(Civil.Ge) — Georgia President Giorgi Margvelashvili, who up until now has been resisting government’s efforts to dissuade him from going to the UN headquarters simultaneously with the PM, announced on September 11 that his intended visit was “thwarted.”

“Serious, organized efforts were undertaken against the visit of the Georgian President and as a result of these efforts the visit to the United States is thwarted,” President Margvelashvili said.

His announcement about “thwarted” visit was made at a news conference on Thursday afternoon five hours after extracts from an interview with ex-PM Bidzina Ivanishvili were released earlier on the same day in which Ivanishvili accused Margvelashvili of “obstructing” the government and criticized him for planning to visit the UN simultaneously with PM Irakli Garibashvili, who will be addressing the UN General Assembly.

According to Margvelashvili, who at the same news conference also responded to Ivanishvili’s criticism against him, the president’s administration was getting no assistance from the government in arranging his visit and although planning was underway only with the resources available for the presidency, the visit was still going to take place.

“But this morning I learned that serious steps would have been undertaken in order for the president not to have an efficient visit… I cannot go into details, but all the important components of the visit are thwarted,” said Margvelashvili, who was reportedly also planning trip to Washington after visiting the UN headquarters in New York.

“I think this is a wrong step, which has been taken against the presidential institution; I think this is a step, which was made not because of state interests, but because of certain confrontation between [state] structures,” he said.

“If we go down that road and if we try to monopolize any branch of the government – be it the presidency or others, I think we will receive what we disliked so much about Saakashvili’s regime,” Margvelashvili said.

Earlier this week he complained that the Foreign Ministry was creating “difficulties” in his correspondence with the UN and said that the ministry has to perform duties not only for the government, but “for the state.” “And the head of the state is the President,” Margvelashvili said.

On September 10 Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze met the President in what was seen as an attempt by the minister to convince him to give up with the visit, arguing that having two separate delegations simultaneously – one led by the President and another one by the PM – would have been “embarrassing” and “damaging” for the country’s image. But after that meeting on September 10 President’s foreign policy adviser, Tengiz Pkhaladze, said that the visit was going to proceed.

Other cabinet members, among them Defense Minister Irakli Alasania, who was Georgia’s ambassador to the UN in 2006-2008, were also saying that having two separate delegations would not be appropriate. State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Alexi Petriashvili, sought to paint President Margvelashvili as obstinate and wrote on his Facebook page that the President “is insisting on the visit like a stubborn child.”

When commenting about, as he put it, “increased criticism” in his address coming from the government, as well as from ex-PM Ivanishvili, Margvelashvili focused at the news conference on September 11 on his role as of the President under the constitution, suggesting that simply performing his constitutional duties is perceived as if he is confronting the government.

“I want to respond to my criticism coming from the government and batoni Bidzina Ivanishvili and to reassure everyone that this is not about personal confrontation; this is about very principled attempts of the President and his administration to genuinely establish functional democracy in Georgia,” Margvelashvili said.

“Functioning democracy means that all the state institutions – the legislative and executive branches, judiciary, the president – perform their duties. My position is stemming from this principle. There was not a single instance when I took a politically confrontational step. My efforts have been and will be directed towards strengthening of all the institutions equally.”

“Road of democracy building is difficult. When on this road one branch of government exercises its powers within its mandate, it is often perceived as a confrontation. But again I want to remind everyone that this is not a confrontation, this is democracy and democracy is difficult, but we will reach that point,” Margvelashvili said.

Asked how he sees future relations between the presidency and the government after these recent developments, Margvelashvili responded: “I serve the country within the constitutional framework and I serve the purpose to strengthen democracy.”

“Putting the presidency into silent mode would be a step not against president’s institution, but a step against the Georgian democracy,” he said.

He said he will always speak out if there is a meddling in presidential competences or if he thinks that existing constitutional model of separation of powers is not respected.

“Those who think that there should be an absolute unison [between the presidency and the government] and there should be no normal balance between the branches of government and instead power should be pulled in one direction, do not understand well what democracy means,” President Margvelashvili said.

In his interview with weekly newspaper Kviris Palitra, extracts of which were released by Palitra media holding early on Thursday, Ivanishvili slammed Margvelashvili, among other things, for, as he put it, viewing the government as his “competitor.”

“It’s a bit strange for the president to be anyone’s competitor,” Margvelashvili responded smiling. “The President is not in a competition; the President has his powers and responsibilities.”

Asked if he’s planning his own political team, Margvelashvili responded: “I am at the peak of my political career – I am the President of Georgia and I have huge obligations.”

“I don’t need to have my political force in order to perform my duties,” he said.

“I think that I have full opportunity and resource to explain to the society how Georgia should develop in future,” Margvelashvili said. “Georgia is a democracy and democracy means that no one is a director – power is distributed between the branches of government.”

During the press conference Margvelashvili countered Ivanishvili’s description of Georgia’s current constitutional model as “parliamentary republic.”

“I think batoni [a Georgian polite form of addressing a man] Bidzina is receiving one-sided information. Georgia is not a parliamentary republic; it is semi-presidential,” Margvelashvili said.

The existing constitutional model, which was enforced when Margvelashvili was inaugurated as the president, marked shift from previously rather presidential system to a mixed one where the executive power is concentrated within PM and government, which are accountable to the Parliament. President is head of the state, representing Georgia in foreign relations and is also the commander-in-chief. Although under the new constitution presidential powers are significantly reduced, president’s political role significantly increases in case of non-confidence vote to the government.

The post Georgia: With UN Visit ‘Thwarted’, Margvelashvili Responds To Critics, Lays Out His Role appeared first on Eurasia Review.

The signing of agreements is rarely accompanied by applause, shouting and the flashing of victory signs, but this one was years in the making and responsible for a major change in European affairs.

Many MEPs were quick to show their joy when the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement was ratified simultaneously by the Ukrainian and European Parliaments on Tuesday 16 September, the first time in the EU’s history that such a vote took place at the same time in the EP.

The vote marks a new chapter in the EU’s relations with Ukraine at a time when the country’s relations with Russia continue to be difficult.

The agreement is expected to boost Ukraine’s income by €1.2 billion a year, while Ukrainian exports to the EU are expected to increase by €1 billion per year. In 2013, the value of Ukrainian exports to the EU was €12.8 billion.

The post Historic Vote: EU–Ukraine Agreement Approved Simultaneously In Strasbourg And Kiev appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Emre Tunç Sakaoğlu

On Saturday, September 13, four foreigners suspected of being associated with the Islamic State (IS) militant group were arrested in Indonesia. Two days later, on Monday, Indonesian authorities said the four foreign suspects were ethnic Uyghurs from China’s restive Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The statement by the Indonesian police came a day after the foreign suspects were initially identified as Turkish citizens based on the forged passports which they used to enter Indonesia. The Uyghurs’ ethnic, linguistic, and religious similarities with the Turks also made it harder for the Indonesian police to distinguish the suspects’ nationalities, according to media reports.

The men were arrested in the Poso district located in the central Sulawesi province, an area infamous for being a hotbed of terrorist networks. Along with the four Uyghur suspects, three Indonesian militants were also arrested.

Police on high alert

An elite anti-terrorist unit, the Detachment 88 police squad, arrested the seven suspects after a high speed chase last Saturday.

Agus Rianto, a national police spokesman, said the suspects entered Indonesia through Thailand, where they attained fake passports after paying $1000 each to a broker. He also remarked that the suspects, who are still under investigation, arrived in Indonesia via Malaysia, and that stickers displaying IS’s symbol were found in the car with which they were travelling.

Ronnie Sampie, another police spokesman, stated that two of the three Indonesian men in question, all of whom are known to be members of a local extremist network, picked up the Uyghur suspects from Makassar airport in southern Sulawesi.

According to a statement by National Police Chief Sutarman, when their car was intercepted, the suspects were on their way to meet Abu Wardah Santoso, Indonesia’s most wanted terrorist suspect and leader of a radical group named the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen. Santoso is said to be hiding in the dense jungles that blanket the Sulawesi Island. Sutarman added that investigations are in progress to reveal whether the foreign suspects were trying to meet Santoso for training assistance or for planning joint terrorist attacks.

AP quotes Ridlwan Habib, a security expert at the University of Indonesia, as saying authorities believed Santoso recently dispatched four men to Syria to get in contact with IS. Santoso’s jihadist organization is thought to be in need of foreign financing, weapons, and training, and correspondingly, IS needs proxies in other regions to carry out its global agenda and increase its influence among Muslims all over the world. Therefore, Habib says, the four Uyghurs who were arrested together with three Indonesian militants could be well-established within IS.

Southeast Asia: the next target?

Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim country with a population of 225 million. It is also a democratic country, but has been challenged by various terrorist groups and deadly attacks in the past decades. Fortunately, an active campaign initiated in recent years to combat terrorism has considerably helped to lower the number and impact of terrorist attacks in the country.

However, Indonesian authorities have realized a suspicious rise in extremists’ influence within Indonesia recently, just before they outlawed IS. According to estimates by authorities in Jakarta, dozens of Indonesian citizens affected by IS propaganda have already left the country to join the ranks of the Islamic State insurgency in Syria and Iraq over the last few months. Nonetheless, the country still lacks specific laws for stopping suspected militants at the borders.

In this vein, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed concern about jihadists returning to Indonesia and carrying out harmful activities such as the spread of extremist propaganda, and destabilizing the country through terrorist attacks. Therefore, special agencies are being established and commissioned to combat IS’s potential influence and activities.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was also among the top Southeast Asian leaders to express concern over Malaysian citizens joining IS. He was quoted as accusing the IS of being unjust and disloyal to Islam, and stating his country’s willingness to cooperate with the international community in fighting against radical elements such as IS.

According to Malaysian authorities, over the past couple of months dozens of people, including entire families with women and children, were reported to have joined IS, relocating to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside jihadists. It is also expressed that popular social media platforms and religious chat forums are where these groups actively recruit young new members.

Four new terrorist groups known by the acronyms BKAW, Dimzia, ADI, and BAJ were recently identified by Malaysian security forces according to a report by Singapore’s New Straits Times. These groups are suspected to either be affiliated or share the same goals with terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and Abu Sayyaf. Authorities are concerned that these groups can collaborate in line with their shared separatist aims to carve out territories in various countries in the region including Malaysia. These groups are known to be targeting a variety of Southeast Asian countries, from the Philippines and Thailand to Myanmar, in order to build a radical Islamist caliphate affiliated with IS in the region.

Australia is among those countries in the region that are concerned with destabilization and terrorism spreading to their own territory after IS militants return home. In this vein, a code of conduct (CoC) was signed between Australia and Indonesia in May, ensuring intelligence sharing and cooperation in fighting IS militants upon their return home from Syria and Iraq. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is currently working on similar agreements to be signed with Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia in the forthcoming period.

Uyghurs in the spotlight

Earlier this month, two photos showing badly beaten IS militants captured in Iraq were posted on a Facebook page supposedly associated with the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. The description below the photos accused the men of being Chinese members of IS. According to Want China Times, these photos may well be the first evidence of any Chinese citizens, probably of Uyghur origin, fighting among the ranks of IS in Iraq.

Wu Sike, China’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, confirmed that around 100 Chinese citizens, mostly from China’s Uyghur ethnic group that inhabits the country’s northwest, were already reported to have been recruited by IS in Syria and Iraq.

The Xinjiang region in China, which is historically known as East Turkestan, is home to an ongoing insurgency which can potentially be hijacked by dreaded Islamist militants. Some separatist movements in the region are known to collaborate with global jihadist networks and help both local and foreign militants travel in and out of China’s western borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Many ordinary Uyghurs, who were faced with violence and subjected to persecution in their homeland, as well as terrorists responsible for attacks throughout China, started to seek shelter in Southeast Asia especially after 2009 when peaceful mass demonstrations by Uyghurs were harshly suppressed by Chinese security forces.

The majority of these Chinese nationals in question, who were not affiliated with terrorism, were trying to take refuge in Turkey, their planned final destination. But radical elements that blended in with the refugee seekers leaving China mostly remained in Southeast Asia or moved on to Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to join terrorist groups active in those regions. And today, these people are flooding into Syria and Iraq as new IS recruits.

The post Indonesia Arrests Four Chinese Nationals Suspected To Be IS Militants – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

No institution is more responsible for educating the CEOs of American corporations than Harvard Business School – inculcating in them a set of ideas and principles that have resulted in a pay gap between CEOs and ordinary workers that’s gone from 20-to-1 fifty years ago to almost 300-to-1 today.

A survey, released on September 6, of 1,947 Harvard Business School alumni showed them far more hopeful about the future competitiveness of American firms than about the future of American workers.

As the authors of the survey conclude, such a divergence is unsustainable. Without a large and growing middle class, Americans won’t have the purchasing power to keep U.S. corporations profitable, and global demand won’t fill the gap. Moreover, the widening gap eventually will lead to political and social instability. As the authors put it, “any leader with a long view understands that business has a profound stake in the prosperity of the average American.”

Unfortunately, the authors neglected to include a discussion about how Harvard Business School should change what it teaches future CEOs with regard to this “profound stake.” HBS has made some changes over the years in response to earlier crises, but has not gone nearly far enough with courses that critically examine the goals of the modern corporation and the role that top executives play in achieving them.

A half-century ago, CEOs typically managed companies for the benefit of all their stakeholders – not just shareholders, but also their employees, communities, and the nation as a whole.

“The job of management,” proclaimed Frank Abrams, chairman of Standard Oil of New Jersey, in a 1951 address, “is to maintain an equitable and working balance among the claims of the various directly affected interest groups … stockholders, employees, customers, and the public at large. Business managers are gaining professional status partly because they see in their work the basic responsibilities [to the public] that other professional men have long recognized as theirs.”

This view was a common view among chief executives of the time. Fortune magazine urged CEOs to become “industrial statesmen.” And to a large extent, that’s what they became.

For thirty years after World War II, as American corporations prospered, so did the American middle class. Wages rose and benefits increased. American companies and American citizens achieved a virtuous cycle of higher profits accompanied by more and better jobs.

But starting in the late 1970s, a new vision of the corporation and the role of CEOs emerged – prodded by corporate “raiders,” hostile takeovers, junk bonds, and leveraged buyouts. Shareholders began to predominate over other stakeholders. And CEOs began to view their primary role as driving up share prices. To do this, they had to cut costs – especially payrolls, which constituted their largest expense.

Corporate statesmen were replaced by something more like corporate butchers, with their nearly exclusive focus being to “cut out the fat” and “cut to the bone.”

In consequence, the compensation packages of CEOs and other top executives soared, as did share prices. But ordinary workers lost jobs and wages, and many communities were abandoned. Almost all the gains from growth went to the top.

The results were touted as being “efficient,” because resources were theoretically shifted to “higher and better uses,” to use the dry language of economics.

But the human costs of this transformation have been substantial, and the efficiency benefits have not been widely shared. Most workers today are no better off than they were thirty years ago, adjusted for inflation. Most are less economically secure.

So it would seem worthwhile for the faculty and students of Harvard Business School, as well as those at every other major business school in America, to assess this transformation, and ask whether maximizing shareholder value – a convenient goal now that so many CEOs are paid with stock options – continues to be the proper goal for the modern corporation.

Can an enterprise be truly successful in a society becoming ever more divided between a few highly successful people at the top and a far larger number who are not thriving?

For years, some of the nation’s most talented young people have flocked to Harvard Business School and other elite graduate schools of business in order to take up positions at the top rungs of American corporations, or on Wall Street, or management consulting.

Their educations represent a substantial social investment; and their intellectual and creative capacities, a precious national and global resource.

But given that so few in our society – or even in other advanced nations – have shared in the benefits of what our largest corporations and Wall Street entities have achieved, it must be asked whether the social return on such an investment has been worth it, and whether these graduates are making the most of their capacities in terms of their potential for improving human well-being.

These questions also merit careful examination at Harvard and other elite universities. If the answer is not a resounding yes, perhaps we should ask whether these investments and talents should be directed toward “higher and better” uses.

[This essay originally appeared in the Harvard Business Review’s blog.]

The post Harvard Business School’s Role In Widening Inequality – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Over the past few decades, average global temperatures have been on the rise, and this warming is happening two to three times faster in the Arctic. As the region’s summer comes to a close, NASA is hard at work studying how rising temperatures are affecting the Arctic.

NASA researchers this summer and fall are carrying out three Alaska-based airborne research campaigns aimed at measuring greenhouse gas concentrations near Earth’s surface, monitoring Alaskan glaciers, and collecting data on Arctic sea ice and clouds. Observations from these NASA campaigns will give researchers a better understanding of how the Arctic is responding to rising temperatures.

The Arctic Radiation – IceBridge Sea and Ice Experiment, or ARISE, is a new NASA airborne campaign to collect data on thinning sea ice and measure cloud and atmospheric properties in the Arctic. The campaign was designed to address questions about the relationship between retreating sea ice and the Arctic climate.

Arctic sea ice reflects sunlight away from Earth, moderating warming in the region. Loss of sea ice means more heat from the sun is absorbed by the ocean surface, adding to Arctic warming. In addition, the larger amount of open water leads to more moisture in the air, which affects the formation of clouds that have their own effect on warming, either enhancing or reducing it.

“ARISE will link clouds and sea ice in a way that improves our computer models of the Arctic,” said Tom Wagner, cryospheric sciences program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Our goal is to better understand both the causes of Arctic ice loss and the connections to the overall Earth system.”

The ARISE campaign, using NASA’s C-130 Hercules aircraft from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, had its first science flight on Sept. 4 and has already carried out several surveys of sea ice and cloud conditions. The campaign is based in Fairbanks, Alaska.

“We are off to a great start collecting a timely and unique dataset to help better understand the potential influence of clouds on the Arctic climate as sea ice conditions change,” said William Smith, ARISE principal investigator at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

CARVE, or Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment, is a five-year airborne research campaign that uses instruments aboard NASA aircraft to measure air and surface conditions and concentrations of gases like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane. Using NASA’s C-23 Sherpa aircraft, CARVE flies approximately two weeks per month from May to November. Now that the mission is in its fourth year, researchers are building a detailed picture of how the land and atmosphere interact in the Arctic.

In high-latitude areas like Alaska, frozen ground known as permafrost can trap large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane produced by layers of decayed plant and animal matter. As permafrost temperatures have been increasing faster than air temperatures in the Arctic, scientists have questioned whether these heat-trapping gases could be released into the atmosphere, increasing their global concentrations.

“The exchange of carbon between the land and the atmosphere is very important – but uncertain,” said Charles Miller, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and principal investigator of CARVE.

Another area of interest in Alaska is its glaciers. Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have been taking airborne measurements of glacier surface height using a laser altimeter, an instrument that bounces a laser off of the ice surface and measures how long it takes to return. These flights are part of NASA’s Operation IceBridge, an airborne campaign that studies changes to land and sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic.

University researchers observe Alaskan glaciers twice a year, before and after the melt season, to determine how much ice they have lost or gained. The scientists have surveyed between 130 and 140 glaciers going back to the mid-1990s. IceBridge’s Alaska flights have found that glaciers across the state are declining rapidly, with those terminating on land and in lakes losing mass faster than expected.

Researchers are also finding that there is considerable variation in mass loss throughout Alaska. “One glacier might be doing better than the one next to it,” said Evan Burgess, University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist and member of the IceBridge Alaska team.

The post NASA Airborne Campaigns Focus On Climate Impacts In Arctic appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Corporate CEOs are always strategizing in their quest for greater revenues and profits. Often these strategies — and their resulting, insidious successes — have shaped our elections, our government, our education system, our media, our publicly funded research and development, our tax and credit systems, our trade agreements and so on. The world has never seen such an ingenious, power-concentrating machine as the modern, global corporation.

Even science, which ideally should carry the banner for rigid standards, openness and integrity, has suffered the undue influence and control of autocratic, commercially-driven multinational corporations. In many disturbing cases, independent science has been increasingly displaced by the far more devious “corporate science” which places profits over people, above safety, and above revealed scientific method and peer-reviewed accountability.

The food we eat is increasingly engineered by such corporate science. Biotech companies like Monsanto and DuPont have moved towards monopolizing the seed market — an antitrust investigation of Monsanto by the Department of Justice was quietly ended in 2012, and no steps have been taken by regulators since.

Monsanto, with its massive, relentless marketing and harassing litigation campaigns, has repeatedly claimed that its genetically-modified patented seeds (GMOs) are superior to traditional seeds — claiming that genetically modified foods are safe, cheaper, higher yielding, more nutritious, requiring lower chemical inputs, and resistant to drought and blight. Yet Monsanto has refused to meet its burden of proof about these claims with evidence. Moreover, it intimidates independent scientists from testing its proprietary products!

Corporate science is, above all else, secretive. The flimsy excuse of “trade secrets” is used to prevent independent or academic scientists from evaluating exaggerated corporate claims. Scientists who wish to replicate or test the biotech industry’s claims about their products find a paucity of available grants, obstructed access to the products, and a litigiously backed up refusal to disclose. Research on the migration of genetically-modified pollen from farms to non-GMO-farms; the level of developing bacterial, viral, and insect resistance to GMO-linked herbicides; and longer-run studies of the consequences of GMO seeds and crops on the environment is grossly underfunded, whether by government agencies or foundations. The cover-up continues.

One Monsanto claim is that GMO seeds provide higher yields than traditional seeds. Areport released earlier this year by the USDA’s Economic Research Service showed that those claims are untrue. The report states:

Over the first 15 years of commercial use, GE [genetically-engineered] seeds have not been shown to increase yield potentials of the varieties. In fact, the yields of herbicide-tolerant or insect-resistant seeds may be occasionally lower than the yields of conventional varieties.

Lester Brown, founder of WorldWatch and President of the Earth Policy Institute,puts it more bluntly: “…no genetically modified crops have led to dramatically higher yields… Nor do they seem likely to do so, simply because conventional plant-breeding techniques have already tapped most of the potential for raising crop yields.”

And there is the issue of farmers who enter into one-sided adhesion contracts with GMO seed suppliers and find themselves ensnared in a tight web of control. Under these contracts, farmers are forbidden from saving seeds (forcing them to buy new seed every season), are subject to intrusive inspection provisions, and much more. (See faircontracts.org)

Other claims, such as the long-term effects of consuming genetically-modified food remain inconclusive, largely for lack of consumer-oriented testing.

Basic openness has been pushed aside in the realm of commercialized global agriculture. Take for instance the fact that consumers overwhelmingly want the right to know what is in their food by mandating the labeling of genetically engineered food. A poll in The New York Times last year showed that 93 percent of Americans support labeling of food containing GMO’s.

Public sentiment shows that Monsanto is in trouble. While the seed production conglomerate has fought off several attempts by states to require GMO labeling, ballot initiatives to require labeling in Oregon and Colorado this November are promising developments in the food safety movement. GMO labeling has already passed in Vermont, Connecticut and Maine, although only Vermont has put the law into effect. Over 60 countries, including the members of the European Union, Australia, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa, Russia and China have also required labeling of GMO’s. The new book, The GMO Deception: What You Need to Know about the Food, Corporations, and Government Agencies Putting Our Families and Our Environment at Risk is a comprehensive, definitive collection of essays by leading experts on the subject of genetically-modified food. Edited by Sheldon Krimsky, arguably the nation’s leading advocate of ethics in science, and lawyer Jeremy Gruber, this book is essential reading for those interested in the ongoing debate about the future of our food. (I wrote the introduction.) Sheldon Krimsky puts it best in his summary conclusion of the anthology:

The real and potentially adverse effects of GMOs have been understated or negated by many in the scientific community who accept uncritically a corporate-crafted message. A fair-minded and unbiased individual looking at all the evidence must reach the conclusion that there is a great deal we do not know and what we do know impels us to be both cautious and concerned, skeptical of an early manufactured consensus, and critical of a framing that fails to recognize the diversity of public objections to GMOs.

The history of corporate marketing has long used secretive corporate science and engineering to promote products. This has been the case with polluting products, pharmaceuticals, nuclear power and industrial materials and chemicals. GMOs follow these practices in the more ominous process of changing the nature of nature.

Together with resisting farmers, challenging scientists, and liberated civil servants, an aroused public will recognize that its own interests and those of posterity must be preeminent over these corporate monopolists and their short-range, narrow commercial pursuits.

For more information and to acquire a copy of The GMO Deception: What You Need to Know about the Food, Corporations, and Government Agencies Putting Our Families and Our Environment at Risk see The Council for Responsible Genetics.

The post Ralph Nader: GMOs And Searching For The Crashless Car – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Two of the United States military’s top officials testified before the Senate on Tuesday about the growing threat posed by Islamic State militants and acknowledged that the Pentagon’s current plan for the situation in Iraq and Syria could soon shift.

As Congress considers whether or not the US government should go forward with a plan proposed by President Barack Obama to train and equip fighters to take on the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, American military top brass said the White House may adopt a new strategy if the extremist group’s operations in the Middle East intensify and warrant further assistance from the Pentagon.

Pres. Obama has repeatedly gone on the record in recent weeks to state that there will be “no boots on the ground” in Iraq and Syria where the Islamic State continue to wage an escalating campaign of violence, and that US troops will not engage in combat missions, instead relying on airstrikes and providing other assistance to anti-IS fighters.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told senators in Washington, DC during Tuesday’s hearing that the president’s stated policy remains one involving no ground forces in Iraq and Syria. The top commander added, however, that Pres. Obama said to “come back to him on a case-by-case basis” should the situation overseas worsen.

Dempsey made the remarks after Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire) said she was “not confident” that the Islamic State will be toppled as the White House wishes “without the assistance of our trained special operators on the ground.”

Earlier during the three-hour-plus hearing, Gen. Dempsey said he believes that the US and a coalition of allied forces and local troops — who could be trained and armed by the US pending a decision from Congress expected as soon as this Wednesday — could achieve Pres. Obama’s mission of degrading and destroying the Islamic State.

Dempsey was quick to say the US can’t achieve that goal alone, however, and said that the way forward must involve a “coalition of Arab and Muslim partners, and not through the ownership of the United States.”

“To have local forces be involved, supported by local people, is the most significant thing I think we can do as we support them,” added Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, the second of two witnesses to testify during Wednesday’s hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

In order for those forces to adequately take on the increasingly sophisticated Islamic State fighters, Dempsey said that Congress should agree to authorize $500 million to be spent on training roughly 5,000 locals who will then serve as ground troops in lieu of American soldiers.

Among the lawmakers who seemed weary of this plan during Tuesday’s meeting was Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), who said that training only 5,000 troops — and at roughly $100,000 each — would do little to tackle an army of Islamic State militants believed to exceed 31,000 soldiers. Additionally, McCain said supplying such amateur fighters with weapon power will surely not just provide ammunition to be used against IS, but embattled Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad.

“You don’t think that the Free Syrian Army is going to fight against Bashar Assad, who has been decimating them? You think that these people your training will only go fight against ISIL?” McCain asked.

“We can establish objectives that defer that challenge into the future,” responded Dempsey.

Congress could vote on the president’s proposal to equip and arm anti-IS fighters as soon as Wednesday, but Sec. Hagel warned during Tuesday’s hearing that a failure to do as much ahead of a scheduled Capitol Hill recess would constitute a failure to respond to “a clear, clear threat.”

“What his request is and reaching out to the Congress for a partnership as he has done in consultation with many, many members of the Congress to be partners in this effort to protect this country. And if the Congress would not agree with that request it would be a pretty devastating message we would send to the world,” Hagel said.

“They murdered two Americans in the last couple of weeks,” the Pentagon chief said earlier during the hearing. “I’d say that that’s a pretty imminent threat.”

Answering to Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), Dempsey said that authorization of the president’s plan on the part of Congress would establish a training program for opposition fighters during the next three-to-five months, with deliverable capability coming within a year.

When asked by Sen. Ted Cruz if it’s fathomable to “destroy ISIS within 90 days,” Gen. Dempsey responded bluntly: “It’s not possible, senator.”

“Militarily we could confront them, we could destroy a lot of equipment, we could drive them underground, if you will. But as I said, they will only be defeated or destroyed once they are rejected by the population in which they hide,” Dempsey said.

“Truly there is no military solution to ISIL,” the general added. “It may be a tough pill to swallow, but there is no military solution.”

The post Pentagon: US Ground Troops May Fight Islamic State Despite ‘No Military Solution’ appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Jim Garamone

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel explained the military portion of President Barack Obama’s strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL to the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning.

Hagel told the panel that military and civilian leaders agree that action must be taken to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and that the strategy is sound.

Hagel had a caution for the panel. “American military power alone cannot eradicate the threats posed by ISIL to the United States, our allies, and our friends and partners in the region,” he said. Iraq’s continued political progress toward a more inclusive and representative government is critical to the strategy. The coalition will need to use all its instruments of power — military, law enforcement, economic, diplomatic, and intelligence — in coordination with countries in the region.

ISIL threat

The terrorist group poses a real threat to all countries in the Middle East, America’s European allies and to the United States, the secretary said. “ISIL has gained strength by exploiting the civil war in Syria and sectarian strife in Iraq,” he said. “As it has seized territory across both countries and acquired significant resources and advanced weapons, ISIL has employed a violent combination of terrorist, insurgent and conventional military tactics.”

Meanwhile, the world is uniting behind American leadership to take on ISIL, the secretary said.

“More than 40 nations have already expressed their willingness to participate in this effort, and more than 30 nations have indicated their readiness to offer military support,” Hagel said.

Four pillars

Hagel talked about the four pillars of the president’s strategy and gave a few more details.

First, he said, there will be a broader air campaign against ISIL in Iraq and extending into Syria.

The have been more than 160 airstrikes against ISIL. These have “killed ISIL fighters, destroyed weapons and equipment and enabled Iraqi security forces and Kurdish forces to get back on the offensive and secure key territory and critical infrastructure — including the Mosul and Haditha dDams,” Hagel said.

The new, broader air campaign, he added, will include strikes against all ISIL targets and enable the Iraqi and Kurdish forces to stay on the offensive and recapture territory from ISIL.

No safe haven for terrorists

“Because ISIL operates freely across the Iraqi-Syrian border, and maintains a safe haven in Syria, our actions will not be restrained by a border in name only,” Hagel said. “As the president said last week, ‘If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.’”

The second element is to increase support for Iraqi security forces and the moderate Syrian opposition, Hagel said.

“To support Iraqi and Kurdish forces, the president announced last week that we would deploy an additional 475 American troops to Iraq,” Hagel said. “Part of that number includes approximately 150 advisors and support personnel to supplement forces already in Iraq conducting assessments of the Iraqi security forces.

“This assessment mission is now transitioning to an advise-and-assist mission,” he continued, “with more than 15 teams embedding with Iraqi security forces at the headquarters level to provide strategic and operational advice and assistance.”

And, the president has asked Congress for $500 million to train and equip moderate opposition forces to confront terrorists operating in Syria. “We have now secured support from Saudi Arabia to host the training program for this mission, and Saudi Arabia has offered financial support as well,” Hagel said.

The package of assistance, he said, would consist of small arms, vehicles, and basic equipment like communications, as well as tactical and strategic training. “As these forces prove their effectiveness on the battlefield, we would be prepared to provide increasingly sophisticated types of assistance to the most trusted commanders and capable forces,” the secretary said.

This would require a vigorous vetting system, he added.

Preventing attacks

Preventing ISIL attacks on the United States and its allies is the third prong of the strategy, Hagel said. “In concert with our international partners, the United States will draw on intelligence, law enforcement, diplomatic and economic tools to cut off ISIL’s funding, improve our intelligence, strengthen homeland defense, and stem the flow of foreign fighters into and out of the region,” he said.

The United States also will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Iraqis and Syrians driven from their homes by ISIL, the secretary said.

The campaign against ISIL is a complex effort that will take time, he said.

“This will not be an easy or brief effort,” Hagel said. “We are at war with ISIL, as we are with al-Qaida. But destroying ISIL will require more than military efforts alone: It will require political progress in the region, and effective partners on the ground in Iraq and Syria.”

The post Hagel Explains Obama’s Strategy To Destroy ISIL appeared first on Eurasia Review.

(RFE/RL) — Iraqi lawmakers have rejected Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi’s nominees to fill the critical defense and interior minister posts.

The vote on September 16 sets back the creation of a new Iraqi government that is meant to bolster Baghdad’s battle against Islamic State militants and alleviate sectarian tensions by bringing Shi’a, Sunnis, and Kurdish politicians together in the same cabinet.

Abadi had put forward Sunni lawmaker Jabar al-Jabbari as his candidate for defense minister, and Riyad Gharib — a Shi’ite lawmaker with the State of Law bloc — as his pick for interior minister.

But neither nominee won backing of a simple majority in the vote needed to be confirmed to the posts.

The vote for the foreign minister’s post was 131 to 108 against Jabbari.

For the interior minister’s post, parliament voted 118 to 117 against Gharib.

Neither Jabbari nor Gharib are allowed to be nominees again when the next parliamentary session is scheduled for September 18.

Ahead of the September 16 vote, lawmakers Hussain al-Maliki and Muhammad Saadun told the AP that Ghabib’s nomination was met with some contention, mostly from the Shi’ite Badr Brigade.

Lawmakers approved the majority of Abadi’s cabinet on September 8 when it officially voted him to be the country’s next prime minister.

That vote brought a formal end to the eight-year rule of Nuri al-Maliki.

But Abadi requested a delay in naming defense and interior minister nominees because lawmakers had not agreed on the proposed candidates.

The United States and other countries have been pushing for a more representative government that can ease anger among Sunnis, who said they felt marginalized by Maliki’s administration.

That helped fuel the dramatic advances by Islamic State militants across much of northern and western Iraq since June because the extremist group received support from some alienated Sunni tribal militias.

The post Iraqi Lawmakers Reject Abadi’s Interior, Defense Ministers appeared first on Eurasia Review.

The top U.S. military officer is leaving open the possibility that American ground troops could be deployed to Iraq to fight Islamic State militants.

U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey told a congressional panel Tuesday if he concludes U.S. military advisers need to accompany Iraqi fighters into battle against the insurgents, he would ask President Barack Obama for approval.

“If we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraq troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I’ll recommend that to the president,” he said.

Meanwhile, the president met Tuesday at the White House with General John Allen, the Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and Ambassador Brett McGurk, Deputy Special Presidential Envoy. Officials said the president underscored the importance of maximizing coordination with allies and partners to build a strong coalition with broad international participation.

In a speech last week, Obama declared the United States would expand its fight against the Islamic State group, but “will not get dragged into another ground war in Iraq.”

State Department spokesperson Marie Harf, in response to question about Dempsey’s testimony on the possible need for U.S. ground forces to help fight IS, said, “The president has been very clear. We will not have troops on the ground of combat roles. Period. That is an underlying principle of our actions in Iraq. I think there was a long exchange this morning about what the advisers are doing, but we have been very clear about the military, the combat boots on the ground question.”

The American leader withdrew the last of U.S. ground forces from Iraq in 2011 after a nine-year war that toppled long-time Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

But Obama has dispatched more than 1,600 U.S. military advisers there in recent weeks to strengthen the Iraqi effort to halt the Islamic State advance across northwestern Iraq.

Dempsey told the Senate Armed Services Committee the American advisers are acting “very much in a combat advisory role” and said there is currently “no intention” for them to engage in combat.

The United States has carried out more than 160 airstrikes against the militants in Iraq. In one exchange at the hearing, Dempsey said if U.S. pilots were shot down, ground troops would be deployed in a search and rescue mission.

Dempsey testified the U.S. is prepared to launch airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Syria, but has yet to do so.

Obama, in his role as the country’s commander in chief, has said he does not need congressional approval for the airstrikes. But he is asking Congress to approve funding for training and arming moderate Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State militants.

The U.S. House of Representatives is debating legislation that would require the Pentagon to give 15 days notice before any training takes place and regular updates after that. The House could vote as early as Wednesday. The measure would also need Senate approval.

A group of 24 nations, the European Union, Arab League and the United Nations pledged at a conference Monday to support the Iraqi government in its fight against the Islamic State, including providing “appropriate military assistance.”

Congress reactions

House Republicans gathered behind closed doors Tuesday to discuss President Barack Obama’s request.

While some lawmakers emerged from the meeting saying they have concerns that the president’s strategy may not work, Republican House Speaker John Boehner says he sees no reason not to give the president the authority he is asking for.

Boehner indicated that the House will likely vote this week on a spending bill and an amendment that will fund and authorize training for Syrian rebels. He said that does not exclude the possibility that Congress may vote at a later time on a broader authorization of U.S. military action against the Islamic State militant group.

Leading Democrats have also signaled they are likely to vote for the amendment because they want to comply with the president’s request. Members of Congress are trying to get their work done quickly this week so that they can leave town and return to their home districts to campaign for November elections.

The post US Opens Door To Ground Troops In Iraq appeared first on Eurasia Review.

How does one analyse the killings of 6105 civilians and security forces in incidents related to left-wing extremism between 2005 and 2013?

Given that the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), since its formation in 2004, has been responsible for majority of these killings, conventional analyses have mostly focused on big and small incidents that produced these victims. While such methods are useful in terms of attempting to grasp the growing or declining capacity of the outfit, it is also useful to analyse the unceasing violence as upshot of an ideology that has for decades underlined the necessity to shed the enemy’s blood to bring about a change in social and political order.

Three leaders – Charu Mazumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Kondapalli Seetharamaiah – dominate the discourse on Naxalism, which began in the 1960s. Mazumdar, in his ‘Eight Documents’ in 1965, exhorted the workers of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) to take up armed struggle against the state. He underlined that action and not politics was the need of the hour. Such calls resulted in a number of incidents in which the CPI-M workers started seizing arms and acquiring land forcibly on behalf of the peasants from the big landholders in Darjeeling. These incidents went on to provide the spark for the 1967 peasant uprising.

Following the formation of the All India Coordination Committee of Revolutionaries (AICCR), that emerged out of the CPI-M in November 1967 and was renamed as All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) in May 1968, Mazumdar further reiterated his idea of khatam or annihilation of class enemies. Although incidents of individual assassinations influenced by khatam resulted in repressive state action targeting the naxalite cadres, the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML), which was formed in 1969 breaking away from the CPI-Marxist, continued professing violence as the key tool of revolution.

While Mazumdar’s preference for using violence to overthrow existing social order and seizing state power remained the CPI-ML’s mode of operation till 1972, a counter ideology with a stress on agrarian consolidation preceding an armed struggle was reiterated by Kanu Sanyal following Mazumdar’s death. Sanyal was not against the idea of an armed struggle per se. However, he opposed Mazumdar’s advocacy of targeted assassination.

In the subsequent years, the CPI-ML split into several factions. Although Sanyal himself headed a faction, he gradually grew redundant to the extreme left movement and committed suicide in 2010. Towards the last years of his life, Sanyal maintained that the CPI-Maoist’s reliance on excessive violence does not conform to original revolutionary objectives of the Naxalite movement. On more than one occasion, Sanyal denounced the “wanton killing of innocent villagers”. In a 2009 interview, Sanyal accused the CPI-Maoist of exploiting the situation in West Bengal’s Lalgarh “by using the Adivasis as stooges to carry forward their agenda of individual terrorism.”

In Andhra Pradesh, since the ‘Spring Thunder’ of Srikakulam in 1970, Kondapalli Seetharamaiah, was responsible for the growth of the Naxalite movement under the aegis of the CPI-ML. After leading a faction of the CPI-ML and forming the People’s War Group (PWG) in 1980 Seetharamaiah oversaw a regime of intense violence, thus, earning the outfit the description of “the deadliest of all Naxal groups”. Even after the expulsion of Seetharamaiah in 1991, the PWG and its factions remained the source of extreme violence targeting politicians and security forces in the state.

Kanu Sanyal’s reluctant support for armed violence was, thus, somewhat an aberration. Playing down the importance of mindless bloodshed remained a peripheral of the Naxalite movement. Each transformation of the movement thereafter in terms of splits, mergers, and formation of new identities escalated the ingrained proclivity to use violence as an instrument of expansion and influence. The CPI-Maoist represented a natural progression of this trend. And as the fatalities data reveal, each passing year, since its 2004 formation through a merger of the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and the PWG, it became more and more reliant on violence, rationalising the strategy as a defensive mechanism essential to its existence.

In 2009 Koteshwar Rao alias Kishenji, who led the outfit in West Bengal termed the violence as a “struggle for independence”. Ganapathy, the CPI-Maoist general secretary, reiterated in his February 2010 interview that the violence is only a “war of self-defence” or a “counter-violence” in response to a “brutal military campaign unleashed by the state”. Maoist Spokesperson Azad, who was later killed in controversial circumstances, rejected the appeal for abjuring violence by then Home Minister P Chidambaram in April 2010 indicating that such a move would allow the “lawless” security forces “continue their rampage”. Azad also maintained that while the outfit generally avoids attacking the non-combatants, “the intelligence officials and police informers who cause immense damage to the movement” can not be spared.

Thus understood, few conclusions can be drawn, in contrast to beliefs that a peaceful resolution of the conflict could be possible. Its current frailty notwithstanding, regaining capacities to maximise violence would be a priority for the CPI-Maoist. It will continue to reject other methods of social and political change and maintain an unwavering faith in the utility of violence. Even while realising that a total victory vis-a-vis the state is unattainable, the outfit would remain an agent of extreme violence in its own spheres of influence.

This article appeared at IPCS.

The post Six Thousand Plus Killed: The Naxal Ideology Of Violence – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Delwar Hossain

In a span of three months, the Japanese Prime Minister and his Bangladeshi counterpart met twice, first in Tokyo (May 2014) and recently in Dhaka (September 2014).

This commentary analyses the nature of bilateral visit and the extent of Japanese investments in Bangladesh; and two political challenges facing the two countries on further cooperation.

Expanding Japanese Investment in Bangladesh

In general, both the countries have emphasized the visit for building a ‘comprehensive partnership’ with a promise of boosting bilateral ties. On the economic front, Japan has come forward with a new level of commitment unlike the past. Japan has committed to pump US $6 billion in the next four to five years for infrastructure development in Bangladesh. The number of business delegates in Abe’s entourage is a significant indication of Japan’s serious thought about her investment in Bangladesh.

Although the number of Japanese companies investing in Bangladesh has increased over the years, it requires a jump to match with development of Bangladesh economy as well as Japan’s plan for relocation of its industries. Therefore, Japanese investment in Bangladesh was widely discussed. Another significant issue was the opening of Japanese market for readymade garments (RMG) products from Bangladesh which would provide a huge financial boost; this would also reduce Bangladesh’s dependence on foreign assistance.

Other projects such as the financing for mega projects such as Padma Barrage, multi-modal tunnel under river Jamuna, dedicated Railway Bridge over river Jamuna, multi-modal Dhaka Eastern Bypass, and ecological restoration of four rivers around Dhaka – are concrete issues of cooperation in economic arena of Bangladesh-Japan relations, both the leaders have developed solid understanding of diplomatic and political issues.

Bangladesh and Japan: Two Political Challenges

Two issues are particularly critical. First, during Abe’s visit Bangladesh declared the withdrawal of candidacy from the race to vie for a seat as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council from the Asia Pacific Group for 2016-2017. The decision of Bangladesh has been extremely significant given its history. Bangladesh has never withdrawn its candidature from such a global body; it rather defeated Japan in its bid to become the non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the first time in 1979-1980. Understandably, it has sparked a debate in Bangladesh about the pros and cons of this diplomatic decision.

The issue of ‘give and take’ has been raised in the sense that Bangladesh took the crucial decision without any concrete gains from Japan. It has generally been argued that the decision reflects more of momentous and strong urge for deeper relations. Without pointing out directly to domestic politics in Bangladesh some analysts argued that this decision demonstrated ‘governance and credibility crisis’ of the government of Bangladesh. What surprised people in Bangladesh is that the opposition parties particularly the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami have shown a lukewarm disagreement, if not indifference, to the decision by the government. One may argue that Bangladesh’s decision for withdrawal of its candidature has met a favorable time for the current government. Besides, Japan enjoys largely a bipartisan acceptability in otherwise strongly polarized political culture in Bangladesh.

Second critical issue is the idea of the “Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt” (BIG-B) launched by Japan. The Government of Japan has been promoting the concept of BIG-B as a program for Bangladesh to help achieve economic development of both countries arguing that it would help bring prosperity of the two nations. To the Abe Government BIG-B can be the “centrepiece” of Japanese cooperation in Bangladesh. Improvement of infrastructure for industrial development, the creation of better environment for investments and the promotion of regional connectivity were the three dimensions of BIG-B. In elaborating the idea further, the Japanese Ambassador in Bangladesh, Shiro Sadoshima argues that Japan has a grand design of combining the two oceanic regions – Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean – for more geo-political space to boost its economy. The largest Bay in the world, Bay of Bengal forms the north-eastern part of the Indian Ocean. Bangladesh is located in the north of this Bay.

The idea of BIG-B brings to the center stage other ideas such as China supported ‘Silk Road’ and Bangladesh supported ‘blue economy’ in the recent years. The idea of ‘Maritime Silk-Road’ recently coined by the Chinese Premier and foreign policy makers is based on the historic “Silk-Road” of trade and cultural routes in Central, South and East Asia. Starting from Han Dynasty about 200 BC, China had played a key role to maintain these important and strategic trade and cultural routes, which connected countries from Asia, Middle East and Europe.

Specifically, China is pursuing Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) cooperation in its bid to revive the ancient silk-road. On the other hand, Bangladesh organized an international workshop on blue economy on 1-2 September 2014 in Dhaka. Bangladesh hosted this workshop for the first time bringing together more than 30 experts and representatives of 20 countries. About the vision of blue economy Bangladesh Foreign Minister states that it must be inclusive and people-centric. Amid new ideas of cooperation frameworks Abe’s visit to Dhaka leaves a strong imprint of partnership between the two unequal, but long trusted friendly nations.

Delwar Hossain
Professor, Department of International Relations, Dhaka University

The post Abe’s Successful Visit To Dhaka: Two Political Challenges – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Safet Kabashaj and Ana Lovakovic

Police in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) resumed operations against alleged Islamic extremists following arrests of 43 people last month suspected of being involved in terrorist-related activities.

Kosovo detained five Islamic extremists on September 4th, including Shefqet Krasniqi, the imam of the Grand Mosque in Pristina.

The police released the suspects after questioning, but said the investigation will continue.

Police searched 10 locations and confiscated evidence, said Syle Hoxhaj, acting chief prosecutor of Kosovo.

“Investigations are ongoing against all of the suspects and we expect to gain sufficient evidence to submit charges,” Hoxhaj told SETimes.

Hoxhaj said the prosecutor’s office is investigating an additional 17 people suspected of financing, recruiting and inciting terrorist activities and conspiring to organise a terror cell.

He also said the existing criminal code provides sufficient legal basis to arrest and charge such threatening groups dealing with organised crime and terrorism.

Earlier this month, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) police undertook a large operation code-named Damascus against radical Islamic groups, arresting 16 and holding another 15 people for questioning.

Moreover, the State Investigation and Protection Agency executed a court order and searched 17 locations used by the suspects and seized large quantities of various weapons.

Among the arrested was Bilal Bosnic, self-proclaimed leader of the BiH’s Wahhabis, and Hamdo Fojnica, father of one of the attackers of the US Embassy in Sarajevo in 2011.

Experts said the police actions in Kosovo and BiH were undertaken after the security agencies’ assessment that it was time to act, and especially focus on extremist organisers and financiers.

“It is always easier to work preventively to the problem than to cure its consequences,” Vlado Azinovic, a professor at the Political Sciences Faculty in Sarajevo, told SETimes.

Azinovic said Operation Damascus is part of a broader international campaign aimed at the terrorism threat by organisations such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as was the case in Kosovo.

“The important thing is the police and prosecutors act on evidence and the arrests will have an epilogue in court,” Azinovic said.

The Kosovo Islamic Community (KIC) expressed support for the latest police action.

“KIC supports Kosovo institutions against any kind of extremism or narrow interpretation of religious principles, while at the same time we remain committed in promoting tolerance and inter-religious understanding,” Ahmet Sadriu, KIC spokesperson, told SETimes.

The post New Police Operations In Balkans Against Islamic Extremists appeared first on Eurasia Review.

On September 16, Javier Zacarías Irún, an unemployed politician, and the former mayor of the City of the East – Paraguay and the self-claimed leader of Z3 political group of Alto Parana, begun to trumpet in the social media his self-proclaimed official visit to Washington, D.C., while irresponsibly spending large sums of tax-payers’ money that is collected by his wife who happens to be the Mayor of Ciudad del Este.

For those of us who are far away from Paraguay, Ciudad del Este is perhaps the wealthiest city in South America, only last year it managed to collect through taxes, more than US$60 million. Meanwhile Mayor McLeod and her ‘subordinate’ members of the city council refuse to embrace transparency and show to the public all the expenses incurred by the city hall, as well as have repeatedly ignored and discredited the public statement issued by President Horacio Cartes, who has reiterated multiple times, that “what is public must be revealed in public”.

In this case, Javier Zacarías Irún has committed an irresponsible act, by visiting one of the most expensive capital cities in the world with public money, an act that even his presumed hosts would abhor. In his announcement the leader of Z3 Group states that he was invited to give a lecture by the George Washington University and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), after making multiple phone calls to both of these institutions, it was evident that the conference proclaimed by Mr. Zacarías Irún, on social media, turned out to have non-existent media coverage and was not confirmed by the representatives of both institutions.

At the same time looking at the George Washington University Calendar of events (in this website http://browse.calendar.gwu.edu/EventList.aspx?fromdate=9/15/2014&todate=9/15/2014&view=DateTime&display=Day&type=public ) it is crystal clear that Mr. Irun’s event is nowhere to be seen.

Mr. Irun is undertaking these expensive visits in the midst of protests and public unrest towards his family clan of politicians who it is claimed are ill administering public money and are using these public financial resources to take lavish vacation trips to the Caribbean (a month ago) and to the United States. In his social media page, Mr. Zacarías Irún, states that he is participating in “an executive seminar at the George Washington University”, however he fails to provide a website of the program where he is attending and spending public money.

Mr. Irun’s trips are taking place at a time when Ciudad del Este needs education infrastructure, paved roads, the implementation of Public Works and construction of public parks, improvement of the national image abroad, effective use of public money as well as publicizing the expenses of the Mayor’s and Governor’s offices. The governor of Alto Parana is Justo Zacarías Irún, the brother of Javier Zacarías Irún and the mayor of the City hall of Ciudad del Este is Mr. Irun’s wife, Sandra McLeod.

Currently Mr. Justo Zacarías Irún, is spending his honeymoon in Taiwan, where some claim he is spending public money in hotels and resorts in the Asian island. He has been in Taipei for more than eight days now and has not shared his intercontinental trip with the leaders of the Executive Council of the Alto Parana Department.

Mr. Irun mentions in his statement that he was invited by the National Democratic Institute. The truth is that the National Democratic Institute (NDI) “views the development of strong, democratic, public-sector institutions as a critical component of its mission. It is through improved governance that the benefits of democratic development most directly impact the lives of citizens.”

Therefore, it would seem that the mission and vision of NDI is in complete contrast with what Mr. Zacarías Irún has done in Ciudad del Este, during his more than a decade-long leadership as the mayor of Ciudad del Este. It is extremely hard to believe that NDI would extend an invitation to Mr. Irún. NDI seeks to promote effective public sector institutions, promotes transparency, representation, accountability and pluralism. Unfortunately, these aforementioned values are not part of the political legacy, inherited by Mr. Zacarías Irún. Such announcements by this Paraguayan politician would appear to be disinformation and unreliable.

According to many international observers, the administrations of Javier Zacarías Irún and his wife have proved to be ineffective, corrupt, and characterized by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs as a city with high levels of kleptocracy, nepotism and abuse of public money.

On September 11, 2014, large crowds of people, who traveled from all over Alto Parana, marched in front of the Attorney General’s Office in Ciudad del Este to demand the prosecution and public impeachment of Mr. Javier Zacarías Irún, his wife Sandra McLeod, his brother as Governor of Alto Parana and other politicians in Ciudad del Este. The Citizens’ Front is becoming more popular than ever before, it is gaining even more traction as the local government elections’ date is approaching. Its leaders have drafted a dozen public demands and have spoken against Mr. Irun’s political clan and have revealed for the first time numerous expenditure violations and corruption cases in the City Hall, and the Governor’s office, related to losses of many millions of US dollars and characterized by a lack of spending accountability. The Citizens’ Front is hoping to further raise the awareness in the Executive Government of Paraguay with hopes that the Mayor of Ciudad del Este will publicize all expenditures, make transparent all expenses that are incurred during the last decade when Mr. Zacarías Irún and his wife have ruled with an iron fist and bribery the commercial capital of Paraguay.

This mobilization begun on last Monday, September 15, in the “Square of Peace” in Ciudad del Este, where more than 500 taxi drivers, workers, small vendors, hungry farmers and responsible citizens who aspire to embrace an open government that is responsible and willing to address the numerous challenges that Ciudad del Este is currently facing. These protests, led by the Federation of Taxi Drivers of Ciudad del Este, caused traffic difficulties in the main roads of the city and are expected to continue for weeks and weeks until the city hall sets free its leaders who are illegally arrested with the direct order of Mayor Sandra McLeod.

According to Mr. Darío Aguayo, the Secretary General of Citizens Front (Frente Ciudadano) the following five leaders of this Federation have been arrested: Valerio Martínez, Roberto Feltes, Derlis Gaona, Enrique Rolón and Herminio Corvalán. Mr. Aguayo states that: “Ciudad del Este is engulfed in a dictatorship. The five taxi drivers have been arrested because they were exercising one of their constitutional rights, peacefully demonstrating in front of the City Hall. This Demonstration is for those workers that have been persecuted, abused and have been harassed by the arrogant regime of Mayor Sandra McLeod and her husband. Our colleagues are arrested because they defended the rights and dignity of every taxi driver and working citizens of Ciudad del Este. The perpetual dictatorship is reigning in the City of the East. We must send into political retirement all members of the Z3 group.”

The post Paraguay: Javier Zacarías Irún Spends Public Money In Washington – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Hu Shaojiang

This week, the people of Scotland will decide by referendum whether or not they want independence from the United Kingdom.

According to the latest opinion polls, the two camps are evenly matched, and the battle has been joined by politicians and celebrities alike in a last-ditch bid to win people over to their way of thinking.

Those opposed to independence include current and former U.K. prime ministers, while the current Scottish first minister, his ministers and the Scottish National Party (SNP) are ranged on the side of independence.

It’s interesting to see that some Chinese netizens who support Beijing’s policies have made a link between the Scottish independence referendum and the recent unofficial referendum held over universal suffrage in Hong Kong.

In their flawed analysis of the similarities between these two very different places, they see Scotland’s call for independence as poetic justice for a U.K. government that dared to interfere in Beijing’s policies in Hong Kong.

The implication seems to be that British government support for Hong Kong’s political rights movement gave rise to the independence movement in Scotland.

It makes pretty ridiculous reading because there’s no causal link between the two, so where is the “justice?”

Turning it around, it looks a lot like schadenfreude aimed at the British government by those who oppose the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.

And it betrays the fundamental weakness of their position.

Chinese opposition

That the Chinese government and its followers are opposed to the U.K. government’s view on the question of Hong Kong reveals their ignorance of international relations and international law.

Any government should support reasonable demands by people anywhere in the world for their political rights.

What’s more, the Chinese and British governments signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

The U.K. government has a moral duty to makes its views clear on this matter.

It’s a matter of seeing justice done and has nothing to do with interference in the internal affairs of another country.

Similarly, the Chinese government has the right to speak out on behalf of citizens of any other country whose political rights are being violated.

Sad thing

The sad thing is that the Chinese government all too frequently is on the same side as oppressive regimes and human rights violators.

Yet the two issues aren’t completely unrelated.

Hong Kong people are demanding the right to choose their own chief executive through genuine universal suffrage, while the Scots are calling for the right to determine whether or not Scotland remains part of the U.K.

The British government has expressed an opinion on both political movements, both of which express reasonable and legitimate political demands by their citizens.

However, the way in which the British government treats the aspirations of the Scottish people, and the way the Chinese government approaches those of Hong Kong people are totally different.

In Scotland, the British government has agreed to bow to the will of the majority via a referendum, and has campaigned against independence, debating on an equal footing with the politicians who support it.

Both are relying on exhaustive argument to sway the opinions of voters.

But China has ignored the legitimate and reasonable demands of the Hong Kong people, while its politicians have continually intimidated them, even threatening to use the army to suppress any so-called “political unrest, should it occur.”

It has used the standing committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) to slam the door in the face of any further political dialogue with the people of Hong Kong, taking the top-down approach and vetoing any view that is different from its own.

One of these methods will lead to long-term social stability, while the other will be divisive, causing severe and prolonged social unrest.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie.

Hu Shaojiang is the pen-name of a Hong Kong-based political commentator, scholar and outspoken critic of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

The post Thoughts On The Scottish Independence Referendum – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Naser Khader

It’s frustrating to witness how it’s always pro-Hamas people or someone from the far-left that argues on behalf of the Palestinian cause. Not only does that simply diminish the chance of a successful outcome for the Palestinian cause, it also worsens the climate of debate. The ability to listen actively and sometimes agree to disagree seems to be non-existing. That’s a tragedy for the moderate Palestinian powers that indeed exists, but rarely speaks publically. I know they’re there, because they often contact me. I’ve asked them why they don’t say the things they do to me publically. They reply that they can’t due to fear of pro-Hamas people. That’s a direct violation of freedom of speech. Society needs to provide a safe environment for the moderate Palestinians to speak their mind, and the moderate Palestinians need to dare put their much-needed input forward. Otherwise, we will have an endless debate solely with pro-Hamas people, who worsen the situation for those on whose behalf they think they’re speaking.

Disguised agendas

In the past few months I’ve been criticizing Hamas, and with good reason I believe. The European Union has listed Hamas as a terror organization and it should be treated as one.

What’s typical for most Palestinians publicly debating me is their lack of nuance. Because I criticize Hamas they automatically assume that I’m only pro-Israel. I’ve even been accused of being a Zionist, which would be laughable had the conflict not been so serious and the problem important to solve as quickly as possible, especially for all the innocent lives being taken on a daily basis. If the public figures speaking on behalf of the Palestinian cause had done their homework, they would have known that I have always supported a two-state solution. They also would have realized that I think Netanyahu is greatly overreacting.

I have, and always will, try to view a conflict from both perspectives, because the truth about the Israel-Palestine conflict is that you can’t solely support one side. Hamas is a terror organization, and Israel, with Netanyahu as its leader, is flexing muscles in an unnecessarily violent manner. There’s only one way to get out of this lose-lose situation, and that’s activating moderate Palestinian voices all over the world. Those are the ones that should be listened to and debated with, not pro-Hamas people or the far-left wing. The moderate Palestinian people owe that to the world, and the world owes that to the moderate Palestinian people.

Hypocrisy without borders

If the past few months have taught me anything, it’s that there is hypocrisy among these public Palestinians, a great deal of it actually. What happens in Gaza these days is terrible. Civilians, including women and children, are killed. My deepest sympathies are with all these innocent Palestinians.

However, the amount of innocent Palestinians being killed in Gaza in a week equals the amount of innocent Palestinians being killed in Yarmouk, a refugee camp in Syria, every single day. Assad has surrounded this refugee camp, and horrible attacks on these Palestinians happen continuously. Where are the protests against Assad’s attacks on the Yarmouk refugee camp? I have not seen even one. That’s hypocrisy from the pro-Hamas and far-left people. If their intention were to speak on behalf of Palestinians, I would assume they would put more effort into speaking for the Palestinians at Yarmouk. I fear that they don’t because Assad isn’t a Jew and Israel can’t be blamed. Again, we need the moderate Palestinians to come forward, because I know they care about all Palestinians equally and desire a peaceful solution.

A two-state solution requires international backing

It is of crucial importance that the international community, especially the West, backs the Palestinian case. Look at Kurdistan, which has grown economically and, most importantly, peacefully. Hamas intents to establish sharia law in a Palestinian state, which of course is something that would never gain support from the West. That’s the exact reason why moderate Palestinians should come forward. They want a peaceful Palestinian state with basic human rights for everyone, and I have no doubt the international community would support such a Palestinian voice and put pressure on Netanyahu to accept it.

The environment I have described here is mainly my experience with Palestinians in the public debate in Denmark. In America I see a much more thoughtful and reflective way of debating and arguing from Palestinians. To me this proves that such people indeed do exist, even in Denmark, and it is greatly needed for many more of them to come forward. When they do, it’s society’s responsibility to provide safety from destructive and violent pro-Hamas people.

Today, pro-Hamas Islamists and the far-left wing have taken over the Palestinian cause, and it’s such a shame, especially for the general Palestinian population. I sincerely wish and hope for the moderate powers to push forward and participate publicly in much larger numbers. Not until then will Palestinians get their own state and peace, which they deserve.

About the author:
Naser Khader is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute.

Source:
This article was published at the Hudson Institute.

