The fifth summit of the BRICS, held in Durban last month, might go down in history as the birthplace of a multipolar world order in place of US “imperfect unipolarism.” In an interview to the ITAR-TASS news agency ahead of the summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin had already described the group as “a key element of the emerging multipolar world,” explaining that its members “advocate the creation of a more balanced and just system of global economic relations.” Although the decision to establish a BRICS-led development bank was certainly the brightest outcome of the summit, its main political note was the rise of Sinorussia as a new regional bloc decided to challenge the global status quo.
Friday, April 5, 2013
India’s Counter Naxal Security Strategy
From: Security Risks
Security challenges are essentially dilemma’s with varied strategies providing options for resolution. India’s Left Wing Extremism or Naxalism poses one such problem with a number of strategic options exercised so far to contain the menace of militancy. These comprise of a mix of security, development and rights proffering with emphasis on one or the other depending on the circumstances as well as inclination of state governments, given the spatial spread of insurgency in Central India to include principally Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh and partially West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Constitutionally states are main actors responsible for countering Naxalism within their territorial jurisdiction.
Japan Offers Iran Help In Things Nuclear
From: IDN
As western powers debate unabatedly Tehran’s real intentions behind harnessing energy from the atom, Japan is willing to provide Iran technical advice, equipment support and vast experience of abiding by nonproliferation safeguards so that it may practice its right to peacefully use nuclear power, says a Japanese government official serving as research fellow at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).
The author of the ‘FAS issue brief’, titled ‘Japan’s Role as Leader for Nuclear Nonproliferation’, is Kazuko Goto, the Federation’s first research fellow selected by MEXT, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, of the Government of Japan.
Anonymous claim to leak data from propaganda site Uriminzokkiri.com for #OpNorthKorea
From: Cyberwar News
Anonymous hacktivist have announced an leak of data that comes from a very well known Propaganda website known as Uriminzokkiri (http://uriminzokkiri.com). The website, which is hosted in china has become the target of hackers in the past with social media accounts being hacked in 2011 and now anonymous hacktivists have made a claim that they have breached the system for the site as well as other sites which have been unnamed.
Anonymous hacktivist have announced an leak of data that comes from a very well known Propaganda website known as Uriminzokkiri (http://uriminzokkiri.com). The website, which is hosted in china has become the target of hackers in the past with social media accounts being hacked in 2011 and now anonymous hacktivists have made a claim that they have breached the system for the site as well as other sites which have been unnamed.
The breach is said to result in over 15,000 personal account details being obtained with a example releaseleak being added to the announcement that was posted to pastehtml and announced over twitter by @VietMinhVC on the 1st of april and that account that appears to be fairly new and the announcement is its first post.
The Challenge ahead for Turks and Kurds: to form a new national partnership
From: Silk Road
Abdullah Öcalan’s call for an end to the Kurdish insurgency testifies that the era when violence defined the relations between the Turkish state and the Kurds is coming to a close. Yet what must now ensue will be no less challenging. An enduring peace requires that Turks and Kurds, as citizens on equal footing, negotiate a societal compact. But Turkish nationalism may not be easily tamed, while the question is if Kurdish nationalism can ultimately be contained within an “Ottoman” framework.
BACKGROUND: On March 21, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan made the much awaited statement calling for an end of the armed struggle that his organization has been waging against the Turkish state since 1984. The war between the PKK and the Turkish state has cost more than forty thousand lives, most of them Kurdish militants, and has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Kurds from their villages and towns in the war zone in southeastern Turkey. Öcalan’s written remarks were read out, in Kurdish and Turkish, by two parliamentarians from the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) at a mass rally in the city of Diyarbakır at which several hundreds of thousand Kurds had gathered. Öcalan declared that the armed struggle was over, saying that “Let the guns fall silent and let ideas speak.” As expected, he stated that the militants of the PKK should retreat from Turkey.
