In this week’s address, the President discussed actions to expand opportunity for more Americans, with or without the help of Republicans in Congress, including his Administration’s efforts to cut red tape for major transportation infrastructure projects. In the coming days, the President will meet with business leaders to highlight the importance of bringing jobs back to America and will also discuss the economic benefits of making it easier for tourists to visit and spend money at attractions in the U.S., which in turn helps local businesses and grows the economy for everyone. The President has called 2014 a year of action, and he will continue to do whatever he can to continue to strengthen our economy, create jobs and restore opportunity for all.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
May 17, 2014

Hi, everybody.

At a time when our businesses have created 9.2 million new jobs in just over four years, and more companies are considering bringing jobs back from overseas, we have a choice to make. We can make it easier for businesses to invest in America – or we can make it harder.

I want to work with Congress to create jobs and opportunity for more Americans. But where Congress won’t act, I will. And I want to talk about three things we’re doing right now.

First, we’re helping more businesses bring jobs to America from overseas. Three years ago, my Administration created SelectUSA – a team of people in embassies abroad and agencies here at home focused on insourcing instead of outsourcing. Today, they’re helping a Belgian company create jobs in Oklahoma. They’re helping a Canadian company create jobs in Kansas. In my State of the Union Address, I asked more businesses to do their part. And this week, business leaders from across the country are coming here to the White House to discuss new investments that will create even more jobs.

Second, on Thursday, I’ll be heading to Cooperstown, New York – home of the Baseball Hall of Fame – to talk about tourism. Because believe it or not, tourism is an export. And if we make it easier for more foreign visitors to visit and spend money at America’s attractions and unparalleled national parks, that helps local businesses and grows the economy for everyone.

Finally, we know that investing in first-class infrastructure attracts first-class jobs. And I want to spend a minute on this, because it’s very important this year.

We know business owners don’t seek out crumbling roads and bridges and backed-up supply chains. They set up shop where the newest, fastest transportation and communications networks let them invent and sell goods Made in America to the rest of the world as fast as possible.

Here’s the problem: If Congress doesn’t act by the end of this summer, federal funding for transportation projects will run out. States might have to put some of their projects on hold. In fact, some already are, because they’re worried Congress won’t clear up its own gridlock. And if Congress fails to act, nearly 700,000 jobs would be at risk over the next year.

That’s why I put forward a plan to rebuild our transportation infrastructure in a more responsible way. It would support millions of jobs across the country. And we’d pay for it without adding to the deficit by closing wasteful tax loopholes for companies that ship jobs overseas.

Now, the Republicans in Congress seem to have very different priorities. Not only have they neglected to prevent this funding from running out, their proposal would actually cut by 80% a job-creating grant program that has funded high-priority transportation projects in all 50 states. And they can’t say it’s to save money, because at the very same time, they voted for trillions of dollars in new tax cuts, weighted towards those at the very top.

Think about that. Instead of putting people to work on projects that would grow the economy for everyone, they voted to give a huge tax cut to households making more than $1 million a year.

So while Congress decides what it’s going to do, I’ll keep doing what I can on my own.

On Wednesday, I was in New York where workers are building the area’s first large new bridge in 50 years. And they’re doing it ahead of schedule. Three years ago, I took action without Congress to fast-track the permitting process for major projects. Normally, it would have taken three to five years to permit that bridge. We did it in a year and a half. And I announced a new plan to cut red tape and speed up the process for even more projects across the country.

All these steps will make it easier for businesses to invest in America and create more good jobs. All of them can be done without Congress. But we could do a lot more if Congress was willing to help. In the meantime, I’ll do whatever I can – not just to make America a better place to do business, but to make sure hard work pays off, and opportunity is open to all.

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

The post Obama: Working When Congress Won’t Act – Transcript appeared first on Eurasia Review.

For the first time, a US federal judge has temporarily barred the US military from force-feeding a Guantanamo Bay prisoner on a hunger strike.

US District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the military not to force-feed Syrian national Abu Wa’el Dhiab until the court schedules a hearing for next Wednesday. The decision was based on a petition the prisoner filed to stop the enteral feeding practice.

The order also prevents military personnel from moving Dhiab from his cell to receive sustenance, which is usually done if the prisoner refuses to cooperate.

“Respondents are temporarily restrained from any Forcible Cell Extractions of Petitioner for purposes of enteral feeding and any enteral feeding of Petitioner until May 21, 2014,” Kessler said in her order.

Last July, Kessler decided not to consider Dhiab’s petition, citing her lack of authority, while at the same time urging US President Barack Obama to address the issue.

The case was reinstated in February by a federal appeals court which ruled that district court judges have the authority to consider such petitions, adding that force-feeding is likely legal if the overall goal is to prevent serious injury or death.

An appellate panel agreed in a 2-1 vote, opening the door for inmates’ attorneys to re-challenge their clients’ ongoing detainment and any force-feeding practices they endured while protesting their lengthy incarceration.

The prisoners’ protest – which began with six hunger strikers in March 2013 – hit a high last summer, with over 100 inmates opting out of meals during most of June and July. The number of prisoners receiving enteral feeds peaked at 46 detainees in the second half of July.

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Mass protests against Brazil’s hosting of the World Cup, Turkey’s loss of opportunities to host sports events and controversy over 2022 World Cup host Qatar’s labour system are impacting the global sports world’s thinking about the requirements future hosts will have to meet. The impact is likely to go far beyond sporting and infrastructure concerns and raise the stakes for future hosts.

Qatar is under increasing pressure to overhaul its kafala or labour sponsorship system denounced by the United Nations and labour and human rights activists as violations of international human rights standards.

The Gulf state potentially risks losing its hosting rights if it fails to demonstrate rigorous enforcement of existing rules and regulations and enact radical reforms.

The Qatar controversy illustrates the risk both potential hosts groups such as world soccer governing body FIFA and the International Olympic Committee shoulder with the awarding of tournaments to nondemocratic or authoritarian-run nations. FIFA has been heavily criticized for its awarding of the tournament to Qatar.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter this week described the awarding to Qatar as a “mistake.” FIFA later tried to soften the impact of Mr. Blatter’s statement by saying he was referring to the fact that the awarding disregarded a negative FIFA technical assessment that warned about the country’s bruising summer temperatures.

“Of course it was a mistake. You know, one makes a lot of mistakes in life. The technical report indicated clearly that it was too hot in summer, but despite that the executive committee decided, with quite a big majority, that the tournament would be in Qatar,” Mr. Blatter said, sparking a soccer diplomacy spat, by charging that pressure by the governments of France and Germany as a result of commercial interests had contributed to the success of the Qatari bid.

In doing so, Mr. Blatter perhaps unwittingly raised the question what the drivers for the awarding of sports mega events should be. “We know perfectly well that big French companies and big German companies have interests in Qatar. But they are not only involved in the World Cup,” Mr. Blatter said. France and Germany have denied his allegation.

Qatar, meanwhile, is caught in a Catch-22: its international image and the achievement of its soft power policy goals demand swift and decisive action; its domestic politics necessitate a more gradual approach.

The risks in hosting mega events are for Qatar and other Middle Eastern and North African nations particularly high given that their significant investment is designed to achieve more than country branding and international projection and the creation of commercial and other opportunities.

Mega events serve them as a tool to build soft power either as part of a defence and security strategy designed to compensate for the inability to acquire the hard power necessary to defend themselves or as a way of increasing international willingness to provide economic and political support in difficult geopolitical circumstances.

Mass protests in Brazil against the World Cup, the first time a sporting association, FIFA, and an event, became the target of the protest rather than its vehicle, have further pinpointed the need to obtain public buy-in as part of the awarding process to prevent mega events from being mired in controversy and social protest. Brazil hosts this year’s World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.

Finally, brutal police response to protests and a series of authoritarian measures to control the media, the Internet and the judiciary have cost Turkey the chance to host the 2020 Olympics as well as EURO 2020, reinforcing that fact that mega sports events cannot be viewed independently of a country’s domestic policies.

Qatar however, provides the foremost case study to date of what potential future hosts of mega events may expect. Qatar has garnered significant credibility by becoming since the awarding of the World Cup the first Gulf state to engage with its critics and work with them to address issues.

Yet, at the same time its credibility is being called into question by a history of promises on which it has yet to make good. Qatari institutions have in the past three years adopted lofty principles in response to criticism of its labour system, pledged to incorporate these into World Cup-related contracts and stepped up enforcement of existing rules and regulations. Those promises and principles have yet to be incorporated into law.

At the same time, promises pre-dating the awarding of the World Cup such as a pledge in 2008 to introduce a low governing the rights of domestic workers have yet to be fulfilled. Human rights and trade unionists have charged that the promise this week to overhaul the kafala system, while easing some restrictions on workers’ rights appear to be more of a relabeling exercise than a radical reform, much like Formula-1 host Bahrain did several years ago.

Qatar’s lesson for future host is that putting a country’s warts on public display is risky if it is unwilling or unable to proactively tackle sensitive domestic issues.

The Jordanian hosts of last week’s Asian Forum of Soccerex, a major sports business conference that expanded into Asia for the first time, appear to have recognized which way the wind is blowing. Recognizing that global soccer governance and business is focused on the top end of professional soccer, they introduced debates on issues such as grassroots and women’s soccer into the debate.

The Jordanians are also looking at including preparations for future World Cups in forthcoming Soccerex gatherings.

