After a failed session and another two postponed, Iraqi lawmakers today elected Salim al-Jubouri as the speaker of the newly-constituted Parliament, marking a key step towards forming a new government, deemed essential to contrast the advance of the Sunni fighters of the Islamic State. Al-Jubouri won 194 votes on 328, garnering an absolute majority over his rival Shrouq al-Ubaiyachi.

It is unclear if the assembly reached a consensus on the name of the prime minister to replace the controversial Shiite Premier Nouri al-Maliki, who is however seeking a new term.

According to military sources, Iraqi security forces today entered Tikrit, in the north, occupied since June 11 by Sunni militants, after launching an early morning offensive. Some buildings, including the police academy and a hospital, have returned under government control.

The post Iraq: New Parliament Speaker Elected appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Shree Swaminarayan Mandir, associated with Shree Swaminarayan Vadtal Gadi (SSVG), has formally opened in Scranton (Pennsylvania, USA) after murti-pratishtha ceremony recently.

According to reports, this building used to be a Presbyterian church before.

Murti-Pratishtha Mahotasv for this Hindu temple at 933 Prescott Avenue, which has been around for about two years, was held on June 21 and 22. A celebratory parade was organized on June 21 evening; which included a carriage drawn by two horses, dancing and music through the city streets. Many participants and some religious leaders of the group travelled long distances to participate in the ceremony, reports suggest.

Meanwhile, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, applauded efforts of temple leaders and area community to realize this Hindu temple complex.

Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, further said that it was important to pass on Hindu spirituality, concepts and traditions to coming generations amidst so many distractions in the consumerist society and hoped that this temple complex would focus in this direction. Zed stressed that instead of running after materialism; we should focus on inner search and realization of Self and work towards achieving moksh (liberation), which was the goal of Hinduism.

Besides India; SSVG also has temples in USA, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. SSVG also runs Shree Swaminarayan Agyna Upasana Satsang Mandal-USA.

The post Presbyterian Church Becomes Hindu Temple In Pennsylvania appeared first on Eurasia Review.

(CORDIS) — While cloud computing is indeed a revolution in the way we use our computers, the main players in this growing market are still struggling to captivate and build trust among businesses and everyday citizens. Cloud-sceptics are concerned over data security and legal exposure but, more importantly, a lack of understanding and information is what really holds them back.

The FP7-funded CLOUDCATALYST project aims to tackle this issue by providing useful tools to foster the adoption of cloud computing in Europe and to boost the European Cloud Computing market. It targets software developers, members of the scientific community developing and deploying cloud computing solutions, incubators at the local, national and European levels, large industries, SMEs, start-ups and entrepreneurs sharing a need for flexible and scalable solutions. The idea is to create ‘a strong and enthusiastic community of Cloud adopters and supporters in Europe’.

To this end, the project will primarily analyse practices across Europe and identify the conditions for a successful adoption. ‘We will cover all the main issues [related to Cloud usage] and give a clear overview on a number of topics such as current cloud trends, critical success factors to overcome major technical barriers, data privacy and compliance requirements, and recommendations for quality of service and SLA,’ explains Dalibor Baskovc, Vice President at EuroCloud Europe, one of the project partners.

But the project will also create a series of tools to help stakeholders create value-added cloud products and services. These consist of the ‘Cloud accelerator toolbox’ and he ‘Go-to-the-Cloud’ service platform – a collection of management tools bundling together trend analysis, use cases and practical recommendations in the form of printable report templates and instructional videos.

‘The tools that we are developing will help companies adopt and deploy cloud solutions, whatever their different needs and requirements are,’ says Baskovc. The project, which began in October 2013, has launched its new website this week. It will also carry out a number of market surveys and over the coming weeks to gather key information and produce an overview of the cloud adoption status, that is, why companies should develop cloud services, what are the companies’ main internal problems in adopting a cloud solution, what are the associated risks and how these issues can be addressed.

The post New Project Aims To Boost Cloud Computing In Europe appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Aman S. Shareef

In 2001, Jim O’Neill, the chief economist at Goldman Sachs, coined the acronym “BRIC” for the four largest emerging market economies at the time. So why should everyone be paying attention now?

In 2014, this grouping of nations is an official organization, and all four of the original members are amongst the top 10 largest economies in the world, and all are likely to continue growing rapidly. The BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – also represent about half of the world’s population. This is the only collection of countries that has the ability to create alternatives to the Western dominated economic system. This is not, however, the most natural group to come together.

The 6th BRICS Summit poses many challenges to cooperation, and much for the rest of the world to observe.

The US and Europe dominate the current global economic system, causing the BRICS nations to feel vulnerable. Each of the five BRICS nations is very conscious of the fact that each has fallen under sanctions by the United States and the West. Coming together as a group is a way for the BRICS to hedge their bets against the whims of the international system; to prevent any of these countries from being economically crippled and isolated if they run afoul of the West or the international institutions dominated by it.

For Russia, this scenario is unfolding right now. With its annexation of Crimea, Russia finds itself in trouble, politically and economically, from the West. For Russia, BRICS is a forum to avoid economic and political isolation. In the past, if the United States and Europe isolated a country, that isolation was complete

Today, with the BRICS summit, this need not be the case for Russia. This summit will not be so straightforward for President Vladimir Putin though. The very reason Russia is facing imminent isolation from the West, also causes the other BRICS nations to feel uncomfortable.

China has disputes with Japan over the Senkaku Islands in the South China Sea. India has its disputes with Pakistan and China over Kashmir. The Falkland Islands, which are disputed between Great Britain and Argentina, are in Brazil’s backyard. Russia’s takeover of Crimea puts the rest of the BRICS nations in a difficult position when it comes to presenting a united front.

Even though no one should expect the BRICS leaders to explicitly support or condemn Russia’s actions, it will likely cause an undercurrent of tension during the Summit.

Even though the BRICS nations are in an economically similar position, in that they are rising economies, there is very little bringing them together ideologically. Russia’s political system is dominated by a single individual, and China’s dominated by a single party. Alternatively, India, Brazil and South Africa are democracies; each of which is different in how democracy is implemented and interpreted.

For many of the leaders attending this Summit, it is an opportunity to engage with Latin America more broadly. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, all have trips planned to visit other countries in South America. President Putin was even in attendance for the World Cup Final.

For Prime Minister Modi, this will be his first tour of South America, and the first time the world will see how he handles a multinational arena. Many India observers were wary of his ability to handle foreign affairs, given his lack of experience there. But his invitation to all the leaders in South Asia to his inauguration was a masterful move. It set the stage for how he would handle foreign policy, and highlighted how his government would be more focused on improving relations with the South Asia region than past Indian governments.

While Modi probably sees this as an opportunity to balance out the Russia-China relationship, the primary utility of BRICS for India is likely only symbolic. BRICS is not a replacement for existing global institutions. However, India, broadly speaking, has more in common with the BRICS nations than it does with the West. Given all of these realities, anything could happen.

How will Narendra Modi navigate the multinational stage? He has indicated a greater focus on South Asia, but will he be paying attention to the rest of the world? Is Modi going to carve out a new place in the world for India? These are the questions we can expect answers to give the world more certainty and greater clarity as to what foreign affairs will look like for India under Modi.

It is important to note that although all of the BRICS nations have the largest economies in their respective regions, none of them are representative of countries in their own regions.

Brazil, despite its emphasis on good diplomatic relations, cannot be said to speak for Argentina. Russia does not speak for Eastern Europe. East Asia is paranoid about an expanding China. South Africa is a world of its own on the continent, and India does not have stable relations with its neighbours.

At the 2013 BRICS Summit in Durban, South Africa, the BRICS countries agreed to set up an international development bank. If this bank is officially announced in the next few days, it will be this organization’s first move in creating alternatives to a global financial system in which they have little voice.

This year’s BRICS Summit could be of little consequence to the world, or it could be a major step towards a diversified global economic order.

(Aman Shareef is an independent analyst and freelance writer with experience working on US-Pakistan civil society engagement. He can be contacted at southasiamonitor1@gmail.com)

This article appeared at South Asia Monitor.

The post Understanding The 6th BRICS Summit: What To Look Out For – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Obja Borah Hazarika

The latest in a series of communal violence in Myanmar began on July 1, 2014 when hundreds of Buddhists attacked a Muslim teashop in Mandalay following allegations that the shop owner had raped a female Buddhist employee. These allegations which spread instantly were made online via social media websites.