Polska Times: Belarus to rehearse nuclear attack on Warsaw
From: C97
The West is becoming more and more alarmed about Zapad 2013 war games.
NATO troops will carry out military exercises in Poland practising defence of Estonia, while Belarus and Russia will repel an imaginary attack from Poland: They plan to rehearse a pre-emptive nuclear strike on Warsaw, Polska Times reports.
Tension between Russia and NATO has been growing since the beginning of the year. The Alliance prepares for Steadfast Jazz 2013 military exercises that will take place in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, while Belarus and Russia will carry out Zapad 2013 war games.
Minsk and Moscow gladly apply to military rhetoric.
“We are not going to threaten anyone. We do not regard any state as our enemy. We are open and consistent focusing on collective defence. I mean the defensive capabilities of, if I may say so, the joint army of Belarus and Russia and the regional force grouping in the western zone,” Alyaksandr Lukashenka said about the manoeuvres.
The Russian Ministry of Defence gave to understand it doesn't like Poland's activity in NATO.
Bread riots or bankruptcy: Egypt faces stark economic choices
From: CSM
It was a perilous time for Egypt. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was demanding subsidy cuts in exchange for a loan Egypt's leaders desperately wanted. So they complied, cutting subsidies on the bread, cooking fuel, and gasoline average citizens relied on to live. Within hours, workers were pouring off the docks in the Suez Canal zone and Alexandria and out of the factories in the Nile Delta, and attacking symbols of the government everywhere – furious about the sudden rise in the price of daily staples. In Cairo's Tahrir Square, angry youth tore up sidewalks to hurl stones at riot police when they ran out of Molotov cocktails; the police responded with tear gas and baton charges. By the time the smoke cleared, at least 80 Egyptians were dead in the worst rioting the country had witnessed in a generation. The Egyptian government restored the subsidies. While this probably sounds familiar, it describes the 1977 bread riots that almost brought down the government of Anwar Sadat and left ransacked the home of his young vice president, Hosni Mubarak. This history should be top of mind for the current president, Mohamed Morsi, who is facing decision time on a national financial crisis that dwarfs the one Sadat faced 35 years ago.
It was a perilous time for Egypt. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was demanding subsidy cuts in exchange for a loan Egypt's leaders desperately wanted. So they complied, cutting subsidies on the bread, cooking fuel, and gasoline average citizens relied on to live. Within hours, workers were pouring off the docks in the Suez Canal zone and Alexandria and out of the factories in the Nile Delta, and attacking symbols of the government everywhere – furious about the sudden rise in the price of daily staples. In Cairo's Tahrir Square, angry youth tore up sidewalks to hurl stones at riot police when they ran out of Molotov cocktails; the police responded with tear gas and baton charges. By the time the smoke cleared, at least 80 Egyptians were dead in the worst rioting the country had witnessed in a generation. The Egyptian government restored the subsidies. While this probably sounds familiar, it describes the 1977 bread riots that almost brought down the government of Anwar Sadat and left ransacked the home of his young vice president, Hosni Mubarak. This history should be top of mind for the current president, Mohamed Morsi, who is facing decision time on a national financial crisis that dwarfs the one Sadat faced 35 years ago.
European ‘shadow state’ faces growing resistance
From: DW
Amid the EU's lack of a strong central government to enforce common fiscal policy, a "shadow state" has emerged - a patchwork of agencies that is facing growing criticism as undemocratic and illegitimate.
Which cruel ruler is continually forcing new rounds of austerity measures on the Greeks? And which dark power managed to break the resistance of Cypriots in just a few days? The answer is not Germany. It is the eurozone's shadow state.