Hosting the conference is part of a Jordanian effort to project itself as a significant and progressive player in international sports. Jordan is scheduled to host the 2016 Under-17 Women’s World Cup.

Said Jordanian Prince Ali Al Hussein, the Soccerex conference’s host and a vice-president of FIFA: “Football is not just a sport but a tool to improve society.”

The post Protest And Human Rights Shape Debate On Awarding Of Mega Events – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Urbi Das

After prolonged engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US has finally made a move to renew its commitment towards Asia, which has always been an arena of US strategic and economic interest. The Asian rebalancing strategy highlights the current power shift in the international order from the west to the east. The economic engagement between the US and the Pacific nations is one the major pillars of the rebalancing strategy as the US identifies ‘economic statecraft’ as a major plank of its ‘Pivot to Asia’. The strategy aims at fostering economic solutions to strategic problems through commercial diplomacy by harnessing both the ‘economies of power and the power of economies’.

Inquiring into the Obama administration’s keen interest in the Asia Pacific, it should be mentioned that the US has always been a Pacific power. The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) established in 1989 already works as one of the key drivers of intensive economic cooperation seeking to promote free trade among the economies of the Asia Pacific. The APEC economies inform a lion’s share of US’ investment and its export markets, amounting to 60 per cent of overall US exports in 2010.

On the onset of the millennium, Asia emerged as the US’ largest source of imports, accounting for 32.2 per cent (2010) of merchandise trade and the second-largest export market with a share of about 23.5 per cent (2010). With a growth rate of about 40 per cent, the East Asia and Asia Pacific region contributes to one third of global trade, which is more than any other region of the world. As the world’s most populous area, its rapidly growing economies provide a vast market, making it more attractive to global capitalism. It is a home to a number of American alliances and treaty partners like Japan, Philippines, Australia and South Korea, among others. Asia Pacific thus presents itself as the land of opportunity for the US.

As a part of this economic diplomacy, a number of steps have been taken by the Obama administration, among which the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is of utmost significance. The TPP represents the most credible road leading to the economic integration of the Asia Pacific, with the US engaging in the most ambitious model of trade relations with the economies of Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

The TPP stands to enhance US soft power in the region by allowing its companies an easy entry into the markets of the TPP member States. It would enlarge and broaden the Asian market for US exports since the ‘comprehensive and high standard’ Free Trade Agreement under the TPP aims to liberalise trade in nearly all goods and services including areas that go beyond the current commitments under the WTO. If successful, the TPP would give the US an unprecedented advantage in trade and investment since US companies would gain from its provisions for preferential intellectual property rights, thus enhancing its competitiveness in the Asian market.

Here, it should be noted that the US interest in the region is not only to develop and strengthen bilateral relations; a major part of the strategy aims to contain China and offset its influence. China’s rapid growth and muscle-flexing in the region has always been a cause of concern for the US. When the West was undergoing an economic downturn due to the great recession of 2008-2009, the Chinese economy continued to grow. This growing economic power let Beijing unveil its political influence in the region.

The American model of the TPP is a well-crafted trade regime that tactically excludes China. China responded to this by backing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which is an alternative to the TPP. The RCEP excludes the US, and includes the ten ASEAN member States and ASEAN’s Free Trade Agreement partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand).

The China-US conflict can pose a serious challenge to the small Asia Pacific nations since they have to confront the crucial question of siding with a model of trade with either the ‘dominant power’ or the ‘emerging power’.

In a globalised neo-liberal order, economics play a vital role in enhancing the comprehensive power of a nation. In other words, economic diplomacy is integrally linked and forms a necessary corollary to the strategic goal that the US wants to pursue in the region. Analysing the Asian rebalancing strategy within the parameters of its economic dimensions, it can be argued that with the successful conclusion of the TPP, the US stands to gain the fruits of a highly integrated market that will enhance its soft power in the region. However, US’ ‘economic statecraft’ will bear fruit only if it is able to negotiate well with the Asia Pacific nations, and eliminate the differences that stand in the way of the successful conclusion of the TPP. The road to such an ambitious accomplishment seems a long one, given China’s ‘charm offensive’ in the region.

Urbi Das
MPhil scholar, School of International Studies, JNU
Email: dasurbi@yahoo.com

The post Rebalancing: An Instrument Of Economic Diplomacy – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Rashid Hassan

Five more deaths from the MERS coronavirus were announced on Saturday by the Health Ministry bringing the death toll to 168 since September 2012.

The ministry said nine more confirmed cases of MERS have been reported in last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infected cases to 629 since the outbreak of the chronic disease.

The latest fatalities are three patients from a government hospital in Jeddah, one from Riyadh and one from Madinah.

The three victims in Jeddah are a woman, aged 80, and two men, aged 55 and 67.

The two other casualties are a 71-year-old man in Riyadh and a 77-year-old man in Madinah.

The ministry said that one patient recovered and has been discharged.

Meanwhile, scientists leading the fight against the deadly virus say the next critical front will be understanding how the virus behaves in people with milder infections, who may be spreading the illness without being aware they have it.

Establishing that may be critical to stopping the spread of MERS. It kills about 30 percent of those who are infected.

It is becoming increasingly clear that people can be infected with MERS without developing severe respiratory disease, said Dr. David Swerdlow, who heads the MERS response team at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“You don’t have to be in the intensive care unit with pneumonia to have a case of MERS,” Swerdlow said. “We assume they are less infectious (to others), but we don’t know.”

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By Harun Yahya

Disasters are unpredictable. In the wake of a disaster, people usually tend to think in common, they share common emotions. Turkey is going through such a time now in the wake of the Soma tragedy.
It is of course difficult to monitor the events, graves dug one by one and people desperately waiting for their sons, fathers or husbands. It is grueling test and a challenge for the Turkish people and the government.

In the wake of such disasters, the question of “official negligence” usually arises to make things even worse. Reacting with anger further complicates the situation and hampers government’s efforts. Keeping calm in such situations is more helpful to the victims of disasters.

Keeping cool helps in coming up with rational solutions that can help heal the wounds easily. Individuals involved in such a situation should consider it as a test and should reject anger and act in a calm manner.

It would be appropriate to quote a Hadith here: “Anyone who dies while trappeda under ruins is a martyr.”

This Hadith should bring comfort to the hearts of those who lost their loved ones in the mine disaster. Those who lost their lives are martyrs. We know very well the special status martyrs enjoy.

Having said that we cannot ignore the importance of safety measures in the industrial sector. This is the worst-ever industrial accident in the history of the Turkish Republic. It would be pertinent to mention here that in terms of industrial accidents, Turkey ranks No.2 in the world and No.1 in the Europe.

Keeping in view the magnitude of the disaster, it is difficult to accept the claims made by company officials regarding “satisfactory safety precautions.” Official negligence cannot be ruled out. The accident indicates that something was wrong somewhere.

There are two questions confronting the coal industry in Turkey. Should mine workers be sent down with full protection or they should not be exposed to danger at all? Of course it is the latter.

Sending people 400-700 meters below the ground means exposing them to danger and forcing them to work in an unhealthy environment. It is not only a matter of taking safety precautions. A human life can never be worth less than a lump of coal. The main issue is the practice of sending people down among combustible substances.

Sending workers below ground is a practice that has been stopped in many countries. Germany, for instance, produces many times more coal than Turkey; however, it uses entirely remote-controlled robotic systems and special machinery underground. These measures need to be put into practice by developing countries such as China and Turkey both of which have strong mining sectors. Since every person’s life all over the world is valuable, this urgent investment in the mining sector must be made compulsory in national laws. Stadiums, hotels and the tourist sector can wait; this is a far greater priority. Human life is far more important.

Once the automated system is implemented, the government must ensure that those losing jobs as a result of this automation are absorbed in other sectors on a permanent basis.

This incident should serve as a wake-up call and the government should introduce necessary reforms to avoid such accidents in future. At this moment, the government must make suitable financial arrangements for the relatives of the victims of the Soma mine accident.

Turkey has declared three days of national mourning in the wake of this great tragedy, and certain other countries joined in as a mark of respect. But the idea of mourning needs to be properly understood here. Death is at the discretion of God, Who creates us and this life.

Death is the end of the test in this world and the start of an eternal life of the Hereafter. The tests of our miner brothers who lived such harsh lives here are therefore over, and they have moved on to the life of paradise, with its eternal delights, as “martyrs.” Mourning, therefore, must not take the form of feeling pain and sorrow.

It must not be forgotten that nothing is more important than human life. All commercial sectors that severely endanger human life must therefore be mechanized. Of course, nobody can escape death but our religion teaches us to take all possible precautions and then leave the outcome to God.

- The writer has authored more than 300 books translated into 73 languages on politics, religion and science. He tweets @harun_yahya

The post Soma Tragedy: Time To Reform Mining Sector – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Burundian authorities have detained and charged one of the country’s leading human rights activists on questionable grounds.

Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, 66, president of the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (Association pour la protection des droits humains et des personnes détenues, APRODH), was arrested in the capital, Bujumbura, at about midnight on the night of May 15, 2014. After prosecutors questioned him on May 16, Mbonimpa was charged with inciting public disobedience and endangering internal and external state security for remarks made on the radio 10 days earlier.

“We are deeply concerned that Mbonimpa’s arrest was to harass him for his important human rights work,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The supposed charges don’t amount to a credible criminal offense, and he should be freed immediately.”

The charges relate to Mbonimpa’s allegations on the Burundian radio station Radio publique africaine(RPA) on May 6 that young Burundians were being armed, given military uniforms, and sent for military training in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. Human Rights Watch was unable to confirm these allegations.

After the broadcast, Mbonimpa received summonses to appear before the judicial police on May 7 and 12 to answer questions about his statements. He appeared for both. He was summoned a third time, to appear on May 14, but that session was postponed to May 19. In the meantime, Mbonimpa was arrested on May 15.

The Burundian authorities should release Mbonimpa immediately, Human Rights Watch said. If necessary, the police or prosecutor’s office can pursue their investigations and legal processes while he is free.

Mbonimpa is one of Burundi’s longest serving and most active human rights defenders. He and other Burundian civil society activists and independent journalists have been repeatedly harassed, intimidated, threatened, and summoned for questioning by the authorities.

Governments have a special obligation to protect human rights defenders against risks that they may face as a direct result of their work. In 1998, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which provides that individuals and associations have the right “to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

A former police officer, and a former prisoner himself, Mbonimpa founded APRODH to defend the rights of prisoners and other victims of human rights abuse. The organization works across the country, documenting human rights abuses, campaigning for justice, and promoting human rights. Mbonimpa has received several international awards for his human rights work.

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By Selcuk Colakoglu

In which ways the relationship between a rising China and the U.S. will be shaped has been one of the most popular discussion topics for a while in Asia. It can be said that discussions mainly converge around three main approaches. There are the optimists who argue that due to their intense and vital economic ties, Beijing and Washington will not allow relatively minor political disputes between them to hamper the prospects of cooperation. The fact that both countries are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and that they are both conventionally inclined to handle even the most serious of frictions on the international stage in a diplomatic manner further supports the argument posed by optimistic experts.

On the other hand, experts who approach the subject from a pessimistic perspective argue that in time, a rising China will inevitably pose a challenge first to American interests in Asia and then to Washington’s core interests across the globe. This will increase the polarization between the two capitals and ultimately compel Asian countries to side with either the U.S. or China.

Finally, the third group of experts is convinced that relations between Washington and Beijing will harbor aspects of cooperation and competition simultaneously. According to this approach, Washington and Beijing will deepen their economic relations on the one hand while continuing to have doubts regarding each other’s political ambitions.

The Taiwanese approach

According to Prof. Chi Su, who is the senior advisor to the Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan can play the mediator role between China and the U.S. Prof. Su stated during his speech at the International Strategic Research Organization (USAK) on May 7, 2014, that Taiwan contributes to the resolution of problems between the two countries before things spin out of control, and helps to convert diplomatic frictions into manageable differences, thanks to its extremely pragmatic foreign policy. According to him, Taiwan balances its deep economic relations with China vis-à-vis its strong political ties with the U.S. and Japan. While Taiwan is a piece of land worth waging a war over in the eyes of China, up until now Taipei has been successful in its continued endeavors aimed at averting the escalation of tensions between Beijing and Washington thanks to its commitment to pragmatic and reconciliatory policies.

Such a pragmatic policy line pursued by Taiwan in dealing with foreign affairs is also valid with regard to the dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. While tensions occasionally flair between China and Japan because of this dispute, Taiwan adopted a more moderate attitude with respect to its claims over the same group of islands. Without giving up its claim of sovereignty over the maritime region surrounding the islands, Taipei refrains from provoking Tokyo and avoids directly challenging its incessant and de facto control over the islands. Indeed, Taipei even signed a bilateral agreement with Japan in 2013 which grants the former fishing rights. While the fishing agreement does not resolve the sovereignty dispute over the islands, it does settle the entire dispute over fishing rights within the maritime region surrounding these islands. Moreover, the agreement addresses diplomatic negotiations as the sole channel for a final solution to the sovereignty dispute in the future.

Taiwan’s priority: the progression of US-China relations

Taiwan considers China as a window of opportunity in terms of economic promise. The annual trade volume between Taiwan and China is about $150 billion, with $70 billion consisting of Taiwanese exports. Moreover, the stock of investment by Taiwanese businessmen in China amounts to $100-150 billion. The two countries are interconnected by around 800 flights per week between 10 cities in Taiwan and 60 cities in China. Every year, 3 million Chinese visit Taiwan, and 5 million Taiwanese visit mainland China. Over 300,000binational families have been started by intermarriage between people from Taiwan and China. As is apparent, China is an indispensable trade partner for Taiwan today. In this respect, the Taiwanese consider China in a pragmatic manner with their economic interests in mind. On the other hand, the Chinese consider Taiwan as an indispensable, integral piece of territory within the Chinese border, and all people living in Taiwan as Chinese nationals.

Even though Taiwan considers China as a land of opportunity, some Taiwanese are concerned that increased economic dependence on China could undermine Taiwan’s political independence. Indeed, strong reactions were demonstrated by some Taiwanese who were convinced that the inclusion of service sectors by the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), reached between Taipei and Beijing,would narrow Taiwan’s political elbow-room. Heated public reactions even led to the occupation of the Taiwanese parliament by university students last March.

Taiwan is trying to balance increased economic integration with China by reinforcing its security links with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Gina McCarthy visited Taiwan in April 2014, thus qualifying as the first visit by a U.S. cabinet-level official to Taipei since 2000. The fact that this visit took place only two months after the first-ever direct contact (the so-called Wang-Zhang Meeting) between ministers from Taipei and Beijing in February 2014 is a clear indicator of the sensitive balance maintained by Taiwanese policy-makers. As it can be remembered, the Minister of Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) from the Taiwanese cabinet met with his Chinese counterpart, Zhang Zhijun, in the city of Nanjing on February 11, 2014. Taiwan also pays special regard to the rejuvenation of its relations with Japan, as a security balance amid increased economic dependence over China will be easier to maintain through intra-regional cooperation supplemented by American assistance.

Even though Taiwan keeps a careful eye on its endeavor of balancing China’s rise with enhanced security cooperation with the U.S. and Japan, frictions between Japan and China, or between the U.S. and China would mean trouble for Taiwan as well. In this respect, the ideal situation for Taipei would be the realization of a scenario in which Beijing establishes stable relations with both Washington and Tokyo based on mutual respect and trust. Taiwan will be able to thrust itself forward by emphasizing its economic promise and unique political role as a key country that can bind Beijing and Washington together with ease.

The post Can Taiwan Mediate Between The US And China? – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Alemayehu G. Mariam

President Obama likes to pontificate about being on the ‘right side of history’ and rhetorically clobber those who are on the ‘wrong side of history’. Debating Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election and defending his own record, Obama said, ‘… they can say that the president of the United States and the United States of America has stood on the right side of history.’ On numerous occasions, President Obama has invoked the moral commanding heights of ‘the right side of history’ to proclaim American exceptionalism in the field of human rights. When Iranian protesters went into the streets in 2009, he proclaimed, ‘Those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history.’ At the UN General Assembly a couple of years later, Obama rhetorically asked, ‘Who in this hall can argue that the future belongs to those who seek to repress that spirit [of change] rather than those who seek to liberate it? I know what side of history I want the United States of America to be on.’ The right side?

President Obama likes to hector those who are not on the right side of history. Vladimir Putin is on the ‘wrong side of history’ for annexing Crimea and supporting Syrian dictator Bashir Al-Assad. Assad himself is on the wrong side of history for visiting absolute misery on his people. All of the Arab dictators in the Middle East were briefly on the wrong side of history until President Obama absolved them of their transgressions; and arguably on the right side of history today. The U.S. never wavers from the straight and narrow path of the right side of history. ‘We’re on the right side of history now throughout the Middle East, because we believe in preventing innocents from getting slaughtered, and we believe in human rights for all people,’ declared President Obama. As the protests faded in the streets of the Arab capitals, Obama switched sides in a heartbeat and joined the Arab dictators on the wrong-right side of history. Last week, Obama partially lifted the suspended U.S. military aid program following the military coup in Egypt last year by releasing half the annual U.S. aid package and authorizing the delivery of a dozen Apache helicopters considered to be the ‘world’s most powerful attack helicopters’. As the Obama Administration publicly announced resumption of its business as usual with Egypt, the Egyptian military sentenced 683 alleged supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood to death in kangaroo court proceedings. Is Obama on the right side of history or the wrong right side of history?

There is something humorously ironic about the fetish of the metaphor of ‘history’. Marx declared in his Manifesto, ‘The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.’ Hegel argued the ‘course of history’ is irreversible. Mahatma Gandhi disagreed. ‘A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.’ Will Durant instructed, ‘If we do not learn from the mistakes of history, we are doomed to repeat them.’ For Napoleon ‘history is but a fable agreed upon.’ Regardless, Napoleon and all other dictators who came after him were eventually swept into the ‘dustbin of history’ where they will spend the rest of eternity.

When President Obama visited Accra, Ghana in 2009, he intimated that there were two types of Africans and that ‘History is on the side of brave Africans’. His message to the brave Africans was inspiring, upbeat and passionate. ‘You have the power to hold your leaders accountable, and to build institutions that serve the people. You can conquer disease, end conflicts, and make change from the bottom up. You can do that. Yes you can. Because in this moment, history is on the move.’ He emphatically warned the dastardly African dictators, ‘Make no mistake: history is on the side of these brave Africans, and not with those who use coups or change constitutions to stay in power. Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions… Governments that respect the will of their own people are more prosperous, more stable, and more successful…’

In June 2013, I wrote a commentary entitled, ‘Kerry-ing on with African Dictators’. It was about American ‘diplocrats’ and ‘diplocrisy’, (neologisms I was compelled to create to describe the attitudes, actions and behaviour of forked-tongue practitioners of U.S. human rights diplomacy by hypocrisy). In that commentary, I predicted Kerry would downplay and soft-pedal human rights in Ethiopia and Africa in general during his tenure as Secretary of State. There would be a “Skerry U.S. human rights policy in Africa” without a ‘meaningful shift in U.S. human rights policy in Ethiopia.’ I predicted that under Kerry, in much the same way as Hilary Clinton, human rights in Ethiopia and Africa will be sacrificed at the altar of political convenience and the ‘global war on terror.’ The Obama administration has indeed turned a blind eye, plugged its ears and pursed its lips in the face of crushing restrictions on civil society, theft of elections, repression of dissent and opposition politics, suppression of free expression, press and the internet and the metastasis of corruption in Ethiopia. Obama’s Africa policy agenda today does not include human rights.

When Kerry visited Ethiopia last June, I had hoped that he would urge or even plead for an end to the crackdown on civil society organizations, press for release of political prisoners and insist on an end to suppression of the independent media and harassment and jailing of journalists and dissidents and opposition leaders. I was not just hoping naively or pipe dreaming. I took Kerry and President Obama at their words. In September 2008, candidates Obama and Joe Biden promised to ‘work for the release of jailed scholars, activists, and opposition party leaders such as Ayman Nour in Egypt.’ On January 24, 2013 during his confirmation hearing Kerry said, ‘I’ve occasionally wrestled with that when I made a visit to one country or another and we have a primary objective and we’re trying to get it done, but I’ve never hesitated in any visit to raise human rights concerns, usually in the context of particular individuals where we are trying to get them out of a jail or trying to get them, you know, out of the country. And I obviously will continue to do that…’

When Secretary Kerry visited Ethiopia in June 2013, he invoked his right to remain diplocritically silent. He did not say a word about human rights to the thugtatorship in that country let alone ‘work for the release of jailed scholars, activists, and opposition party leaders’ such as Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu, Woubshet Taye, Andualem Aragie, Olbana Lelisa, Bekele Gerba, Abubekar Ahmed, Ahmedin Jebel, Ahmed Mustafa, Kamil Shemsu and so many others.

THE ART OF HUMAN RIGHTS DIPLOCRISY BY THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

As Secretary Kerry visited Ethiopia last week, his hosts greeted him with news of fresh arrests and detentions of opposition party leaders and members, journalists and bloggers and massacres of university students. It was a slap and a spit in the face. Those thugs in power in Ethiopia are so confident and so contemptuous of the Obama Administration that they embarrassed Kerry by presenting him with live evidence of their criminal activities as he stepped off his plane. What you gonna do Kerry!?

Kerry was in Ethiopia to discuss ‘security issues’, but not the security of Ethiopian citizens who are arbitrarily arrested and subjected to extrajudicial killings. Kerry was forced against his will to give lip service to the issue of the detention of over two dozen Semayawi (Blue) Party (youth party) leaders and organizers on trumped up charges last week. The detainees include, among others, Merkebu Haile, Solomon Fetene, Zerihun Tesfaye, Anania Esayas, Fasika Bongar, Jemil Shikur, Seife Tsegaye, Yeshiwas Asefa, Emebet Girma, Yonas Kedir, Eyerusalem Tesfaw, Abera Haile Mariam, Abebe Mekete, Blen Mesfin, Asnaqe Bekele, Mesfin, Tesfaye Ashagre, Iyob Mamo, Kurabachew, Tewachew Damte, Fikremariam Asmamaw, Eyasped Tesfaye, Gashaw Mersha, Tesfaye Merne, Habtame Demeqe, Getaneh Balcha, Nigest Wondifraw, Meron Alemayehu.

Kerry also found himself pleading for the release of journalists and bloggers jailed on trumped up charges of ‘working with foreign human rights organizations and using social media to create instability in the country.’ Among those jailed include Asmamaw Hailegeorgis, Tesfalem Waldyes, Edom Kassaye, Abel Wabella, Atnaf Berhane, Mahlet Fantahun, Natnail Feleke, Zelalem Kibret and Befekadu Hailu.

The State Department’s reaction to the news of the fresh arrests was predictable – ‘Ho-hum’ Official spokesperson Jen Psaki ‘diplocratically’ stated, ‘We urge the government of Ethiopia to expeditiously review the cases of these detainees and promptly release them. We have raised these concerns on the ground directly with the government of Ethiopia. And we, of course, reiterate our longstanding concern about the abridgment of the freedom of press and the freedom of expression in Ethiopia, and urge the government of Ethiopia to fully adhere to its constitutional guarantees.’

In June 2012 when independent Ethiopian journalists were convicted in kangaroo courts and sentenced to long prison sentences, spokesperson Victoria Nuland said pretty much the same thing. ‘We are deeply concerned about the Ethiopian government’s conviction of a number of journalists and opposition members under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation… The arrest of journalists has a chilling effect on the media and on the right to freedom of expression. We have made clear in our ongoing human rights dialogue with the Ethiopian government that freedom of expression and freedom of the media are fundamental elements of a democratic society.’ Such is the practice of the art of human rights diplocrisy by the Obama Administration.

IS PRESIDENT OBAMA ON THE WRONG SIDE OF AMERICAN HISTORY?

In his first inaugural speech, Obama said, ‘America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we, the people, have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears and true to our founding documents.’ When Obama stands tall with African dictators, is he standing ‘faithful to the ideals of our forebears and true to our founding documents.’ One of America’s greatest founding documents, The Declaration of Independence, proclaims:

‘… Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, …That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness… W]hen a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security…’

Is Obama on the right side of the Declaration of Independence when he stands by Africa’s thugtators and despots who govern deriving their unjust powers from the barrel of the gun?

The greatest of all American founding documents, The Bill of Rights, mandates that government

‘…shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances… No person… shall be nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…’

Is Obama on the right side of the Bill of Rights when he provides billions of dollars to African dictators who massacre their citizens (last week BBC reported the regime in Ethiopia massacred 47 university students), jail and persecute journalists, suppress religious expression, persecute citizens for speaking their minds, harass and intimidate citizens who assemble peaceably and rip off their people in corrupt schemes with impunity?

Abraham Lincoln said in his Gettysburg address ‘…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.’ Is President Obama on the right side of the ‘new birth of freedom in Africa’ when he stands side by side and holds the bloody hands of Africa’s thugtators who have established governments of thieves (thugs), by thieves (thugs), for thieves (thugs)?

VERDICT OF HISTORY ON OBAMA

If there is a right, wrong, up and downside of history, then there is also the verdict of history. The verdict of history is that Obama is not on the right side of history and history is not on the side of Obama. He will always talk about being on the right side of history, but when the chips are down, he will side with those who are on the wrong side of history. Action, better yet lack of action, speaks louder than words; and the verdict on Obama is that he is on the wrong side of history in Africa.

The verdict of history is that Obama has done less for Africa than his immediate predecessor George Walker Bush. It is not my intention to compare Bush with Obama. (I did not vote or support George Bush. However, I must speak truth not only to power but also about those with power and how they have used, abused, misused and simply declined to use power.) Bush put his money where his mouth is and delivered billions of dollars to fight the spread of AIDS and help AIDS victims in Africa. Obama slashed hundreds of millions of dollars from programs on the frontlines in the global fight against AIDS. According to the Washington Post, Obama cut a whopping $214 million in 2012, ‘the first time an American president has reduced the U.S. commitment to fighting the epidemic since it broke out in the 1980s during the Reagan administration’. Obama has proposed an additional $50 million cut for 2014. The verdict of history is that Bush made significant contributions for the eradication of malaria in Africa, one of the leading causes of death in Africa. Bush pushed for debt relief for some of the poorest African countries. Obama?

When Obama visited Africa last June, he announced an initiative to launch massive electricity projects to light up the ‘dark continent’. He promised to commit U.S. $7 billion to his ‘Power Africa’ program over the next five years supplemented by more than U.S.$9 billion in leveraged private investments. So far, Obama has only empowered African thugtators with military and economic aid. When and if the promised billions arrive in sacks of empty promises in the ‘dark continent’, they will be lighting up the off shore accounts of the African kleptocrats like a Christmas tree.

The verdict of history is that Obama offered Africans empty words and filled them with empty hope. He made fresh promises about old broken promises. He promised to ‘launch a new program that’s going to give thousands of promising young Africans opportunity to come to the United States and develop their skills at some of our best colleges and universities.’ What about the millions of young Africans watching their futures evaporate under the sweltering oppression of African thugtatorships?

The verdict of history is that Obama has been a sore disappointment to those in Africa who believed in his promise of ‘hope and change’ and followed his clarion call to go ‘Forward’. His ‘audacity of hope’ proved to be an audacity of indifference and a source of disillusionment for millions in Africa. Obama offered ‘change we can believe in’. The verdict of history is that ‘we can’t believe nothing changed!’ No one in Africa believes in Obama anymore, except the thugtators and their cronies. Obama’s ‘Yes, We can’, in action became, ‘No we cannot do anything to improve human right conditions in Africa.’

AUDACITY OF HOPE IN OBAMA

I enthusiastically supported and mobilized to get Obama elected. Let me make it clear. I am not feeling buyer’s remorse. When I supported Obama in his presidential bid in 2008 it seemed like a very good idea. In 2012, I was faced with a Hobson’s choice. What can I really say about Mitt Romney?! Jon Huntsman, Jr. was not on the Republican ticket – perhaps in 2016.

But my decision to support Obama in 2008 was not based entirely on wishful thinking and sentimentality about the first African American president. It was based on careful scrutiny of Obama’s record in public service. I studied his meagre legislative record in the U.S. Senate and appreciated knowing that he supported HR 2003 (Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007). I was impressed by his commendable efforts in the Illinois legislature to restructure that state’s welfare program and provide subsidies for low income families and tax relief for working families. I appreciated his efforts to protect workers facing layoffs and plant closings in Illinois. I was inspired by his lofty and eloquent speeches and excited by his informed and principled policy statements. I enjoyed reading his compelling memoir about the ‘dreams from his father’ (in one sitting), books, articles and speeches. I was proud of his leadership role at the Harvard Law School and academic commitment teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. As a teacher and practitioner of constitutional law myself, I found a kindred spirit in Obama.

The fact that Obama could be the first African American to become president was the icing on the cake, but not a pivotal factor for me. It was inspirational for me and millions of others to see the coming to pass of the prophetic words of Robert F. Kennedy who said in May 1968 that ‘in the next 40 years a Negro can achieve the same position that my brother [President John Kennedy] has…’ Obama’s election as president of the United States was received by millions of people around the world, especially in the U.S. and in Africa, as proof of the ‘audacity of hope’ in America itself – the impossible is possible in America. Obama’s paternal heritage in Kenya gave me and millions of Africans hope that he would raise Africa’s profile in U.S. foreign policy formulations, with human rights taking a central role. For these reasons, I had the audacity of hope to believe in Obama.

MENDACITY OF HOPE

In the last couple of years, I have been struggling with the mendacity of hope, with Obama’s broken promises and the dashed hopes of millions of Africans. In his book The Audacity of Hope, then Senator Obama approvingly quoted President John F. Kennedy on the aims of U.S. foreign policy founded on human rights:

‘To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required, not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.’

In his prescriptions for change, Senator Obama wrote, ‘In almost every successful movement of the last century, from Gandhi’s campaign against British rule to the solidarity movement in Poland to the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, democracy was the result of local awakening. We can inspire and invite other people to assert their freedoms… we can speak out on behalf of local leaders whose rights are violated; and we can apply economic and diplomatic pressure to those who repeatedly violate the rights of their own people…’

As for ‘speaking out on behalf of local leaders whose rights are violated’ and who were ‘inspired and invited to assert their freedoms’, has President Obama said a word on behalf of Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu, Woubshet Taye, Andualem Aragie, Olbana Lelisa, Bekele Gerba, Abubekar Ahmed, Ahmedin Jebel, Merkebu Haile, Solomon Fetene, Zerihun Tesfaye, Anania Esayas, Fasika Bongar, Jemil Shikur, Seife Tsegaye, Yeshiwas Asefa, Emebet Girma, Yonas Kedir, Eyerusalem Tesfaw, Abera Haile Mariam, Abebe Mekete, Blen Mesfin… Asmamaw Hailegeorgis, Tesfalem Waldyes, Edom Kassaye, Abel Wabella, Atnaf Berhane, Mahlet Fantahun, Natnail Feleke, Zelalem Kibret and Befekadu Hailu…? Such is the birth of the mendacity of hope from the womb of the audacity of hope. ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.’

SCARCITY OF HOPE

Obama has turned a blind eye to tyranny in Ethiopia and in Africa. Over the years, President Obama has offered praise for President Ronald Reagan. Perhaps he could take a lesson on history from the Gipper. ‘Every form of government has one characteristic peculiar to it and if that characteristic is lost, the government will fall. In a dictatorship, it is fear. If the people stop fearing the dictator he’ll lose power. In a representative government such as ours, it is virtue. If virtue goes, the government fails. Are we choosing paths that are politically expedient and morally questionable? Are we in truth losing our virtue? If so, we may be nearer the dustbin of history than we realize.’ Could the end of history come in a final Armageddon between the virtue of human liberty and the vice of abuse of power?

The verdict of history is that President Obama will be remembered for generations to come as Africa’s most illustrious and renowned prodigal grandson. For Africans who have now abandoned all hope in Obama, I commend them to heed the steely words of Frederick Douglass, a great American who escaped slavery to become a champion of freedom. ‘Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and those will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.’

What are the limits of endurance for the people of Ethiopia? The people of Africa?

Obamacare for Ethiopia? Africa? Obama don’t care!

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defence lawyer.

* THE VIEWS OF THE ABOVE ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR/S AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE PAMBAZUKA NEWS EDITORIAL TEAM

The post Is Obama On The Right Side Of (Ethiopian) History? – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Huge ash clouds thrown up by an Indonesian volcano have forced airlines to cancel all flights to and from the northern Australian city of Darwin, BBC reports.

Mount Sangeang Api began erupting on Friday and plumes of ash have been sweeping south towards Australia.

Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia have all cancelled flights. Services between Australia and the province of Bali have also been hit.

The authorities say other airports could be affected in the coming days.

‘Rather significant’ eruption

According to BBC, hundreds of passengers have been caught up, with disruption expected to continue until Sunday at least.

“The volcano is undergoing a sustained, rather significant eruption at the moment,” Emile Jansons, Manager of the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, told Reuters news agency.

“For the last 10 hours, we have been observing large masses of volcanic ash being generated. Nobody has a very good handle on what this volcano is likely to do in the next 24 hours or beyond.”

Some flights between Perth and Bali were cancelled on Saturday.

Volcanic ash can be extremely dangerous to aircraft as the fine particles can damage engines.

The cloud is now sweeping south towards as Alice Springs, officials say.

Deputy Prime Minister, Warren Truss, said it could take days for Australian services to return to normal, BBC quotes.

“Depending on wind and other weather conditions, the ash has the potential to affect flights to and from other airports, including Brisbane, during coming days,” he said.

The island of Sangeang Api has no permanent residents after they vacated it, following an eruption in 1988. Farmers nearby have reportedly been told to leave the area.

Indonesia lies across a series of geological fault-lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

There are about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia. Tens of thousands of people left their homes and several people were killed after a volcano erupted in east Java in February, BBC reminds.

The post Australia: Volcano Ash From Indonesia Clouds Cancel Flights appeared first on Eurasia Review.

The famous or infamous Arab springs, depending on their outcomes, have exposed in the Arab world some very crucial realities. Realities that Arabs themselves and the world at large need to underscore as they are going to shape the new regional and global realities.

For the external world, the reverberation would be mainly in the form of redesigning economic and political engagements with the Arabs. Those engagements will have to be far fairer to the Arabs than they have ever been in the last century and as such, it is accurate to call the post revolution realities ‘crucial”.

The first lesson is that the latest successful boycotting of the Egyptian elections killed the idea that it is possible to use mainstream media for purposes of directing the will of the masses; when people choose to fight for freedoms and civil liberties not even full control of information can help. Al-Sisi banned any opposition voice in the form of mainstream media for over one year while he prepared for his candidacy but the results came as a shock even to his closest allies; an almost total and coordinated boycott of the election.

Another lesson is the fact that politics in the Arab world can’t be separated from Islam and its devotees must be recognized as a force that is probably the strongest camp in any political scenario in any Arab country. From Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and now Libya; Islamists, in whatever label they come, are a viable force that can no longer be marginalized. Quite to the contrary, secular forces need to work much harder if they wish to create some sort of political and physical balance. The exposed new reality is that the main identity for the Arab world is clearly Islam and as such, attempts at crushing it will never work.

Thirdly, the Arab world has far more varied political affiliations and drivers than previously thought. While at present the youth are arguably the most influential in Egyptian politics as proven by the recent Egyptian elections, other countries have other factors at work; In Yemen for instance, tribalism is clearly the main driver of political affiliations.

Fourthly, it is possible to have a people having so much in common but be driven into bloody conflicts by the few differences that exist. In Tunisia, it was economic difficulties; in Libya, it was not so much about economics but more about freedom and self-determination. In Egypt, it is a bit more complicated but the point remains that having so much in common in terms of language, religion, and ethnicity guarantees nothing in terms of stability when and where a few wish to become new age pharaoh.

Finally, the age where external forces can exert its will and influence unto the Arab world is gone or is at its dying stages; Arabs everywhere want self-determination. The Arab masses themselves will determine the shape of that self-determination. The age of instigation from the West is gone. Self-determination wished by majority of Arabs as proven by Mursi’s defeat of other secular candidates, Hamas’s win over Fatah, the rising voice of Islamists in Libya, the Islamists political victory in Algeria, and the devotion enjoyed by Hezbollah in Lebanon is lenient towards Islamic rule.

To reiterate, revolts of the Arab world might be attributable to many causes such as economic conditions, sectarianism, or political injustices but it is clear that most in the Arab world believe that the solution to be in the reintroduction of Islamic governance.

Uniformity of direction is lacking in the Arab world at this point but if the Arab world continues to revolt and continues to be yearning for Islamic Governance even in part, then the massive sacrifices of today might not be in vain after all. Post revolutionary elections suggest that Islam is the only mitigating factor for true unity.