Due to the brutal nature of the attacks police fired warning shots in the air using rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, some of them armed with knives and sticks. Some reports stated that the police had fired on the people rather than in the air, which led to members of the crowd being severely wounded.

Violence continued on the following day, claiming two lives, one Buddhist and one Muslim. Several others were seriously wounded. Arson and attacks continued to flare throughout Mandalay. Unabated clashes marked most of the day, and anti-Muslim slogans were raised in the Chan Aye Thar township.

Due to the relentless nature of violence which was witnessed on the previous two days the police on July 3 imposed a curfew in the city from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., which helped clamp down on the arsonists and mobs in Mandalay.

This spate of violence between the Muslims and Buddhists is the latest of several waves of sectarian unrest since 2012 that have occurred intermittently in Myanmar, threatening the social fabric of the country as well as challenging the Thein Sein government’s attempts at reforming the nation from the ways of the erstwhile military junta which ruled the country with an iron fist from 1962 till 2011.

These cases of sectarian violence which have plagued Myanmar since the end of the junta rule are an indication of the grave tension that persists between the different religious groups of Myanmar. The Muslims are a small minority in Myanmar, which is home to an overwhelming Buddhist population.

However, as the incidents of violence point out, severe distrust, enmity and intolerance exists between these two groupings, though the Muslims comprise four percent of the total population of Myanmar which is estimated at 60 million.

Mandalay is home to a monk called Wirathu, known for his anti-Islamic propaganda and as the leader of the 969 movement. This movement among other things is allegedly responsible for inciting communal violence in Myanmar and calls to boycott Muslim-owned shops. This latest incident of violence, which began in a Muslim-owned shop, is also being traced to Wirathu and his movement, which is making use of the internet to spread its message.

President Thein Sein, however, has attempted to roll back the tight controls. Alas, the 969 movement and other anti-social movements are also making use of these newly-freed media outlets for their menacing purposes. Wirathu’s movement also backs suggestions for a series of controversial laws that would restrict religious freedom. Radical monks, under the 969 movement, have been accused of stoking religious tensions with incendiary warnings that Buddhism is under threat from Islam, thereby justifying attacks on Muslims and boycotting their businesses.

With regard to the latest spate of violence, the National League for Democracy issued a statement urging the public to be wary of online rumours and called on authorities to ensure the safety of innocent civilians caught up in the Mandalay riots.

The central government has not responded to the unrest. But in a speech delivered after the recent outbreak, President Thein Sein stressed that Myanmar is a “multi-racial and religious nation” and warned against communal violence.

There have been incidents of anti-Muslim riots in Myanmar even before the new regime of Thein Sein took control. For instance, in 1997 a curfew was imposed in Mandalay after riots erupted in the city following reports that a Muslim man had raped a Buddhist girl. However, outbreaks of violence have become more common, occurring within a few months of each other, under the government of Thein Sein.

Most of the violence during Thein Sein’ rule has occurred in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, which has left several dead and about 140,000 displaced, mainly stateless Rohingya Muslims. Violence has spread to other parts of Myanmar, including Meikhtila city, where 43 people died and 13,000 were rendered homeless in March 2013.

The Thein Sein government as part of the reform process lifted restrictions on freedom of speech, including access to the internet which had previously been tightly monitored by the military. During the junta rule, military control over communication was severe, disallowing the use of television, radio or internet to most of the population.

With the removal of these bans on access to communication, anti-social forces have utilized social media to pursue their sinister motives. This has fuelled communal tensions, leaving the country strife-torn and has also become a challenge for the Thein Sein government, making it tougher for it to pursue the reform process given that it is opening avenues for regressive forces to carry out their menacing motives.

With the democratic experiment still in its infancy, the episodes of violence seem to be unravelling without restraint, leaving the population of Myanmar at great mortal peril in a situation desperately calling out for redress.

(Obja Borah Hazarika is Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Dibrugarh University, Assam, and can be contacted at southasiamonitor1@gmail.com)

This article was published at South Asia Monitor.

The post Myanmar’s Buddhist-Muslim Clashes: Violence Unravelling Without Restraint – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

The days when Israel started murderous campaigns in Gaza in order to terrify and layout its conditions on Palestinians in general and resistance groups in particular are a thing of the past.

The recent ceasefire offer mediated by Sisi’s Egypt that Hamas unequivocally refused has many ramifications for Netanyahu and his right wing government and for the coup leader turned president Abdul Fattah Sisi.

Before discussing what the duo has lost, it is important to summarize Hamas’s achievements that have changed the equation upside down.

Hamas’s firepower that reaches as far as the tip of Northern Israel is one of the most notable advances made by resistance groups in Gaza; firepower that most likely was gained during the presidency of Mohammed Mursi. Not only do the rockets go further than ever, they are far more accurate and do pose a serious challenge to the so-called Iron Dome.

Hamas’s unmanned planes, however, seem to have been the catalyst to Netanyahu’s hasty acceptance of the Egyptian mediation about which Hamas was not even consulted. The ability to send unmanned planes into the depth of Israel is an achievement that both Israel and Sisi’s Egypt cannot take lightly.

While the rockets might be not fully accurate, the ability to send a plane into Israel and have a clear aerial view must make Israel truly nervous. Unmanned planes, besides gathering intelligence, render the wall dividing Gaza and the Zionist state a big joke. Now, at least in theory, Hamas can hit targets that it chooses. The planes themselves are still somewhat primitive but many respectable experts in the field say that improving their capabilities is a real possibility.

Hamas’s ability to infiltrate an Israeli television broadcast and project a message that says that your children’s blood is no more valuable than that of our children summarizes the new reality very accurately. The ability of Hamas not only to make unmanned planes and longer range rockets coupled with electronic advances such as sending mass threatening messages to Israeli citizens in one instance and then to thirty thousands Israeli officers in another, are good indicators that Hamas is advancing in many facets.

Hamas does promise that if Israel continues its attacks on the innocent of Gaza, it will be met with more surprises from the resistance movements. We all know by now that promises made by Hamas are far more credible than promises made by the Israeli government.

Hamas’s refusal to the ceasefire offer stems from its confidence that it does indeed has some strong cards to play. Hamas simply can’t afford to refuse such an offer if it is not confident that it has in its arsenal what will teach Israel a few more lessons. If that is not the case then Hamas risks loosing the support of the very people who are receiving the brunt of the Jewish’s state rampage, the Palestinian people.

The main losers of this refusal are of course the very people who wished to use it as a way out of the predicament they placed themselves into. Abdul Fattah Sisi hoped that Israel was en route to giving the knockout punch to the Jihadi movements in Gaza and thus take out or weaken the ally of his major challenger within Egypt – the brotherhood – stand as a major looser. The other wish of Sisi was that by intervening at this point he was going to strongly place himself as a respectable international mediator. Both of the objectives have eluded him and if Hamas continues to unleash more surprises and ends up imposing a ceasefire that meets its demands, then Sisi would have inadvertently strengthen not only Hamas but the Brotherhood would be emboldened.

As for Mr. Netanyahu, the losses are far bigger. He started a war that had no pretexts and promised his people – as he has many times before – that this time he was going to render Hamas unable to threaten Israel. But the unmanned planes and the long-range rockets are proving the exact opposite.

What he has managed to expose is that Hamas is far smarter. Hamas can, it seems, gather intelligence about Israel far better than Israel can on Hamas. The evidence is that the Mosad did not see all these capabilities before the attack on Gaza started. Also, for the first time, Hamas fires rockets into Israel while tens of Israeli aircrafts are flying above Gaza.

Hamas managed to do what no Arab country has, taking clear aerial videos of the Israeli landscape. That must make everyone in Israel and everyone opposing Hamas truly concerned. Israeli citizens must be reflecting on what happened in 2006 with their war with Hezbollah and as hard as stomaching that was, imagine having another force on the other side that could be as strong as Hezbollah. That of course doesn’t support Netanyahu’s claims that he is bombarding Gaza in order to enhance the security of his people.

Quite to the contrary, he has just exposed that the opposite is true; a week ago, Israelis had an image of weak Gaza and now they have an image of something far more superior. That image definitely doesn’t stand well with Israeli voters. In 2006 when Hezbollah was showering Northern Israel with rockets, many Israeli headed south. If Israelis imagine a day when Hamas manages to become the Hezbollah of Gaza where would Israelis of the South escape to; pondering on that cant possibly earn Mr. Netanyahu too many voters.

