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Bosnia And Herzegovina And XXI Century: Medium – School – Individual – Heritage – Medium

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(A paper presented at the Symposium on National Strategies for the protection and restoration of cultural heritage in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, July 5th, 2001)

Thirteen-13[1] years[2] ago I wrote and published in the Magazine for Education, Science and Culture of MOST[3] in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina an essay which was focused on unifying diversity within the cultural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The sad and tragic conclusion is that none of the above, except for “surface mining”[4], is realized. Therefore, I am repeating that essay. And I will continue to do so. Until Judgment day:

When we speak about cultural heritage in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its protection, an indispensable item is certainly the media, i.e. all forms of immediate communication within one society. Generally looking, a mass media that is focused not only towards informing, but also towards educating the human mind must have a significant role in the protection of cultural and historical treasures of BiH. Bearing in mind the fact that in the years we have left behind, video, audio and written media had a retrograded role in guiding the people of this area with the aim of satisfying their needs, let’s say, of “nationalism”, the word that was raised on a pedestal of human manipulation feeding itself on destruction of others and different ones, and often all that is good within its own habits that can be openly titled as self identity of own being.

Mentioning media as one direct and immediate form of manipulation of human souls, in this time and space that we call ours, we cannot find “modus vivendi” for the use of the best assumptions of using of media – use for educational purposes. Because mass media is not just the means of public communication, the media is all of us because if we are using MPC[5] as extended arm of human communication we need to focus on the individual who, through interaction with others, exchange information, takes over the feed-back, creating a picture about things that are of his interest. But what is an extremely neglected spectrum within Bosnia and Herzegovina is, surely, the work with future generations, generations that we must raise and education towards the orientation that fits on one country should be built taking into account the understanding of not only the historical moment in which we live right now, but also taking into account the so-called “the memories of the past” inscribed in characters, works and monuments which marked epochs before us. Of course, we cannot deny what is really the part of the quality within the education system and refers to the study of parts of the history, part of which deals with “the memories of the past“. Yes, the memories of the past and perhaps it sounds a little but rugged, but the truth is always painful as dealing with history in this region, and especially dealing with cultural heritage, at least for now, has always been burdened with everyday politics needs of those in power. With minimum focus they practiced a comprehensive analysis of the rich heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina area being focused only, ad-hoc, only towards their narrow-pragmatic-political-national interest.

And because of that, new generation deserves a better and clearer picture of everything including the full assumption of heritage. No, I do not want to advocate for a new course/subject in school which would deal only with that aspect of education, but I would like to advocate for use of existing human and material resources which should be aimed towards building of lost awareness of the cultural heritage of the area. Yes, because it is necessary to awaken the memories of all the good times from the past when there were institutions-wide on the state level which took care about the heritage of the local people(all of them). Someone will say: We have them now, don’t we? I will answer with counter-question: Would we be here and now like this if that is functional? However, the methodological question ….. HOW? … Imposes duties for all of us to try to shape that up. And here we come to the media in which we have to include all forms of communication despite the education of young generations with the help of the school system. I will return to it, but to name a few forms of direct/immediate communication: All forms of written materials which are, on everyday basis, bombed through marketing messages, billboards, logos of all kinds and even on ordinary lighters, etc. .; and most important form of globalization of the communication – the Internet – a place where everything becomes possible – Simultaneously of asking questions and providing answers[6], within the global village that the world has been called upon as. Than we will finally arrive to the answer to the given topic: Raising awareness about the value of cultural heritage and media activities: Medium – Heritage – School – Individual – Medium. The answer lies within the above premises characterized as follows:

1. Presentation of the first concrete task- How to make a presentation with the help of the media?

In this form should be included professionals of excellent historical and journalistic profession in order to indicate and prepare joint efforts of basic guidelines towards the protection of cultural heritage with the help of the media.

2. Breakdown of topics – How to introduce communication as a “condition sine qua non” for raising awareness of the values ​​of cultural heritage?

a) Separate the global public and local public media (here we take into account the private media as well as those that are falling within the above two categories within its work). Why to separate them? Simply, to get more quality: Global Public Media in Bosnia and Herzegovina here are seen as the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)[6], Federation Television (TEST channel)[7], Radio Television of Republic of Srpska (RTRS) Radio Federation BiH[8], BH Radio 1[9] (Although the Symposium referred to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the unavoidable fact is that we must take into consideration inclusion of the entire territory of BiH), which should be directed towards the global assumptions, to become the unifying factors of information that makes the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and through that of the educational system as a whole in BiH.

At the same time, we need to focus all attention to the thumbnail that makes the mosaic of entities and cantons that is the country made of – local radio and television stations, which can certainly be helpful in the education of younger generations when it comes to cultural heritage.

Following are the ways:

a1) Radio and TV shows of contact types- regularly participation of professor of history from local schools with talks about specific localities where there are monuments of importance to the cultural heritage. And not only the participation of teachers/professors, but also students who expressed interest in the study of cultural heritage. The term should be matched with specific classes so that students can follow the program and make contact (through the phone and/or email) and through doing that to be able directly to participate in The show.

a2) Simultaneous involvement of local radio and television stations at the lessons of history and viewing of certain presentations that are related to the cultural heritage of the local habitat.

a3) Use of all parts of curriculum which are, in this way, in a possible correlative relation with the theme: Fine arts, geography, history, mother tongue language[10].

a4) Specialized programs during which you can watch, comment and analyze certain epochs that marked these areas and in the same time focusing on what is a part of the cultural heritage of the epoch that was viewed.

a5) Marketing covered so. “Quiz show” that in a fun way makes closer cultural heritage to younger generations.

a6) Dedication made ​​few requirements in the newspapers/magazines as a prerequisite for future analysis of events/contents by the students.

a7) Encouraging communication not only within the school between teaching staff and the students, but also going out to interesting locations and active learning “on the spot” with the comments of professors and students. At the same time it was the working visits (in the case of neglected space) where will be, on the so-called “working actions”, through the work on arranging and cleaning the spots, students build awareness not only about the cultural heritage but also about the country of which they are an integral part.

a8) Making the WWW (World Wide Web) page on the Internet that are related to cultural heritage, and which will, through Internet connections be “linked” to each other and together formed the common aspirations of a wider Bosnia and Herzegovina area.

3. Individual focused towards media presentation – Are student tours another valid form of communication with the cultural heritage?

a) Going from local towards global, and with the help of competent institutions: it could be develop strategic forms of communication of local and global (global is here: BiH) level, and on this occasion in the form of media monitoring of the exchange visits of students’ field trip around Bosnia and Herzegovina. How? Simple. If students from Jajce staying in a day trip in Bugojno and/or Trebinje, or vice versa, then, in that case, the local media, and the global mass media certainly find time and space to record the visits and meetings aimed towards raising the awareness of the cultural heritage that does not belong to this or that people (read: nation), this or that “nationalism”, but belongs to the society as a whole.

4. Entity institutions (as well as cantonal) dealing with cultural heritage and their role in all of this – How to take advantage of existing institutions and prevent further erosion of our own destinies by building new understanding of ourselves, and with the help of studying of cultural heritage?

a) Here we have these institutions as the main coordinators of decentralization (in accordance with the Dayton Accord assumptions) of work and reflections about cultural heritage. What is it? Specifically, training with the help of all the variety listed media will not be sufficient if adequately are not included also the appropriate entity and cantonal institutions, (not to mention even state level ones) whicch are dealing with the study and protection of cultural heritage. These are, of course all so-called: Institutes for the protection of cultural and historical monuments, Commission to Preserve National Monuments, and others. And all of this in coordination with the relevant Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, which is responsible for this issue. In what way to take advantage of the media here? Simple. Regular reporting with the help of means of public communication (MPC) about the activities of the competent authorities in connection with the protection of cultural heritage areas that are “covered” by media.

5. The last, but not least – is definitely treatment of media with the touristic signs of specific locations of cultural monuments in the region. At the same time will establish the economic potential of certain areas as well as will educate the public about the attractive tourist sites. Although a cliché, “meet your homeland to prefer it more” in this way it gets more quality considering that there are a small number of those who are familiar with the fact of existence five digit numbers number Medieval tombstones in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina[11]. Tourism may succed to create the economic prerequisites for the development of protection of cultural heritage and not only externally (towards other countries), but also internally (within BiH).

And, as a logical conclusion of the imposed thesis we come to a simple formulation – Mass communication (ie Means of Public Communication) are and remain the form of education of the youngest population, but also an indispensable form of awakening of “dormant consciousness” of the rest of the population (us so-called. “adult small people“) when it comes to protecting of the cultural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We must deal with that, because the countries without memories are doomed to oblivion – or simply: dissapear.

Bosnia and Herzegovina must not allow that to happen to itself.

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[1] July 2001
[2] September 2001.g “MOST“ in English is: “THE BRIDGE“
[3] French King Philip, Pope Clement V ordered the arrest and execution of the Templar Knights at dawn on Friday, 13 October / October 1307. All were accused of heresy, blasphemy and other offenses – this is just one reason, but we can not forget other ones: a) There were 13 of them at the Last Supper; b) The Norse god Loki who appeared as the 13th, the uninvited guests at the table and who murdered another god; c) Cain and Abel – their tragedy occurred on the 13th day; d) The 13 steps leading to the gallows; e) Apollo 13 – see the number of aircraft which had its air tank blew out, but still came back to earth … Info: http://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/zanimljivosti/13-reasons-why-is-number-13-is considered -nesretnim — 269563.html [4] “surface mining”: scratching on the surface – Symposia, “extinguishing a fire with a glass of water”;   the absence – non existence of the State Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport; national, or  to say in better way: nationalist “coverage” of only “of our own territory”; individual activities:
a) http://www.diogenpro.com/rasprodaja-bh-cultural-bastine.html
b) http://www.diogenpro.com/sumrak-BiH-sjecanja.html
c) http://www.diogenpro.com/povelja-Kulin-ban-charter-of-salami-ban.html
d) http://www.diogenpro.com/posljednja-Bosnia-princeza.html
e) Commission to Preserve National Monuments: http://kons.gov.ba/index.php?lang=4
[5] MPC- Means of public communication
[6] Social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram) especially
[7] Today it is BHRT – BHT 1
[8] Today it is RTV FBiH
[9] Today, it is RTV FBiH
[10] Today, it is BHRT- BH Radio 1
[11] Native Language: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
[12] Today, this is more known in the world than among us. Problems of cultural heritage protection: http://www.diogenpro.com/zastita-bih.html

The post Bosnia And Herzegovina And XXI Century: Medium – School – Individual – Heritage – Medium appeared first on Eurasia Review.


US, NATO And The Destruction Of Libya: The Western Front Of A Widening War – OpEd

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By Horace G. Campbell

NATO claimed that its intervention in Libya was a historic success. But three years later, Libya is in complete chaos. Some 1700 militias have a combined total of 250,000 men under arms. Another external intervention seems necessary to stabilize the country. But the US and NATO must never be involved

INTRODUCTION

Most western embassies evacuated their personnel from Tripoli over the past few weeks as the fighting between rival armed militias creates a nightmare of violence, insecurity and death for millions of Libyans. The United States used its military presence in the Mediterranean to escort its embassy personnel and Marine guards to travel by road over the last weekend to Tunisia. The evacuation of western diplomats leaving the millions of Libyans to an uncertain fate has brought to the fore the Libyan dimensions of a wider theater of warfare from Tripoli through Benghazi to Cairo, Alexandria and Gaza and from Aleppo in Syria to Mosul in Iraq. The former allies of NATO such as Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are now connected to differing factions of the Libyan civil war. In Libya, the war and bloodletting between the US supported General Khalifah Hifter (sometimes spelt Haftar) and the militias supported by Qatar is one indication of former allies falling out. Citizens of the West have little understanding of the depth of the sufferings unleashed on the peoples of North Africa, Palestine, Syria and Iraq since the United States and NATO launched wars against the peoples of this region. The battles in Libya are merging with the criminal war against the people of Palestine, especially the peoples of Gaza.

It was three years ago when NATO declared the end of the NATO mission, loudly announcing that the NATO mission to Libya had been ‘one of the most successful in NATO history.’ Despite this declaration of success there were clear signs of the remnants of the NATO suborned militias fighting for control of Libya. Today, that fighting has engulfed all of Libyan society to the point that the militias that had been deployed by NATO are now out of control while the funders of the militias are caught in the wider disputations over the future of Africa, Palestine and the Arabian Peninsula. Calls for the United Nations and for the African Union to militarily intervene in Libya must now be accompanied by the call for ensuring that none of the current members of the UN Security Council who were participants in the NATO intervention can be part of any UN force to demilitarize Libya to disarm the out of control militias.