There are indications too that the strongest block of the Arab world in terms of economics and influence, the GCC, is taking notice of what is happening in other Arab countries and the world and is willing to take some stern steps to avoid replicate of the instabilities. Just recently, the Saudi King announced that the time has come for the GCC to unify as one country. If the monarch was honest and such a move takes place, then the Gulf can play a more effective and coordinated role in revitalizing other Arab countries ravaged by decades of mismanagement and bloodied by the recent revolutions.

While the unification seems to be a distant dream, just talking about it in those terms by the strongest gulf nation sheds some hope that it will happen in not so distant future. When that happens, it will be harder for external powers to have much influence on the block and predictably by that time, the revolutions would have wound down and the Arab world would be under its own vices politically and economically.

The post Concrete Lessons From The ‘Arab Springs’ – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

King Mohamed VI arrived in Tunis on Friday for his first official visit to the country since the January 2011 popular uprising that ousted a decades-old dictatorship. The royal visit comes at the invitation of the Tunisian President Dr. Moncef Marzouki. Eleven ministers and some 90 businessmen are accompanying the king on this visit, his first since the January 2011 uprising that unseated Tunisia’s longtime strongman, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and touched off the Arab Spring uprisings across the region.

During the visit, King Mohammed will l address the Tunisian parliament and will co-chair with the Tunisian president the signing of several agreements involving both the public and private sectors. Undoubtedly, the agreements will give a new impetus to the bilateral economic and trade relations which unfortunately, remain weak despite the excellent political ties binding the two countries.

Actually, trade exchanges hardly exceeded € 230 million in 2013 and although Tunisia is Morocco’s third economic partner in Africa, its share in the kingdom’s total foreign trade represents only 0.45 percent. Compared to 2012, Tunisian exports to Morocco have fallen by 10.3 percent while imports from the Kingdom have dropped by 30.3 percent.

King Mohammed VI’s official visit to Tunis is viewed by international media as a continuous symbol of of Morocco’s unwavering solidarity with Tunisia and of its support to the North African State’ s democratic process, stability, security and prosperity.

Both Tunisian and Moroccan media unanimously assert that the current visit of King Mohammed to Tunisia will boster both economic and political relations between the two nations. In fact, Tunisian business community do not make a mistake to confirm that the Moroccan economy, attractive and competitive, has a large room for growth in the future thanks to the reforms undertaken by the Kingdom of Morocco, under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, but also thanks to its political stability, its geographical proximity and an improving business climate that encourages Tunisian investors to settle in Morocco.

It is therefore clear that the Kingdom of Morocco has become a strategic partner for Tunisia and the official visit of King Mohammed VI s is the most eloquent proof of commitment and consideration of Morocco with regard to Tunisia, a neighbor and a friend.

This is why the Moroccan Sovereign is accompanied by a large delegation including entrepreneurs but also senior officials in the Moroccan government which reinforces the historical, political and economic aspects of the visit.

Through this official visit, King Mohammed would like to express the gratitude of Morocco towards Tunisia as a friend and an effective ally in matters crucial to both countries.

Thus, the interviews will be held between the two heads of states and the delegations of the two countries during the visit, will not fail to give new impetus to bilateral cooperation, particularly in a challenging international environment marked by upheavals and tensions in many parts of the world.

This visit will also strengthen the bonds of friendship and mutual respect uniting Morocco and Tunsia and confirm, if necessary, the cooperation and understanding between Tunis and Rabat, a model to be followed by other states in the region.

Undoubtedly, this official visit of the King of Morocco accompanied by Crown Prince Moulay Hassan and Prince Moulay Rachid is seen as a powerful symbol of Morocco unwavering solidarity to Tunisia. It is also seen as an opportunity to explore ways and means of upgrading economic relations between the two countries and partnership between Moroccan and Tunisian businessmen and economic operators. Whatever huge the stakes may be for both countries, officials on both sides in the Maghreb region are confident that the two countries have enough assets to make the most of their cooperation, build up a common prosperous future and institute a win-win partnership.

The post Morocco-Tunisia: A Royal Visit To Boost Bilateral Relations Between Countries‏ – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Kent Klein

A U.S. soldier held captive in Afghanistan for nearly five years has been released to U.S. forces, in a swap for five insurgents from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s nearly five-year captivity ended Saturday evening local time when about 18 heavily armed Taliban fighters handed him over to American Special Forces troops. Officials say the transfer on the outskirts of Khost province took place quickly and peacefully, monitored by U.S. aircraft.

Bergdahl underwent a preliminary medical checkup at a U.S. base in Afghanistan Saturday, before a flight to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

Hours after the release, President Barack Obama, who hosted Bergdahl’s parents at the White House, thanked Qatari and Afghan diplomats for their “tireless efforts” to gain Bergdahl’s release (see full transcript of Rose Garden statement).

President Obama spoke alongside Bob and Jani Bergdahl, saying Qatar has given assurances that the release of the five insurgents to Doha will not jeopardize U.S. national security.

According to Pentagaon officials, the exchange follows secret and indirect U.S.-Taliban negotiations mediated by Qatar, which will host the detainees. The detainees will be barred from leaving Qatar for at least one year.

Bergdahl, of the U.S. state of Idaho, was captured by the Taliban on June 30, 2009 — about two months after he arrived in Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama broke the news of Bergdahl’s release Saturday, calling the soldier’s recovery “a reminder of America’s unwavering commitment to leave no man or woman in uniform behind on the battlefield.”

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the U.S. government “never forgot Sergeant Bergdahl, nor did we stop working to bring him back.”

A senior U.S. defense official said once Bergdahl boarded the noisy helicopter taking him away from his ordeal, he wrote the letters “SF” on a paper plate, followed by a question mark, as a way of asking the troops if they were U.S. special forces.

Over the roar of the helicopter, they replied, “Yes, we’ve been looking for you for a long time.” The official says at that point, Bergdahl broke down in tears, overcome with emotion.

Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement calling the cost of Bergdahl’s years of captivity to him and his family “immeasurable.” Kerry spoke Saturday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to brief him on Bergdahl’s release.

Kerry, President Obama and Hagel also expressed appreciation to the emir of Qatar for his help in securing Bergdahl’s transfer.

A Taliban spokesman, in a statement, confirmed the five senior commanders have been released from Guantanamo after 13 years of captivity and are due to arrive in Qatar Sunday.

Afghan Senator Arifullah Pashtun told VOA the prisoners’ swap is good news for his country because the freed Afghans will be able to rejoin their families; but, he says questions are being raised in Afghanistan as to why the men were languishing at Guantanamo if they could be set free for securing the release of just one American soldier.

The senator says that the people in Afghanistan are questioning the detention of other Afghans at Guantanamo as they may not have committed any crimes, but the perception is they are being held so the United States can use them for prisoner swaps like the one on Saturday.

President Obama made a quick visit to Afghanistan last Sunday to visit U.S. forces, and later in the week said he wants to keep 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan after the combat mission closes at the end of the year.

The post Obama Welcomes Release Of Captive US Soldier appeared first on Eurasia Review.

A friend of the brothers suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon was accused Friday of obstructing the investigation into the deadly attack by deleting information from his computer and lying to investigators.

The friend, Khairullozhon Matanov, 23, of Quincy, was arrested at his apartment. He later appeared in federal court, but entered no plea and was being held until a detention hearing Wednesday.

In describing Matanov’s relationship with bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, an indictment unsealed Friday revealed new details about what the brothers did in the hours after they allegedly planted two homemade bombs that killed three people and wounded more than 260. About 40 minutes after the bombs went off, Matanov called Tamerlan Tsarnaev and invited him to dinner, the indictment said, and all three of them dined together at a restaurant that night.

Days later, after the Tsarnaevs’ photos were publicly released, Matanov deleted references from his computer to videos and photos of them, a photo of the MIT police officer who authorities say the Tsarnaevs killed days after the attack and files that contained violent content or calls to violence, the indictment alleges.

Matanov is not charged with participating in the bombings or knowing about them in advance, US Attorney Carmen Ortiz said in a statement, but a spokeswoman declined to comment when asked whether additional charges were possible against him.

His lawyer, Edward Hayden, called the allegations unsubstantiated and said his client looked forward to contesting the charges.

“He had no intent to mislead the FBI, and from what I can see, what he said and did didn’t impede the investigation,” Hayden said.

Matanov and Tamerlan Tsarnaev discussed religion together and hiked up a mountain in New Hampshire in order to praise and emulate the training of the mujahedeen, the indictment said.

After the dinner with the Tsarnaevs the night of the bombing, prosecutors said, Matanov told an unnamed witness that he could support the bombings for a “just reason” – for example, if they were done in the name of Islam.

“In the days following the bombings, Matanov continued to express support for the bombings, although later that week he said that maybe the bombings were wrong,” the indictment said.

Matanov realized the FBI would want to talk with him because he shared their “philosophical justification for violence,” federal prosecutors said.

Hayden said Matanov, originally from Kyrgyzstan, came to the US in 2010 on a student visa, attended college briefly, and was later granted political asylum because of unrest in Kyrgyzstan. He said Matanov, who works as a cab driver, left his parents and brothers behind and had no family in the US.

“He’s very frightened – very frightened,” Hayden said, adding that Matanov spoke with investigators several times but never tried to slip away and was surprised when authorities arrived Friday to arrest him.