It sounds like something from science fiction or fantasy, the Star Wars saga or Lord of the Rings. But the term "shadow state" in reference to the euro crisis does not come from a conspiracy theorist, but rather a well-known economist: senior Deutsche Bank advisor Thomas Mayer.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Turkey’s Unsustainable Politics in the Middle East
From: Counterpunch
‘Confused’ may be an appropriate term to describe Turkey’s current foreign policy in the Middle East and Israel in particular. The source of that confusion – aside from the appalling violence in Syria and earlier in Libya – is Turkey’s own mistakes. The Turkish government’s inconsistency regarding Israel highlights earlier discrepancy in other political contexts. There was a time when Turkey’s top foreign policy priority included reaching out diplomatically to Arab and Muslim countries. Then, we spoke of a paradigm shift, whereby Ankara was repositioning its political center, reflecting perhaps economic necessity, but also cultural shifts within its own society. It seemed that the East vs. West debate was skillfully being resolved by politicians of the Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Neoliberal Overload
From: Counterpunch
One of the least discussed and least reported issues is the Obama administration’s effort to bring the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement to the forefront, an oppressive plurilateral US-led free trade agreement currently being negotiated with several Pacific Rim countries. Six hundred US corporate advisors have negotiated and had input into the TPP, and the proposed draft text has not been made available to the public, the press or policymakers. The level of secrecy surrounding the agreements is unparalleled – paramilitary teams scatter outside the premise of each round of discussions while helicopters loom overhead – media outlets impose a near-total blackout of reportage on the subject and US Senator Ron Wyden, the Chair of the Congressional Committee with jurisdiction over TPP, was denied access to the negotiation texts. “The majority of Congress is being kept in the dark as to the substance of the TPP negotiations, while representatives of U.S. corporations — like Halliburton, Chevron, PhaRMA, Comcast and the Motion Picture Association of America — are being consulted and made privy to details of the agreement,” said Wyden, in a floor statement to Congress.
Sinaloa: CDS /CDG Split- BLO Truce
From: Borderland Beat
The alliance of Gulf Cartel and CDS (The Federation) has ended; that is a rumor that is growing and recent events indicate. At the beginning of the rupture between CDG and Zetas, the CDS led by Sinaloa Cartel, supported the Gulf Cartel, while sicarios of the Familia Michoacana Cartel, arrived to Tamaulipas to reinforce the lines. Sinaloa financially supported and provided weapons for their allies in Tamaulipas. CDG and his maximum leader Eduardo Costilla Sanchez “El Coss” set aside their historical conflict with the Sinaloa Cartel, to take action on cleaning of Zetas in Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon. Betrayals and infighting in the CDG, little by little, compromised the alliance. The death of Commander Guerra represented a tough hit to the people of Sinaloa, since he allowed them to work without fee for the right of passing.
Mexican Cartels Move Agents Deep Inside US Borders
From: Borderland Beat
Mexican drug cartels whose operatives once rarely ventured beyond the U.S. border are dispatching some of their most trusted agents to live and work deep inside the United States — an emboldened presence that experts believe is meant to tighten their grip on the world’s most lucrative narcotics market and maximize profits. If left unchecked, authorities say, the cartels’ move into the American interior could render the syndicates harder than ever to dislodge and pave the way for them to expand into other criminal enterprises such as prostitution, kidnapping-and-extortion rackets and money laundering. Cartel activity in the U.S. is certainly not new. Starting in the 1990s, the ruthless syndicates became the nation’s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, using unaffiliated middlemen to smuggle cocaine, marijuana and heroin beyond the border or even to grow pot here.
Russia Should Send Covert Operatives to Syria: Chechen, Caucasus Angle and Iran
From: Modern Tokyo Times
The conflict in Syria continues unabated whereby the supporters of terrorism, sedition and sectarianism fear no international consequences. Nations which are neutral towards Syria, or which are trying to help this nation, appear to be only concerned about defensive measures when it comes to powerful nations. However, the enemies of Syria are on the attack and clearly they want the demise of the current Syrian government and to control this nation by their respective proxies. Of course, for the United Kingdom and France then another failed state doesn’t concern them and the same applies to America.