THE CURRENT CIVIL WAR IN LIBYA

News of the current civil war in Libya remains confusing because the western news agencies have a vested interest in keeping the issues unclear so as to keep Libya destabilized and destroyed. Since the NATO destruction of Libya in 2011 there have been over 50,000 Libyans who have lost their lives. This is in a society where the United Nations had gone in with a mandate of Responsibility to Protect. Instead of protecting Libyan civilians, the NATO forces killed tens of thousands, built up militias and then left the country under differing factions who have unleashed a reign of terror in the society. Despite the best efforts of the United States’ State Department and NATO to present a so called ‘transition’ process with the procedural democratic rituals such as elections, the role of the militias has been the dominant feature of the warfare and destruction. When prominent Libyan human rights activist Salwa Bugaighis was slain in Benghazi last month, both Samantha Powers (US Permanent Representative to the United Nations) and Hilary Clinton (former Secretary of State) issued statements denouncing her murder but these two architects of the destruction of Libya remain indicted in the court of public opinion for their roles in creating the present conflagration. What has been kept from the citizens of the USA is the role of financial enterprises such as Goldman Sachs, Tradition Financial Services of Switzerland, French bank Société Générale SA, hedge-fund firm Och-Ziff Capital Management Group and private-equity firm Blackstone Group in their dealings with the Libyan Investment Authority. The more informed will have to read the financial press to follow the many lawsuits that are ongoing in the scrutiny in wide-ranging U.S. and British corruption probes that are examining the lengths to which some Western financial firms went to gain a piece of Libya’s oil wealth.

A close scrutiny of the current probe of Goldman Sachs dealings with the Libyan Investment Authority by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for possible violations of American anti-corruption laws will help shed light on the powerful forces in the United States that pushed the war against the peoples of Libya in 2011. Because of the propaganda war about fighting terrorism in Africa, western citizens cannot easily understand how the government of the United States supported the Jihadists in Benghazi. Thus far, the US Congress has muddled the information about the relationship between the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the most extreme militia groups because representatives such as Congressman Darrel Issa from California have been deliberately creating confusion to disguise the complicity of the US military and intelligence forces in their dealings with the most extreme militias.

From time to time the US public is diverted from the civil war by the USA seemingly mounting operations to seize ‘terrorists’ such as Ahmed Abu Khattala (in 2014) for the killings of US officials in Benghazi) or the capture of Abu Anas al-Libi in 2013. However, the twists and turns of the web of western intelligence and military operations in North Africa have come into full integration with the wider war against the peoples of Palestine and North Africa. General Hifter now represents the public face of the US supported forces in the western edge of the present wars in North Africa.

THE UNITED STATES AND GENERAL HIFTER

When NATO intervened in Libya, the North Atlantic militarists were experimenting with a new kind of warfare because the citizens of the West had been opposed to the intervention based on the mobilizations and demonstrations of the peace and social justice movements. In order to make the NATO intervention acceptable to US citizens, the Obama administration claimed that there would be no deployment of massive troops, even though early in the campaign the US Africa Command was taking credit for the NATO Operation. This kind of warfare went to great lengths to avoid the deployment of ground troops from the USA or the other NATO invaders; instead there was reliance on incessant bombing from the air, the deployment of armed militias, the mobilization of third party countries (in this case Qatar), the mobilization of Special Forces and the use of the western media for disinformation, propaganda and psychological warfare. When NATO declared its mission a success it was part of an internal debate within the corridors of the militarists because as we learnt from the book, ‘Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary of War,’ by former Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, there were deep divisions over the prosecution of this NATO bombardment and destruction of Libya. With his own eyes on history, Robert Gates said that he was about to resign over this NATO intervention and war in Libya.

Now that the world is witnessing the full blowback of this war against Libya with the death of John Christopher Stevens (former US ambassador) in Benghazi and the present evacuation of the US mission from Tripoli, it is instructive to grasp the role of some of the US supported forces such as General Khalifah Hifter. (See Russ Baker (April 22, 2011). “Is General Khalifa Hifter The CIA’s Man In Libya?” ) Hifter, now 71, had been in the Libyan military from the time of the military coup in 1969, but after 1987 he defected from the Gadaffi government. When the West had imposed sanctions on Libya, Hifter was associated with opposition National Salvation Front of Libya (NSFL). In 1988 he relocated to the United States and lived well in that notorious suburb of Washington, DC, – Langley, Virginia. When the NATO bombings started in March 2011, Hifter returned to Libya and joined in with the numerous factions.

It is most important here to state for readers that the CIA recruited elements in Libya who had been earlier designated as terrorists. In the many books about Libya under Gaddafi the names of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and Abdelhakim Belhadj featured prominently. Eastern Libya was a base for subversion and the laziness of the Congressional representatives of the USA prevents the full exposure of how the US Africa Command and the CIA recruited Jihadists such as Abdelhakim Belhadj. It is this alliance with Jihadists that General Hifter returned to in 2011 but in his search for dominance in the anti-Gaddafi forces, there was another general who was seeking to place his stamp on the rebellion. General Abdul Fattah Younis had been a senior military officer under Gaddafi who had reached the position of Minister of Interior. He resigned from the Gaddafi government in February 2011 to join the ‘rebellion. ‘

The abduction and assassination of General Younis in July 2011 removed the only other senior military person who could compete for the position as a military strongman in the post-Gaddafi era. After the assassination and humiliation of Gaddafi in October 2011, Hifter became leader of one of the 1700 militias with over 250,000 persons under arms. Abdelhakim Belhadj became the most powerful person in Tripoli after the NATO ‘victory’ when he installed himself as the head of the Tripoli Military Council. When the United States undertook its transition program for Libya, Belhadj dropped his military title and contested elections as a civilian leader. Hifter could not openly challenge the LIFG forces in Tripoli so he worked to build relations with the Zintan militias working hard to emerge as the new military strongman of Libya.

Since 2014 Hifter has been involved in a number of high profile military actions (first a declared military takeover in a failed coup attempt of February 2014 and later in May in a prolonged war to defeat the Misrata forces and those supported by Qatar). From the western platforms and those who have interviewed Hifter, this general claims the allegiance of over 70,000 troops along with the Zintan militia forces.

On Friday, February 14, Maj. Gen. Khalifa Hifter announced a coup in Libya. ‘The national command of the Libyan Army is declaring a movement for a new road map’ (to rescue the country), Hifter declared through a video post. Even the New York Times ridiculed this coup attempt with the story by David Kirkpatrick who reported on the coup from Cairo. In his report, ‘In Libya, a Coup. Or Perhaps Not,’ Kirkpatrick drew attention to the colorful career of Hifter without explaining to his audience the close relationships between Hifter and the US web of military and intelligence operatives in North Africa. In May 2014, Hifter reappeared in the international headlines with his bravado report that he was fighting to root out terrorists from Benghazi.

There are numerous militias in Benghazi but the two well-known ones were the February 17 Martyrs Brigade and the Ansar al-Sharia militias. While the forces that came to be called Ansar al-Sharia had been mobilized by the NATO planners to join the war to remove Gadaffi, by September 2012 these varying militia forces had disagreed among themselves and this particular militia was blamed for the attack on the CIA facility in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 when four US operatives were engulfed in the intra militia warfare.

One indication of the levels of external support for Hifter came from the fact that his military wing that is called the National Army was able to use aerial bombardment against his opponents. Hifter launched Operation Libyan Dignity on May 16, saying his mission was to dissolve the General National Congress, which he labelled Islamist, and to destroy ‘terrorists.’ In order to ingratiate himself with western propaganda forces, Hifter labelled his opponents in Benghazi as terrorists and claimed that these ‘terrorists ‘had been allowed to establish bases in Libya. This was clear double talk because it was the Central Intelligence Agency under General Petraeus as we learnt from the biography by Paula Broadwell who had been recruiting Islamists from Eastern Libya to fight in Syria.

The other evidence of collaboration between Hifter and western intelligence forces came when in the midst of the fighting between Hifter and his opponents in Benghazi, the US Special Operations forces carried out their mission to ’capture’ Ahmed Abu Khattala. This US operation exposed the close cooperation between Hifter and the USA. When Libyan citizens complained about the military campaign of Hifter, the US ambassador to Libya refused to ‘condemn’ the killings of innocent citizens in Benghazi by Hifter and his ‘National Army’. Hifter’s avowed aim to dissolve the General National Congress exposed deeper disagreements between the United States and Qatar over the future of Libya and the politics of North Africa.

Although Hifter was fighting with his ‘National Army,’ the divisions between the varying militias led to big battles between Hifter and other militia forces. Media reports claim that Hifter is supported by external forces in the USA, Egypt, Algeria and Saudi Arabia. It is significant that in this line up of support there was no mention of Turkey and Qatar. One of the strongest militia forces in Libya from the time of the NATO intervention had been the Misrata fighters. As we documented in our book, ‘Global NATO and the Catastrophic Failure in Libya’, it was from Misrata where the forces of Qatar had been landed in order to carry out the takeover of Tripoli in July/August 2011. We know from media reports from Al Jazeera that there are forces sympathetic to the MIsrata militias in Qatar. In the Al Jazeera typology of the varying militias in Libya we are told that the ‘235 militia brigades are collectively the most powerful single force in Libya, fighting through a six-month siege during the uprising. They are equipped with heavy weapons, tanks and truck-launched rockets and have the power to be a decisive force in any struggle between Haftar and Islamist forces.’ One can distinguish between this report and those of other western forces such as the BBC or Voice of America on the nature of the Libyan militias.

When certain western media outlets were hailing General Hifter as a savior and comparing him to General Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi of Egypt, this was part of the propaganda war to sell Hifter to the citizens of Benghazi who had stood up to the bombardment by his forces. The Misrata factions were the military wing of that section of the political forces that dominated the General National Congress. Hifter was in a struggle to consolidate the varying militia forces under his leadership and there were many glowing reports of how Hifter was the savior of Libya. However, from Qatar one writer, Ibrahim Sharqieh, noted in an article in the New York Times that the world should ‘Beware Libya’s ‘Fair Dictator’. Ibrahim Sharquieh stated that ‘Over the past two years many of them have profited from – and developed an interest in maintaining – the chaos that engulfs the country. Warlords, Islamist groups and other committed revolutionaries who truly fought against the Qaddafi government will not surrender to General Hifter’s movement – and that poses a grave threat to Libya’s prospects for stability.’ Washington’s tolerance of General Hifter’s movement has made things much worse. Deborah Jones, the United States ambassador to Libya, was quoted as saying, ‘I am not going to come out and condemn blanketly what he did’ because, she added, General Hifter’s forces were going after groups on Washington’s terrorist list.

This article brought out the clear divisions between Doha and Washington which was a reflection of deeper divisions in North Africa and Palestine. In the war against the peoples of Syria, the Qatar regime had been very active along with the governments of Saudi Arabia and Turkey in providing finance and weaponry to the zealots who have now proclaimed themselves ‘The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ or (ISIL or ISIS) . However, relations between Qatar and Washington frayed over the path of the political process in Egypt. The military forces who had killed and incarcerated hundreds of thousands of supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt are not supported by the current leadership in Qatar. Qatar and Saudi Arabia broke ranks over the military takeover by General Sisi and the counter revolutionary forces of the Egyptian military.

In this new disagreement between the political leadership of Qatar and the generals in Cairo, the news outlets and NGOs supported by Qatar have been harassed. Qatari Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt were harassed and arrested. In June 2014, two Al Jazeera English journalists were sentenced to seven years in jail and one to 10 years. These journalists were sentenced by an Egyptian court on charges including aiding the Muslim Brotherhood and reporting false news.

EXPANSION OF THE WAR AND BATTLE FOR THE AIRPORT IN TRIPOLI

Of the 1700 militias in Libya the dominant forces are represented by the militias from Zintan (The Al-Zintan Revolutionaries’ Military Council was formed in 2011), bringing together 23 militias from Zintan and the Nafusa Mountains in western Libya, the militias from Misrata and the militias from Benghazi. In the case of the capital Tripoli, the competing militias controlled differing neighborhoods with the militias from Zintan and the militias from Misrata, two of the dominant forces, claiming legitimacy. As there was no central command over the use of force, from time to time different factions of the military vied for military supremacy. In the case of the expanding wars in the East, the Misrata forces have intensified their battles to gain the upper hand in Tripoli. For the past few weeks this battle for supremacy has taken the form of a deadly battle where hundreds have been killed and aircraft worth more than US$1.5billion destroyed. Since the NATO declaration of success in 2011, the Tripoli airport area has been under the control of former fighters from the western town of Zintan. Rival Islamist-leaning militias from Misrata along with their allies fought with the Zintanis in recent days, but failed to dislodge them.

Recently, the Zintan militia group which has controlled the airport since the end of the revolution, claimed victory over the Misrata-led Operation Dawn force that tried to dislodge them from the airport. Future information will bring out whether this battle is an extension of the battles between the USA and Qatar since the forces seeking to dislodge the Zintan forces from the airport are the Misrata militias. For the past three years under the so called transition plans by the USA Office for Transition Initiatives (OTI) there were efforts to pay off hundreds of thousands of youths in the militias hoping to silence some of the guns. The US legation and the other western Embassies have been caught in this new round of intense fighting, hence the evacuation by road to Tunisia. Thousands of residents of Tripoli are fleeing the capital while third country nationals are being evacuated. None of the armed groups are listening to the calls by the United Nations for a ceasefire.