Netanyahu, being Netanyahu, his only option now is rampage. The killing will increase now and that will only lead to the boiling up of Arab’s main streets, will lead to more global sympathy and will just place the US into a very uncomfortable position given that it is destined to support Israel no matter how much blood it spills. That doesn’t work well even for the Americans.

After this war one of the new realities will be that it will be far more difficult for any side to sell the idea that Hamas and other resistance movements in Gaza are terrorists. Due to Hamas’s refusal, Israel’s bloody rampage is a given and that will further portray Hamas as a savior and as a hero. And in my books, heroes they are!

The views expressed are the author’s own, and do not represent those of Eurasia Review, but are published to represent another perspective to this complicated issue.

The post Netanyahu And Sisi Are Biggest Losers Of Hamas’ Refusal Of Ceasefire Offer – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By James Stafford

Much larger than Eagle Ford and once thought to have reached peak production, new technology has brought us full circle back to the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, where the recent shift to horizontal well drilling has rendered this play the unconventional ground zero.

Determining where the next real oil boom will be depends largely on following the technology, and while the Permian Basin has been slower than others to switch from vertical well drilling to horizontal drilling, horizontal has now outpaced vertical, and investors are lining up to get in on the game.

Until about 12 years ago, virtually all wells in the Permian were vertical. As of last fall, however, horizontal and directional rig counts—meaning, non-vertical drilling rigs—have now begun to exceed vertical, according to RBN Energy.

But what they’re also looking for are developers who are seeing strong economics in both vertical and horizontal wells. It’s all about balance, and this co-mingling of multiple zones, with the ability to complete both horizontal and vertical wells economically is the best bet for investors.

The Permian Basin now boasts the top rig count in the US. Just this week, the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the Permian Basin increased by to 560, according to the weekly rig count report released Thursday by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes.

What’s more, according to Bernstein Research, the Permian Basin will top the charts for North American spending growth in 2014, with an amazing 21% increase. And 2013 was already a stellar year for the Permian.

Permian production last year increased by 280,000 boe/d to 2.3 million boe/d, comprised of 1.4 million b/d of oil and 5.3 bcfd of gas, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

This technology has changed the way we think about the Permian Basin, once the darling of American oil production and then lost in the shadow of Eagle Ford and Bakken. While Eagle Ford and Bakken were viewed as the “bigger plays” at the start of the unconventional boom in the US due to the fact that new technology debuted here harder and faster, the Permian is back and it’s bigger than ever.

“The Permian Basin is much larger than the Eagle Ford play, and it also contains over 20 potentially productive zones, while Eagle Ford has only one zone,” Parker Hallam, CEO of Crude Energy—a small-cap company, not publicly traded, operating in the Permian, told Oilprice.com.

Hallam particularly noted the “excellent quality rock” in the Wolfcamp, Fusselman, Cline, Mississippian and Strawn zones.

“The Wolfcamp is one of the better producers in the Permian. It can be up to 1000 feet thick and is composed of multiple individual zones, several which could be production. Wolfcamp is attracting a lot of attention right now because of the horizontal drilling through the normally tight limestone,” he said.

Hallam also noted that while horizontal drilling is changing the future of the Permian Basin, “vertical completions using new technology like fracking and co-mingling multiple zones are turning out top results and drillers are seeing strong economics in these wells.”

Leading the pack in the Permian are Devon Energy Corp., Concho Resources, Pioneer Natural Resources and Chevron, with Wolfcamp probably the key focus of development activities, and the leading formation in terms of production increases. Devon in particular is being singled out by analysts for its large acreage in the Permian, couple with its transformative turnaround that could render it one of the largest crude oil producers in the US.

The only challenge with the Permian—which is on trend to see continual increases in production—is the pipeline takeaway capacity, according to RBN Energy. “The bottom line is that crude oil production in the Permian is growing rapidly, and today there is not enough pipeline takeaway capacity to efficiently handle the volume”, but that should correct itself soon with new pipelines coming online.

Bloomberg quoted Bruce Carswell, West Texas operations manager for Iowa Pacific Holdings, as saying that the forecast through July is that volumes are going to continue to move out of the region by rail.

The Permian Basin Petroleum Index, put out by Amarillo economist Karr Ingham, which examines several industry metrics to measure the health of the oil and gas business in the region, was almost 10 percent higher in May than a year earlier.

Regardless of pipeline capacity, Permian Basin crude is shaping up to be the next big oil boom thanks to new technology. Eagle Ford and Bakken became economical only after being drilled horizontally, so with the final shift to dominate horizontal drilling in the Permian, the game has only just begun.

Source: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Back-to-Permian-U.S.-Oil-Comes-Full-Circle.html

The post Looking For The Next Oil Boom? Follow The Tech – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Aftab Seth

Fifteen hundred years ago there was a meeting of minds between India and Japan. That sound spiritual foundation has been built upon steadily from the second half of the 19th century onwards.

The ‘40s saw a defeated Japan and a newly independent India; an India under Jawaharlal Nehru, which was convinced that every effort needed to be made to rehabilitate Japan in the comity of nations in general and in Asia in particular.

In Southeast and East Asia, Japan carried a good deal of historical baggage stemming from cruelties perpetrated by Japanese armed forces, during the early and middle of the 20th century: the period during which Korea was a colony [1910 to 1945], China was the object of exploitation and conquest [1931 till 1945] and other Southeast Asian countries were under occupation after the start of the Pacific War in 1939-1941.

Even though India was briefly under attack by the Imperial Japanese forces there was no major damage and no major conflict on land or at sea during the Second World War. Our relationship has thus been free of the historical baggage and bitter memories that have marked Japan’s relations with many other Asian countries.

Our relations in the 21st century have leap-frogged many decades lost on account of misconceptions on both sides, about the ideological underpinnings of our respective foreign policies. While India was the first country to receive Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 1958, Cold War realities continued to keep our two Asian democracies apart for the best part of the 20th century.

The nuclear tests of 1974, and especially the blasts of 1998, caused a major rift between the two nations, fuelled by the nuclear allergy of Japan, which is unique in being the only nation to have suffered atomic bombing of two of its cities in August 1945.

Prime ministerial visits no doubt took place, despite these obstacles to a close political relationship, throughout the 1950s, 60s ,70s and 80s. Notable among these were the visits exchanged between prime minister Nehru and Nobuske Kishi in the 50s. [Kishi is the grandfather of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.] In the 60s, 70s and 80s, prime ministers Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P.V. Narasimha Rao travelled to Japan, and in the reverse direction, Eisaku Sato and Yasuhiro Nakasone travelled to India.

In 1990, prime minister Toshiki Kaifu paid a visit to India. He was the last Japanese prime minister to come to India in that decade. May 1998 and the Pokharan blasts led to a freezing of the relationship, a suspension of fresh ODA and degree of uncharacteristically bitter criticism from Japan.

Through the intervention of men like George Fernandes, defence minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, and his Japanese counterpart Hosei Norota and other well-wishers on both sides, a thaw set in by November 1999, leading eventually to the path-breaking visit of prime minister Yoshiro Mori in August 2000.

Even though sanctions imposed were not lifted on that occasion, a Global Partnership for the 21st Century between India and Japan was announced by Vajpayee and Mori. This signalled the start of a new era of closer cooperation. It was two months before the equally significant return visit of Vajpayee to Japan in December 2001, that the sanctions imposed in May 1998 were finally removed.

Defence cooperation, especially in the area of maritime security, dates from this period. Junichiro Koizumi, who succeeded Mori as prime minister in April 2001, made another major breakthrough on the economic front during his April 2005 visit, by signing with then prime minister Manmohan Singh the agreement to develop the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) as a flagship of bilateral cooperation.

The detailed agreement on this DMIC project was signed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Delhi in August 2007. However, even before Abe’s visit and his address to our parliament in August 2007, prime minister Manmohan Singh had been to Japan in December 2006, to expand and extend our Global Partnership to a ‘Global and Strategic Partnership’. 2007 therefore witnessed naval exercises jointly with Japan and trilaterally with the USA as well.

By 2007 the system of annual exchange of summit meetings had been established. From that year onwards this unique tradition shared by India with Japan has been adhered to punctiliously, a level of exchange which we have with only one other country which is Russia. The last year has witnessed a quantum leap in our relationship: the November 2013 visit to India of Their Imperial Majesties, the Emperor and Empress, after an interval of over half a century was a clear signal from the Japanese political establishment that India was a special partner of Japan.

