of western exit gathers momentum, the Afghan Government and international community have initiated various efforts at negotiations with the Taliban. While there has been a lack of clarity in the international community’s attempts at finding a political solution to the Afghan war, New Delhi has indicated support for the Afghan-led reintegration process. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2009, the then Indian External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna stated India did ‘not believe that war can solve any problem and that applies to Afghanistan too.’ This line of thinking is indicative of New Delhi’s recognition of the Afghan Government’s efforts to build an inclusive political order much as the Indian government over the years has been involved in various such dialogues, negotiations, and reintegration mechanisms in dealing with its own insurgencies.

There have also been indications that New Delhi is supportive of President Karzai’s reintegration overtures towards the tribal fighters. India’s then Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, addressing an international seminar on Afghanistan in October 2009, declared that India would support the process of reintegrating individuals into the national mainstream—that is, India would back a dialogue with the moderate Taliban who agree to renounce violence. This change in stance, however, came with a qualification. Pakistan, which is widely believed to support the Taliban and provide shelter in Quetta to its leaders, would need to cease assistance to the Taliban. The concerns of New Delhi stem from the fact that the Pakistan military’s continued support to the Afghan Taliban leadership, as a ‘strategic asset’, would make any meaningful reconciliation an exercise in futility.

As the possibility of negotiations with the Taliban has gained momentum, New Delhi has continued to re-adjust its posture. In a significant shift of thinking, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed support for Kabul’s decision to begin an Afghan-led process of reconciliation with the Taliban. There is a growing recognition in New Delhi that negotiations with the Taliban will occur, as the West’s desire to exit mounts. New Delhi’s more flexible approach is reminiscent of the policy it adopted following Soviet withdrawal in 1989, when Prime Minister Rao committed India to deal with whosoever rose to power in Kabul, providing it with the flexibility to engage with various stakeholders in the future. India’s expansion of SDPs in the insurgency prone south and east speaks volumes about the success of these local initiatives and the at least grudging assent of the local Taliban.

Geo Strategic and Economic interests: Energy, Minerals and Trade

As a major regional economic power, with ambitions of extending its influence beyond its immediate neighbourhood, India has worked towards reviving the role of Afghanistan as a land bridge connecting South Asia with Central Asia to tap energy resources and augment trade. Afghanistan’s connection with energy-rich Central Asia is critical for India’s burgeoning energy needs. With this objective, India has been pursuing better relations with the Central Asian states. It has provided a US$ 17 million grant for the modernisation of a hydropower plant in Tajikistan and has signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkmenistan for a natural gas pipeline that will pass through Afghanistan and Pakistan. The agreement which was signed by Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India (TAPI) in 2008 envisages over a thousand miles of pipe lines connecting Turkmenistan’s natural gas fields with energy-deficient South Asia. The pipeline would benefit other countries as well including Pakistan – an indication that India’s role in Afghanistan may have collateral benefits for Pakistan and that not everything is zero-sum as between Indian and Pakistani involvement in that troubled country.

A crucial focus for India has been the development of a southern trade corridor linking India with Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Russia. The establishment of a bilateral trade and transit agreement between Tehran and Kabul, leading to the creation of the Chabahar Free Zone Authority (CFZA) in 2002, was an important benchmark for the southern trade corridor. While the 218 km Zaranj-Delaram road provides economic opportunities for India in those countries, it also provides Afghanistan with an alternative in reducing its dependence on Pakistan for transit facilities. This is of particular significance given the difficult trade and transit arrangements and bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Additionally, it provides the international community with an alternative supply route through the northern distribution network (NDN), as the present routes through Pakistan are increasingly targeted by the insurgents or held hostage due to the fractious US-Pakistan relations.

A Preferential Trade Agreement was signed between India and Afghanistan in 2003, reducing customs duty on a range of goods. Bilateral trade has increased considerably as a result, worth over US$ 600 million in 2011, with Indian markets absorbing the largest share of Afghan exports. India has also promoted grater economic integration with Afghanistan through SAARC. Through the Agreement on Strategic Partnership (ASP) signed between the two countries in 2011, both countries have committed ‘to deepening and diversifying co-operation in sectors such as agriculture, rural development, mining, industry, energy, information technology, communications, transport, including civil aviation.’ Two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were signed for the development of minerals and natural gas in Afghanistan, which is said to hold mineral deposits worth USD 1 trillion. A consortium led by state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL) could invest up to USD 6 billion in the Hajigak mines in the province of Bamiyan. The Agreement is a reiteration of India’s commitment to Afghanistan’s economic progress and also its development as a bridge between South Asia and Central Asia. Along with the ASP, two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were signed for the development of minerals and natural gas in Afghanistan, which is said to hold mineral deposits worth $1 trillion. A consortium led by state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL) could invest up to $6 billion in the Hajigak mines in the province of Bamiyan.

