Category: Politics

Terrorism is an enemy of basic human rights, says Sushma Swaraj

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj  said that terrorism is an enemy of the basic human rights and the fight against it should also identify States that encourage, support and finance the menace and provide sanctuary to terror groups.

Swaraj, during her address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers here, raised the issue of global terrorism and protectionism.

There are a number of challenges that are being faced by the world today, foremost being the threat of global terrorism and the imminent need to build a strong security architecture to combat it, the minister said.

“Terrorism is an enemy of the basic human rights: of life, peace and prosperity,” Swaraj said.

“Protectionism in all its forms should be rejected and efforts should be made to discipline measures that constitute barriers to trade.

“India is committed to working with the SCO to strengthen our economic and investment ties.We believe that economic globalization should be more open, inclusive, equitable and balanced for mutual benefits,” Swaraj added.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

U.S. sanctions on Russian military exports could hurt countries including India

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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U.S. sanctions on Russian military exports have put the brakes on a $6 billion deal with India and may derail the arms purchases of other U.S. allies around Asia, experts say.

Under a law that U.S. President Donald Trump signed in August, any country trading with Russia’s defence and intelligence sectors will face sanctions.

The law is designed to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, involvement in the Syrian civil war and meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

But American allies who buy weapons and equipment from Russia, the world’s second-largest arms exporter, could suffer as well.

The highest-profile example is India, which wants to buy five S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile systems that the country’s military sees as a game changer. The systems are touted as being able to counter the ballistic missiles and stealth aircraft that China is developing, while overwhelming the capabilities of Pakistan, India’s other main adversary.

The deal, which Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck as part of an inter-government agreement in 2016, has run headlong into the U.S. sanctionslaw, two officials in Delhi said.

Indonesia and Vietnam also buy weapons from Russia while being regional partners of the United States. Jakarta closed a $1.14 billion pact for Sukhoi fighters recently, while Vietnam is seeking more jet fighter-bombers from Russia.

And with both Almaz-Antey Air and Space Defense Corporation, which makes the S-400, and Rosoboronexport, which negotiates Russian export deals, listed as under sanction, those deals have become trickier.

“The optics of a major arms purchase from Russia looks quite ‘iffy’ from the point of view of Western capitals, especially at a time when Russia-West relations are at an all-time low and India seeks strategic convergence with the West, including with the U.S.” said Abhijnan Rej, a defence strategy expert at Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi think tank.

The U.S.-led airstrikes this month against facilities of the Syrian government, an ally of Russia, has further aggravated tensions between the superpowers.

A Russian source close to the Indian S-400 deal said “a lot will depend on the confidence and sanity of our Indian partners.”

WIDER IMPACT

The effects of the U.S. sanctions law could be more sweeping than intended, said Cara Abercrombie, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Vietnam, whose air force flies Russian-made Su-30 fighters and uses the S-300 air defence system, wants to continue modernising its inventory.

Vietnamese military scholar Carl Thayer said he believed Moscow was still pushing Hanoi to invest in state-of-the-art S-400 missile defences as part of its long-term military plans.

“I think it is clear that Russia is still pressing Vietnam for big deals,” Thayer said, noting that the two countries already have had reciprocal visits by defence ministers this year.

But with the United States working hard to promote sales of American military hardware, and sanctions against Russia’s exporting agencies, Vietnam’s plans could prove overly costly.

Indonesia, meanwhile, said the delivery of the first couple of Sukhoi Su-35 jets out of a total of 11 is on track for this year. Officials said that so far they did not anticipate any changes to the deal with the Russians.

Indonesian defence officials declined to describe what, if anything, they might do to tackle the fallout of the sanctions imposed on Russian arms sales.

A THORNY PROBLEM

Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra held discussions with U.S. officials in Washington last month to try to find a solution, a second Indian official said.

The issue is crucial to the Indian military, because without Russian parts, supplies and maintenance help, “our ships won’t sail, our planes won’t fly,” the official said. “We can hardly be the regional security provider that America wants us to be at this rate.”

One way to avoid secondary sanctions would be if the U.S. determines that India is reducing its dependence on Russian arms, said Atman Trivedi, managing director of Hills & Company, a Washington-based firm that advises on international trade and investment.

