UN’s “Four Steps” to Stop the War in Libya

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TSCFWA -- Seven months after the military offensive began to gain control of Tripoli, launched on April 4 2019 by General Khalifa Haftar, the situation in Libya is desperate. The World Health Organization has stopped keeping track of fatalities, which are at more than a thousand (including dozens of civilians) according to the latest update available in mid-July. The Government of National Accord (GNA) of Prime Minister Fayez al Sarraj is cut off, without an airport and with closed land borders, but it does not want to surrender to the Libyan National Army (LNA), which has neither the strength nor the capacity to conquer a vast urban area like that of Tripoli, not to mention Misrata, home to the country’s most aggressive militias and also known as the ‘Libyan Sparta’. The military stalemate has generated a situation of permanent chaos just a few kilometres from the European coast. We now risk the Libyan outpost of the former Islamic State, now bereft of its leader Abu Bakri al Baghdadi, coming back to life in the shadow of a Syrian-style proxy war, on a small scale and with low intensity, fought with a few thousand men on the ground, but a large amount of foreign aid.

Meanwhile, the Libyan economy, instead of flourishing thanks to oil, risks collapse. The region of Cyrenaica uses money printed in Russia, generating huge debt that will weigh on future generations of Libyans for decades. The Tripolitania government has cut fuel subsidies and introduced a significant tax on money changers to limit smuggling, but the black market continues to prosper. The process to approve the Libyan budget, the result of long negotiations between east, west and the international community, this year promises to be even more complicated – it is difficult to sit at the negotiating table while shots are being fired. The UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salamé, has announced a new four-step plan to get out of this hellish situation.

Ceasefire and observers on the ground
The route recommended by the Lebanese UN diplomat goes almost entirely via Berlin, where an international conference should be held on Libya (but without the Libyans) at a date yet to be defined. Those in the know talk of the end of the year, but the most cautious reports indicate the spring of 2020. The format of the meeting will be ‘P5 + 5’, that is the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, France, United Kingdom, Russia and United States) plus the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey (the three non-western countries most heavily involved in the conflict) as well as Italy and Germany (the latter currently a non-permanent member of the Security Council). The absence of Tunisia and Algeria, two neighbouring North African countries very much interested in the stability of Libya, is notable, as is that of the three countries of the Sahel belt, south of the Sahara, namely Niger, Chad and Sudan. The proposal of Mr Salamé is as simple as it is direct: those who count are at the table, that is, those who have the power of veto within the Security Council, and those present on the ground in the Libyan conflict. The first step indicated by the UN is a resolution of the Security Council to impose a ceasefire. The premise is clear: before we can start any negotiations, the war must stop. Easier said than done, since the Security Council continues to be divided; after all, if it were not, it would have already stopped General Haftar’s offensive some time ago.

The second stage of the road delineated by the United Nations, as reported in Italy by Agenzia Nova, foresees a mission of international observers in Libya to monitor the ceasefire. Here too the Security Council is involved, in having to form another resolution even more tricky than the first. How and when will “neutral” observers be chosen? Who will guarantee their protection? How long will it last and what limits will the mission’s mandate have? Is there really at this point a country willing to risk the lives of its soldiers within a state under full civil war, where the only Western embassy on the ground is that of Italy (which rightly has its own interest in staying)? The third step proposed by Salamé consists of bringing closer together the positions of the parties involved in the conflict, namely the Government of National Accord on one hand and the Libyan National Army on the other, obviously without forgetting the southern Arab, Berber and Tebu tribes. However, to do that you have to get to the heart of the conflict: distribution of oil revenues, control of the Central Bank and, above all, control of the Libyan Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund with an estimated value of about $70bn still “frozen” by the United Nations.

Federalism or partition?
For some time, international diplomats have worked under the radar on a new “federal” Libya, where the three historical regions (Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica) can enjoy greater autonomy than the current structure centred on Tripoli. Notably, the Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI), an Italian think tank, has published an interesting article in which it proposes an alternative solution of a “Kurdish type” be applied to Libya. In a nutshell, Cyrenaica would receive about 30 per cent of the proceeds of oil resources, in exchange for peace. This proposal has the advantage of going to straight to the crux of the matter: the unclear distribution of oil revenues – extracted by the National Oil Corporation, but distributed by the Libyan Central Bank of Tripoli – is one of the main causes that have led de facto to the tragic situation of civil war. However, several obstacles are still to be overcome, some of them of a practical nature. How many Libyans are there, and where are they? It is important to know this accurately if the proceeds of oil and gas are to be distributed based on population (or rather, to the autonomous governments theoretically elected by voters or by the tribes at local level). The last population census dates back to 2006: new impartial statistical surveys should be carried out, the results of which to be universally recognised.

This is where the fourth and final “step” outlined by the United Nations envoy comes into play – the creation of trust, a feeling that at present, according to Salamé, is absent in Libya. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General stated that the building of trust starts with simple gestures, such as the exchange of the bodies of combatants killed in battle from both sides. The displaced population (over 120,000 in Tripoli alone) should be able to return to their homes, civil infrastructures should be reopened, as well as schools and universities. All these seemingly normal things currently seem almost utopian in some parts of the country. The problem is that Libya is already divided: Cyrenaica is the preserve of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, France and Russia; Tripolitania is supported by Qatar, Turkey and Italy; Fezzan, with its oil fields, remains a territory vulnerable to raids by armed groups and traffickers. Until these powers agree on the future of what remains of Gaddafi’s ‘Jamahiriya’, every UN plan is doomed to failure.

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Russia to Take Nuclear Triad as Close to US Borders as Possible

TSCFWA --  The Russian authorities take measures to ensure the country's security in case Washington does not renew the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-3).

The treaty is to be terminated in February 2021. Russia intends to increase the aviation component of its Strategic Nuclear Forces (SNF) and take these weapons closer to the borders of a potential enemy.

According to a source in the Russian defence industry, this goal is to be achieved through the construction of new Tu-160M aircraft, as well as through deep modernisation of Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3M strategic bombers. Supposedly, the Tu-95MS aircraft will be equipped with the modernised NK-12MPM power plant, which will extend airborne time without the need for midair refuelling and double the number of units of onboard weapons.

Tu-22M3M missile carriers will also be changed. The modified versions of the Tupolev Tu-22M3M aircraft will be able to increase their flight range from 6 to 12-15 thousand kilometres (taking into account midair refuelling). This task is relevant today - the Russian Federation has 16 strategic Tu-160 missile carriers of various modifications. Ten Tu-160M worth 15 billion rubles each are to be supplied to the Russian Air Force according to the contract signed in January 2018. Currently, two aircraft of this series get ready for trials.

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VARIOUS UCAV from Lockheed Martin

TSCFWA -- VTOL Advanced Reconnaissance Insertion Organic Unmanned System (VARIOUS), a concept of an advanced aerial recon- and support vehicle, is designed to support Special Forces and expeditionary units of marines, as an organic asset. In the next decade or later, VARIOS could assume the role envisioned for the FireScout, meeting a future naval requirement for a 3 – 4 ton ISR and close support vehicle that could vertically take off and land on an aircraft carrier, amphibious support ship or from land strips.

VARIOUS will carry our tactical reconnaissance and fire support missions, armed with an ISR package, automatic guns and missiles. The aerial vehicle is designed to be stealthy, and cooperate with manned and unmanned aerial systems and surface ships while operating autonomously. The aircraft will have a wing span of 28.5 ft, 22' length is smaller than an F35 and will be capable of operating at long to medium range, carrying a multi-spectral ISR payload and about 450 lbs of internally carried ordnance to support ground operations (maximum payload will be 1,900lbs). The aircraft will operate at ceiling of up to 20,000', flying at a maximum speed of 350 knots.

By using morphing wings, which will be able to change their camber or aspect ratio, VARIOUS will be able to cruising at a speed of 250 kt or loiter much slower over the target, maintaining a low speed of 160 kt to maximize endurance and persistence over a target area. Its vertical takeoff and landing will be provided by ducted fans embedded in the wings.

VARIOUS will have some common elements shared with the Cormorant, another Skunk Works program designed to provide persistent, long range ISR and attack capabilities to US Navy Submarines. However, VARIOUS will is not positioned to compete with the F35 or unmanned combat aerial system (UCAS). The vehicle is currently in an early conceptual development phase and, if the program is pursued, VARIOUS could reach the flight demonstration phase by 2010.

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Museveni and Tutsi War in Africa

TSCFWA -- The Ugandan government continues to deny a UN report accusing it of involvement in the armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Ibrahim Abiriga, the representative of the Ugandan president in the border district of Arua, told DW that his country is being falsely accused.

"The UN report is not correct. We are not reacting on it because we know these experts made up unfounded stories, which we can not confirm,” Abiriga said.

"Our president (Yoweri Museveni) is the oldest in the region, he wants peace and development," Abiriga added.

However, the situation in eastern DRC remains unstable. Since April 2012, M23 rebels have been fighting in North Kivu province. They accuse President Joseph Kabila's government of not keeping to a common peace agreement signed in 2009. Now they are seeking to bring parts of the country under their control.

The outcome of the conflict is relevant to Uganda in three ways: strategic, economic and for its own domestic policy.

Guerilla alliance

President Yoweri Museveni's regional strategic alliances date back to the overthrow of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Tutsi refugees from Rwanda and the Congo at that time joined the rebels from Uganda. Together they overthrew the dictator, and brought Museveni to power.  Later some of these troops fought in the civil war in Rwanda, ending the genocide of the Tutsis.

There, they brought the present government of Paul Kagame to power. Now the two countries are supporting their old allies in the DRC.

The Tutsis in Uganda have remained close to the government. They currently hold many positions in the military and police. Noah Achikule is familiar with the background. Having initially fought in Idi Amin's army, he later joined a rebel organization based in the Congo. Today he is an international election observer and advises the Kampala government on security issues.

"A Tutsi-led government in Congo would be a privilege for Uganda, and a privilege for Rwanda," Achikule said. "And a Tutsi regime in this part of the DRC would give them the ability to access large amounts of mineral resources. It would also act as a retreat position in case chaos break out in Uganda or Rwanda".

Plunder and blunder

Since the 1990s, Uganda has been robbing the DRC of its minerals.

In December 2005, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ordered Kampala to compensate Kinshasa.  The court  found the Ugandan state guilty of plundering natural resources during its five-year occupation of the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The latest report by the UN group of experts gives an account of how Ugandan politicians and Congo's military brass have enriched themselves. It says the Ugandan military is cooperating with various rebel groups, including the M23, who help smuggle goods such as gold and precious tropical hardwoods out of the country.

High stakes

President Museveni is fighting for his political survival. He has been in power for over 25 years. Opposition groups and international donors are demanding the democratization of his regime.


DR Congo holds 75% of the world's cobalt which is used in batteries.

Ugandan journalist Moses Odokonyero explained to DW what drives Museveni to play such huge a role in the region.

"The President of Uganda has many interests; he has an interest in Somalia and in Congo. He was involved in Rwanda, Southern Sudan, and in the Central African Republic. He is clearly a guy who likes to influence the region. And the reason for that is very simple: he wants to use that as a bargaining chip when negotiating with the West. "

Uganda's internal political development is highly dependent on the opinion of Western countries. The US alone accounts for almost half of Uganda's national budget.

Uganda's threats to pull out its troops from peacekeeping missions in Somalia, Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo should be seen in this context. They may not be serious; however they could change Uganda's negotiating position considerably.

Some Western countries have already frozen their budget support to Kampala. Whether more radical sanctions will follow is yet to be seen.

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Unit 731: Sejarah Kelam Penjajahan Jepang di Tiongkok

TSCFWA -- Unit 731 adalah suatu unit rahasia untuk pengembangan senjata biologi yang dimiliki Jepang pada tahun 1937-1945.

Unit ini dipimpin oleh Jenderal Ishii Shiro dan berkantor pusat di pinggiran kota Harbin dan bercabang ke Manchuria.

Organisasi Jepang ini merupakan suatu kompleks laboratorium besar yang terdiri dari 150 gedung dan 5 perkemahan satelit dengan 3.000 ilmuwan dan teknisi bekerja di dalamnya.

Pada tahun 1932, Ishii Shiro mendirikan suatu Laboratorium Pencegahan Epidemik di sekolah medis militer Tokyo dan Unit Togo di desa Bei-inho, sebelah tenggara kota Harbin.

Laboratorium ini sempat ditutup pada tahun 1934 karena 12 orang tawanan perang lari dari fasilitas tersebut dan pasukan gerilya Tiongkok berhasil menyerang pasukan Ishii.

Dua tahun kemudian, Unit Togo dibuka kembali dan berganti nama menjadi Departemen Pencegahan Epidemik Tentara Kwantung (Unit Ishii) dan pada tahun 1940 diubah kembali menjadi Departemen Pencegahan Epidemik dan Purifikasi Air (menjadi Unit 731 pada tahun 1941).

Selain di Manchuria, militer Jepang juga memiliki cabang di Beijing (Unit 1855), Nanking (Unit 1644), Guangzhou (Unit 8604), dan Singapura (Unit 9420) dengan total 20.000 staf secara keseluruhan. Masing-masing cabang melakukan eksperimen biologi dan kimia yang telah dikembangkan oleh Unit 731.

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Perbandingan Kekuatan Kapal Selam Korea Utara dan Selatan

TSCFWA -- Dalam kekuatan militer, Korea Utara dan Selatan mempunyai keseimbangan dan menjadi salah satu terkuat di dunia.

Salah satu kekuatan yang cukup disegani adalah kekuatan kapal selamnya.

Korea Utara menang dalam jumlah yang mencapai 70 buah. Sementara Korea Selatan mempunyai armada kapal selam yang lebih canggih dan bahkan sudah diekspor.

Video berikut menunjukkan beberapa perbandingan tersebut:

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5 Facts about India's Newly Tested Nuclear-Capable Agni-IV Missile

TSCFWA -- India successfully test fired the nuclear-capable strategic ballistic missile Agni IV today. The launch came exactly a week after India tested the Agni-V, the country's longest range nuclear capable missile. The missile was successfully launched from Kalam Island off Odisha coast. India has a battery of nuclear capable missile like, the Agni series, Prithvi series and the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile.

Here are 5 facts about the Agni-IV:

1. Agni-IV, which is a nuclear capable missile, has a range of over 4,000 kilometres. The Agni-V, which was tested last week has a range of over 5,000 kilometres. Both missiles are capable of covering most parts of China.

2. The Agni-IV missile, which is about 20 metres tall and weighs 17 tons, was launched from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler Island, at around 12 noon.

3. This was the sixth trial of the Agni-IV missile. The previous test was conducted on November 09, 2015. This fire and forget missile is navigated using a jam proof ring laser gyroscope. The re-entry heat shield can withstand temperatures in the range of over 4,000 degrees centigrade and makes sure the avionics function normally with inside temperature remaining less than 50 degrees centigrade.

4. Agni-IV missile is equipped with 5th generation on-board computer and distributed architecture. It has the latest features to correct and guide itself for in-flight disturbances. The sophisticated surface-to-surface missile is equipped with modern and compact avionics to provide high level of reliability.

5. With the most accurate ring laser gyro-based inertial navigation system (RINS) and supported by highly reliable redundant micro navigation system (MINGS), the Agni-IV ensures the vehicle reaches the target within two-digit accuracy.

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Ten Years of Russian Cyber Attacks on Other Nations

TSCFWA -- In the past decade the Russian government has mounted more than a dozen significant cyber attacks against foreign countries, sometimes to help or harm a specific political candidate, sometimes to sow chaos, but always to project Russian power.

Starting in 2007, the Russians attacked former Soviet satellites like Estonia, Georgia, and Ukraine, and then branched out to Western nations like the U.S. and Germany. U.S. intelligence officials and cyber experts say a strategy that pairs cyber attacks with on-line propaganda was launched by Russian intelligence a decade ago and has been refined and expanded ever since, with Putin's blessing. Russia has shut down whole segments of cyber space to punish or threaten countries.

Related: FBI Agrees With CIA Assessment That Russia Wanted Trump to Win

Mike McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, says there is a bottom line to the pattern of hacking.

"For years now, the Kremlin has looked for ways to disrupt democracies, to help the people that they like to come to power and to undermine the credibility of the democratic process," said McFaul. Russia also seeks to weaken the European Union and NATO.

Stefan Meister, who has written extensively on Russian security strategies for the German Council of Foreign Relations, calls the attacks, which often include fake news, "a security strategy, not a media strategy."

"It is a growing policy that's strong and successful and they're getting bolder," Meister told NBC News. "They are risk takers. Putin is a risk taker, who thinks, 'If this doesn't work, we'll do something else.'"

A chronology developed by NBC News from U.S. intelligence sources shows Russia was involved in the following attacks:

April - May 2007: Estonia, a tiny Baltic nation that was occupied by the Soviet Union until 1991, angered Moscow by planning to move a Russian World War II memorial and Russian soldiers' graves. Russia retaliating by temporarily disabling Estonia's internet, an especially harsh blow in the world's most internet dependent economy. The distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack focused on government offices and financial institutions, disrupting communications.
June 2008: In a similar attack, Russia punished another former possession in the Baltic. When the Lithuanian government outlawed the display of Soviet symbols, Russian hackers defaced government web pages with hammer-and-sickles and five-pointed stars.
August 2008: After Georgia's pro-Western government sent troops into a breakaway republic backed by Moscow, Russian land, sea and air units invaded the country - and Russian hackers attacked Georgia's internet, the first time Russia coordinated military and cyber action. Georgia's internal communications were effectively shut down.
January 2009: As part of an effort to persuade the president of Kyrgyzstan to evict an American military base, Russian hackers shut down two of the country's four internet service providers with a DDOS attack. It worked. Kyrgyzstan removed the military base. Subsequently, Kyrgyzstan received $2 billion in aid and loans from the Kremlin.
April 2009: After a media outlet in Kazakhstan published a statement by Kazakhstan's president that criticized Russia, a DDOS attack attributed to Russian elements shut down the outlet.
August 2009: Russian hackers shut down Twitter and Facebook in Georgia to commemorate the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.
May 2014: Three days before Ukraine's presidential election, a Russia-based hacking group, took down the country's election commission in an overnight attack. Even a back-up system was taken down, but Ukrainian computer experts were able to restore the system before election day. Ukrainian police say they arrested hackers who were trying to rig the results. The attack was aimed at creating chaos and hurting the nationalist candidate while helping the pro-Russian candidate. Russia's preferred candidate lost.
March 2014: For the second time, the Russian government allegedly coordinated military and cyber action. A DDOS attack 32 times larger than the largest known attack used during Russia's invasion of Georgia disrupted the internet in Ukraine while Russian-armed pro-Russian rebels were seizing control of the Crimea.
May 2015: German investigators discovered hackers had penetrated the computer network of the German Bundestag, the most significant hack in German history. The BfV, German's domestic intelligence service, later said Russia was behind the attack and that they were seeking information not just on the workings of the Bundestag, but German leaders and NATO, among others. Security experts said hackers were trying to penetrate the computers of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic party.
December 2015: Hackers believed to Russian took over the control center of a Ukrainian power station, locking controllers out of their own systems and eventually leaving 235,000 homes without power.
June 2015 - November 2016: In the U.S., Russian hackers penetrated Democratic party computers, and gained access to the personal emails of Democratic officials, which in turn were distributed to the global media by WikiLeaks. Both the CIA and the FBI now believe the intrusions were intended to undermine the election, hurt Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump win.
October 2015: Security experts believe that the Russian government tried to hack into the Dutch government's computers to pull out a report about the shoot down of Flight MH17 over Ukraine. The Dutch Safety Board headed the investigation of the Malaysia Airlines downing, and concluded that the passenger plane was brought down by a Russian-made missile fired from an area held by pro-Russian rebels.
January 2016: A security firm announces that it believes Russian hackers were behind attacks on Finland's Foreign Ministry several years before.
December 2016: Earlier this month, BfV head Hans-Georg Maasen warned "There is growing evidence of attempts to influence the federal election next year," referring to German parliamentary elections likely to take place in September 2017. Maasen specifically cited Russia as the source of the attacks, adding, "We expect a further increase in cyber attacks in the run-up to the elections." Experts believe the Russians are trying to damage incumbent Chancellor Merkel, who supported sanctions against Putin's personal associates after Russia annexed Crimea.

Scott Borg, president of U.S. Consequences Unit, a cybersecurity firm that tracks Russian attacks, says that even as Russia's ambition grows it also acts on a much smaller scale. Said Borg, "They have tried to influence local elections in three or four eastern European countries as well as Germany."

The variety of the attacks does not surprise Meister of the German Council of Foreign Relations. He says the Russians tailor the attacks to the circumstances of each country.

"I think our politicians still underestimate the Russian activities," he added, saying protection against cyber attacks still doesn't have the priority it should.

Despite U.S. intelligence's belief that Russian hacks of the U.S. election were aimed at helping Trump or spreading doubt about the outcome, Meister thinks there is a simpler explanation: The Russians just revel in it.

"Their successful hacking and influencing -- we are frightened by that and that makes them happy," said Meister.

Meister and Borg also believe the rise in Russian cyber attacks has been encouraged by the most powerful men in Russia, pointing to 2012 papers by Vladimir Putin and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the head of the military. Putin wrote an article in 2012 called "Russia in a Changing World" that advocated using a "complex of tools and methods for achieving foreign policy goals without deploying weapons." The piece called the internet and social media "effective tool[s]."

Around that same time, said Borg, Russia more effectively organized its cyber efforts, increasingly using its intelligence services to do the job rather than contracting with cyber gangs.

Both Meister and Borg believe Russia sees its cyber effort as a response to Western pressure and as an effective weapon for a nation that knows its conventional military arsenal of tanks, planes and ships is outmatched.

Related: Why Obama Didn't Do More About Russian Hack

As a senior U.S. intelligence official told NBC News, "Nukes may give them status but cyber gives them a usable strategic capacity, potential for active measures."

"It's pragmatic," said Borg. "If they can put in a good effort, even if they don't have a good shot at winning, they'll do it. The benefits are so great they are willing to take risks. If you can greatly diminish NATO or undermine U.S. relations with Europe, it's worth it to them."

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Sudan to Purchaced Six Chinese FTC-2000 Trainer Jets

TSCFWA -- Sudan has ordered Six FTC-2000 jet trainers, which are the export version of China's JL-9 aircraft, from Guizhou Aircraft Industries Corporation (GAIC).

The deal was disclosed by Guizhou Aircraft Industries Corporation (GAIC) director Wang Wenfei, during an interview with China Aviation News on 3 November.

Though Sudan is the only known export customer for the FTC-2000, “other African countries, including Nigeria, were also considering acquiring the type," Wafei was quoted as saying by DefenceWeb Friday.

Aviation Industries Corporation of China (AVIC) officials had told IHS Jane’s during 2015 Paris Airshow that an African country had ordered the FTC 2000.

FTC-2000 Mountain Eagle (Shanying) is capable of delivering both basic and advanced pilot training and also has a secondary combat capability. Its cockpit layout and low intakes are designed to improve visibility for the pilots. The aircraft is fitted with a pulse Doppler radar, INS/GPS, weapons computer etc. Top speed of the FTC-2000 is Mach 1.5.

The FTC-2000 is heavily based on the Guizhou JJ-7/FT-7, the Chinese-developed trainer version of the Shenyang-built MiG-21. The JJ-7 has subsequently been retired from Chinese service, while the JL-9 was first introduced to the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in 2011.

The JL-9/FTC-2000 is capable of training pilots for aircraft like the J-7, Shenyang J-8, Chengdu/Pakistan Aeronautical Complex JF-17, and Sukhoi Su-27. The trainer aircraft is powered by a Guizhou Liyang WP-13 turbojet equipped with an afterburner. The aircraft has five hard points, of which three can carry fuel tanks, and a 23 mm cannon.

Sudan already operates the F-7, making the acquisition of the FTC-2000 a sensible one in terms of logistics and spares. Sudan’s air force has a dozen F-7s and a dozen K-8 jet trainers in service.

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Historically, Disputed South China Sea Belongs to Indonesia's Sriwijaya and Majapahit Kingdom

TSCFWA -- Sriwijaya control was thus complete over the two main gateways to maritime trade lanes into Nusantara, which are Malacca Straits in the north and Sunda Straits in the south. Never being complacent, from Kedah Sriwijayan ground forces pushed eastward to conquer Patani on the eastern coast of Malay Peninsula, opening access to maritime traffics in the Gulf of Siam and South China Sea.

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Read: Majapahit Control over South China Sea

The Majapahit Empire was founded in 1293 in the South China Sea, over a large area that now forms Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, East Timor and the Philippines. 

Just before its emergence, a kingdom known as Singhasari was the strongest in the area. In 1290, Kublai Khan, successor of Ghengis Khan, sent an envoy to the leader of Singhasari, asking that they put themselves under his protection and pay them tribute. Instead of complying with their request, the ruler refused, branded the Khans messenger like a thief, cut his ears and sent him back to Kublai Khan.

Source

According to the Kota Kapur inscription discovered on Bangka Island, the empire conquered most of southern Sumatra and the neighbouring island of Bangka, as far as Lampung. Also, according to the inscriptions, Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa launched a military campaign against Java in the late 7th century, a period which coincided with the decline of Tarumanagara in West Java and the Kalingga Kingdom in Central Java.

The Sriwijaya empire thus grew to control the trade on the Strait of Malacca, the Sunda Strait, the South China Sea, the Java Sea, and the Karimata Strait.

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China to Build 20 Floating Nuclear Plants in South China Sea

TSCFWA -- China may build mobile nuclear power plants in the South China Sea, in what could be an act of defiance by Beijing against a ruling that challenged its claims to sovereignty in the disputed waters.

“Marine nuclear power platform construction will be used to support China's effective control in the South China Sea,” the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said on a social media account, the state-run Global Times reported.

The report said the platforms, which will be constructed on the islands and reefs of the South China Sea’s Nansha chain, are meant “to ensure freshwater.” The Nansha chain is called Spratly Islands by Beijing’s rivals.

“In the past, the freshwater provision to troops stationed in the South China Sea could not be guaranteed, and could only be provided by boats delivering barrels of water,” the Global Times cited the report as saying.

The CNNC further emphasized Beijing’s resolve to step up the development of the South China, which has long been the subject of a territorial row between China and a number of its neighbors.

“In the future, as the South China Sea electricity and power system is strengthened,” the report added.

On Friday, Chinese website The Paper quoted China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) engineer Zhu Hanchao as saying that 20 marine nuclear platforms were under construction.

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Turkey-Israel Relation

TSCFWA -- Turkish aid shipments finally arrived in the Gaza Strip via Israel, a week after Israel and Turkey announced to end a six-year rift and restore ties. The aids are one of normalization agreements ending the six-year rift between Israel and Turkey. Turkish Foreign Minister, Jawish Oglu said, the aids as the first step to liberate the Gaza blockade. Will it become a reality?

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Freedom From Domineering Power

A Glimpse Of Freedom

By John Pilger

May 25, 2006

The long, wide, bleak streets of cobblestones and tufts of petrified grass reach for the sacred mountain Illimani, whose pyramid of snow is like a watchtower. There was almost no life here when I first came to Bolivia as a young reporter – only the freezing airport and its inviting oxygen tent; now almost a million people live in El Alto, the highest city in the world, the creation of modern capitalism.

El Alto is as symbolic of Latin America today as Cerro Rico is of the past. A hill almost solid with silver, Cerro Rico was mined by slave labour and served to bankroll the Spanish empire for three centuries. Both places are in the poorest country on a continent of 225 million inhabitants, half of whom are poor. Debt bondage, even slavery, still exists secretly in Bolivia, whose hill of silver now takes second place to other natural treasures of gas and water. I arrived in El Alto in the early hours of the morning. Through skeins of fog, the moonlit streets were deserted save for silhouettes of hunched men swaying in the cold, framed in doorways, waiting, hoping, for the morning’s first auctioned work.

Bolivia was second only to Chile as a laboratory of “neoliberalism”, the jargon for capitalism in its pure, Hobbesian form. The Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs designed the “shock therapy” that the IMF and World Bank administered in Bolivia, adding another dimension of poverty and suffering. With the privatisation of the mines, tin finally collapsed, and the miners and their families headed for La Paz, settling on the bitter plain at El Alto, a thousand feet above the capital, without water and power and with little food. Farmers forced off their land by IMF diktats followed them, and their mass migration was typical of that of millions driven out of secure work by the foreign managers of the “Washington consensus”, a fanaticism conceived at Bretton Woods in 1944 as a tool of empire. (Sachs sees himself as a liberal and is mentor to the gormless Bono, of Live Aid et cetera fame.)

Until now, Bolivia’s modern presidents have all been rich, white men who ran the country on behalf of a tiny wealthy minority. Owners of vast tracts of land control the lowlands around Santa Cruz, reminiscent of their equivalent in South Africa. The pre-Inca indigenous majority were the “blacks” who were politically invisible, except as occasionally troublesome workers, especially the miners. People chewed coca leaves to relieve hunger; many died in their early middle years and their children were stunted. “My mother was worked to death on a big estate near Santa Cruz,” a campesino told me. “If she was found learning to read, she was severely punished.”

The last president but one, Sánchez de Lozada, a multimillionaire mine-owner now exiled in Maryland, had grown up in the United States and spoke better English than Spanish. He was known as “El Gringo”. In colluding with the IMF and selling off the country’s gas and water at knock-down prices to Brazilian, American and European multinationals, he fulfilled his role, like so many Latin American presidents, as Washington’s viceroy. Indeed, Richard Nixon’s contemptuous remark about Latin America – “People don’t give a shit about the place” – was quite wrong; America’s imperial design was inscribed on the lives of the people in its “backyard”.

Last year, I interviewed Pablo Solón, son of the great Bolivian muralist Walter Solón, in an extraordinary room covered by his father’s epic brush strokes. More visceral than Diego Rivera’s images of the Mexican revolution, the pictures of injustice rage at you; the barbaric manipulation of people’s lives shall not pass, they say. Pablo Solón, now an adviser to the government of Evo Morales, said: “The story of Bolivia is not unlike so many resource-rich countries where the majority are very poor. It is the story of the government behind the government and what the American embassy allows, for in that building is the true source of power in this country. The US doesn’t have major investments here; what they fear is another Chávez; they don’t want the ‘bad example’ to spread to Ecuador and beyond – even to Nigeria, which might be inspired to tax the oil companies as never before. For the US, any genuine solution to poverty spells trouble.”

“How much would it cost to solve the poverty of Bolivia?” I asked.

“A billion dollars; it’s nothing. It’s the example that matters, because that’s the threat.”

I drove out of El Alto with Juan Delfín, an indigenous church deacon, taxi driver and artist, who spoke about the conquistadores if they were within his memory. This is a society where a half-millennium of history is a presence and its subjugation and impoverishment are understood with anger. With Illimani looming ahead of us, a cemetery consumed the horizon. On the other side of the road was a small hill not of silver, but rubbish: a stinking, smoking, acrid hell of dust and dead dogs and wild pigs and women in traditional bowler hats digging with pickaxes for something, anything. “Here you have the symbol of everything we live and reject,” said Delfín.

He took me to a plaque with the names of 24 people shot to death by the army in October 2003 when de Lozada tried to stop the people of El Alto marching down to La Paz in protest against his selling-off of gas. Juan Delfín linked their deaths to the lines of ordinary graves, many of them children, “who also died violently, from poverty”. A shepherd boy emerged from a pile of stones where he lived, looking too small for his age.

After de Lozada was driven from Bolivia, his successor Carlos Mesa capitulated to the demands of the social movements, such as El Alto’s Federation of Neighbourhood Committees. These are a new phenomenon of Latin America; the Landless People’s Movement in Brazil is the best known, but the most effective, politically, have been in Bolivia. For more than five years, the movements included almost the entire population of the city of Cochabamba as they fought the “water wars” against a foreign consortium led by a subsidiary of the American multinational Bechtel, which de Lozada had handed the city’s public water supply, causing water bills to consume a third of meagre incomes. Even the right to collect rainwater belonged to Bechtel. With an annual revenue of more than $17bn, the company’s power is such that it expected and got (without the inconvenience of bidding) the contract to rebuild the US fortress in occupied Iraq. Yet, not only was Bechtel driven out of Bolivia in 2000, shortly followed by its mentor de Lozada, but the company has now dropped its compensation action against the government. It is a victory of huge significance, because it warns other multinationals in Bolivia (such as British Gas) that even if the government is prepared to compromise the wrath of the people, the movements are not.

It is also a warning to Evo Morales, whose electoral victory in December remains largely symbolic here. An indigenous man now leads Bolivia for the first time; the chequered pre-Inca flags are proudly on high everywhere. “The elections aren’t something we asked for, ever,” said Oscar Olivera, the Cochabamba union leader who led the anti-Bechtel revolt. “What the social movements need to do now is to continue accumulating popular forces, to build up our ability to pressure whatever government that comes. A Morales government would be less difficult to love, but it will still be difficult.”

Unlike his absurd caricature abroad – a previous American ambassador to Bolivia likened Morales to Osama Bin Laden and his party (MAS) to an Andean Taliban – “Evo”, as he known here, is not a “radical”, not yet. His theatrical announcement of “nationalisation” on 1 May did not mean expropriation, and he made it clear the multinationals would not lose any rights. What they will lose is their grotesque share of profits and benefits; they will now have to pay true market prices for Bolivia’s gas, along with a proper rate of tax. His vice-president, Álvaro García Linera, has said “capitalism will last for 50 years in Bolivia”. Before the election he told me: “In a small country like Bolivia, you can’t be heroes.”

But many have been heroes, in the blockade of Cochabamba, in the surge of people from El Alto down into La Paz, facing bullets and expelling their gringo president. Out of the new spirit abroad in Latin America, perhaps the Bolivians and Venezuelans have brought true revolutionary change closest. The contrast is with the “left-wing” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil, who agreed to IMF terms even before he took office and who has distributed less land than his right-wing predecessor.

The likeable Evo is on notice above all with his own people, but also with the Americans, the “government behind the government”. Unless Washington can “lobotomise him” (as it did with Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Haiti), it is likely to encourage a secessionist movement in the landowners’ heartland of Santa Cruz, where the gas is and where the government has promised to redistribute unused land. Bolivia, like Venezuela, has glimpsed its freedom and demands our support.

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Stop Bush & Blair's terror

Stop Bush & Blair's terror

THE RESULT of George Bush spreading his version of 'freedom and democracy' is evident worldwide: three Guantanamo Bay prisoners have hanged themselves, while death and destruction continues in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bob Severn
Following the three Guantanamo deaths, the US administration callously dismissed the suicides as "a good PR [public relations] move" co-ordinated by the prisoners.

Guantanamo's base commander, Rear Admiral Harry Harris, was equally unconcerned about the deaths. "They have no regard for human life, neither ours nor their own," he said.

The prison camp, where only ten of the 460 prisoners have ever been charged for a crime, has led even Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen - a firm backer of the US/UK invasion and occupation of Iraq - to call for facilities at Guantanamo to be closed down. Of course, he's saying this to limit embarrassing PR!

Bad PR for 21st century imperialism does not stop there though. Leading politicians and officials in Afghanistan, supposed to be an example of US-exported democracy, have been exposed in a 220-page report by the UN high commissioner for human rights.

The UN report (uncovered by the guardian after being shelved for 18 months), accuses the former warlords, now in positions of power, of war crimes including massacres, torture and mass rape.

Last week a British solder was killed, the first since 3,300 UK troops were sent to the Afghan province of Helmand, as battles increase between coalition troops and resurgent Taliban forces. Two more soldiers were seriously injured. Two US soldiers were killed the Tuesday before, with dozens of Taliban and Afghan soldiers killed in the past month.

Meanwhile, Bush and Blair have tried to divert attention away from the mess they have made by trumpeting the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqarwi, al-Qa'ida leader in Iraq. The US President said: "It is a victory for the war on terror".

Unfortunately for Bush, Zarqarwi's death will not quell the insurgency. This is not only because al-Qa'ida have said they will avenge his death but also because the 'insurgency' is not just al-Qa'ida.

Much of the violence in Iraq comes from militias allied to different ethnic groups, Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish, not just fighting the occupation but fighting each other for political control.

Guantanamo, Afghanistan and Iraq have not happened because George Bush wants to establish worldwide peace but because the US government and their corporate friends want to control more oil resources, as well as secure the US as economic and military ruler of the world.

The Socialist Party has opposed these imperialist wars of occupation and calls for the immediate withdrawal of troops.

However, to cut across religious and ethnic sectarianism requires the building of socialist forces in these countries and the coming to power of governments made up of and representing working-class and poor people.

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D-8 Figures

D-8, also known as Developing-8, is an arrangement for development cooperation among the following member countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. It also adds a new dimension to enrich the social and economic relations of its partners.

Following the “Conference on Cooperation for Development”, on October 22, 1996, and after a series of preparatory meetings, the establishment of D-8 was announced officially by the Summit of Heads of State/Government in Istanbul, on June 15,1997 (Istanbul Declaration).

The objectives of D-8 are to improve developing countries’ positions in the world economy, diversify and create new opportunities in trade relations, enhance participation in decision-making at the international level, and provide better standards of living.

D-8 is a global arrangement rather than a regional one, as the composition of founding members reflects. Membership will be open to other developing countries subscribing to the goals, objectives, and principles of the group, sharing common bonds.

D-8 is a forum with no adverse impact on bilateral and multilateral commitments of the member countries, emanating from their membership to regional and international organisations.

Principal organs

The principal organs of D-8 are the Summit, the Council, and the Commission.

The Summit, which is the supreme organ of D-8 is composed of the Heads of State/Government of member states. It is convened once every two years.

The Council is composed of the Ministers in charge of Foreign Affairs of member states. It is the political decision making organ of D-8, and acts as a forum for thorough and comprehensive consideration of the issues.

The Commission is the executive organ of D-8. It is composed of senior officials appointed by their respective governments. Each Commissioner is responsible for national coordination in his/her respective country.

An Executive Director is appointed to ensure efficient communication, expedite the flow of information, and supervise the provision of services for the meetings.

Areas of cooperation

At the outset, ten sectors have been identified for cooperation and project development. They are: Trade; Industry; Telecommunications and Information; Finance, Banking and Privatization; Rural Development; Science and Technology; Poverty Alleviation and Human Resources Development; Agriculture; Energy; Environment; and Health.

On the basis of a division of labour for the coordination of D-8 activities, each sector is assigned to a member country.

Although 50-60 projects were originally proposed at the First Summit, in order not to spread resources too thinly, the following six priority projects were selected to be launched immediately:

Establishment of an International Marketing and Trading Company
Workshop on Poverty Alleviation
Establishment of an Industrial and Technological Data Bank Network among D-8
Establishment of Takaful Schemes (Insurance), including joint ventures between the companies of D-8
Cooperation for the Development of Inland and Coastal Aquaculture
Design, Development, Production, and Marketing of Agricultural Aircraft
D-8 countries have large, young populations with a growing and increasingly skilled labour force

D-8 member countries have relatively large populations. The total population of D-8 countries was around 800 million in 1997. This corresponds to some 13.5 percent of the world population. In four of the eight countries the population is well over one hundred million, in one country it is more than two hundred million.

After relatively high annual growth rates recorded in previous decades, population growth is gradually coming down in all D-8 countries, similar to the phenomenon observed in the rest of the world. Due to rapid growth in the past, a large part of their population will continue to be young for the foreseeable future, constituting a factor of dynamism in D-8 societies.

Moreover, an increasing number of these young people are being educated and trained in universities and research institutions in order to meet the requirements of high-tech industries for skilled labour.

http://www.mfa.gov.tr/d-8/facts.figures01.htm

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