Evolving policy contours & preparedness for post-2014 Afghanistan

New Delhi will be confronted by a host of rapidly changing scenarios in Afghanistan as the country heads for transition in the security and political sectors (upcoming presidential elections) in 2014. The interplay between different actors jockeying for power could either allow India to retain its present level of engagement, provide opportunities to expand its influence or bring an abrupt end to its presence in that country. If it wishes to remain relevant and engaged in playing a key role in the long-term stabilisation of Afghanistan, India will have to recalibrate its strategy to deal with a range of options from the unfolding scenarios.

In the rapidly changing scenarios, there continue to be serious concerns about whether India can sustain its present ‘aid only’ policy under the shrinking US security umbrella. If the West in a rush to exit leaves the door open for a Taliban take over, there is little doubt that India’s options will be severely constrained. Even in the most likely scenario beyond 2014, which envisions a limited US troop presence in strategic bases, leaving the country side open to Taliban influence, India might have to minimise its presence and restrict its developmental activities to key cities. Without a clear, coordinated, Afghan-led reconciliation policy and adherence to various red lines, the concerns of the present democratic regime being overrun radical elements remains.

A. Institutionalising bilateral initiatives

In the months leading to 2014, India will have to utilise a range of diplomatic, military, and economic tools and set clear policy markers to sustain the democratic gains and deny the space for the return of the extremists. One of the most significant steps taken to cement the gains made in the decade long developmental assistance and aid policy has been the 2011 signing of the Agreement on Strategic Partnership (ASP). Building on the Treaty of 1950, the ASP is recognition of the need to restore and take forward the historical, traditional and civilisational relationship between both countries and as the Prime Minister of India indicated a serious attempt to ‘to stay’ in Afghanistan. The ASP deepens and diversifies cooperation in various sectors such as agriculture, rural development, mining, industry, energy, information technology, communications, transport, including civil aviation.The ASP has provided a much-needed institutional mechanism in terms of ‘regular foreign office consultations and strategic dialogue’ to sustain the Indian engagement beyond 2014. The ASP signalled that New Delhi is ready to work with Afghanistan even in adverse and difficult conditions beyond 2014. There is, however, a need to provide teeth (for implementation) to the ASP to build on the gains of the last decade

In the security sector, the near to medium-term projects could include training of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), particularly its officer corps, the police, paramilitary, and the air force, and also helping to build the justice sector. In the long term, security sector reform and building sound civil-military relations would remain critical in preventing the disintegration or loss of civil control of the army. Given that funding, recruiting and sustaining a large Afghan army is an economically unviable project in the near term, a capable police force is essential. In the south, there are requests for India’s assistance in training Special Forces, community policing and police sensitisation programmes. The transition in the political sector is much more challenging. There is an immediate need for India to call for an inclusive national dialogue in Afghanistan which addresses the concerns of the impending presidential election and reconciliation process. In addition to broad based engagement with the other political groups, New Delhi needs to work on strengthening the electoral reform process and assisting in the democratic transition in that country.

Indian investments in Afghanistan could evaporate if not translated into long-term influence. The high-visibility infrastructure projects have essentially involved building an asset and handing it over to the Afghan authorities. While this has given New Delhi prestige and a measure of gratitude, it is unlikely to give India enduring influence. What India needs is a shift from asset creation to programme delivery. By designing and running large development programmes in the context of poverty, illiteracy, and systemic administrative dysfunction, India can fill a critical gap in rebuilding the economic, social, and political capital of Afghanistan and thus sustain an enduring channel of influence. In the near and medium term, there is a need to establish small and medium enterprises, alternate livelihood programmes to help revive the Afghan indigenous economic base.

B. Need for a New Counter Narrative

New Delhi has attempted to build on the narrative of opportunity to counter the anxiety of withdrawal. From a narrow security centric approach, the attempt has been to shift focus to regional confidence building, development, governance, and most lately, trade and investment, aiming to use the Afghanistan’s resource potential to build its economic viability, sustainability and independence. The third in the series and the first in South Asia, an investment summit was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) on 28 June 2012 in New Delhi to attract investments for Afghanistan and ensure that the country’s economic and transit potential becomes its inherent strength to accrue the much needed economic dividends for itself and the region.