The Imperial family’s foreign visits are meant to convey important political messages, and the message to India was quite clear. Further evidence of our growing partnership was provided by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit as our chief guest at the Republic Day in 2014. It was agreed, inter alia, to work on joint development of the Northeast of India where we share sensitive borders with Burma and China. This was in an important sense, a mark of the confidence reposed in Japan.

The willingness to consider cooperation in the area of amphibious aircraft was another symbolic statement of the growing degree of mutual trust in the bilateral relationship. While China is the biggest trade partner of India and also of Japan, both countries have differences with China on critical territorial and maritime border issues. This security challenge posed by a rapidly rising China in such matters is viewed with equal degrees of concern in both Japan and India.

The potential for growth in trade and investment between India and Japan, presently at about $20 billion with the balance heavily in Japan’s favour, is great and remains to be tapped by concerted efforts by the companies of both countries.

The forthcoming visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2014, therefore, will be an important link in a chain going back centuries; though in recent times the watershed can be traced to the year 2000 and Mori’s historic journey to India. It is hoped that this visit will see forward movement in significant areas: joint development of our Northeast, to link up effectively with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries; cooperation in the field of defence equipment, such as the amphibious aircraft which have civil and military applications, and the ongoing negotiations on nuclear energy for civil uses.

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement of February 2011, which envisages lowering of tariff barriers in a fixed time frame and easier movement of people and specialised workers, also needs to be pursued with vigour. If this forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Modi is able to move forward on these important areas, we would see a further strengthening of the unshakeable bonds that link our two great Asian democracies.

(Aftab Seth is a former Indian ambassador to Japan. He can be contacted atsouthasiamonitor1@gmail.com)

This article appeared at South Asia Monitor.

The post Modi’s Visit To Japan: An Important Link In Chain Going Back Centuries – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Arik Air, the largest and fastest growing airline in Nigeria, is to adopt leading multinational consultancy and technology firm Indra’s ARACS revenue accounting system.

The technology firm will provide support for the Nigerian airline’s ambitious growth plans, while installing a system that provides more information and greater control over its finance, management and operational processes. In addition, the project will cover BPO, infrastructure management, maintenance and technological support services during an initial period of two years.

Indra’s system includes the sales, flown ticket, apportionment and revenue accounting modules. Likewise, it also features the ARACS SIS version, which was the first solution on the market that allows any airline to comply with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) SIS (Simplified Interline Settlement) regulations.

Indra’s ARACS solutions are the result of over 20 years of experience in the sector and a solid alliance with the IATA as one of its strategic partners. They represent a unique business solution developed to integrate revenue and reimbursement sources with flight information. Airlines can optimize their revenue accounting operations and become more efficient in the allocation of resources thanks to the solution’s functionalities.

Indra, chaired by Javier Monzón, is Spain’s number 1 consulting and technology multinational and one of the main multinationals in Europe and Latin America. Innovation and sustainability are the cornerstone of its business, having assigned over €570 million to R&D&I in the last three years, a figure that places it among the top European companies in its sector in terms of investment. With approximate sales of €3,000 M, 61% of its sales revenue is from the international market. It has 42,000 employees and customers in over 138 countries.

The post Nigerian Airline Arik To Implement Indra’s Revenue Accounting System appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Harun ur Rashid

Bangladesh went to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague on 08 October 2009 seeking judgment under the dispute clause of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The submission of documents and oral hearings from both India and Bangladesh was concluded in December 2013 and the Court officially conveyed the result to both parties on 7 July 2014.

The judgment is final and cannot be appealed against. Among the five arbitrators only the Indian arbitrator delivered a dissenting judgment. India accepted the judgment and reportedly said that the judgment would further enhance goodwill between the two countries by putting an end to a long standing issue. It went in favour of Bangladesh because Bangladesh has been awarded 19,467 sq km of the total 25,602 sq km sea area (76 per cent), leaving 6,135 sq km (24 per cent) to India. The judgment also allows Bangladesh a 200-mile exclusive economic zone, the continental shelf beyond the 200-mile economic zone and access to the open sea, thus preventing it from turning into a ‘sea-locked country’. Bangladesh’s awarded area reportedly includes 10 off-shore blocs in the west which were in dispute with India; 10 per cent of the six blocs went to India. It is noted that the disputed maritime area of 25,602 sq km in the Bay of Bengal with Bangladesh constitutes probably only about 3-5 per cent of the maritime area of India’s vast coastline, stretching east from the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and to the Arabian Sea in the west. For Bangladesh, the area in the west with India is 100 per cent because there is no other maritime area available for Bangladesh to its west and it is vital for Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal to have this area under its jurisdiction.

The first session on Indo-Bangladesh sea boundary talks took place in 1974 in Dhaka at the official level. Later, several meetings took place at the level of Foreign Secretaries. When the Foreign Secretaries could not resolve the differences because of the methods of delimiting the boundary between the two sides, it was elevated to the Foreign Ministers’ level in 1975 but remained inconclusive. It was reported that at the Commonwealth Summit in Jamaica in May 1975, Bangladesh President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman proposed arbitration to resolve the issue to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi but India rejected it. Although the sea boundary talks were renewed in 1978, 1982, 2008 (under the caretaker government), and in March 2009 under the Hasina government, it could not be resolved because of the differences over boundary delimitations. When the Hasina government found that the talks had stalled, it had no option but to look out for the involvement of a third party to resolve the dispute. Finally the Hasina government decided to lodge the dispute with the Court of Arbitration under Article 287 (the dispute machinery clause) of UNCLOS. India had ratified the UN Convention in 1995 and Bangladesh in 2001, and are both therefore bound by the provisions of the UNCLOS.

The judgment stands out for several following reasons. First, both Bangladesh and India have settled the maritime boundary through the legal mechanism under the UNCLOS, which demonstrates that the two countries are committed to the peaceful settlement of disputes. It is not a complete victory for Bangladesh because India has won on some issues. It is however a victory for fairness and justice. The judgment is a win for international law which both countries have always respected. Second, the judgment substantially contributes to the development of maritime international law. There was an apprehension among some jurists that judgment by the Court of Arbitration under UNCLOS would lead to the fragmentation of maritime law, but this has been found to be unfounded. Rather, the judgment reflects the great advantages of consistency and transparency by adhering to judicial precedents.

Third, the peaceful and amicable settlement of the maritime dispute between Bangladesh and India could be an example in the international arena at a time when in many parts of the world maritime disputes are emerging as major flash points. For example, in the South China Sea, disputed maritime boundaries between China and its neighbours, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, and in the East China Sea, between South Korea and Japan and Japan and China, are causing grave tension. Finally, the judgment may assist Bangladesh to concretise the Japanese proposal for a Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B) initiative with India and Myanmar for Japanese trade and investment. It can usher in a new era of cooperation between maritime neighbours in the Bay of Bengal.

Harun ur Rashid
Former Ambassador of Bangladesh to the UN, Geneva

The post India-Bangladesh: UNCLOS And The Sea Boundary Dispute – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Ravi Joshi

The idea of a ‘Nation-State’ – a political arrangement meant primarily to assure the safety and security of its people from within its borders and defend them against external aggression – has been the accepted entity, since the Peace of Westphalia (1648) till date. Interestingly, the Treaty of Westphalia put an end to sectarian wars fought between the Holy Roman Empire, the Hapsburgs and other Christian Kingdoms, such as France, Spain and Sweden.

The main tenets of the Peace of Westphalia were:

All parties would recognise the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, in which each prince would have the right to determine the religion of his own state, the options being Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism.

Christians living in principalities where their denomination was not the established church were guaranteed the right to practice their faith in public during allotted hours and in private at their will.

General recognition of the exclusive sovereignty of each party over its lands, people, and agents abroad, and each and several responsibility for the warlike acts of any of its citizens or agents. (Wikipedia).

Thus the birth of Nation-state began as an entity to protect and defend the religious rights of diverse sects within the same religion. The term ‘Nation -state’ includes a social phenomena and a legal entity. The ‘State’ is a sovereign legal entity with a clearly defined territory over which it exercises complete control and establishes relations with other states on an equal footing in the comity of nations. The term ‘Nation’ refers to a group of people living inside a well defined and accepted boundary with a shared history, be it mono-ethnic or multi-ethnic communities with diverse languages, cultures and religions. This Nation State strives to promote and sustain such diversity among its citizens.

