tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60525534230277129462024-03-14T04:56:13.711+05:00SPY EYESFShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15656764040515946143noreply@blogger.comBlogger2131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-37826341876814256592014-04-26T03:35:00.000+05:002014-04-26T03:35:21.039+05:00Is Washington Purposely Bleeding Syria?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;">There’s growing evidence that the Obama administration is providing just enough aid to the rebels to sustain the war, but not enough to topple Assad.</span><br />
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Almost three years ago, the late Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Anthony Shadid sat down with Bashar al-Assad’s cousin and confidant Rami Makhlouf for <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/world/middleeast/11makhlouf.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" style="color: #526a83;">an exclusive interview</a>. The topic of conversation was Syria’s nascent uprising, which was then entering its third month. Makhlouf, a billionaire tycoon who had benefited tremendously from Syria’s economic pivot to crony capitalism, was a symbol of the excess and corruption that defined Assad’s Syria and was a prime target of much of the anger that had erupted onto the Syrian streets.</div>
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“When we suffer, we will not suffer alone,” Makhlouf warned Shadid, a thinly veiled threat to those inside and outside Syria who dared to stand up to the Syrian regime. The regime considered its crackdown on dissent “a fight to the end,” he continued.</div>
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Three months after Shadid’s interview with Makhlouf, President Obama <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/08/2011818125712354226.html" style="color: #526a83;">declared</a> that the “time has come for President Assad to step aside.” Despite similar proclamations from leaders across the Western world and countless predictions of its imminent demise since the start of the uprising, the Assad regime has survived. Three years later, it is clear Makhlouf wasn’t bluffing. Consistent with his early assessment, the regime has treated the conflict as a zero-sum game that could only be won through uncompromising military force. Far from collapsing, many analysts now believe the Syrian government has all <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/on-third-anniversary-of-syrian-rebellion-assad-is-steadily-winning-the-war/2014/03/14/f189649a-bd1a-4c9e-9060-755984ea92c8_story.html" style="color: #526a83;">the momentum</a> in its fight against an increasingly divided opposition.</div>
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Today, the distressing consequences of Makhlouf’s “fight to the end” have come into sharp focus. The latest estimates place the violent death toll since the start of the uprising at around<a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/01/us-syria-crisis-toll-idUSBREA300YX20140401" style="color: #526a83;">150,000</a>. The destruction of the country’s healthcare system has led to thousands of additional preventable deaths. Dr. Annie Sparrow, a public health expert at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/03/28/syria-medicine-health-care.html" style="color: #526a83;">estimates</a> that the total death toll, including deaths due to lack of access to basic medical care, could exceed 300,000. A new <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.savethechildren.org/atf/cf/%7B9def2ebe-10ae-432c-9bd0-df91d2eba74a%7D/SAVE_THE_CHILDREN_A_DEVASTATING_TOLL.PDF" style="color: #526a83;">report</a> from Save the Children vividly illustrates the horrors unfolding daily. It documented cases of patients undergoing unnecessary amputation due to lack of necessary medical equipment, the death of newborn babies because of power outages at hospitals and even cases of metal bars being used to knock out patients as a substitute for scarce anesthetics. Moreover, the country’s vaccination program has collapsed, resulting in an outbreak of polio, a disease that had previously been eradicated in Syria. According to Save the Children, the country’s prewar vaccination rate of 91 percent dropped to 68 percent just one year into the conflict. It is undoubtedly much lower now.</div>
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A series of UN investigations have revealed that these alarming realities were the byproduct of the systematic targeting of healthcare personnel and infrastructure by Syrian government forces and the intentional prevention of medical aid from entering contested areas. “Medicines are routinely denied to those who need them, including tens of thousands of women, children, and elderly,” says the <a data-ls-seen="1" href="mailto:http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/25/world/middleeast/un-finds-humanitarian-aid-still-blocked-in-syria-despite-resolution.html" style="color: #526a83;">latest report</a>, highlighting the lack of progress since a binding UN Security Council resolution demanding the free flow of aid passed two months ago. Another investigation, conducted late last year, concluded that “government forces deliberately target medical personnel to gain military advantage by depriving the opposition and those perceived to support them of medical assistance for injuries sustained.… The situation is so dire that the general populace often elects not to seek [medical] help for fear of arrest, detention, torture or death.” The investigators also found that “some anti-Government armed groups have attacked hospitals in certain areas.” Thus, it’s no wonder that three out of five Syrian hospitals have been damaged or destroyed, and that half of Syria’s doctors have reportedly fled the country.</div>
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Of course, doctors aren’t the only Syrians who have been forced from their homes. The most recent estimates are that <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.usaid.gov/crisis/syria" style="color: #526a83;">2.6 million</a> Syrians have sought refuge in neighboring countries and an additional <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.usaid.gov/crisis/syria" style="color: #526a83;">6.5 million</a> are internally displaced. Thus, nearly half of Syria’s citizens have been dispossessed of their homes. Last week, the UN’s World Food Programme announced it will be<a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/07/syria-crisis-un-aid-idUSL6N0MZ3EJ20140407" style="color: #526a83;">cutting</a> desperately needed food parcel deliveries in Syria by 20 percent because contributing nations aren’t fulfilling their financial obligations.</div>
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Despite the shocking scale of the humanitarian crisis, the prospect of a resolution to this conflict is now more remote than ever. Hopes for a political settlement, pushed forward by Russia and the United States, amount to little more than a fantasy at this point. The latest round of negotiations, the much-touted Geneva II conference, ended after Assad’s representatives<a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-02-16/kerry-says-syrian-regime-obstructed-peace-talks-to-target-rebels" style="color: #526a83;">refused</a> to even discuss the possibility of a transitional government. Moreover, the Syrian government <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10664322/Syria-Assad-regime-arrests-relatives-of-opposition-peace-talks-team.html" style="color: #526a83;">arrested family members</a> of the opposition delegation it was supposedly negotiating with in good faith. It was relatively clear from the beginning that these negotiations were destined to fail. The Syrian government, emboldened by its gains on the ground, believes that <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/on-third-anniversary-of-syrian-rebellion-assad-is-steadily-winning-the-war/2014/03/14/f189649a-bd1a-4c9e-9060-755984ea92c8_story.html" style="color: #526a83;">it is winning</a>. It has refused to offer any tangible concessions since the beginning of the uprising, even in times when it was believed to be flailing. Why would it negotiate its own demise now, when it is brimming with confidence?</div>
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With the unyielding support of Iran and its regional ally, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, along with a steady flow of weapons and diplomatic cover at the UN from Russia, the Syrian government is on the brink of declaring victory. Preparations are under way for a sham <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/world/middleeast/as-war-rages-in-syria-presidential-election-looms.html" style="color: #526a83;">election</a> that will grant Assad another seven-year term as president. In the last of these so-called elections, a referendum held in 2007, Assad supposedly <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18919256/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/t/without-opposition-syrias-president-re-elected/#.U1AIN3lcjy8" style="color: #526a83;">garnered</a> 97 percent of the vote with a turnout of 95 percent. As the UN’s special envoy on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, has <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/world/middleeast/amid-preparations-mediator-says-syria-vote-would-doom-talks.html" style="color: #526a83;">suggested</a>, this election will be the final nail in the coffin of any political solution to the conflict.</div>
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On the rebel front, it’s become increasingly clear that the opposition’s Western backers are no longer interested in toppling Assad, assuming they ever were. An <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/11/world/middleeast/syria.html" style="color: #526a83;">exposé</a> that ran on the front page of <em style="padding: 0px 3px 0px 0px;">The</em> <em style="padding: 0px 3px 0px 0px;">New York Times</em> this month described the cynically incremental support the United States is providing rebels on Syria’s southern front. Rebels who have received military aid through US-controlled supply lines in Jordan told the <em style="padding: 0px 3px 0px 0px;">Times </em>that “the Obama administration is giving just enough to keep the rebel cause alive, but not enough to actually help it win.” This isn’t exactly a revelation. In a column for <em style="padding: 0px 3px 0px 0px;">The</em> <em style="padding: 0px 3px 0px 0px;">Washington Post</em> last summer, Fareed Zakaria <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/fareed-zakaria-obamas-syria-policy-is-full-of-contradictions/2013/06/19/81e2068a-d8f8-11e2-a9f2-42ee3912ae0e_story.html" style="color: #526a83;">wrote</a>that by providing just enough support to keep Syria’s rebels fighting, but not nearly enough for them to topple Assad, Obama was playing a “Machiavellian rather than humanitarian game.” Syria expert Joshua Landis recently echoed this belief when he <a data-ls-seen="1" href="https://twitter.com/joshua_landis/status/449599550756368386" style="color: #526a83;">tweeted</a> that the United States is playing “a mischievous role. It is supporting rebels but making sure they cannot win.”</div>
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A <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/world/middleeast/obamas-uncertain-path-amid-syria-bloodshed.html?pagewanted=all" style="color: #526a83;"><em style="padding: 0px 3px 0px 0px;">New York Times</em> report</a> last October on Obama’s decision to back down from the threat of force after the August chemical weapons attack sheds more light on the reasoning behind the administration’s stance on Syria. In this story, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough is described as the administration official whose views on Syria were most closely aligned with the president’s. During internal debates on the matter, McDonough reportedly “questioned how much it was in America’s interest to tamp down the violence in Syria.” He later suggested that “a fight in Syria between Hezbollah and al Qaeda would work to America’s advantage.”</div>
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President Obama’s answer to a question on Syria during a<a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-02/obama-to-israel-time-is-running-out" style="color: #526a83;"> recent interview</a> provides further insight into his calculus:</div>
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“I’m always darkly amused by this notion that somehow Iran has won in Syria. I mean, you hear sometimes people saying, ‘They’re winning in Syria.’ And you say, ‘This was their one friend in the Arab world, a member of the Arab League, and it is now in rubble.’ It’s bleeding them because they’re having to send in billions of dollars. Their key proxy, Hezbollah, which had a very comfortable and powerful perch in Lebanon, now finds itself attacked by Sunni extremists. This isn’t good for Iran. They’re losing as much as anybody. The Russians find their one friend in the region in rubble and delegitimized.”</div>
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The implication here is that the president of the United States could be seeking to intentionally prolong the war, despite the catastrophic scale of the death and destruction that is taking place as a result, because it is bad for Iran and Russia.</div>
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As the Syrian people mark the beginning of the fourth year of their tragedy, caught in the middle of an international chess match they no longer have power to influence, one thing is abundantly clear: Makhlouf was right—the regime did not suffer alone.</div>
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<b><i><a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/179545/washington-purposely-bleeding-syria#" target="_blank">The Nation</a></i></b></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-75740292860364450522014-04-26T03:27:00.000+05:002014-04-26T03:27:11.038+05:00Geo TV premeditated assault on ISI<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.opinion-maker.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/DG-ISI-and-Hamid-Mir.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3982a6; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="DG ISI and Hamid Mir" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-27620" height="161" src="http://www.opinion-maker.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/DG-ISI-and-Hamid-Mir.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="313" /></a>By Brig Asif Haroon Raja</b><b style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </b></div>
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On April 19, 2014, Geo TV anchor and senior journalist Hamid Mir was attacked by unknown assailant (s) in Karachi when he was travelling in a car from the airport to Geo office. Out of 12 bullets fired, six bullets pierced his abdomen and legs. The driver who remained unscathed drove him to the hospital where he is currently under treatment and reportedly is out of danger. Such gory attacks by unidentified terrorists are a common phenomenon in Karachi where daily score of the target killers ranges from 6-12. Despite Rangers-Police combined targeted operation since last September, the gory practice has not been controlled. The dastardly attack on Hamid Mir is condemnable and we pray for his early recovery.</div>
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While the attack on Hamid Mir was undoubtedly reprehensible, the unethical reaction of Geo TV was more shameful. Ironically, the Geo News channel’s onslaught began with a vengeance within hours of the incident when even on-spot inspection of the site and preliminary investigation had not been carried out and FIR was not registered. It seemed as if the TV channel was already waiting in readiness to spring into action and start a willful malicious media campaign against the DG ISI, ISI as an institution and the Army. What was detestable was that the photo of DG ISI was repeatedly flashed during the over 8-hour program aired without a break, indirectly holding him responsible for the attack. Ansar Abbasi in his exuberance demanded immediate resignation of DG ISI.</div>
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Even a layman could make out that the program aired by Geo TV had been stage-managed and pre-meditated with the sole objective of tarnishing the image of DG ISI and ISI. The hidden purpose behind the vilification program was to create a gulf between the armed forces and the people of Pakistan in general and the government and the defence establishment in particular. The whole lot of tutored anchors trained their guns on the ISI and based their arguments on the statement of the brother of Hamid Mir who stated soon after the incident that Hamid had secretly expressed his fears within his family members and close friends and his employer that he was receiving threats from ISI and in case he was murdered, DG ISI Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam would be responsible. Surprisingly, none of the analysts bothered to consider any other possibility.<a href="http://www.opinion-maker.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Hamid-Mir-Car.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3982a6; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Hamid Mir Car" class="aligncenter wp-image-27621" height="432" src="http://www.opinion-maker.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Hamid-Mir-Car.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="576" /></a></div>
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Neither Hamid nor any of his family member or his organization deemed it fit to register an FIR, or even a complaint that he was facing life threat. If he was facing life threats, how come he was moving around so freely and boldly without a guard? Why did he continue to remain in an offensive mode and repeatedly put the blame of missing persons on intelligence agencies despite the threats? His body language and facial expressions never indicated any signs of stress. Some say, the time bomb found strapped under his car last year was a ploy to increase his popularity rating and ISI threat was also played up to enhance his rating. How come Hamid Mir and his TV channel came in bad books and felt threatened and none else? It meant something was wrong somewhere. Is it not true that the Geo in its blind urge to make big money has crossed the red lines and all limits of decency?</div>
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Over a period of time, Geo TV has earned the reputation of being more of an Indian channel than a Pakistani channel promoting Indian themes/ agenda and maintaining an anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan stance. As opposed to spiteful role of Indian media against Pakistan, Geo TV stance towards India has always been soft and friendly. Jang Group owned by Mir Shakil-ur Rahman co-hosts highly controversial Aman-ki-Asha program with India which is RAW funded. Ansar Abbasi, one of the journalists of Geo News has recently come out with a bizarre revelation that Aman-ki-Asha is ISI funded. Geo TV and ‘The News/Jang’ newspapers are known for promoting secularism, creating rifts between the institutions and sowing seeds of doubts/ misgivings over settled issues like ‘Two-nation’ theory, Objectives Resolution, ideology of Pakistan, and making Quaid-e-Azam controversial by projecting him as a secular.</div>
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While Geo TV glamorizes Hamid Mir, he is looked down upon by many for his anti-Army/ISI/FC stance, for espousing the cause of separatists wanting to make Baluchistan independent, overplaying missing persons issue and for his pro-India posture. In early 2009, while the then government was denying that Ajmal Kasab, falsely implicated by India in Mumbai attacks case in November 2008, was a Pakistani, Hamid Mir took the Geo team to a village in Punjab and broke the story that Kasab was a Pakistani born and brought up in village Faridkot. He sold the story despite the villagers showing their ignorance about Kasab. That way he strengthened India’s handle to beat Pakistan with.</div>
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He is the one who blamed the ISI for burning down Ziarat Residency and would have kept spitting venom had BLA not claimed responsibility. Reportedly, he had poisoned the ears of Asian Tigers, a group affiliated with TTP who had taken late Col retired Sultan Amir Tarar, popularly known as Col Imam and Squadron Leader retired Khalid Khawaja hostage in March 2010. Based on the information given by Hamid Mir on a phone that Khawaja was an ISI agent and unreliable, the captors killed both of them in January 2011.</div>
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ISI bashing by the Geo TV was fully capitalized by the Indian media as well as the British media and the trio worked in tandem to discredit ISI. Let it be known that the ISI is a world famed organization which is second to none and its effectiveness has been acknowledged even by the traditional adversaries. Since its birth in mid 1950s, it has stood as a guard against inimical forces striving to harm Pakistan. It acts as the first line of defence for the armed forces and has valiantly kept the outreach of anti-Pakistan CIA-RAW-MI-6-RAAM-Mosad-BND nexus at bay since 2002 and is also supporting the security forces fighting the war in the northwest and separatist movement in the south zealously. In the process, large numbers of its members have lost their lives at the hands of foreign paid saboteurs.</div>
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The Army and ISI are defending the motherland stretching from the peaks of Siachin in the north to the deserts of Sindh and barren hills of Balochistan in the south under extremely adverse conditions. Under extraordinary stressful conditions when the very existence of the country is under grave threat, putting the premier institutions faced with an existential threat under further stress and strain through slanderous media campaign is highly undesirable.</div>
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The adversaries of Pakistan consider the armed forces and the ISI as the only bottlenecks in their way to accomplish their sinister designs against Pakistan. The US has invested $ 60 million to buy the loyalties of Pak media while India and Israel too have invested heavy amounts to influence leading TV channels and newspapers. The Christian Science Monitor dated September 2, 2011 reported that two journalists belonging to ‘Express News’ and ‘Dunya News’ filing reports back home from Washington drew their salaries from the US State Department funding through a nonprofit intermediary. Despite their best efforts they have been unable to weaken the trunk of these two organizations.</div>
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Apart from demonizing Islam and secularizing the society through media, the other major task of paid Pakistani journalists, anchors and pseudo intellectuals is to build perceptions and create hatred against the Army and ISI. The invisible hand of sabotage and subversion has caused incalculable damage to the fabric of the country. The agents of subversion are busy polluting the minds of the people and weakening the country under a well-defined agenda. Unfortunately, a section of media is playing into the hands of our adversaries of Pakistan for the sake of material benefits.</div>
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It is indeed surprising that the head of ISI was callously attacked by the media barons for 8 hours and the government as well as PEMRA remained mum and paralyzed. Other TV channels acted more responsibly. Response of civil society is very encouraging. I have received dozens of messages condemning Geo TV. There are wide calls to block Geo TV for defaming ISI. A petition has been filed in a law court seeking registration of treason case against Jang & Geo Group and his owner Mir Shakilur Rahman and Amir Ali, brother of Hamid Mir.</div>
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Being the member of Executive Committee of PESS headed by Lt Gen Hamid Gul, I am in a position to feel the pulse of well over 2.5 million retired officers, JCOs, NCOs and men. They all are highly perturbed and resentful over the perverse role of media and inaction of the government in taking to task the black sheep within media and controlling the unruly and undisciplined media indulging in yellow journalism. Government’s inaction has given rise to suspicions about its intentions and motives.</div>
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A judicial commission has been established to probe the incident and come out with its findings. Till the finalization of the report by the Commission, all concerned parties should exercise restraint and refrain from drawing hasty conclusions. PEMRA should come out of its hibernation and start managing the media houses and guide them that instead of indulging in sensationalism, defamation and spreading despondency, they should play a constructive role in bridging divides within the society and promoting harmony between the State institutions.</div>
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<b><i><a href="http://www.opinion-maker.org/2014/04/geo-tv-premeditated-assault-on-isi/" target="_blank">Opinion Maker</a></i></b></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-62828911919621318912014-03-26T13:00:00.000+05:002014-03-26T13:00:02.222+05:00Secrets and lies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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SOCIAL media may have brought millions of people together, but it has torn many others apart. Once, bullies taunted their victims in the playground; today they use smartphones to do so from afar. Media reports of “Facebook suicides” caused by cyberbullying are all too common. Character assassination on Twitter is rife, as are malicious e-mails, texts and other forms of e-torment. A recent <a href="http://www.hrpub.org/download/201306/ujer.2013.010101.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #4a4a4a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">review</a> of the academic literature on cyberbullying suggests—conservatively—that at least a quarter of school-age children are involved as either victim or perpetrator.</div>
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A new generation of smartphone apps is unlikely to help. With names like Whisper, Secret, Wut, Yik Yak, Confide and Sneeky, they enable users to send anonymous messages, images or both to “friends” who also use the apps. Some of the messages “self-destruct” after delivery; some live on. But at their heart is anonymity. If you are bullied via Facebook, Twitter or text, you can usually identify your attacker. As a victim of an anonymous messaging app you cannot: at best you can only guess which “friend” whispered to the online world that you might be pregnant. As the authors of the paper cited above point out, anonymity frees people “from traditionally constraining pressures of society, conscience, morality and ethics to behave in a normative manner.”</div>
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Unsurprisingly, none of this is deterring venture-capitalists. Whisper, which was launched last November, has raised more than $20m from blue-chip funds such as Sequoia Capital. Secret, at less than two months’ old, recently scored almost $9m from a group that includes Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and actor Ashton Kutcher’s A-Grade Investments.</div>
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Not every venture capitalist is as sanguine about investing in what have been dubbed “bullying apps”. In a 12-tweet diatribe, Marc Andreessen, who co-founded Netscape and is now a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, a hot Silicon Valley VC firm, took issue with both the apps and those investing in them. “As designers, investors, commentators, we need to seriously ask ourselves whether some of these systems are legitimate and worthy,” he wrote; “… not from an investment return point of view, but from an ethical and moral point of view.” Mark Suster, another well-known investor, took a similar stance on his blog: “It’s gossip. Slander. Hateful. Hurtful. It’s everything [Silicon] Valley claims to hate about LA but seemingly are falling over themselves at cocktail parties to check 5 times a night. We can do better.”</div>
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This is not, of course, how the startups’ creators see things—and in fairness many of the secrets they share are harmlessly banal. David Byttow, co-founder of Secret, has claimed his app assists people in “voicing their opinion in a very constructive way.” Michael Heyward, Whisper’s boss, took to Twitter to defend his app against Mr Andreessen, tweeting a<a href="https://twitter.com/michaelheywire/status/444924536585089024/photo/1" style="border: 0px; color: #4a4a4a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">screenshot</a> (pictured above) of a whisper that read “This girl talked to me on whisper because of a self harm post, she doesn’t know she saved my life.” (This was shortly after he hired Neetzan Zimmerman, formerly of celebrity-smearing site Gawker, as its editor-in-chief, and Whisper began whispering about the alleged infidelity of a well-known actress.)</div>