Prosecutors said Matanov asked a friend to destroy his cellphones after the Tsarnaevs were identified as suspects, but that friend refused.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, has pleaded not guilty to 30 federal charges and is awaiting trial. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed during a gunbattle with police days after the bombings.

The post Friend Of Tsarnaev Brothers Charged With Impeding Boston Marathon Bombing Probe appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Dorian Jones

A year after challenging Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s iron grip on power, Turkey’s anti-government Gezi-Park protest movement continues to inspires some, and worry others.

The mass rallies started on May 31, 2013, after police forcefully evicted a handful of environmentalists from Istanbul’s downtown Gezi Park. The environmentalists had been camping out in the park in an effort to prevent reported government plans to build another shopping mall on the site.

Large-scale protests and confrontations with riot police continued for months. Ultimately, the demonstrations against official abuses of power posed the biggest threat to Erdoğan’s rule since his Islamist-influenced Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002.

“It was spontaneous, not organized, just to protest the police’s brutality,” recalled one Istanbul man in his late twenties, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation for having taken part in the May-July 2013 demonstrations. “It was the first time I took part in any protest.”

“I felt free for the first time,” the man continued. “As one friend said to me, ‘it was like storming the Bastille.’”

That perceived revolutionary parallel is exactly what still concerns officials. To commemorate the demonstrations’ first anniversary, a rally has been called for May 31 in Istanbul’s downtown Taksim Square, the protests’ iconic epicenter, adjacent to Gezi Park. The government intended to deploy 25,000 police troops and 50 armored vans for the rally; mostly in and around Taksim Square.

In the run-up to the anniversary, Erdoğan also stepped up his rhetoric against the Gezi movement. Addressing his parliamentary deputies on May 27, he blamed the “dark hands of foreign powers” for being behind the unrest. Such accusations have become a recurring theme. They might sound comical if they had not been accompanied by a draconian crackdown.

Violence, arrests and tighter restrictions on Internet usage all have contributed to the Gezi Movement losing its momentum over the past year.

But government concerns about the characteristics of the Gezi protesters – young, professional and, until Gezi, apolitical — linger on. “This type of protest — without political colors and without well-defined political leadership — is not controllable. He hates this,” political scientist Cengiz Aktar said of Erdoğan. “He demonizes Gezi just because of that.”

“Turkish politics has been under [the] specter of Gezi ever since [the protests] started,” agreed political columnist Soli Özel of Turkey’s Habertürk newspaper. “Every way the government behaves, the way it treats every protest movement, is all overshadowed by Gezi.”

This year, the government has introduced sweeping laws extending the powers of its intelligence agency, and enhancing its ability to control the Internet; all steps seen as intended to prevent any repetition of Gezi. The Turkish judiciary has, on some occasions, pushed back; ruling that bans on YouTube and Twitter are unconstitutional, for instance.

Yet, the courts have also provided reminders of the risks involved in protests. On May 27, for example, an Istanbul court ordered the arrest of 47 people accused of involvement in the Gezi protests, depicted by the government as a coup attempt. Currently, 174 people are being prosecuted for such participation; many face decades in jail if convicted.

The end result is that “people are understandably weary of sticking their necks out,” commented Özel.

“We have a bit of [a] fish memory in this country,” elaborated theater director Mehmet Ergen, the author of a play, “Taksim Meydanı” (“Taksim Square”), based on his own protest-experience. “Terrible things happen, and three months go on and you just remember nothing.”

For the aforementioned Istanbul protester, Gezi galvanized him to join opposition-party politics and work in Istanbul against the AKP for the center-left Republican People’s Party in this March’s local elections. It was an unhappy experience. “They are all so rigid,” he complained. “The party has no interest in people from outside, civil society and I don’t think they will change.”

The ineffectiveness of Turkey’s main opposition parties and their inability to change are among the key reasons cited for why Erdoğan has been able to hold onto power, whatever the scandal, for so many years. The local elections proved another decisive victory, which the prime minister hailed as proof of his democratic credentials and leadership ability.

That success, coming in the face of massive corruption allegations against Erdoğan’s family and ministers, dealt a psychological blow to many believers in the Gezi spirit.

“People had somewhat naïve expectations about the political repercussions of these kind of protests, “ observed Sinan Ülgen, a Turkish-policy analyst at Carnegie Europe, the Brussels branch of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The electoral success of the prime minister does pose a dilemma to Gezi protestors who claim they are fighting for greater democracy.”

More polls are due — a presidential election on August 10 and a general election in 2015.

Such elections mean that disgruntled voters “can vent their frustration and, therefore, might not feel need to take their frustrations onto the streets,” said Ülgen.

Sporadic bursts of mass protest can and still do occur – for the March 12 Istanbul funeral of 15-year-old slain Gezi-Park protester Berkin Elvan, or over the May 13 Soma mine disaster. But with the government stepping up the pressure on dissent, the stakes are becoming higher for those considering taking action, according to the anonymous Gezi protestor.

“My brother says you have to stand up. Otherwise, you are agreeing with what the government is doing,” the protester said. “But I have an obligation to my family and myself.”

Dorian Jones is a freelance reporter based in Istanbul.

The post Turkey: Gezi Spirit Not Easily Subdued appeared first on Eurasia Review.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of hospital data worldwide, presented as this year’s Euroanaesthesia meeting in Stockholm, adds further evidence that patients admitted to hospital at weekends have higher mortality than those admitted on weekdays. The study is by Dr Hiroshi Hoshijima, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, and colleagues.

The analysis included 72 studies from various world regions, covering 55,053,719 participants. The authors found that weekend admission was associated with increased morality of between 15% and 17% depending on the statistical technique used.

Subgroup analysis revealed that patients admitted during the weekend were at a higher risk of death than weekday admission in patients in almost all categories. “There are at least two potential explanations for our results. First, these differences reflect poorer quality of care in hospital at the weekend, and second, patients admitted on at weekend could be more severely ill than those admitted on at weekday. We believe that poorer care at the weekends is the much more likely explanation.”

The only exception to this trend was for the patients who underwent surgery, with the authors saying the lack of association between postoperative mortality and weekdays being potentially due to the few numbers of studies (just 4 studies) specifically examining postoperative mortality.

Furthermore, the authors say that, in some patients who underwent selected high risk procedures, these patients could received a substantial proportion of their postoperative care in critical care units that are more likely to provide the same type of service at all times during both weekdays and weekends. This would therefore dilute any effect of increased weekend mortality in these post-surgery patients.

The authors conclude: “Our systematic review shows that weekend admission is associated with higher mortality compared with weekday admission.”

The post Further Evidence Patients Admitted To Hospital At Weekends Have Higher Mortality appeared first on Eurasia Review.

In Mexico, 21.7 percent of the population smokes, which is associated with 95 percent of 
lung cancer cases and the development of 29 more different conditions.

Being the leading 
preventable cause of premature death and disabling diseases, a team of researchers from the Mexican Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER) developed a virtual platform that measures the level of addiction of smokers, while suggesting some recommendations and providing necessary support to help them quit.

This citizen science project titled “Are you smoking away?” is part of the venture “Science that 
Breathes” (www.cienciaqueserespira.org) and is in charge of Maria Ines Vargas Rojas, Head of 
Research at the Laboratory of Inflammation and Immunoregulation at INER.

“We make available a tool that leads to answer a series of questions about the perceptions 
that people have about smoking, whether the individual is a smoker or not.

If the people 
assumes themselves as smokers, they are asked to fill another questionnaire aimed at 
identifying the degree of nicotine addiction “refers Eryka Urdapilleta Herrera, head of the 
Program to Quit Smoking at the Research Department of INER, also part of this project.

In this regard, Inés Vargas adds that the platform is not only informative but also shows 
the individual their level of addiction after sending the questionnaire responses; as well 
as estimate the degree of anxiety and depression that may lead to smoke and provides 
recommendations to control the problem.

“At the same time, it allows us to get in touch with 
participants and generate more lines of research

“
The existence of “Are you Smoking Away? ” project is particularly important in the Mexican 
context, where smoking causes approximately 60,000 deaths per year, is the main cause of 90 percent of cases of bronchitis and more than 50 percent of cardiovascular disease.

“Smoking is a syndrome that causes inflammation throughout the body, not only in the 
breathing airways, which slowly and progressively produces a multisystem damage when 
done for prolonged periods, and favors the onset of various diseases; including hypertension, 
myocardial infarction, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and various types of cancer, especially in lungs,” said Vargas Rojas.

She explains that after the first inhalation of cigarette smoke, nicotine provokes a stimulus 
capable of generating these substance receptors, which are formed not only in the brain but 
throughout the body.

Thus, these cells will always be waiting for the addictive substance.

“For this reason, the subject no longer has physical control of its addiction, making it hard to 
quit smoking.

Also a difficult emotional component is added, which is hard to break,” says 
Urdapilleta Herrera adding that when nicotine enters the body it activates regions of the brain 
that regulates feelings of pleasure, that in the smoker act as a reward system to release certain neurotransmitters.

To make matters worse, cigarettes sold today can release more nicotine and include additives 
and chemicals that encourage addiction.

However, currently there are different treatments 
to combat nicotine addiction, both pharmacological and psychological.

“The INER has an 
Aiding Clinic to Stop Smoking, where cognitive behavioral therapy remains as the most useful 
mechanism to support patients,” says Vargas Rojas.

Also, in the Laboratory of Inflammation and Immunoregulation, Vargas Rojas adds “We have a line of research associated with the genetic factor.

Some subjects are expressing protective or risk genes, not only to develop lung disease, but also for the own addiction to nicotine, which explains why there are patients more difficult to control.”

“However, we have a lot of methods and therapeutic support tools available at all times.

It is possible to quit smoking and remain abstinent, which brings many health benefits; for 
example, lowering the risk of suffering a stroke, heart disease and various cancers,” says 
Urdapilleta Herrera , who invites us to visit the website www.cienciaqueserespira.org and be 
part of the project “Are You Smoking Away? “.

The post New Virtual Platform Measures Level Of Addiction To Tobacco appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Only around a quarter of the recent NBC News interview with former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden made it to broadcast, but unaired excerpts now online show that the network “neglected” to air critical statements about the 2001 terrorist attacks.

When the four-hour sit-down between journalist Brian Williams and Snowden made it to air on Wednesday night, NBC condensed roughly four hours of conversation into a 60-minute time slot. During an analysis of the full interview afterwards, however, the network showed portions of the interview that didn’t make it into the primetime broadcast, including remarks from the former National Security Agency contractor in which he questioned the American intelligence community’s inability to stop the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

In response to a question from Williams concerning a “non-traditional enemy,” Al-Qaeda, and how to prevent further attacks from that organization and others, Snowden suggested that United States had the proper intelligence ahead of 9/11 but failed to act.

“You know, and this is a key question that the 9/11 Commission considered. And what they found, in the post-mortem, when they looked at all of the classified intelligence from all of the different intelligence agencies, they found that we had all of the information we needed as an intelligence community, as a classified sector, as the national defense of the United States to detect this plot,” Snowden said. “We actually had records of the phone calls from the United States and out. The CIA knew who these guys were. The problem was not that we weren’t collecting information, it wasn’t that we didn’t have enough dots, it wasn’t that we didn’t have a haystack, it was that we did not understand the haystack that we have.”

“The problem with mass surveillance is that we’re piling more hay on a haystack we already don’t understand, and this is the haystack of the human lives of every American citizen in our country,” Snowden continued. “If these programs aren’t keeping us safe, and they’re making us miss connections — vital connections — on information we already have, if we’re taking resources away from traditional methods of investigation, from law enforcement operations that we know work, if we’re missing things like the Boston Marathon bombings where all of these mass surveillance systems, every domestic dragnet in the world didn’t reveal guys that the Russian intelligence service told us about by name, is that really the best way to protect our country? Or are we — are we trying to throw money at a magic solution that’s actually not just costing us our safety, but our rights and our way of life?

Indeed, the director of the NSA during Snowden’s stint there, Gen. Keith Alexander, reportedly endorsed a method of intelligence gathering in which the agency would collect quite literally all the digital information it was capable of.

“Rather than look for a single needle in the haystack, his approach was, ‘Let’s collect the whole haystack,’” one former senior US intelligence official recently told the Washington Post. “Collect it all, tag it, store it. . . .And whatever it is you want, you go searching for it.”

In recent weeks, a leaked NSA document has affirmed that under the helm of Alexander, the agency was told it should do as much as possible with the information it gathers: “sniff it all, know it all, collect it all, process it all and exploit it all,” according to the slide.

“They’re making themselves dysfunctional by collecting all of this data,” Bill Binney, a former NSA employee-turned-whistleblower himself, told the Daily Caller last year. Like Snowden, Binney has also argued that the NSA’s “collect it all” condition with regards to intelligence gathering is deeply flawed.

“They’ve got so much collection capability but they can’t do everything. They’re probably getting something on the order of 80 percent of what goes up on the network. So they’re going into the telecoms who have recorded all of the material that has gone across the network. And the telecoms keep a record of it for I think about a year. They’re asking the telecoms for all the data so they can fill in the gaps. So between the two sources of what they’ve collected, they get the whole picture,” Binney said.

Although NBC neglected to play Mr. Snowden’s remarks to Williams in which he questioned the efficiency of modern intelligence gathering under the guise of being a counterterrorism tool, it did air on television other remarks from the former contractor concerning the terrorist attacks.

“It’s really disingenuous for the government to invoke and sort of scandalize our memories to sort of exploit the national trauma that we all suffered together and worked so hard to come through to justify programs that have never been shown to keep us safe, but cost us liberties and freedoms that we don’t need to give up and our Constitution says we don’t need to give up,” he said in an excerpt broadcast on air.

The post NBC Censored Snowden Responses During Interview appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Umid Niayesh

Iran’s non-oil exports (including gas condensates) surpassed $8.154 billion during the 2-month period from March 21, which indicates an increase by 29.18 percent compared to the same months of the preceding year (Iran’s fiscal year starts on March 21).

Iran exported some 18 million tonnes of non-oil goods during that period which is 27.22 percent more compared the 2-month period of last year, Iranian Customs Administration reported on May 31.

Iran exported $3 billion worth of gas condensates during the period, meanwhile the country’s petrochemical exports stood at $1.991 billion.

Liquefied propane worth $375 million, methanol worth $253 million and liquefied butane worth $247 million also topped the list of Iran’s exported non-oil goods.

Iran also imported about $7.7 billion worth of goods during the period, which indicates a rise by 34.78 percent, compared to the 2-month period of the preceding year (21 March, 2013 to 21 May 2013.

China was the main target of Iran’s exported goods in the first two months of the current Iranian fiscal year. Some $1.49 billion worth of Iran’s exported none-oil goods went to China during the period.

Iraq, the UAE, Afghanistan and India were other top importers of Iranian goods during the mentioned period. The countries imported $951 million, $575 million, $334 million and $300 million worth of Iranian goods, respectively.

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates, China, India, Turkey and South Korea were the leading exporters of goods to Iran. They exported $2.226 billion, $1.613 billion, $693 million, $542 million and $459 million worth of goods to Iran during the period.

The post Iran’s Non-Oil Exports Increase By 29 Percent appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Cheryl Pellerin

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met with defense leaders from five Asian nations on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said in statements today.

The secretary met with defense leaders from Japan, Vietnam, China, South Korea and Malaysia while participating in the major forum where key leaders in the Asia-Pacific region gather each year to discuss security challenges and opportunities.

Hagel and Japanese Defense Minister Onodera Itsunori discussed a range of regional and global security issues, including Chinese maritime claims and military activities, North Korean provocations, and the situation in the Ukraine, Kirby said.

The secretary reiterated the strong support of the United States for Japanese efforts at defense reform and modernization, and to working closely together with the leadership of the Japan Self-Defense Force to improve mutual cooperation and capabilities.

Hagel and Onodera restated their commitment to finishing the review of the Guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation by the end of the year, Kirby said, and Hagel thanked Onodera for Japanese efforts to move forward with the Futenma Replacement Facility.

The secretary also reiterated the U.S. commitment to plans for realigning U.S. forces on Okinawa, the admiral said.

During Hagel’s brief meeting with Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army Lt. Gen. Wang Guanzhong, the leaders exchanged views about issues important to the United States and China and to the region, Kirby said.

Hagel reiterated the U.S. position that all regional disputes be solved peacefully through diplomacy and in keeping with international law.

The secretary also encouraged China to foster more dialogue and deeper relationships with neighboring nations, the admiral said, and pointed to PLA participation this year in the U.S.-sponsored Rim of the Pacific multinational exercise, as an example of how such relationships can be improved.

During Hagel’s meeting with Vietnam Defense Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh, the leaders discussed several security challenges facing the region, including mutual concerns over recent provocative behavior by the Chinese in the South China Sea, Kirby said.

Hagel thanked the Vietnamese for their continued leadership within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, the admiral said, and the leaders reaffirmed ASEAN’s growing role in addressing regional issues such as maritime security and disaster response.

Hagel also thanked Thanh for Vietnam’s support for U.S. efforts to locate American service members still missing in action in Vietnam, and for hosting Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’ upcoming visit to Vietnam.

Thanh invited Hagel to Vietnam to continue building cooperative defense ties, Kirby added, and Hagel said he looked forward to a visit later this year.

During the secretary’s meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan Jin, the leaders discussed a range of shared security concerns, the admiral said, including the North Korean state of affairs, the importance of ballistic missile defense and the continuing improvement of South Korea’s defense capabilities.

Hagel and Kim restated the importance of the U.S.-South Korea strategic alliance as central to the region’s continued stability and security, Kirby said.

The secretary also met in Singapore with Malaysian Defense Minister Dato’ Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein. Their discussion covered a range of mutual security issues, Kirby said, including ongoing tensions in the East and South China Seas and the U.S. rebalance to the region.

Hishammuddin thanked Hagel for his continued support to ongoing search efforts for Malaysia Airlines flight 370, the admiral said, and Hagel thanked the minister for his support of the nations’ strong military-to-military relationship and for Malaysia’s contributions to ASEAN and other productive regional relationships.

The secretary reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the Asia-Pacific, Kirby said, and both leaders agreed on the need for continued dialogue and regional cooperation through exercises, exchanges and operations.

Hagel’s next stops on his 12-day trip to countries in Asia and Europe include Brussels for a NATO defense ministerial, Romania, Paris, and then Normandy to commemorate with President Barack Obama the Allied victory in World War II and the sacrifice and courage manifested on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944.

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