Russian hardware represented 62 percent of the country’s total weapons imports during the past five years, compared with 79 percent in 2008-2012, the Stockholm Peace Research Institute said in a report last month.

The U.S. administration could also declare that imposing sanctions on India, a major defence partner, would hurt U.S. national security interests. That would allow a waiver permitting India to do business with Russia.

The United States has emerged as India’s No. 2 weapons supplier, closing $15 billion worth of deals over the last decade. Now Lockheed Martin and Boeing are leading the race to provide India with a fleet of new fighter-bombers, one of the world’s largest open tenders.

“The intent of the legislation was never to disrupt U.S.-India defence relations, which Congress has repeatedly recognised in law as a strategic priority to the U.S.,” said Benjamin Schwartz, aerospace and defence head at United States India Business Council.

Abercrombie of Carnegie added that if Congress grants waivers to India, it may also need to do so for other countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia.

“The bottom line: India warrants an exemption from these secondary sanctions, as does any country with which the U.S. is forging new and strategically important defence relations,” she said.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

New detection tools aid in tackling extremist propaganda, says Facebook

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Facebook today said new detection tools wielded by its counterterrorism team are quickly detecting and removing extremist propaganda for the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda.

The leading social network ‘took action’ on 1.9 million pieces of IS or al-Qaeda-linked content in the first three months of this year — nearly double the amount from the previous quarter, according to vice president of global policy management Monika Bickert and global head of counterterrorism policy Brian Fishman.

“Taking action,” the company said, generally involved removing “the vast majority of this content.” It “added a warning to a small portion that was shared for informational or counter speech purposes,” Bickert and Fishman said in an online post.

In some cases, entire profiles, pages, or groups were taken down for violating Facebook policies, making all included content unavailable.

“We’ve made significant strides finding and removing their propaganda quickly and at scale,” Bickert and Fishman said.

“We’re under no illusion that the job is done or that the progress we have made is enough.” Facebook credited detection technology and a counterterrorism team that has grown to 200 people from 150 people about 10 months ago.

Facebook defined terrorism as “any non-governmental organization that engages in premeditated acts of violence against persons or property to intimidate a civilian population, government, or international organization in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim.”

Bickert and Fishman maintained that the company’s intent is to be neutral on ideology and politics, meaning the terrorism definition applies equally to everything from religious extremism and violent separatism to white supremacy or militant environmentalism.

“It’s about whether they use violence to pursue those goals,” Bickert and Fishman said.

So far this year, the median time it took for new detection tools to uncover freshly uploaded terror content was less than a minute, according to the executives.

“Terrorist groups are always trying to circumvent our systems, so we must constantly improve,” Bickert and Fishman said.

“We learn from every misstep, experiment with new detection methods and work to expand what terrorist groups we target.” Early this month, Twitter said it had suspended over one million accounts for “promotion of terrorism” since 2015, claiming its efforts have begun to make the platform “an undesirable place” to call for violence.

In its latest transparency report, Twitter said it suspended 274,460 accounts between July and December 2017 “for violations related to the promotion of terrorism.” The figure is down 8.4 per cent from the previous reporting period and is the second consecutive decline, a Twitter statement said.

Twitter and Facebook have faced pressure to crack down on jihadists and others calling for violent attacks, while at the same time maintaining open platforms for free speech.

In the latest six-month reporting period, Twitter said 93 per cent of the suspended accounts were “flagged by internal, proprietary tools,” and that 74 per cent were cut off before their first tweet.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

10 people killed in Canada after a van hits pedestrians

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A rented van plowed down a crowded Toronto sidewalk Monday, killing 10 people and injuring 15 before the driver fled and was quickly arrested in a confrontation with police, Canadian authorities said.

Witnesses said the driver was moving fast and appeared to be acting deliberately, but police officials would not comment on the cause or any possible motive.

Speaking at a news conference Monday night, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders raised the initial death toll of nine to 10, saying another victim had died at a hospital. He said 15 others were hospitalized.

Saunders identified the man detained after the incident as Alek Minassian, 25, a resident of the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill. He said the suspect had not been known to police previously.