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The app companies claim they have or are working on ways to deter slanderous or abusive posts. Secret says it removes such posts, although that rarely seems to happen quickly or consistently. And after hosting posts that have included multiple shooting and bomb threats—some of which led to school evacuations—Yik Yak is now using “geofencing” technology to prevent its app being used at a majority of America’s middle and high schools. That will do little, however, to affect its use outside school hours or at universities, which Yik Yak is still targeting.</div>
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The startups’ bigger challenge may be figuring out a business model. Advertising will be a hard sell: most of the services collect little or no data about their users besides location, and their unpredictable demographic ranges from tweens to thirtysomethings. Few advertisers will want to be associated with apps that count bomb threats and cyberbullying among their core services. And teens—the services’ most intensive users—are notoriously fickle in their app appetites. Once they realize that few people care about their secrets—at least compared with those of famous actresses—they will move on.</div>
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The market for such services is also littered with failures. Formspring, an anonymous Q&A site beset with cyberbullying and allegations of related suicides, raised $14m before shutting down a year ago. It has since been reincarnated, at least in spirit, as spring.me. Latvia-based Ask.fm, a Formspring rival that had won a few big advertisers, lost many of them after it too was linked to cyberbullying and multiple suicides. (Among those to quit was British tabloid<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Sun</em>, which shows just how bad things were.) Juicy Campus lasted 18 months before shutting down in 2009 amid similar controversies—and after venture-capital firms realized it would never turn a profit.</div>
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And then there is the original secrets website, PostSecret, which launched in 2005. In September 2011 it decided to join the smartphone age with an app for Apple’s iPhone. After trying and failing to weed out offensive secrets from the millions posted, PostSecret scrapped the app four months later, never to return. A pile of venture-capital cash may be about to suffer the same fate.</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2014/03/anonymous-social-networking?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/bl/secretsandlies" target="_blank">Economist</a></b></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-22972192159008179522014-03-26T12:00:00.000+05:002014-03-26T12:00:19.256+05:00Warning: Stocks Will Collapse by 50% in 2014 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white;">It is only a matter of time before the stock market plunges by 50% or more, according to several reputable experts.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">“We have no right to be surprised by a severe and imminent stock market crash,” explains Mark Spitznagel, a hedge fund manager who is notorious for his hugely profitable billion-dollar bet on the 2008 crisis. “In fact, we must absolutely expect it."</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">Unfortunately Spitznagel isn’t alone.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">“We are in a gigantic financial asset bubble,” warns Swiss adviser and fund manager Marc Faber. “It could burst any day.” </span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">Faber doesn’t hesitate to put the blame squarely on President Obama’s big government policies and the Federal Reserve’s risky low-rate policies, which, he says, “penalize the income earners, the savers who save, your parents — why should your parents be forced to speculate in stocks and in real estate and everything under the sun?” </span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">Billion-dollar investor Warren Buffett is rumored to be preparing for a crash as well. The “Warren Buffett Indicator,” also known as the “Total-Market-Cap to GDP Ratio,” is breaching sell-alert status and a collapse may happen at any moment. </span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">So with an inevitable crash looming, what are Main Street investors to do?</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">One option is to sell all your stocks and stuff your money under the mattress, and another option is to risk everything and ride out the storm.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">But according to Sean Hyman, founder of </span><em>Absolute Profits</em><span style="background-color: white;">, there is a third option.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">“There are specific sectors of the market that are all but guaranteed to perform well during the next few months,” Hyman explains. “Getting out of stocks now could be costly.”</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">How can Hyman be so sure?</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">He has access to a secret Wall Street calendar that has beat the overall market by 250% since 1968. This calendar simply lists 19 investments (based on sectors of the market) and 38 dates to buy and sell them, and by doing so, one could turn $1,000 into as much as $300,000 in a 10-year time frame. </span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">“But this calendar is just one part of my investment system,” Hyman adds. “I also have a </span><strong>Crash Alert System</strong><span style="background-color: white;"> that is designed to warn investors before a major correction as well.”</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">(The Crash Alert System was actually programmed by one of the individuals who coded nuclear missile flight patterns during the Cold War so that it could be as close to 100% accurate as possible). </span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">Hyman explains that if the market starts to plunge, the Crash Alert System will signal a sell alert warning investors to go to cash. </span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">“You would have been able to completely avoid the 2000 and 2008 collapses if you were using this system based on our back-testing,” Hyman explains. “Imagine how much more money you would have if you had avoided those horrific sell-offs.”</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">One might think Sean is being too confident, but he has proven himself correct in front of millions of people time and time again. </span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">In a 2012 interview on Bloomberg Television, Hyman correctly predicted that Best Buy would drop down to $11 a share and then it would rally back up to $40 a share over the next few months. The stock did exactly what Hyman predicted.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">Then, during a Fox Business interview with Gerri Willis in early 2013, he forecast that the market would rally to new highs of 15,000 despite the massive sell-off that was haunting investors. The stock market almost immediately rebounded and hit Hyman’s targets.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">“A lot of people think I am lucky,” Sean said. “But it has nothing to do with luck. It has everything to do with certain tools I use. Tools like the secret Wall Street calendar and my Crash Alert System.”</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">With more financial uncertainty that ever, thousands of people are flocking to Hyman for his guidance. He has over 114,000 subscribers to his monthly newsletter, and his investment videos have been seen millions of times.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">In a recent video, Hyman not only reveals the secret Wall Street calendar, he also shows how his Crash Alert System works so that anybody can follow in his footsteps (</span><a href="http://w3.newsmax.com/newsletters/ap/video_secret_calendar_a.cfm?promo_code=166D4-1" style="color: #224004; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: blue;"><u><strong>click here to watch it now</strong></u></span></a><span style="background-color: white;">).</span><br /><br /><a href="http://w3.newsmax.com/newsletters/ap/video_secret_calendar_a.cfm?promo_code=166D4-1" style="color: #224004; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" src="http://images.newsmax.com/email/Hyman_Profits_Video_600x3001.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: 290px; width: 580px;" /></a><br />
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-48194988332183267582014-03-26T11:00:00.000+05:002014-03-26T11:00:06.751+05:00Dozens of firms are invisibly tracking you online. Here's how to hide from them<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ten years ago it would have been a shocking to discover that an American company was spying on practically everyone in Britain. Now, it's totally accepted as the norm. In return for free web-based services, we've sleepwalked into waiving our right to privacy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But is there any way we can opt out?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s not pleasant knowing that you are being watched all the time, but often we forget. It’s only occasionally we get that niggling creepy feeling when an ad is just a little <em>too</em> accurate. A classic example is that advertisers often <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">know that a woman is pregnant before she tells her family</a>, just by observing her web-browsing habits. Sometimes this goes even further – abortion providers have used similar <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/willardfoxton2/100008646/facebook-is-targeting-abortion-ads-at-young-british-women-whatever-your-views-this-is-pretty-crass/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">targeting to find young women who might be looking for pregnancy advice.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once I started looking into this, one thing that shocked me right away was just how much I was being tracked. Using a tool called <a href="http://collusion.toolness.org/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Collusion</a>, I was able to see how many companies were mining my data. In my case, 87 firms were keeping tabs on my every move. While the usual suspects – Facebook and Google – were there, I'd never heard of most of these firms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's an enormous ecosystem of companies that do nothing but sift your data, draw conclusions from it, and then sell it on. The way they do this is by comparing multiple data points. So, for example, if you visit the The Spectator, it suggests you are a well-educated, wealthy consumer. If you later browse online for nice men's leather walking boots, it confirms you may be wealthy, and like the outdoors. You're now one click on<a href="http://www.farmersguardian.com/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Farmer's Guardian</a> away from being of value to people selling online tractor ads.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, it's not an exact science – and it can lead to wildly different results across devices. For example, a friend of mine is a police officer who seizes criminal property. Her work desktop assumes she's a louche playboy because of all the yacht and sports car prices she googles, while her personal smartphone assumes she's a teenage girl because of all of the nail art sites she visits in her spare time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, the sheer volume of data collected means it's hard to spoof – and unless your results are regularly quite extreme, it will be fairly accurate. Equally, with location services able to see where you are, and web-based emails quite capable of reading the text of your messages, a concerted manual spoofing attempt would be time consuming and probably pointless.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You don't have to do it manually, though. Just as there's an ecosystem of ads, there's an ecosystem dedicated to delivering an untracked online experience. The untraceable web browser Tor is probably the most famous, but there are services that offer an untracked experience in all spheres.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here’s a list of services you can use to hide your tracks online, <a href="http://www.abine.com/blog/2013/you-cant-stop-the-nsa-from-tracking-you-but-you-can-mess-up-their-data/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">from security firm Abine:</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Internet Service Provider (ISP): <a href="http://www.sonic.net/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Sonic</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wireless provider: <a href="http://www.mycricket.com/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Cricket</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Encrypt an email account you already have: <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Thunderbird</a>with <a href="http://www.enigmail.net/home/index.php" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Enigmail</a>, Mac Mail with <a href="https://gpgtools.org/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">GPGTools</a>, Outlook with<a href="http://www.gpg4win.org/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">GPG4Win</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Private email clients: <a href="http://www.unspyable.com/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Unspyable</a>, <a href="https://countermail.com/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Countermail</a>, or <a href="http://www.shazzlemail.com/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Shazzle</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Search engines: <a href="https://www.ixquick.com/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Ixquick</a> and <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">DuckDuckGo</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mobile calls: <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcrime.redphone" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">RedPhone</a>, <a href="https://silentcircle.com/web/silent-phone/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Silent Circle</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Android proxy: <a href="https://guardianproject.info/apps/orbot/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Orbot</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">iOS proxy: <a href="http://getfoxyproxy.org/vpn/apple-ios.html" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">FoxyProxy</a> (configure it as a proxy, not a VPN)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mobile photos: <a href="http://guardianproject.info/apps/obscuracam/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">ObscuraCam</a></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Text messaging: <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcrime.securesms&hl=en" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">TextSecure</a></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Online tracker blocking: our very own <a href="http://www.abine.com/dntdetail.php" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">DNTMe</a></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Web-based chatting: <a href="http://adium.im/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Adium</a> with OTR, <a href="https://crypto.cat/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Cryptocat</a></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mobile chatting: <a href="https://chatsecure.org/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">ChatSecure </a>(iOS) Virtual private networks (VPNs): <a href="http://www.ivpn.net/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">iVPN</a>, <a href="https://www.privatewifi.com/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Private Wifi</a></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hard drive encryption: <a href="http://www.truecrypt.org/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">TrueCrypt</a></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Web browser: <a href="https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Tor Browser</a> (and <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Mozilla’s Firefox</a> is the best major browser for privacy)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mobile browser: <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/onion-browser/id519296448?mt=8" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Onion Browser</a> (iOS), <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.guardianproject.browser&hl=en" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Orweb</a> (Android)</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #282828; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That list should give you pause – if you aren't using one of the untraceable services for that function, then your data is probably being sifted and sold by a mainstream provider. The drawback is that many of these services are fiddly to use and require a degree of tech savvy to set up properly. Without going to all that trouble, you can use blanket tools like <a href="http://www.abine.com/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">DoNotTrackMe</a> or <a href="https://disconnect.me/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Disconnect</a>, but of course, they won’t prevent everything. They are probably the best tools to block tracking through your smartphone use.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #282828; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, it turns out you can beat Google – it just takes a bit of work.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #282828; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/willardfoxton2/100012913/dozens-of-firms-are-invisibly-tracking-you-online-heres-how-to-hide-from-them/" target="_blank">The Telegraph</a></b></span></div>
</div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-8892331403104845362014-03-26T10:00:00.000+05:002014-03-26T10:00:05.976+05:00MH370 search: 8 things you might not know about black boxes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Now that Malaysia Airlines flight 370 is confirmed lost in the southern Indian Ocean, focus is turning to the retrieval of the flight's "black box".</div>
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The US has sent a black box locator to the search area, with less than two weeks to go until these crucial pieces of equipment stop transmitting.</div>
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Here are some things you might not know about black boxes:</div>
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1. They're not black</h2>
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Black boxes are the same colour as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco ... kind of. They are a tone of what's known as international orange, which is a set of three colours used in aerospace and engineering to distinguish objects from their surroundings. The Golden Gate Bridge is a darker shade, while the international orange used for black boxes is much brighter.</div>
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<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-26/golden-gate-bridge-in-san-fransisco/5344404" style="color: #310099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><img alt="Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco" height="467" src="http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/5344352-3x2-700x467.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;" title="Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco" width="700" /></a><a class="inline-caption" href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-26/golden-gate-bridge-in-san-fransisco/5344404" style="color: #310099; display: block; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="color: black; font-size: 0.9167em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; word-wrap: break-word;">PHOTO:</strong> <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">The tone of international orange used to paint the Golden Gate Bridge is most closely matched by Pantone colour 180.</span><span class="source" style="color: #666666; font-size: 0.9167em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: nowrap; word-wrap: break-word;">(AFP: Justin Sullivan)</span></a></div>
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2. A 'black box' comes in two parts</h2>
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The "black box" is made up of two separate pieces of equipment: the flight data recorder (FDR) and a cockpit voice recorder (CVR). They are compulsory on any commercial flight or corporate jet, and are usually kept in the tail of an aircraft, where they are more likely to survive a crash. FDRs record things like airspeed, altitude, vertical acceleration and fuel flow. Early versions used wire string to encode the data; these days they use solid-state memory boards. Solid-state recorders in large aircraft can track more than 700 parameters.</div>
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<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-08/the-black-boxes-from-the-asiana-plane/4805232" style="color: #310099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><img alt="The black boxes from the Asiana plane." height="467" src="http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/4805232-3x2-700x467.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;" title="The black boxes from the Asiana plane." width="700" /></a><a class="inline-caption" href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-08/the-black-boxes-from-the-asiana-plane/4805232" style="color: #310099; display: block; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="color: black; font-size: 0.9167em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; word-wrap: break-word;">PHOTO:</strong> The black boxes from the Asiana plane that crashed short of the runway at San Francisco airport on July 6, 2013.<span class="source" style="color: #666666; font-size: 0.9167em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: nowrap; word-wrap: break-word;">(Twitter: @NTSB)</span></a></div>
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3. They were invented by an Australian</h2>
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Dr David Warren's own father was killed in a Bass Strait plane crash in 1934, when David was just nine years old. In the early 1950s, Dr Warren had an idea for a unit that could record flight data and cockpit conversations, to help analysts piece together the events that led to an accident. He wrote a memo for the Aeronautical Research Centre in Melbourne called "A Device for Assisting Investigation into Aircraft Accidents", and in 1956 produced a prototype flight recorder called the "ARL Flight Memory Unit". His invention did not get much attention until five years later, and the units were eventually manufactured in the UK and US. However, Australia was the first country to make the technology compulsory.</div>
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<a class="inline-caption" href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-25/black-box-inventor-talks-about-his-invention/5343846" style="color: #310099; display: block; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="color: black; font-size: 0.9167em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; word-wrap: break-word;">VIDEO:</strong> Black Box inventor talks about his invention. <span class="source" style="color: #666666; font-size: 0.9167em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: nowrap; word-wrap: break-word;">(ABC News)</span></a></div>
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4. Experts don't call them "black boxes"</h2>
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The term "black box" is favoured by the media, but most people in the know don't call them that. There are several theories for the original of the name "black box", ranging from early designs being perfectly dark inside, to a journalist's description of a "wonderful black box", to charring that happens in post-accident fires.</div>
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From <a href="http://theconversation.com/the-hunt-for-mh370s-black-box-is-on-but-it-may-not-reveal-all-24751" style="color: #310099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank" title="">The Conversation</a>:</div>
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Black boxes are normally referred to by aviation experts as electronic flight data recorders. Their role is to keep detailed track of on-flight information, recording all flight data such as altitude, position and speed as well as all pilot conversations. It is common for many civil airliners to have multiple devices to carry out these tasks so that information can be gathered more easily in the event of a failure. In most instances, they are used to help in the diagnosis of what may have been the likely cause of an accident.</div>
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5. Only 2 hours of cockpit conversations are kept</h2>
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Digital recorders have enough storage for 25 hours of flight data but only two hours of cockpit voice recording, which is recorded over itself in a loop. The CVRs track the crew's interactions with each other and air traffic control, but also background noise that can give vital clues to investigators. Earlier magnetic tape versions could only record 30 minutes of cockpit conversations and noise, which was also recorded in a loop.</div>
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<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-26/air-alaska-flight-data-recorder/5344694" style="color: #310099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><img alt="Alaska Airlines 261 flight data recorder" height="467" src="http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/5344684-3x2-700x467.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;" title="Alaska Airlines 261 flight data recorder" width="700" /></a><a class="inline-caption" href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-26/air-alaska-flight-data-recorder/5344694" style="color: #310099; display: block; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="color: black; font-size: 0.9167em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; word-wrap: break-word;">PHOTO:</strong> The magnetic tape flight data recorder from Alaska Airlines Flight 261 was retrieved off the coast of California after the plane crashed in 2000. <span class="source" style="color: #666666; font-size: 0.9167em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: nowrap; word-wrap: break-word;">(AFP: Manny Ceneta)</span></a></div>
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6. It can take a long time to find one</h2>
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<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-05-13/one-of-two-black-boxes-from-an-air-france-flight/2693470" style="color: #310099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><img alt="One of two black boxes from an Air France flight which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009" height="467" src="http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/2693470-3x2-700x467.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;" title="One of two black boxes from an Air France flight which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009" width="700" /></a><a class="inline-caption" href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-05-13/one-of-two-black-boxes-from-an-air-france-flight/2693470" style="color: #310099; display: block; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="color: black; font-size: 0.9167em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; word-wrap: break-word;">PHOTO:</strong> One of two black boxes from an Air France flight which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 is displayed in Paris on May 12, 2011. <span class="source" style="color: #666666; font-size: 0.9167em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: nowrap; word-wrap: break-word;">(Charles Platiau : Reuters)</span></a></div>
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Black boxes are fitted with an underwater locator beacon that starts emitting a pulse if its sensor touches water. They work to a depth of just over four kilometres, and can "ping" once a second for 30 days before the battery runs out. After Air France flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, it took search teams two years to find and raise the black boxes. They provided valuable information about what actually happened prior to the crash.</div>
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7. They're virtually indestructible...</h2>
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FDRs are usually double-wrapped in titanium or stainless steel, and <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/black-box7.htm" style="color: #310099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank" title="">must be able to withstand atrocious conditions</a>. The crucial part that contains the memory boards, the CSMU, is shot out of an air cannon to create an impact of 3,400 Gs and then smashed against a target. It is subjected to a 227kg weight with a pin attached to it, which is dropped onto the unit from a height of three metres. Researchers try to crush it, destroy it in an hour of 1,100 degree Celsius fire, submerge it in a pressurised salt water tank, and immerse it in jet fuel.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="394" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/46618142" style="border-width: 0px; display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="700"></iframe><a class="inline-caption" href="http://vimeo.com/46618142" style="color: #310099; display: block; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="color: black; font-size: 0.9167em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; word-wrap: break-word;">VIMEO:</strong> CSMU fire test</span></a></div>
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8. ... But they're not as powerful as your phone</h2>
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In the aftermath of MH370, experts say it might be time to update methods of collecting flight data. Passengers are able to text, stream and surf the internet but the data recorders on board are not communicating in real time with the rest of the world. However, the bandwidth needed to stream huge amounts of data from large aircraft is not currently feasible. Aviation author Stephen Trimble <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/09/malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-black-box" style="color: #310099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank" title="">writes in the Guardian</a> that Boeing has applied for a patent on a system that will transmit a subset of data including the plane's location:</div>
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There will be costs to mandating such a system, but the benefits are clear. Multi-national search and recovery teams involving a fleet of ships and search aircraft should no longer be necessary. Critical safety data could provide clues of system or structural failures much faster, making the entire air transport system safer.</div>
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ABC News</div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-56958007023926682292014-03-05T07:00:00.000+05:002014-03-05T07:00:02.575+05:00The “U-turn” on Syria<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i>As the Saudi Arabia-Iran proxy war rages in Muslim world, the news of Pakistan changing its nonaligned stance in favour of an interim caretaker setup in Syria – and also of supporting Syrian rebels with arms supplies and even training – would be a dire signal that national policymakers have not learned from history. The consequences for the independence of Pakistan’s foreign policy, and ramifications for the trajectory of its standing in the comity of nations, are immense – especially among “brotherly” Muslim countries and neighbours with whom Pakistan shares land borders.</i></b></div>
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<b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Royal Visit</span></b></div>
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The Saudi crown prince, Shaikh Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, who is also the Kingdom’s deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, visited Pakistan from February 15 to February 17, and was given a red carpet welcome in Islamabad. He met with the civilian as well as the military leadership of the country, and – given the proximity of the ruling PML-N with the House of Saud, the monarchy that rules Saudi Arabia – this was a unique opportunity for both Sunni “brotherly nations” to bolster defence and security cooperation, sign MoU’s and agreements, and most importantly, “strengthen their relationship as the United States recalibrates its approach to the region”, as noted by <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-and-pakistan-forge-stronger-strategic-alliance" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Taimur Khan in the UAE newspaper The National</a>.</div>
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The highest-level public meetings between Riyadh and Islamabad in six years began last month with successive visits to Pakistan by the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud Al Faisal, and the deputy defence minister, Prince Salman bin Sultan. They were followed last week by the first overseas trip by Pakistan’s new COAS, General Raheel Sharif: during his three-day trip, General Sharif met King Abdullah and military officials to discuss plans for a “new era in strategic partnership”, according to a Pakistan army spokesman. Then came the crown prince’s visit, whose delegation included the Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, the ministers of economy and planning, of commerce and industry, as well as Saudi businessmen who have been meeting with Pakistani business leaders.</div>
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<b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Importance of Pak-Saudi Ties: Stabilizing Afghanistan after 2014 and Mutual Defence Assurances</span></b></div>
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Analysts say both countries are looking to deepen their strategic military ties as the US begins to shifts its resources. “In view of current challenges, there is a need to further strengthen defence cooperation between the two countries and a new era of strategic relationship needs to start,” Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said during Prince Salman’s visit. The visit, made on request of the Pakistani Prime Minister, was designed to promote the roles of the two countries to maintain security, stability and development at regional and international arenas, particularly Islamic issues and role of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. During the visit, the media rumour mill was focusing on the Musharraf trial as well as the Pakistani government’s talks with the TTP – the Saudi crown prince said that those were Pakistan’s internal matters, in which Saudi Arabia will not meddle or interfere, and that the Kingdom wants peace and tranquility to prevail in Pakistan. After Pakistan, the crown prince also visited Japan, India and the Maldives.</div>
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Even as Afghanistan is on the top of both countries’ agendas, a major worry for Saudi Arabia is the process of rapprochement started between Iran and the U.S. According to David Weinberg, who studies Saudi affairs at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defence of Democracies think tank, Prince Salman’s visit to Pakistan in particular was “an indicator that the warming of … security ties is genuine and not just for show, since [he] handles a great deal of the operational heavy lifting at Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry – including major initiatives on Syria, military procurement and regional cooperation”. Prince Salman was, until recently, the deputy to the Saudi spy chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who is also his brother, and was considered to be one of the key figures in Riyadh’s efforts to finance, arm and train Syrian rebels. Now he is the Defence Minister as well as the deputy premier.</div>
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For Pakistan, military and civilian aid from the U.S. has been crucial to help stabilize its teetering economy. Even though it is likely that the two countries discussed continuing U.S. support after its withdrawal from Afghanistan, “there is a lot of uncertainty with regards to aid from the U.S.”, said Arif Rafiq, president of Vizier Consulting, a political risk and security consultancy, and a fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington. A complete withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan “means that Pakistan has to look to alternative sources to guarantee its own stability, that’s why the Saudis are being engaged,” Mr Rafiq said. “The Saudis are engaging Pakistan for their own reasons”. These reasons include short-term tactical goals (such as Syria) as well as long-term strategic goals (such as Iran).</div>
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As both have much to gain from engaging each other in stronger defence ties, there have been many reports that Pakistan will help Saudi Arabia arm and train Syrian rebels – something that the Sunni kingdom could not convince the U.S. to do – and that even though there are hints that <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-24823846" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Saudi Arabia can obtain nuclear arms from Pakistan to counter Iran</a> (unconfirmed reports state that <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/pakistan-could-deliver-nuclear-weapons-saudi-arabia-if-iran-acquires-nukes-report-1459298" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">two nuclear-capable ballistic missiles from Pakistan have already been stationed in Saudi Arabia</a>), the latest moves in Saudi-Pak engagement are meant to send a message. Simon Henderson, an expert on Saudi Arabia and on Pakistan’s nuclear programme, and director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Gulf and Energy Policy programme, says that the meetings are supposed to get both the White House and the Iranians to “pay attention”. This seems plausible, as the U.S. has continued its policy of engaging Iran – after a hiatus of three decades – despite criticism and anger from Saudi Arabia as well as Israel. As is obvious, <a href="http://spearheadresearch.org/SR_CMS/index.php/researchopinions/the-saudi-overture" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Saudi displeasure and reservations on the U.S. role has not had the impact that it used to have in the past</a>.</div>
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<b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Pakistan’s Alleged “Policy Shift” on Syria</span></b></div>
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Pakistan’s (unconfirmed) decision (which is denied by the Foreign Office as well as the <a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-28777-Pakistan-not-assisting-rebels-in-Syria-Sartaj" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Policy and National Security</a>) to support the Syrian rebels via Saudi Arabia, and funnel arms to them via Jordan, is a huge but expected foreign policy move by Pakistan in the Middle East: it is synonymous with its role in the GCC, and how it has implemented its foreign policy in Bahrain as well, though it opted out of direct involvement in the Egyptian or the Libyan affair, for that matter. <a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-03-280214.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">This move is bound to anger Iran and test Iran’s patience with Pakistan</a>, which has been a U.S. ally since 2001, but had (or officially still has) adopted a policy of neutrality in the proxy wars that the Sunni Saudi Arabia and the Shi’ite Iran have been fighting throughout the Muslim world. As the ruling Alawite regime in Syria is allied to Iran – and <a href="http://www.understandingwar.org/report/iranian-strategy-syria" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Iran continues to invest heavily in propping up Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Damascus</a> by providing finance, weapons, and manpower as well – any move that would be aimed at tilting the existing status quo on the ground in Syria in favour of the Sunni militants would force Iran’s hand not only in the Levant and the Middle East, but also in other places which challenge Iran’s projection of power. <a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/national/24-Feb-2014/saudi-arabia-seeking-weapons-from-pakistan-for-syrian-rebels" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Saudi Arabia wants Pakistan to supply “Anza Mk-I” or “Anz Mk-II” anti-aircraft rockets (known as MANPADS, or man-portable air-defence systems) and anti-tank rockets</a>, which will be stored in Jordan before they are delivered to the Syrian rebels.</div>
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On February 24, <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1089877/pakistan-denies-plans-to-arm-syrian-rebels" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam denied reports</a> of Pakistan intending to supply Syrian rebels with weapons and arms as “baseless and have no sense”. However, veteran journalist <a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-28793-Sartaj-Aziz-clears-the-mist-over-Syria-policy" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Amir Mateen</a> wrote that, “the Foreign Office denied the report but was rather sketchy in explaining its side of the story. This had the National Assembly fuming on Monday”. The next day, on February 25, the PM’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Policy, Sartaj Aziz, clarified this stance on the floor of the National Assembly: in a policy statement to the lower house of Parliament, he said that, “Pakistan fully honours national and international laws in its agreements and sale of arms”. He said that the government rejects speculations in the media about any change in Pakistan’s policy on Syria, or linking it with the visit of Saudi crown prince. Aziz reiterated that <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1089405/sartaj-dispels-impression-of-syria-policy-shift" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Pakistan “stands by its stance of quick solution to conflict in Syria and restoration of peace and stability”</a> – while mentioning Pakistan’s international obligations to UN resolutions as well as the Geneva peace process, he added that Pakistan stood committed to its stance of withdrawal of foreign armed forces from Syria, lifting the siege of different cities and stopping bombardment in those areas, and enabling the people of Syria to run the affairs of their country. Aziz said Pakistan was also committed to its stance for protection of territorial sovereignty of Syria, stop atrocities and contribute to international efforts for restoration of peace in the restive country, respect to masses opinion and initiation of dialogue to defuse the situation. He said the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had also stressed at the United Nations and urged international community to restart the stalled political process in Syria to ensure peace and security.</div>
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The PM’s Adviser concluded his statement by saying that, “there is no change of stance, as it was manifested in Pak-Saudi joint statement at the time of the visit of the crown prince, and our written position. Our stance is clear; that we are not cooperating with anybody. It is not our policy to interfere into other’s affairs. Our policy is principled and neutral. We are not going to provide arms or assist anybody.” He also added that non-state actors must be controlled. However, <a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-28793-Sartaj-Aziz-clears-the-mist-over-Syria-policy" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Amir Mateen</a> notes that, “Sartaj Aziz’s explanation sounded pretty plausible but a few questions remained unanswered. The timing was crucial; why should the government choose to announce our position in a joint communiqué with a powerful Middle Eastern country. After all, the Foreign Office had not expressed its Syria position so emphatically earlier. Also, Pakistan (as Iran) was not a participant to the 20 plus countries who were part of the Geneva Communiqué.”</div>
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<b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Saudi Role in the Syrian Civil War</span></b></div>
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Of the roughly 23 million citizens of Syria, Sunni Muslims constitute 74% of the population, while other Muslim sects (including the ruling Alawite sect) form only 16% of the population. Therefore, the Syrian civil war – which started on March 15, 2011, and has been raging for almost three years now – is a scenario that is similar to that in Bahrain, but with one critical difference; in Bahrain, a Shi’ite majority population initiated an uprising against the ruling Sunni monarchy of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on February 14, 2011, in the midst of the “Arab Spring” that was ongoing in Tunisia and Egypt at the time. The Bahrain uprising continues as a low-intensity political disobedience movement for over three years now, and aims at ensuring equality for Shi’ites in addition to political freedoms and fair elections. As protesters gathered around the Pearl Roundabout in Manama, the Bahraini capital, and encamped there, the government of King Hamad – fearing further instability and possible overthrow – declared martial law and imposed a three-month-long emergency on March 15, 2011: a day earlier, 1,000 troops from Saudi Arabia and 500 troops from the UAE arrived in Bahrain to assist the local security forces in quelling the uprising. They arrived on the request of King Hamad and the Bahraini government, and <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-12751464" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">under the auspices of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)</a>.</div>
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Saudi Arabia has a strong influence on Syria’s southern front, where it coordinates with Jordan, and has helped unite the rebel fighters in the area; on the other hand, Qatar and Turkey are responsible for coordinating with the rebels on the northern front. Saudi Arabia has come to eclipse Qatar as the main supporter of the Syrian rebels, a development illustrated by the election last July of Ahmad Jarba, who has strong Saudi links, to lead the Syrian National Coalition, the main umbrella opposition group. The trend appeared to continue with the dismissal of General Selim Idriss, the top commander of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, in February. Idriss was considered close to Qatar, and the main criticism of Idriss was “bad distribution of weapons” and “errors in battle”. And after the Saudi crown prince visited Pakistan, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-39-seeking-pakistan-arms-syrian-rebels-39-113515038.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Syrian opposition leader Ahmad Jarba told the media that “powerful arms will be arriving soon”</a>. So Saudi Arabia is in a frontline position vis-à-vis the Sunni militants in Syrian civil war, especially in terms of countering the Iranian influence in the region, which is also immense:<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/21/us-syria-crisis-iran-idUSBREA1K09U20140221" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">including Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon and Shi’ite fighters from Iraq, to IRGC and Quds force specialists</a>numbering in the hundreds if not thousands, to steady support in terms of weapons and ammunition to the Assad regime. On February 13 this year, <a href="http://www.irantracker.org/analysis/fulton-assassination-iranian-quds-force-general-hassan-shateri-syria-february-28-2013" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Iranian Revolutionary Guard-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) Brigadier General Hassan Shateri was assassinated in Syria</a> – ostensibly by the Syrian opposition militia forces while he was returning from Aleppo to Beirut via Damascus, although Iran alleged that Israel was behind the attack. General Shateri is the senior-most member of the Quds Force known to have been killed outside of Iran in the organization’s three-decade history; he had deep connections with Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran’s global force projection network. His death is considered to be a serious blow to the Quds Force, and his very presence in northern Syria revealed the depth of Iran’s involvement in that conflict. However, the position on the ground – as well as on the negotiating table in Geneva – has brought the civil war to a stalemate, with no side having the capacity or ability to strike a decisive blow against the other. This stalemate persists despite the parties to the Syrian conflict (the Assad regime and the Syrian opposition) being heavily supported in all forms by their allies from abroad, and despite the immense investment(s) of Saudi Arabia (and other Sunni allies) as well as of Iran to bolster their respective allies in the Syrian conflict.</div>
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<b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Linking the Royal Saudi Visit to Pakistan’s Syria Policy</span></b></div>
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So it seems that <a href="http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2014/02/20/pakistan-joins-saudi-arabia-shuns-iran-on-syria-war/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">the visit of the Saudi crown prince was to elicit and confirm Pakistani support for the Sunni position in Syria</a>, particularly after failure in the Geneva process talks – the Saudi royal was neither in Pakistan to convince the leadership to let Musharraf go, nor was he in the country to give his two cents on the peace talks initiative with the TTP. It has been reported that the Saudi move has come after frustration in efforts to get the U.S. to train and arm Syrian rebels, and that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was earlier hoping for two entire Pakistani divisions to be sent to Syria – <a href="http://www.nation.com.pk/International/16-Sep-2011/Saudis-eye-Pak-nukes-to-face-Iran" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">two divisions of the Pakistan Army have reportedly maintained deployment readiness and have been on standby position since 2011</a> to be deployed to Saudi Arabia “if the kingdom is threatened by Iran or the pro-democracy uprisings sweeping the Arab world”. It has also been reported that<a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/11/06/saudi_arabias_shadow_war" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Pakistan has (allegedly) covertly supported the Saudi effort in the Syrian civil war for some time now</a>.</div>
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Given the Saudi crown prince’s pivotal role in setting the Kingdom’s Syria policy, and that three important visits – two from Saudi royals to Pakistan, and one from the Pakistani Army Chief to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – preceded this trip, it was widely reported that Pakistan had been elicited by Saudi Arabia to train and arm Syrian Sunni rebels: as mentioned above, the “Anza Mk-I” or “Anz Mk-II” anti-aircraft rockets (MANPADS) and anti-tank rockets acquired from Pakistan will be stored in Jordan before they are delivered to the Syrian rebels. During the Saudi crown prince’s visit, a <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/673146/ouster-of-assad-regime-riyadh-wins-islamabads-support-on-syria/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">joint statement</a> issued after high-level meetings stated that “The two sides reiterated the need for finding a quick solution to the existing conflict in Syria according to Geneva I Resolution in order to restore peace and security in Syria and prevent bloodshed of the brotherly Syrian people”. It has been alleged that Saudi Arabia “bought off” Pakistan’s foreign policy and enlisted its political support as well as assurance of weapons supplies to Syrian Sunni rebels for <a href="http://www.shiitenews.com/index.php/pakistan/9031-saudi-buys-pakistan-support-against-syria-at-183-million-credit" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">a credit of US$ 183 million</a> for the import of urea fertilizer from the Arab monarchy.</div>
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<b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ramifications for Pakistan’s Foreign Policy Shift from a Nonaligned Stance</span></b></div>
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Though Pakistan officially denies that it has changed its foreign policy vis-à-vis Syria, the negative consequences and overall ramifications of such a shift must be analyzed and laid bare before the country’s policymakers – who have been taken to task by the opposition in both houses of Parliament – as well as the nation at large. <a href="http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2014/02/20/pakistan-joins-saudi-arabia-shuns-iran-on-syria-war/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">By shifting from its status of neutrality and non-alignment</a> in Arab-Arab or intra-Muslim conflict – overtly or covertly – in the form of supporting a caretaker setup in Syria instead of continuing its previous policy regarding the issue, Pakistan has also shown that it can take a significant departure from its existing and implementable policies in the international arena. The rationale behind this shift – if it has indeed taken place – should be cogent and should serve Pakistan’s own national security and foreign policy interests: otherwise the impression will be that Pakistan’s foreign policy is now being “dictated” by “Wahabbi petro-dollars” instead of “America’s dollars and aid”. Indeed, the political opposition in parliament <a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-28793-Sartaj-Aziz-clears-the-mist-over-Syria-policy" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">accused the government of obliging “friendly Sheikhs” for their hospitality, but at the cost of national interests</a>. Many more thought that this would unnecessarily bring Pakistan in the middle of two Muslim countries tussling and fighting proxy wars everywhere and, obviously, amounted to interference in internal affairs of Syria.</div>
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But one also must wonder why Pakistan does not share the apprehensions of the U.S., in that weapons sent to militants fighting Bashar al-Assad in Syria could also be used against other states. While the <a href="http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_02_26/Saudi-Arabia-to-provide-weapons-from-Pakistan-to-Syrian-opposition-5620/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">United States could allow their allies provide the rebels with anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons following the failure of Geneva talks and the renewed tension with Russia</a> (especially over the evolving situation in the Ukraine and Crimea), provided those weapons to the rebels “relieves pressure on the US in the short-term”, there is always a danger associated with that as a policy measure: “the long-term political worry is that MANPADS (man-portable air-defence systems) will leak and be used to bring down a civilian airliner somewhere in the world”.</div>
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One must also remember – and remind Pakistan’s policymakers and policy implementers – that the results of Pakistan’s policy of supplementing non-state actors with weapons and financing – to whatever end – did not end up to be a fruitful policy for internal security (the state’s writ) or regional security (the state’s capability to project power) after 2004, and especially after 2007. This apprehension was acknowledged by the PM’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Policy, during his policy statement in the National Assembly, when he mentioned that non-state actors should be controlled. It should also be noted that when Pakistan was about to send military forces to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in support of the U.S.-led First Gulf War in 1991, it was the incumbent PML-N in power that refused to interfere militarily – or allow the Pakistan Army to interfere and aid in shifting the power balance – in an Arab-Arab conflict.</div>
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It has been reported in July 2013 that <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/07/20137167916826540.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">the Pakistani Taliban are also partaking in the fight against the Assad regime</a> – an apparent sign that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/14/syria-conflict-pakistani-taliban-support" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">the TTP has become a potent transnational threat</a>, and that Islamic extremists and terrorists are actively involved in conflicts against the state so as to create a security vacuum (via revolt: khuruj) and then fill it with governance according to an archaic and apocryphal version of Shariah law.</div>
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<a href="http://rt.com/news/pakistan-taliban-rebel-syria-086/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">In addition to the TTP</a>, at least two Al-Qaeda affiliates/franchises (the Jabhat an-Nusra, and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb – now known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS) are known to be <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-syria-troops-victory-20140226,0,135843.story" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">taking part in the revolt against the Syrian government</a>; at the same time, <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/resurgence-of-al-qaida-in-iraq-fuelled-by-saudi-arabia/5371644" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Al-Qaeda chapters in the Anbar province of Iraq</a> (particularly in<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/al-qaeda-force-captures-fallujah-amid-rise-in-violence-in-iraq/2014/01/03/8abaeb2a-74aa-11e3-8def-a33011492df2_story.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Fallujah</a> and <a href="http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/162520/iraq-forces-set-to-storm-fallujah-as-battles-rage-on-in-ramadi-source.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Ramadi</a>) have taken control of the cities and surrounding areas since January this year, expelling government, police and military from these Sunni bastions – now Nuri al-Maliki’s government is <a href="http://www.euronews.com/2014/01/08/iraqi-forces-attack-al-qaeda-militants-in-ramadi-ahead-of-the-fight-for-fallujah/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">launching military counter-attacks</a> in the run-up to crucial elections in the country. Al-Qaeda remains a threat to all Muslim states around the world: whether it is Sunni Saudi Arabia, or Shi’ite Iran or Syria, or multi-sectarian Muslim nations like Pakistan and Iraq (where it is more deadly in terms of increasing sectarian strife and supporting the Sunni or anti-Shi’ite militant extremists that already exist).</div>
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Latest reports indicate that the <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/zoubi-yarmouk-brigade-qaeda-saudi-southern-front.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">newly formed Syrian rebel group “Southern Front”, which has received Saudi support and whom Riyadh intends to arm with advanced weaponry, has openly collaborated with Al-Qaeda affiliates</a> and allied jihadist militia factions in Syria – even though this rebel group was preferred over the “Islamic Front” so that arms provided to Syrian rebels would be “less likely to fall into the hands of Al-Qaeda”. The “Southern Front” is led by Bashar al-Zoubi, who is the commander of the powerful “Yarmouk Brigade” that operates near Daraa – elements of the “Yarmouk Brigade”, like those of the “Islamic Front”, are known to have collaborated with Jabhat an-Nusra.</div>
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<b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Giving India a Golden Opportunity?</span></b></div>
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The shift in Pakistan’s foreign policy does not only invite the threat of relations with Iran going from bad to worse: it also gives India an opportunity to play the role of balancer or peace-maker between Iran and Saudi Arabia – a role that was custom-built for Pakistan, which enjoys friendly ties with the Sunni monarchy and shares a border with the Shi’ite theocracy. As Pakistan ceases to be non-aligned in this Sunni-Shi’ite proxy warfare being waged throughout the Muslim world, India hosted Saudi crown prince for a three-day visit from February 26 onwards while it was concurrently hosting Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif who visited India for a two-day trip starting February 27. Former Indian foreign secretary, Kanwal Sibal, postulated that, “It helps (India) to balance the relationship since both (Saudi Arabia and Iran) are pitted against each other in West Asia, in context of Sunni-Shia conflict… It is wise to have political communication with both sides. It is also optically good to have both visits in the same week.”</div>
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Since the Middle East region hosts around 7 million Indian expatriate workers who send approximately US$ 30 billion back home in remittances on an annual basis, Mridul Kumar, joint secretary (Gulf) in the Indian ministry of external affairs noted the importance India gives to forging stronger ties with countries in the Gulf, “This is really one of the most important relationships that we have across the globe. The Gulf countries provide almost 60% of our energy requirement. The Gulf countries are our largest trading partner by far as a regional group. And we are looking at an annual trade of over $180 billion, which is almost 26% of our global trade.”</div>
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Commentaries by <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/vyWsPhKLPOfpHwUYdWsp1I/India-to-host-SaudiArabia-crown-princeIran-foreign-minist.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Elizabeth Roche</a> and <a href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/saudi-iranian-leaders-involve-india-in-regional-peace-comment-special-to-ians-114022101116_1.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Saeed Naqvi</a> regarding India’s renewed focus on “West Asia” are particularly insightful and discuss reasons as well as intentions for India playing the role that it played in February (and that it might continue to play, until it is hindered by the U.S. or by China in doing so).</div>
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The Saudi crown prince also signed MoU’s (what the <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-pak-ally-s-arabia-to-forge-strong-defence-ties/article1-1186898.aspx" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Hindustan Times’ Shishir Gupta</a> termed “a major defence agreement”) with India on joint military exercises, hardware sales and transfer of technology. “Riyadh has signed a similar agreement with Islamabad” in the preceding weeks, Gupta noted, saying that “Riyadh has in the past indicated that it wants the Indian Army to train Saudi Arabian troops in mountain warfare by setting up a combat school [and it] also wants joint counter-terrorism exercises”. According to Gupta, a senior Indian official said (on condition of anonymity), “The [defence] MoU [between India and Saudi Arabia] provides for a proper bilateral defence policy group with defence ministries on both sides setting the agenda. Given the status of Saudi Arabia in the Islamic world, this is no mean achievement. It signals that Pakistan is no longer the only favourite nation for Riyadh in South Asia.”</div>
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As dangerous as these developments are for Pakistan’s international relations and its role in regional security – especially in terms of the traditional hostility between India and Pakistan in every dimension – <a href="http://thediplomat.com/2014/03/india-the-middle-east-and-beyond/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Tridivesh Singh Maini of The Diplomat</a> says that India has the chance to develop friendly relations with “key” Middle Eastern countries, but still needs “skill” to achieve a foreign policy trajectory that will achieve this objective. Maini says that a Modi-BJP-led Indian government may find it difficult to keep friendly ties with Saudi Arabia, but while a Modi government “may not find it difficult to accelerate economic cooperation and trade”, it will have to keep a “close watch on the turbulent geopolitics of the Middle East”.</div>
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<b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Conclusion</span></b></div>
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As India has now started playing the role of non-aligned peace promoter between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Pakistan has badly damaged its position in the eyes of Iran as well as of Pakistani Shi’ites – as the government dispels criticism and says that there has been no policy shift because the government is merely committing to the agreements reached in the Geneva process, the opposition in the <a href="http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2014/02/22/national/senate-to-take-up-shift-in-policy-on-syria/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Senate</a> as well as National Assembly has formally taken up the matter and given the government a tough time on its increased closeness with Saudi Arabia at the expense of its ties with its Iranian neighbour. PPP’s Naveed Qamar was quite vocal in his arguments when responding to Adviser Sartaj Aziz’s policy statement and clarification; he said, “we are calling for a regime change and opposing military operations in other countries at a time when our own military is conducting air strikes on terrorists … We should get our own house in order before interfering in the affairs of others” (the last statement being an apparent “slap in the face” to the PML-N and to the Prime Minister’s statement on his visit to the U.S. and after meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama). The upheaval in Pakistan’s parliament – which is otherwise silent or unaware of international political developments – over the issue of an alleged shift in foreign policy towards a country in civil war shows the political clout of Iran in Pakistan’s own internal political arena, as well as the importance given to friendly relations with Iran by Shi’ite politicians as well as the Shi’ite citizens of Pakistan.</div>
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Pakistan is depending on the Iran-Pakistan (IP) “peace” gas pipeline to restore some order and balance in the national demand and supply of natural resources. Even if natural resources aren’t as important in Pakistan’s foreign policy (even though they are crucial when it comes to dealing with the persisting energy crisis) as security issues are, it must be remembered that Iran – as a neighbour of Afghanistan – has a very important role in the stability of South Asia, especially as foreign troops depart by the end of 2014. Pakistan cannot afford to anger another neighbour on its Western border, as the incumbent administration in Kabul is overtly anti-Pakistan and the neighbour on the eastern border is least forgiving of all.</div>
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Has Pakistan’s neutrality actually been compromised? If not, will perceptions alone be enough to ruin Pak-Iran relations? What would be Iran’s response/backlash to Pakistan aiding the Syrian rebels by training them and giving them advanced weaponry? Will the provision of anti-aircraft weaponry to the Syrian rebels actually be a “game changer” in the Syrian civil war, putting more pressure on the Assad regime than ever before? And what does the U.S. want – does it really want détente with the Rouhani administration in Tehran, or will it continue destabilizing and weakening Iran at the behest (and with the aid) of Saudi Arabia as well as Israel?</div>
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Pakistan’s previous Middle East policy – based on Islamic solidarity – was in tatters as it actually supported the political status quo in the region, and therefore indirectly supported autocratic leaders in these countries. Arab exceptionalism was finally challenged by the tide of democratization and the “Arab Spring”, as an enlightened youth took to the Arab streets, demanding more freedoms and sweeping changes in the political systems of their countries. Yunas Samad noted that while the Pakistani military has seen secondment to many countries in the Middle East (including the stationing of a <a href="http://spearheadresearch.org/SR_CMS/index.php/researchopinions/the-saudi-overture" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Pakistan Army armoured brigade in Saudi Arabia for over eight years in the 1980’s</a>), Pakistanis were also recruited as mercenaries – particularly in Bahrain – in support of Sunni regimes. Samad said that, “If change comes, Pakistan may find that it has backed the wrong side and, keeping that in mind, it needs to develop a more sensitive understanding of the momentous developments taking place, and not view them from the Saudi perspective of seeing the movement in Sunni-Shia terms”. Pakistan still needs to be cognizant of the very real possibility that if these Sunni autocratic regimes topple, those who come to power afterwards – and those who put them in power, i.e. the Arab people – may view Pakistan in a negative light.</div>
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<a href="http://tacstrat.com/content/index.php/2011/07/27/pakistans-middle-east-policy/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Pakistan must clearly define and outline its Middle East policy</a>, since it was actively pursuing friendly relations with many countries in the Middle East and North Africa in 2011 – especially after the “Arab Spring” was abating and some clarity and stability was being realized among many governments in the region. In the previous government, Pakistan appeared to have consolidated its interests in the immediate region, and affirmed its policy of supporting and facilitating rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Any departures from this policy will negatively affect Pakistan’s economy and foreign policy, and it will be very difficult for Pakistan to protect itself or recover from these negative ramifications. After the Saudi overture, Pakistan should take into consideration the diplomatic activities of India near the end of February – hosting both Saudi Arabia and Iran – and must make its own overtures to Iran (preferably by keeping Saudi Arabia in the loop). <a href="http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2014/03/03/iran-pakistan-complicated/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Pakistan can hardly afford any more complications in its relationship with Iran</a> after 5 Iranian soldiers were kidnapped from the Iran-Pakistan border and are allegedly being held in captivity inside Pakistani territory.</div>
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Though friendly ties with all nations – especially superpowers like the U.S., China, Russia, etc. and Muslim states like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iran, UAE, etc. – should be a clear and actively pursued goal of national foreign policy regardless of which political party is in power or forms the federal government, <a href="http://spearheadresearch.org/SR_CMS/index.php/researchopinions/the-saudi-overture" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Pakistan must carefully consider its own interests in the present environment and decide how far it can go without negative fallout</a>.</div>
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<strong>TACSTRAT ANALYSIS</strong></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-68370989670887591122014-03-05T06:00:00.000+05:002014-03-05T06:00:03.124+05:00Hamlet’s indecision plagues our war<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<img height="426" src="http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/173/0/3/war_inc__2_by_madness_of_hamlet-d54guin.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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Those having read Shakespeare’s “Hamlet’ would have been sorely reminded of him in the past few months. For those who have not read it; here’s a brief run-down. Hamlet was the Prince of Denmark. His father, the King was murdered. One night, in his dreams, he is visited by a Ghost. The Ghost looks very much like his dead father and tells Hamlet that his murderer is no other than the King’s brother himself; Claudius. This brother murdered the King later taking over not only the throne but also marries the brother’s wife Gertrude. The Ghost incites Hamlet to avenge the murder of his father by taking Claudius’s life.</div>
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Hamlet, facing an uphill responsibility is plagued by his indecisiveness. He is shown to be overly analytical. Analyzing options upon options but being unable to take a decisive action. Interestingly, one of the reasons for this may be his own reasoning based heavily on religion. His focus on achieving the end of Claudius is overshadowed by his confused thinking of its methodology. Eventually, he realizes that in order to achieve his goal, he will have to take some risks. The turnaround comes when he hears opinions by others who feel that either Hamlet should take revenge for his murdered father or go for an all-out war against Claudius. It is this struggle within Hamlet that leads to the deaths of many characters in the play, though he does manage to kill Claudius, eventually.</div>
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The plot of this drama was built up on Hamlet’s indecisiveness that takes the play forward, but what is happening on ground in Pakistan, in terms of acts of terrorism is very much real and no play. Just as Hamlet had to put aside everything else in his life in order to deal with Claudius, our government too must prioritize to make terrorism its main challenge to be tackled.</div>
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The talks with the Taliban had stalled. Many predicted that the talks will fail as the militants are “buying time’ as they have done in the past. The society stands divided over this issue. Taliban is opposed by a huge segment of moderates yet supported by some on grounds of “ideology’ and by some because it fights the United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan; a dangerous posture as it may tend to ignore what actually the Taliban stands for. The failure of recent talks may have been a result of a) An uncompromising list of demands as a pre-condition to beginning talks by Taliban and b) Reporting of every ongoing step or lack of it in media, making rigidity of positions inevitable.</div>
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Whether or not Taliban were serious in the process has also been analyzed, “Analysts said the Taliban wanted to start the talks but then prolong them, believing that while talks were underway the government would hold off taking any major military action against the group.” (NYT February 4, 2014) This may well be true and attacks and killings by Taliban never stopped when there was an effort to hold talks- in one incident executing 23 soldiers in the tribal belt. Jets of Pakistan air Force have attacked the Taliban hideouts on many instances since, as a result.</div>
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A local newspaper reported, “As Pakistan’s military braces for an expected targeted crackdown against the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and its allied offshoots in North Waziristan Agency and other parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), the issue of the TTP militants fleeing to the other side of the border makes a thorny area to step onto.” (February 20, 2014) There is cognizance of the fact that the target is a moving one, definitely not stationary. The same report goes on to share, “A number of high-valued TTP commanders including Fazlullah are said to have taken refuge in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Nuristan provinces.”</div>
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The twist in story came as military operation got underway. A predictable twist if I may be allowed to state. Taliban announced a one month temporary ceasefire. A report in a local newspaper states, “The government has formally announced to stop air strikes against militants, reciprocating Tehrik-I-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) declaration of a month-long ceasefire to resume peace talks.” (Published March 02, 2014) However, government retains “reserve the right to respond to violent attacks”.</div>
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There are both pros and cons of this temporary ceasefire, needing dispassionate analysis. First; is destroying the hideouts in FATA and elsewhere enough? Will the Taliban pose as willing targets like a sitting duck? Or, will they scurry to other habitats? Have the routes been secured to stop this exit? If not, is the destruction of hideouts sans majority of Taliban and their leaders on Pakistani soil, good enough? Second, with networking across borders, access to state-of-the-art weapons and training, funding from vested interests; it will be a long haul. The factors that are the cause of their strength must be addressed. Third, should the uphill nature of the task lead to shying away from taking the bull by its horns? A very crucial question here that must be closely viewed is whether the Taliban have agreed to ceasefire in order to deflect military operation aimed at gaining time to recoup and attack more viciously? Should this be the case, no amount of sincerity on part of the government will deliver. It does take two to tango after all! Another question; were the surgical strikes themselves meant to bring about heat on the militants aimed to bring them to the negotiation table? In order to talk, government must be seen as a strong stakeholder willing to take action against miscreants. Talks after inflicting heavy damage will make the opponent more willing to accept the writ of the state than without. How the government deals with the multidimensional issues that will arise should the talks continue will depend heavily on the Taliban’s perception of the government’s strength- and their own! The outcome of “peace talks’ after “one month ceasefire’ needs a hard look. What exactly is hoped to be achieved here by both? The outcome desired may be at odds with each other? What then?</div>
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The war we fight is not a traditional one, Pakistan must think of diverse tactics in order to deal with terrorism; out-of-box solutions with traditional ones. I am reminded by what Hamlet said to Horatio, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,</div>
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Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”</div>
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Good advice for our government and military strategists!</div>
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<a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/Hamlet--s-governance-by-Yasmeen-Ali-Militants_Military_Taliban_Taliban-140303-799.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>Op Ed News</strong></a></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-11027833931344833432014-03-05T04:00:00.000+05:002014-03-05T04:00:05.389+05:00The West demonizing Russia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The degradation of mainstream American press coverage of Russia, a country still vital to US national security, has been under way for many years. If the recent tsunami of shamefully unprofessional and politically inflammatory articles in leading newspapers and magazines—particularly about the Sochi Olympics, Ukraine and, unfailingly, President Vladimir Putin—is an indication, this media malpractice is now pervasive and the new norm.</div>
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There are notable exceptions, but a general pattern has developed. Even in the venerable <em>New York Times</em> and <em>Washington Post</em>, news reports, editorials and commentaries no longer adhere rigorously to traditional journalistic standards, often failing to provide essential facts and context; to make a clear distinction between reporting and analysis; to require at least two different political or “expert” views on major developments; or to publish opposing opinions on their op-ed pages. As a result, American media on Russia today are less objective, less balanced, more conformist and scarcely less ideological than when they covered Soviet Russia during the Cold War.</div>
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The history of this degradation is also clear. It began in the early 1990s, following the end of the Soviet Union, when the US media adopted Washington’s narrative that almost everything President Boris Yeltsin did was a “transition from communism to democracy” and thus in America’s best interests. This included his economic “shock therapy” and oligarchic looting of essential state assets, which destroyed tens of millions of Russian lives; armed destruction of a popularly elected Parliament and imposition of a “presidential” Constitution, which dealt a crippling blow to democratization and now empowers Putin; brutal war in tiny Chechnya, which gave rise to terrorists in Russia’s North Caucasus; rigging of his own re-election in 1996; and leaving behind, in 1999, his approval ratings in single digits, a disintegrating country laden with weapons of mass destruction. Indeed, most American journalists still give the impression that Yeltsin was an ideal Russian leader.</div>
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Since the early 2000s, the media have followed a different leader-centric narrative, also consistent with US policy, that devalues multifaceted analysis for a relentless demonization of Putin, with little regard for facts. (Was any Soviet Communist leader after Stalin ever so personally villainized?) If Russia under Yeltsin was presented as having legitimate politics and national interests, we are now made to believe that Putin’s Russia has none at all, at home or abroad—even on its own borders, as in Ukraine.</div>
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Russia today has serious problems and many repugnant Kremlin policies. But anyone relying on mainstream American media will not find there any of their origins or influences in Yeltsin’s Russia or in provocative US policies since the 1990s—only in the “autocrat” Putin who, however authoritarian, in reality lacks such power. Nor is he credited with stabilizing a disintegrating nuclear-armed country, assisting US security pursuits from <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.thenation.com/afghanistan?lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Afghanistan</a> and Syria to Iran or even with granting amnesty, in December, to more than 1,000 jailed prisoners, including mothers of young children.</div>
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Not surprisingly, in January <em>The Wall Street Journal</em> featured the widely discredited former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, branding Putin’s government as one of “deceit, violence and cynicism,” with the Kremlin a “nerve center of the troubles that bedevil the West.” But wanton Putin-bashing is also the dominant narrative in centrist, liberal and progressive media, from the <em>Post</em>, <em>Times</em> and <em>The New Republic</em> to CNN, MSNBC and HBO’s <em>Real Time With Bill Maher</em>, where Howard Dean, not previously known for his Russia expertise, recently declared, to the panel’s approval, “Vladimir Putin is a thug.”</div>
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The media therefore eagerly await Putin’s downfall—due to his “failing economy” (some of its indicators are better than US ones), the valor of street protesters and other right-minded oppositionists (whose policies are rarely examined), the defection of his electorate (his approval ratings remain around 65 percent) or some welcomed “cataclysm.” Evidently believing, as does the <em>Times</em>, for example, that democrats and a “much better future” will succeed Putin (not zealous ultranationalists growing in the streets and corridors of power), US commentators remain indifferent to what the hoped-for “destabilization of his regime” might mean in the world’s largest nuclear country.</div>
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Certainly, <em>The New Republic</em>’s lead writer on Russia, Julia Ioffe, does not explore the question, or much else of real consequence, in her nearly 10,000-word February 17 cover story. Ioffe’s bannered theme is devoutly Putin-phobic: “He Crushed His Opposition and Has Nothing to Show for It But a Country That Is Falling Apart.” Neither sweeping assertion is spelled out or documented. A compilation of chats with Russian-born Ioffe’s disaffected (but seemingly not “crushed”) Moscow acquaintances and titillating personal gossip long circulating on the Internet, the article seems better suited (apart from some factual errors) for the Russian tabloids, as does Ioffe’s disdain for objectivity. Protest shouts of “Russia without Putin!” and “Putin is a thief!” were “one of the most exhilarating moments I’d ever experienced.” So was tweeting “Putin’s fucked, y’all.” Nor does she forget the hopeful mantra “cataclysm seems closer than ever now.”</div>
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For weeks, this toxic coverage has focused on the Sochi Olympics and the deepening crisis in Ukraine. Even before the Games began, the <em>Times</em> declared the newly built complex a “Soviet-style dystopia” and warned in a headline, Terrorism and Tension, Not Sports and Joy. On opening day, the paper found space for three anti-Putin articles and a lead editorial, a feat rivaled by the<em>Post</em>. Facts hardly mattered. Virtually every US report insisted that a record $51 billion “squandered” by Putin on the Sochi Games proved they were “corrupt.” But as Ben Aris of<em>Business New Europe</em> pointed out, as much as $44 billion may have been spent “to develop the infrastructure of the entire region,” investment “the entire country needs.”</div>
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Overall pre-Sochi coverage was even worse, exploiting the threat of terrorism so licentiously it seemed pornographic. The <em>Post</em>, long known among critical-minded Russia-watchers as<em>Pravda</em> on the Potomac, exemplified the media ethos. A sports columnist and an editorial page editor turned the Olympics into “a contest of wills” between the despised Putin’s “thugocracy” and terrorist “insurgents.” The “two warring parties” were so equated that readers might have wondered which to cheer for. If nothing else, American journalists gave terrorists an early victory, tainting “Putin’s Games” and frightening away many foreign spectators, including some relatives of the athletes.</div>
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The Sochi Games will soon pass, triumphantly or tragically, but the potentially fateful Ukrainian crisis will not. A new Cold War divide between West and East may now be unfolding, not in Berlin but in the heart of Russia’s historical civilization. The result could be a permanent confrontation fraught with instability and the threat of a hot war far worse than the one in Georgia in 2008. These dangers have been all but ignored in highly selective, partisan and inflammatory US media accounts, which portray the European Union’s “Partnership” proposal benignly as Ukraine’s chance for democracy, prosperity and escape from Russia, thwarted only by a “bullying” Putin and his “cronies” in Kiev.</div>
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Not long ago, committed readers could count on <em>The New York Review of Books</em> for factually trustworthy alternative perspectives on important historical and contemporary subjects. But when it comes to Russia and Ukraine, the <em>NYRB</em> has succumbed to the general media mania. In a January 21 blog post, Amy Knight, a regular contributor and inveterate Putin-basher, warned the US government against cooperating with the Kremlin on Sochi security, even suggesting that Putin’s secret services “might have had an interest in allowing or even facilitating such attacks” as killed or wounded dozens of Russians in Volgograd in December.</div>
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Knight’s innuendo prefigured a purported report on Ukraine by Yale professor Timothy Snyder in the February 20 issue. Omissions of facts, by journalists or scholars, are no less an untruth than misstatements of fact. Snyder’s article was full of both, which are widespread in the popular media, but these are in the esteemed <em>NYRB</em> and by an acclaimed academic. Consider a few of Snyder’s assertions:</div>
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§ ”On paper, Ukraine is now a dictatorship.” In fact, the “paper” legislation he’s referring to hardly constituted dictatorship, and in any event was soon repealed. Ukraine is in a state nearly the opposite of dictatorship—political chaos uncontrolled by President Viktor Yanukovych, the Parliament, the police or any other government institution.</div>
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§ ”The [parliamentary] deputies…have all but voted themselves out of existence.” Again, Snyder is alluding to the nullified “paper.” Moreover, serious discussions have been under way in Kiev about reverting to provisions in the 2004 Constitution that would return substantial presidential powers to the legislature, hardly “the end of parliamentary checks on presidential power,” as Snyder claims. (Does he dislike the prospect of a compromise outcome?)</div>
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§ ”Through remarkably large and peaceful public protests…Ukrainians have set a positive example for Europeans.” This astonishing statement may have been true in November, but it now raises questions about the “example” Snyder is advocating. The occupation of government buildings in Kiev and in Western Ukraine, the hurling of firebombs at police and other violent assaults on law enforcement officers and the proliferation of anti-Semitic slogans by a significant number of anti-Yanukovych protesters, all documented and even televised, are not an “example” most readers would recommend to Europeans or Americans. Nor are they tolerated, even if accompanied by episodes of <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.thenation.com/section/police-brutality?lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">police brutality</a>, in any Western democracy.</div>
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§ ”Representatives of a minor group of the Ukrainian extreme right have taken credit for the violence.” This obfuscation implies that apart perhaps from a “minor group,” the “Ukrainian extreme right” is part of the positive “example” being set. (Many of its representatives have expressed hatred for Europe’s “anti-traditional” values, such as gay rights.) Still more, Snyder continues, “something is fishy,” strongly implying that the mob violence is actually being “done by russo-phone provocateurs” on behalf of “Yanukovych (or Putin).” As evidence, Snyder alludes to “reports” that the instigators “spoke Russian.” But millions of Ukrainians on both sides of their incipient civil war speak Russian.</div>
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§ Snyder reproduces yet another widespread media malpractice regarding Russia, the decline of editorial fact-checking. In a recent article in the <em>International New York Times</em>, he both inflates his assertions and tries to delete neofascist elements from his innocuous “Ukrainian extreme right.” Again without any verified evidence, he warns of a Putin-backed “armed intervention” in Ukraine after the Olympics and characterizes reliable reports of “Nazis and anti-Semites” among street protesters as “Russian propaganda.”</div>
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§ Perhaps the largest untruth promoted by Snyder and most US media is the claim that “Ukraine’s future integration into Europe” is “yearned for throughout the country.” But every informed observer knows—from Ukraine’s history, geography, languages, religions, culture, recent politics and opinion surveys—that the country is deeply divided as to whether it should join Europe or remain close politically and economically to Russia. There is not one Ukraine or one “Ukrainian people” but at least two, generally situated in its Western and Eastern regions.</div>
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Such factual distortions point to two flagrant omissions by Snyder and other US media accounts. The now exceedingly dangerous confrontation between the two Ukraines was not “ignited,” as the <em>Times</em> claims, by Yanukovych’s duplicitous negotiating—or by Putin—but by the EU’s reckless ultimatum, in November, that the democratically elected president of a profoundly divided country choose between Europe and Russia. Putin’s proposal for a tripartite arrangement, rarely if ever reported, was flatly rejected by US and EU officials.</div>
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<a data-ls-seen="1" href="https://subscribe.thenation.com/servlet/OrdersGateway?cds_mag_code=NAN&cds_page_id=122425&cds_response_key=I12SART1" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Please support our journalism. Get a digital subscription for just $9.50!</a></div>
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But the most crucial media omission is Moscow’s reasonable conviction that the struggle for Ukraine is yet another chapter in the West’s ongoing, US-led march toward post-Soviet Russia, which began in the 1990s with NATO’s eastward expansion and continued with US-funded NGO political activities inside Russia, a US-NATO military outpost in Georgia and missile-defense installations near Russia. Whether this longstanding Washington-Brussels policy is wise or reckless, it—not Putin’s December financial offer to save Ukraine’s collapsing economy—is deceitful. The EU’s “civilizational” proposal, for example, includes “security policy” provisions, almost never reported, that would apparently subordinate Ukraine to NATO.</div>
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Any doubts about the Obama administration’s real intentions in Ukraine should have been dispelled by the recently revealed taped conversation between a top State Department official, Victoria Nuland, and the US ambassador in Kiev. The media predictably focused on the source of the “leak” and on Nuland’s verbal “gaffe”—“Fuck the EU.” But the essential revelation was that high-level US officials were plotting to “midwife” a new, anti-Russian Ukrainian government by ousting or neutralizing its democratically elected president—that is, a coup.</div>
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Americans are left with a new edition of an old question. Has Washington’s twenty-year winner-take-all approach to post-Soviet Russia shaped this degraded news coverage, or is official policy shaped by the coverage? Did Senator John McCain stand in Kiev alongside the well-known leader of an extreme nationalist party because he was ill informed by the media, or have the media deleted this part of the story because of McCain’s folly?</div>
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And what of Barack Obama’s decision to send only a low-level delegation, including retired gay athletes, to Sochi? In August, Putin virtually saved Obama’s presidency by persuading Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to eliminate his chemical weapons. Putin then helped to facilitate Obama’s heralded opening to Iran. Should not Obama himself have gone to Sochi—either out of gratitude to Putin, or to stand with Russia’s leader against international terrorists who have struck both of our countries? Did he not go because he was ensnared by his unwise Russia policies, or because the US media misrepresented the varying reasons cited: the granting of asylum to Edward Snowden, differences on the Middle East, infringements on gay rights in Russia, and now Ukraine? Whatever the explanation, as Russian intellectuals say when faced with two bad alternatives, “Both are worst.”</div>
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<a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/178344/distorting-russia#" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">The Nation</a></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-89308292442803171402014-03-05T02:15:00.001+05:002014-03-05T02:15:17.747+05:00The public’s role and responsibility for stabilizing Pakistan’s internal security situation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We need to get information on the possible targets and those responsible and tasked to carry out such acts. To achieve this we have to educate the people from different walks of life and empower the poor on the streets by giving them simple incentives</div>
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The issue of the state’s security concerns all individuals and hence it becomes a joint responsibility of both the state and citizens. While the state keeps its machinery well oiled with periodic reviews and upgrades, the capacity building of the common man remains a matter of neglect. It is only once the protectors of the people sensitise the public to combat a perceived or real threat that the security blanket will give the required insulation from violence. I am convinced that a proactive approach to educate the masses, especially those who are frequent contacts like car attendants, coolies, rickshaw pullers/drivers, vegetable and fruit vendors, shoeshine boys and so on are potential information warriors.</div>
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The suspicious movement of people has to be reported, suspicious objects identified have to be made known to people and professionals who will take appropriate action. It is only mass support that is going to count in the war against terrorism. People have to be sensitised to the problem and checks and balances have to be suggested and placed for greater security. Mobile technology, which has become rather gainful for economic transactions, has to be energised for usage as early warning systems, and people have to be encouraged and educated in the multiple usage of the facility. The people need to be informed of their responsibilities towards society.<br />Citizenship has to be regarded as the strength of a nation. It is therefore relevant to suggest that there is a need for detailed and deliberate coordination of all these activities and there is a need to educate the environment through professional intervention, while also through the mass media. There is the requirement of creating a structure for spreading the message to the people and making them aware that they are a part of the advance warning system. The role of NGOs will become more pronounced as they have to share the burden of educating the people on the intricacies of modern terrorism.</div>
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Besides the human resource being referred to above, it is equally important to provide adequate updating in terms of technology and equipment. A well-planned, close circuit television and sound sensors should be strategically placed at sensitive target locations. High security zones need to be appreciated well and positioning of early warning systems deliberated upon with professionalism. It is equally important to have a good communication network and reliable communication systems. Terrorism, extremism are mere semantics, trying to define the levels of credit the initiators enjoy — counters are planned in accordance with the definition. Unfortunately, we fail to realise that these variants are interwoven and it is extremely difficult to differentiate and to identify when a particular phase enters the next phase. The government requires enthusing and winning over the people with initiatives, which will make a difference to the citizens and hence a citizen-oriented plan has to be worked out to bring about a change in society. Society should become the focus of all future endeavours.</div>
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We need to get information on the possible targets and those responsible and tasked to carry out such acts. To achieve this we have to educate the people from different walks of life and empower the poor on the streets by giving them simple incentives and motivating them to become facilitators and providers. The NGOs should work towards this regard and educate those people who do not get formal education.<br />Along with such a measure, there is a need to introduce formal education in this area in schools and colleges. There is the requirement of a structured approach in tackling this menace and relevant guidelines need to be issued to all stakeholders who have an important hand in spreading the message and in impacting the minds of the people. It is time for our citizens to wake up and realise the gravity of the problem of not contributing towards identifying an impending disaster and not doing one’s duty of becoming a part of the country’s security apparatus.</div>
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The recent, intense waves of suicide attacks, bomb blasts and target killings in different parts of the country have really shattered the dreams of the young and the old. I often wonder if such dastardly acts could have been avoided if only the people in the targeted area had bothered to notice some uncanny device, a bag or a person planting the bomb in an innocuous place, surely catching someone’s eye. Why do we only reflect on the past and then try and assess what went wrong? Why can we not become more proactive? Why do our newsmakers not facilitate creating more awareness amongst the people on the essentials of citizenship? It is with the support of the citizens of the country that we can expect the security situation to improve. For it is only in awareness that we can feel more secure.</div>
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By Muhammad Zafar Khan Safdar<br /><a href="http://forpakistan.org/fpdata/the-people-of-pakistan-the-best-line-of-defence/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>FOR PAKISTAN</strong></a></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-39545903887488427572014-03-04T08:00:00.000+05:002014-03-04T08:00:06.261+05:00AIPAC’s slow demise<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) <a href="http://www.aipac.org/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">annual conference</a> begins on March 2 and will conclude with an address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on March 4. The organisers <a href="http://www.aipac.org/act/attend-events/policy-conference" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">boast</a>that the meeting of “America’s Pro-Israel Lobby” will attract “more than 14,000 pro-Israel Americans, more than two-thirds of Congress, [and] more than 2,200 students from 491 campuses”.</div>
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There will be speeches by Senator John McCain and by Secretary of State John Kerry.</div>
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As part of the group’s lobbying effort, the attendees will descend en masse on the Capitol Hill offices of Senators and Congressmen, delivering the message that AIPAC is alive and well in spite of some recent very public setbacks.</div>
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They will demand that the United States continue to pressure Iran with new sanctions even as the White House is searching for a way to avoid another potentially catastrophic war in the Middle East.</div>
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They will <a href="http://www.aipac.org/learn/issues/issue-display?issueid=%7b1A989C8D-72FF-41B7-9A4B-02067A73CAD3%7d" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">argue</a> that Iran is a danger to the entire world and must be reduced to a level where it cannot even contemplate either offensive or retaliatory defensive action against Israel, to include the <a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/World/WOR-02-240214.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">dismantling</a> of its nuclear programme and destruction of its ballistic missiles with a range exceeding 500 km.</div>
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AIPAC will claim record levels of fundraising and grassroots support. Indeed, its <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/25/washington/25lobby.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">endowment</a> totals $100m, its annual <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/aipac-still-chosen-one" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">budget</a> is nearly $70m and it has more than 200 <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/company/aipac" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">employees</a>, making it the most powerful and best funded foreign policy lobby in the US. But largely invisible amid the self-congratulating and lobbying process will be any sense of what the actual US vital interests might be vis-a-vis Israel.</div>
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The powerful Israel lobby, of which AIPAC is a part, has long argued that the foreign policy and security interests of Washington and Tel Aviv are identical, or to use the currently <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-to-netanyahu-us-will-always-have-israels-back/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">fashionable expressions</a>, there is no space between the two and the US will always “have Israel’s back”.</div>
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<strong>A tiny client state</strong></div>
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Washington’s political class has wholeheartedly and uncritically adopted both the Israel-centric jargon and also Tel Aviv’s skewed perceptions of Middle Eastern realities, producing the unique spectacle of a great global power doing everything possible to placate a tiny client state. Pandering to Israel will be on full display at the AIPAC conference.</div>
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But amid all the celebration AIPAC’s leadership knows that it can no longer produce a napkin and have the<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/07/04/050704fa_fact" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">signatures</a> of 70 senators on it within a day. Nor does its steady flow of “information memos” sent to the legislature and the media command the same respect they once did.</div>
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AIPAC can no longer draft legislation favourable to Israel, send it over to Congress and expect a finished bill to emerge, passed with a unanimous vote. It has suffered major defeats through its open support for bombing Syria and for legislation increasing sanctions on Iran, the former opposed overwhelmingly by an aroused war-weary public and the latter stalled in a suddenly nervous Congress.</div>
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AIPAC also opposed the appointment of Chuck Hagel as Defence Secretary due to his alleged “anti-Israel record”, though it did not do so openly and only lobbied the issue quietly on Capitol Hill. It was, nevertheless, a defeat.</div>
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Even The New York Times is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/04/world/middleeast/potent-pro-israel-group-finds-its-momentum-blunted.html?_r=0" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">taking note</a> that AIPAC is now very much on the defensive, forcing it to respond to the Times commentary with an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/22/opinion/dont-let-up-on-iran.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">op-ed</a>of its own defending its position on Iran, an uncharacteristic move for a group that is accustomed to operate in the shadows.</div>
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The rift has come about because reality and illusion have parted company. The reality is that the US cannot afford another war in the Middle East, either financially or in terms of the unintended consequences that wrecked the Iraqi and Afghan interventions.</div>
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It has only one compelling vital interest in the region and that is to keep energy resources flowing and a war with Iran would instead deliver a shock to a world economy that is still in recovery. Against that is the illusion that Israel is some kind of strategic asset or global partner for the US.</div>
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Apart from the pressure being exerted by groups like AIPAC, Americans are becoming increasingly aware that Washington has no compelling reason to sacrifice its own interests to sustain the freedom for Israel to behave as it wishes.</div>
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Nor does it have any justification to protect it from its neighbours, any more than it has a responsibility to do so for any other country in the Middle East. And there is a growing understanding that the lopsided relationship, not only hugely expensive in dollar terms, <a href="http://archive.adl.org/main_terrorism/bin_laden_israel_lobby.html#.UxCLDfldV6I" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">motivates</a> terrorist groups like al-Qaeda to attack Americans.</div>
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This is not to say that the US cannot play a positive role and act in support of the best interests of all its friends in the Middle East, which it would accomplish by becoming genuinely an honest broker with a demonstrated interest in regional stability rather than in regime change.</div>
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AIPAC’s tunnel vision only permits it to see one “closest ally” and that must be Israel. Every other country is therefore reduced to a second rate player whose interests must coincide with those of Tel Aviv or be disregarded.</div>
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<strong>Wrong side of history</strong></div>
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The persistence of the AIPAC argument, which also idealises Israel’s rather flawed and <a href="http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Israel-among-most-corrupt-of-OECD-countries-319315" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">corrupt</a> democracy to help make its case for a “special relationship”, has done grave damage to US interests throughout the Muslim world. As has sometimes been noted, Washington had no enemies in the post-colonial Middle East before Israel was founded in 1948. Now it has few friends.</div>
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Washington’s close embrace with Tel Aviv has been fostered by a mainstream media unwilling to be too critical of Israel’s actions. But this long established unanimity of viewpoint involving both media and its symbiotic punditry is beginning to erode as alternative sources of information continue to proliferate, which is why the leadership of AIPAC must seriously be concerned.</div>
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The shift in opinion is both permanent and growing in magnitude, including numerous younger Jews and Jewish liberals who have been speaking out to tell AIPAC that it<a href="http://www.jta.org/2014/01/29/news-opinion/the-telegraph/letter-from-jewish-liberals-slams-de-blasio-over-aipac-address" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">does not speak for them</a>, particularly given its record of uncritical support for increasingly hard line Israeli governments.</div>
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A better informed American public increasingly averse to foreign military adventures is becoming aware that issues formerly seen in Manichean terms are actually a good deal more complicated and then there is the experience factor. Recent US engagement in Iraq, Libya, and Egypt, all supported by Israel and its supporters for various reasons, are increasingly being regarded as in no way beneficial to the US, quite the contrary.</div>
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This explains the lack of fervour for a repeat performance in Syria or against Iran. It also means that AIPAC has found itself on the wrong side of history in terms of the desires of the American people, surely not a good place to be for a Washington lobby.</div>
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<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/03/aipac-doomed-201431121647687405.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>Aljazeera</strong></a></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-73909363937887162712014-03-04T07:00:00.000+05:002014-03-04T07:00:01.139+05:00The golden corridor for Pakistan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<img height="317" src="http://sosttoday.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/pakistan-china-480x238.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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Historian Daniel Headrick <a href="http://books.google.co.nz/books/about/The_Tools_of_Empire.html?id=b20SUXekwhEC&redir_esc=y" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">made</a> the crucial connection between means and ends in the projection of global influence. For instance, Headrick argued that the Suez Canal, which opened in 1869, acted a tool of empire for the great powers of the nineteenth century. The building of a canal through the Sinai Peninsula not only made trade and empire in Asia faster by avoiding the Cape of Good Hope, but more economical too. This was particularly the case for the world’s superpower, Great Britain. For Britain, the Suez was an important strategic consideration in its imperial outlook, making the transport of goods, officials and soldiers to Bombay and other key colonial hubs easier and affordable. At the same time, the canal aided the wider globalization process of the nineteenth century, which opened Asia up to the advent of Western adventure capitalists with exploitation and domination never far from the surface. The Suez Canal acted as a “tool of empire,” as Headrick put it, and in a small but important way, the world became that much more global—all to the benefit of those Western nations that could harness of the power of the sea.</div>
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Headrick’s argument turns on a profound if easily overlooked point: those with easy access to the sea-lanes of the world invariably have the tools for global power and trade. Even today, the laws of economic scale dictate that air and rail, while important in their own right, will always be poor cousins to the efficiency and capacity of container ships and waterborne trade.</div>
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Despite the fact that the free trade zone <a href="http://thediplomat.com/2013/08/is-gwadar-worth-the-theatrics/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">port of Gwadar</a> in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan has been an unprofitable enterprise with operational control now in Chinese hands, its potential remains. If anything, the development of the deep ocean port and an associated international airport, as well as the creation of a transport corridor connecting Gwadar to China’s easternmost province of Xinjiang, is a game changer for the Central Asian region. In Beijing this February, President Mamnoon Hussain and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a series of agreements designed to <a href="http://thediplomat.com/2014/02/china-pakistan-flesh-out-new-economic-corridor/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">breathe life to the corridor project</a>. In the coming years, the once sleepy fishing enclave of Gwadar will become a staging ground for the geopolitical reorganization of the region.</div>
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With the development of the corridor, Central Asia, traditionally an economically closed region owing to its geography and lack of infrastructure, will have greater access to the sea and to the global trade network. For Afghanistan and Tajikistan, both of which have signed transit agreements with Pakistan, it will provide a more economical means of transporting goods, making their export products more competitive globally. For China, meanwhile, the corridor will provide it with direct access to the Indian Ocean, enabling China to project itself strategically into the mineral and oil rich regions of Western Asia and Africa (and beyond). And for Pakistan, the project provides the country not only a third deep-sea port but also a better connected gateway into China’s backyard, giving Pakistan the potential to make good on its free trade agreement with the dragon economy.</div>
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In purely realist terms, the project makes Pakistan a complicit satellite in China’s attempt to break the U.S. encirclement of Asia. Commentators <a href="http://thediplomat.com/2014/02/the-maritime-silk-road-vs-the-string-of-pearls/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">link</a> Gwadar to China’s numerous other port facilities and corridors developed in partnership with other nations. This “<a href="http://thediplomat.com/2013/02/gwadar-and-the-string-of-pearls/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">String of Pearls</a>” looks much like a noose around Southeastern Asia as far as India and the United States are concerned. India in particular has looked on with continued unease at the Pakistan-China corridor and port in terms of its effect on the maritime balance of power in the Indian Ocean. Ideally, if regional relations were better, the corridor would be a circuit linking the three economic powerhouses of the region, China, Pakistan, <i>and</i> India (as well as Iran for that matter), integrating the economic systems of South Asia and Central Asia.</div>
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Nevertheless, the corridor will play a crucial role in advancing Pakistan’s economic power. Exporting, transiting, and transporting goods into and out of Central Asia and carrying them away on the current of the world’s sea lanes, the Pakistan-China corridor will be a vital factor in Pakistan’s economic future. The corridor is best thought of as a comprehensive infrastructure package encompassing a wide range of spinoffs, including gas and oil pipelines, railways, an expressway from Karachi to Lahore, fiber-optic cabling, metro bus and underground services for key Pakistani cities. One could even link China’s financial assistance in the development of nuclear power plants in Pakistan to the wider picture.</div>
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However, it is the same circular argument. The security situation must improve and reform, both economic and social, is required if the future economic prosperity of Pakistan is to be guaranteed. Whether Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) have the technocratic and entrepreneurial acumen to develop a bold economic strategy out of the corridor is unclear. For Sharif, the PML-N, and many of Pakistan’s ruling elites for that matter, there is a tendency to think purely in terms of developing heavy industries, of state owned enterprises, and of “guns over butter” (case in point: Pakistan has nuclear weapons but has <a href="http://thediplomat.com/2013/08/pakistans-energy-crisis/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">still to achieve a reliable source of power</a>). This populist approach to the political economy is based on a desire to maintain a military-industrial complex capable of competing against India, the chief rival in the region.</div>
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In reality, agriculture, chemicals, textiles, and various other manufactured items are the stuff of Pakistan’s true productivity—items that are tradable on the global market and capable of boosting national income. Pakistan has always been well placed to export given its access to the Indian Ocean and proximity to key markets in the West and East, to say nothing of its international reach through the Pakistani diaspora and the fact that it has the third largest English-speaking population in the world. Despite government absenteeism—that reoccurring failure within the political sphere to <a href="http://thediplomat.com/2013/09/pakistan-must-beware-taliban-bearing-gifts/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">respond to the Taliban</a> and to the reactionaries that routinely thwart Pakistan’s potential—as well as rampant inflation and a serious lack of currency reserves, Pakistan’s private sector has proven resilient, capable of going in for global trade with the right encouragement. The cue is now for the Pakistani government and the business community to formulate a more global economic policy.</div>
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As it stands, the failure to fully capitalize on the free trade agreement between China and Pakistan demonstrates the need for a major policy effort to make the most of the corridor. For one, the Pakistani government needs to place greater emphasis on trade relations in its overall foreign policy as well as foster the exporting aspirations of small and midsize companies. Expansive economic policy, continued liberal reform, and, above all, an improved security situation are the formula needed to make full use of the tools of globalization which Pakistan will soon have at its disposal.</div>
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<a href="http://thediplomat.com/2014/02/the-pakistan-china-corridor/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">The Diplomat</a></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-62085666992610183722014-03-04T06:00:00.000+05:002014-03-04T06:00:06.588+05:00A war that is not ours<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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President says 12-year war was fought for the West and for US security as he expresses ‘extreme anger’ with Washington.</div>
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Expressing “extreme anger” towards the United States government, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said in an interview that the war in Afghanistan was not fought with his country’s interests in mind.</div>
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“Afghans died in a war that’s not ours,” Karzai said in an interview with the <em>Washington Post</em> newspaper published late on Sunday, just a month before the election to pick his successor.</div>
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He was quoted as saying he was certain the 12-year-old war, the United States’ longest and launched after the attacks of September 11, 2001, was “for the US security and for the Western interest.”</div>
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Karzai’s refusal to sign a security deal with Washington that would permit foreign troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond this year has frustrated the White House, and President Barack Obama has told the Pentagon to prepare for the possibility that no US troops will be left in Afghanistan after 2014.</div>
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Obama told Karzai in a phone call on Tuesday he had given the order to the Pentagon. The phone call was the first substantive discussion between the two leaders since June.</div>
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But staking out a new position, the White House said in a statement it would leave open the possibility of concluding the bilateral security agreement later this year.</div>
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“It’s good for them to sign it with my successor,” Karzai told the Post.</div>
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He has insisted the US must jump-start peace talks with Taliban fighters, and end raids and strikes on Afghan homes before he signs the deal.</div>
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<strong>Feeling betrayed</strong></div>
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In the interview, the Afghan leader said he was deeply troubled by the war’s casualties, including those in US military operations, and felt betrayed by what he described as an insufficient US focus on targeting Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan rather than in Afghan villages.</div>
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Civilian casualties in Afghanistan dissipated his country’s “common cause” with the US, Karzai told the newspaper.</div>
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Criticising his US allies was the only way to secure a response by Washington to his concerns, he added.</div>
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The Post said Karzai told his interviewers as he escorted them out of his office on Saturday night, “To the American people, give them my best wishes and my gratitude. To the US government, give them my anger, my extreme anger.”</div>
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<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2014/03/karzai-afghan-war-fought-western-interest-20143353951600289.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Al Jazeera</a></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-20571641849173641112014-03-04T05:00:00.000+05:002014-03-04T05:00:02.543+05:00Ukraine’s volatile state<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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On July 28th, 2014, the world will mark the centennial of First World War. In that war France and Britain were on one side while Germany and Turkey on the other. Russia in that war toggled between these two competing alliances. The war resulted in weakening of France and Britain as colonial powers as well as revolutions in Germany and Turkey that converted these monarchies into republics. Russia on the other hand transitioned from monarchy to an autocratic rule of a single party after the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. Middle East was divided into new nation states as an outcome of Sykes-Picot agreement between Britain and France. But that war did not settle the centuries old power struggle between European powers. That was achieved in the Second World War with complete demolition of German and Japanese military powers. It produced fading out of Britain and France as colonial powers. USA emerged as a new power that got engaged in a cold war with Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR).</div>
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The current crisis in Ukraine should be viewed in the context of Iraq and Afghan wars as well as centuries old European rivalries. The two contemporary wars produced an economically, diplomatically and militarily weaker USA. This means that America that is a leading power in NATO can no longer afford to engage in another prolonged military struggle with a major power in the world. It is even more difficult because European partners are struggling with economic recession; are exhausted from long wars in Middle East; and are too concerned with maintaining their own alliance in Eurozone as well as need time to convert it into a political entity. They may not be willing to revert to a power struggle with Russia that produced catastrophic wars in 18th, 19th and 20th century. American NSA and British GCHQ spying on European leaders have already resulted in trust deficit between these allies. Europe is also wary of rising tension between Japan, supported by USA, and China which could have ripple effect on their economies and inflate energy prices. Almost third of European gas needs are met through Russian supplies that go through Ukraine. Other than that lingering Syrian crisis can spread to South Europe which is another concern.</div>
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In my view a hot pursuit by America to protect Ukraine from falling into Russian sphere has the potential to finally tear apart the trans-Atlantic alliance. The options available to President Obama are limited to suspend Russian membership in G8 or WTO, freezing of Russian assets held abroad and economic sanctions. All of these actions will adversely affect EU countries as well not just Russia which could force them not to support it. What can work is stationing of NATO troops in Poland and acceptance of Ukraine as a neutral buffer state between Russia and EU. Russia has already indicated that insensitivity of NATO, especially USA, to its security concerns could force it to rethink implementing the START agreement that was meant to reduce the arms race. During his first term in office President Obama’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton famously pressed the restart button. It seems there was a malfunction of the button as it did not work so it seems more appropriate that they press that restart button again.</div>
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Interestingly China has so far been quiet about its position on Ukraine. She may use this to her advantage by seeking American support to legitimise her claims in South China Sea. China may also seek USA’s assurances to reduce growing tension with Japan.</div>
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President Putin has a unique profile among the current cadre of world leaders. He has been a soldier, an intelligence officer, a chief of staff and a top politician. No other leader can match this profile in terms of depth of understanding of various dynamics involved in solving a crisis including political, military and diplomatic. In the Georgian crisis, President Putin has shown that he can take calculated extreme measures to protect the interests of Russia. In the Ukraine he seems to be willing to raise the stakes once again to check how others respond. In USA many foreign political analysts express that saber rattling works on Russia, China and other aspiring powers. But they forget that other states can do the same and when the opponent is as strong as Russia then it is better for them to back down or risk destruction of balance of power that could lead to a third world war.</div>
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The other offensive initiated by President Putin is ideological. Putin has formed an alliance with Russian Orthodox Church to offer a counter narrative to Catholic, Protestant and Secular ideologies promoted by Western Europe and USA. It is meant to create an ideological divide into three blocks i.e., Catholic states led by Brazil, Argentine, Venezuela, Italy, Spain; a protestant bloc led by Britain, USA and Germany; and a secular bloc led by France & Scandinavian countries. Putin is offering a counter narrative to extreme left liberal ideas pursued by US and EU especially gay rights, institution of marriage and broken family values. This ideological struggle could strain the social order in many of these countries. Success in Ukraine could embolden Russia to develop a full frontal attack on the values promoted by West. Russia has already started developing an infra-structure for this war of ideology by creating extensive social media knowledge base, international radio and television distribution; and including culture on diplomatic agenda.</div>
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How does the crisis in Ukraine affect Pakistan? This crisis will have a direct impact on the future political settlement of Afghan crisis. Russia has already stated that presence of NATO forces beyond 2014 should be sanctioned by a new resolution in the UN Security Council rather than a bilateral agreement as these forces entered Afghanistan through a UN resolution. Recent Chinese overtures to find a regional solution to Afghanistan and rising tension in South China Sea may bring the Russian and Chinese position closer to each other. They may decide to propose a regional alliance of countries to ensure security in Afghanistan rather than allow USA military presence for another ten years. It seems that President Karzai is working on two parallel tracks. One with Iran-Afghanistan-India that could get support from Russia and the other Afghanistan-Pakistan-Saudi Arabia-Turkey which may get support from China. In this latter arrangement Turkey could guarantee accommodation of Iranian security and trade concerns. EU, USA and UK may come through in support of this arrangement in terms of providing aid and building economy.</div>
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Since the demise of USSR, it seems UN has lost its relevance in solving international crisis. USA ignored UN when it launched war against Iraq using blatant lies to build its case for war. Soon after Russia followed suit and ignored UN when it attacked Georgia to militarily solve crisis in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. America, in violation of UN charter of respecting sovereignty of other countries, has repeatedly used drones to kill suspected terrorists in Middle East, Pakistan, and Africa. Iran nuclear talks were held outside the domain of UN and Syrian crisis has been discussed bilaterally by Russia-USA. In the Ukraine crisis also there is no mention of a UN resolution. It is about time that this wasteful international body is either reformed or disbanded to give way to regional associations that might prove more effective.</div>
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There is no certainty in foreign affairs as the variables and players are too many. But it is important to outline key trends so that policy planners can take them into account in their calculations. But there is no doubt that we are living in interesting times and the world is about to enter a new phase of balance of power struggles.</div>
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<a href="http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2014/03/03/comment/ukraine-and-first-world-war/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Pakistan Today</a></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-83957693579133399862014-03-04T04:00:00.000+05:002014-03-04T04:00:04.668+05:00India’s indifference towards corruption and communalism<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>The Indian polity and its indifference to corruption and communalism</b></div>
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India may not be coming apart at the seams but the polity is. Union Ministers are quarrelling among themselves. Feuds of bureaucrats are coming out in the open. Even intelligence agencies, the Intelligence Bureau and the Central Bureau of Investigation, are at loggerheads. Understanding between bureaucracy and the rulers has been reduced to trivialities. So much so that Finance Minister P. Chidambaram tells a top official to improve his English and the official, in turn, complains to his minister.</div>
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On top of it comes the manner in which the bill to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh was passed by the Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha television channel, showing the proceedings, was stopped from telecasting live which negates the claim of transparency. MPs in favour of a united Andhra Pradesh were not allowed to participate in the debate because as many as 17 of them had been ousted from the house a couple of days earlier when they, including the Congress ministers, were making the passage of the bill impossible.</div>
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I am concerned over the precedent the Congress has set and the way the Speaker went along. Tomorrow if the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) comes to power and decides to have a legislation to put restrictions on the minorities, the party has only to point out that the then ruling Congress had suspended the basic norms of parliamentary democracy.</div>
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For nearly 50 days, there was the government of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) exposing the status quo governance which the two main parties, the Congress and the BJP, had perpetrated in the last three decades. In a way, the AAP too has become a regional party as supreme in Delhi as are Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha. Indeed, politics of identity is the biggest danger to the democratic governance.</div>
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And this in no way is minimizing the harm the BJP is doing to the pluralistic ethos inherited from the days of freedom struggle. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is getting large crowds by appealing to the Hindus to imbibe Hindu nationalism.</div>
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Muslims are justifiably feeling insecure because the soft kind of Hindutva is contaminating more and more people. To check this dangerous trend, the Congress is too weak and too clueless to show mirror to the nation. Regional parties feel that they can fill the space vacated by the Congress. Probably, they can but it will be at the expense of India’s unity. The constitution which binds all parts of the country together is being violated by some regional parties both in letter and spirit.</div>
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There is no option to the federal structure which the constituent assembly cherished and enshrined in the constitution. Odisha is a typical example of how the Indian polity works. The state is federal in character but dynastic in rule. It seldom defies the central government, however autocratic or arrogant in its posture at times.</div>
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But chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s rule is personal and he follows the footprints of his father, the late Biju Patnaik who governed in capricious and corrupt manner. He is still remembered because he gave identity to Oriyas who even today are fighting for a place under the sun. Naveen continues to remind people of his father’s legacy. I saw during my visit to Bhubaneswar hoardings all over the city with Biju Patnaik’s finger pointing towards Naveen as if he was reminding that his successor was his son. (There were also hoardings carrying only the photo of Rahul Gandhi without his mother, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on either side of Naveen.)</div>
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Just as Sukhbir Singh Badal in Punjab, Akhilesh Yadav in UP or Farooq Abdullah in Jammu and Kashmir, Naveen Patnaik’s parentage is his asset. The polls in democracy are only up to elections. Subsequently, people cease to count during the five-year tenure of the state assembly. With a clutch of bureaucrats Naveen rules the state, much to the misery and helplessness of the voters. He is worse because he has eliminated leading politicians from his party methodically. He has thus become indispensible. In fact, Naveen’s strength is the absence of a leader in his own party and his adversary, the Congress. Former chief minister JB Patnaik preferred governorship of Assam to the ever increasing wrangles in the Congress.</div>
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What surprised me was that there was not even a hiss of AAP in the state. I thought that Odisha which has no opposition worth the name would be an ideal place for AAP. The party appears to have not gone beyond Delhi, western UP, Haryana and parts of Rajasthan. No doubt, its birth and success in Delhi evoked a tinge of idealism. But then Arvind Kejriwal became synonymous for the party. He did not allow anyone else to grow. In fact, some of his antics have doused the aspirations of the intelligentsia which saw in him an alternative.</div>
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Thank god, some other names who will contest the Lok Sabha elections have come out. They should underline the need for a collective leadership. Dozens of NGOs, with more enviable record than Kejriwal, are distant from the AAP. They should be persuaded to join the party which is, in fact, a platform for “thousands of mutinies” raging in the country. The AAP, however, needs to come out with its economic agenda because people have essentially voted against the Congress and the BJP.</div>
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The AAP has done well in exposing the central government on the price of natural gas. Even when the private company had signed a contract to purchase gas for $2.5 Btu till 2017, the price has been raised to $8 Btu. It is obvious that Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily, who has defended the increased price, must be mixed up with the scam, another in the Manmohan Singh regime, left with two months in tenure.</div>
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Corruption looks like becoming the poll issue. The Congress with numerous scams will be the target. Per force, the party has made communalism the main issue. Both corruption and communalism have to be confronted with a plank of cleanliness and pluralism. The AAP can plug these lines, provided it stays together.</div>
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<a href="http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2014/03/03/comment/coming-apart-2/" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;">Pakistan Today</a></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-16773545774104601972014-03-04T03:00:00.000+05:002014-03-04T03:00:03.690+05:00Why we must close Guantanamo immediately<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Guantanamo, Cuba – a prison camps for terrorists? Not at the beginning. In the 1990s, it was set up as temporary camps for Cuban refugees who desperately wanted to flee the communist regime and live in the United States.</div>
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In 1994, President Bill Clinton decided that all those refugees would be held in Guantanamo, getting life skills and training before they would be allowed in to the US.</div>
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There were 13 camps run by a career American marine, Major General Michael Lehnert.</div>
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Then, when the US was attacked on September 11, 2001, and responded with military action in Afghanistan, the country needed a place for its prisoners of war. After considerable debate, the Bush administration found such a place in Guantanamo; and in Lehnert, they had found the man to run it.</div>
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“The theory, I think, in Washington was, well, if he knows how to do migrants he probably knows how to do enemy combatants who are detainees. In point of fact, there is a vast difference,” Lehnert tells Al Jazeera about his role at the facility.</div>
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The general charged ahead and in just days oversaw the construction of a centre for holding what, at the time, were believed to be terrorist suspects.</div>
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“There was a belief on the part of many people in the administration that these folks [who were sent to Guantanamo] were a gold mine of information, so there was a desire to take them somewhere where they could be interrogated,” he says.</div>
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But since then, his creation has become an international eyesore – not just for critics abroad but also for Lehnert himself, who raises concerns about the rule of law at Guantanamo.</div>
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“The argument being made in Washington was that since these were enemy combatants, but not necessarily a representative of any sovereign nation, that they didn’t fall under the strict definition of a prisoner of war. And that because we were in Cuba, in an extra-legal area, that the rules, the international agreements and the constitution, did not necessarily apply,” he says.</div>
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“I didn’t share that view … Because every military officer takes an oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. It’s an oath that we take … our first allegiance is to the constitution.”</div>
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Now, the man who built the US prison in Guantanamo says it is time for it to close.</div>
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“Guantanamo has become a poster child and a recruiting post for al-Qaeda. It has become an example – a bad example – to the rest of the world that America does not support and follow the rule of law,” he says.</div>
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“With the opportunity to see the end of combat operations in Afghanistan, there is a natural inflection point where we ought to be putting all our efforts into closing Guantanamo.”</div>
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This week, retired Major General Michael Lehnert joins Rosiland Jordan to talk to Al Jazeera about the future of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.<strong></strong></div>
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Then, when the US was attacked on September 11, 2001, and responded with military action in Afghanistan, the country needed a place for its prisoners of war. After considerable debate, the Bush administration found such a place in Guantanamo; and in Lehnert, they had found the man to run it.</div>
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“The theory, I think, in Washington was, well, if he knows how to do migrants he probably knows how to do enemy combatants who are detainees. In point of fact, there is a vast difference,” Lehnert tells Al Jazeera about his role at the facility.</div>
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The general charged ahead and in just days oversaw the construction of a centre for holding what, at the time, were believed to be terrorist suspects.</div>
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“There was a belief on the part of many people in the administration that these folks [who were sent to Guantanamo] were a gold mine of information, so there was a desire to take them somewhere where they could be interrogated,” he says.</div>
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But since then, his creation has become an international eyesore – not just for critics abroad but also for Lehnert himself, who raises concerns about the rule of law at Guantanamo.</div>