The destruction of aircraft in the fighting, which began on 13 July, has cost an estimated US$1.5 billion. The battles around the airport are by no means tame battles of armed men with side weapons. The Misrata forces after failing to dislodge the Zintan forces have been taking over residential areas adjacent to the airport, using tanks to pound the Zintanis, who in turn respond with shells and anti-aircraft fire. Hifter’s calculation that his forces and allies would ‘mop’ up the other militias has now backfired as the Libyan theater of war merges with the wider battles that are raging in Palestine and in Syria and Iraq. With the criminal assault on the peoples of Gaza the sympathies have now increased for those in Libya allied to the faction of the Palestinian movement resisting the Israeli occupation and bombardment. At the same time the massive demonstrations by the Palestinian peoples in the West Bank and the sterling resistance of the Palestinians in Gaza have deep consequences for the political leadership in Egypt. It is very clear that the present political leadership of Egypt is an ally of the conservatives ruling Israel who have inflicted collective punishment on the people of Gaza. Even the New York Times boasted of this alliance between the counterrevolutionaries in Egypt and the neo-conservative militarists in Israel on July 30, the Times noted,

‘After the military ouster of the Islamist government in Cairo last year, Egypt has led a new coalition of Arab states — including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan — that has effectively lined up with Israel in its fight against Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip. That, in turn, may have contributed to the failure of the antagonists to reach a negotiated ceasefire even after more than three weeks of bloodshed.’

What the strategic planners in Washington and Tel a Viv forget is that the 80 million citizens of Egypt are also aware of this alliance between Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. When NATO intervened in Libya in 2011, one of the unspoken goals was to develop a rear base for western interventionist forces in case the Egyptian revolution was radicalized to the point where the popular forces started to dismantle the institutions of oppression and exploitation. Benghazi was crucial for the forward planning of the West, hence the intense battles for Benghazi since 2011 and the efforts to manipulate the youths by the Central Intelligence Agency. Now, in the midst of the war in Gaza and Syria there is increased attention on the role of Egypt as an ally of Israel in keeping the people of Gaza under lockdown by keeping the Rafa crossing closed. Since the intensified wars against the citizens of Gaza there have been new attacks on the Egyptian border posts in the West. In July, there was a bold attack on the western border post of Egypt where 22 troops including three officers were killed.

UNITED NATIONS AND INTERVENTION AGAIN?

The killing of Libyans who were supposed to be protected has led to calls from within Africa and the nonaligned world for a thorough investigation of the NATO intervention in Libya. Since that call the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has been a silent bystander as hundreds of Libyans are killed and displaced. Now these UN personnel have joined with the other western powers that are being evacuated from Tripoli.

The killing of human rights workers and the killing of activist women of Libya such as former member of the Libyan General National Congress, Fariha Barkawi, and Salwa Bugaighis have brought out statements from western elements that have been destabilizing Libya. Muhammad Abdul Aziz the Libyan Foreign Minister has asked the UN Security Council to send military advisers to bolster state forces guarding ports, airports and other strategic locations. These calls are a manifestation of the complete breakdown of control over violence in Libya. The African Union and the nonaligned bloc within the United Nations will have to make a firmer stand on western militarism in North Africa and Palestine. The peace movements in the West also have a major responsibility to oppose NATO, oppose the deployment of western forces and expand the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel in clear solidarity with the peoples of Palestine.

This month as the world remembers how slowly humanity slipped into the massive bloodletting of World War 1 in 1914, it is worth reminding citizens of the West how the working peoples were manipulated to support the Generals and the Bankers. The peace and social justice movement must popularize the cases against Goldman Sachs, the Blackstone Group, the French bank Société Générale SA, and Tradition Financial Services of Switzerland. Progressive forces ought to follow closely the present case in the London High Court against Goldman Sachs and work to ensure that as a result of the dark markets that the Intercontinental Exchange are involved with, that the corporate elements will face the same demise as their academic spokespersons who had operated through the Monitor Group of Cambridge Massachusetts. \

The peace and social justice forces must intensify their organization at this point so that there can be clarity on the role of General Hifter and the Central intelligence Agency in Libya. Progressive forces cannot accept the packaging of lies and disinformation that sold the war against the people of Libya as part of Responsibility to Protect. Today, the western media is attempting to package the bloody assault on the peoples of Palestine as a defensive war by the hawks in Israel. There is need for broad solidarity by peace and social justice forces internationally so that the current wars end and the west end their support for corrupt bankers and militarists.

Horace G. Campbell is a Professor of African American Studies and Political Science at Syracuse University. He is the author of Global NATO and the Catastrophic Failure in Libya, Monthly Review Press, 2013.

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

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Modi’s Visit To Nepal A Lost Opportunity – Analysis

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By Hari Bansh Jha

As per the media report, India was prepared to announce a huge economic assistance package for Nepal during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Nepal. Nepal also reciprocated and expressed desire to receive Indian assistance, particularly in such development projects as hydropower, Kathmandu-Terai fast-track road, Hulaqi Sadak (postal highway), Mahakali bridge and a cricket academy.

Expectations were quite high that the Indian companies like the GMR Consortium and the Sutlej Jalavidyut Nigam might sign power development agreements with Nepal in hydropower sector, which might enable them to work smoothly in this country. For some time, the GMR is working on the 900 MW Upper Karnali hydro power project and 600 MW Upper Marsyangdi-2 project in Nepal; while the Sutlej Jalavidyut Nigam has been working on 900 MW Arun 3 project.

In addition, Nepal and India wanted to have free energy trade for which they wanted to have agreements for harnessing Nepal’s hydropower projects. In the absence of such trade, the two countries failed to tap this sector in the past. So the two countries wanted to go ahead and sign power trade agreement with a view to creating foundation for hydropower development. With this respect, Dhalkebar (Nepal) –Muzzafarpur (India) transmission line is already under construction to facilitate the trade in energy sector. Also, a study for the construction of Bardaghat (Nepal) – Gorakhpur (India) cross-border transmission line is in progress.

Against this backdrop, the power trade agreement between the two countries could have helped Nepal to emerge as a significant power market for India. Foreign financial institutions from India and other countries could also have been attracted to make their investment in hydropower sector in Nepal.

During Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Nepal, a 600 MW hydropower project was expected to be signed between Nepal and India. The two countries were also expected to work on details for conducting joint study on Saptakoshi High Dam Project in Koshi River. Expectations were high that the two countries could give a new lease of life to 6000-MW Pancheshwar Multi Purpose Project. It was as far back as in 1996 that the two countries signed Treaty for the implementation of this project, which was ratified by over two-thirds members of Nepalese parliament. They were expected to make equal investment in the project and share power equally in their common interest. The Detailed Project Report of the Pancheshwar Project was expected to be finalized within six months of the signing of the Treaty in 1996, but for the reasons unknown the two sides have not been able to make any headway even after 18 years of the signing of the Treaty. The only development that was made was to establish the project implementation office at Mahendranagar, the headquarters of Kanchanpur district in Nepal.

Other than the above deal in hydropower sector, Nepal and India were expected to sign another accord with a view to increasing Indian scholarships for Nepali students from 3,000 rupees to 5,000 rupees. Many of the Nepalese students who could not afford to receive education due to resource crunch were likely to benefit from the scholarships provided by India to Nepal.

Modi’s visit to Nepal was also expected to give the Indian investment projects a new lease of life. Until a few years ago, India was the largest investor in Nepal. But China has left India far behind in investment in this country. Recent data indicate that the Chinese investment in Nepal was three times more than the Indian investment. In 2013-14, as many as 108 Chinese aided projects worth 29.80 billion Nepalese rupees came to Nepal; while during the same period only 10 Indian-aided projects worth 8.22 billion Nepalese rupees made their inroads in this country.

There have been cases in which some of the Indian investment projects in Nepal were targeted by certain elements. Such Indian joint venture projects as Dabur Nepal and the GMR Group working on Upper Karnali and Upper Marshyangdi in the hydropower sector and also Arun 3 hydropower project were targeted. Apart from the Mahakali Treaty and the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA), the Small Development Projects of Government of India was also opposed. For some time, hue and cry was made to ban the movement of Indian number plate vehicles and screening of Indian cinemas and music in Nepal.

Because of opposition to Indian investment in Nepal, the country remained starved of power. It produces merely 600 MW of power so far, though it has potentiality to harness 83 thousand MW of hydropower. Because of the lack of adequate supply of power, each sector of the economy, including agriculture, industry, service and trade have been affected. Load-shedding is rampant. Major parts of the country are in dark. Poverty at home has compelled millions of Nepalese to leave the country in search of jobs abroad; for which the country has been paying a huge price in social and economic sectors.

Despite all those tall expectations, only three projects and that too of only moderate size were signed during Modi’s visit to Nepal – the first was on the supply of iodized salt from India to Nepal, the second was on cooperation between NTV and Doordarshan, and the third was the activization of Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project. Projects of vital interests to the two countries such as on hydropower production and power trade failed to be signed. Also, no other project with prospect of having multiplier effect could be signed on this occasion.

Failure of the deal in hydropower and power trade and other such sectors was in fact a failure on the part of Indian diplomacy in Nepal. Why such a hyperbole was created in the media about the economic package from India much before Modi’s visit to Nepal? If such a package was announced, it ought to have been materialized. This is certainly a set-back in India’s diplomacy in Nepal. Possibly, this set-back might impact India’s relations with other neighbouring countries as well.

Because of certain mindset in Nepal, the country lost a big opportunity to receive Indian economic package during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nepal. Despite the transfer of power in Nepal from monarchy to republican, there has not been any perceptible change in the mindset of the ruling clicks in the country. They are the people who in one way or the other are afraid of any deal with India.

Now time has come for the Nepalese to expose those elements no matter if they are homegrown or are instigated by outsiders. All efforts should be made to see that Nepal makes proper deal with India in hydropower and other such sectors in order to transform the country into an economic power house in South Asia. Indian investment in Nepal is as welcome as investment here from other countries. The Indian companies should be given red carpet welcome when they agree to work in hydropower projects. Ample opportunities exist for the Nepalese companies to work in hydropower sector together with Indian companies. Once there is power trade agreement between the two countries, India’s dependence on Nepal will continue to grow. This will also help Nepal to export power to India on a large scale, which would help correct the imbalance of trade between the two countries and thereby generate ample of opportunities for the development of agricultural, industrial, trade and service sectors in Nepal. Lots of employment opportunities would also be generated. This, indeed, would prove a win-win deal for both Nepal and India.

Dr. Jha is Professor of Economics and Executive Director of Centre for Economic and Technical Studies in Nepal.

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Burma’s Fish Stock In Severe Decline

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The Myanmar Fish Farmers Association (MFFA) has called for a national-level workshop to discuss the decline of fish stocks.

Over the past few years, fish populations in Burmese waters have fallen dramatically due to over-fishing and pollution.

The Myanmar Fisheries Federation (MFF) echoed the MFFA in saying that the decline is serious and said it wants to step up efforts to replenish fish stocks.

“In 2012-13, around 150,000 tonnes of fish were caught. But from 2010 to 2014 the number gradually declined,” said Han Tun, vice-chairman of MFF.

Since 2010, Han Tun said fish stocks off Burmese waters had almost halved.

Poor regulation of the industry over the past two decades has led to a rise in commercial and foreign fishing vessels, and subsequently a severe depletion in fish.

Han Tun is calling fishery operators to the negotiating table to openly discuss how best to tackle the falling fish numbers.

Since the late 1980s, commercial vessels have effectively been given a free rein to fish extensively off Burma’s coast, as the former military government made millions of dollars selling fishing permits to foreign companies.

“Some operators have a substantial yield, catching hundreds of thousands of fish every year. They employ around 500- 600 vessels nationwide – mostly in Mon State, Irrawaddy Division and Arakan State,” said Han Tun.

The market sellers are also feeling the effects of the decline, saying sales have dropped by about 60 percent over the past four years.

But in April, the government banned foreign fishing vessels from its waters in an attempt to ease over-fishing.

Burmese companies had to reduce their operations by 35 percent in April and May to allow fish stocks to replenish.

But Han Tun believes more needs to be done and wants to work together with operators to help renew fish stocks before irreparable damage is done.

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South Korea: Risks Of Intelligence Pathologies

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In the shadow of growing North Korean threats, South Korea needs to reform its intelligence apparatus to restore public confidence while enhancing the country’s intelligence capacity.

A series of intelligence scandals has plagued South Korea since the fall of 2012, exposing the risk of intelligence failure, the politicisation of intelligence and direct intervention by intelligence agencies in domestic politics. In its latest report, Risks of Intelligence Pathologies in South Korea, the International Crisis Group examines measures needed to reduce those vulnerabilities and explains why failure or manipulation of intelligence in South Korea could have serious consequences for security on the peninsula and beyond.

With both Koreas ramping up their military capabilities, sound intelligence is crucial to manage tensions and reduce the risk of conflict, or to respond effectively if a crisis erupts. Should intelligence failure lead to military conflict, the costs would be enormous. Due to South Korea’s defence treaty with the U.S., it would trigger immediate U.S. involvement. A similar treaty between North Korea and China could elicit Chinese military intervention. Moreover, sound intelligence is needed for non-conflict scenarios, such as the North’s collapse or a humanitarian crisis.

Four broad reforms, independently identified by the main opposition party and the former National Intelligence Service (NIS) director, need to be implemented: 1) ending the embedding of NIS officers in South Korean institutions such as political parties, the legislature, ministries and media firms; 2) establishing greater oversight to ensure intelligence officers obey the law; 3) providing greater protection for whistle-blowers; and 4) restricting cyberspace operations to North Korean entities and not South Korean citizens or institutions.

These should be complemented by institutional reforms. Criminal investigation powers held by the NIS should be transferred to the Supreme Prosecutors Office. NIS directors should receive confirmation from the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee following presidential nomination. Consideration could be given to forming special courts to handle sensitive national security cases while ensuring appropriate respect for due process.

“South Korea’s ability to use tactical intelligence will be vitally important during a crisis or escalation. But it is no less important for other scenarios,” says Daniel Pinkston, Deputy North East Asia Project Director. “In case of a North Korean state collapse and a sudden unification, Seoul would have to make quick decisions to prevent a rapid deterioration of the situation”.

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Israeli Genocide And Its Willing Accomplices – OpEd

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Outside of Israel and its organized supporters in the major Zionist organizations, world public opinion and most experts in international law see the Jewish State’s invasion of Gaza and its systematic attack on civilians and basic infrastructure as a crime against humanity.

The purpose of this essay is 4-fold: 1. To identify the nature of the crime – the genocidal character of the armed assault and the sequence leading up to it; 2. To identify the direct perpetrators of the war crimes and their domestic and international accomplices; 3. To explain the ties binding leaders, policymakers, propagandists, accomplices and followers, including their ideologies, material interests and organizational structure which make these crimes not only possible, but met so far with impunity and 4. To identify the larger imperial interests with which Israel allies with the US, and in pursuit of which, the Gaza assault is a horrifying dress rehearsal.

The ‘Morality’ of Prison Guards in a Genocidal State

Policymakers in the genocidal state run a highly militarized society where citizens and soldiers, criminals and professionals, torturers and sociopaths can and do coexist within the same person. Cold rationality is harnessed to mass murder, technology to massive devastation , language to euphemisms and executioners parade themselves as victims (and vice versa). Moral precepts become debased and supplanted by the ethics of mass murder. Moralists, rabbis and ethical philosophers all join to bless the bombs dropped on hospitals and schools and homes and all living things – even the dead and buried do not rest in peace when the cemeteries are bombed.

Rulers, imbued with a genocidal vision, see only military objectives – an oppressed people do not exist – all human existence and institutions in the target areas are to be demolished. The destruction of human life, of Palestinian daily existence has become the ultimate goal of this obscene operation.

The practical decision to exterminate Palestinians was conscious, planned and pursued with implacable resolve at the very top and carried out with savage enthusiasm by Israel’s ‘citizen army’.

The unfolding of this deadly plan began with what appeared a ‘generous’ peace offer. In 2004, Israel’s war criminal Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon ‘granted’ the Palestinians self-government in Gaza and in August 2005 withdrew a few thousand Jewish settlers and their Israeli ground troops. The consequence of this benevolence: Over 1.4 million Palestinians were to be locked and crowded into the most densely open air prison in the world: the largest ghetto in history. This was a sickening reminder of the Nazi roundup of Polish Jews herding them into the Warsaw ghetto . . . where they too were granted ‘self-government’. Once the Jewish settlers were removed (and paid up to $300,000 per family ‘compensation’), Israel’s military closed all of Gaza’s entrances and exits. Land, sea and airspace were blockaded and total control imposed on the entrance of food, medicine, school books and the exit of Palestinians for medical treatment, university studies, normal travel and commerce of any kind. This mirrored the Nazi policy toward those trapped in the Warsaw ghetto. Palestinian farmers were shot tending their fields, acts of brutality reminiscent of the Nazi starvation blockade of Leningrad… And the world was appalled!

Gaza and the Ghetto were first set up to be open-air prison camps . . . temporary measures to mask the real plans. Gaza’s young population had grown to over 1.8 million entrapped human beings by 2014. Obviously, if the Gazans could not travel, farm, fish and trade by normal means, they would dig tunnels for supplies and fight against their relegation to the status of caged animals by the Israeli state. The next steps after the successful enclosure would be systematic and pre-meditated: the Zionists, like the Nazis, launched total war against the inevitable acts of resistance by the oppressed. They sent planes, tanks, missiles and bombs to level populated areas, especially neighborhoods where young fighters rose up to resist this unendurable cruelty. The heroic young fighters of Gaza, like their Warsaw predecessors, resisted their totalitarian enemies time and again. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Israeli Jews cheered the devastation while claiming to be the victims and young overseas Jews volunteered to join the IDF in its slaughter of the Palestinians, just as the German population celebrated, along with the overseas German Bund, their leaders’ totalitarian crimes. Their responses were almost identical although in different times and places: Chosen People and Arians of the world have united against what they both termed ‘terrorists’ claiming their tunnels will become their graves!

In line with this super race mythology, Israel’s killing machine is really most effective at murdering unarmed civilians– invalids who cannot run, doctors who stay to care for the wounded and mothers and children in their flimsy shelters– and rather pathetic when it confronts face to face determined armed resistance fighters. As of 8/6/14 the Israeli Air Force, Navy and artillery slaughtered 1,594 Palestinian civilians –via long distance high tech warfare -compared to 3 civilians in Israel (one Bedouin, one Thai farm worker and an Israeli Jew), a mind-boggling ratio of over 1,500 Palestinian civilians to one of the ‘Chosen’. But when it came to ‘ground fighting’, 64 Israeli soldiers were killed compared to 281 Palestinian partisans, a 4.4 to 1 ratio. Despite all the Israeli air cover support and high tech protective gear, the Israelis took heavy military casualties when their invasion came down to a more level fighting field where poorly equipped partisans are willing to die for their homes and liberation.

The War Criminals: Who are They and What are their Crimes

Clearly the commanding officers of the Israeli armed forces, the self-styled Israel Defense Forces, who are responsible for the systematic land, aerial and maritime attacks on civilians, hospitals, schools, refugee sanctuaries are first in line for the war crimes docket. They should be joined by Israeli military strategists and policy makers who systematically and criminally targeted homes, neighborhoods, water purification and sewage plants, electrical grids and power plants in a deliberate planned effort to destroy any possibility of normal daily existence for almost 2 million Palestinians: They have committed grave Crimes against Humanity, according to the Geneva Conventions and legal standards established at Nuremburg. There is eye-witness testimony and documentation showing middle and lower rank soldiers engaged in wanton shootings of school children, shoppers and mothers with babies fleeing combat zones. War crimes prosecutions cannot be confined merely to a few dozen senior officers – these crimes were committed at all level of the IDF.

Political leaders and policymakers, starting with Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and his Cabinet, leading Party and Knesset members, who were the prime movers in launching the blitz against Gaza and justified the massive civilian killings, clearly should be at the center of any International War Crimes Tribunal.

But what about the Israeli public, the great mass of Israeli Jews, who view themselves as morally above world public opinion despite a near-universal revulsion over Israel’s crimes? More than 90% of Israeli Jews gave unstinting support to the ongoing blood bath, knowing, indeed cheering daily from grandstands erected on hills overlooking Gaza, the criminal consequences of their support – they also are an essential part of this criminal enterprise. They celebrated the carnage and they violently attacked the few Israelis who openly questioned this ‘war’. Israelis have no claim to ‘innocent ignorance’; they cannot call this a “tragic conflict between two peoples”. No Israeli can absolve himself by claiming ignorance of the nature of the crimes committed in their name – nor do they want to claim ignorance! The majority of informed Israeli Jews demanded this war from the beginning, many joining racist marches with banners and chants demanding ‘Death to Arabs’! They wear their endorsement of the Gaza holocaust as a badge of honor. Ninety percent of the Jewish citizens in Israel rejected any humanitarian ceasefire: Newspaper columnists and the vast majority of letter writers in the daily press argued openly for extermination! Self-declared war criminals are feted as Israeli heroes by their overseas brethren who hasten to endorse or even join the slaughter. Gidon Levy, Haaretz’s lonely dissident journalist, is spat upon in all the fashionable cafes and has to take his coffee at home now.

What can be said about the ‘moralists’, the famous chief rabbis, who have no qualms in piously urging on the mass slaughter: is there a High Court of Religious Authority to hold these “holy men” accountable for their incitement of war crimes? What about the worldwide network of international Zionist organizations who secure billions of dollars of the murderous arms shipments from the corrupt and craven US Congress and Executive? Are they not accomplices to genocide before and after the fact?

However, it is a blatant, conscious lie and fabrication to claim, like some phony critics on the ‘Left’, that ‘America shares responsibility’ for the Israel’s crimes against Gaza. Who asked the American people to endorse this slaughter? When did the American people organize a “lobby” to buy Congressional votes? Did the American people organize multi-million dollar fundraisers at the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria where Republican and Democratic elected leaders pledged to give an additional $225 million dollars in missiles and tanks to Israel, to resupply its arsenal used up in razing thousands of homes and obliterating entire families in Gaza? Any serious researcher, who has looked at American domestic politics, knows that the Presidents of the 52 Major American (sic) Jewish Organizations are complicit in Israel’s terror bombings of Gaza. And polls show that a majority of young Americans sympathize with the rights of the Palestinians…

Is there any clause in the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal proceedings which can bring charges against the overseas accomplices to war crimes? What about prominent leftist academics and ‘progressive’ journalists who cover-up for the overseas accomplices by falsely accusing “America” (and implying the American people) in this slaughter?

The Ties that Bind

We have identified a chain linking Israel’s political elite, military command and the mass of the Israeli public directly to war crimes and genocide with the active material complicity of overseas Zionist organizations. They act as one cohesive force plunging forward into the blood and gore of total war against the Palestinians – the original inhabitants and rightful owners of what is now called ‘Israel’.

The question arises: What unites them in this horrible undertaking? What moral blindness so afflicts them that they ignore the bookshelves cluttered with the writings and humanist teachings of Spinoza, Kant, Babel, or Buber? Are these tribal loyalties derived from Old Testament tales of vengeance and infanticide? Are these expressions of an ethno-religious fanaticism linked to the quest for a regional empire and plunder?

Racist ideology and its virulent expression both from high office and the “Jewish Street” are wide-spread and open. Degrading Palestinians, while claiming to be a superior race above the laws of the rest of the world, serves to justify all crimes against the people of Gaza. Near and far, this expression of “collective Jewish identity and solidarity”, based on ethnic-religious superiority always threatened by hostile, inferior ‘native’ people, accounts for the unflinching support by top Hollywood moguls, Ivy League professors, French intellectuals, British peers and prominent investment Wall Street bankers.

Ideological affinities and ethno-religious loyalties aside, many Israeli Jews also have a major, material stake in robbing and expelling the people of Palestine: Seized Palestinian lands result in new cheap subsidized housing, swimming pools for Jews only, developments on lands where olive groves once flourished and extended families had lived and died. Middle and working class Jews obtain free housing; real estate speculators seize choice ocean front properties for luxury condos and tourist destinations. Building contractors secure lucrative construction contracts from the state. Pillage forms an important material basis for Israel’s high standard of living, many times higher than that of Palestinians, much higher that that of Israel’s non-Jewish population and higher even than the Americans who have been forced to subsidize the ‘Jewish State’ for almost 50 years.

Equally important, Israel’s assault on Gaza serves as a testing ground for its weapons of mass destruction and its anti-missile Dome. In this regard, the slaughter in Gaza serves as a dress rehearsal (and a graphic warning) for new wars across the region in association with the US and its clients. NSA analyst Edward Snowden’s latest documents reveal that Israel works in tandem with the US throughout North Africa, the Middle East, The Persian Gulf, South Asia and Islamic countries in choosing targets and making war plans… Greater Israel is no longer the crackpot dream of Jewish visionaries: it is underway and its bloody beginnings in Gaza foreshadow bigger and bloodier wars against humanity in the future.

Conclusion

Israel’s total war against Gaza has provoked condemnation from millions of people around the world, greater outrage at their crimes against humanity, and calls for an international war crimes tribunal. If such a tribunal were to be convoked, the question arises of how wide the net should be cast – where to draw the line between leaders, soldiers, masses and complicit overseas supporters, all implicated to one degree or another? How many ‘willing accomplices’ to mass murder should be investigated and tried?

The rising horror and indignation has isolated Israel from the greater majority of mankind, including from thousands of Jews – but it has hardened its leaders and aroused its powerful core of influential supporters, especially in the US.

Bitter-enders, in their luxurious suites, are on the counter-offensive. Leading Hollywood producers denounce the morally outraged actors who have dared to criticize Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, labeling them ‘anti-Semites’ and threatening them with a lifetime of blacklists from any further work in ‘film or on stage’. Powerful Zionist organizations, not only secure US opposition to any UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli war crimes, but unanimous (100%) Congressional and White House approval and an ‘emergency allocation’ of over $250 million tax-payer dollars’ to re-supply Israel with the bombs and missiles it had dropped on the people of Gaza. The hardliners, who speak for the Presidents of the 52 Major American Jewish Organizations, have not relented in their support for Israel’s carnage even in the face of hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marching around the world to support the rights of the people of Palestine. The hardliners openly flaunt their blind support for Israel’s war crimes. These fanatics are convinced that every critic of Israel’s war crimes, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jew or atheist, is an anti-Semite, a pervert or terrorist to be censored or crushed! Inside the Zionist bunker there is an iron-fisted reinforcement of loyalty to Israel, while outside, there is the smooth outpouring of propaganda which minimize Israel’s war crimes and vehement denials of overseas complicity with genocide.

Epilogue: A Dialogue between Zionists

The Right Zionist says to the Left, “Crimes at the service of Greater Israel are virtues.” The Left replies “There are crimes but America is ultimately responsible”.

A shrewd old Zionist observer comments with approval: “It’s our division of labor: the Right Zionists defend Israel and the Left Zionists confuse its critics.”

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Eco-Friendly Agriculture Puts Down Roots In Spain

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By Inés Benítez

José María Gómez squats and pulls up a bunch of carrots from the soil as well as a few leeks. This farmer from southern Spain believes organic farming is more than just not using pesticides and other chemicals – it’s a way of life, he says, which requires creativity and respect for nature.

Gómez, 44, goes to organic food markets in Málaga to sell the vegetables and citrus fruits he grows on his three-hectare farm in the Valle del Guadalhorce, 40 km west of Málaga, a city in southern Spain,

And every week Gómez, whose parents and grandparents were farmers, does home deliveries of several dozen baskets of fresh produce, “thus closing the circle from the field to the table,” he told Tierramérica on his farm.

The economic crisis in Spain, where the unemployment rate stands at 25 percent, hasn’t put a curb on ecological farming. In 2012, organic farming covered 1.7 million hectares of land, compared to 988,323 in 2007, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment.

Organic farming generated 913,610 euros (1.22 million dollars) in 2012, 9.6 percent more than in 2011.

“Ecological farming is growing in Spain and Europe despite the crisis because those who consume organic produce are loyal,” agricultural technician Víctor Gonzálvez, coordinator of the non-governmental Spanish Society of Organic Agriculture (SEAE), told Tierramérica.

Organic food markets have mushroomed in the streets and plazas of cities and towns around Spain, and some supermarket chains now sell ecological produce.

The southern community or region of Andalusía has the largest extension of land under organic farming: 949,025 officially registered hectares, equivalent to 54 percent of the national total, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Most production from Andalusía is exported to other European countries, like Germany and the United Kingdom – which seems contradictory to those in favour of organic farming that truly provides a local alternative to intensive, industrial agriculture, with a short food supply chain.

“It doesn’t make sense to talk about exporting ecological foods because production should bring benefits to the local economy,” Pilar Carrillo told Tierramérica from her La Coruja farm in the municipality of Tacoronte on Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands.

She and her partner, Julio Quílez, have been living there for a year with their young son. They have less than half a hectare of land, where they practice permaculture – the use of ecology and local ecosystems to design self-sustaining productive landscapes that, once established, need a minimum of human intervention. They sell their produce every Saturday in the nearby farmer’s market.

“When you buy local ecological products you are eating healthy food, you’re interacting with people from the countryside, and you generate wealth in your local surroundings,” engineer Juan José Galván, who for five years has been buying food in organic markets in Málaga, told Tierramérica.

Spain, with its mild climate, has the largest area dedicated to organic farming in the European Union, according to Eurostat 2012 figures, and the fifth largest area in the world, after Australia, Argentina, the United States and China, according to a report by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements.

But the controls and certification of ecological agricultural production, which in Spain are carried out by both public and private bodies, are neither simple nor free of cost.

To be sold as organic food, products must carry a label with the code of the corresponding authority in each community, the Ministry of Agriculture explains on its website.

Certification of ecological farming takes at least two years to obtain, and the inspections are thorough, farmers told Tierramérica. The requisites and controls involved and the economic effort entailed drive up the prices of organic products, they argued.

Quílez, who grows aromatic and medicinal plants in Tenerife, said he has to pay for certification “as an ecological farmer and also as a seller of organic produce, which doubles the cost; a large part of the price of ecologically produced food goes into red tape.”

According to Gonzálvez, public funds in Spain go more towards conventional agricultural production and research in biotechnology than into supporting ecological farming.

He said farmers “are afraid to take the leap” into this kind of alternative production because there are no advisory services, unlike in intensive, industrial agriculture.

“Ecological agriculture is very empirical. If an aphid attacks my melons, I plant beans next to the melons because they draw the aphids away. Every year you get wiser,” Gómez said, standing among his tomato plants on his Bobalén Ecológico farm.

Gómez, who has tousled dark hair and skin tanned by the sun, argues that while “big industry produces market-oriented varieties, ecological agriculture, especially local farming based on geographical proximity, focuses on producing quality food,” as well as preserving the environment and soil fertility.

Critics argue that organic products are expensive and the production methods inefficient, “but it depends on what you buy, and where,” Esther Vivas, with the Centre for Studies on Social Movements at the Pompeu Fabra university in the northeast city of Barcelona, wrote in her article “Who’s afraid of ecological agriculture?”

Vivas told Tierramérica that although the level of consumption of organic products in Spain is still low compared to conventional farm products, the market for ecological produce is growing, as interest has been boosted by various scandals involving food products.

Galván said that while it is true that the higher cost of organic products can turn away consumers, “demand is steadily growing.”

“The real revolution has to come from below, from the consumer who goes to the markets to buy and who demands high-quality products,” Gómez said.

The ecological farmer – who worked for years as an environmental agent – stressed the social dimension of organic agriculture and short food supply chains, pointing to “the affection that your customers give you, as they are aware of the health benefits of the food and of the sustainability of the production.”

Quílez, who left a well-paid job in computers to dedicate himself to ecological farming, said “exploitative agriculture undermined food sovereignty,” and this is seen clearly in the Canary Islands “where 85 percent of the products consumed come from outside.”

On Gómez’s farm it’s time to plant beans, potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli to harvest in October and November. “I get up at 5:30 in the morning and farm for 15 or 16 hours,” he said.

But “it’s the best job I’ve had in my life,” he added, smiling.

Edited by Estrella Gutiérrez/Translated by Stephanie Wildes

This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network.

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US Border Crisis Fuels Opposition To Immigration Reform

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By Brian Padden

A majority of Americans still support some form of legalization for undocumented immigrants who are already in the country, but opposition to outright amnesty is growing, along with support for stronger border security, according to the latest public opinion polls.

In the last year, amnesty rumors have prompted tens of thousands of Central American children to try to enter the U.S. illegally in an effort to escape poverty and gang violence at home. This surge of migrant minors has at times overwhelmed detention facilities and the judicial system that must review each case.

Opponents of current immigration reform efforts say this humanitarian crisis is also sparking public anger.

“I think it is the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Bob Dane, who is with the Federation for American Immigration Reform. “This current surge of unaccompanied minors is proof positive that what we’ve been told, that the border is secure, isn’t true. In fact, its proof positive that the problem is getting worse and the public is upset.”

Public opinion polls do show a shift in American attitudes toward immigration policy, according to Mark Hugo Lopez, with the Pew Research Center.

“Certainly it seems there has been some movement and opinion, particularly among Republicans, away from supporting legalization,” he said. “But at the same time [there is] a growing share of Americans — Republicans, Democrats and Independents — who say that it is important that some sort of significant new legislation pass.”

While a majority of Americans may support immigration reform, the conservative Tea Party wing of the Republican Party has been able to block any legislation on this issue.

“There is a very strong nativist sentiment afoot, reflected certainly in the Tea Party but many other conservatives as well, and they’re the ones important in House constituencies, and that’s really why we haven’t been able to take any action,” said Thomas Mann, a congressional scholar at The Brookings Institution.

Immigration opponents accuse President Obama of poorly managing the border and of creating an expectation of amnesty when he issued an executive order to end deportation of young immigrants already living in the U.S. Dane says these will be key issues in this year’s congressional elections.

“I would not want to be a candidate this year without a clear and concise answer, that I would expect from the public, on why we have an immigration crisis and what you intend to do about it,” he said.

While most Americans still support immigration reform, they now also say stopping the flow of undocumented immigrants should be the government’s top priority.

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Five Hospital Ships Needed To Save Gaza’s Children – OpEd

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(Wavell Palestinian camp, Baalbec, Lebanon) — The statistics are just beginning to be analyzed—by UN agencies and a myriad of NGO’s whose mandates include salvaging young lives from the nearly incalculable ravages of the five-week (and counting) Zionist aggression upon Gaza. It is of course the third aggression in six years against the 1.8 million Palestinians, sardine-canned into what is increasingly referred to as history’s largest open air prison, but the outcome this time is looking particularly cruel and grim.

As the Netanyahu regime announced (on 8/10/14) that its attacks on Gaza would continue, increasing numbers of obscene calls—for Israel to “finish the job” and “go all the way” etc.—are floating in the Zionist state’s malodorous public echo-chamber, emanating from such figures as the Knesset’s deputy speaker, who advocates driving Palestinians into the Sinai desert and resettling Gaza with Jews.

In Khuza’a “the Israeli military had trapped at least 32 people in a home and then prevented the Red Cross from evacuating them before shelling the area,” reported Lebanese-American journalist Roqayah Chamseddine. Hoping for safe haven, the people in the house sought refuge in the basement of a neighbor’s home, where they found additional families already inside.

“By that point we were 120 people, 10 men and the rest women and children,” Kamel al-Najjar recalled for Human Rights Watch.

After dawn and without warning (no polite leaflets or knocks on the roof apparently), Israel struck the house, killing three people and wounding 15 others.

The toll of the war on Gaza’s children has been “catastrophic,” according to UN agencies. At least 450 have been killed, and those not having their physical bodies buried have found their innocence entombed. It is another casualty in the war—a war against all things daring to live and resist in Gaza. According to Chamseddine:

“Israel has forced the children of Gaza to lay flowers atop headstones, and watch helplessly as coffins that are filled with not only their most beloved family members, teachers, neighbors, and friends but also their most treasured memories, lullabies, lessons learned and those that will never come, descend into the belly of the earth. Their lips will memorize and form prayers for the dead and the stars that defied the siege that flickered freely high above them will be snatched from their skies.”

Increasingly it is being heard from Gazans that “Israel has stolen everything beautiful in our lives,” and Israel’s barbarity confirms this sentiment.

Middle East analysts point out that it is difficult to recall a time in modern history when there has been so much sustained slaughter of this region’s civilian population, with more than two-thirds of the victims being women and children. For the past year, UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations have lamented a simple reality—that there is not a sufficient level of international aid to save lives and treat those in need of emergency and longer term medical care.

But now something is changing.

The horrors we have just witnessed, especially with respect to traumas inflicted on children, is producing, as should be the case, a major and rapidly growing international focus on salvaging young lives. Descriptions and evaluations of the consequences of Gaza wars are being published and urgently discussed. Some analysts and government officials, including Pentagon planners, are calling for a ‘Medical Marshall Plan,’ to save Gaza’s children. One proposed first step is the dispatching of a humanitarian support group of hospital ships that would sail to Gaza without further delay.

What can and must be done, by the United States and other countries with the naval and medical capacity to do so, is to organize a Hospital Ship flotilla to break the siege of Gaza, to anchor offshore, and to begin caring for the medical needs of all, with a special focus on children and their psychological well-being. Call it a Mercy Mission. Initially it could include the following countries—all well known for their hospital ships with up-and-running medical staffs: the USA, UK, France, China, Russia, Spain, Argentina, and Australia. Within this group of nations are ships with hundreds of patient beds and fully stocked pharmacies. Moreover, it is a group not likely to be interfered with by those who have imposed the inhumane blockade of Gaza (and of course it even includes some of their collaborators in the region), but perhaps most importantly, every country on the list possesses one or more hospital ships that are fully staffed and available to act.

France is reportedly ready to join such an effort and is also working on a related crisis—in Iraq, where it plans delivery of first aid equipment “in the coming hours,” according to the office of Francois Hollande. The French president has “reaffirmed the will of France to stand by the side of civilian victims of continued attacks” in Iraq, and his spokesmen said that “France will do the same thing for Gaza.”

“The European Union is called upon to also take necessary measures with great urgency to respond to immediate humanitarian needs,” the spokesman added.

Hundreds of EU citizens, with their specialized skills in fields of pediatric medicine and child psychology, are reportedly ready to help the children of Gaza. Two fully stocked and staffed American medical ships, the USNS Mercy and the USNS Comfort, could contribute greatly to the effort. Each ship’s hospital is a full floating medical treatment facility, containing 12 fully equipped operating rooms, a 1,000-bed patient capacity, digital radiological services, medical laboratory, pharmacy, optometry lab, and intensive care ward; each also has a dental clinic with full services, CT scanner, and two oxygen-producing plants.