No doubt this arrangement has its imperfections and several ethnic minorities living within its boundaries have sought independence and secession on grounds of repression or inadequate sharing of the common pie. Recent division of Yugoslavia into five different States on ethnic lines and now the troubles between Russian minorities and the Ukrainians in Ukraine (both these threats, incidentally, emerged after active support from other Nation-states in their neighborhood and from afar) and also the call for a referendum on Scottish independence are indicative of the challenges that the ‘Nation-states’ are facing in Europe. The other challenge is the trend of states coming together to form Confederations or Unions such as the European Union.

Historically speaking, the Nation State is an older political entity than the Islamic State, though there have been many Caliphates and Empires that espoused Islam as their religion and staunchly propagated it with brute force. The first Islamic State, in the 20th century, that was so formed with a deliberate intent is Pakistan in 1947, whereas the birth of Nation States is generally traced to the post-Napoleonic era in Europe. Of course, communities of people with diverse languages, religions, ethnicities, cultures and customs have lived together within a shared geographical boundary for centuries before the birth of Nation states. And some of these large ‘civilizational states’, such as China and India, have had no grave difficulty in becoming Nation states, as they got rid of their colonial rulers.

An ‘Islamic State’, some believe is a contradiction in terms, for they declare that Islam is an Ummah (a community of believers) that cannot be constricted by narrow confines of geography. This is evident in how the faithful protest right from Morocco to Malaysia, as one single community without borders, over an offensive cartoon of their Prophet.

Here, the State – the legal entity – is clearly subordinate to religion and it is expected to protect, defend and promote the religion. The State is an instrument for the service of its co-religionists and not for Kafirs, the non-believers.

How does such a State relate to Nation-states that are secular and how does it interact with others in the comity of nations? Often, Islamic States have become crusading States that propagate their brand of religious beliefs, even at the cost of undermining the security and stability of other states. In such a context, can an Islamic State be a Nation-State? Is it not time re-assert the principles of Westphalia and let each Sovereign country decide the religion of its own people and live in peace with others?

Returning to the birth of Pakistan, one must note that within the early years of its creation, its leaders fought over the identity of the country as to whether it should be a ‘State for Muslims of the Indian sub-continent’ or an ‘Islamic State’? The first position was clearly untenable as more Muslims stayed back in India than those that migrated and the latter notion remained an ideal to be achieved rather than an accomplished fact. And once the leaders decided to make it an Islamic Republic, two unexpected eventualities emerged. Firstly, the faith needed a defender and the Army took upon itself to be the ‘Guardians of the Faith’. Secondly, there emerged groups of religious fanatics who claimed to be ‘more Islamic than thou’. While the emergence of more and more fundamentalist interpreters of the Word of God was to be expected, the role of the Army came as a rude shock to the civilian leadership in Pakistan.

Interestingly, while the Armed forces in Egypt and Turkey have traditionally stood against the tide of religious fanaticism to protect and defend the notion of a secular State, the Pakistan Army propped up religious forces so as to get legitimacy from a source higher than the Constitution of the Republic. The Army’s 40-year old dalliance with the religious right has so endangered the Nation-state in Pakistan that today the Taliban have become defenders of the faith. In this context, can Pakistan remain a Nation state against the onslaught of an Islamic state remains to be seen. And should it not be held responsible for the warlike acts of its citizens and agents?

The other Islamic State that was so formed after a socio-political revolution that overthrew a dictator is the Islamic Republic of Iran. For most Westerners, the sight of an octogenarian Ayotallah descending from a plane and kissing the soil of Tehran, in September 1979 to the rapturous welcome by millions of Iranians, was the dreaded beginning of an Islamic State. Iran, unlike Pakistan, had no identity crisis. Once established, it became a crusader State. That’s what led to Henry Kissinger’s famous remark “Iran should be clear as to whether it wants to be an idea or a State”. It has taken a long while for Iran to clarify that, but now with President Rouhani they are realizing that it is better to be a State than an idea. And the idea is Islam.

Meanwhile, there are certain Kingdoms – a clear anachronism in the 21st century – which are using Islam not only to legitimize themselves in power but as a strategic force-multiplier to topple regimes that are not to their liking. They are sponsoring and funding extremist Islamist groups to undermine Nation-states and set-up Caliphates of Islam. Now, is the Caliphate a stage higher than the Islamic state? Well that’s what the soldiers of Islam firmly believe in. Presently, the path to this Caliphate is strewn with death and destruction. How should Nation-states respond to the Caliphates?

Do all states with Muslim majority have to be Islamic? Not necessarily so. Indonesia, a state with the largest Muslim population is not Islamic, nor is Malaysia, though it proclaims Islam as the State religion. Not even Bangladesh, in our own neighborhood, is an Islamic state. And all of them are multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-linguistic. This points to one simple conclusion, that if a country has a democratic polity, it is less likely to be Islamic.

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

The post Nation States, Islamic States And Caliphates – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Dr. Sanchita Bhattacharya

The act of condemning an individual or a particular group for following ‘certain religious practice’ in the name of kufr – blasphemy – has intensified the acts of violence in Pakistan.

In the latest blasphemy case the police in Jhang district of Punjab Province said on May 13 that they had filed blasphemy charges against a group of 68 lawyers. Reportedly the main architect behind the incident is Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, leader of the banned group Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, and the lawyers mostly belong to the Shia sect of Islam. Interestingly enough, Ludhianvi’s group was banned in the year 2012 and is infamous for inciting sectarian and extremist violence with its stronghold in Jhang district.

Lately, in Pakistan the ‘pretext’ of blasphemy is devised not only to persecute the religious minorities but also prominent political figures, as has been evident in the case of Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab, and Shahbaz Bhatti the then minister for minority affairs. Both were brutally murdered in 2011 for raising question on such violent acts.

During the year 2013, 19 cases for offences relating to religion were reported against 24 Muslim citizens. Five of the accused were charged under the blasphemy provision, 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). In addition a total of nine cases were lodged against 14 Christian citizens on religious grounds. Nine Christians were also arrested in these cases. Four Christians, including two women, were arrested for allegedly sending blasphemous messages. While one was awarded life imprisonment. Three Christians were sentenced to death upon conviction in two blasphemy cases.

The partial data provided by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) further states that in 2013, there were 275 such cases in Punjab, followed by 14 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and two in Balochistan. Moreover, according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Annual Report of 2014 at least 17 individuals are on death row and 19 more serving life sentences [for blasphemy]. Many others have been charged and await trial.

As is well evident from the above mentioned data, the targets in these cases of violence are mostly minorities both within and outside the realm of “Islam” often preached by the clerics to instigate and cause divide in already fragmented Pakistani society. Pakistan is one of more than 30 countries that have blasphemy laws, which are usually enacted under the auspices of promoting religious harmony.

However, human rights groups say the law, instead of promoting communal harmony, is frequently used to settle personal disputes, disproportionately targeting religious minorities – Christians, Hindus, or members of minority sects of Islam. According to the 2013 Asian Human Rights Commission Report, the known blasphemy cases in Pakistan show that from 1953 to July 2012, there were 434 offenders of blasphemy laws in Pakistan, and among them 258 were Muslims (Sunni/Shia), 114 Christians, 57 Ahmadis, and 4 Hindus.

Attacks on religious minorities have been exacerbated by Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which have fostered a climate of religiously-motivated violence and persecution. Accusations of blasphemy have frequently resulted in the murder of both Muslims and members of religious minorities. Since 1990, at least 60 people have been killed outside the Pakistani justice system in cases relating to blasphemy, according to the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).

In the initial phase of Pakistan as an independent state, there was no legal provision on religious discrimination. However, changes occurred during the military regime of Zia-ul-Haq (1978-1988) and accordingly, the Blasphemy Law was promulgated in 1985, and in 1990 the punishment of life imprisonment under this law, which sought to penalise irreverence towards the Holy Quran and insulting the Holy Prophet, was included.

In 1992, the government went a step ahead and introduced death penalty for a person guilty of blasphemy (strangely under the democratic government of Nawaz Sharif), under Article 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code. The law is very dangerous as blasphemy related “crime” does not require proof of intent or evidence to be presented after allegations are made and does not include penalty for false allegation.