The post Moderate Palestinian Action Is The Key To Ending Conflict – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

The ongoing India Japan negotiations on a civil nuclear agreement were the hallmark of Indian Premier Modi’s recent visit to Japan. Modi could not achieve the breakthrough on the much-sought-after civil nuclear deal. There are issues in the prospective Japan-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, which can have multiple deplorable implications. India possesses nuclear weapons and had tested these several times and its not a signatory of Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. If non-proliferation norms and Japanese traditional championing of these were to be followed, Tokyo cannot enter nuclear trade with New Delhi.

Nuclear technology is the key to Japan’s energy sector and affects its industrial output. Overblown safety fears post Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in 2011 affected the public sentiment against nuclear energy but the economic realities have changed the governmental and public behavior. Japan is one of the major traders of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and a member of Nuclear Suppliers Group that was founded in 1975 after India tested a nuclear weapons device using fissile material diverted from fuel provided for nuclear power generation.

India claims to have huge energy deficit and not having enough uranium to fuel its existing and upcoming nuclear power plants, which will add millions of volts to its impoverished energy mix. New Delhi boasts a fat purse and exerts sufficient political influence to woo some nuclear supplier’s states in foregoing their domestic and international non-proliferation commitments to trade with India. That is why the U.S. arm-twisted the members of NSG in giving India an exceptional waiver to trade with that country. Japan was also part of that Faustian bargain but Tokyo could not be charmed in becoming the twelfth capital with which India could trade in nuclear materials. Giving NSG waiver was delinquency but nuclear trading or allowing New Delhi to become a member of the Group would be a crime. That is perhaps why Japan has demurred from signing a nuclear deal with India.

For its own sake, Japan is gearing up to start a massive nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant that can produce nine tons of weapons-usable plutonium annually — enough for 2,000 atomic bombs! This is in spite of the fact that 150,000 of its people remain homeless and that the nuclear disaster has cost almost $100 billion. Japan is a rational state and has reverted to nuclear energy because it indeed is a safe and inexhaustible source of energy and panacea against its dependence on hydrocarbons imports from Middle East and elsewhere. The South China Sea is gradually becoming a powder keg due to American and Chinese competition forcing Japan to hedge its bets on safer energy production alternatives to fossil fuels.

Indian negotiations for a civil nuclear deal with Japan started in Tokyo in June 2010. Two consecutive rounds followed these in October 2010 and November 2010 in New Delhi and Tokyo. However, India slowed the pace of negotiations in the wake of the Fukushima March 2011. The last round of talks was held in November 2013. Japanese companies such as specialist reactor vessel manufacturer JSW are keen in signing a nuclear deal but the government has insisted that India agrees to more stringent inspections than those required under nuclear cooperation pacts with other countries. In the longer run Japan will have to make a choice between its trade and geopolitical interests against non-proliferation commitments.

Another hold up in the nuclear deal has been India’s refusal to accept limited liability for commercial operators who supply equipment. Indian Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act of 2010 is only acceptable to the States where their governments provide the financial cushion to the nuclear industry in taking the huge liability enforced by India.

The prospective Japan-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement would be a de-facto legitimization of India’s nuclear weapons status. Every gram of nuclear fuel that India would import from Japan would allow its indigenous uranium to be used for nuclear weapons production. If Japan enters a deal with India it join a dozen others in effectively participating in New Delhi’s nuclear burgeoning weapons production.

India has invested heavily in nuclear technology for prestige and power. In his recent book The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India, Ramana explains how India’s Department of Atomic Energy first acquired its present political clout, and how the Atomic Energy Commission, which reports directly to the prime minister, achieved its immunity to public scrutiny despite repeated failures to meet India’s nuclear-energy needs. This domestic dynamic complements Indian global power ambition and some State happily let this happen for their short-term economic and geopolitical interests. It is just a matter of time that Faust will do what it is best at – having bought the souls, it will ultimately challenge its hosts.

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Iran’s Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the US seeks to expand its military presence in the Middle East region by declaring war on the Takfiri ISIL terrorists.

He was hospitalized last week at one of Tehran’s public hospitals and underwent a prostate surgery.

The Leader described as “absurd, hollow and biased” remarks made by US officials regarding the formation of a so-called international coalition to battle the ISIL terrorist group.

Ayatollah Khamenei noted that there is ample evidence of US officials’ contradictory allegations with regards to inviting Iran to the international conference currently underway in France, aimed at countering the rising threat of ISIL.

“During the difficult days that ISIL attacked Iraq, the US ambassador to Iraq submitted a request to our ambassador to Iraq calling for a meeting to be held between Iran and Iraq for negotiation and coordination on [the issue of] ISIL,” the Leader said.

Ayatollah Khamenei added that although some official in Iran were not against such a meeting, “I opposed [the US request] and told them we will not cooperate with the Americans on this issue because their intent and hands are not clean and how it is possible for us to cooperate with the Americans under such conditions?”

The Leader further noted that although the US Secretary of State John Kerry announced a few days ago that the US will not invite Iran to be part of the coalition fighting ISIL, “the same US secretary of state had personally asked Iranian Foreign Minister Dr. Zarif” for cooperation against ISIL, but “Dr. Zarif had rejected his offer.”

“Now they are falsely claiming that ‘we will not let Iran be part of the anti-ISIL coalition’, while Iran had voiced its opposition to being a party to that coalition from the very beginning,” Ayatollah Khamenei stated.

The Leader further hailed the efforts made by the Iraqi nation and army in battling the ISIL Takfiri terrorists, noting that this was Iraqi army and nation, and not the Americans, who crushed the ISIL in Iraq.

The Paris meeting is being held as the US is forming a so-called international coalition to battle the Takfiri ISIL militants.

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Pope Francis is at risk of an assassination attempt by Albanian jihadists from the ranks of ISIS, the Vatican has been warned, ahead of his first visit to a Muslim-majority country this weekend.

As the 77-year-old pontiff prepares to travel to Albania on Sunday for a one-day visit, Iraq’s ambassador to the Holy See said there were credible threats against the pontiff’s life.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church could also be vulnerable when he travels to Turkey in November, the ambassador said.

ISIS have in recent weeks boasted of wanting to extend their caliphate to Rome, the heart of Western Christendom.

Habeeb Al Sadr said there were also indications of a more specific threat against Pope Francis, who recently spoke out in favour of the US and its allies halting the advance of Isis in Syria and Iraq.

“What has been declared by the self-declared Islamic State is clear – they want to kill the Pope. The threats against the Pope are credible,” the ambassador told La Nazione, an Italian daily, on Tuesday.

“I believe they could try to kill him during one of his overseas trips or even in Rome. There are members of Isis who are not Arabs but Canadian, American, French, British, also Italians.

“ISIS could engage any of these to commit a terrorist attack in Europe.”

The ambassador said the Pope had made himself a target by speaking out against the human rights abuses committed against Christians in Syria and Iraq, as well as by his approval of attempts by the US to try to roll back Isis.

“In cases like this, where there is an unjust aggression, then it is licit to halt the aggressor,” he said in an interview during his flight back from a visit to South Korea last month.

“But I stress ‘halt’. I don’t say bomb, or make war, but rather stop him,” the Pope said.

The Vatican downplayed the warning, saying that it had received no credible reports of a threat to the Pope’s life and that he would not be changing his daily routine or reviewing his trip to Albania.

“There are no specific threats or risks that would change the Pope’s behaviour or the way the trip is organised,” said Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman.

During the Pope’s trip to Tirana, the Albanian capital, on Sunday, he will celebrate Mass in the city’s main square and drive around in his open-topped Popemobile, as usual, Father Lombardi said.

The Pope wanted there to be “no obstacles” between him and the ordinary people he will encounter.

No extra security measures would be taken for the Albania trip, despite previous warnings that Albanian jihadists who had returned home from fighting in Syria or Iraq might be planning an attack.

Vatican security officials are “calm” ahead of the one-day visit, the Rev Lombardi said.

The trip to Albania is intended to celebrate the rebirth of Christianity after religious belief was crushed under the Communist rule of Enver Hoxha, and to demonstrate how Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims live in harmony in the country of two and half million people.

Hoxha, a hardline dictator, declared Albania the world’s first atheist state in 1967 and allowed the persecution of Catholics.

The Pope’s trip to Turkey, which will include events in Ankara and Istanbul, is expected to take place on Nov 29 and 30.

The post Vatican Warned Pope Francis ‘At Risk’ During Albania Visit – Report appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Saba Aghayeva

Romania is interested in closer cooperation with Azerbaijan in the energy sector, Romanian Energy Minister Razvan Nicolescu said at a meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, who is on an official visit to Bucharest, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said Sept. 16.

The sides discussed the energy cooperation between the two countries, in particular the AGRI project.

Mammadyarov appreciated the cooperation with Romania, stressing that alternative options for energy supply are in the interests of both countries.

Mammadyarov informed Nicolescu about the implementation of TANAP and TAP projects.

Earlier, Mammadyarov held meetings with his Romanian counterpart and the president. The sides discussed prospects of cooperation between the two countries.

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