To a large extent, the genesis of this thinking is based on the inadequacies of the decade-long narrow security-related approach that has produced fragile and reversible gains. As an alternate approach, a focus shift to the Afghanistan’s large deposit of mineral and hydrocarbon resources, it’s underdeveloped yet significant agricultural and human resource potential, and its strategic geographical location at the crossroads of Central, South, West Asia and Eurasia. These factors combine together to offer vast opportunities for foreign investment, trade and transit connectivity. Such potential can be harnessed by an assimilation of economic interests of regional countries through a mutually beneficial inter-dependent framework. This neo-liberal argument indicates that the convergence of such interests could be the best leverage against slide of Afghanistan into instability. It would mitigate the risks of negative zero sum competition among regional countries and build stakes for long term economic engagement in the region. In the long run, this could pave the way for the transformation of the Afghan economy from a prolonged phase of being aid-dependent to self-reliant.

C. Revisiting patterns of engagement

India will have to take a lead in preventing the reversal of decade long gains in Afghanistan in the light of receding military foot print and waning international attention. In all likelihood, this will involve forging a regional consensus on the future of Afghanistan. In chalking out a regional strategy, India will have to reach out to its extended neighbourhood and assume more leadership as a major economic power and net security provider in the region. India has signalled that it was ready to discuss the larger Afghan situation with Islamabad during foreign secretary-level talks. On umpteen forums it has been clarified that both India and Afghanistan are willing to accommodate Pakistan’s genuine interests.

The ASP has provided the basis for greater bilateral and regional measures of mutual interdependence and cooperation. As the date of draw down draws near, Afghanistan is going to witness increased internal and regional recalibration. In the run-up to the 2014 election and after, the state of the country gives India ample opportunities to use its political, military and economic tools for expanding its contours for long term engagement.While some counties would continue their hedging strategies, including supporting their proxies, New Delhi will have to navigate the difficult local and regional contours. New Delhi’s primary and secondary interests in the long-term can be secured through a regional framework. In addition, its own relations with Pakistan and the directions of the confidence building measures, will remain crucial to allay concerns and devise regional strategies. By moving beyond bilateralism, New Delhi’s regional and multilateral strategy seeks to bring in long term peace and stability in the region.

This article appeared at the Asian Century Institute and reprinted with permission.

The article India In Post 2014 Afghanistan: Challenges And Opportunities – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Magharebia

By Nazim Fethi

Algerian security forces on Thursday (March 6th) arrested about 100 people protesting a possible fourth term for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The Algiers demonstration reflects the heated political debate swirling around the April 17th presidential poll.

Of the 130 candidates who said they were running, only twelve had submitted their applications to the Constitutional Council by the Tuesday midnight deadline. The council now has ten days to approve or reject the applications.

In addition to President Bouteflika, the candidate pool includes other regulars: Algerian National Front President Mousa Touati, Algerian Rally President Ali Zaghdoud, Worker’s Party Secretary-General Louisa Hanoune and former Prime Minister Ali Benflis.

The parliamentary majority National Liberation Front (FLN), the National Democratic Rally, the Algerian People’s Movement, and the Rally for Algerian Hope support the 77-year-old president, other parties back Benflis and some plan to boycott the election altogether.

Many candidates withdrew from the race upon hearing that Bouteflika would seek a fourth term, including Jil Jadid (New Generation) President Sofiane Djilali and former Prime Minister Ahmed Benbitour.

The focal point of this election, however, remains President Bouteflika.

“The president’s health is normal,” said Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal, who is set to run President Bouteflika’s election campaign along with former prime ministers Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelaziz Belkadem.

Meanwhile, the Barakat (Enough) movement took to Algiers’s streets again on Thursday into shout their opposition to another term for the president. Similar protests were launched by students in Tizi Ouzou and Ouargla.

Amira Bouraoui, a Barakat leader, explained the origin of the movement.

“During his latest speech to the nation [May 8th, 2012], Abdelaziz Bouteflika said that his generation was done and that we needed to give way to the youth. We believed in this and we waited for the 2014 presidential election to see him go. This running for a fourth term is an affront,” said Bouraoui.

Meanwhile, Bouteflika’s supporters claim to have gathered 5 million signatures and are already on the campaign trail, which includes launching an extensive social-networking operation. And Prime Minister Sellal continues to defend President Bouteflika’s record.

“We have learned to live in peace and we will fight to protect it,” Sellal said Thursday in Tipaza.

The article Algeria Presidential Race Sparks Political Firestorm appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By CNA

By Elise Harris

In lengthy excerpts of an interview published in an Italian newspaper, Benedict XVI speaks of his time collaborating with John Paul II, highlighting the deceased Pope’s sanctity and commitment to the truth.