Making the situation worse legally, in September 2013 the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) ruled that there is no need to amend the blasphemy law but its misuse needs to be stopped. The CII is a constitutional body that advises the legislature whether or not a certain law is repugnant to Islam. Tahir Ashrafi, a member of CII and also chairman of the Ulema Council of Pakistan, said: “We will not allow anyone to touch this (blasphemy) law”. Further in December 2013, the Federal Shariat Court ordered the government to delete life imprisonment as a punishment in blasphemy cases, stating that death was the only sentence in case of conviction and awarding any other punishment would be unlawful.

The blasphemy law, while purporting to protect Islam and religious sensitivities of the Muslim majority, is vaguely formulated and arbitrarily enforced by the police and judiciary in a way which amounts to harassment and persecution of religious minorities. The 2013 Asian Human Rights Commission Report further critically states that alleged incidents of blasphemy by religious minorities is often used to fuel mob violence, targeted sectarian killings, looting, burning of houses, burning of places of worship and holy books, land grabbing etc.

It won’t be inappropriate to say that the prevailing blasphemy law is consuming Pakistani society from within. In a way, these laws provide legitimacy to commit heinous crime and human rights violation in a country that is ranked 157 out of 162 countries in the 2013 Global Peace Index.

It is an all-purpose tool in the service of intolerance. The law has often been used against religious minorities, but Muslims are paying the price as well. Unfortunately, there is hardly any possibility to repeal the law.

(Dr. Sanchita Bhattacharya is Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management, New Delhi. She can be reached at southasiamonitor1@gmail.com)

This article appeared at South Asia Monitor.

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Known academic and dean of the School for Security Studies, Central University, Jammu, Dr Gopalji Malviya, has said that Article 370 is a burden on the people of Jammu and Kashmir which has been misused by successive State governments to stall the delivery of several public welfare initiatives of the Central Government.

Initiating a discussion on “Jammu & Kashmir: Evolving Scenarios” at the Chennai Chapter of Observer Research Foundation on July 5, 2014, Dr Malviya, a former Head of the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, the University of Madras, noted that addressing the issue of Jammu & Kashmir involved a lot of wading through micro-details in various ethnic and cultural scenarios apart from border and security issues.

“The ‘Jammu and Kashmir issue’ can never be settled in my lifetime or that of my grand-children or great grand-children,” remarked Dr Malviya, pointing out that the Article 370 of the nation’s Constitution was incorporated at the behest of then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, as if it were an after-thought. The record of the Constituent Assembly proceedings showed that Article 370 was not in keeping with the advice of the late V P Menon, the then Secretary, Ministry of States, and others.

Dr Malviya was generous in his critiquing of Article 370, stating that it had created a sense of “false prestige” in the minds of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He noted that the Article was a burden on the people of Jammu and Kashmir and that it was up to the people to free themselves from its tight-hold. He pointed out that successive State Governments have used/misused the Article to stall the welfare initiatives of the Central Government in the State.

According to Dr Malviya, the constant efforts by the State Government to negate the influence of the Central Government have been at the centre of the problem. With the result, several initiatives such as Sarvashiksha Abhyan have not been implemented properly in the State as a result of this constitutional provision. Be it Kendriya Vidyalaya, or allocation of land for undertaking development projects, including a modern airport in Jammu, for instance, were victims of the ‘protectionism’ that the State Government has derived from Article 370.

All this has been happening at a time when the State is caught in the throes of rampant poverty and corruption. The developmental machinery has ground to a halt in most sectors, owing to constant one-upmanship between the people of Jammu region and the Kashmir Valley to have ‘one of everything for their own’, not to mention the continuing unrest along the borders with both Pakistan and China. Dr Malviya said that there were villages in the State that have had no electricity or protected water supply, or mobile telephony. He attributed problems such as this to the aforesaid reasons and causes. In this context, he pointed to the existence of Ladakh, the third region in the troubled State, which has problems of its own.

In this context, the speaker said that the Centre’s pampering of the State in the form of additional/special subsidies has also influenced the attitude of the locals. They are thus hesitant to give up the special status provided by the Article 370. This has affected the wealth-generating potential of the State, not to mention the fact that the living-standard of the people has remained low for several decades.

In spite of several commissions looking into the issue of Article 370 — its abrogation or revamp — no clear solution could be reached. He also felt that owing to the sensitive nature of the issue, no government at the Centre has ever taken a clear stand on revamping the provisions of the article 370 or its abrogation. Either way, whenever the issue is flagged the situation would escalate to a further complication, and is dropped.

Infighting among the ethnics

Dr Malviya pointed out that no other State in the country had two ethnically-different regions linked to by language as ‘Jammu and Kashmir’. He noted that when it came to the State of J&K, there are not just two but three regions that are involved -Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. According to him, there is always a feeling of mistrust among the people of the three different regions. Hence the burden of satisfying all three regions equally has always been the primary concern of policy-planners.

The speaker noted that within each of these regions, there were dozens of militant outfits with varying ideologies, ranging from pro-India to pro-Pakistan to ‘separate Kashmir’, which in turn has complicated the “peace process”. Dr. Malviya steered clear of all points that related to internationalising the Kashmir issue.

According to Dr Gopalji Malviya, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act has created a lot of complications for the Defence forces stationed in the State. The negative propaganda has rendered the image of the armed forces in poor light among the locals. This has put the security of their personnel and installations at risk. Regular instances of stone-pelting at armed forces’ personnel have created quite a nuisance but without being able to initiate any action to stop them. People are being paid to indulge in stone-pelting, he said.

To add to the miseries of these personnel, due to the negligence of the State Government, there are no standard amenities such as schools. This is mainly because the State Government often cites powers under Article 370 and refuses to allocate the required land and extend other facilities that counterparts do elsewhere in the country.

The State’s political class has come to believe that it is in such matters that they needed to assert their ‘special status’ under Article 370. Power outages are a constant cause of inconvenience. The people most affected by this are the wives and children of the armed forces personnel, not to leave out the local populace, many of whom do not even know what they have been missing compared to brethren in other parts of the country, Dr Malviya said.

Dr Malviya suggested that an amicable solution could be found only if the attitudes and mindsets of the people changed. In the interim, he suggested that if the administration of the State was trifurcated and if each of the three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh were administered separately, the problems could be mitigated to an extent. He concluded the discussion by talking about the US stand on the ‘Kashmir issue’ and how the Americans played games out there. The discussion was chaired by Rear-Admiral (Retd) Mohan Raman.

(This report was prepared by Gururag Kalanidhi, B.Tech Chemical Engineering, St Joseph’s College of Engineering, Chennai)

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By Namrata Hasija

India and Taiwan do not share a very long historical relationship. Their ties go back to the colonial era when president Chiang Kai-shek visited India in 1942 and met Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

With the establishment of Communist rule in mainland China, the relationship became complex. India recognised the People’s Republic of China, and thus had no diplomatic relations with Taiwan for a long time. Formal ‘unofficial’ relations were established between the two countries in 1995. India set up the India-Taipei Association (ITA) in Taipei in 1995, and a few months later Taiwan opened the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre (TECC) in New Delhi. India took this initiative as part of its Look East Policy and Taiwan took the opportunity to strengthen its position and end its isolation through a pragmatic foreign policy.

Nearly two decades have passed since the establishment of India-Taiwan relations and it is imperative to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of this relationship as well as its dynamics, in the context of the change in the Indian government.

Relations between the two countries have progressed in the field of economic, industrial, trade and education cooperation. In 2001, the total trade volume was US$1.19 billion and it rose to $6 billion in 2013. Taiwan has established 90 companies in India and its FDI has accumulated $1.5 billion in India. The Ministry of Education (MOE) provides scholarship to Indian students to study Mandarin in Taiwan. China Steel Corporation’s factory in Gujarat and the India Synthetic Rubber Ltd – a joint venture between IndianOil Corporation Ltd, Taiwan Synthetic Rubber Corporation (Taiwan) and Marubeni (Japan) – are the latest trends in India’s business environment.

The two countries are also looking at signing a Free Trade Agreement. The Chung-Hua Institution of Economic Research (CIER) and the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) conducted a joint feasibility study on a FTA/ECA (economic cooperation agreement). China Airlines started a direct flight between New Delhi and Taipei in 2003. It has symbolic value as it established direct air contact between Taiwan and India.

However, despite this the relationship between the two countries has not progressed much due to the inherent problems in its foundation. China is the major hurdle — neither India nor Taiwan wants to antagonize China. India in fact has been more cautious than Taiwan; In the words of former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, “Establishing a relationship with Taiwan should not spoil our relationship with PRC, which is far more important than the ROC (Republic of China) to the Indian establishment.”