Not only this, but clearly certain Gulf powers and the United States have long term plans whereby future foreign policy objectives will follow if the government of Syria is crushed. Iran comes up with grand statements but clearly this nation is on the defensive or even playing a dual policy?
Cradle of Arab Spring fears jihadist surge
From: UPI
Tunisian jihadists are flocking to Syria to fight alongside Islamist forces to topple the Damascus regime, just as they did in Iraq after the 2003 U.S. invasion. There's a growing fear in the North African country where the pro-democracy uprisings of the so-called Arab Spring were triggered in January 2011 that the militants will return and take over the revolution from moderate parties. That would turn Tunisia into another battleground for al-Qaida and its allies, who are locked in conflict with French forces, backed by African troops, in northern Mali. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb established a stronghold in the region in early 2012. French-led forces have driven militants into the mountains but regional and Western intelligence services are concerned that al-Qaida is building new power bases in places such as Syria, Yemen and Tunisia. Right now, the growing dominance of jihadist groups among rebels fighting the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad means the militants' focus is at the other end of the Mediterranean.
Obama picks Goldman Sachs exec for ambassador to Canada
From: CBC
U.S. President Barack Obama has selected a partner at the investment firm of Goldman Sachs in Chicago to be the new U.S. ambassador to Canada, CBC News has learned. Sources tell CBC News Network's Power & Politics that Bruce Heyman has accepted the job but still has to pass a vetting process in order to be be formally nominated. His confirmation will be up to the U.S. Congress. If he is approved, Heyman would replace David Jacobson, who has held the position since 2009. Jacobson is also from Chicago. Well known as a high-level fundraiser to Barack Obama, Heyman and his wife Vicki, also a fundraiser, raised more than $1 million for Obama and were on his national finance committee. Heyman runs the private wealth fund at Goldman Sachs and his areas of responsibility include parts of Canada. Sources tell CBC News that although Heyman is Obama's top choice he still has to pass a rigorous vetting process. Another powerful Chicago fundraiser for Obama, Penny Pritzker, was reported to be Obama's pick for Commerce secretary four years ago but pulled out during the vetting process. Pritzker is now being mentioned again as Obama's likely nominee for Commerce.
Canada-EU Integration Moves Forward, U.S. and NAFTA Next
From: Blacklisted News
After almost four years of negotiations, the Canadian government and the European Union are reportedly close to finalizing a controversial integration deal known as the “Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement” (CETA). President Obama announced earlier this year that his administration was also pursuing a similar “free trade” package with the EU, which analysts say could pave the way for a “Transatlantic Union” encompassing all of North America and most of Europe.
According to experts, a North American Free Trade Agreement-EU super-bloc with power over national governments and economies on both sides of the Atlantic would become the de facto regulatory regime for the entire planet. If the deeply controversial deals go through, the transatlantic entity’s combined GDP would amount to about half of the global economy, forcing companies all around the world to accept the bloc’s regulations or face exclusion from 50 percent of the world market.
Why is Ansar al-Sharia Tunisia’s Leader Threatening the Government?
From: The Wasat
Yesterday, Ansar al-Sharia Tunisia’s fugitive leader Abu Iyad al-Tunisi (Saif-Allah Benahssine) issued a bellicose statement threatening the overthrow of Tunisia’s government if it interfered with AST. Abu Iyad specifically threatened to cast the Tunisian government into the “dustbin of history.” (For a more complete translation of Abu Iyad’s statement than appears in press reporting, see this post at Long War Journal.) Abu Iyad’s statement is noteworthy, and perhaps surprising, because it represents the first time he has made a threat against Tunisia’s government: he had previously affirmed, on multiple occasions, that “Tunisia is a land not of jihad, but of preaching (dawa).” In this sense, the statement represents a deviation from the strategy AST has established toward the use of violence, albeit perhaps a smaller deviation than it appears at first glance.
FARC-EP resueltas a lograr la paz, afirma Iván Márquez
From: Anncol
En declaraciones que publica el portal Pueblo colombiano: ! PaÂ�la mesa !, Márquez consideró que nada debe perturbar la discusión sobre desarrollo agrario, el primero de los temas abordados en las pláticas FARC-EP-Gobierno colombiano, instaladas en Cuba el pasado 19 de noviembre.
La delegación de paz de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) ratificó aquí su compromiso con el fin del conflicto armado en ese país, aunque descartó adaptar el diálogo con el Gobierno a la campaña electoral.
"Aquí estamos en La Habana los guerrilleros de las FARC resueltos a pactar con el gobierno, de cara al país, con participación ciudadana, la solución política del conflicto, la superación de la guerra por vía diplomática", afirmó el jefe del equipo en la mesa de conversaciones, Iván Márquez.En declaraciones que publica el portal Pueblo colombiano: ! PaÂ�la mesa !, Márquez consideró que nada debe perturbar la discusión sobre desarrollo agrario, el primero de los temas abordados en las pláticas FARC-EP-Gobierno colombiano, instaladas en Cuba el pasado 19 de noviembre.
Hammamet 2013: quelle intelligence pour une meilleure gouvernance d’entreprise ?
From: Africa Dilligence
L’Association Tunisienne pour l’Intelligence Stratégique (ATIS) lance un appel à contribution dans la perspective de sa première conférence annuelle prévue les 7 et 8 septembre 2013 à Hammamet. Veille stratégique, protection de l’information, influence et contre-influence seront au menu de cette rencontre dont le but est de répondre à une question: quelle intelligence pour une meilleure gouvernance d’entreprise?
Dans un contexte de crise multiforme, la recherche de la bonne gouvernance ne cesse de revêtir une portée bien singulière. Entendue comme l’ensemble des règles qui guident et limitent la conduite de ceux qui agissent au nom de l’entreprise, voire comme le management du management de l’entreprise, les constats sur la gouvernance d’entreprise ont cristallisé les défaillances des conceptions jusque-là admises qui ne cessent de produire plus de scandales, de crises, des cas de sottise et qui illustrent notamment les limites des mécanismes de contrôle qui n’ont qu’un seul mot d’ordre, la transparence.
Comment la Suisse attire les trafiquants de drogue africains
From: Africa Dilligence
Certaines nuits, le centre-ville de Lausanne ressemble à un immense marché de la drogue. Entre 100 et 150 de dealers balisent les places publiques, les entrées des bars et des boîtes de nuit. On y vend et achète de la cocaïne, de la marihuana et du haschisch. Une part du business est gérée par des dealers africains.
Le développement exponentiel de la vie nocturne lausannoise et la chute du prix de la cocaïne, et donc son usage «festif», sont à l’origine de l’explosion actuelle. Selon Olivier Gouaux, chef de la brigade des stupéfiants, Lausanne commencerait à être saturée. L’offre serait pléthorique et dépasserait la demande.
Chine-Afrique: les leçons de Pékin au monde occidental
From: Africa Dilligence
Toutes les chapelles cherchent aujourd’hui à s’approprier les succès de la Chine en Afrique. Politiques et investisseurs saluent le « pragmatisme » chinois quand les « droits de l’hommistes » vilipendent les méthodes et les intentions de Beijing. Quelles leçons?
Pourtant, les faits sont têtus. 83ème partenaire commercial du continent en 1996, l’empire du Milieu est désormais numéro deux, derrière les États-Unis, et toujours sur sa lancée d’une croissance fulgurante.
Depuis le début du 21ème siècle, les échanges sino-africains sont passés de 20 à 220 milliards de dollars. Plus de 2.000 entreprises chinoises se sont implantées au sud du Sahara.
Alors, y a-t-il une « recette chinoise » que les partenaires traditionnels de l’Afrique auraient intérêt à copier? La réponse est moins tranchée que ne le font accroire aussi bien les thuriféraires que les pourfendeurs de la percée chinoise en Afrique.
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