Asked if there was any evidence of a connection to international terrorism, the chief said only, “Based on what we have there’s nothing that has it to compromise the national security at this time.”

But a senior national government official said earlier that authorities had not turned over the investigation to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a sign that investigators believed it unlikely terrorism was the motive. The official agreed to reveal that information only if not quoted by name.

Authorities released few details in the case, saying the investigation was still underway, with witnesses being interviewed and surveillance video being examined.

“I can assure the public all our available resources have been brought in to investigate this tragic situation,” Toronto Police Services Deputy Chief Peter Yuen said earlier.

The incident occurred as Cabinet ministers from the major industrial countries were gathered in Canada to discuss a range of international issues in the run-up to the G7 meeting near Quebec City in June. Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale called the incident a “horrific attack” and said the G7 foreign ministers extended their condolences.

The driver was heading south on busy Yonge Street around 1:30 p.m. and the streets were crowded with people enjoying an unseasonably warm day when the van jumped onto the sidewalk.

Ali Shaker, who was driving near the van at the time, told Canadian broadcast outlet CP24 that the driver appeared to be moving deliberately through the crowd at more than 30 mph.

“He just went on the sidewalk,” a distraught Shaker said. “He just started hitting everybody, man. He hit every single person on the sidewalk. Anybody in his way he would hit.”

Witness Peter Kang told CTV News that the driver did not seem to make any effort to stop.

“If it was an accident he would have stopped,” Kang said. “But the person just went through the sidewalk. He could have stopped.”

Video broadcast on several Canadian outlets showed police arresting the driver, dressed in dark clothes, after officers surrounded him and his rental Ryder van several blocks from where the incident occurred in the North York neighborhood of northern Toronto. He appeared to make some sort of gesture at the police with an object in his hand just before they ordered him to lie down on the ground and took him away.

Witness Phil Zullo told Canadian Press that he saw police arresting the suspect and people “strewn all over the road” where the incident occurred.

“I must have seen about five, six people being resuscitated by bystanders and by ambulance drivers,” Zullo said. “It was awful. Brutal.”

Police shut down the Yonge and Finch intersection following the incident and Toronto’s transit agency said it had suspended service on the subway line running through the area.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his sympathies for those involved. “Our hearts go out to everyone affected,” Trudeau said in Ottawa. “We are going to have more to learn and more to say in the coming hours.”

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

CPEC has become a reality, says Pakistan PM

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has become a reality and provided the country with a platform to achieve development, prosperity and poverty alleviation.

Abbasi made the remarks at the opening ceremony of a two-day CPEC Summit and Expo 2018, jointly organised by the country’s English daily Dawn and the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform in Karachi.

He said that “three years ago CPEC was unheard of, today it is known globally”, adding that “two major environment- friendly power projects had already started production and the third one was near its completion”.

Abbasi told the audience that speedy work was in progress on transmission lines, highways and motorway networks, railways, agriculture, advanced technology, special economic zones and Gwadar port.

He said the CPEC, which adheres to the vision of “a community of shared future for all humankind”, has become the visible part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative which will push for development through connectivity along ancient Silk Road trade routes.

The CPEC connects China’s Kashgar in Xinjiang province with Pakistan’s Gwadar port in Balochistan through a network of roads, railways and highways.

India strongly objects to the route of the CPEC corridor, which goes through Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

AFSPA removed from Meghalaya completely, partly in Arunachal Pradesh

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) has been removed completely from Meghalaya and its area of operation in Arunachal Pradesh has been restricted to eight police stations bordering Assam and three districts neighbouring Myanmar, officials said on Monday.

The AFSPA, which empowers security forces to conduct operations, arrest anyone anywhere without prior notice, has been removed from all areas of the north eastern state of Meghalaya from March 31.

The decision has been taken due to a significant improvement of security situation in the state, a Home Ministry official said.

In Arunachal Pradesh, areas under the controversial act have been reduced from 16 police stations areas bordering Assam to eight police stations besides Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts, the official said

There have been demands from various organisations in the north-east as well as in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir for repealing the act, which, they say, gives sweeping powers to the security forces to act against civilians.

The AFSPA has been in force in Nagaland for several decades and in Assam from early 1990s.