Helicopter landing decks are available as well, for patient transports, and the ships also have side ports that could take on patients from Gaza fishing boats and other crafts at sea. In addition to these two mammoth-sized medical vessels, dozens of other US Navy ships also have hospitals on board. For example, in one year, the medical department of the USS George Washington handled over 15,000 out-patient visits, drew almost 27,000 lab samples, filled almost 10,000 prescriptions, took about 2,300 x-rays, and performed 65 surgical operations—and nearly 100 other US ships are capable of doing the same.

Just one example with respect to capacity is illustrative. In April of this year, the USNS Comfort—a converted 70,000-ton tanker—sailed from Norfolk, Virginia carrying 900 doctors, nurses, and engineers, including staff from the U.S. military, civilian agencies, non-government charities, and even foreign navies. The ship is designed to be deployed quickly for four month intensive full service medical assistance; yet similar capacities obtain in certain other US ships and in foreign navies as well. All of these resources must be put to immediate use to save Gaza’s children.

Looking at the longer term, the Pentagon should seriously consider ordering a sufficient number of catamaran transports and shallow-draft littoral ships to fill out the flotilla, vessels capable of delivering aid by sea via the relatively shallow Gaza coastline. The success of breaking the siege of Gaza will likely give impetus to a UN Security Council decision to construct a seaport for Gaza, perhaps with a shipping channel to Cyprus.

Similarly, the UK hospital ship, RFA Argus, designated as a ‘Primary Casualty Receiving Ship,’ is moored in Falmouth, England, and is also uniquely designed for this type of humanitarian crisis; and it, too, is reportedly ready to sail once given the green light by Downing Street.

Five Hospital ships are urgently needed along Gaza’s shoreline at the following locations: opposite Jabaliya and North Gaza, Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah.

Although attacking a hospital ship is clearly a war crime, the Israeli pattern of targeting medical facilities in Gaza is well known, and threats from the settler movement and the right wing Likud Party to “sink any ship that enters Gaza waters if judged to be aiding the terrorists” must be taken seriously. Yet one imagines the occupation regime would have to think carefully about sinking another US Navy vessel as it did in 1967 with the repeated bombing of the USS Liberty.

Instead of recycling raw combat power, the White House can best meet the demands of a war-weary American public through an emphasis on missions such as those the USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort are designed for. Poll after US public opinion poll reveal that Americans believe their humanitarian values are best reflected when our navy is tailored for delivering humanitarian aid to places like Gaza, and not by delivering munitions to occupying colonial regimes.

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Ethnoburbs: White Flight And Segregation In Suburbia

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White flight does not end when residents move from poor urban neighborhoods to the suburbs. An Indiana University study found that white flight from one suburban neighborhood to another occurs when white residents move away from “ethnoburbs,” suburban neighborhoods that attract a growing number of middle-class minority residents.

“The sheer force of immigration and suburbanization has resulted in the unmistakable rise of middle-class yet ethnic suburban communities. However, my research shows that despite their distinct middle-class character, ethnoburbs have lost a steady flow of white residents over the past 20 years,” said Samuel Kye, author of “Revisiting White Flight and Segregation: The Consequences of Ethnoburbs.”

“The findings suggest that patterns of segregation remain highly active even in these, the most affluent of ethnic neighborhoods,” said Kye, a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology in IU Bloomington’s College of Arts and Sciences. “Collectively, this raises important questions about the future of America’s increasingly diverse metropolitan areas.”

Kye’s study is one of the first to look at white Americans’ response to the influx of suburban ethnic populations. It also is one of the first to use a nationwide sample of census tracts to examine residential trends. His work expands the conversation about ethnic neighborhoods beyond the Chinatowns and other urban “enclaves,” where poor residents of similar ethnicity have often lived because they lacked other choices. Studies involving suburbs offer researchers the opportunity to examine where people choose to live.

Rather than safely becoming middle-class melting pots, however, the once majority-white suburbs in Kye’s study appeared especially sensitive to the growth and emergence of non-white populations. Levels of “white flight” and segregation attributable to the presence of minority groups were distinctly higher in suburbs than in urban neighborhoods. A silver lining, Kye said, is that the level of suburban segregation for most minority groups had stopped increasing and began instead to decrease from 1990 to 2010 — except for African American neighborhoods.

Kye said black ethnoburbs were the only communities to continue showing increases in segregation during that same time period.

“This is alarming because although black-white segregation has generally declined over the past 30 to 40 years, blacks still remain the most highly segregated minority group in the U.S. today,” he said. “The fact that levels of segregation for blacks continue to grow even in their middle-class communities raises concern about the decline of black/white segregation into the future, especially as America continues to suburbanize and ethnoburbs proliferate in number.”

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The Paracels: Historical Evidence Must Be Examined – Analysis

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Advocates of the Chinese territorial claim to the islands of the South China Sea frequently cite vague historical references in support of their arguments. In order to be properly assessed, the exact references should be made explicit and honestly assessed.

By Bill Hayton

Professor Li Dexia’s commentary on the Paracel Islands is a useful compendium of the arguments made in support of the Chinese ‘historical claim’ to the islands. The author knows these arguments well; her 2003 paper, The Dotted Line on the Chinese Map of the South China Sea was among the first to discuss the Chinese point of view in English.

However, her RSIS Commentary entitled Xisha (Paracel) Islands: Why China’s Sovereignty is ‘Indisputable’ lacks verifiable evidence. It would be of great benefit to the community of South China Sea researchers if the author, or others, could rectify this situation.

No convincing evidence

The author tells us that, “Based on numerous Chinese historical records, since at least the North Song Dynasty (960-1127AD), China had exercised sovereignty and jurisdiction over the Xisha (Paracel) and Nansha (Spratly) Islands effectively”.

Advocates of the Chinese historical claim in the South China Sea sometimes make reference to ancient documents that mention ‘the Sea’ or ‘islands’. To my knowledge, none of these references can be identified with any specific islands. There is simply no way of telling whether the islands they mention are in the Paracels or Spratlys or just among the hundreds of islands lying within a few nautical miles of the Chinese coast.

Is the author able to provide specific references to the exact texts in these historical records? Do any of these records identify the ‘Xisha’ and ‘Nansha’ islands by name? Based on my own research I do not believe that there are any official Chinese documents issued before 1909 that use those terms.

In fact, I have seen no convincing evidence that would demonstrate any official Chinese interest in the Paracels before 1909. As the French researcher Francois-Xavier Bonnet has shown, a map of Guangdong Province published in 1897 went no further south than Hainan Island. The situation changed in 1909 because of rising nationalism in China provoked, in particular, by the discovery that a Japanese entrepreneur was extracting guano from Pratas Island – located between Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Vital episode in Paracels’ history skipped

Following that discovery, an expedition to the Paracels was organised by the Governor of Guangdong, Zhang Yen Jun. According to the French owner of a regional shipping company, P.A. Lapicque (recorded in a book published 20 years later), the governor’s expedition was guided by two Germans from the trading firm Carlowitz and Company.

There were, apparently, no local pilots up to the task. The group spent two weeks at anchor off Hainan waiting for good weather and then sped to the Paracels on 6 June before returning to Canton the following day. This visit is now the basis for China’s claim to sovereignty over the islands.

Lapique noted with incredulity how this brief expedition managed to produce 15 detailed maps of the Paracel Islands. It seems more likely that the Guangdong authorities simply copied the existing European maps of the islands and gave the features Chinese names. This would seem to be where the name ‘Xisha’ originates: probably a translation of the English-language name for one of the Paracel Islands, West Sand.

Moving closer to the present day, Professor Li is incorrect to assert that, “After Japan’s surrender in 1945, however, the Islands were returned to China according to the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations”. There is no mention of the Spratly or the Paracel Islands in either the Cairo or Potsdam Declarations. This was because France was lobbying for them to be recognised as French territory so the allies made no commitments about their future sovereignty.

Li also skips over a vital episode in the history of the Paracels. As the Norwegian expert Stein Tonnesson, has conclusively demonstrated, forces from both Nationalist China and France occupied different islands in the Paracels after the Second World War. The Chinese arrived first, on Woody Island in the Amphitrite Group in early January 1947. The French arrived a few weeks later and, finding Woody Island occupied, deposited their troops on Pattle Island in the Crescent Group.

Open vague historical claims for independent examination

French, and then Vietnamese, forces remained in control of Pattle Island from that point until they were evicted by Chinese invasion in January 1974. Nationalist Chinese forces abandoned Woody Islands on 4 May 1950 and were not replaced by Communist Chinese forces until 1955 or 1956.

There is ample evidence to demonstrate that the Chinese operation to seize Pattle Island and the Crescent Group in 1974 was planned months in advance and was not the accidental result of a battle between fishermen.

These are tense times in the South China Sea and if the issues are to be resolved, all sides must be prepared to engage in an open and rigorous discussion. Vague references to ancient historical documents are not sufficient. All sides must make their evidence available to independent examination.

At the moment China, Vietnam and the Philippines claim ownership of large groups of islands as if they are single units. If each claimant could put forward specific evidence for their title over each individual feature – rather than for large groups of islands within it – it would be possible to assess each one individually. Then it might be possible to begin to unwind the disputes.

Bill Hayton is the author of The South China Sea: the struggle for power in Asia to be published by Yale University Press in September 2014. He contributed this specially to RSIS Commentaries.

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South China Sea Disputes: China Has Evidence Of Historical Claims – Analysis

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China possesses historical references dating back to the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127AD), which cannot be fairly presented in such a short commentary.

By Li Dexia and Tan Keng Tat

Bill Hayton, in his RSIS Commentary entitled The Paracels: Historical Evidence Must Be Examined,’ asserted that “Advocates of the Chinese territorial claim to the islands of the South China Sea frequently cite vague historical references in support of their arguments”. This assertion in article has no merit.

China’s territorial claim is based on centuries of verifiable historical records, long-term use, treaties, international/customary laws plus records from the prodigious sea voyages of the Yuan and Ming dynasties. China was the world’s predominant maritime power between 1292 to 1433.

Early Chinese references to Paracels

To obliquely imply China was incapable of first discovery of islands in the South China Sea flies in the face of logic. To expect anyone to present the litany of verifiable evidence, dating from the Northern Song dynasty would require a monograph, not a short article as this. Manila’s legal brief to support its claim to some Nansha (Spratly) Islands and the Huangyan (Scarborough) Island, exceeds 4,000 pages.

Hayton’s claim that none of the references to ancient documents that mention ‘the Sea’ or ‘islands’ can be identified with any specific islands, is baseless.

One of the earliest Chinese references to today’s Xisha (Paracels) is the “Chu Fan Chi” a 13th century book, translated by Friedrich Hirth and W.W. Rockhill in 1911, into ‘Chau Ju-kua: His work on the Chinese and Arab Trade in the 12th and 13th Centuries’. Chau, the customs inspector of foreign trade in Fujian province, wrote “To the East of (Hainan island) are the ‘Chien-li chang-sha’ and the ‘Wan-li shih-chuang’”. Both translators agreed they referred to the Paracels.

In 1292 the Yuan Emperor, who sent a 1,000-ship expeditionary force to Java to attack King Kertanegara for assaulting an envoy, sailed through ‘Ch’i-chou yang’ (Paracels) and ‘Wan-li shi-tang’ (Spratlys).

During the Ming dynasty period when China was the world’s sole maritime power from 1405-1433, Admiral Zheng He set sail with 317 ships passing through ‘Wan-sheng shih tang’ (Paracels) and ‘Shih-shing Shi-tang’ (Spratlys) enroute to Champa (part of old Vietnam), Malacca, India and later East Africa.

In 1730, Chen Lun-Chiung’s book ‘Notes on land across the sea’, described the geographical positions of the Paracels and Spratlys. In his ‘General map of four seas’, the Paracels were described as ‘Ch’i-chou yang’ and Spratlys as ‘Shih-tang’.

Chinese records also named the Paracels as Chi-chou yang shan, referring to the nine western islets of the Paracels. During the late Qing dynasty, the name Sisha (Pinyin:Xisha) islands became common. If the Europeans could not sail the high seas then, how could Vietnamese fishermen sail 250 nautical miles to the Paracels in 1405? The Paracels were only recorded in the ‘The Complete Map of the Unified Dai Nam’ in 1838.

Ignoring historical evidence

Hayton’s claim that Xisha “was probably a translation of the English name for West Sand” is clutching at straws. Xisha means Western Beach. His claim of no official Chinese interest in Xisha before 1909 is also incorrect. The 1887 Convention delimitation line between China and Tonkin (Northern Vietnam) stated all isles East of it were assigned to China, which included Xisha.

In 1902 a stone marker was laid there with Chinese inscriptions meaning “In commemoration of inspection”. Again in 1907 a naval contingent visited Xisha and established a Chinese marker on Fu-po tao (Drummond island).

In 1975, two academics from American law schools, Hungdah Chiu and Choon-ho Park, wrote in the Ocean Development and Law Journal: “There is no doubt that China discovered and used the Paracels for several hundred years before Vietnam began asserting its claims in 1802.”