“In the years of collaboration with him it became ever more clear to me that John Paul II was a saint,” the retired pontiff told Polish journalist Wlodzimierz Redzioch in a written interview, selections of which appeared in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on March 7.

Published as part of the book “Beside JPII: Friends and Collaborators Speak,” released by Italian press agency “Italian Edizioni Ares,” Benedict’s written interview was originally requested by Redzioch in Nov. of 2013, which he agreed to and completed in Jan. of this year.

During the interview, retired pontiff Benedict XVI recalled that he originally met John Paul II in the conclave where John Paul I was elected Pope, explaining how they had both read each others’ work previously and had been wanting to meet each other.

Observing how the then Cardinal Wojtyla had quoted his piece “Introduction to Christianity” during the spiritual exercises he preached for Pope Paul VI in 1979, Benedict noted that “it is as if, interiorly, we both were expecting to meet each other.”

“Above all, I immediately and greatly perceived the human fascination that he exuded, and from the way he prayed I noted how deeply united to God he was.”

Speaking of his appointment by John Paul II as Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Benedict recalled how the Blessed allowed him to continue publishing theological works for his home diocese, and that he was “always very gracious and accommodating with me.”

Referring to certain doctrinal challenges which the two faced during their years of working together, Benedict XVI noted that the first major topic that came up was Liberation Theology.

“Both in Europe and in North America, it was common opinion that it was a support to the poor and, therefore, that it was a cause that surely needed to be approved,” he explained.

However, “it was an error,” stated the retired pontiff, adding that “Poverty and the poor were, without a doubt, set at the center of the Liberation Theology, yet in a very specific perspective…It was said that it was not a question of help or of reforms, but rather of the great upheaval from which a new world would spring.”

Observing how “the Christian faith was being used as a motor for this revolutionary movement, transforming it into a political force,” Benedict explained that “A falsification of the Christian faith needed to be opposed precisely for the sake of the poor and in favor of the service rendered to them.”

Drawing attention to John Paul II’s experience with Marxism in Poland, which Benedict referred to as “the godmother of liberation theology,” the retired pontiff emphasized that it was “on the basis of his painful experience,” that made it “clear to him that it was necessary to fight that kind of ‘liberation.’”

Turning to his decision to open JPII’s cause for beatification, which advanced the times established by Canon Law, Benedict noted that he had been convinced of the Blessed’s sanctity for many years due to his “his intense relationship with God,” and his immersion “with the Lord.”

“From here came his happiness, in the midst of the great fatigues that he had to sustain, and the courage with which he carried out his task in a truly difficult time,” Benedict recalled.

“John Paul II did not ask for applause, nor did he ever look around concerned about how his decisions would be received. He acted beginning with his faith and from his convictions and he was also ready to receive blows.”

“The courage of the truth is, in my eyes, a criterion of the first order of sainthood,” the retired Pope emphasized, adding that “only departing from his relationship with God is it possible to also understand his tireless pastoral commitment.”

Noting that John Paul II’s commitment was “inexhaustible,” Benedict stated that “He committed himself with a radicality that cannot be otherwise explained,” and that was not limited to “the great trips” he took, but also “day after day beginning with the morning Mass until late into the night.”

Speaking in reference to the fact that the Church has officially recognized the holiness of “his” Pope John Paul II, as he was one of the Blessed’s closest collaborators, Benedict XVI affirmed that “My memory of John Paul II is filled with gratitude.”

“I could not and I should not try to imitate him, but I tried to carry on his legacy and his job as best I could. And so I am sure that even today his kindness accompanies me and his blessing protects me.”

Already on store shelves, the book is a memoir compiled for the occasion of Bl. John Paul II’s canonization, which is slated to take place on April 27, Divine Mercy Sunday, of this year, and is available only in Italian.

The book includes recollections from over a dozen of the Blessed’s other closest friends and collaborators, including Bl. John Paul II’s secretaries, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Archbishop Emery Kabongo and Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki.

Also featured are interviews with the former Director of the Press Office of the Holy See Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the Blessed Pope’s life-long friend Wanda Poltawska, and the postulator of his Cause for Sainthood, Fr. Slawomir Oder, as well as many others.

Corriere della Sera is the same Italian daily which recently published an interview with Pope Francis, in which the pontiff spoke of key topics in the Church, including the upcoming Synod of Bishops.

This interview has been translated from the original Italian by CNA’s Alan Holdren and Estefania Augirre.

The article In Rare Interview, Benedict XVI Recalls Life Of John Paul II appeared first on Eurasia Review.