Though the purpose of an Indian centre in Taiwan was purely for economic reasons, the fear of China was a shadow over India’s relationship with Taiwan. Though Taiwan offered to establish military and strategic cooperation to counter China in the region, especially during the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rule, India did not show much keenness.

Taiwan’s vice president, Annette Lu, wanted to visit the earthquake-affected people of Gujarat in 2001 with relief material worth more than US$1 million. New Delhi did not permit her to do so fearing the People’s Republic of China’s reaction. This is contrary to the policies of China which is openly trying to make footprints in South Asia. India has called itself a South Asian power instead of an Asian power, and China has been challenging that also with its gestures towards Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.

India could utilize its relations with Taiwan to formulate its policies towards the PRC. Our policy makers and strategic analysts could benefit out of their knowledge in making a sound China policy. Secondly, India has an expertise in software, and our companies are looking for markets abroad and if we can marry this with Taiwanese expertise in hardware this venture would be beneficial to both countries.

India could also promote and fund students undertaking Mandarin studies in Taiwan as reading Chinese language materials to understand China is important, especially to those undertaking serious research on China. The English and Chinese language media in China take different stands on the same issue. For example, the English language media expressed that the relations between the two countries would improve with Narendra Modi coming to power and praised Modi, comparing him to American president Richard Nixon. However, the Chinese language media pointed out a different stance – that Modi has no other option than implementing economic cooperation as India must recognise China’s superiority in Asia both economically and militarily. Thus, to understand Chinese thinking on issues one must be able to comprehend the Chinese language.

Both countries can also engage in information sharing and cooperation to resist China’s cyber attacks. India should also understand that stability of the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea is very important for its trade interests, and it should promote a peaceful solution to regional disputes and safeguard freedom of navigation.

India should stop looking at Taiwan through a Chinese prism and strengthen its relations with Taiwan. With the coming of a strong government in India and strong signals being sent to China by Prime Minister Modi, a new chapter could be forged in India’s relations with Taiwan.

(Namrata Hasija is Research Associate, Centre for China Analysis and Strategy. She can be contacted at southasiamonitor1@gmail.com)

This article was published at South Asia Monitor.

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(EurActiv) — The ‘Spitzenkandidat’ of the centre-right EPP group Jean-Claude Juncker has been elected today (15 July) to lead the European Commission from 1 November, with a massive vote from MEPs, with the Socialists and the Liberals praising the many openings he made in his election speech towards their own political priorities.

The European Parliament confirmed Juncker as European Commission President, by 422 votes in favour out of 729. He needed at least 376. 250 MEPs voted against, 47 abstained and 10 votes were considered invalid.

In his speech preceding the vote, Juncker himself said he had tried to be “as ecumenical as possible” by presenting to the European Parliament his project for priorities of the European Commission for the next five years.

In particular, the group of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) praised the fact that he put a figure on his plan to boost the EU’s economy and create jobs.

Juncker said that within the first three months of his mandate, he would present “a Jobs, Growth and Investment Package” to generate an extra € 300 billion in investment over the next three years, a statement saluted by S&D leader Gianni Pittella.

At certain points, Juncker, who in his capacity has been part of the decision-making addressing the Eurozone crisis, appeared self-critical and a proponent of a more socially-oriented approach to the effort to impose austerity on overspending economies.

Juncker said that the rescue of the euro “was necessary, but was weak on the social side”.

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(EurActiv) — The French Ministry for Finance wants to increase the regulation of virtual currencies, in an attempt to fight financial crime. EurActiv France reports.

Tracfin, France’s anti-money laundering unit, published a report on 11 July calling for greater regulation of virtual currencies, the most famous of which is Bitcoin, and to make their use is more transparent.

Bitcoin is a way of making transactions that bypasses the banking sector, and according to the authors of the report, it makes it easier to launder money and cover up illegal activity. In order to reduce these risks, the report proposes to limit virtual currency flows and the anonymous status of users. It also wants a cap on the amounts used to carry out electronic payments.

“It poses a risk to users and the security of the financial system” said Jean-Baptiste Carpentier, director of Tracfin, claiming that Bitcoins can be used to launder money and commit fraud.

According to the report, there are two bitcoin distributors in France but others on the horizon. On 2 and 3 July, French authorities arrested three people suspected of running an illegal Bitcoin trading network. This was the first arrest of its kind in Europe.

User-protection above all

The Ministry says that virtual currencies emerge from technological challenges and a distrust of the traditional financial sector. “These currencies are quickly emerging from the shadows and are not just for geeks,” said Michel Sapin, French Minister of Finance.

However, the “Bitcoin” phenomenon is still a small player on global financial markets. It is currently valued at between $5 and $8 billion. “It is a large amount in absolute terms […], but it is still tiny on the scale of major currencies’ money supply which is counted in thousands of billions,” said Sapin, adding that “there is over €900 billion worth of coins and banknotes in circulation alone”.

In March 2014, France’s then-Minister of Finance, Pierre Moscovici, called on his European counterparts to put Bitcoin on the EU agenda.

Moscovici’s priorities were twofold. He wanted to protect users from financial and judicial problems, and tackle illicit use of virtual currencies to carry out fraud, launder money and even fund terrorism.

EU suspicious of “bitcoin” phenomenon

On 4 July, the European Banking Authority (EBA) discouraged European financial institutions from buying, holding or selling virtual currencies while the market was still not regulated. According to the EBA, the risks are greater than the potential benefits of faster and cheaper transactions. The EBA called for the regulation of virtual currencies and backed the “creation of ‘scheme governing authorities’ accountable for the integrity of a particular virtual currency scheme and its key components.”

After the EBA’s announcement, the EU Commission said it would examine ways of introducing greater regulation to the sector, particularly in order to fight financial crime.

“It is imperative to act quickly on the issue. The potential for money laundering and to fund terrorism is too great to ignore,” said Chantal Hughes, spokesperson of Michel Barnier, the Internal Market Commissioner.

According to Michel Sapin, EU ministers of finance agreed to focus on virtual currencies. “There is convergence between European ministers of finances.” The French Ministry hopes to reach a European agreement before 2015 so that virtual currencies are not subject to VAT and avoid incorrect reimbursements, as was the case with carbon credits.

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An inconclusive presidential election based on quick count results reflects the new uncertainty in Indonesia. The next big fight now building up is for the control of Golkar, the second largest party. Will a restructuring of the political landscape lead to stronger government?

By Yang Razali Kassim

INDONESIA’S NEW period of uncertainty following its most intensely-fought presidential election is moving into a combative phase of political manouverings. This is happening even as the unofficial quick count results by private polling companies are leading to intense controversy.

While all parties are showing restraint as they brace for the tussle ahead, tensions are simmering below the surface. Security authorities are on the highest alert, with orders to shoot rioters on sight. Until official results are released on 22 July 2014, Southeast Asia’s largest country will be on tenterhooks as the rival contenders press their competing claims of victory based on the inconclusive quick counts.

The political manouverings begin

The first shot at political manoeuvring post-election was fired by the Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla side who are forecast by several survey groups to win the presidential election. Kalla predicted soon after the election that Golkar – which supported the rival team of Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa – would splinter and lead to a change in the political landscape.

Golkar, the second largest party, is already coming under intense pressure from manoeuvres to replace its chairman, Aburizal Bakrie, and pave the way for Golkar’s defection to the Joko-Kalla coalition. There is one fundamental reason why Joko-Kalla are eager to support this and bring about this political realignment.

The Joko-led coalition is actually a minority alliance of four parties, which won about 40 percent of the popular vote, translating into 207 seats in the 560-seat incoming parliament (DPR). The new House will be dominated by the Prabowo-Hatta coalition whose six partners collectively won 60 percent of the popular vote and control 353 DPR seats. Should Joko be confirmed the official winner by the General Election Commission (KPU) on 22 July 2014, the cabinet that he will have to quickly form will be a minority government.

It is therefore crucial for Joko to expand the ruling coalition by bringing in at least one more party. And that will be Golkar, followed possibly by the Muslim-based PPP. The strategy is to win Golkar over through a combination of carrots, arm twisting and internal pressure. Its leader, Aburizal Bakrie, is especially vulnerable as within Golkar, he is seen to have failed on at least two counts:

The first is Golkar’s inability under him to win the April parliamentary polls, even losing 15 seats from the 106 in 2009 to 91 in the incoming parliament. The second is his inability to win support to be a presidential or vice-presidential candidate despite securing the mandate from Golkar. Should Prabowo, whom Bakrie supports, fail to be declared the official winner on 22 July, this will become the third arrow against Bakrie.

Pro-Kalla politicians who have switched to Joko prior to the presidential election will likely team up with their allies within Golkar to accelerate the end of Bakrie’s term as chairman. This will pave the way for Golkar’s entry into the Joko-led coalition, leading to a clutch of Golkar leaders being offered seats in the Joko cabinet.

Joko’s forward strategy

It is important to remember than Kalla was once Golkar chairman and his residual influence within the party is not insignificant. He would need a political machinery to back him – and Golkar would be a natural fit. Golkar’s inclusion will strengthen a Joko government, which will be under strong public pressure to deliver. It is therefore only to be expected that Joko-Kalla will want to see a weakened Prabowo-led alternative coalition.

Meanwhile Golkar members disgruntled with Bakrie’s support for Prabowo-Hatta have not wasted time to build up pressure for a Golkar leadership change in time for the formation of the new cabinet by Joko-Kalla soon after the new president is sworn in in October.

The likely successors include Agung Laksono, an outgoing coordinating minister; Fahmy Idris, a former minister and strong Kalla supporter; and Agus Kartasasmita, a young turk who switched to Kalla and was sacked for it. Agus is the son of Ginandjar Kartasasmita, a senior Golkar leader and former minister. Significantly, Agung Laksono has openly declared that Golkar could change direction.

If they fail to win over Golkar, Joko-Kalla will have to fight it out in parliament. Many plans promised by Joko in his presidential campaign could be blocked in the Prabowo-controlled parliament. Eventually, the Joko government could fail… This alternative scenario is not unlikely because Bakrie has also said openly that Golkar under him would not betray its coalition partners. Indeed, the plan by Prabowo and Bakrie is to build a strong, permanent coalition in the new parliament.

But this is precisely why the pro-Kalla forces within and outside Golkar are eager to see Bakrie go. The question is how to minimise his resistance. This is where Bakrie could probably be given a “soft landing” through a deal of some sort. Clearly, over the next two months, Golkar will be highly restive.

The big picture

What is now happening is not without precedent. In the 2004 presidential election when Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono contested and won, Kalla was his vice-presidential running mate. Golkar replaced its leader Akbar Tanjung with Kalla through a national congress following Kalla’s successful election. In a similar scenario this time, Kalla may not return as Golkar chairman but appoint a loyalist instead. For this scenario to come about, the controversy over the conflicting claims of victory caused by the quick count results must first be resolved. Otherwise, the latent disgruntlement since the 9 July election will boil over. Indonesia does not need another period of instability as its economy cannot afford this. ASEAN also needs a stable and economically growing Indonesia to be the anchor of the ASEAN Economic Community which will be ushered in next year – coinciding with the ascent of Indonesia’s new president.

Yang Razali Kassim is a Senior Fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.

The post Indonesia’s Presidential Election 2014: Enter The Next Big Fight – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Just imagine if in the space of 12 hours there were 25 bomb attacks in Israel and five people were killed.

In the United States, the cable news networks would devote round-the-clock coverage to the “terrorist bloodbath” (or whatever other sufficiently dramatic branding they chose) and this would go down as an important date in history.

But when the dead are Palestinians, it’s a completely different story.

The New York Times reports that last night was:

… a relatively quiet night, in which the Israeli military bombed 25 sites in Gaza, killing five Palestinians in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, according to the Gaza Health Ministry; about 1,400 others have been wounded.

Ashraf al-Qedra, the Health Ministry spokesman, and local journalists said that Ismail and Mohammed Najjar, relatives in their 40s who worked as guards on agricultural land in a former Israeli settlement in Khan Younis, were killed early Tuesday. In Rafah, drone strikes killed Atwa al-Amour, a 63-year-old farmer, and Bushra Zourob, 53, a woman who was near the target, a man on a motorbike, who was wounded.

Perhaps reporters Jodi Rudoren and Anne Barnard are employing Benjamin Netanyahu’s novel definition of quietness, that being: the silence that follows explosions.

The Israeli prime minister said:

[I]f Hamas does not accept the cease-fire proposal, as it looks now, Israel will have all the international legitimacy in order to achieve the desired quiet.

So far Israel has launched 1,609 air strikes, detonating hundreds of tons of explosives in order to create quietness.

The post A ‘Quiet Night’ In Gaza? Just Five Deaths And 25 Sites Bombed – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Irfan Mohammed

Cleaners at the Grand Mosque in Makkah are facing tough time cleaning the mosque’s courtyard because of the large amount of food brought in by visitors to break their fast.

Speaking on the issue, an official at the mosque, said: “Pilgrims and visitors at the Grand Mosque don’t need to bring in their own food as authorities are supplying over a million iftar packs to them daily,” adding that large quantities of food and beverages into the Grand Mosque hamper cleaners from doing their job.

Abdullah Al-Tamih said: “Leftovers and plastic disposables were also posing a difficulty to other worshippers and pilgrims.”

The official advised visitors to deposit their belongings in safe lockers located outside the Grand Mosque, “which are secured with electronic locks and available in different sizes according to the needs of visitors.”

Pilgrims sitting idly in the courtyards of the Grand Mosque hamper the movement of those coming and going to the toilets, he said. He highlighted a number of other issues related to the maintenance of the mosque, including the wastage of zam zam water by pilgrims and the empty cups lying all over the courtyards when there are several bins available for the purpose.

“Owing to the huge crowds present at the Grand Mosque in the evenings, 500 professional employees have been assigned to supervise the cleaning operation immediately after the iftar is over,” he added.

The post Saudi Arabia: Food Banned Inside Grand Mosque appeared first on Eurasia Review.

A lawsuit charges that a Colorado Planned Parenthood affiliate failed to recognize and report the sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl by her stepfather when its staff performed an abortion on her and put her on birth control at the stepfather’s request.

The pro-life group Operation Rescue made the legal complaint public last week.

Operation Rescue president Troy Newman praised the girl’s mother, who filed the suit, citing “her brave stand to hold Planned Parenthood accountable for their crime against her daughter.”

Newman said July 11 that the legal complaint shows that Planned Parenthood is dedicated to “selling abortion.”

The lawsuit charges that Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains and four staffers showed “multiple failures” to ask how the minor became pregnant or to ask what her relationship was to her stepfather, who brought her for an abortion at a Denver abortion clinic.

The lawsuit was filed in June in Denver District Court on behalf of the girl, known as “R.Z.”, and the girl’s mother, who both live in the Denver suburb of Federal Heights.

The lawsuit says Planned Parenthood ignored “numerous indications” that the teen had been sexually abused.

According to the lawsuit, the girl had been sexually abused by her stepfather for about seven years. The stepfather verbally and physically abused the girl and her mother. He took the girl for an abortion in May 2012 after giving her a pregnancy test.

The suit alleges that Planned Parenthood staffers knew the pregnant teen girl’s age and that she had a different last name than her stepfather.

It also alleges that staffers did not contact the girl’s mother or law enforcement or child services, even though suspected sexual abuse of a child must be reported under state law.

The Planned Parenthood clinic allegedly administered “a long-term and undetectable form of birth control to the girl despite her fear of needles, all of which enabled the man to continue his years of sexual abuse of the girl without discovery or consequence.”

The suit said that the abortion clinic also failed to comply with state requirements that required it to send written notice of the abortion to the girl’s parents.

The girl told her mother about the sexual abuse in July 2012. The mother took the girl to the hospital, where she learned her daughter was on birth control. She later learned her daughter had been taken for an abortion.

The stepfather pleaded guilty to two felony counts of sexual abuse in late 2012, the Washington Times reports.

Marie Logsden, vice president of communications at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, declined to comment on the case, citing privacy laws and the organization’s “long-standing commitment to quality and confidentiality.”

She said Planned Parenthood staff comply with all state and federal laws and receive extensive and regular training, the Washington Times says.

In other states, pro-life investigative reporting groups such as Live Action have filmed undercover video at Planned Parenthood clinics showing that some staffers do not comply with various state reporting laws intended to protect minors who are seeking abortions.

The post Colorado: Suit Claims Planned Parenthood Ignored Sex Abuse appeared first on Eurasia Review.