To embellish his claims Hayton conveniently ignored historical evidence cited by Dr Li Dexia, to wit :

*On 15 June 1956 Vice Foreign Minister Ung Van Khiem said “according to Vietnamese data, Xisha and Nansha Islands are historically part of Chinese territory”. The Acting Director of the Asian Department. Le Loc added, “judging from history, these islands were already part of China at the time of the Song Dynasty”; and

*China issued a statement on the territorial sea on 4 September 1958, announcing that it applied to all (of) China’s territories, including the Xisha and Nansha Islands. Ten days later, Pham Van Dong sent a diplomatic note to Premier Zhou Enlai, solemnly declaring that “the government of the DRV recognises and supports the declaration of the government of the PRC…”

The paradox is this: If France already had sovereignty over Xisha in 1933 why the need to invade it in 1938? When Japan invaded Xisha in 1939, Japan’s raison d’être was that during wartime it could annex China’s territories.

Dr Li wrote: “After Japan’s surrender in 1945, the Islands were returned to China according to the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations.” Hayton dismissed this as ‘incorrect’ because Paracels or Spratlys were not named. But the Cairo Declaration was explicit: “Japan will also be expelled from ALL other territories which she has taken by violence and greed.” From 1946 to 1956, except at the 1951 San Francisco Peace Conference, France and the Republic of Vietnam did not challenge China’s sovereignty over the islets.

Hayton’s assertion that “China, Vietnam and the Philippines claim ownership of large groups of islands as if they are single units” is incorrect. Manila’s claim for some Nansha islands only surfaced in 1971 but former colonial masters, Spain and the United States, never ceded them any such islands. Manila does not claim Xisha. Neither does Vietnam claim Dongsha (Pratas) island and Zhongsha (Macclesfield Bank).

Dr Stein Tonnesson, the expert Hayton cited, wrote that, according to London’s Public Records Office, “Britain considered Xisha to be Chinese” (territory). Sam Bateman, former Australian naval commodore, said “Vietnam’ s current claim over Xisha Islands is seriously weakened by North Vietnam’ s recognition of Chinese sovereignty over the islands in 1958 and its lack of protest between 1958 and 1975”.

Li Dexia is Associate Professor with the School of Journalism and Communication at Xiamen University, China. Her views are strictly her own and do not reflect any official stance. Tan Keng Tat is a private researcher in the maritime disputes in the South China Sea based in Singapore.

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Obama’s Flawed Islamic State Strategy: From Saudi Arabia With Love – Analysis

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By Zachary Fillingham

Anyone who has traced the full arc of the Obama presidency knows that when US bombs started falling on Islamic State targets last month, it was kind of a big deal. Here was the precise moment when jihad’s “JV team,” having truly played its heart out and silenced all the critics, was raising in triumph its prize of President Obama’s credibility as commander in chief.

Weeks later came the big speech that was going to provide details on this US reversal in Iraq. Viewers huddled around their TVs to learn what exactly the United States was going to do about Islamic State now that it had ascended the global threat ranking with such stunning alacrity. Some hoped for an admission that mistakes were made in Syria and Iraq; most expected a strategy that at least learned from them.

Everyone was disappointed.

Obama’s Islamic State policy speech is a study in old habits dying hard – the wrong habits. It had all of the messianic flair of George W. Bush speech in its allusions to the US quest to vanquish evil from the world, but none of the reckless unilateralism that could decisively alter the course of events on the ground.

Cue a natural question: ‘Isn’t the reckless unilateralism better left in the past?’ In terms of a holistic view of US foreign policy, this is probably true. But in terms of dealing with the actual problem of Islamic State, it gets a bit more complicated. President Obama is not grappling with historical hypotheticals here (on which we already know his opinion regardless). Rather, he is facing an existential military and political crisis, one that can’t be ignored even if every moral fiber in the president’s being recoils at the prospect of another US military deployment in the region.

Common sense dictates that there are two ways out of the current crisis. The president could either take a page out of George W. Bush’s book and recommit boots on the ground, unpopular as such a move would be (the Surge redux). Though hugely expensive and politically suicidal, this would enable the kind of community-level trust-building needed if the Sykes-Picot imagining of Iraq is to survive. The other option would be to work with all of the regional players, even the politically unsavory ones, in order to close the power vacuum that’s currently fueling the Islamic State insurgency.

The path that the ultimately president chose – extending support to a nearly non-existent Free Syrian Army (FSA) and upping air strikes and military advisors – was tantamount to looking at the hard options available and going with ‘none of the above.’

Take Syria for example. The Obama plan relies on the FSA as its proxy, a fighting force that has already effectively lost the war against the jihadists, suffering defeat, desertion, and dispersal across Syria and Turkey. According to the president’s logic, US arms, air strikes, and training will transform the FSA into a major player on the battlefield, allowing it to defeat not only Islamic State but the government forces of al-Assad, and help the Syrian people realize their innate desire for liberty.

It’s almost as if Obama was present for the outbreak of the Arab Spring, but nothing of what came later. People who took to the streets across the MENA region and fought for their freedom subsequently met with violence, chaos, and deprivation such that many would gladly take their previous tyrants back if it meant a return to political stability (Egypt traded one military government for another; Libya traded for anarchy). The takeaway here is this: democracy is a delicate process that must be nurtured and developed over a long period of time; not a political revelation that can be dropped like banned ordnance from the skies above.

So suspending our disbelief surrounding the titanic logistical challenge of whipping the FSA into fighting shape (recall that the decade-trained, billions-equipped Iraqi Army turned and fled from Mosul), what would Damascus look like in the event of a FSA victory? It would probably be bloody, sectarian, and chaotic – more the scene of brutal score settling than any birthplace for Syrian democracy.

The rise of Islamic State is a looming threat to global stability, and it’s going to take some forward thinking to put the genie back in the bottle. For one, if President Obama is determined to keep US troops out of the fray, he’s going to need to work constructively with the regional actors who can make a difference – even the ones which are anathema to Washington. In the case of Syria, the al-Assad regime is the only real hope of countering Islamic State on the battlefield. And the Iranian government is going to help decide the future of Iraq whether the United States likes it or not, this much was guaranteed as far back as the removal of Saddam Hussein. Both of these regimes are directly in the crosshairs of Islamic State’s narrow interpretation of Islamic heresy, and both have a vested interest in defeating the militant group.

If President Obama’s aversion to a more practical, less ideological strategy was motivated by not wanting to take sides and risk inflaming Sunni-Shiite tensions that might be understandable. But given the recent history of US foreign policy in the Middle East, the president has already taken sides; arguably the wrong side. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and a few of the other Arab states being lauded for joining Obama’s anti-IS coalition are rumored to have been some of the first patrons of Islamic State, at least back in the early days when the group seemed like a good horse to back in the stakes to unseat al-Assad.

The Syrian civil war was never about democracy or human rights. It was a geopolitical power play pure and simple, a way for Riyadh to deprive its arch-rival of an important ally in Syria. It appears that nowadays everyone is aware of this fact except for President Obama.

The United States has indirectly enabled these regional games up until now, partially out of deference to an old, oil-rich ally in Saudi Arabia and partially owing to its own tumultuous history with revolutionary Iran. But the rise of ISIS has laid bare the dangers of such an approach. If Washington wants a stable Middle East without committing any troops to the region on a permanent basis, it’s going to need to stop pretending that Iran doesn’t exist, and start being realistic about the prospects for healthy democracies operating over top a historical minefield of sectarian tension.

In short, Obama must be more flexible and less ideological.

The argument over whether or not the United States should commit more blood and treasure to a conflict-ridden Middle East is crucially important, and it should continue unabated. But as for this particular plan of President Obama’s, there’s much less room for debate – it’s deeply flawed, and it will fail.

Zachary Fillingham is a contributor to Geopoliticalmonitor.com, where this article first published.

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Macedonia 2015 Budget To Increase Pensions, State Salaries, Social Benefits

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Macedonia’s 2015 Budget, which was passed at a Government session late on Saturday, will provide higher salaries in the public sector, higher pensions and welfare.

Vice Premier and Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski presented the 2015 draft-budget at Sunday’s press conference.

According to him, public administration salaries, pensions and welfare would rise by about 5 percent next year.

“The 2015 Budget aims to meet the Government’s priorities – support to economy and the private sector through capital investments, but also help the citizens’ standard”, said Stavreski.

He stressed the draft-budget resulted from analyses of trends in the European economy and achievements of Macedonia’s economy in 2014.

“The European economy showed negative signs, but Macedonia has registered a 4.3-percent growth in Q2. We analysed both trends, seeing that Macedonia can allow a rise of salaries, pensions and welfare, thus improving the citizens’ standard”, added Stavreski.

GDP growth is projected at 4 percent, inflation at 2%, and deficit at 3.5%.

Total revenues are projected at MKD 163,28 billion (EUR 2,65 billion), while expenditures at MKD 181,77 billion (EUR 2,95 billion).

Agriculture subsidies amount to EUR 140 million, whereas capital investments EUR 344 million.

FinMin Stavreski said the investment cycle in road and railway infrastructure would resume in 2015 with EUR 55 million and EUR 21 million respectively.

Other investments include the gas distribution network (EUR 4,2 million), construction of clinical centers (EUR 8,6 million), construction and overhaul of elementary and secondary schools (EUR 9,7 million), construction and equipping of technological-industrial development zones (EUR 8,7 million).

The draft-budget will be submitted to the Parliament on Monday.

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US-Led Army Exercise ‘Rapid Trident 2014’ Underway In Ukraine

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Military personnel from 15 countries are participating in the annual US-led army exercises in Ukraine, which commenced Monday in the Lviv region, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry stated in a press release.

“In the next two weeks, soldiers will have to deal with explosive packages, fuses, mines and other simulation explosives. Servicemen should be able to practice how to act during blasting, safe distances during mine clearance, which signals should be given,” Ukrainian Defense Ministry cited lieutenant colonel from the Sahaydachniy Academy Yuri Ftemov.

The exercise will be conducted at the Yavoriv testing ground at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center (IPSC). During the two week exercise, the participants will deal with different kinds of explosive devices.

About 1,300 troops from 15 countries, including host nation Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, and the United States, as well as NATO observers are participating in Exercise Rapid Trident 2014.

Overall, almost 700 arms and 50 military and fighting vehicles will be used during the exercises. This year’s exercise is the 12th version of Rapid Trident, which from 1998-2002 was known as Peace Shield.

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Iran To Start Construction Of Two New Nuclear Power Plants By Year-End

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By Milad Fashtami

Iran plans to start construction of two new nuclear power plants by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21).

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran’s Deputy Director for International Affairs Behrouz Kamalvandi said that the final negotiations are underway with the Russians to build the plants, Iran’s Tabnak News Website reported on Sept. 15.

“The two power plants will most probably be constructed near the Bushehr nuclear power plant,” he said, adding that the two plants will have the capacity to produce 1,000 megawatt of electricity.

“The construction plan will be complete in five to seven years,” Kamalvand added.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Sept. 10, “We have been informed that Iran plans to construct 20 new nuclear power plants.”

The Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said in June that Iran has reached an agreement with Russia to construct two more nuclear power plants.

“The two sides are negotiating over the six other planned plants,” he explained.

Tehran is reportedly negotiating with Moscow over construction of eight nuclear reactors.
Iran’s ISNA News Agency on May 25 quoted an unnamed official as saying that Iran and Russia has agreed over a nuclear protocol for construction of new nuclear reactors.

If the two sides sign the agreement, Iran will officially be able to construct the new reactors, the source said and went on to note that the two countries have already agreed over construction of two power reactors.

Salehi said on April 13 that the country has a contract with Russia which obligates Moscow to build four other nuclear power plants in the country. Based on a contract which was signed in 1992, Russia is supposed to construct the power plants at the request of Tehran.

He also said that Iran will start construction of its second nuclear plant this year.

“Two years from now we will start the construction operation of the third plant,” he explained, adding that the country will continue building new ones every two years.

“We plan to use local experts in construction of the plants as much as possible,” Salehi said,
“Before the Islamic revolution [in 1979] the Americans said that Iran needs to annually produce 20,000 megawatt hours of nuclear electricity. Now we want to reach the goal.”

The post Iran To Start Construction Of Two New Nuclear Power Plants By Year-End appeared first on Eurasia Review.

‘Mass Murder’ Reported Off Malta, 500 Drowned

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(EurActiv) — If the reports of two survivors prove to be true, 500 migrants from North Africa have been deliberately killed by human traffickers, who sank their boat following a dispute. If confirmed, this is the worst incident of its kind, amounting to mass murder, an official of the International Organization for Migration told EurActiv.

Leonard Doyle, IOM spokesperson in Italy, confirmed news broken by Maltese media that 500 migrants who were attempting to travel by boat from North Africa to Europe are feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean after their boat was sunk on purpose by traffickers.

The migrants, including many families and unaccompanied children, had left the Egyptian port city of Damiette on 6 September. According to Doyle, two of the migrants aboard the ship, who survived at sea for nearly two days, told the story that at some point the traffickers got into a dispute with the migrants, and sank the boat.

“Some of [the migrants] were picked up by a Maltese and some by a Greek vessel. We’ve interviewed these two survivors, people who said they are survivors, and this is what they said”, Doyle said.

Asked about the magnitude of the incident as reported, Doyle said “of course this is mass murder”, provided that it is confirmed. “We don’t know what it is, [for the time being] we have allegations,” he said.

Asked if he could compare this incident with other violence reported in the past, Doyle explained that there have been cases when immigrants have been thrown overboard, or stabbed.

“This is obviously of a different order, but it’s in line with what we have heard before,” he said.

Asked if the two survivors could be considered as independent sources, Doyle responded that they seem to be independent.

“They seem to have been rescued separately […] We have one survivor validated by the other, for the moment,” he said.

Reportedly, one of the survivors was clinging on a life raft with seven people, of which five had disappeared in the sea, and was rescued by the Greek merchant ship Pegasus.

Asked how he could compare this incident with previous experience, Doyle said, “It looks like this is the worse incident that we’ve seen. It looks like certainly the worst this year, if it’s validated. Obviously, if it’s true, it’s very, very serious,” he said.

Asked if the EU response to the immigration challenge across the Mediterranean has been adequate, Doyle said that he could only confirm that the number of deaths was growing.

“It’s already more this year than last year, while it is declining in other parts of the world.”

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China Cuts Coal Output, Lifting Smog Hopes – Analysis

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By Michael Lelyveld

Planned production cuts in China’s coal sector may raise prospects for environmental gains if the government succeeds in promoting cleaner fuels, experts say.

Last month, central government authorities took extraordinary steps to curb excess coal production as prices continued their two-year slide.

On Aug. 13, the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) announced it would conduct joint inspections of government-owned coal mines with other agencies. The inspections focus on “mining safety, overproduction and unauthorized capacity expansion,” the industry website sxcoal.com reported.

On Aug. 21, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the state planning body, ordered local governments to “severely punish” mines producing above approved capacity, the site said.

At the government’s urging, the China National Coal Association (CNCA) has called on members to curb operations.

Jiang Zhimin, CNCA’s vice chairman, said the industry “has reached a consensus to reduce output by 10 percent in the second half of 2014,” the official Xinhua news agency reported on Aug. 26.

It remains to be seen whether that will be enough to keep prices from falling further.

Benchmark coal prices have plunged over 20 percent since the start of the year from 610 yuan to 479 yuan (U.S. $99.21 to $77.90) per metric ton as of Aug. 20, Xinhua said.

The range compares with a high of over U.S. $130 (799 yuan) per ton in 2011, the Financial Times reported.

The glut has been the result of multiple factors in China, which accounted for 47 percent of the world’s coal production and over half of consumption last year, according to BP Statistical Review of World Energy.

Slower economic growth has sapped demand, while global competition from cleaner fuels has helped to drive coal prices down.

China took advantage of cheap foreign coal last year, importing a record 330 million tons. Imports have added to oversupply, depressing prices even more.

Coal companies have responded by overproducing in hopes of replacing lost revenues, creating a downward spiral with prices sagging to five-year lows.

China mined 3.7 billion tons of the high-polluting fuel last year, Xinhua reported in January, citing the CNCA. In the past, provincial totals have exceeded national figures, raising suspicions that actual output could be even more.

In a further sign of oversupply, China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) reported on Sept. 8 that coal imports in the first eight months fell 5.3 percent to 202 million tons. Average prices were down 15.3 percent, Xinhua said.

Signs of decline

Environmental groups have been on the lookout for signs of decline, hoping that the government’s anti-smog campaign will combine with poor market conditions to reduce burning of coal.

The central government’s five-year action plan calls for reducing coal’s share in China’s energy mix to 65 percent in 2017. The share stood at an estimated 65.7 percent in 2013.

Last month, Greenpeace East Asia wrote in a blog posting that China’s coal consumption “seems to have dropped in the first half of 2014,” suggesting that “the structure of the Chinese economy is finally starting to change away from the energy intensive industries and investment.”

But the conclusions may be hard to confirm.

Six-month CNCA figures cited by the energy website bjx.com.cn and Platts energy news service show production of 1.816 billion tons slipped 1.8 percent from a year before.

The trend continued at a milder pace, according to data for the first seven months reported by Platts, as coal output dropped 1.45 percent.

But even if the cutback proves real, it is unclear how long it will last.

The plunge in coal prices has raised expectations that the dip may be near the bottom, spurring a new spurt of buying for the bargain energy source.

The NDRC has ordered mining companies to cut imports for the rest of the year amid reports that it may ban imports of low-quality coal to support the industry.

“The wild card in all of this long term is what’s really going to happen in China environmentally. How much conversion can they accomplish to other fuels?” said Andy Roberts, an analyst at the international consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, quoted by the Financial Times.

“It is still going to be a coal-based economy 20 years from now, but it might be a much lower share of power generation,” Roberts said.

Beijing has taken the lead in pledging to close all coal-fired power plants in the city by 2017, responding to public complaints during the smog crisis last year.

But it is uncertain how much or if China will reduce total coal burning in the country as a whole, faced with competing economic and environmental costs.

Permanent change?

Philip Andrews-Speed, a China energy expert at National University of Singapore, said it is still unclear whether coal demand in the country is undergoing cyclical or permanent change.

“China’s coal mining industry is suffering the same as the rest of the world’s coal miners, the problem of boom and bust in an industry with long investment cycles,” Andrews-Speed said.

There were also signs that coal prices may be feeling the effect of shorter-term pressures, including a 29-percent jump in hydropower production in July.

Sluggish demand and low prices may be seen as an opportunity to drive more inefficient mines out of business.

“However, as we have seen before in this and other industries in China, local protectionism and cross subsidies protect companies that should go bust,” he said.

Another complication is that natural gas and coal prices are moving in opposite directions, testing the government’s push to replace coal with cleaner fuel during a period of slower economic growth.

Last month, the NDRC announced an increase in gas rates for industrial and non-residential users of about 18 percent starting Sept. 1, hoping to recoup losses from high-priced imports and encourage domestic production, Reuters reported.

The government previously raised non-residential gas rates by about 15 percent in July 2013.

“The fall in coal prices occurring at the same time as the rise in domestic gas prices threatens to undermine the push for gas, but I presume that the government hopes that the regulatory measures relating to the environment will prevent users from switching back to coal,” Andrews-Speed said.

Economic restructuring

So far, evidence of economic restructuring from the energy data appears cloudy.

Analysts often look to power consumption as an indicator of true economic growth, while a comparison with official gross domestic product (GDP) may be seen as a measure of China’s progress to boost energy efficiency.

Last year, electricity use rose 7.5 percent, nearly as much as GDP growth of 7.7 percent. But in the first six months of this year, power consumption increased 5.3 percent compared with first-half GDP growth of 7.4 percent.

The larger spread between the figures this year could be a sign of a major gain in energy efficiency with less reliance on heavy industry for economic growth.

On Sept. 10, the government claimed just such an efficiency gain as Premier Li Keqiang announced that energy use per unit of GDP in the first half of the year had dropped 4.2 percent from the year-earlier period.

Carbon intensity, which measures emissions per unit of GDP, also fell sharply by 5 percent, said Li, according to Xinhua.

But the abrupt change in power growth rates may also raise doubts about the accuracy of GDP figures.

“If we take the data at face value, this is consistent with a gradual shift away from infrastructure and heavy industry and toward manufacturing and services,” said Andrews-Speed.

“But this differential between growth in power consumption and GDP appears to be a bit too sudden to be credible,” he said.

Over the years, Li and other officials have repeatedly questioned the accuracy of GDP data compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In the latest suggestion of bad data, state-controlled China Youth Daily reported on Sept. 4 that the sum of GDP figures from the country’s 31 provincial-level governments exceeded the national total by a whopping 12.6 percent in the first half.

The discrepancies have persisted for 10 consecutive years, the paper said.

Signs of economic lag continued in the latest NBS figures released Saturday as industrial production rose 6.9 percent in August from a year before, the slowest pace in nearly six years.

Power consumption fell 2.2 from the year-earlier period, posting the first decline since 2009, Bloomberg News said.

The post China Cuts Coal Output, Lifting Smog Hopes – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Skin Cancer Risks Higher For Soldiers Serving Abroad

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Soldiers deployed to tropical and sunny climates are coming home with increased risk factors for a threat far from the battlefield: skin cancer.

In a retrospective study of about 200 veterans seen at the post-deployment clinic of the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System found that 62 percent of military personnel reported getting sunburned while deployed abroad, including cases of skin blistering. In addition, 29 percent noted a change in the color, shape or size of their moles (a skin cancer risk factor) since being deployed to tropical zones, but only 4 percent reported receiving a skin examination from a physician since deployment.

“The past decade of United States combat missions, including operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, have occurred at a more equatorial latitude than the mean center of the United States population, increasing the potential for ultraviolet irradiance and the development of skin cancer,” said Jennifer Powers, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Dermatology and lead researcher on the study.

Powers presented the results at the World Congress on Cancers of the Skin, held recently in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The study also found that only 22 percent of military personnel were made very aware of the risks of sun exposure, and while 77 percent reported being exposed to bright sunlight for more than four hours a day while working, only 27 percent had regular access to sunscreen. Just under one-third of respondents (32 percent) reported having no access to sunscreen at all while working.

Previous research cited in the literature shows that 34 percent of United States military veterans who developed melanoma had also been deployed to tropical climates. In comparison, only 6 percent of non-military melanoma patients had spent time in tropical climates.

Melanoma claims 9,700 lives in the United States each year.

While military personnel deployed overseas may often have survival priorities other than avoiding sun exposure, Powers notes that the study indicates a potential deficiency for access to sun protection that could translate to long-term health risks.

“This study demonstrates room for improvement for skin cancer prevention and early detection in the military population, including possible screening of higher-risk personnel,” she said.

The post Skin Cancer Risks Higher For Soldiers Serving Abroad appeared first on Eurasia Review.

EU Leads An International Demarche Against Whaling By Iceland – Statement

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The EU, its 28 Member States and the governments of the United States, Australia, Brazil, Israel, New Zealand, Mexico and Monaco, today declared their opposition to the fact that the Icelandic government still permits commercial whaling, in particular the hunting of fin whales and the subsequent trading of fin whale products.

The EU’s Ambassador to Iceland, Matthias Brinkmann, along with the diplomatic representatives of the United States, France, Germany and the UK delivered a demarche to this effect to the Icelandic government this morning. The Ambassador also pointed out that public opinion in the countries that are Iceland’s main trading partners is very much against the practise of whaling. This is evidenced by the public pressure put on companies around the world to boycott Icelandic goods, not to mention the pressure that voters and various organisations put on their politicians, encouraging them to send Iceland an increasingly stronger message.

The text of the demarche was as follows:

JOINT DEMARCHE BY THE EUROPEAN UNION, ITS MEMBER STATES AND THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, ISRAEL, MEXICO AND NEW ZEALAND.

We, the European Union and its Member States and the Government of the United States of America, Australia, Brazil, Israel and New Zealand, wish to express our strong opposition to Iceland’s continuing and increased commercial harvest of whales, particularly fin whales, and to its ongoing international trade in whale products.

Iceland is well known for its responsible marine resource management practices; however, we are deeply disappointed with the Icelandic Government’s continued authorisation of the hunting of fin and minke whales. The authorisations have been put in place without presentation to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and without regard for the long term interests of cetacean conservation. We are especially troubled by Iceland’s harvest of 125 fin whales in 2009, 148 fin whales in 2010, and 134 fin whales in 2013, all of which are a significant increase from the seven fin whales harvested over the 20 years prior to 2009. The current 5 year quota of 770 fin whales is considered unsustainable under IWC stock assessment methods.

We encourage the Government of Iceland to adhere to the internationally agreed moratorium on commercial whaling and to re-examine the decision to continue to issue fin and minke whale quotas.

We also object to Iceland’s international trade in whale products. Fin whales and minke whales are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix I (with the exception of the population of minke whales of West Greenland which is included in Appendix II) and we remain extremely concerned with Iceland’s reservation, entered in 2000, for these and other cetacean species. We urge Iceland to withdraw this reservation and safeguard these species from international commercial trade. We are not convinced that Iceland’s harvest and subsequent trade of fin whales meets any domestic market demand or need; it also undermines effective international cetacean conservation efforts

We recognise the conservation efforts made by Iceland under other international agreements and hope the Icelandic Government will be able to extend this stance to fully support global efforts for cetacean conservation. Furthermore, we would like to draw attention to the considerable economic, social and educational benefits of Iceland’s growing whale watching industry as a possible alternative to commercial whaling. We hope the Icelandic Government will seriously consider the benefits of eliminating commercial whaling and return to its previous position of acceptance of the moratorium on commercial whaling that was put in place by the International Whaling Commission in 1986.

In summary, we once again call upon Iceland to respect the IWC’s global moratorium and end its commercial whaling and international trade in whale products.

The post EU Leads An International Demarche Against Whaling By Iceland – Statement appeared first on Eurasia Review.

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