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“The argument being made in Washington was that since these were enemy combatants, but not necessarily a representative of any sovereign nation, that they didn’t fall under the strict definition of a prisoner of war. And that because we were in Cuba, in an extra-legal area, that the rules, the international agreements and the constitution, did not necessarily apply,” he says.</div>
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“I didn’t share that view … Because every military officer takes an oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. It’s an oath that we take … our first allegiance is to the constitution.”</div>
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Now, the man who built the US prison in Guantanamo says it is time for it to close.</div>
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“Guantanamo has become a poster child and a recruiting post for al-Qaeda. It has become an example – a bad example – to the rest of the world that America does not support and follow the rule of law,” he says.</div>
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“With the opportunity to see the end of combat operations in Afghanistan, there is a natural inflection point where we ought to be putting all our efforts into closing Guantanamo.”</div>
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This week, retired Major General Michael Lehnert joins Rosiland Jordan to talk to Al Jazeera about the future of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.</div>
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<a href="http://tacstrat.com/content/index.php/2014/03/03/why-we-must-close-guantanamo-immediately/Then,%20when%20the%20US%20was%20attacked%20on%20September%2011,%202001,%20and%20responded%20with%20military%20action%20in%20Afghanistan,%20the%20country%20needed%20a%20place%20for%20its%20prisoners%20of%20war.%20After%20considerable%20debate,%20the%20Bush%20administration%20found%20such%20a%20place%20in%20Guantanamo;%20and%20in%20Lehnert,%20they%20had%20found%20the%20man%20to%20run%20it.%20%20%22The%20theory,%20I%20think,%20in%20Washington%20was,%20well,%20if%20he%20knows%20how%20to%20do%20migrants%20he%20probably%20knows%20how%20to%20do%20enemy%20combatants%20who%20are%20detainees.%20In%20point%20of%20fact,%20there%20is%20a%20vast%20difference,%22%20Lehnert%20tells%20Al%20Jazeera%20about%20his%20role%20at%20the%20facility.%20%20The%20general%20charged%20ahead%20and%20in%20just%20days%20oversaw%20the%20construction%20of%20a%20centre%20for%20holding%20what,%20at%20the%20time,%20were%20believed%20to%20be%20terrorist%20suspects.%20%20%22There%20was%20a%20belief%20on%20the%20part%20of%20many%20people%20in%20the%20administration%20that%20these%20folks%20[who%20were%20sent%20to%20Guantanamo]%20were%20a%20gold%20mine%20of%20information,%20so%20there%20was%20a%20desire%20to%20take%20them%20somewhere%20where%20they%20could%20be%20interrogated,%22%20he%20says.%20%20But%20since%20then,%20his%20creation%20has%20become%20an%20international%20eyesore%20-%20not%20just%20for%20critics%20abroad%20but%20also%20for%20Lehnert%20himself,%20who%20raises%20concerns%20about%20the%20rule%20of%20law%20at%20Guantanamo.%20%20%22The%20argument%20being%20made%20in%20Washington%20was%20that%20since%20these%20were%20enemy%20combatants,%20but%20not%20necessarily%20a%20representative%20of%20any%20sovereign%20nation,%20that%20they%20didn't%20fall%20under%20the%20strict%20definition%20of%20a%20prisoner%20of%20war.%20And%20that%20because%20we%20were%20in%20Cuba,%20in%20an%20extra-legal%20area,%20that%20the%20rules,%20the%20international%20agreements%20and%20the%20constitution,%20did%20not%20necessarily%20apply,%22%20he%20says.%20%20%22I%20didn't%20share%20that%20view%20...%20Because%20every%20military%20officer%20takes%20an%20oath%20to%20support%20and%20defend%20the%20constitution%20of%20the%20United%20States%20against%20all%20enemies%20foreign%20and%20domestic.%20It's%20an%20oath%20that%20we%20take%20...%20our%20first%20allegiance%20is%20to%20the%20constitution.%22%20%20Now,%20the%20man%20who%20built%20the%20US%20prison%20in%20Guantanamo%20says%20it%20is%20time%20for%20it%20to%20close.%20%20%22Guantanamo%20has%20become%20a%20poster%20child%20and%20a%20recruiting%20post%20for%20al-Qaeda.%20It%20has%20become%20an%20example%20-%20a%20bad%20example%20-%20to%20the%20rest%20of%20the%20world%20that%20America%20does%20not%20support%20and%20follow%20the%20rule%20of%20law,%22%20he%20says.%20%20%22With%20the%20opportunity%20to%20see%20the%20end%20of%20combat%20operations%20in%20Afghanistan,%20there%20is%20a%20natural%20inflection%20point%20where%20we%20ought%20to%20be%20putting%20all%20our%20efforts%20into%20closing%20Guantanamo.%22%20%20This%20week,%20retired%20Major%20General%20Michael%20Lehnert%20joins%20Rosiland%20Jordan%20to%20talk%20to%20Al%20Jazeera%20about%20the%20future%20of%20the%20detention%20facility%20at%20Guantanamo%20Bay." style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>Aljazeera</strong></a></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-75158937437236355132014-03-04T02:28:00.001+05:002014-03-04T02:28:53.059+05:00Islamabad asks Kabul to deport assassins<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<img height="400" src="http://www.pakistankakhudahafiz.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Pakistan-Flag-Wallpapers-1920x1200.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">Islamabad has called upon Kabul to ensure that Afghan soil is not used against Pakistan and reiterated its demand for arrest and deportation of those TTP elements who have fled the country and were using sanctuaries in Kunur and Nuristan provinces of Afghanistan. “There is a responsibility on those who are managing the security situation in Afghanistan to control it. We have repeatedly emphasized to the Afghan’s government that we need better border management,” sources said on Sunday.</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">The sources further informed that Pakistan is still waiting for response from the Afghan government to its demand for investigation into 23 FC personnel assassinated on Afghan territory. “The Afghan government has informed Pakistan they are in process of investigation,” the sources added.</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">To a question about the foreign militants killed during the recent air strikes in North Waziristan Agency, the sources said terrorism also has regional dimensions adding that Pakistan is engaged with the Central Asian Republics and there is awareness in these countries about this problem.</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">“If an Uzbek or Tajik is killed in North Waziristan, the question is whether he flew there or did he traverse a lot of territory to get there,” a source privy to these said, adding it is the responsibility for those who are at the helm of affairs in Afghanistan or who control that territory. “The responsibility for not allowing one’s soil to be used against other is not unilateral. It involves all states,” the sources added.</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">The sources were of the view that Pakistan does take up issues of shared interest with the US as well as NATO commanders looking after the security situation in Afghanistan and on Pak-Afghan border.</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">They, however, believed that basically it is the responsibility of the Afghan government, which should do the needful and should be coming forth in cooperating with Pakistan in addressing the common challenges such as counter-terrorism and border management that benefits the two countries.</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">The sources were upbeat that Afghan government would positively respond to Pakistan’s requests and fulfill its promise to take appropriate measures on border management in the light of proposals discussed by the two countries last month.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">The Nation</span></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-61813814200018624852014-03-04T01:42:00.001+05:002014-03-04T01:42:18.319+05:00The US can afford to shed a few pounds<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<img height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wZMKVeSrH9E/T7-ewoznL_I/AAAAAAAACLw/QsHUCqgE7_Q/s640/armyUS-Military.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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Armies are like newspapers. They have become 21st-century anachronisms. To survive, they must adapt. For the press, that means accommodating the demands of the Internet. For the United States Army, it means adjusting to a changing security environment. Nostalgia about a hallowed past is a luxury that neither armies nor newspapers can afford to indulge.</div>
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So the hand-wringing triggered by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s plan to reduce the Army’s size, while predictable, is beside the point. Yes, those cuts would leave the United States with its fewest active-duty soldiers since the eve of World War II.</div>
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So what?</div>
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This isn’t 1940. Moreover, as an instrument of coercion, that smaller army would be more lethal than the much larger one that helped defeat Nazi Germany and imperial Japan. Given a choice between a few hundred of today’s Abrams tanks and a few thousand vintage Shermans, Gen. George Patton would not hesitate to choose the former.</div>
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More relevant questions are: Do we need even a few hundred tanks? And for what? In its 2012 report to Congress , the Army’s senior leadership described the service as “The Nation’s Force of Decisive Action.” In the 2013 version, they “guarantee the agility, versatility and depth to Prevent, Shape and Win.“</div>
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Yet to judge by outcomes, the Army is not a force for decisive action. It cannot be counted on to achieve definitive results in a timely manner. In Afghanistan and Iraq, actions that momentarily appeared to be decisive served as preludes to protracted and inconclusive wars. As for preventing, shaping and winning, this surely qualifies as bluster — the equivalent of a newspaper promising advertisers that it will quadruple its print circulation.</div>
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Washington’s preoccupation with budgets provides Army leaders — and the entire national security establishment — an excuse to dodge core questions. The most pressing: What should the nation expect of its armed forces?</div>
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After the Cold War and especially after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, expectations of what the U.S. military should be able to accomplish expanded considerably. Defense per se figured as an afterthought, eclipsed by the conviction that projecting power held the key to transforming the world from what it is into what Washington would like it to be: orderly, predictable, respectful of American values and deferential to U.S. prerogatives.</div>
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The “Global War on Terror” put that proposition to the test, with disappointing results. Putting boots on the ground produced casualties and complications, but little by way of peace and harmony. It did nothing to enhance the standing and reputation of the United States. And as a means to engineer positive political change, America’s Army proved sadly wanting. That’s not a knock against our soldiers. They performed admirably, even if the same cannot be said for those who conceived and mismanaged the wars our soldiers were sent to fight.</div>
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Americans today are not inclined to indulge this experiment further. With his widely noted preference for drones and Special Operations forces, President Barack Obama has tacitly endorsed the public’s view — even if his improvised way of war is devoid of any serious strategic rationale.</div>
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The principal military lesson of the Global War on Terror affirms what ought to have been the principal military lesson of the Cold War: Force held in readiness has far greater political utility than force expended. Armies are well suited to defending and containing. But invading and occupying countries are fraught with risk.</div>
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It’s the Bush Doctrine, just inverted: Rather than engaging in preventive war, commit troops only after exhausting every other alternative. As long as that approach pertains — may it do so for many decades — the projection of U.S. military might will come in the form of bombs and missiles, falling under the purview of naval and air forces.</div>
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What role, then, remains for the United States Army? The honorable and necessary one of defending this country. For that task, absent the emergence of a major Mexican or Canadian threat, a smaller Army should serve just fine.</div>
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Bacevich is a professor of history and international relations at Boston University. His most recent book is “Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country.“</div>
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<a href="http://magicvalley.com/news/opinion/columns/bacevich-do-we-really-need-a-large-army/article_39560e1c-ed68-51f8-9e74-177809316ee1.html" style="color: #313428; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>Magic Valley</strong></a></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-66007339306382210852014-03-03T05:30:00.000+05:002014-03-03T05:30:00.764+05:00Analysts term TTP’s penchant for peace too late<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<img height="480" src="http://www.pakistankakhudahafiz.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/eight-ttp-militants-surrender-in-kurram-agency-1336206887-2776-400x300.jpg" width="640" /><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">It may have taken a few rounds of surgical assaults on part of the state security apparatus to get Taliban feel the heat, but it is probably too late for the terrorist outfit to mend faces and make up with the state after more than enough of the innocent blood has been spilled.</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">A subtle air of mistrust and disorientation characterises Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) freshly discovered penchant for peace (only for thirty days). Pakistan’s strategic gurus, be they security officials, defence experts or the civilian government functionaries, all look aptly justified to see through this entire affair from the spectacles of scepticism.</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">As the orthodox lot of ‘Taliban lovers’ jumps into motion to shower endless praises on the TTP’s newly revived love for dialogue, the public, security establishment, politicians, civil society, journalists and the different cross-sections of Pakistani society in general are not ready to buy this, especially at a time when surgical missions in the north-western tribal areas have had more than 140 terrorists including some top TTP commanders eliminated from the face of the earth.</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">“They talk sense only when they are made to face the music,” said Lieutenant General (Retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch in an obvious reference to the TTP’s ceasefire announcement for 30 days. “This clearly indicates we have taught them a real good lesson.”</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">Baloch, an incumbent federal minister, did not seem much moved. “They talked like that in the past and they were the ones to have breached the peace agreements and resorted to violence. We really have to look if this is yet another eyewash only to buy time for regrouping or they really mean business,” the former general referred to the peace dialogues initiated in the past all of which died an ultimately obvious death.</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">“Even just recently, the Taliban were the ones who offered peace talks and they were the ones who spilled our innocent blood. Our brave security men and civilians were so ruthlessly targeted in dozens of attacks. So, if this is just another time-buying tactic only to regroup to unleash more havoc, we are not going to buy it and the TTP will have to pay for it the hard way.”</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">The TTP’s offer, the minister said, would be taken up for discussion by the prime minister and the cabinet members. “We will see if the TTP is serious enough to mend its ways or they’re just playing games. Our future policy line would be determined after we exchange notes,” he told this correspondent.</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">Dr Hassan Askari Rizvi did not think differently. “Taliban cannot be trusted,” he said while describing this fresh offer from the notorious terrorist outfit as a gimmick for saving its skin. “More than 14 peace agreements were struck in the past and see what was the result. We cannot and must not act in such a naïve and gullible way so as to trust these terrorists again and again.”</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">Wishing to stay unnamed for obvious reasons, a security Czar, in a meeting with this correspondent in the recent past, did not mince words to term the TTP and its allied militant groups as “mercenaries who have lust for blood.”</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">The official, a highly placed one, could see it coming what the TTP had to offer on Saturday. “Their chain of command is broken. Now they’ll talk about peace. They’ll talk about the country and Islam and there would be certain elements that would stand up to support this demand. Such kind of melodramas creates discontent within the rank and file of the military.”</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">The security official believed it is not about weeks or months, but a matter of a few days to wipe out the militants from the planet. “It’s all about will. The political will. The security forces are ready to make the terrorists pay through the nose, the way we have had, recently. It’s the politicians who always back off.”</span><br style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 8px; content: ''; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">Lieutenant General (Retd) Talat Masood shared his views in a similar vein. “The Pakistani nation should not be made to suffer for the misdeeds of the militants. The TTP does not call the shots anymore. The security forces have neutralised the militants in several parts. After achieving a high level of success, the option to reverse the ongoing action would have adverse consequences. The public, political parties and the security establishment are all on same page to take on terrorism. The government should honour the wishes of the people.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;"><b><a href="http://www.nation.com.pk/national/02-Mar-2014/analysts-term-ttp-s-penchant-for-peace-too-late" target="_blank">The Nation</a></b></span></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-36587581002960812762014-03-03T04:30:00.000+05:002014-03-03T04:30:00.205+05:00Putin reignites the Cold War<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Russian President Vladimir Putin must understand one, singular message from the West: Get out of Ukraine immediately. He obviously is testing the United States and Europe and fully believes Russia can withstand any economic sanctions, diplomatic isolation or other punishment the West tries to mete out.</div>
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The key to disabusing him of any notion that he can get away with his invasion of Ukraine is to muster powerful sanctions immediately, without delay. If President Barack Obama allows this to become a meandering, dribs-n’-drabs series of pinprick sanctions, none of this will mean anything. What got Iran’s attention? Clearly, the the slow increase in trade sanctions — blockage of computers and other consumer items — didn’t do it. Iran finally heeded the West’s message when its international bank accounts were frozen and Iran couldn’t get access to hard currency or repatriate its oil earnings from abroad.</div>
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That’s what has to happen with Russia — now. Any Russian cargo ships currently in U.S. or European ports should be ordered to depart immediately. Russians visiting this country should be notified that their visas are subject to cancellation immediately. I guarantee, the Kremlin would grasp very quickly how serious the West takes its aggression in Ukraine when its own citizens register their concerns about the West’s anger.</div>
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But right now, I don’t think Putin takes Obama and Europe seriously at all. He believes we are weak, indecisive and easily manipulated.</div>
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His argument for invading Crimea is to protect the lives of Russians living there. The rationale is absurd. First, there is no evidence whatsoever that Russian lives are in danger. If that were the case, an evacuation would be in order, not an invasion. Second, it has been Russia’s goal for decades to populate Ukraine, and particularly Crimea, with Russians, kind of like Israel has done in the West Bank. Now that Russian lives as “in danger,” Russia treats Crimea as effectively Russian territory. (The irony is that Russia has historically stood on the side of the Arabs in condemning Israel’s settlement and military occupation of the West Bank and has rejected Israel’s rationale — to protect the lives of Israeli citizens — for its continued crackdown on Palestinians. Now Russia appears to be doing exactly the same thing.)</div>
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Major powers, superpowers, don’t behave this way. Even if Putin were to compare this to the ill-advised, U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the comparison would be false. The build-up to the U.S. invasion took months of diplomatic back-and-forth. Washington painstakingly went to the Security Council and worked through a series of resolutions to obtain a patina of legal sanction for its invasion. The international community was deeply divided, but no one can argue that the United States didn’t broadcast its intentions well in advance.</div>
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Russia flat out lied. It mobilized troops late last week and told the world it had nothing to do with Ukraine. Russia insisted it had no plans to invade. Then it invaded — all in the span of three days. There was no attempt to consult with the Security Council or obtain some kind of resolution. It was a blatant violation of international law, which is why a strong and quick Western response is required.</div>
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For the United States and Europe, economic retaliation against Russia will come at a heavy price. Russian businesses, led by Putin allies, are deeply entangled in U.S. internet ventures. For years, they have developed the ability to <a href="http://cicentre.net/wordpress/index.php/2010/11/15/russias-silicon-valley-dreams-may-threaten-cybersecurity/" style="border: 0px; color: #005689; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">sabotage internet communications </a>in this country and can be relied upon to do it if Putin asks them to. The United States opened the door to Russian investment in key U.S. internet ventures, believing that free trade was the key to good relations between the two countries. Against the advice of many experts who recognized our vulnerability, Washington gave trade a higher priority than national security.</div>
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Europeans are even more vulnerable. They rely heavily on Russian gas supplies, and they have known for years that their vulnerability put them at a strategic disadvantage in the event Russia chose to put the squeeze on its petroleum shipments. Well, that day might have arrived.</div>
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Putin, I don’t doubt, has made these calculations. He knows there will be no military response from the West. He believes he can bring the West to its knees, and that we will ultimately acquiesce to his demands for the ongoing Russian military and political domination of Ukraine.</div>
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The best way to make him reconsider is for the West to act in unison and with an, overwhelming economic response. Make Russia feel the pain immediately. Anything less will only confirm Putin’s assumptions about our lack of resolve.</div>
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<b><i><a href="http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/03/putin-reignites-the-cold-war.html/?nclick_check=1" target="_blank">Dallas Morning News</a></i></b></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-52277608333225710682014-03-03T03:30:00.000+05:002014-03-03T03:30:01.729+05:00‘Shariah allows polio vaccination’<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">The Islamic Advisory Group (IAG) held its first meeting Wednesday on polio eradication at the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation(OIC) headquarters in Jeddah to review the global polio situation, particularly in polio-endemic, predominantly Muslim countries where the disease continues to strike and cripple Muslim children.</span><br style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 15px;" /><span style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">The two-day meeting was organized by the International Islamic Fiqh Academy in cooperation with the World Health Organization, the OIC, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the IAG and UNICEF with the aim of providing high-level global leadership and guidance for building solidarity and support for polio eradication across the Muslim world.</span><br style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 15px;" /><span style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">The opening session was attended by Iyad Madani, secretary-general of the OIC; Ahmed Mohammed Ali, president of IDB; Abbas Shuman, deputy of Al-Azhar; Ala Alwan, regional representative of WHO; and Sheikh Saleh bin Abdullah, chairman of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy.</span><br style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 15px;" /><span style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">Sheikh Abdullah said at the opening of the session that the main aim of this meeting was to consult, exchange views and to reaffirm support of the Islamic community and leadership in polio eradication and trust in the safety and effectiveness of vaccination. Nearly the entire Muslim world is now polio-free.</span><br style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 15px;" /><span style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">“Polio is being fought by governments, associations, WHO and individuals, as it is a subject of major concern. I am confident that today’s meeting will bring fruitful results as it is taking place in the interest of the Muslim Ummah and the Islamic Shariah legislation for the benefit of mankind. All efforts made by the scholars of Islam are in the interest of mankind,” he said.</span><br style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 15px;" /><span style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">He further said that the Shariah does not allow anything which is harmful to mankind. “The issue here is vaccination for polio, which is to protect from harm and important for the health of children so it can be safely said that the Islamic Shariah allows polio vaccination. He also condemned the violent actions against the welfare workers of the polio vaccination campaign.</span><br style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 15px;" /><span style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">Abbas Shuman, representative of the grand mufti of Al-Azhar, said that Shariah allows the use of drugs to protect against epidemic diseases. The Islamic Shariah has ordered that we protect five key objectives from harm: life, religion, faith, honor and natural resources.</span><br style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 15px;" /><span style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">“It is everyone’s duty to protect the life and health of human beings. The attacks on health workers and facilities must be stopped. The health of all children is at risk if health workers and health facilities are attacked so it is everyone’s duty to protect children from polio or any epidemic diseases as going against this will be a sin. Therefore, parents should take their children for vaccination,” he said.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #303030; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"><b><a href="http://www.arabnews.com/news/532071" target="_blank">Arab News</a></b></span></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-21935866554915037272014-03-03T02:30:00.000+05:002014-03-03T02:30:01.930+05:00Pakistan shifts gears in tackling militants<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The ghostly echoes of war drums in troubled Waziristan have already begun to resonate across Pakistan.</div>
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As always at the brink of a new offensive, the threat of reprisal attacks also looms large this time around. But the difference at this point is that the government seems to be prepared to face the repercussions. Last week it announced a counter-terrorism policy that will entail the formation of a rapid response force among other intelligence supported measures to deter and respond to terror attacks.</div>
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As of now the government’s categorical denial that the current spate of airstrikes against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the tribal areas, specifically North and South Waziristan, are not preliminary measures before the launch of a ground offensive has not ended speculation.</div>
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The perception is that these intelligence driven precision strikes targeting militant strongholds are an integral part of the groundwork before the start of the operation — this was the same operational strategy used in other parts of Federally Administered Tribal Areas during previous operations.</div>
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Security sources <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gulf News </em>spoke to in this context have also backed Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ahmad Khan’s statement. The source told <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gulf News</em>, “These airstrikes cannot be called preliminary or a prelude to the military operation. These are just targeted strikes based on intelligence. The Interior Minister has also said that we will target those who attack the state, every attack of the terrorists will be met with a strong response. This is in line with the government policy and it has nothing to do with the offensive being discussed.”</div>
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But what is also true is that weakening the Taliban by targeting key commanders and their headquarters will help once the operation starts. An operation targeting North Waziristan, however, will not be a small scale one and will require large scale movement of forces and logistical preparations. But given the army’s presence in neighbouring settled areas and South Waziristan it may be a smoother process than earlier anti-militant offensives.</div>
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Fearing the impact of the impending operation, thousands of people have already left North Waziristan. The United Nations has said that they are ready to help the internally displaced persons (IDP) from the agency — at the time of writing the IDP’s were over 20,000, mostly women and children. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has also begun preparations for hosting the North Waziristan IDPs.</div>
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Meanwhile, government officials continue to advocate dialogue to end the standoff. It may seem contradictory, but given the TTP’s reneging on an agreement that it will refrain from any attack during talks, there was little choice but to respond.</div>
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More significant is the shift that has come about in the government’s policy for dealing with the TTP threat — the decision to meet any terrorist attack in the country with a responsive attack on their strongholds.</div>
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If this does not convince the militants that the dynamics have changed then little else will. The question is if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is willing to take this to the end and not succumb to political pressure from some parties and religious blocs that oppose such offensives.</div>
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What Sharif has inherited is a vastly different environment to when he was prime minister in his past two tenures. His objective to turn the economy around is being hindered by the security threat the Taliban and other indigenous militants pose.</div>
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But the trick is to maintain a balance between keeping open the communication channels and applying enough pressure, something Sharif’s government will now have to manage.</div>
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A Rs3.2 billion (Dh112 million) fund for the implementation of the security policy besides empowering the National Counter-terrorism Authority to coordinate operations within security, intelligence bodies and the federal and provincial governments are part of resurgent approach to dealing with the issue.</div>
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As for when the operation for North Waziristan may be launched, the military has already stated that it is ready to do so anytime the government decides.</div>
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The security source commenting on the recent statement by the Air Force Chief, which led to a perception that the ongoing airstrikes in the tribal areas were a prelude to the operation said, “The army has always maintained a readiness to face any challenge. The armed forces are always ready. So the statement by the Air Force Chief cannot be taken to mean that he is giving any hints of an operation. The launch of the military offensive in North Waziristan is something the government has to decide.”</div>
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One crucial factor Pakistan must forcefully take up with Afghanistan at this juncture is the issue of the cross border movement of the TTP militants in the course of the operation.</div>
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TTP Chief Mullah Fazlullah is said to be in Afghanistan and any operation will naturally induce further cross border movement and support from the Afghan militants as well as the TTP militants currently stationed there.</div>
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It is imperative that Kabul also extend Islamabad the same support it has been getting from the Pakistan military at the times of key operations in its southern and eastern border areas.</div>
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More importantly, now that a North Waziristan operation seems imminent, it is vital that both Kabul and Washington extend full support to Pakistan, for this is the very area, declared by both as the key to the Afghan insurgency hosting “safe havens” for Afghan insurgents as well.</div>
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<b><i>Gulf News</i></b></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-9419895245735067852014-03-03T01:30:00.000+05:002014-03-03T01:30:00.573+05:00Pakistan halts air strikes against Taliban<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<img height="384" src="http://i.dawn.com/large/2014/03/531346af10a0f.jpg" width="640" /><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Pakistan on Sunday said it was halting air strikes against Taliban militants in response to a month-long ceasefire announced by the insurgents a day earlier, paving the way for the resumption of peace talks.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The government entered into peace talks with the Taliban last month aimed at ending the militants' seven-year insurgency, but the dialogue broke down after militants killed 23 kidnapped soldiers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The military responded with a series of air strikes in the volatile northwestern tribal areas that left more than 100 insurgents dead, and on Saturday the Taliban announced a month-long ceasefire aimed at resuming the stalled talks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“After the positive announcement yesterday by the Taliban, the government has decided to suspend the air strikes which were continuing for the past few days,” Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said in a statement Sunday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The statement added that “the government and armed forces of Pakistan, however, reserve the right for a befitting response to any act of violence (by the Taliban).”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Taliban's ceasefire announcement on Saturday was met with scepticism by analysts who said it may have been a tactic to allow the militants to regroup after they had taken heavy losses in air strikes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Khan said the “government considers the announcement of stopping of violent activities by Taliban a positive development.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He added that since the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took charge in June last year, Islamabad had not taken “any unjustified action” against the militants, choosing only to react to violence rather than initiating any new military operations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rahimullah Yusufzai, a member of the government's negotiation team, told AFP: “I think that the possibility of resumption of peace talks has now increased. A ceasefire was the demand of the government and the negotiations committee.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“But the ceasefire should be effective. If attacks continue then the conducive environment we are searching for won't materialise.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Balancing act</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reacting to the minister's announcement, political analyst Raza Rumi told AFP that the government was attempting to play a balancing act and had to match the Taliban's ceasefire “to ensure right wing public opinion does not turn against them.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I think one issue is the government wants to appear as a peace loving political entity. But deep down there is a desire by both parties to buy more time given the way the situation is unfolding in Afghanistan.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“They want to wait for what happens,” he said, referring to the withdrawal of Nato troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and its regional impact.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Security analyst Talat Masood, a retired general, said the ceasefire had come about because the military's air strikes had forced the Taliban back to the negotiation table, and that the government should be careful not to lose its advantage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“One of the inherent dangers of a ceasefire is that it allows militants to regroup or reorganise. We will have to increase our intelligence to closely monitor if militants are regrouping or escaping during the ceasefire,” he said.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He added that militant groups which are not in favour of talks may try to disrupt the ceasefire.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eleven paramilitary soldiers and one child died while 11 other people were wounded when three roadside bombs targeting a polio vaccination team in the lawless Khyber district exploded Saturday, in an attack carried out by the little-known Abdullah Izam Brigade, according to an official.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Pakistani military earlier on Sunday deployed a helicopter gunship to kill five militants it blamed for the attack, a senior security official told AFP.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>DAWN</i></b></span></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-44891901979083959582014-03-03T00:48:00.001+05:002014-03-03T00:48:16.561+05:00‘Surrender, leave or live in peace’<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<img alt="AVN_TALIBAN_123511f" height="425" src="http://cache.pakistantoday.com.pk/AVN_TALIBAN_123511f.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">Rustam Shah Mohmand on Sunday said foreign terrorists hiding in tribal areas have three options: surrender, leave the area or live in peace.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">Talking to reporters, the government committee member said the government needed to assimilate foreign terrorists in the mainstream who could not go back to their countries.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">Prayers were answered as Pakistan won cricket match against archrival India in Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bungla stadium. Earlier, Mohmand had urged the Taliban to pray for Pakistan’s victory in the Asia Cup against India.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">The government interlocutor said that the Taliban have declared a ceasefire on the government’s demand. He said that the government committee members would be meeting in a day or two to review the situation.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">He said that following the ceasefire, an environment of trust would be created and swapping of prisoners would further strengthen the confidence in each other. He said that the government should demand extension in the period of Taliban ceasefire.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">Mohmand said that the resolution of issues would take time.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;"><b><i>Pakistan Today</i></b></span></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05580791318491756998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052553423027712946.post-18231020048378321092014-03-02T07:00:00.000+05:002014-03-02T07:00:02.917+05:00Snowden Docs: British Spies Used Sex and 'Dirty Tricks'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<img alt="Image: Britain's Government Communications Headquarters" height="266" src="http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2014_06/168876/140207-britain-communication-headquarters-1600_222ca8c34f753a73682fbb44b0b4f714.nbcnews-fp-1440-600.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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British spies have developed “dirty tricks” for use against nations, hackers, terror groups, suspected criminals and arms dealers that include releasing computer viruses, spying on journalists and diplomats, jamming phones and computers, and using sex to lure targets into “honey traps.”</div>
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Documents taken from the National Security Agency by Edward Snowden and exclusively obtained by NBC News describe techniques developed by a secret British spy unit called the Joint Threat Research and Intelligence Group (JTRIG) as part of a growing mission to go on offense and attack adversaries ranging from Iran to the hacktivists of Anonymous. According to the documents, which come from presentations prepped in 2010 and 2012 for NSA cyber spy conferences, the agency’s goal was to “destroy, deny, degrade [and] disrupt” enemies by “discrediting” them, planting misinformation and shutting down their communications.</div>
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Both PowerPoint presentations describe “Effects” campaigns that are broadly divided into two categories: cyber attacks and propaganda operations. The propaganda campaigns use deception, mass messaging and “pushing stories” via Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and YouTube. JTRIG also uses “false flag” operations, in which British agents carry out online actions that are designed to look like they were performed by one of Britain’s adversaries.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">In connection with this report, NBC is publishing documents that Edward Snowden took from the NSA before fleeing the U.S., which can be viewed</strong> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">by clicking <a href="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/snowden_cyber_offensive1_nbc_document.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #677c9b; text-decoration: none;">here</a> and <a href="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/snowden_cyber_offensive2_nbc_document.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #677c9b; text-decoration: none;">here</a>. The documents are being published with minimal redactions.</strong></div>
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The spy unit’s cyber attack methods include the same “denial of service” or DDOS tactic used by computer hackers to shut down government and corporate websites.</div>
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Other documents taken from the NSA by Snowden and previously published by NBC News show that JTRIG, which is part of the NSA’s British counterpart, the cyber spy agency known as GCHQ, used a DDOS attack to shut down Internet chat rooms used by members of the hacktivist group known as Anonymous.</div>
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<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/war-anonymous-british-spies-attacked-hackers-snowden-docs-show-n21361" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #677c9b; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Read the first NBC report on JTRIG and the Snowden documents.</strong></a></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/27/22469304-snowden-docs-reveal-british-spies-snooped-on-youtube-and-facebook?lite" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #677c9b; text-decoration: none;">Read an earlier exclusive NBC report on the Snowden documents.</a></strong></div>
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Civil libertarians said that in using a DDOS attack against hackers the British government also infringed free speech by individuals not involved in any illegal hacking, and may have blocked other websites with no connection to Anonymous. While GCHQ defends the legality of its actions, critics question whether the agency is too aggressive and its mission too broad.</div>
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Eric King, a lawyer who teaches IT law at the London School of Economics and is head of research at Privacy International, a British civil liberties advocacy group, said it was “remarkable” that the British government thought it had the right to hack computers, since none of the U.K.’s intelligence agencies has a “clear lawful authority” to launch their own attacks.</div>
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“GCHQ has no clear authority to send a virus or conduct cyber attacks,” said King. “Hacking is one of the most invasive methods of surveillance.” King said British cyber spies had gone on offense with “no legal safeguards” and without any public debate, even though the British government has criticized other nations, like Russia, for allegedly engaging in cyber warfare.</div>
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But intelligence officials defended the British government’s actions as appropriate responses to illegal acts. One intelligence official also said that the newest set of Snowden documents published by NBC News that describe “Effects” campaigns show that British cyber spies were “slightly ahead” of U.S. spies in going on offense against adversaries, whether those adversaries are hackers or nation states. The documents also show that a one-time signals surveillance agency, GCHQ, is now conducting the kinds of active espionage operations that were once exclusively the realm of the better-known British spy agencies MI5 and MI6.</div>
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Intelligence officials defended the British government’s actions as appropriate responses to illegal acts.</div>
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According to notes on the 2012 documents, a computer virus called Ambassadors Reception was “used in a variety of different areas” and was “very effective.” When sent to adversaries, says the presentation, the virus will “encrypt itself, delete all emails, encrypt all files, make [the] screen shake” and block the computer user from logging on.</div>
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But the British cyber spies’ operations do not always remain entirely online. Spies have long used sexual “honey traps” to snare, blackmail and influence targets. Most often, a male target is led to believe he has an opportunity for a romantic relationship or a sexual liaison with a woman, only to find that the woman is actually an intelligence operative. The Israeli government, for example, used a “honey trap” to lure nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu from London to Rome. He expected an assignation with a woman, but instead was kidnapped by Israel agents and taken back to Israel to stand trial for leaking nuclear secrets to the media.</div>
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The version of a “honey trap” described by British cyber spies in the 2012 PowerPoint presentation sounds like a version of Internet dating, but includes physical encounters.</div>
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The version of a “honey trap” described by British cyber spies in the 2012 PowerPoint presentation sounds like a version of Internet dating, but includes physical encounters. The target is lured “to go somewhere on the Internet, or a physical location” to be met by “a friendly face.” The goal, according to the presentation, is to discredit the target.</div>
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A “honey trap,” says the presentation, is “very successful when it works.” But the documents do not give a specific example of when the British government might have employed a honey trap.</div>
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An operation described in the 2010 presentation also involves in-person surveillance. “Royal Concierge” exploits hotel reservations to track the whereabouts of foreign diplomats and send out “daily alerts to analysts working on governmental hard targets.” The British government uses the program to try to steer its quarry to “SIGINT friendly” hotels, according to the presentation, where the targets can be monitored electronically – or in person by British operatives.</div>
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<img alt="A slide from the documents taken from the NSA by Edward Snowden and obtained by NBC News." class="ember-view" height="520" id="ember1010" src="http://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2014_06/168881/140207-british-security-1600_4e17d758509bad8eb5de0d0434eb56a1.nbcnews-ux-720-520.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-width: none; min-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 638.1875px;" title="A slide from the documents taken from the NSA by Edward Snowden and obtained by NBC News." width="720" /><small class="stack-credit-art-figcaption" style="bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; line-height: 0.75rem; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.5rem; opacity: 0.6; position: absolute; right: 8px; text-shadow: rgb(0, 0, 0) 1px 1px 1px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="font-size: small;">NBC NEWS</span></small></div>
<figcaption class="stack-figcaption" style="border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding-bottom: 0.9375rem; padding-top: 1rem;">A slide from the documents taken from the NSA by Edward Snowden and obtained by NBC News.</figcaption></figure><div class="ember-view" id="ember976" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima_nova_rgregular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 1rem;">
The existence of the Royal Concierge program was first reported by the German magazine Der Spiegel in 2013, which said that Snowden documents showed that British spies had monitored bookings of at least 350 upscale hotels around the world for more than three years “to target, search and analyze reservations to detect diplomats and government officials.”</div>
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According to the documents obtained by NBC News, the intelligence agency uses the information to spy on human targets through “close access technical operations,” which can include listening in on telephone calls and tapping hotel computers as well as sending intelligence officers to observe the targets in person at the hotels. The documents ask, “Can we influence hotel choice? Can we cancel their visits?”</div>
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The 2010 presentation also describes another potential operation that would utilize a technique called “credential harvesting” to select journalists who could be used to spread information. According to intelligence sources, spies considered using electronic snooping to identify non-British journalists who would then be manipulated to feed information to the target of a covert campaign. Apparently, the journalist’s job would provide access to the targeted individual, perhaps for an interview. The documents do not specify whether the journalists would be aware or unaware that they were being used to funnel information.</div>
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The executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon, said that the revelation about “credential harvesting” should serve as a “wake up call” to journalists that intelligence agencies can monitor their communications. Simon also said that governments put all journalists at risk when they use even one for an intelligence operation.</div>
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“All journalists generally are then vulnerable to the charge that they work at the behest of an intelligence agency,” said Simon.</div>
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The journalist operation was never put into action, according to sources, but other techniques described in the documents, like the Ambassadors Reception computer virus and the jamming of phones and computers, have definitely been used to attack adversaries.</div>
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In Afghanistan, according to the 2012 presentation, the British used a blizzard of text messages, phone calls and faxes to “significantly disrupt” Taliban communications, with texts and calls programmed to arrive every minute.</div>
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In a set of operations that intelligence sources say were designed to stop weapons transactions and nuclear proliferation, JTRIG used negative information to attack private companies, sour business relationships and ruin deals.</div>
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The British cyber spies also used blog posts and information spread via blogs in an operation against Iran.</div>
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Other effective methods of cyber attack listed in the documents include changing photos on social media sites and emailing and texting colleagues and neighbors unsavory information. The documents do not give examples of when these techniques were used, but intelligence sources say that some of the methods described have been used by British intelligence to help British police agencies catch suspected criminals.</div>
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The documents from 2010 note that “Effects” operations, GCHQ’s offensive push against Britain’s enemies, had become a “major part” of the spy agency’s business.</div>
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The presentation from 2012 illustrates that two years later GCHQ had continued to shift its workload from defending U.K. cyber networks to going on offense -- targeting specific people or governments. The British government’s intelligence apparatus, which also includes MI5 and MI6, had a role in the 2010 Stuxnet computer virus attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to sources at two intelligence agencies.</div>
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GCHQ would not comment on the newly published documents or on JTRIG’s “Effects” operations. It would neither confirm nor deny any element of this report, which is the agency’s standard policy. In a statement, a GCHQ spokesperson emphasized that the agency operated within the law.</div>
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“All of GCHQ's work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework,” said the statement, “which ensure[s] that our activities are authorized, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight, including from the Secretary of State, the Interception and Intelligence Services Commissioners and the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee. All of our operational processes rigorously support this position.”</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: proxima_novaregular_italic, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Journalist Glenn Greenwald was formerly a columnist at Salon and the Guardian. In late 2012 he was contacted by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who later provided him with thousands of sensitive documents, and he was the first to report on Snowden’s documents in June 2013 while on the staff of the Guardian. Greenwald has since reported on the documents with multiple media outlets around the world, and has won several journalism awards for his NSA reporting both in the U.S. and abroad. He is now helping launch, and will write for, a new, non-profit media outlet known as First Look Media that will “encourage, support and empower … independent, adversarial journalists.”</span></strong></strong></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: proxima_novaregular_italic, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/snowden-docs-british-spies-used-sex-dirty-tricks-n23091" target="_blank"><b>NBC NEWS</b></a></span></i></span></span></span></div>
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