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Judge Foils US Investigators’ Attempt To Seize Kim Dotcom’s Decryption Keys

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Investigators in the United States won’t be handed over the decryption keys necessary to access digital data seized from the home of internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom in early 2012, a New Zealand judge ruled this week.

Authorities raided Dotcom’s mansion outside of Auckland, New Zealand, nearly two-and-a-half years ago as part of an operation conducted with the aid of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in response to felony copyright infringement and racketeer allegations brought in America against the German-born hacker-turned-businessman.

Computer hard drives seized from Dotcom’s Coatesville, NZ home were cloned and given to the FBI after the incident. This past January, though, the New Zealand Court of Appeals ruled that the American feds should never have legally acquired the copied data.

Dotcom’s attorneys have long sought the return of the largely encrypted hard drives, but Torrent Freak reports that the founder of the file-sharing site Megaupload was likely to only receive as much on the condition that in exchange he hand over to local authorities the keys necessary to decrypt the contents.

According to Radio New Zealand, Justice Helen Winkelmann of the nation’s high court ruled Wednesday that federal officials there are formally barred from giving the password to the FBI if it’s provided by Mr. Dotcom, because the FBI only acquired the encrypted data in the first place using flawed warrants.

On Twitter, however, Dotcom suggested that authorities in the US may have already been able to crack into the illegally seized hard drives.

Dotcom, who changed his name from Kim Schmitz in 2005, did not immediately respond to RT’s request for comment. Previously, though, the internet tycoon said in an exclusive interview that he hoped to someday “encrypt half of the internet” in order to “reestablished a balance between a person — an individual — and the state.”

In Jan. 2013 on the one-year anniversary of the raid, Dotcom launched Mega — an online file locker that encrypts its users’ contents. The US Dept. of Justice has since continued to pursue Dotcom, whom they want extradited to America to face charges.

The post Judge Foils US Investigators’ Attempt To Seize Kim Dotcom’s Decryption Keys appeared first on Eurasia Review.


France: Face-Veil Ruling Undermines Rights, Says HRW

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The European Court of Human Rights’ ruling approving France’s blanket ban on full-face veils undermines Muslim women’s rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The ban interferes with women’s rights to express their religion and beliefs freely and to personal autonomy.

“It’s disappointing that the European Court has given its seal of approval to France’s blanket ban on full-face veils in public,” said Izza Leghtas, Western Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Bans like these undermine the rights of women who choose to wear the veil and do little to protect anyone compelled to do so, just as laws in other countries forcing women to dress in a particular way undermine their rights.”

Since France introduced the ban in 2010, Human Rights Watch and others have contended that it breaches the rights to freedom of religion and expression of those who choose to wear the niqab or burqa and is discriminatory. Similar bans on full-face veils are in force in Belgium and in several towns in Catalonia, Spain.

Bans of this nature – whether formulated in neutral terms or explicitly targeting the Muslim veil – have a disproportionate impact on Muslim women, and thereby violate the right to not be discriminated against on the basis of religion and gender, Human Rights Watch said.

The European Court has previously upheld restrictions on religious dress affecting the wearing of the headscarf in educational institutions in Turkey and Switzerland. With this Grand Chamber ruling on the case of S.A.S v France, the court took a position for the first time on blanket bans on full-face veils in public. While the court rejected the French government’s arguments that the ban was necessary to protect security and equality between men and women, it ruled that the ban was justified for the ill-defined aim of “living together,” accepting the French government’s case that a full-face veil prevents interaction between individuals.

A minority of judges, in a separate opinion, rejected the argument that the blanket ban pursued a legitimate aim and said that, in any event, the ban was far-reaching and not necessary in a democratic society. They said the decision “sacrifices concrete individual rights guaranteed by the Convention to abstract principles,” referring to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The case was brought by “S.A.S,” a Muslim French citizen, who sometimes wears a “niqab” – a veil covering the face except for the eyes. She contended that France’s ban on full-face veils breached her rights to freedom of religion, expression, and private life. She also contended that the ban was discriminatory on the basis of gender, religion, and ethnic origin.

France introduced the ban amid a heated public debate about secularism, women’s rights, and security, through a law adopted in October 2010. The law made it a criminal offense to wear clothing intended to cover the face in public, punishable by a fine of up to 150€ (US$210) and/or a compulsory “citizenship course.” The law also rightly criminalizes coercing someone else into covering their face, punishable by up to a year in prison and a 30,000€ ($40,950) fine, or two years in prison and a 60,000€ fine if the person coerced is a minor. The law entered into force in April 2011.

According to the French Observatory on Secularism (Observatoire de la laïcité) – a consultative body tasked with advising the government on secularism – between April 2011, when the ban became effective, and February 2014, law enforcement officials fined 594 women for wearing full-face veils. Many of the women affected were fined more than once.

An argument often raised in favor of the ban, and which the court rejected, is that it emancipates women who are forced to cover their faces. But for women who are indeed coerced into wearing a full-face veil, the ban can have the effect of confining them to their homes and isolating them further from society by preventing them from using public transportation, entering public buildings, or even walking on the street.

As for the many women – including “S.A.S.” – who choose to wear the full-face veil as an expression of their religious beliefs, they should be able to do so without breaking the law, Human Rights Watch said.

Indeed, France has a duty, under the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to respect and protect freedom of religion, expression, and personal autonomy of all those on its territory. While the convention and the covenant allow certain restrictions of those rights, they must be necessary for a legitimate purpose such as preserving public safety or public order, and they must be proportionate. Human Rights Watch maintains that a blanket ban such as the one in force in France is disproportionate.

A core part of the right to freedom of expression is that it includes the right to express opinions that offend, shock, or disturb. As two dissenting judges said, “There is no right not to be shocked or provoked by different models of cultural or religious identity, even those that are very distant from the traditional French and European life-style.”

Though the ban on wearing, in public, “clothing intended to conceal the face” may appear neutral, in reality it primarily affects Muslim women wearing the niqab or the burqa and is, as such, discriminatory. It is disturbing that the court acknowledged the specific negative effects of the ban on Muslim women, yet considered that it was justified, Human Rights Watch said.

International human rights experts have also condemned blanket bans on the niqab and burqa. Thomas Hammarberg, the former Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, called general bans on full-face veils “an ill-advised invasion of individual privacy.” The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has also opposed such bans, warning against the adverse effects of women being confined to their homes and excluded from educational institutions and public places.

Human Rights Watch has also opposed laws and policies in other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban, for forcing women to cover their hair or their face because they deny them their right to personal autonomy and their rights to freedom of expression, belief, and religion.

France should end its criminalization of women who choose to cover their faces, and protect those who are coerced to do so without excluding them from public space, Human Rights Watch said.

“Women in France and elsewhere should be free to dress as they please,” Leghtas said. “This includes deciding whether to wear a full-face veil or not, whatever others may think.”

The post France: Face-Veil Ruling Undermines Rights, Says HRW appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Kuwait Cracks Down On Opposition Protests

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Kuwaiti forces used teargas and stun grenades Thursday to dismantle an opposition demonstration, according to Agence France Presse.

Thousands of people gathered in Kuwait City Wednesday evening in protest of the detention of prominent former opposition leader Mussallam Al Barrak.

The former MP was ordered to a ten-day detention for supposedly “insulting the judiciary,” according to the AFP report.

Barrak will then start his official hearing on July 7.

Opposition MPs held an emergency session this week to “decide on further action” in response to Barrak’s detention.

While opposition leaders met, thousands protested outside Barrak’s home and then marched to the jail where he is under detention, activists told AFP.

When the protesters reached the prison, police fired teargas and stun grenades on the group. Other smaller protests outside of the capital were also reported, and it is not yet clear if anyone was hurt in the crackdown on the demonstrations.

Most of Kuwait’s opposition groups are no longer represented in parliament after they decided to boycott a 2013 election in response to the country’s new electoral law.

Original article

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Report: Investigation Into Arafat’s Death To Be Revived

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By Mamoon Alabbasi

A French investigation looking into the death of former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat is reportedly being revived, after the emergence of new information suggesting Arafat may indeed have been poisoned.

In December 2012, a French enquiry concluded that the Palestinian leader had not died of poisoning from polonium-210, as was suggested by an earlier Swiss finding.

The French conclusion was given credence by the results of a separate Russian enquiry announced in the same month, which also denied foul play in the death of Arafat.

However, doubts were cast on the objectivity of the Russian enquiry, which was alleged to be determined politically and not based on scientific evidence.

The Palestinian president died in a hospital in France in November 2004, after being transferred from the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian officials accuse Israel of masterminding what they say was an assassination of their president, a charge denied by Tel Aviv.

However, the charge came to public attention again when Swiss scientists explained in a recent article in the Swiss magazine Le Temps that that the differences between the three enquires – Swiss, French and Russian – were not in their results but rather in their interpretations of the results.

The Swiss have argued in detail that their investigation has been the most thorough out of the three, prompting a rethink from the French side, which has now reopened its own investigation.

The latest development comes amid reports alleging that a ‘top secret’ memo written by the Israeli intelligence in 2000 concluded that the “disappearance” Arafat would be beneficial to Israel.

(Middle East Eye – www.middleeasteye.net)

The post Report: Investigation Into Arafat’s Death To Be Revived appeared first on Eurasia Review.

A New Window For Diplomacy In Syria? – OpEd

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As the advance of ISIS continues to alarm governments across the Middle East and outside the region, Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad is probably viewing events with a certain amount of satisfaction. His counterterrorism narrative, long echoed by his closest allies, Iran and Russia, now resonates more widely.

So long as ISIS does not acquire aircraft and start dropping barrel bombs (in which event Assad would have the awkward task of differentiating his own use of random violence from that being used by “the terrorists”), in relationship to the most dangerous terrorist group in history it becomes increasingly easy to anticipate the reinvention of Assad as some kind of “moderate.”

No doubt he was never among the highest echelon of dictators. His fluent English and well-tailored suits suggested that if he held onto power for long enough, he might eventually be allowed back into the international club of moderates.

After all, Assad is more moderate than Pol Pot — though as the Cambodian leader illustrated, appearances can be deceptive.

David W. Lesch recently met with top Syrian officials in Beirut. He writes: Ever since it became clear that Assad was not going to fall anytime soon, the central question for any political settlement has been this: Can the Syrian regime give up enough power to satisfy at least the minimum requirements of a critical mass of the opposition? In the end, it may prove impossible to find a satisfactory formula, but it is certainly something worthy of careful exploration. War weariness has softened what had been a litany of hard-line positions by each side, creating a potential bargaining situation where the government’s political power can be traded between the provinces and Damascus. Much work remains on both sides, however, in terms of generating ideas that can potentially form the basis for compromise.

There is certainly reason to doubt the sincerity of the regime’s feelers to Western contacts, as Damascus often pursues several options at once, in an effort to have its cake and eat it, too. And the regime will bargain hard in an excruciatingly tedious process wherein it will try to seem as if it is giving up power without actually doing so in a meaningful way. There is also still the question of finding — and meticulously developing — viable negotiating partners on the opposition side amid increasing opposition polarization. And a “new” Syria cannot just replicate sectarian authoritarianism in another form, as happened in Iraq. But what other realistic option is there for ending a conflict in a way that contributes to the Middle East’s stability, rather than simply watching the war add to the regional conflagration?

If a negotiation can eventually be organized, the devil will be in the details. The problem is that neither side has really been compelled to think about the substance of its preferred form of governance in a systematic, coordinated fashion. This will take time and perseverance, as international mediators shuttle between the sides, away from the Geneva-type grand-bargain spotlight. The initial steps are quite basic: Learn about the real interests of the stakeholders, especially those on the ground, and then work with both sides to develop options that hopefully begin to reconcile competing political interests and engender further discussion — perhaps within each side first before moving on to the bilateral level.

Assad is a key. Only he can convince regime hard-liners to realize this is the only way forward. Recent history suggests the Syrian president may not be willing or able to do this if it means him giving up power. According to a senior official in Ankara, a top Turkish official met with Assad early in the uprising in 2011 to encourage him to enact political reform. He told Assad that a Syrian president would have more legitimacy by winning 40 percent of the vote in a true pluralist democracy than the usual 98 percent of the vote in Syria’s typical single-candidate referendums. Assad reportedly reacted to this by saying, “Well, what happens if I lose?” The Turkish official responded, “Then you retire.”

To date, Assad has found the option of “retiring” at some point unacceptable. [Continue reading...]

The post A New Window For Diplomacy In Syria? – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Japan Embraces Wider Strategic Horizons In New Security Postures – Analysis

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By Dr. Subhash Kapila

Japan has finally unshackled itself from its six decades old ‘Peace Constitution’ this week in response to the ever enlarging ‘China Threat’ and intensified Chinese military aggressiveness and coercive brinkmanship threatening Japan and East Asia.

Strategically ironic is the fact that it was the United States which imposed the war-renouncing ‘Peace Constitution’ limiting its defence postures to self -defence and denying it the right of ‘collective self- defence’. In mid-2014 it is the United States itself which is conspicuously noticeable in vocal support to Japan’s embracing wider strategic horizons in its new military postures.

Japan’s more assertive security policies including the right of ‘collective self-defence’ when coupled with the United States Strategic Pivot to Asia Pacific has the potential of applying brakes on China’s aggressive and wild rampage in the East China Sea and the South China Sea maritime expanses.

Japan under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has finally taken the plunge to adopt more assertive security and military postures befitting its political status as an Asian power along with India contending China’s attempts to impose its hegemony in Asia.

China in recent years since 2009 has by its demonstrated coercive strategies generated military turbulence and strategic uncertainties in the Indo Pacific, and hence a brief over-view of Japan’s threat perceptions in 2014 would be pertinent.

In the wake of Japan’s instant strategic assertiveness, China can be expected to indulge in disruptive strategies to discredit Japan and consequently diminish Japan’s assertiveness. Japan and the United States therefore have to be vigilant and ready to cope with possible Chinese strategic disruptiveness that may follow.

Japan’s Threat Perceptions in 2014

Japan exists in a highly militarised region with nuclear weapons states with Japan and South Korea as exceptions. This makes Japan vulnerable to nuclear blackmail by China and even North Korea despite the so-called ‘nuclear umbrella’ of the United States.

In 2014 Japan’s threat perceptions can be listed as under:

  • China’s burgeoning military profile, both conventional and nuclear, and the constantly expanding Chinese naval capabilities and force-projection capabilities are considered as serious threats to Japanese national security.
  • China’s magnified maritime naval strength with Chinese submarines lurking in Japanese waters is militarily worrisome for Japan.
  • China’s intensified military aggressiveness and coercive brinkmanship against Japan on the Senkaku Islands sovereignty disputed by China has shaken Japan out of its strategic insomnia.
  • North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles armoury by kind courtesy of China indulging in missiles firings over Japan.
  • China’s use of military force to wrest Vietnamese and Philippines islands in the South China Sea and ongoing strategy to establish full control over the South China Sea and this threatens Japan’s national survival as its vital lifelines traverse the South China Sea.
  • China’s flawed perception of the relative decline of the United States in staying embedded in the Western Pacific and the US honouring its security commitments to its Asia Pacific allies.

The ‘China Threat’ is therefore a potent threat for Japan’s national security and therefore the long delayed stimulus is now being put into operation when Japan’s security environment is becoming much more threatening.

Japan’s Response to the Looming China Threat: Reinterpretation of Article 9 of the Peace Constitution

Japan for the last couple of years had been enhancing its military profiles which stand covered in my earlier Papers on Japan. However all these initiatives stood straitjacketed under the ‘Self-Defence’ category.

Japan stood severely handicapped by Article 9 of its Peace Constitution which restricted its devising adequate deterrence strategies and force-structures against the China Threat and also as it could not enter into ‘Collective Self-Defence’ arrangements with other countries and nor could it assist regional neighbours on whose security Japan’s survival was dependent in warding off threats to their security. Japan could not provide military assistance to other countries for regional security. In the strictest interpretation Japan could not assist even the United States if threatened in Japan’s neighbourhood.

Prime Minister Abe had some months back set up an Advisory Panel on Reconstruction of the Legal Basis for Security of Japan which submitted its recommendations in May 2014. Notable recommendations were that Article 9 of the Constitution needs to be reinterpreted and that Japan has to be allowed the “Right of Collective Self Defence” and other initiatives to improve Japan’s conventional deterrence capabilities. Significantly, Japan would be able to assist countries militarily on whom Japan’s national security is dependent on. Implicit was also the fact that Japanese ban on arms exports would also be eliminated.

Obviating the long-drawn out process of a Constitutional Amendment requiring a two thirds majority, what now stands approved is a reinterpretation of Article 9 of the Constitution enabling the contemporary security imperatives to be implemented. This would only require a simple majority in both Houses of the Japanese Diet, which PM Abe safely has.

The Panel however did spell out some caveats when Japan proceeds to decide on the exercise of ‘Collective Self Defence’. These include acquiring permission of the Diet, the close partner of Japan making a specific and clear request for Japan’s assistance when threatened by an attack and that a major threat to Japanese security would accrue if such a request for assistance was ignored.

Analytical Observations on Japan’s Reinterpretation of Article 9 of the Peace Constitution

Briefly, the following points come to the fore:

  • ‘Right of Collective Self-Defence’ would be an enabling provision for Japan to establish in good time a network of security partnerships and strategic cooperation arrangements with countries in the Asia Pacific similarly so threatened.
  • Japan’s conventional deterrence capabilities against China’s military coercion could be improved on a fast- track basis
  • Japan could indulge in more proactive security policies including UN peace-keeping and pace-building roles and logistics support for such operations.
  • Japan could be expected to join proactively in UN Coalitions in the future to deal with global conflictual crises.
  • Japan in a big way could contribute to regain the US architectured ‘balance-of-power’ in the Asia Pacific which was being disturbed by China’s militarisation and brinkmanship

Expectedly, the most immediate and significant beneficiaries of Japan adopting a more assertive military posture in the region would be the Philippines and Vietnam, both at the receiving end of China’s aggression in the South China Sea. Japan can now more actively and openly assist in the military capacity- building of both these nations Coast Guards and Navies to withstand Chinese military coercion.

International Reaction to Japan’s Reinterpretation of Article 9 of the Peace Constitution

The only sharp and critical reactions have expectedly emerged from China. It needs to be remembered that China all along has constantly harped on the dangers of Japan’s military revivalism conveniently forgetting that what predominates concerns in Asian capitals is the “China Threat’ and not any Japanese Threat to their security.

The United States and Western countries have welcomed Japan adopting a more normal defence posture in keeping with its political stature. The US Defense Secretary has expressed the hope that Japan would now play a proactive role in Asia Pacific security.

Amongst Asian capitals with the exception of sharp reactions from China and a muted reaction from South Korea more determined by historical reasons, no adverse references are noticeable.

Concluding Observations

Japan acquiring wider strategic horizons in face of a potent China Threat to safeguard its security and survival is commendable and is in keeping with the time-honoured principle that security strategies and force-structures of a nation necessarily have to be based on the evolving military capabilities of a nation’s military adversary and not on pious interpretations of the adversary’s intentions.

Japan’s embracing wider strategic horizons could ultimately prove to be a welcome game-changer for Asia Pacific security in that it would add strategic ballast to the US Strategic Pivot to Asia and in course of time lead Japan into credible self-reliant and independent defence postures befitting Japan’s stature as one of Asia’s major powers.

The post Japan Embraces Wider Strategic Horizons In New Security Postures – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Kosovo’s Deadlock: Opposition Against Thaci’s Formation Of New Government – OpEd

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By Hamdi Fırat Büyük

According to Kosovo’s Constitutional Court decision, Thaci’s ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) has the chance to set the next government. However, not surprisingly, opposition parties are this.

The Constitutional Court’s decision paved the way for Thaci to form a new government after long discussions and deadlock in the parliament.

In the decision, the highest court advised President Atifete Jahjaga that the party which won the highest number of seats as a result of the elections is to be given the possibility of proposing a candidate for prime minister who will form the government.

Snap elections that were held to solve the ongoing crisis emerging from several deadlocks in the parliament saw the ruling party, PDK, receive 30% of the total vote, thus gaining 37 seats in the parliament. According to the results, the PDK has the largest share of the parliament and after the high court’s decision it now has the chance to form the next government of Kosovo.

A group of opposition parties that comprises a majority of the parliament has vowed to stop Thaci’s new government. Despite the fact that Thaci announced his confidence that the PDK would get enough votes to form the government, opposition parties are pursuing another scenario.

General Secretary of the PDK, Basri Musmurati, said the PDK won’t have any problem in forming the new government because they have the necessary votes of the electorate and will have the votes of MPs in the Kosovo parliament.

However, no one knows how the PDK could get these votes while opposition parties are announcing that they have the right to form the next government. The opposition bloc includes the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Nisma and the Vetevendosje Movement, who together want to set next government.

Basically, the PDK argued it should get the nod because it had the most votes. The opposition bloc, however, said it should be able to form the government because it has the majority in parliament.

The heated debate on the next government has continued since the snap elections and it seems that it could go on for some time. In the coming days, Kosovo will either see another Thaci government or its first coalition government.

The post Kosovo’s Deadlock: Opposition Against Thaci’s Formation Of New Government – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

ISIS And The Strategy Of Managed Savagery – OpEd

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Management of Savagery, by Abu Bakr Naji has been described as “al-Qaeda’s playbook.” Although ISIS (often referred to by its adversaries as Da’ish) has ideological differences with al Qaeda and should not be viewed as an affiliate of the older jihadist group, Alastair Crooke believes that Naji’s text outlines the strategy which ISIS is now following in Iraq.

In 2006, in a review of jihadist theorists, Lawrence Wright wrote:

Naji writes in the dry, oddly temperate style that characterizes many Al Qaeda strategy studies. And, like all jihadi theorists, he embeds his analysis in the tradition of Ibn Taymiyya, the thirteenth-century Arab theologian whose ideas undergird the Salafi, or Wahhabi, tradition; bin Laden frequently refers to Ibn Taymiyya in his speeches. The remarks of bin Laden and Zawahiri play only a modest part in Naji’s work. Indeed, Naji is a more attentive reader of Western thinkers: the thesis of “The Management of Savagery” is drawn from the observation of the Yale historian Paul Kennedy, in his book “Rise and Fall of the Great Powers” (1987), that imperial overreach leads to the downfall of empires.

Alastair Crooke now writes:

The term “management or administration of savagery,” a term detailed in Abu Bakr Naji’s treatise, in fact refers to that hiatus which occurs between the waning of one power and the consolidation of power of another. What is being assumed here is that a certain chaos will pertain, and that the disputed territory will be ravaged by violence as power oscillates back and forth between the “old” power and its incoming successor (the Islamic State).

In this period, according to its literature, the ISIS will have limited aims: achieving internal security and preserving it; fixing its frontiers; feeding the population; establishing Shariah and Islamic justice — and most importantly fixing the establishment of a “fighting society,” at all levels within the community.

According to The Management of Savagery, in this stage, security will require the elimination of spies and “deterring the hypocrites with proof and other means and forcing them to repress and conceal their hypocrisy, to hide their discouraged opinions, and to comply with those in authority, until their evil is put in check.” In short, we might expect that this will comprise ISIS’ aims for the coming period.

In other words, any move on Baghdad, which Da’ish insists will come, is unlikely to be imminent, but will have to wait until the area already seized is ‘secured’, and its frontiers controlled.

This phase also marks the “plundering the financial resources” for the purposes of the “project.” The implication here is that ISIS has as its aim eventually to become financially self-sufficient. Indeed, it clearly has been pursuing this objective in Syria (taking oil fields, seizing the arms warehouses of the SNC, and selling to Turks much of the industrial infrastructure of Aleppo and northern Syria).

This also suggests that, whilst ISIS is not presently contesting militarily the Peshmerga takeover in Kirkuk (with its substantial oil resources), it is only a matter of time before Da’ish seeks to acquire such an obvious source of funding – just as it has fought other jihadist groups in Syria for control of Raqa’a’s oil revenue.

But this second phase (administering the violent hiatus until the State is consolidated) — more ominously — signals the start of “massacring the enemy and making him frightened.” The literature underlines that anyone who has actually experienced conflict (in contrast to those who simply theorize about it) understands that slaughter and striking fear into the hearts of the enemy is in the nature of war.

The point is made by citing the Companions (of the Prophet) who “burned (people) with fire, even though it is odious, because they knew the effect of rough violence in times of need.”

The author of The Management of Savagery treatise bluntly states that there is no room for “softness”: “Softness” is the ingredient for failure: “our enemies will not be merciful to us, so it compels us to make them think one thousand times, before they dare attack us.”

It is here that we see the second key Zarqawrist notion: the reading given by ISIS to the military campaigns conducted by first Caliph. This “reading” highlights (and seeks to legitimize) the need to use “rough violence” during this period of hiatus, when Islamic power was not yet fully consolidated. It was a moment, following the death of the Prophet that several Arab tribes refused to pay Zakat to Abu Bakr (as they had earlier to the Prophet when he was alive), and held (in accordance with the prevailing Arab tradition) that their tribal allegiance to the Prophet naturally expired with the leader’s death. There followed the brutal Wars of the Ridda (or the Wars of Apostasy).

What is significant here, too, is the narrow construction placed on apostasy — a definition to which Da’ish adheres closely.

In sum, the beheadings and other violence practiced by ISIS are not some whimsical, crazed fanaticism, but a very deliberate, considered strategy. The military strategy pursued by ISIS in Iraq, too, is neither spontaneous nor some populist adventure, but rather reflects very professional well-prepared military planning. [Continue reading...]

While the re-creation of the caliphate is ISIS’s stated goal, its desire to establish an Islamic state and its declaration that it has already succeeded in accomplishing this goal, begs the question of how it envisions governance. If Naji serves as a reliable guide, it sounds as though the jihadists want to assert ideological control while handing over administrative responsibilities to hired employees.

Lawrence Wright writes:

Alone among Al Qaeda theorists, Naji briefly addresses whether jihadis are prepared to run a state should they succeed in toppling one. He quotes a colleague who posed the question “Assuming that we get rid of the apostate regimes today, who will take over the ministry of agriculture, trade, economics, etc.?” Beyond the simplistic notion of imposing a caliphate and establishing the rule of Islamic law, the leaders of the organization appear never to have thought about the most basic facts of government. What kind of economic model would they follow? How would they cope with unemployment, so rampant in the Muslim world? Where do they stand on the environment? Health care? The truth, as Naji essentially concedes, is that the radical Islamists have no interest in government; they are interested only in jihad. In his book, Naji breezily answers his friend as follows: “It is not a prerequisite that the mujahid movement has to be prepared especially for agriculture, trade, and industry. . . . As for the one who manages the techniques in each ministry, he can be a paid employee who has no interest in policy and is not a member of the movement or the party. There are many examples of that and a proper explanation would take a long time.”

The post ISIS And The Strategy Of Managed Savagery – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.


Across The Line Of Control: The Real Stakeholders Of Peace – Analysis

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The 740km line of control dividing Indian and Pakistani administered Kashmir, which has been labelled ‘Asia’s Berlin wall’, has a profound impact on on communities.

By Ashima Kaul

It’s been labelled ‘Asia’s Berlin wall’, and the 740km Line of Control dividing the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir into Indian and Pakistani administrated regions is worthy of its title. Since its designation in 1947 there have been countless stories highlighting the negative impact it’s had on the individuals, families and villages which exist along its length. Refugees reside on both sides of the border with those in India having primarily crossed over in 1947 and during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971. The majority of crossings since 1990 have been in the opposite direction and it seems the motivation has been a combination of the fear of being harassed by security agencies and reuniting with relatives or visiting homes.

Shabir Ahmed, a 40 year old resident of Poonch whose sister lives in Muzaffarbad says that “the procedure to apply for a permit to visit the other side is very cumbersome. It takes months. It is because of the complicated process that the number of people visiting each other has not grown.” There are many who fled to the other side in the early 90’s from Sawjian, the village he belongs to on the Indian side of the Line of Control. He adds “we understand that the circumstances in which they went are related to the security of our country, but they had no other choice. We plead that their cases are looked into under the new cross border confidence building measures started by the government.”

Both cross border trade and bus services for divided families on the Poonch-Rawalkot and Uri-Muzaffarbad routes are subjected to enormous hurdles and barriers. There was recently a complete closure of all trade between both the trading points in Poonch and Uri over a single case of narcotics. On 17 January 2014, a truck from Pakistan was caught by authorities in Uri, Kashmir on the Indian side. It was found to be carrying a narcotic commonly known as brown sugar, worth an estimated $18 million. The truck was seized by Jammu and Kashmir authorities and the driver was arrested and sent to jail in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistani authorities promptly detained 27 Indian trucks which had crossed over to their side that day in response. They also closed the gates, which meant that 48 Pakistani trucks and drivers on the Indian side could not return either. Their families were distressed and did not know what to do. The trucks and drivers remained stranded on each side as Pakistan insisted that the arrested driver be released or be tried in Pakistan. India maintained that since the smuggled contraband was seized by Indian authorities in Indian territory this case had to be tried under Indian law.

The stand-off continued for more than three weeks until protests by the families, media coverage and pressure from traders in Poonch (who had also suspended trade in solidarity with the traders of Uri) forced a diplomatic dialogue. The drivers and their trucks were finally allowed to cross over to their respective sides on 12 February. However, the arrested driver and his impounded truck remained in Indian territory, and trade only resumed on 26 February.

Caught up in this diplomatic stand-off was not only the drivers, their families and traders but also Hanifa Begum, a mother who had filed her papers to visit her daughter in Muzaffarbad, in Azad Kashmir. “I have been waiting to meet my daughter. The entire process was delayed because of the two governments’ rigidity.” Separated from her daughter in 1992, Hanifa had last seen her in 2006, after the Poonch-Rawlakot bus service had started. However, the procedure to apply to cross the Line of Control is so challenging that she has not been able to go again.

There is a constituency that firmly opposes the idea of ‘letting their guard down’ as far as security of the region is concerned. However, there is also a great appeal for ‘borders to become irrelevant’, a goal which both sides are officially committed to. In her paper “India – Pakistan Peace Process: The Role of Intra-Kashmir Trade”, Sumona DasGupta argues that the real stakeholders of the peace are the Kashmiris on the two sides of Line of Control. “The sequence of events in the crisis and the fact that the stalemate could be overcome only when the highest echelons of the Indian and Pakistan foreign offices intervened, indicates a reluctance to allow the people of Kashmir, including members of registered chambers of commerce, to play a more proactive role in moving this CBM from its current symbolic status to a more substantive and meaningful one. Yet it is precisely the involvement of Kashmiris that is crucial in building a long-term Indo-Pakistani peace process,” she states. This sentiment is resonated by the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce.

Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation (CDR) are an organisation which has been incessantly working with civil society on both sides of the Line of Control. They have dealt with governments and various other stakeholders such as political, economic, the media and women’s groups at the intra-regional and inter-Kashmir level, to bring Kashmiri stakeholders’ confidence-building measures and push the agenda forward. It made recommendations regarding the issue of divided families in Kashmir, Jammu and Kargil (Ladakh) to the Indian government. However, according to Sushobha Barve, Executive Secretary of CDR “since 2005, CDR has taken up the issue of confidence-building measures related to the Line of Control with the policy makers and have made effective interventions. However, at the moment we are stuck due to political reasons, preventing further liberalisation and expansion.”

A detailed account of the various dialogues, interventions and recommendations are documented in CDR’s ‘Beyond Borders: In Search of a Solution for Kashmir’. With a fledgling government now in control of India, nothing much seems to be expected in terms of forward movement and the changing of the ground zero status quo. However, for the sake of many Shabir’s and Hanifa’s, the civil society, peacebuilding organisations and the media should continue to pursue the humanising of the conflict.

Ashima Kaul coordinates the organisation Yakjah in their work in Jammu and Kashmir. An independent journalist by profession, she has an active interest in interfaith dialogue.

This article was originally published by Insight on Conflict and is available by clicking here.

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Indo-US Cyber Dialogue Should Include Hardware Security – Analysis

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By Jennifer McArdle

Much like the Indo-U.S. strategic partnership, Indo-U.S. cyber engagement appears to have plateaued and could benefit from a tailored reset. Since the 2001 establishment of the Indo-U.S. Cyber Security Forum, India and the United States have sought to partner on various cyber issues of collective importance: cyber security, cybercrime, cyber forensics and cyber security norms, among others. Apart from a 2013 goal of supply-chain security, Indo-U.S. cyber cooperation is largely software-based. This ignores a mutual, more incipient cyberhardware threat, which permeates broader defence issues. A failure to address the issue of hardware security could have a highly deleterious impact on India’s defence apparatus. The time is ripe for India and the United States to expand the Indo-U.S. cyber-dialogue to include hardware security.

The weapon platforms that are critical to state security and deterrence—nuclear weapons, cruise and ballistic missiles, fighter jets and any number of other systems—are dependent on semiconductor integrated circuits, or chips, which make up the hardware of the system. The semiconductor supply chain has become increasingly globalized, and as John Villasenor at the Brookings Institution has noted, tampered or malicious chips, which operate as hidden ‘back doors’ for espionage or sabotage, have likely heavily contaminated the global supply chain. Malicious hardware can be inserted into a chip after the design phase but before it is manufactured and placed in a product, thus making it challenging to detect. Should a malicious chip be placed in a critical weapon system, that platform could cease to operate.

At present, while India does design its own semiconductor chips, it lacks the capacity to manufacture its semiconductors domestically. As the East West Center notes, most of India’s integrated circuit design work is done for various multinational corporations, who transfer the design for manufacturing elsewhere, often to locations such as Shenzhen, China. So long as India’s chips are manufactured externally, India risks placing compromised circuits in their indigenous weapons systems, thus exposing them to potential sabotage or espionage. India needs a secure supply of ‘trusted’ semiconductors for its domestically produced systems.

Last October, the former Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Kapil Sibal announced at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), India Conference on Cyber Security and Cyber Governance, that imported computer hardware posed a serious security threat to India. The Indian government had decided to invest in manufacturing semiconductor chips. Four months later, on February 14, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, sanctioned the construction of two semiconductor wafer plants, or ‘fabs’, in cooperation with two different business consortiums. Construction is expected to begin in September.

While India has announced the creation of two ‘fabs’, it is unclear what leverage the Indian Ministry of Defense (MoD) will have manufacturing ‘trusted’ chips for its critical defense systems. If the U.S. model sheds any light on potential defense microelectronic trajectories in these two semiconductor plants, it might prove to be very little.

Like U.S. semiconductor plants, India’s proposed semiconductor plants will be run by private enterprises; and the requirements of commercial semiconductor development do not necessarily overlap with those for Defense.

In the U.S., total government consumption of domestic semiconductors was below .5 percent in 2000 (one can expect it to be lower today), providing the government, and more notably the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) with little leverage to directly influence the commercial semiconductor marketplace. Furthermore, given the extensive time it takes to field new weapons platforms, from research and development (R&D), to production, testing, and finally fielding, the semiconductors underlying those weapons systems tend to lag at least two generations behind commercial state of the art integrated circuits. Finally, the semiconductors that meet DoD requirements are often unique from commercial products, requiring reliability, robustness, and at times radiation hardening to perform in highly contested or extra-atmospheric environments. Despite these constraints, the U.S. has developed a program to help ensure that ‘trusted’ chips underlie their critical weapon systems.

India’s MoD will likely encounter the same clash of interests between their microelectronic needs and commercial semiconductor production. The U.S. ‘trusted’ semiconductor program, could be used as a potential model for future indigenous MoD weapons production.

While there are multiple components to the U.S. DoD Trust Program, the two main programs of potential interest to India should be the Trusted Foundry Program at IBM and the Trusted Supplier Accreditation Program performed by the DoD Defense Microelectronics Agency. In essence, the trusted foundry and trusted supplier program ensures that the DoD has access to cost-effective, cutting-edge, low-volume semiconductors, which have been vetted for integrity during the design and manufacturing phase. Through a contractual agreement with IBM in Vermont, the U.S. government can ensure that part of the IBM foundry can be used to produce trusted chips for critical systems. Furthermore, the government purchases the equipment and intellectual property (IP) of the chip design after IBM ceases to make those chips, ensuring the chips underlying critical weapons systems against future obsolescence. At present, IBM is in talks about potentially selling off their foundry, which presents potential complications for U.S. ability to ensure ‘trust’.

The Trusted Supplier Accreditation program certifies companies according to rigorous, pre-established criteria. These companies self-fund the security infrastructure needed for accreditation, including security clearances involving security personnel, data collection, and staffing to maintain their accreditation.

India will need to develop its own mechanism to ensure trust in the semiconductors underlying its indigenous systems, but the parallels between current U.S. challenges and potential future Indian challenges are instructive. Adopting various measures to ensure trust in defence hardware is essential to both India and the United States, and should therefore be explored as a mechanism for deeper cooperation.

(The writer is a Fellow in the Center for Revolutionary Scientific Thought in the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies and a former Visiting Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, Delh).

Courtesy: The National Interest

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Portland Archdiocese Consecrated To Our Lady Of Fatima

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By Mary Rezac

Faithful from in and around Portland, Ore. filled St. Mary’s Cathedral to overflowing on June 28 for Archbishop Alexander Sample’s Mass consecrating the archdiocese to Our Lady of Fatima.

The Mass and consecration, celebrated on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, were offered particularly for the strengthening of marriage and family life.

“Marriage and family life are in a real crisis. We make this consecration to her to watch over our families and marriages. Families need Our Lady’s love and protection,” the Archbishop said during the homily, according to the Catholic Sentinel.

Todd Cooper, Special Assistant to Archbishop Sample, told CNA June 30 that Pope Francis’ consecration of his papacy to Our Lady of Fatima, as well as his consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, spurred Archbishop Sample to do the same for Portland.

“That kind of planted a seed for him,” Cooper said, “and he has a strong Marian devotion.”

The Archbishop also found an urgent spiritual need to offer the archdiocese’s efforts of strengthening marriage and families to Mary for her intercession.

“He’s come to the realization that we need to look beyond our own efforts and our own resourcefulness in trying to evangelize the culture and our people,” Cooper said. “We need to look for spiritual support for that and he thought there would be no better way.”

Additionally, Archbishop Sample is inviting families and faithful to participate in First Saturday devotions, as Our Lady of Fatima encouraged.

On the first Saturday of the month the faithful are asked to: go to confession (preferably on a first Saturday, but within eight days before or after one), receive Holy Communion (in a state of grace), pray five decades of the Rosary (one set of mysteries), and spend 15 additional minutes in meditation (on one or more mysteries of the Rosary).

All of these actions should be offered for the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Blessed Mother promised that if this is accomplished on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, she will assist the faithful at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for salvation.

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President Aquino: Bursting The Bubble – OpEd

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By Edwin Espejo

The bubble has finally burst.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has failed to live up to expectations when he ran and won on an anti-corruption platform in 2010.

Remember the slogans ‘Daang Matuwid’ and ‘Walang Mahirap kung Walang Kurap’? (Righteous Path, There Be No Poor If There Is No Corruption)? These campaign battle cries were what were supposed to have separated him from the rest of the presidential candidates in 2010 which, ironically, included former president and now Manila mayor Joseph Estrada.

Aquino himself is now an object of vilification – his government being viewed as no different from the previous presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Estrada, who were both charged with plunder after their stints in Malacañang. The two former presidents suffered the ignominy of having their mug shots splashed over the press and subsequently detained in ‘hospital arrests’ following their indictments.

Both too, at one time, face impeachment proceedings while holding office.

While Arroyo escaped impeachment through sheer number of allies in the Philippine House of Representatives, Estrada was ousted by a popular revolt in the middle of the impeachment trial that reached the Philippine senate.

Aquino is unlikely to face impeachment in Congress but he may not escape charges when he steps down in 2016.

For all intents and purposes, he has already squandered the goodwill he earned from the landmark conviction of former Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona in the impeachment trial that Aquino doggedly pushed among his allies in Congress immediately after he assumed office.

Corona, an appointee of ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was seen as a major stumbling block in pursuing plunder cases against the former president.

Aquino succeeded in marshaling enough votes to indict and convict Corona.

But it is now getting clear that government resources may have been illegally used in ousting Corona.

That is in effect what the Philippine Supreme Court is saying if two Philippine senators, who are themselves now facing corruption and plunder charges along with Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, are to be believed.

Enrile, ironically, was the presiding judge of the Corona impeachment trial.

Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr claimed they received P50 million each from the disbursement acceleration program (DAP) funds six months before they voted to impeach Corona. Another P1.1 billion was also disbursed 6 months after Corona was convicted.

On Tuesday, the Aquino government got more than just a slap on the wrist when the Supreme Court ruled that DAP was unconstitutional.

The illegal re-alignment of government funds cannot be simply be taken as an oversight that is chargeable to ignorance of the law, as constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas said in a recent interview.

Rather, it was a conscious and deliberate move to get what the president wanted and to keep allies satisfied and fulfilled.

Everybody would have kept their peace and silence. After all, the Philippine Congress is one hell of a big largesse that victors in every Philippine election get to allocate by and for themselves.

But there are things and events that are simply providential.

One’s greed finally pricked the huge balloon of Philippine corruption.

When Janet Napoles abducted and detained his nephew over missing funds from their loot amassed from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the pork barrel of Philippine legislators, little did she know that it created an explosion never before seen in the history of Philippine legislature.

And it unmasked Aquino as a counterfeit reformer and anti-corruption crusader.

You cannot use corrupt means to stop corruption.

From now on, there will be no more balloons to fly for Aquino.

They have burst.

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Japan Reinterprets Defence Part Of Constitution

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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet has approved a reinterpretation of Japan’s constitution to extend the Self-Defence Forces’ powers to ‘collective self-defence’. This could enable Japan to support a close ally in case of an attack – such as for instance shooting down North Korean missiles fired at the US. It could also lead to greater Japanese participation in UN peacekeeping roles and potentially EU CSDP missions.

The proposal still has to pass the parliament, in which Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) holds an absolute majority. By reinterpreting the constitution instead of revising it, Abe avoids the need of a two-thirds majority in both houses of the Diet followed by holding a public referendum. The announcement sparked protests of several thousand people in Tokyo with one man setting himself alight. Polls over the last months had shown that a slim majority of the Japanese people were against the change. While Abe and his supporters argue it is a step towards Japan becoming a normal modern nation, critics perceive it as creeping re-militarisation. Abe said the change did not mean that Japan could take part in any multilateral war, such as supporting the US in Iraq. He further said the step was ‘strictly a defensive measure to defend our people. We will not resort to the use of force in order to defend foreign forces.’

The change is subject to three conditions: the ally Japan can support has to be one Japan shares a ‘very close relationship’ with, the use of military force is only acceptable if there are no other diplomatic or negotiated means to protect Japan and/or its citizens, and it has to be kept to a ‘bare minimum’. Obviously, all three conditions are open for interpretation.

Brad Glosserman, executive director of Pacific Forum CSIS, argues that these three conditions are a sign of opposition within Abe’s alliance with the New Komeito Party and that they show strong constraints on what Abe would be able to do, also given the strong public resistance.

International reactions were as anticipated: The Obama administration welcomed Japan’s move and stated that it enabled Japan to ‘do more within the framework of our alliance’. In a much-cited opinion piece published by Xinhua, author Deng Yushan writes that Abe’s ‘trickery also poses a menace to regional security’ and calls the reinterpretation a ‘blatant betrayal of the pacifism enshrined in Japan’s constitution’, with Abe ‘dallying with the specter of war’. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei urged Japan ‘to earnestly respect legitimate security concerns of its Asian neighbours’ and ‘not to undermine regional peace and stability’.

Even though the only country that could be said to share a ‘very close relationship’ with Japan would be the US, China’s worries are that Japan’s Self-Defence Forces could use their increased power to support The Philippines and Vietnam in their disputes with China in the South China Sea.

South Korea, which is also engaged in a minor islands dispute with Japan, said it would ‘not tolerate’ Japan’s actions that apparently took place without South Korea’s consultation.

It remains to be seen when and how Abe will make use of the SDF’s soon to be extended powers and how he will balance the public’s concerns with what he sees as Japan’s interest. However, this reinterpretation is clearly not designed to ease the already existing tensions in East Asia.

Abe’s move will no doubt face criticism when President Xi visits President Park in Seoul today. It is interesting that Xi has decided to visit South Korea before North Korea. At the same time Japan and North Korea are holding talks about resolving the emotional abductees issue. The frozen geopolitics of North East Asia could be starting to shift.

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ISIS Fighters Vow To Invade ‘Occupied’ Spain

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A group of jihadists claiming to be part of ISIS have vowed to invade Spain along with all other “occupied lands” in a video posted on the web.

The men say Spain is the land of their forefathers and that they are prepared to die for their nascent Islamic State.

The video of two men claiming to be militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has taken the Spanish media by storm. The minute-long footage shows them speaking in Spanish, and saying that ISIS will take over Spain.

“I tell you, Spain is the land of our forefathers, and, Allah willing, we are going to liberate it, with the might of Allah,” says one of the men. He adds that the group won’t stop at Spain and intends to spread its Islamic Caliphate across the world.

“I say to the entire world as a warning: We are living under the Islamic banner, the Islamic Caliphate. We are going to die for it until we liberate all the occupied lands, from Jakarta to Andalusia,” he said.

The footage has not yet been independently verified, but it would not be the first video released by the group. Last month, ISIS released a propaganda video entitled: “There Is No Life Without Jihad” in which Australian and British members of the group appealed in English for Muslims across the world to join their cause.

“We have brothers from Bangladesh, from Iraq, from Cambodia, Australia and the UK,” says a militant called Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni, who himself comes from Britain, according to a video caption.

The extremist Sunni Muslim group began to seize control of towns and cities in Iraq at the beginning of June. Since then it has captured large swathes of the region, straddling the Iraqi-Syrian border and continues to advance on the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

The leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announced the creation of an Islamic State, or caliphate, encompassing the lands that the group has taken under its control. He also called on Muslims throughout the world to join the cause and fight for ISIS.

“Muslims everywhere, whoever is capable of performing hijrah (emigration) to the Islamic State, then let him do so, because hijrah to the land of Islam is obligatory,” he added.

So far Iraqi security forces have done little to slow the advance of the Islamist group, with the government appealing for aid from abroad to repel the onslaught.

The US has sent 300 military advisors to Iraq to combat the threat and is deploying another 300 troops, helicopters and drones in the area. Saudi Arabia has also deployed 30,000 troops along its border with Iraq, while Russia has sent fighter jets and pilots to support the Baghdad government against ISIS.

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Maliki: My ‘National And Moral Responsibility’ To Stay In Power

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Iraq’s Prime Minister reiterated his staunch determination to remain in power for a third term Friday despite growing pressures to resign, according to Agence France Presse.

PM Nouri Al Maliki released a statement Friday that read, “I will never give up on my candidacy for the post of prime minister. The State of Law coalition is the biggest bloc and has the right to the premiership and any other side has no right to put conditions, because putting conditions means dictatorship and we strongly reject this.”

While Maliki did indeed win Iraq’s parliamentary elections in April by a long shot with his State of Law coalition party winning the most seats when compared to other blocs, the PM has been increasingly criticized by opposition-as well as his Shiite Arab allies-for instigating a sectarian war in the country.

Over the past month, Sunni Islamist militants, led in part by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), have seized territory from at least five of Iraq’s provinces and now also control the Syrian-Iraqi border crossings.

Maliki’s opponents say that the PM is to blame for this recent offensive for marginalizing the Sunni Arab minority during his time in office.

Maliki, who once pledged to not run for a third term, now emphasizes that he will stay in his position of power out of “national and moral responsibility” until the crisis is solved.

“The withdrawal from the battlefield in the face of terrorist organizations that are enemies of Islam and of humanity, would be an abrogation of legitimate national and moral responsibility. I have made a promise to God that I will continue to fight by the side of the armed forces and volunteers until the final defeat of the enemies of Iraq,” he said.

Original article

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Myanmar: Priority For The New Indian Government – Analysis

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By Rahul Mishra

Ever since Narendra Modi assumed office as the Indian Prime Minister, speculations regarding his foreign policy priorities have been rife. Many in the Indian media suggest that since this is the first time Modi is at the helm of central government affairs, he would find it tricky to deal with the foreign policy challenges on a day-to-day basis, while vigorously pursuing the domestic agenda that not only involves revamping the economy but also improving governance in the country crippled by corruption.

Though at a purely symbolic level, Modi’s invitation to the South Asian leaders to attend his swearing-in ceremony gave signals regarding his foreign policy preferences: greater attention towards the immediate neighbourhood to ensure peace, partnership and development. Modi invited the heads of governments of of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries, and Mauritius, who willingly attended the event. One may argue that like Mauritius, Myanmar could have also been invited as both the countries are, in geographical terms, part of Southern Asia.

At the substantive level, the highlights of Modi’s foreign policy were showcased in Indian President Pranab Mukherjee’s address to the joint session of the Indian Parliament on June 9, 2014. While there was no direct mention of Myanmar in the president’s speech, several issues hint at the country’s salience in Modi’s neighbourhood policy.

Promoting Inter-regional Connectivity

In his address, President Mukherjee spoke at length about inter-regional connectivity. In the recent years, India has actively pursued the idea of trans-South Asian connectivity, links with Myanmar and countries in the Southeast Asian region. Road and rail links with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan have been worked on, with some success. In that context, India’s initiatives to connect with Myanmar have been remarkable. It has ‘travelled more than half’ to bring Myanmar along in terms of infrastructure development and road, rail, waterways and air connectivity. Inter alia, India has initiated projects such as the Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport Project, and revamping national waterways to link with Myanmar. In June 2014, India and Myanmar agreed on a weekly bus service connecting Imphal, Moreh, Tamu, Kalewa, Monywa and Mandalay towns. Visa-on-arrival facility will also be extended to travellers. The 579kilometer route is likely to be inaugurated in October 2014, marking the beginning of direct road links between India and Myanmar.

While it is expected that the Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport Project will be completed by the end of 2014, Sittwe is also being revamped. Slow progress in the Sittwe project has hurt India’s energy interests. So far, as the National waterways are concerned, with the restructuring of the Ministry of Water Resources to make it the Ministry for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, the government has made its intentions clear on the issue of cleaning up of the river Ganga – that wasn’t just evident in Modi’s pre-election campaign speeches, but has also attracted huge funds from the central government to make Ganga and other eastern rivers fully navigable, which will also benefits hinterlands. The Chennai-Dawei Corridor is another great opportunity involving Myanmar.

Illegal immigration

Illegal immigration from the eastern flank has been a major challenge for India. Due to porous borders, lack of proper fencing along the Myanmar and Bangladesh borders, lack of requisite security apparatus and strict vigil, India has be unable to check illegal immigration. While Bangladesh has been the most prominent source, Rohingya immigrants from Myanmar have also come in hoards. According to estimates, New Delhi alone has over 5000 Rohingya immigrants while an estimated 20,000 Rohingyas are present in India.

In that context, fencing along India’s borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh is a critically important matter. India has been facing opposition along both the Bangladesh and Myanmar borders. Without addressing the problem resolutely, India’s boundary woes are not likely to be addressed.

Bringing Northeast India into the Mainstream

The central government has already initiated plans to improve connectivity within India’s Northeastern states. Developing infrastructure projects automatically involves working on energy projects. In both India and Myanmar, demand for energy far outweighs the supplies. In Myanmar, only 26% of the population has access to the electricity.

One of the most dreadful consequences of the neglect of India’s Northeastern regions has been the illegal production and sale of the narcotic substances. According to some estimates, the Northeastern region has become the hub of drug trafficking, and has become the channel for drug trade from the golden triangle.

Role of Japan and the US

At the regional geopolitical level too, Myanmar will remain a key country for the Modi government. For instance, the recently conceptualised India-Japan-US trilateral dialogue has been projected as one of the major initiatives to bring India closer to the US and Japan. Myanmar is a country of great interest for India, Japan and the US.

One may argue that while the US, President Barack Obama, played a key role in bringing Myanmar back to the international system, Japan has become one of the biggest investors and a major player in Myanmar’s economy. India, naturally, has direct stakes in Myanmar at all levels. If the three countries are able to devise a common strategy on Myanmar, it will not only help Myanmar, but will also bring India, Japan and the US closer.

Rahul Mishra
Research Fellow, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi

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Bahrain: When Media Apathy Becomes A Crime Against Humanity – OpEd

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As much as the media eyes have been focus on Iraq and Syria where ISIL fighters – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – have secured devastating advances against both Iraq and Syria armed forces, Bahrain has been left to suffer, its people’s plight for justice ignored by the international community.

For well over three years now the people of Bahrain have fought tooth and nail to see their calls for democratic reforms implemented, determined to no longer tolerate the unjust, unfair and bias rule of King Hamad ibn Issa Al Khalifa; yet their peaceful revolutionary movement has failed to garner meaningful support.

While the United States of America and the European Union have time and time again since 2011, pledged their support to the people of Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Syria as they rose together, calling on their respective government to operate deep institutional changes in order to reflect their desire to see flourish democracy, Bahrain has been cast aside, as if a pariah of the 2011 revolutionary movement.

While Yemeni revolutionaries were hailed for their restraint in staging their anti-government protests, and officials slammed for using violence against unarmed civilians, Bahrainis have been branded as terrorists for attempting to bring down the autocratic house of Al Khalifa through peaceful protesting. Even more troubling, while western powers were keen to brand Syrian President Bashar Al Assad a vicious tyrant for allegedly using heavy handed techniques against dissidents, Al Khalifa royals, whose crimes against the people of Bahrain have been abundantly documented and verified by countless independent human rights organizations have continued to be counted as friends and allies.

The deep disconnect which now exists in relation to the international community and Bahrain revolutionary movement is driving a dangerous narrative, where vindication and resentment have taken the driver’s seat.

Feeling abandoned and betrayed by the west, Bahrainis have withdrawn behind sectarian lines, closing in on themselves as they fight for their plight to be recognized as valid and fair.

But if Bahrain regime continues to sow destruction and bloodshed across the kingdom, keen to crush Bahrain Shias from under its feet in a bid to reinvent its kingdom ethnic make-up, what can be said of the media? What responsibility should the media carry before Bahrain ethnic cleansing?

While few have seldom dared utter such words, realities on the ground can only lead to such conclusion. Bahrain is living through the darkest days of its history; an entire people are being persecuted on account of their faith and desire to see rise a civil state where autocracy once resided.

In a conversation on Bahrain this June, Ali Al Haddad, Head of International & Public Relations for the European-Bahraini Organisation for Human Rights (EBOHR) commented that for the sake of political convenience and economic interests western powers had chosen to renege on their democratic values and refuse Bahrainis’ revolution. In the same manner foreign media played a key role in supporting the 2011 pro-democracy revolutionary moments in the MENA region – Middle East and Northern Africa – and the ultimate toppling of several regimes, media silence in Bahrain has enabled a brutal system to endure. By saying nothing of the crimes of Al Khalifa against its people, the media have proven as guilty as those who carry the guns.

There is a point where silence becomes a crime against humanity.
From the onset of Bahrain revolution, Bahrain regime has systematically targeted opposition leaders, both political and religious, as to instil fear and throw factions such as Al Wefaq -Bahrain most prominent party of the opposition – out of balance.

Blinded by fear and hatred, Al Khalifa has stooped to all imaginable lows, relentlessly torturing and abusing its way through whomever and whatever opposes his savagery.

While hopes remain alive in the strength of Bahraini activists and politicians, darkness remains ever so bleak and suffocating.

For the most part, suffocation has come by way of media complacency and political hypocrisy. While Bahrain bleeds and suffers a thousand deaths with every loss and every tear which is shed in the name of freedom, western powers have buried their heads further down into the sand.

Earlier this year, a recent report from the UK Foreign Office report, read that Bahrain’s reform programme suggested the country’s “overall trajectory on human rights will be positive,” in reference to King Hamad establishment of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI).

And yet, harrowing cases of torture and abuses continue to occur under the merciless sun of Al Khalifa.

In May 2014, a damning report on Bahrain’s justice system was released by Human Rights Watch, detailing its selective application, broken promises and a further descent into savage violence by the security state in the three years since the country’s own pro-democracy movement.

Despite continuing efforts at peaceful reform Al Khalifa’s disdain for international law and human rights has rendered every negotiation useless. Rather than reform Bahrain, Al Khalifa has instead clawed its way into the judicial system, de facto putting Bahrain judiciary system under his tyrannical thumb, thus denying any measure of hope for a sensible and comprehensive political dialogue.

Before such rampant, unabated torture what chances do Bahrain freedom fighters stand, especially amid such media silence?

As HRW’s deputy Middle East director Joe Stork pointed out in a comment made in May, “Bahrain’s problem is not a dysfunctional justice system, but rather a highly functional injustice system.”
If one needs further proof of Bahrain ignominy, one only needs to look at Ali Saqer’s case. Ali was arrested by the regime security forces back in 2011. A few days later officials confirmed that he had died while in custody. His body was found covered in “blunt force contusions”. Before unprecedented national outrage, the two security officers responsible for Ali’s death are convicted to ten years in prison. But an appeals court later on cut their sentence to just two years, because the defendants’ actions sought to “preserve the life of detainees, among them the victim”.

As commented by David Mepham, in an article for the Huffington Post, “In other words, as they helped beat Ali Saqer to death, the officers in question were actually only trying to keep him alive.”
This is the kind of system Bahrainis are up against, this is the type of system the media has failed to actively condemn and denounce, to the point where its silence has become criminal.

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Neymar Out Of World Cup After Breaking Vertebrae

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Brazil’s team doctor says Neymar will miss the rest of the World Cup after breaking a vertebrae during the team’s quarterfinal win over Colombia.

Neymar was kneed in the back by Colombia defender Juan Camilo Zuniga in the second half of Brazil’s 2-1 win, and was in tears when he was carried off the field on a stretcher.

He was taken to a local clinic and team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said after the match that the star striker had broken his third vertebrae.

Neymar is the Brazil’s biggest star and has scored four goals for the team so far in the tournament.

Brazil plays Germany in the semifinals on Tuesday.

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Germany Arrests Double Agent, Claims Spied For US

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A man employed by Germany’s foreign intelligence agency (BND) has been arrested on suspicion of spying for the US. The espionage swoop is the latest of a series of embarrassing intelligence scandals straining ties between the two countries.

A 31-year-old German man was been arrested Wednesday on suspicion of being a foreign spy, according to a statement released by the German Federal Prosecutors Office.

Two politicians with knowledge of the affair told Reuters on Friday that the unnamed man has admitted passing on details to a US contact about a special German parliamentary committee into National Security Agency (NSA) spying activities in Germany, which were revealed by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

Snowden said that the NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ eavesdropped on a number of European leaders’ phone calls, including those of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Both lawmakers are part of the nine member parliamentary control committee, which oversees the activities of the BND.

“The matter is serious, that is very clear,” a German government spokesman told the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The German tabloid Bild reported that the man had passed the Americans 218 secret documents in exchange for € 25,000 ($34,100) and has been a double agent for them for two years. The man allegedly met his contact in Austria and passed on the secret documents on a USB stick.

Der Spiegel magazine reported that he had confessed to passing on details about the NSA inquiry to a US contact in return for money.

There is also some uncertainty about what position he held in the BND. Earlier reports in Der Speigel that he worked in the mail room have now been discounted and Die Welt newspaper has alleged that in fact he was in close contact with Gerhard Schindler, the head of the BND.

One of the politicians on the committee also appeared to down play the man’s importance within the BND.

“This was a man who had no direct contact with the investigative committee. He was not a top agent,” one of the politicians told Reuters.

He added that the man had offered his services to the US voluntarily.

But the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper alleged that the man had originally been suspected of spying for the Russians only to admit that he was working for the Americans.

As the parliamentary enquiry is confidential, it is not clear exactly what information the man is suspected of passing on the US.

But the MPs involved wanted to invite Edward Snowden to Germany to testify, although this was blocked by Chancellor Merkel in case Washington demanded his extradition.

MPs also offered to go to Moscow where Edward Snowden has political asylum, but the US fugitive refused to see them there.

However, two other whistleblowers and former NSA employees did testify. Thomas Drake claimed that the two agencies cooperate so closely that the BND is an “appendage”to the NSA.

Germany is sensitive to surveillance issues because of abuses by the Nazis and by the East German Stasi. After Snowden’s revelations Berlin suggested a no-spy arrangement between the US and its close allies, but Washington refused.

German media have said that if the case against the man is proven “it will be the biggest scandal involving a German-American double agent since the war.”

Last week Germany announced that it has ended a contract with Verizon, the US broadband and telecom company, because of security concerns about its systems, in the first example of Snowden’s revelations having commercial repercussions.

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Iraq Crisis And Regional Implications – Analysis

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By Ravi Joshi

Iraq has been in a state of crisis for over a decade now. To specify an exact date in its recent history as the commencement of its crises is indeed hard. But what has been happening in Iraq in the last few weeks is particularly horrifying. They seem worse than the Taliban, the Al-Qaeda, the Boko Haram and the Al-Shabab, all put together. This outfit, the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams — the Arabic word for the Levant) has already established a ‘Caliphate of Islam’ under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a state that is more primitive and savage than the one established by the one-eyed Mullah Omar in Afghanistan. If the ‘Caliphate of Islam’ is to be established by killing Muslims other than Sunnis, then the region is in for a genocide, the kind of which has not been seen ever before.

What is inexplicable, particularly for a lay reader of the western media, is the question about how do certain extremist groups in the Islamic world get so much funding and arms as to become a danger to established States, particularly those states that do not have Sunni leadership. The answer is obvious, but the western media is loath to admit it. They dare not mention the Gulf monarchies, especially those that have been in the forefront of the war against the Alawite rulers of Syria, and now the Shia rulers in Iraq. The ‘Economist’ which looked into the question of ISIS’s many parents found Turkey to be one of them, but does not mention the many private individuals and charities in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait that have propped up the ISIS (a fact that has been obliquely referred to by the New York Times). It is a moot point whether the so-called private citizens in these kingdoms, who get to know what’s happening within and outside the country only from the State controlled media or the State- subservient Mullahs have so much surplus cash as to fund and arm mercenary forces to take on neighbouring States.

Let us get some facts straight. One, there is no escaping the reality that the two U.S. wars against Iraq have contributed substantially to the present crisis. The first was about saving Kuwait from Saddam Hussain’s invasion and the second was to liberate Iraqis from Saddam Hussain. Now Washington wishes to save one group of Iraqis from the others. But the problem is who is to be defended against whom, particularly when the US has no clear enemy in sight. Second, America’s War on Terror has clearly sputtered. After more than 13 years, America is still waging the war and the enemy has neither been defeated nor destroyed, despite the killing of Osama bin Laden. More offshoots of Al-Qaeda have sprung up in the Middle East and Western Africa and have endangered states that were not only ungoverned and failing but also those that were stable and effectively governed.

Now, who does America protect against whom, in Iraq? If it strikes at the ISIS, it would be seen siding with the ‘discredited’ Shia regime of Nouri al-Maliki, an ally of Iran and a supporter of Syrian President Assad. Certainly not the best of credentials for the US and its allies — the Gulf monarchies and Israel. Can America be on the same side as Iran, Syria and now Russia – all of who are coming to rescue the beleaguered President al-Maliki? Facing this enviable situation, President Obama has very cautiously has sent 300 (plus another 200) military advisors, who have been called by some ‘barefoot’ advisors due to his refusal to ‘put boots on the ground’.

America, now it appears, will not be able stop the march of soldiers of the ‘Caliphate of Islam’, however, brutal and savage they may be. That task is falling on Iran, Syria and the Kurdish Government in Erbil. That means, saving Baghdad from the ISIS is effectively left to Iran. Whether it will do so with its quasi-military force – the Al-Quds Force with support from the Hezbollah and Muqtada al-Sadr or will it send its regular troops remains to be seen. Now if they prevail over the ISIS, the Gulf monarchies are bound to cry foul. It is truly a Hobson’s choice for the US. Despite its overwhelming military, air and naval presence in the region, America stands wringing its hands as terrorists who are decidedly hostile to it take control of resource-rich territories and empower themselves.

There are attempts in sections of the Western media to sanitise the negative role of the ISIS. It is being reported that they are actually the fighters of the ‘Revolutionary Tribes Council’ and that they are indeed working under the command of the former Vice President Tarek al-Hashmei, who had earlier fled to Kurdistan. This is disingenuous. The people of Iraq, even the Sunnis, have no love lost for the mercenary jihadists of the ISIS, just as the Sunnis of Syria had no sympathy for the Jubhatul-Nusra that was parachuted from the outside.

Much is also being made of the so-called differences between the ISIS and the Al-Qaeda and the Jubhatul-Nusra etc., but this kind of analysis ignores the fact that all of them have common parentage and same goals — of killing non-Sunnis first, and then bleeding America.

Whatever may follow, the old colonial borders drawn in the Middle East appear headed for a major overhaul and the fresh re-drawing of the map will set-out tremors far beyond the region. The Gulf monarchies are now caught in an awful bind and America appears neither willing nor capable of protecting them from the ensuing implosion.

(The writer is a Visiting Distinguished Fellow with Observer Research Foundation, Delhi)

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