It was not withdrawn in Nagaland even after a framework agreement was signed on August 3, 2015 by Naga insurgent group NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and government interlocutor R N Ravi in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Another official said there has been a substantial improvement in security situation in the north-eastern states over the last four years.

The year 2017 recorded the lowest insurgency incidents and casualties among civilians and security forces during the last two decades since 1997.

While insurgency has been wiped out from Tripura and Mizoram, there has been a marked improvement in security situation in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Manipur, the official said.

In Assam, sustained counter-insurgency operations against NDFB (S) have resulted in killing of 63 cadres and the arrest of 1,052 cadres/linkmen besides recovery of huge arms and ammunition between December 2014 and March this year.

Across the north-east, there has been a huge reduction of 96 per cent in casualties among the security forces from 289 in 1997 to 12 in 2017.

Civilian casualties also dropped by 96% from 907 in the year 2000 to 37 last year, the official added.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

North Korea says will stop nuclear tests, abolish test site

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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North Korea will immediately suspend nuclear and missile tests and abolish a nuclear test site in a bid to pursue economic growth and peace on the Korean peninsula, the North’s state media said on Saturday, ahead of planned summits with South Korea and the United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country no longer needed to conduct nuclear tests or intercontinental ballistic missile tests because it has completed its goal of developing nuclear weapons, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

North Korea said that to create an “international environment favorable” for its economy, it would “facilitate close contact and active dialogue” with neighboring countries and the international community.

It marked the first time North Korea directly addressed its nuclear weapons programmes and comes ahead of Kim’s planned summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in next week and a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in late May or early June.

“The northern nuclear test ground of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) will be dismantled to transparently guarantee the discontinuance of the nuclear test,” KCNA said after Kim convened a plenary session of the Central Committee of the ruling Worker’s Party on Friday.

“We will concentrate all efforts on building a powerful socialist economy and markedly improving the standard of people’s living through the mobilisation of all human and material resources of the country,” KCNA said.

Trump welcomed the statement and said he looked forward to a summit with Kim. “North Korea has agreed to suspend all Nuclear Tests and close up a major test site. This is very good news for North Korea and the World – big progress! Look forward to our Summit,” Trump said on Twitter.

South Korea said the North’s decision signified “meaningful” progress toward denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and would create favourable conditions for successful meetings with it and the United States.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he welcomed North Korea’s statement but it must lead to verifiable denuclearisation.

“This announcement is forward motion that I’d like to welcome,” Abe told reporters. “But what’s important is that this leads to complete, verifiable denuclearisation. I want to emphasise this.”

The United States, Japan and South Korea have historically been the main targets of Pyongyang’s anger.

FEARS OF WAR

North Korea has defended its nuclear and missile programmes as necessary deterrents against perceived U.S. hostility. It has conducted numerous missile tests, and last year it detonated its most powerful nuclear bomb.

The tests and escalating rhetoric between Trump and Kim raised fears of war until, in a New Year’s speech, the North Korean leader called for reduced military tensions. He later improved ties with South Korea and sent a delegation to the Winter Olympics in the South in February.

Nam Sung-wook, professor of North Korean Studies at Korea University in Seoul, said it could be considered “sensational” that Kim Jong Un personally declared plans to suspend nuclear development, but added that the North Korean leader’s remarks left a number of questions.

“It still does not seem clear if it means whether the North will just not pursue further development of its nuclear programmes in the future, or whether they will completely shut down ‘all’ nuclear facilities. And what are they going to do with their existing nuclear weapons?” Nam said.

North Korea has expressed its commitment to “complete denuclearisation” of the Korean peninsula and has not attached conditions, South Korean President Moon said on Thursday, but Washington has remained wary and vowed to maintain “maximum pressure” on Pyongyang.

The United States said on Thursday that in the run-up to Trump’s planned summit with Kim, countries should continue to put financial and diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang to surrender its banned nuclear weapons.

U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed on North Korea after its first nuclear test in 2006 and extended over the past decade have aimed to deny North Korea a considerable amount of international trade.

The North Korean ruling party’s plenary meeting on Friday was convened to discuss “policy issues of a new stage” to meet the demands of the current “important historic period,” KCNA said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow