Tehran has been hit by a second severe storm on Friday afternoon, with gusting winds lifting garbage bins into the air and heavy dust overwhelming the city skies.

The storm originated in Qazvin and entered Tehran from the western edges of the city after passing through Alborz Province.

ISNA reports that according to the Meteorology Organization, winds reached speeds of up to 85 kilometres per hour today. So far no fatalities have been reported; however, fallen trees and thrown objects have caused some minor injuries.

On Monday June 2, Tehran was hit by a stronger storm that led to five deaths and over 50 injuries.

The post Iran: Another Storm Batters Tehran But Claims No Lives appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Jayshree Sengupta

A striking feature of the recent LokSabha polls was that it clearly showed people are unhappy with doles and handouts. The UPA was known for its kindness/generosity towards the poor and that is why for generations, the poor voted for Congress. Things are changing in rural India. The rights based programmes that the left of centre in the UPA government lauded and took credit for may have created many millions of jobs, but now people want more. Alongside the popularity of MGNERGA, there have been allegations of corruption and deferred payments. People were saved from starvation, no doubt. But they aspired for more.

Aspirational politics is a new reality. It is about the poor aspiring to earn much more and even becoming leaders. The Chaiwala label served Narendra Modi well. It went to show that the arrogant western educated elite of the previous UPA government were not the only ones who are entitled to occupy seats of power and have the right to rule. Modi does not have western education or degrees but people relate to him much more. Many of the members of his cabinet are not even graduates. It is a real paradigm shift from the past.

Secondly, people became fed up of their own miseries while seeing the wasteful foreign trips of ministers of the UPA government as reported in the media. People have not been convinced that it was all being done to serve the country’s interests. More often than not, these were junkets in which ministers and politicians travelled first class with their families and had a great time, living in the best hotels and availing of the local Indian embassy’s hospitality. Profligacy and corruption in the ruling party became apparent to the common man who was stuck fighting inflation and lacked basic amenities. People clearly want more accountability and transparency in all government deals now and Prime Minister Modi has to fulfill this expectation.

Modi’s appeal is due to the fact that he is simple in his habits and personally not corrupt. Also, he is a brilliant orator who has worked hard for his state. People are expecting him to work hard for the country. They hope he will be able to govern and this will lead to the efficient delivery of public goods and services. Good public hospitals, better quality of primary education, affordable housing for the poor, sanitation, clean drinking water are the basic needs people want. An improvement in governance will also mean greater safety for women.

Regarding the economic policy, whether the World Bank and IMF’s influence will be less important during Modi’s tenure, is yet to be seen. The World Bank was very happy when the UPA government appointed Raghuram Rajan, a top western trained economist, as the Reserve Bank of India Governor. Prime Minister Modi has stuck with him so far. But it is likely that a new team of economists, who are more in tune with the nationalist ideals of the BJP, will surface soon. Inflation control and growth are both important targets of the new government. There may be a loosening of the monetary policy in the future as has been evident in the recent RBI move to reduce the Statutory Liquidity Ratio, to increase liquidity. We need to raise demand for manufactured goods (cars, white goods) and high interest rates are leading to high EMIs.

Fiscal consolidation is an important segment of economic policy and the fiscal deficit has been brought down quite drastically by former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram through various expenditure cuts. This must be reviewed by the new government. Important sectors such as health and education should not experience drastic cuts. There should be austerity in government’s own consumption expenditure — through cutting the many perks given to ministers/high officials. The big challenge before the new Finance Minister will be how to raise more revenue. Hastening the pace of the Goods and Services tax proposal is needed.

The States and their policies would have to be coordinated with the centre’s policies, especially in the area of agriculture. If Modi could turn around Gujarat’s agriculture so dramatically, he can be instrumental in turning around agricultural productivity, marketing and storage in all States. He has to act quickly. Otherwise, there would be more problems in rural areas with people migrating to cities in droves in search of jobs because much of the small scale agriculture is unsustainable. Many critics of Modi are expecting a drastic reduction in subsidies. Some subsidies that benefited only the well-to-do, should go. There will surely be a review of various farm subsidies and those that do benefit the marginal farmers when administered more efficiently, would probably stay.

As everyone knows, India is losing out to China in the area of manufacturing. Revamping the manufacturing sector with new investments and skill training for the young labour force seeking jobs will spur manufacturing. The youth bulge that India is enjoying is a temporary phenomenon. It will be over soon if the opportunity is not grabbed right now. The youth expect him to create jobs. But Modi does not have a magic wand and so the work will have to start towards building proper infrastructure for job creation. Jobs will empower the young and increase their demand for goods and services which will give a boost to the economy.

Last, but not least, is the banking sector which is cash strapped and burdened with rising NPAs. As everyone knows, inclusive growth is not just a slogan. It involves more banking services for the poor and the small scale manufacturing sector. There is need to have more banks in the rural areas and granting loans to the small scale sector on easier terms. Recapitalisation of banks will have to become a priority for the new government.

More privatisation is expected from the Modi government which will not displease many, because private sector can often revitalise production. But mindless privatisation will hopefully be avoided. Crony capitalism and corruption should be eliminated but it is not going to be an easy task. In any case, the aspirations of the poor will have to be addressed and these can never materialise if there are growing inequalities of income and opportunities.

(The writer is a Senior Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, Delhi)

The post India: Can Modi Achieve Economic Turnaround? – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Japan has failed to mention having about 640 kg (1,411 lbs) of unused plutonium in reports it submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2012 and 2013. The unreported amount is enough to make about 80 nuclear bombs.

The missing 640 kilograms Japan kept as Mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, a plutonium-uranium mixture that could be burned in a reactor. It was found in an offline reactor in a nuclear plant in Saga Prefecture in the southern Japanese town of Genkai.

The MOX fuel was loaded into the No. 3 reactor of Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Genkai nuclear plant in March 2011 during its regular checkup, shortly before the Fukushima Nuclear disaster happened later that month. It was then taken out two years later as the reactor remained offline.

The unreported plutonium was first found by Kakujoho, a nuclear information website.

According to the reports Tokyo submitted, plutonium reserves in the country stood at 1.6 tons, while they were approximately 2.2 tons in 2011. It appears that Japanese government excluded the loaded plutonium.

However, speaking to Kyodo News an official from Japan’s Atomic Energy Commission argued that found plutonium is still considered being used and hence exempt from reporting to the IAEA.

But experts both in Japan and abroad warn that the Tokyo’s reporting does not reflect the actual state of unused plutonium that could be diverted for nuclear weapons.

“From the safeguards point of view this material is still un-irradiated fresh MOX fuel regardless of its location,” former IAEA Deputy Director General Olli Heinonen said. “If it has, indeed, not been irradiated, this should be reflected in the statements.”

Keeping the largest amount of plutonium among non-nuclear armed nations, Japan claims to possess over 44 tons of plutonium (9.3 tons within the country and 35 tons in Britain and France), while the actual amount is 45 tons, said Japan’s Kyodo News Agency.

Japan’s nuclear reactors remain idle after the 2011 disaster at Fukushima. In the past the country used plutonium for power generation.

The post Japan Underreports 80 Nuclear Bombs-Worth Of Plutonium To IAEA appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Russia has reached an agreement with China on the joint construction of a long-range, wide-body passenger plane and a modern helicopter, with a cargo capacity of up to 15 tons, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Friday.

“[We] achieved agreements on the creation of a long-range, wide-body plane jointly with the People’s Republic of China. China’s market is immense, its population is 1.3 billion people, the country occupies vast territories, but has no aircraft industry,” Rogozin said, adding that the aircraft design is to start in the near future.

According to the deputy prime minister, Russia is interested in producing the whole range of passenger airplanes. Russian Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Yuri Slyusar in turn stressed that the volume of investment in the project was estimated at $7-$8 billion.

The second joint project with China, according to Rogozin, is the creation of a modified Mi-26 heavy transport helicopter. The new helicopter is to be lighter than the previous version, but retain its predecessor’s cargo capacity of up to 15 tons.

The post Russia, China To Create New Long-Range Plane And Helicopter – Rogozin appeared first on Eurasia Review.

An inauguration ceremony began in Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, at 10:00 local time (11:00 Moscow time) on Saturday. The ceremony featured 56 foreign delegations, where 23 countries were represented by their heads, prime ministers, parliament speakers and heads of international organisations.The ceremony has been broadcast live in six languages. Russia was represented by its Ambassador to Ukraine, Mikhail Zurabov.

President Petr Poroshenko’s oath-of-office was taken by Yuri Baurlin, head of the country’s Constitution Court, who has also handed over the official presidential symbols: a reference sample of the official seal, mace and the president’s sign in the form of a sash chain. Poroshenko has sworn allegiance to the Constitution of the people of Ukraine and Peresopnytsia Gospel.

During the ceremony, the parliamentary speaker, Alexander Turchynov, said various deputies, members of the government, and Ukraine’s former presidents – Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko were present in the hall.

On relations with the country’s south-east

Poroshenko says about his determination “to go to the east of the country with peace” in the near future.

Switching from the Ukrainian to the Russian language in his inaugural speech at the Verkhovna Rada on Saturday, Poroshenko said: “What will I bring with me as president when I visit you in the near future? Peace. A project of the governance system’s decentralization. A guarantee of the free use of the Russian language in your region. Firm determination not to divide Ukrainians into right and wrong ones. A respectful attitude toward specifics of regions, and the right for local communities to have their nuances concerning historical memory and religious traditions.”

Poroshenko has vowed to call early local elections in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, a territory known as Donbass, to settle the crisis in the region.

On economic association agreement with EU

Ukraine’s newly elected President Petr Poroshenko says in his inauguration speech he is ready to sign immediately the economic part of the agreement on Ukraine’s association with the EU.

“I am ready to sign immediately the second part of Ukraine’s agreement with the EU on association. The pen is in my hand already,” he said.

“Ukraine’s aspiration is to become as soon as possible the EU’s full-fledged member,” he added.

On visa facilitation with EU

The Ukrainian government will do its utmost to complete the implementation of a visa facilitation action plan with the European Union by the end of 2014, Poroshenko said. He insisted that the liberalization of visa regulations with the EU is among his top priorities.

“We have already completed the first phase of visa-free travel and will complete the second one very soon, so that Ukrainian citizens could have the opportunity to travel to Europe without visas starting January 1, 2015,” Poroshenko said in his inaugural speech at the Verkhovna Rada on Saturday.

On form of government

Poroshenko says Ukraine has been and will remain to be a unitary state.

“Dreams about federalization have no grounds in Ukraine,” Poroshenko said in his inaugural speech at the Verkhovna Rada on Saturday.

On the language issue

The Ukrainian language will remain the only official language in Ukraine, Poroshenko said, Interfax reports.

“Living in a new way means that you cannot ignore the people’s will, and living freely means speaking freely in the native language and being guided by Article 10 of the Constitution, which stipulates that the Ukrainian language is the only official language, which guarantees free development of the Russian and other languages,” he said.

On parliamentary elections

Petr Poroshenko has called for holding early parliamentary elections.

“The full reset of the governance system, including early parliamentary elections, is an important element of public aspirations,” Poroshenko stated.

On security issue

Kiev should sign a new international agreement guaranteeing its security to replace the Budapest Memorandum, says Ukrainian President Petr Poroshenko.

“I will use all my diplomatic experience to secure the signature of an international agreement that would come instead of the Budapest Memorandum. Such an agreement should provide reliable guarantees of peace and security, including military support in case of a threat to our territorial integrity,” Poroshenko said in his inaugural speech at the Verkhovna Rada on Saturday.

On Crimea

Poroshenko says he considers Crimea Ukrainian territory.

“There can’t be any compromise with anyone regarding Crimea, the European choice, and the governance system,” Poroshenko said.

The post Ukraine: Poroshenko Sworn In As President appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Thai authorities apprehended and deported 163 undocumented Burmese migrants in a raid in Mae Sot on Tuesday. Conducted by a joint task force of Thai army, government authorities, immigration officials and police, the round-up took place at Ban Sung Kwe, an area densely populated by Burmese migrants in the western Thai town.

The migrants – 49 men, 59 women and 55 children – were loaded into trucks and transported across the border to Myawaddy in Karen State.

Two days later, on 5 June, another raid, this time in the southern Thai town of Ranong, resulted in the capture of 136 Burmese migrants who had recently been smuggled into Thailand on foot, according to Ranong provincial governor Cherdsak Jampathes said at a press conference that same day.

A joint force of Thai military and police had caught them in a rubber plantation after a tip-off, he said.

The detainees were listed as 103 men, 23 women and 10 children. The migrants reportedly said they entered Thailand from Kawthaung on the Burmese side of the border where smugglers or traffickers had brought them after a three-hour trek through the jungle in the middle of the night.

After questioning, several illegal migrants reportedly told Thai authorities that they had planned to go to Mahachai near Bangkok, where thousands of Burmese get jobs on fishing boats or work in fishery processing factories.

Others had paid to be transported to Songkhla in southern Thailand, a town with many rubber plantations also known for reemploying Burmese migrants. Others were headed for Malaysia, the governor said.

The detainees told Thai authorities they had paid 6,000 baht for the attempted trip to Mahachai; 10,000 baht for Songkhla; and 20,000 baht to get to Malaysia.

All brokers and migrants will be charged with immigration offences, Thai newspaper Khaosod quoted officials saying.

Ranong Governor Cherdsak alluded loosely to the 22 May military coup in Thailand, saying it was important for the Thai armed forces to work closely with other offices during this time of unrest in the country.

The post Thailand Cracks Down On Illegal Burmese Migrants appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Bangladesh’s leather tanneries are notoriously filthy, exposing workers and the surrounding neighborhood to toxic chemicals. And recent studies show that poultry feed produced from industry scraps may also be putting the health of millions throughout the country at risk.

“The whole nation is under threat as chicken is the most consumed meat, and also the cheapest source of animal protein,” said Abul Hossain, a chemistry professor at the University of Dhaka, who led recent studies on how chromium, a tannery waste product, is transported into chicken meat. “This is extremely alarming.”

According to the Bangladesh government’s Department of Environment (DoE), tanneries in Hazaribagh, an industrial neighbourhood in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, emit around 21,600 cubic metres of toxic waste each day – including chromium, sulphur, ammonium, and other chemicals.

The tanneries also generate as much as 100 tonnes per day of scraps – trimmed raw hide, flesh and fat – which are processed into feed by neighborhood recycling plants and used in chicken and fish farms across the country.

Although the maximum recommended daily dose of chromium has not been established, a review by the European Food Safety Authority stated that a 60 kg person could tolerate up to 0.25 milligrams of chromium per day, and noted that carcinogenic chromium “hexavalent” (produced as part of the industrial process) should be kept “as low as possible” in all foods.

“We have found chromium ranging from 350 to 4,520 micrograms [0.35 to 4.52 milligrams] per kg in different organs of chickens which were fed the tannery scraps feed for two months,” said Hossain.

Cheap poultry is an important part of the diet in food insecure Bangladesh. It accounts for 75 percent of the national demand for meat and provides employment opportunities in both the formal and informal livestock sectors. A 2012 report by the International Food Policy Research Institute argued that expanded poultry rearing makes economic sense for Bangladeshi farmers confronted by land shortages.

Poultry feed produced from tainted industry scraps is attractive to farmers because of its rich protein content – and it’s cheap. The government has failed to enforce its own regulations, although aware of the risk of these carcinogenic chemicals entering the food chain.

Hazardous Hazaribagh

A 2012 Human Rights Watch report documented appalling health conditions among tannery workers in Hazaribagh related to the chemicals they work with, including itchy, peeling, acid-burned, and rash-covered skin; fingers corroded to stumps; aches, dizziness and nausea; and disfigured or amputated limbs.

But outside tannery walls an informal poultry feed business relies on the contaminated by-products of this toxic industry.

Anwar Hossain, who owns of a makeshift recycling plant in Hazaribagh, explained: “We buy the raw hide scraps and shaving and buffing dust [chromium- and dye-impregnated waste products] from the tanneries, and soak them with lime before boiling them to a black-coloured paste.”

He estimates there are around 60 factories like his that produce up to 30 tonnes of poultry and feed per day.

“The demand for the scraps-made feed is overwhelming because the chickens grow very fast on this, and it is also cheap compared to other supplements available,” he said, denying any possibility of the product being toxic. “We boil the scraps, so there is no possibility of having chromium or any other toxic element.”

But a 2013 study argued, in fact, that boiling and sun-drying can convert chromium into the carcinogenic “hexavalent” form also known as “Cr (VI).” The study estimated up to 25 percent of the chickens in Bangladesh contained harmful levels of Cr (VI).

Seeping into the system

Mohammad Kaiser, a chicken farm owner in northern Netrakona District, said he heard of farmers in his area using a feed supplement that caused the rapid growth of chickens.

“I’ve never used this feed for my chickens,” Kaiser said, adding that he had no idea how such products were produced.

In a Dhaka chicken market, several consumers told IRIN they had never heard about toxic chicken feed.

According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), “ingestion of high doses of Cr (VI) compounds by humans has resulted in severe respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, hematological, hepatic, renal and neurological effects.”

Slipping outside the law

In 2001, Bangladesh’s High Court ruled that the government should ensure tanneries install adequate means to treat their waste. However, the government has failed to do that. In 2009, the High Court ruled that the government should relocate the tanneries outside Dhaka or close them down – which has also been ignored.

For the feed processing facilities, enforcers face the additional barrier of the outfits being unregistered to begin with.

“All the recycling plants are operating illegally as they do not have any license, so this non-formal sector is difficult to regulate,” said Mohammad Alamgir, monitoring and enforcement director at DoE.

“If we stop them today, they will just return and resume operation soon.”

After local media reported on the polluted poultry feed in May 2014, DoE that month shut down six recycling plants. However an unknown number of others continue to operate.

“The production and distribution of this feed must be stopped. Truck loads of this feed are being transported to different parts of the country,” Alamgir said. “Clearly, we don’t know which chickens are being fed with this.”

Moshiur Rahman, convener of Bangladesh Poultry Industries Coordination Committee, admitted the production of poultry feed from tannery scraps was a “bad practice” but reported he did not know which farms across the country use the feed.

“There is a murky chain behind this tannery scraps-feed, but this must be stopped”, he said.

The post Bangladesh: Toxic Poultry Feed Threatens Poor appeared first on Eurasia Review.

The ancient Pakistani town of Bannu, lying just outside the North Waziristan Agency– a stronghold for insurgents operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan – is a now a centre for displaced families escaping a looming government offensive in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Power lines snake across the ground to half a dozen hastily-built brick and dirt compounds, temporary housing built by families from North Waziristan who pooled their funds together in anticipation of a long military campaign.

The offensive has, in reality, begun: tens of thousands of troops have been deployed on the ground in North Waziristan, and jets have carried out airstrikes – yet no official operation has been declared by Pakistani officials, although hundreds of thousands of residents are likely to be caught up in the increasingly deadly conflict between the state and Taliban militants.

At the impromptu camp in Bannu, Hajji Sher Wali Khan, 70, sits surrounded by his extended family – 150 women and children – who arrived from their village near the town of Mir Ali, on the evening of 31 May. The 37-km journey took more than seven hours, stopped at four separate checkpoints and questioned by soldiers.

Bombing raid

“We left because there is continuous fighting. There are bombs and jets. We wanted to save the lives of our children, of our wives,” Khan told IRIN.

North Waziristan has been under a nearly-continuous curfew, sealed from the outside world, since 8 May, when an IED killed eight Pakistani soldiers near the town of Mir Ali. “The curfew kept us captive in our home,” said Khan. “We couldn’t get anything, and in the markets there was no flour, no cooking oil. We had no water and no electricity. The hospitals and clinics had no doctors, or were closed altogether. How could we live in such a situation?”

When the Pakistani military temporarily lifted the curfew on the morning of 31 May, Khan and his family took the opportunity to leave for Bannu, in neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwan province.

More than 17,000 people that have fled North Waziristan in the last month, according to the FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA), which assists IDPs in the region. According to officials, up to 800 people have also fled across the border to Afghanistan’s Khost and Paktika provinces.

Weeks of aerial strikes and ground skirmishes between soldiers and Taliban fighters have reportedly killed 70 people, including at least 30 civilians.

But until Pakistani officials declare North Waziristan a conflict zone, the FDMA, along with international aid organizations, cannot begin to provide shelter or relief to fleeing residents. The FDMA expects as many as 628,000 IDPs could flee the region.

Pakistan has carried out more than half a dozen military operations to root out the Taliban from the FATA over the last decade, displacing millions of people in the process. According to Arshad Khan, Director General of the FDMA, in all those previous operations, his staff were given at least 15-days warning to put aid in place.

Pakistan has always depended on international support to assist IDPs, but the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN refugee agency UNHCR said they had yet to be notified of a military operation in North Waziristan. “The government is still calling these [activities] surgical strikes,” Humaira Mehboob, an OCHA spokesperson in Islamabad told IRN.

Elders say Go

In lieu of a government notification, tribal elders and militant leaders have told residents to leave. A rare tribal jirga – comprising local militant leaders and more than 5,000 elders from North Waziristan – was held on 30 and 31 May, and advised people to quit the area by 10 June.

The meeting and the declaration was prompted by reports of civilian deaths in early morning airstrikes on 21 May, as Pakistani jets and helicopter gunships hit buildings and homes close to the main market in Mir Ali. According to locals, the hospital in Mir Ali had been without power and supplies for weeks, and was also damaged in the attack. Many of the shops in Mir Ali’s sprawling bazaar were flattened.

“Forty people were killed, most from one family, including children, women and some young boys who had nothing to do with militants,” Malik Akbar Khan, an elder of the locally-dominant Dawar tribe told IRIN. “They were all civilians.”

Eight-year-old Tahira Noor’s lower back is covered in still-fresh wounds from the masonry that pinned her down in her home a few hundred yards from the market. Beginning at 2:20 a.m. her home was hit in three separate bombing raids by the Pakistani Air Force. “There was no siren, no noise before. We were totally surprised,” she said.

Tahira’s father, Fazlur Noor, along with two of his brothers, had left for Bannu two days before to make arrangements for their family to join them. “All our wives, and all our children are dead, except for this girl and another infant girl,” said Noor, in front of the home he had built to house his now-decimated extended family.

Ataullah, Tahira’s uncle, watched as jets dropped three bombs. “Later, in the morning, helicopters strafed us, injuring one rescuer,” he said

“We waited three days for the curfew to be lifted, so we could bring [Tahira] to Bannu for treatment,” said Noor, adding that no Pakistani officials have contacted him since the airstrikes. He says the dead were mostly children aged between 3 and 10, and included a two-year old, named Abid Aqeel.

Military officials contacted by IRIN denied receiving any reports of civilian casualties. A 22 May statement said the airstrikes had killed “60 terrorists”.

North Waziristan is home to several militant groups, some involved in the insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan, along with others that target Pakistan.

The militants

The largest is Tanzeem Mujadideen-e-Waziristan, an organization led by Hafiz Gul Bahadar, which sends fighters across the border into Afghanistan. In 2006, Bahadar signed a peace agreement with the North Waziristan government that secured a ceasefire between his fighters and the Pakistani military.

In pamphlets distributed on the streets of North Waziristan, Bahadar announced the termination of that truce on 30 May, citing the civilian casualties caused by the military strike. He also ordered people to make their way to safer areas near the Afghan border by 10 June, and called on all militant groups to collectively wage war against Pakistan’s armed forces.

Because elders from the locally-dominant Wazir and Dawar tribes have said they prefer to live with relatives or friends instead of in Pakistani IDP camps, it is expected that a large portion of those now leaving North Waziristan will make their way to Afghanistan, where the tribes have relatives.

Pakistan has three brigades stationed in North Waziristan. The soldiers have largely focused on fighting Al-Qaeda militants and members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the largest militant network in the country, whose stated goal is to topple the Pakistani government.

Senior government officials told IRIN that the towns of Datta Khel, Eso Khel, Danday Darpakhel, Esori, Mir Ali, and areas close to the Tochi River are expected to be targeted in the military offensive. The areas are thought to be hideouts for Al-Qaeda linked-militants and the leadership of the TPP, the largest militant network in the country.

The political administration of North Waziristan has said the 600,000 people living in those areas have already endured heavy fighting in the last few years. And more than two thirds of the 370 suspected American drone strikes in FATA have struck North Waziristan.

“The common man was trapped, having drones in the skies and [the] knives [of militants] on earth,” a local school teacher, Haji Toor Gul Dawar, explained. “Now, daily curfews and bombings have made North Waziristan a hell to live in.”

The post Pakistan: Civilians Begin To Flee New Offensive Against Militants – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Abanti Bhattacharya

Under the new dispensation of Modi, it is necessary to put India-China border dispute in a correct perspective. Incidentally, 2014 coincides with the centenary of the McMahon line. At this juncture, the question arises whether the two Asian giants could reach a resolution on the McMahon line given the emerging amenability between Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping.

The principal opposition of the Chinese on the McMahon line is that it is illegal and a mere product of British imperialistic designs on China. Quite a few sinologists also regard that it is India’s intransigence of holding on to the British-drawn border-line that has precluded any resolution of the border dispute. However, such assessments completely disregard the fact that the McMahon line is entwined with the Tibet issue- the lynchpin of China’s territorial sovereignty and party legitimacy. More than India being a bottleneck, it is China’s intransigence rooted in its profound vulnerabilities on the Tibet issue that has caused the border dispute to linger on.

The reasons for China’s vulnerabilities are manifold. First, in 1913, Tibet declared itself independent from China. Recognising this altered reality, Henry McMahon, the British plenipotentiary in India involved Tibet and China in the Simla Convention to deliberate on first demarcating the Tibet-China border and second defining the Indo-Tibet border. Quite significantly, China was concerned only with the Tibet-China border and quite rightly so as it did not share a boundary with India. During the Simla Convention, Republican China’s principal objections were on the sovereign rights accorded to Tibet and on the exact boundary dividing the inner and outer Tibet. On these two counts, the Chinese refused to sign the Simla Convention. Ironically, their failure to sign had reinstated Tibet as an independent country and the Simla Convention was ultimately signed by India and Tibet on 3rd July 1914. This became the principal ground for Chinese steadfast opposition to the McMahon line.

Second, China’s sovereignty on Tibet is contestable since Tibet was never a province of Imperial China. When under the rising threat of the imperialistic forces Xinjiang was turned into a province in 1884 and Taiwan in 1887 by the last ruling Manchu government, Tibet escaped such a fate thanks to the Great Game of the 19th century, and, more particularly, the British aim of using Tibet as a buffer between its domains and advancing czarist Russia.

Third, the role of the CIA in Tibet spelt a formidable challenge to the newly emerged Chinese Communist government post-1949. The other most persistent challenge came from the clandestine activities of the Nationalist (KMT) that had fled the Chinese mainland post the civil-war, and attempted to revive its former ties with the ethnic minority communities of Tibet and Xinjiang, often in collusion with the CIA.

Fourth, with the lack of accessibility to Tibet owing to difficult terrain and absence of infrastructure in the immediate period of Communist era, the security of Tibet loomed large. In addition to geography, the non-Han minority Tibetans professing no loyalty to the Chinese added to Beijing’s insecurities.

Finally, once India recognized Tibet ‘a region of China’ by signing the 1954 agreement, China then used that as a rationale to officially demarcate an Indo-Tibetan border. It was at this juncture that Tibet got entangled with the India-China border dispute. This border dispute finally dragged the two countries in the 1962 War. In 1988, with Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to China, the relations normalized but this normalization came at the behest of keeping the border dispute aside, not resolving it. Since then, China’s vulnerability over Tibet has continued.

The Tibet question remains alive and threatens China in four principal ways: it poses China as an aggressor; it validates Tibet as an independent entity in history; it keeps China’s periphery vulnerable; it demonstrates the failure of Chinese nationalism based on the rhetoric of the unity of five races weaved to buttress China’s claim on the non-Han regions and thereby, threatens the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sinologists have contended that had it not been for the Tibetan revolt of 1959, the India-China border dispute could have been resolved through negotiations since the physical existence of the McMahon had never been problematic for China but its legal foundations were. This is validated by the fact that China has resolved its boundary dispute with Burma (Myanmar) based on the same McMahon line.

Indeed, the border dispute is resolvable and China could take the initiative. Since Tibet is the primary security concern, China should focus on consolidating its sovereign claims on Tibet by addressing the Tibetan ethnic identity issues within its borders and by giving up its exaggerated and fictitious claims on Indian territories. In fact, China needs to restore the true essence of the 1954 Agreement whereby Nehru had recognised Tibet as a ‘region of China’ in return for China’s reciprocity on the Indian claims on the McMahon line, albeit unstated. Arguably, India’s intransigence on the McMahon line does not emerge from holding true to the British drawn line but essentially from the feeling of betrayal caused by China’s failing to honour the 1954 Agreement. The 1962 War though led to the defeat of India, did not settle the Tibet issue. The renewed Tibetan unrest since 2008 attests to China’s failure in handling the Tibet question. So long China refuses to treat Tibet and border as integral, any resolution of the border problem would remain elusive. By restoring the 1954 reciprocity, India and China could resolve the protracted border dispute.

Abanti Bhattacharya, Associate Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi.

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

Originally published by Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (www.idsa.in) at http://idsa.in/idsacomments/RestoringIndiaChinaReciprocityontheBorder_abhattacharya_50614

The post Restoring India-China Reciprocity On The Border – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

(RFE/RL) — Ukraine’s new President Petro Poroshenko has taken the oath of office in a swearing-in ceremony in the country’s parliament in Kyiv.

Immediately afterward he told the audience that what Ukraine needs is peace, security, and unity.

He said he would soon visit east Ukraine and would come “with peace, with a project to decentralize power, and with guarantees for the free use of the Russian language in the region.”

He also said he is willing to call local elections in Donbas. But he said Ukraine will always be a unitary state and no federalization would be allowed.

Poroshenko called on insurgents to lay down their arms, offered amnesty for those without blood on their hands, and said he would guarantee a corridor for mercenaries to leave the country.

And he condemned Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

“Russia occupied Crimea. Crimea was and will be Ukrainian,” he said to applause. “Yesterday, I firmly stated this to [Russian President Vladimir Putin] in Normandy. Crimea is and will be Ukrainian.”

He also said Ukraine’s citizens will not feel secure until relations with Russia are settled.

Turning to Ukraine’s European aspirations, Poroshenko said he intends very soon to sign the economic part of an EU Association Agreement and sees it as a first step toward eventual full membership in the EU.

Among those attending the June 7 ceremony were U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, and the Russian charge d’affaires in Kyiv.

Poroshenko succeeds Viktor Yanukovych, who was impeached by parliament in February after fleeing Kiev following three months of mass protests against his government.

Hours ahead of the inauguration ceremony in Kyiv, Ukrainian government forces were continuing to battle pro-Russian separatists in the east near Slovyansk and Donetsk.

The inauguration comes a day after Poroshenko met briefly and unofficially in France with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a commemoration of the D-Day invasion’s 70th anniversary.

The post Ukraine: Poroshenko Sworn In, Calls For Unity, Will Visit East appeared first on Eurasia Review.

The first successor of St. Josemaria Escriva as leader of Opus Dei, Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, will be beatified Sept. 27 in Madrid at a ceremony that is expected to bring together nearly 100,000 faithful.

The prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of the Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato, will preside at the beatification. Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela of Madrid will concelebrate, along with the current prelate of Opus Dei, Bishop Javier Echevarria,

The spokesperson of the organization committee for the beatification, Teresa Sabada, and the vice postulator of the cause, Father Jose Carlos Martin de la Hoz, outlined numerous details about the event.

Sabada said 100,000 people from more than 50 countries are expected to attend the beatification. In addition, 3000 families have opened their homes to welcome those traveling to Madrid from abroad, and 2000 young people have already signed up to work as volunteers for the event.

Father Martin de la Hoz said thousands of people wish to come to Madrid for the bishop’s beatification “to express thanks for his example and for the pastoral dedication of this man of peace and communion.”

“Alvaro del Portillo motivated many laypeople to embody the Gospel in social initiatives that today serve the poorest of the poor.”

On Sept.28, the day after the beatification, a Mass of Thanksgiving will be held at the same site presided by Bishop Echevarria.

Father Martin de la Hoz said Bishop Alvaro del Portillo “was a pastor who helped thousands to discover their vocations to holiness in the Church. As the first success of St. Josemaria and the first prelate of Opus Dei, he carried out evangelization though personal contact with all kinds of people in the five continents.”

He also thanked the Holy See, the Bishops’ Conference of Spain and the Archdiocese of Madrid for collaborating in the preparations for the beatification. He thanked the religious institutions, ecclesial movements and parishes that “are collaborating and participating in this beatification, which is a celebration for the entire Church, as was the very life of Alvaro del Portillo, who was authentically in love with the entire Church.”

Sabada explained that upon learning of the date for the beatification, the Prelate of Opus Dei sent a letter to all the cloistered and contemplative nuns in Spain asking for their prayers.

The post Opus Dei Prelate Beatification Expected To Draw 100,000 Attendees appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Two Las Vegas police officers and a civilian have been reportedly killed in a shooting spree that started at a pizza restaurant and spilled over to a neighboring Walmart store. Two suspects – a man and a woman – are reportedly down.

The two shooters have committed suicide, according to police. Suspects told shoppers they were part of a “revolution” and wanted a shootout with Metro police force – and had a “suicide pact.” Their bodies were found in the back of the store.

Details are yet to emerge, but police sources told Las Vegas Review-Journal that the two officers were killed by a man and a woman who approached them at the CiCi’s Pizza just before 11:38 am local time.

As the couple was leaving the restaurant, one yelled “This is the start of a revolution!” witnesses report. The shooters stripped the officers of their weapons and ammunition and went into the Walmart at 201 North Nellis.

Inside the Walmart, according to another unconfirmed account, the couple exchanged fire with a citizen who was carrying a concealed gun.

At a news conference at 13:00 deputy Sheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters that the male shooter, described as a tall white man, yelled “everyone get out” before shooting in Walmart. The man and woman then proceed to the back of the store and “there was some kind of suicide pact,” McMahill said.

It was reported the shooters were carrying bags so a bomb squad was called to the scene. It’s unclear at this time if something was found in the bags.

The emergency dispatcher received a call at 11:50 am claiming an armed men with a rifle and a bullet-proof vest was shooting inside the Walmart. An earlier distress call said that police two officers were down in a pizzeria at Nellis Boulevard and Stewart Avenue, where two unidentified assailants reportedly walked up to two policemen and shot them point blank.

The two Metro officers were eating when one person shot one officer in the head while the second person shot the second officer, Channel 8 news reports, citing police sources. Witnesses claim that the suspects took the police officers’ gear, saying before they left the restaurant – “tell the police the revolution has begun.”

Police have surrounded the area and ambulances are being summoned to the site. A photographer for News 3 saw three body bags carried out of the store around noon local time on the intersection of North Nellis and Stewart.

The post Las Vegas: Three Killed, As Suspects Commit Suicide After Shooting Spree – Report appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Officials from Iran and the US will meet in Geneva next week ahead of the next round of talks between the Islamic Republic and the six world powers over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry says the meeting between the Iranian and US delegations will be held in Geneva on the 9th and 10th of June. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will be heading the Iranian delegation in the talks. Other reports say the US delegation will be headed by US Under-Secretary for State Wendy Sherman.

The talks will come ahead of the next round of negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear energy program scheduled for June 16-20 in the Austrian city of Vienna, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

Iranian officials will later sit down with Russian diplomats in the Italian capital, Rome, on June 11-12.

Representatives from Iran will probably hold further meetings with other delegations from the six powers – the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany.

An Iranian deputy foreign minister also said a meeting between officials from Iran and the United States in Geneva next week will focus only on nuclear issues.

Seyyed Abbas Araqchi, who is a senior Iranian nuclear negotiator as well as Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, said that US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns will head the American delegation and will be accompanied by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman.

Araqchi also stated that he and Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American Affairs Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi will head the Iranian delegation in Geneva.

He went on to say that lifting of sanctions imposed against Iran will be among the topics to be discussed during the meeting with American officials.

Iranian Foreign Ministry has also condemned the recent deadly terrorist attack by an al-Qaeda-linked group on the holy Iraqi city of Samarra.

Marzieh Afkham expressed concern over the potential spread of such criminal acts by terrorists, warning against any desecration of sacred sites in the city.

She also called upon the international community as well as world bodies to honor their commitments with respect to offering strong support to the Iraqi government and nation in their campaign against terrorism.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has also condemned the deadly terrorist attack against the convoy of Afghan presidential election candidate, Abdullah Abdullah.

Marzieh Afkham denounced the assassination attempt against Abdullah and offered condolences to the families of the victims.

The Iranian official said the attack by extremist currents is aimed at derailing democracy in Afghanistan.

The Islamic Republic of Iran supports Afghanistan’s move toward democracy, and believes that holding elections will reinforce national solidarity and will be a firm response to violence and terrorism in the country, she added.

Abdullah escaped unharmed from the Friday blast in the capital, Kabul. He came under the attack as he left a campaign rally in Kabul.

The post Iran, US Officials To Meet In Geneva Ahead Of Nuclear Talks appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Malaysian authorities should drop politically motivated sedition charges against a senior opposition politician for a satirical video criticizing the government, Human Rights Watch said today. Teresa Kok, a member of parliament and national vice-chair of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), will attend a court hearing on June 9, 2014, on charges that could result in up to three years in prison or a fine that would disqualify her from serving in the national parliament.

The Chinese New Year video, “Onederful Malaysia CNY 2014,” presents Kok as host of the program with three volunteers playing characters before a small audience. The video makes no mention of any individual or the government.

“The Malaysian authorities are setting a new low for violating free expression by bringing criminal charges against an opposition politician in a satirical video,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “The government is obviously not serious about its commitment to revoke the antiquated and abusive Sedition Act.”

The Sedition Act 1948 permits restrictions on freedom of expression beyond those allowed by international human rights law and should be repealed. The act includes vague offenses such as uttering “any seditious words” without defining what constitutes “sedition” or “seditious words.” It broadly outlaws any “seditious tendency” that would “bring into hatred or contempt or excite disaffection against any Ruler or against any Government.”

Prime Minister Najib Razak has repeatedly called for repeal of the act. On July 11, 2012, he said that the “Sedition Act represents a bygone era in our country.” In his April 3, 2013 statement announcing his plans to seek re-election, Najib repeated his pledge, saying he “look[ed] forward to repealing the Sedition Act and replacing it with legislation more suited to our times.”

The law has been used for political reasons in other cases, such as against the late DAP lawyer and politician Karpal Singh, who was charged with sedition earlier in 2014.

“The case against Teresa Kok is just the latest instance of a senior opposition politician being hauled up on arbitrary charges for simply being an opposition politician,” Robertson said. “Prosecutors should save the government international embarrassment by dropping this case immediately.”

The post Malaysia: Drop Sedition Case Against Opposition Leader, Says HRW appeared first on Eurasia Review.

A 28-year-old Muslim man was beaten to death in Pune, India on Monday night (June 2) by Hindutvadi zealots with suspected links to a Hindu fundamentalist outfit over a Facebook message they found offensive, according to police. The victim – Mohsin Mohammed Sadique Shaikh – had been living in Pune since 2006 and was working as a young IT manager with Ujjwala Enterprises in Pune for the last four years.

Shaikh was bludgeoned to death after being beaten with hockey sticks near Hadapsar area on the outskirts of Pune. Shaikh’s cousin Salman said that the victim and his roommate were returning home in Bankar colony on their motorcycle after picking up their dinner.

“A gang of youths blocked his way near the lane just behind his house and started hitting him with sticks. While the roommate managed to escape, they bludgeoned my cousin with stones and fled. He was lying covered in blood for about 15 minutes. His brother rushed there and took him to a nearby hospital where he died during treatment,” he said.

A little before the murder, the same Hindu youths had beaten up two other Muslims (Izaz Yusuf Bagwan, 25, and Ameen Shaikh, 25) at the same spot. On Tuesday night, the police had arrested seven Hindus suspected of committing the crimes. They were remanded in police custody till June 9.

Assistant public prosecutor told the court that the custodial interrogation of the suspects was essential for recovering the hockey sticks and stones allegedly used in committing the murder.
According to police, the trigger for the attack was apparently uploading of morphed images of a late Hindu Maratha warlord Chhatrapati Shivaji and late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray – much revered by Hindutvadi forces inside India – on Facebook by unknown persons. In a riot-prone, hateful environment, which India has gotten used to since 1947 Muslims are, however, suspected, by default, of posting such images in the Facebook. As such, Shaikh, who had nothing to do with the posting, became an easy target for the murderous Hindu zealots.

As expected, the posting of the ‘offensive’ pictures in the Facebook has agitated the Hindutvadi extremists of the RSS and HRS (Hindu Rashtra Sena) who called a massive strike (bandh) to protest the posting.

It is worth noting here that HRS first came into focus when it carried an attack on the office of a Marathi television channel in 2007 protesting their coverage of an incident involving a Hindu minor girl who had eloped with a Muslim boy. In the past decade, its firebrand leader – the 34-year-old Dhananjay Desai – has been slapped with as many as 20 cases in various police stations in Pune. The cases were mostly against rioting and giving inflammatory speeches in which Desai has secured bail.

Soon after killing IT graduate Mohsin Shaikh members of the extremist group HRS exchanged an ominous message on their mobiles. The message said “pahili wicket padli” or the first wicket has fallen.

Scores of buses and shops owned by Muslims were damaged during the bandh called by right wing elements to protest the objectionable Facebook post. A Muslim bakery shop was also put on fire. A Hindu mob of around 25 persons came on motorbikes and started attacking members of the Muslim community at a nearby location.

While protesters in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad went on the rampage on Saturday, on Sunday, traffic was held up at the Khalapur toll plaza on the Mumbai-Pune expressway for about half-an-hour. Also, shops were shut in Nerul, Koparkhairane and Ghansoli in Navi Mumbai over rumors that a political party had called for a bandh.

Meanwhile, HRS chief Desai, who was arrested in connection with distribution of inflammatory literature on Tuesday, has denied any involvement of his organization in the violent incidents. He was later released on bail. He was again arrested on Wednesday in connection with a similar case (circulation of provocative pamphlets) by police in suburban Loni Kalbhor.

Police issued an appeal asking people not to believe or spread rumors and said Mohsin Shaikh, who stayed at Hadapsar since 2006, was not involved with any organization.

The police are still to trace the Internet Protocol address of the person (yet unidentified) who posted the material online but are not ruling out the possibility that a proxy server may have been used. Cases against unidentified persons have been filed in Mumbai, Nerul, Pune, Nashik, Yeola, Aurangabad, Satara and Sangli.

While the situation in the area has remained peaceful since Tuesday with heavy deployment of security force, city police commissioner Satish Mathur said stringent provisions of Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act (MPDA) would be invoked to book the miscreants suspected of involvement in inciting violence. Police have also applied Section 295A IPC which deals with deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings.

In an attempt to contain protests over “objectionable” posts on a social networking site the Maharashtra police have decided to take action even against those who ‘like’ the controversial posts. Those who ‘like’ such posts will be booked under the Information Technology Act and under the Code of Criminal Procedure. A person could face three to five years in jail if convicted under Section 66 (a) of the IT Act (punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc.), applied in this case.

If the past is any indicator to predict the future outcome, I believe that this latest witch-hunting measure by the Police is misdirected and would only victimize innocent cyber users while the criminal elements of the Hindutvadi forces go Scot-free. Already the hate crime against Shaikh has been dubbed in state government’s report as an ordinary crime. Many observers believe that Maharashtra government may be under pressure not to project Shaikh’s murder as a communal incident, given that it may not go down well with the minority Muslim community ahead of state polls later this year.

Surely, with the emergence of the BJP in the central stage in India, Hindutvadi forces are in the offensive and would provoke similar incidents to bring about their desired Ram Rajya minus non-Hindus. I won’t be surprised to learn that they may actually have been behind the Facebook posting to stir Hindu-Muslim and even Dalit-Muslim tension. The inclusion of images of Dr. Ambedkar (a revered figure amongst the Dalits) in the Facebook surely points to the Hindutvadi connection.

Not to be overlooked in this context is the recent gang rape and murder of two Dalit girls in Katra Sadatganj village of Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh (UP), which once again underscores why India is now the least safe place on earth for females. Five accused — brothers Pappu Yadav, Awadhesh Yadav and Urvesh Yadav and police constables Chhatrapal Yadav and Sarvesh Yadav — all Hindus – were arrested in connection with the gruesome rape, murder and subsequent hanging of those two teenage girls. The morphed image of Dr. Ambedkar in the Facebook may well be an attempt by Hindutvadi fascists to direct and realign Dalit anger away from fellow Hindus towards Muslims.

The state DGP A.L. Banerjee on Saturday turned the narrative so far on its head to suggest that the killings might have been triggered by property dispute and family honor. He also said only one of the two girls was raped and that both were hung after they were killed, contradicting Badaun SSP’s comment last week that the girls were hanged to death. His disclosures suggest the five men – two of whom are UP police constables – arrested for the rape and murder could be innocent.

The Madhya Pradesh home minister Babulal Gaur Yadav from the ruling Narendra Modi’s BJP has stirred a hornet’s nest on Thursday when he described rape as a social crime, saying “sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong”. Gaur also expressed sympathy with Mulayam Singh Yadav, head of the regional Samajwadi Party that runs UP. In the recent election, Mulayam criticized legal changes that foresee the death penalty for gang rape, saying: ‘Boys commit mistakes: Will they be hanged for rape?’

The father and uncle of one of the Badaun victims said they tried to report the crime to local police but had been turned away. Although a rape is reported in India every 21 minutes on average, law enforcement failures mean that such crimes – a symptom of pervasive sexual and caste oppression – are often not reported or properly investigated. Not too long ago, another woman in a nearby district of Uttar Pradesh was gang-raped, forced to drink acid and strangled to death. Another was shot dead in northeast India while resisting attackers.

The rape and murder incident has also highlighted India’s dismal record on sanitation. The girls were abducted as they went to relieve themselves. According to the 2011 Census, 53 per cent households in the country don’t have toilet facilities while the figure is much higher at 69.3 per cent in rural areas. Over 78 per cent of rural households in states like Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Odisha and Chhattisgarh don’t have toilets. That is like 4 in 1 without toilet facility!

Surely India needs more toilets than Hindu temples. It is high time for India to straighten her priorities rather than stoking hatred and fear that only divide this country of many castes and creeds.

The post Shaikh’s Murder: Is It The Start Of A Sinister Plan In Modi’s India? – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Leading politicians in Delta State on Thursday gathered in Sapele to perfect strategies towards ensuring the emergence of the Chairman of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Dr. Ngozi Olejeme as the governor of the state in 2015.

“We are building critical alliances with the various communities. We are dialoguing with bigwigs in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). We are talking with opinion leaders, influencers in Delta State and prominent Deltans abroad. We are in touch with traditional rulers, youth leaders, professionals and others. Olejeme will scale through the primary as well as win the main election” the leaders said.

The governorship ambition of Dr. Olejeme has the support of key leaders in the country, particularly Delta State.

The leaders advised Deltans at home and abroad to be guided by wisdom in deciding the next governor of the state.

In a statement issued after the meeting by the Chairman, Delta Political Forum (DPF), Chief James Oki, the leaders described Dr. Olejeme as an embodiment of political excellence, development and kindness.

“We want a dynamic and resourceful governor in 2015; a governor with vision, a governor that will analyze and synthesize Delta’s political, social and economic problems; a governor that can provide jobs, unite the people, bring pride to education and provide good roads throughout the state”.

They commended the NSITF boss for her achievements.

“Olejeme has excelled in the public sector. She has the energy and will power to turn things around. She will inspire Deltans to attain greater heights”.

The leaders also described some governorship aspirants as political jobbers.

“Olejeme’s sterling qualities stand her out among the pack”.

They enjoined politicians in the state to adhere strictly to democratic tenets.

“There is need for the tolerance of other people’s points of views if politics must become a healthy game” they advised.

DPF is a political movement striving for the enthronement of accountable and responsible government in the state.

“We are guided by merit, fairness and acceptability. We will put everything at our disposal to ensure that Olejeme emerges as governor of the state” the leaders added.

More than 30 heavyweights in politics attended, including local government and councillorship aspirants.

The post Olejeme: Delta Politicians Strategize; Say She Is Embodiment Of Political Excellence appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Fresh allegations by a British Sunday paper of Qatari wrongdoing in its successful bid to clinch the hosting of the 2022 World Cup have increased pressure for transparency by the Gulf state whose flat denials ring hollow against the backdrop of past assertions of some of its officials. They also increase pressure on governing world soccer body FIFA to investigate the claims amid suggestions that its independent investigator will complete his report without a full review of millions of documents The Sunday Times say it has obtained.

The paper said on Sunday in a second report in as many weeks that disgraced former FIFA executive committee member and African Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohammed Bin Hammam, a Qatari national with past close ties to his country’s leadership, had employed the Gulf state’s energy wealth to further the Qatari bid. The paper reported last week that Mr. Bin Hammam, who two years ago was banned for life by FIFA from involvement in professional soccer because of alleged ‘conflicts of interest,’ had also wooed football executives from Africa and Oceania with gifts, junkets and cash hand-outs.

To be fair, it remains unclear whether the latest allegations by The Sunday Times constitute a legal violation of FIFA’s notoriously loose rules and regulations that govern World Cup bids. FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke in a letter to bidders dated five months before the FIFA executive committee meeting that awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar warned bidders that “according to Clause 11.2 on the rules of conduct, amongst others, the Member Associations and Bid Committees shall refrain from attempting to influence members of the FIFA Executive Committee or any other FIFA officials in particular by offering benefits for any specific behaviour.” Mr. Valcke announced a new policy according to which bidders were obliged to report all direct or indirect contacts with members of the FIFA executive committee or their national soccer associations.

Former New York prosecutor Michael Garcia who has spent the past two years as independent FIFA investigator probing the Qatari bid is under pressure from Mr. Valcke to tentatively report his findings before the opening of this year’s World Cup in Brazil at the end of this week. Japan’s Sony Corporation, worried about the reputational damage it could suffer as a sponsor of the World Cup, appears to want to thwart that by calling for an investigation of The Sunday Times’ findings.

Mr. Valcke’s failure to include in his policy announcement World Cup-related contacts by officials who are not formal members of a bid committee raises questions given the close ties that FIFA and its members maintain with political leaders and elites and the group’s insistence on the fiction that politics and sports are separate. Moreover, FIFA president Sepp Blatter suggested three years ago that the group was fast and loose in enforcement of its rules when he downplayed allegations of a vote swap between Qatar and Spain and Portugal who were bidding jointly for the 2018 World Cup.

In its latest revelations, The Sunday Times reported that Mr. Bin Hammam had facilitated a meeting between an aide to controversial Thai Football Association president and FIFA executive member Worawi Makudi, who has faced down past charges of corruption, and a Qatari deputy prime minister as well as the head of Qatar gas at a time that the Southeast Asian nation was seeking to renegotiate a liquefied gas deal.

The paper further asserted that Qatar and Russia had discussed joint gas projects two days after Mr. Bin Hammam had visited Moscow to talk about cooperation in sports. It said that Mr. Bin Hammam had also arranged a meeting between the Qatari bid committee and Michel Platini, the head of European soccer federation UEFA, a FIFA executive committee member and a potential challenger to Mr. Blatter in next year’s FIFA presidential election. Mr. Platini’s son is reportedly affiliated to a Qatari state-owned sports entity. Mr. Platini has denied reports that he discussed the Qatari bid with Mr. Bin Hammam as well as any connection between his son’s job and his vote in favour of Qatar in the FIFA executive committee. He said a meeting with Mr. Bin Hammam reported by The Daily Telegraph had focused on the 2011 FIFA presidential election.

It was not always clear from The Sunday Times’ reporting whether Mr. Bin Hammam’s efforts were always related to the Qatari bid or also to his own effort to challenge Mr. Blatter in the group’s 2011 presidential election. Mr. Bin Hammam’s downfall as the most senior Qatari in world soccer governance began with allegations that he had sought to buy the votes of Caribbean officials for his presidential bid. Mr. Bin Hammam, who was forced to withdraw his presidential bid, has since been at the centre of the worst scandal in soccer history that has percolated for close to four years.

Qatar has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has insisted that Mr. Bin Hammam was not involved in its bid to host the World Cup that has been mired in controversy since its awarding. It has however refrained so far from providing transparency about its bid campaign that benefitted from a budget far larger than that of its competitors, the United States, Australia, South Korea and Japan. It has also yet to provide evidence for its assertion that Mr. Bin Hammam was not associated with its World Cup bid.

Qatar has a vested interest in squaring the circle given the fact that the controversy puts at risk the enormous investment it has made in a soft power approach to its security and defence policy that recognizes that despite its wealth it will never have the military power to defend itself against potential external threats. The success of Qatar’s soft power rests on its ability to project itself as a good and responsible member of the international community.

In many ways it has succeeded in doing so with a world class airline that catapulted Doha into a transportation hub connecting continents, a global television network despite controversy over its perceived support of Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, high profile commercial and arts investments, and a fast paced diplomacy geared towards mediation like in this month’s exchange of an American soldier captured in Afghanistan for five Taliban members held in Guantanamo Bay.

All of that could be put at risk by the persistent allegations of wrongdoing in the World Cup. With statements at the time of the bid by Qatari officials praising Mr. Bin Hammam’s role and statements by Mr. Bin Hammam himself that were not denied by Qatar that he was working on behalf of his country’s bid, Qatar will have to do substantially more to avert what is becoming not only a public relations fiasco but could pose the most serious threat yet to retaining its right to host the World Cup.

The chairman of the Qatar 2022 bid committee, Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, a brother of Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who was crown prince at the time of the Qatari bid, described in November 2010 in an interview with World Football Insider barely a month before the FIFA executive committee vote Mr. Bin Hammam as the bid’s “biggest asset” and a mentor of his team.

In an apparent reference to Mr. Valcke’s policy announcement, Sheikh Mohammed said: “When it comes to executive committee members we don’t really get involved in what happens inside the committee because FIFA is very strict. But outside the executive committee and within the bid itself Mohamed Bin Hammam has been a very good mentor to us. He’s been very helpful in advising us how to go about with our messaging and can have the biggest impact. He’s always been advising us and always been by our side. He’s definitely our biggest asset in the bid.”

Writing on his blog at about the same time, Mr. Bin Hammam, in contradiction to later suggestions by Qatari officials that the soccer official opposed his nation’s bid because it could undermine his FIFA presidential aspirations, strongly endorsed the Qatari World Cup effort. “Qatar is the representative of the people occupying the area between Mauritania in the Atlantic, to Aden in the Red Sea; and the land of more than 350 million people,” Mr. Bin Hammam wrote.

He said that “Qatar dreams that the power of football will enhance and consolidate the value of tolerance, respect, friendship and peace among us, the people of the Middle East” and suggested that Qatar’s role as a mediator in regional conflicts would be enhanced by winning the hosting of the World Cup.

The post Coming clean: Pressure Mounts For Qatari Transparency And Proper FIFA Investigation – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Nishtha Gautam

The relationship between Uttar Pradesh and its women can easily be explained through the imagery of a feudal household. The resource-rich State has the habit of being on the national agenda and grabbing substantial media attention by virtue of its geopolitical positioning. UP-wallahs are boastful of the political supremacy that the high number of Lok Sabha seats bestows upon their State. The ‘king-making’ State is often brazen and authoritarian, yet with such ‘power’ has come zilch responsibility. The zamindari system in Uttar Pradesh may have been abolished more than six decades ago but feudalism has stayed: The biggest feudal lord being the State itself. This feudal lord lords over cattle, women, the marginalised communities and minorities alike.

While the twin gang rape and hanging at Badaun has again made the gender discourse relevant in TV studios, allow the author to slip in a gentle reminder that it is nothing new in Uttar Pradesh. No other State seems to have treated its women as brutally as Uttar Pradesh routinely does. The data on violence against women from National Crime Register Bureau (which only accounts for reported crime) corroborates this statement. Uttar Pradesh comes third, only after Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, but these two States have Maoist violence to peg the blame on at least partially. When I conjure a Marquez-inspired magical realist image of my growing up years in Uttar Pradesh, I see the State as a menacing man who holds a woman’s hair in one hand, pushing her under the cracks of fertile soil — a grotesque parody of the Sita Samadhi episode from the Ramayan.

The schizophrenia that runs through Uttar Pradesh, bifurcating its psyche, manifests itself through the frequent occurrence of brutalities against women, Dalits and minorities. Class, caste, religion and regional intersectionalities render women the most vulnerable of the lot. Literacy among women is rising along with the degree of violence that they are now facing.

Uttar Pradesh proudly showcases the names of Sucheta Kriplani, Sarojini Naidu and Isha Basant Joshi — the first Indian women to become Chief Minister, Governor and IAS officer respectively. While the achievements of women (as also those of Dalits and minorities) decorate the durbar of the feudal-lord’shaveli, they are equally a serious threat to its majoritarian masculinist monopoly. Thus, women, along with the Dalits and minorities, need to be shown their place every now and then. They can be denied education and other fundamental rights, kicked, groped, burnt, raped and shot at whim.

The ethos of the landed castes seems to have permeated the society of Uttar Pradesh. Patriarchal values are constantly at loggerheads with the aspirations of women and the other hitherto suppressed groups. It serves many vested interests that women forget to assert themselves even when they assume power. Despite a 33 per cent reservation for women in panchayats, since the 73rd Constitutional Amendment came into force in 1993, women lack agency in the most belligerently political State of India. Instead, in Uttar Pradesh, women act as their menfolk’s proxies: Both in panchayats and at home.

The only thing that seems to have changed over the last two decades is the name plate at the feudal lord’s haveli. The social revolution that brought the Yadavs to the mainstream from the margins has also spawned an unprecedented reign of terror and lawlessness in the State. The once cowering Yadavs of Uttar Pradesh are now asserting their entitlement over land, culture, law and even people. The vicious circle of exploitation and violence has ensured that the Yadav angst against the privileged classes and castes is now diverted towards lowest of the lows.

After the Bahujan Samaj Party was dislodged in the 2012 Assembly election, the enthusiastic bahubalisand their sidekicks declared “Ab toh soongh soongh kar maarenge” (Now we will sniff-spot them and hit), referring to the legendary body odour of the Dalits, who formed the core vote-bank of the outgoing Government. Soon afterwards, there was a spurt of atrocities against Dalits across the State.

Whether it is the ‘alleged’ mass rape of women demanding the creation of Uttarakhand, the raped women of Muzaffarnagar or the molested women during the Babri demolition, each time it is women who paid a price for lofty political actions. For the maintenance of class, caste and religious sanctity, borders are drawn and violated over women’s bodies. Statistically speaking, each heart-warming success story from Uttar Pradesh is outweighed many times by the stories of atrocities. Women have already begun to recoil in fear. No small town in Uttar Pradesh sees un-chaperoned women in public after dark. The feudal lord is brutal in punishing transgressions.

(The writer is an Associate Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, Delhi)

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The post India: Feudal State Still Lords Over In Uttar Pradesh – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Angus Watson

Spending two days in Burma as a part of a commercial diplomacy tour in Southeast Asia, US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker inaugurated a commercial service office at the US embassy in Rangoon on Friday.

Commercial service offices, as explained to DVB by Andrew Leahy of the US embassy, serve as “an advocate and liaison for US businesses attempting to invest in a particular country,” and work “directly with US businesses interested in learning more about a country or navigating the country’s economic environment.”

Pritzker’s regional tour was touted by the US Department of Commerce as one intended to elaborate on the economic dimension of President Obama’s pivot to Asia, with time spent in Burma intended to encourage the “building of soft and hard infrastructure necessary to support the growth of emerging partners.”

Her three-legged tour also included the Philippines and Vietnam.

Burma’s emergence as a US trade partner is distinguished most clearly by a jump in US exports to the once pariah state, which, according to the US embassy, ran from US$9.8 million in 2010 to $145 million in 2013. On top of this, as of 30 April 2014, US companies have plans to invest $243.6 million in the Burmese economy.

While that figure of American foreign direct investment (FDI) in Burma is dwarfed in comparison to the latest available US FDI figures for the Philippines, $4.6 billion, and Vietnam, $1.2 billion, the reaction by US firms to the 2012 removal of the majority of US economic sanctions has been swift.

On Thursday, Pritzker met Burmese President Thein Sein in Naypyidaw, as well as Vice President Nyan Tun and Shwe Mann, speaker of the Lower House.

To each she reportedly stressed the need for the Burmese government to “build on the progress that has been made by implementing measures that increase inclusive economic development, promote government transparency and accountability, and safeguard labour rights and human rights.”

That progress was evaluated last month and resulted in President Obama renewing the US classification of the situation in Burma as a “National Emergency.” With that motion, the limited economic sanctions that bind US businesses investing in Burma were renewed. Those sanctions, according to US Ambassador to Burma Derek Mitchell, primarily affect “individuals and entities that materially benefited from their close ties to the former regime and who are still impeding reform in this country, the so-called ‘specially designated nationals’.”

One such blacklisted entity, military-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings (UMEH), is set to neighbour American company Ball Corporation at Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ), currently under construction 20 kilometers south of Rangoon.

Ball Corporation will benefit from minimal government red tape and relaxed labour laws that characterise the SEZ, as will UMEH, a company already exempt from commercial and profit taxes. UMEH will continue to develop infrastructure plots at the zone, which includes heavy manufacturing and port facilities.

On Friday, representatives from Ball Company, as well as APR energy, who are constructing a large-scale thermal power plant in Burma, joined Priztler as she affirmed, “When our businesses make investments, they bring with them the highest standards, including a commitment to corporate and social responsibility.”

That comment came a day after Washington-based lobby group US Campaign for Burma (USCB) released what it called a “report card”, grading the six US companies that have each invested over $500,000 in Burma. Those companies were adjudged on levels of transparency, procedural behaviour, risk mitigation and social responsibility. USCB was only able to classify one of the companies, Coca-Cola, as a “responsible” investor, whereas two firms were designated as “questionable” and three as “irresponsible”.
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One such “irresponsible” US company, Capital Group Companies Inc, was singled out for their relationship with Burmese concern Yoma Strategic Holdings. USCB links Yoma to “human rights abuses, including environmental destruction, forced displacement, land confiscation, political detentions, and labor abuses.” USCB also noted that Yoma was reviewed by the US Treasury for potential inclusion on their blacklist, for links to the previous military regime.

Yet Yoma have never featured on the list, and their CEO, Serge Pun is frequently referred to in the international media as “Mr Clean”. That title comes despite his flagship enterprise Yoma Bank not appearing on the list of 100 top Burmese corporate taxpayers list for 2011-12 nor the top 500 list for 2012-13.

That Serge Pun has been able to run a multitude of successful businesses in Burma under successive military regimes and the current quasi-civilian government has raised the suspicions of lobby groups such as USCB. Last month, USCB called for the International Finance Corporation to pull out of a development deal with Yoma.

The US embassy included Yoma in 2008 as a player in the Burmese government “system of economic patronage” which insures that “certain companies, often owned by regime cronies, receive key contracts and profitable business opportunities in exchange for their support for the regime.”

Yet Yoma, nor any company that Pun has been involved in, have ever been hit with sanctions, leaving Pun with a reputation as a professional and esteemed business leader in a national business environment which clearly fosters corruption.

Last week, Andrew Rickards, CEO of Yoma Strategic Holdings, told DVB that USCB’s allegations are “without substance” and that Yoma, “rejects the validity of these [USCB] calls.”

“If anything,” Rickards asserted, “Mr Pun should be congratulated.”

While pessimistic about the current performance of US private sector investment in Burma, USCB maintains that “Responsible US investment has the potential to further the US policy goal to support ‘the establishment of a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic state that respects human rights and the rule of law.’”

The rights watchdog will hope to be able to grade garment manufacturers Gap Inc with a pass mark on their next report. The fashion brand has recently announced the intention to open two factories in Burma and in doing so has indicated a commitment to corporate social responsibility.

The post US Aims To Boost Investment in Burma appeared first on Eurasia Review.

President Obama’s recent foreign policy speech, delivered at this year’s West Point graduation ceremony, was a disappointment to anyone who hoped the president might be changing course. The failure of each US intervention thus far in the 21st century might have inspired at least a bit of reflection.

However, the president made it clear that interventionism and American exceptionalism would continue to guide his administration in its final two years. The president said, “I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being,” adding the dubious claim that “because of American diplomacy and foreign assistance, as well as the sacrifices of our military — more people live under elected governments today than at any time in human history.”

It’s funny he would mention elections. Last week the Syrians held their first multi-candidate presidential election in 50 years. Almost three-quarters of Syrian voters participated, giving President Assad 88 percent of the vote. After three years fighting a foreign-backed insurgency, voting conditions were not optimal. However, despite State Department claims to the contrary, it can no longer be stated that Assad enjoys no popularity in his country. Even former CIA chief Michael Hayden not long ago envisioned Assad winning a fair election in Syria.

But the US government completely rejected the vote in Syria, with Secretary of State John Kerry calling it “a great big zero,” because, as he put it, “you can’t have an election where millions of your people don’t even have an ability to vote.”

That is just what happened last month in Ukraine, however, where the US-backed oligarch Petro Poroshenko won with just over 50 percent of the vote in an election where millions in the eastern part of the country did not have the ability to vote. That election, however, John Kerry declared a “victory for democracy.”

Similarly, John Kerry described the 2013 coup against the democratically-elected President Morsi in Egypt as a “return to democracy,” while approving the election last month – with 96 percent of the vote — of the man who led that coup.

Likewise, when a referendum was held in Crimea this spring in which the vast majority voted to re-join Russia rather than to remain in a Ukraine that had just undergone a regime change, the US administration refused to recognize the results. For Washington, it was “illegal” for Crimea to vote to secede from Ukraine, but it was not illegal for a mob in the street to overthrow an elected government in Kiev.

President Obama’s spoke at length about the US role in promoting democracy around the world, but why does it seem that the US government only recognizes elections as free and fair when the US-favored candidate wins?

At West Point the president announced a new five billion dollar “counterterrorism partnership,” with much of the money going to continue supporting the rebels in Syria. Though the administration claims it only supports moderate rebels in Syria, it has refused to explain exactly which fighting groups it considers “moderate.” In fact it is known that the weapons sent to “moderates” in Syria often end up in the hands of the radicals. This five billion dollars – stolen from US taxpayers and borrowed from China – will guarantee a prolongation of the war in Syria.

There is much to disappoint in Obama’s big foreign policy speech. It represents a continuation of the policy of “do what we say and we will subsidize you, disobey us and we will bomb you.” That approach is a failure, but the neocons who back it show no sign of falling out of favor.

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