Geopolitical thread

Samudragupta · Post by **Samudragupta** » 09 Aug 2011 20:21

A Continent, Sinking
???

Europe isn't going quietly. In this season of continental crisis, both financial and existential, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has yelled at European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet. The European Union commissioner in charge of justice, Viviane Reding, has insulted Sarkozy, who has fired back. Leaders of smaller countries have openly complained about German pigheadedness and French arrogance. The Germans and the northern countries call the Greeks freeloaders, liars, and worse; the Greeks have said Germany should return gold and antiquities looted by the Nazis.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, meanwhile, chastised certain members of the alliance over its less-than-successful military intervention in Libya, causing the French and German ambassadors to stalk out of the room.

And everyone seems to be disappointed with Angela Merkel, the calculating physicist who is the cautious chancellor of a united Germany, the largest, richest, and most important country in Europe. Merkel, who has an active and reciprocated distaste for Sarkozy, has her eye more on state elections and her weak coalition partner than on the broader challenge of saving the most important Western political project since World War II.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2 ... =obnetwork

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 09 Aug 2011 20:33

^^^ Don't worry Europe - your person is still there to transfer funds from India

AjitK · Post by **AjitK** » 11 Aug 2011 21:27

Spiegel:The Gorbachev Files

By early September, about three weeks after the August coup, the financial situation in the USSR was so precarious that Gorbachev took then German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher aside while Genscher was visiting Moscow and, abandoning any sense of pride, said:

Gorbachev: We need money for current expenses, so that we can continue to live and maintain imports while the negotiations on the restructuring of our short-term debts are underway. I plan to discuss this with Kohl on the phone today.

Genscher: I don't know if you should address such a delicate matter on the telephone. I can send the chancellor an encrypted telegram right away, so that only he can read it.

Gorbachev: We need two billion dollars. Perhaps you advance half a billion from the payments we are to receive from you in October, and we'll take another half out of our reserves. We hope to obtain the second billion in the Middle East . I have sent (the deputy head of the KGB) Primakov there with this mission.

Genscher: I don't have the authority to respond to that. But I will convey everything to the chancellor right away.

Kohl sent Köhler to Moscow. Gorbachev, who was already predicting horrific scenarios in light of the hesitant support from the West, met with Köhler on Sept. 12.

Gorbachev: What is happening with the assistance for the USSR ? We are negotiating, weighing the options and doing the calculations. This is simply inexcusable. It's reminiscent of the Weimar Republic in Germany . While the democrats argued with each other, Hitler came to power without any particular effort. Foreign countries owe us about $86 billion, which is roughly the sum we need now. I hope you will draw the necessary conclusions from what I have said.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 12 Aug 2011 09:07

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/2 ... 87084.html

\

WASHINGTON -- The United States will have spent a total of $3.7 trillion on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, costing 225,000 lives and creating 7.8 million refugees, by the time the conflicts end, according to a report released on Wednesday by Brown University.
The report, written by more than 20 economists, political scientists, lawyers, anthropologists and humanitarian personnel for Brown's Watson Institute for International Studies, gives staggering estimates for the cost of military action in those three countries. Nearly ten years since U.S. troops first entered Afghanistan, the report estimates the final cost of all three conflicts will be between $3.7 trillion and $4.4 trillion -- far higher than the $1 trillion price tag referenced by President Barack Obama earlier this year. The report estimates the U.S. government has already spent between $2.3 trillion to $2.7 trillion and will spend at least a trillion more over the next fifty years. In a video op-ed exclusive to HuffPost, some of the report's authors explained the high costs -- both past and future -- of the wars.Long-term obligations to war veterans will cause the price tag of the conflicts to climb for decades after troops have returned home. The report puts the cost of health care for veterans at between $600 to $950 billion, not peaking until the 2050s.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 13 Aug 2011 07:35

Five big uncertainties

1. The World Economy: Meltdown or Malaise? ...

2. Can the United States Pull Off a Strategic Adjustment? ...

3. Whither China? ...

4. The European Union: Pulling Together or Spinning Apart? ...

5. The Middle East: Up with the People or Up in Flames? ...

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 15 Aug 2011 12:27

Foreign Policy Magazine's "The Future Issue"

Contents:

1. Problems Will Be Global -- And Solutions Will Be, Too. A more multilateral world is just the beginning.

2. The World Will Be More Crowded -- With Old People. Actually, the children aren't our future.

3. The Shape of the Global Economy Will Fundamentally Change. It's not a crash, it's the new normal.

4. Get Ready for the Democratization of Destruction. The way the world's militaries wage war is going to change -- drastically.

5. The South China Sea Is the Future of Conflict. The 21st century's defining battleground is going to be on water.

6. Everything Will Be Too Big to Fail. The density dynamic is worth banking on, but that doesn't mean it won't cost us.

7. Micromultinationals Will Run the World. And cheap robots will help them do it.

8. The Americas, Not the Middle East, Will Be the World Capital of Energy. Adios, OPEC.

9. Technology Will Take on a Life of Its Own. Welcome to the Hybrid Age.

----

Epiphanies from Bob Woodward

Megatrends That Weren't. A look at yesterday's Next Big Things, from the Japanese rising sun to Dow 36,000.

The FP Survey: The Internet

Think Again: War. World peace could be closer than you think.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 19 Aug 2011 07:43

The coming erosion of the European Union

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 19 Aug 2011 20:22

Nightwatch:

18 Aug 2011

North Korea-US: The United States has decided to provide financial assistance to North Korea in two programs, if not more. First the US has promised to provide North Korea with up to $900,000 in emergency flood assistance, the State Department said Thursday.

That announcement reinforces a decision by South Korea to offer almost $5 million worth of food aid to North Korea to help it recover from summer floods.

The second aid program concerns POW/MIA affairs. A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said the North had accepted a US proposal for talks on the resumption of the excavation of remains of American soldiers killed during the 1950-53 war.

"The US side, some time ago, sent an official letter to (North Korea) through an appropriate channel, requesting it to hold talks for the excavation of remains," he said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency on 19 August. North Korea accepted the proposal and work was already under way to arrange talks between the two militaries, the spokesman said.

Comment: In the official US position, these money payments are programmatic, for specific tasks by North Korea or for humanitarian purposes. North Korean leaders, however, will interpret them differently, as American bribes for returning to the six-party talks.

The US will argue that this aid is not related to nuclear talks. However, it is worth noting that the US almost never offers humanitarian aid to North Korea except when prospects for talks are positive. The US insists there is no linkage.

The North's leadership almost certainly will conclude that their program of belligerent provocations, mixed with non-substantive diplomatic flirtation, has worked again.

The search for the remains of Korean War POWs and decedents requires some perspective, namely what has transpired in Vietnam for more than two decades. In the search for the remains of US soldiers from the Vietnam War, the US paid about $1 million for every spade of earth turned to try to find the remains of US soldiers as guided by the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese let the US pay, knowing, but never divulging, where nearly every missing US soldier lies or still works.

North Korea is similar. The POW recovery program is an aid program for North Korea. The North Koreans do not search for their own dead, but are happy to accept American money for US dead. It is blood money for talks. However, the US and North Korean search teams, just like the US and Vietnamese search teams, never take seriously reports from even credible sources that US and allied soldiers are alive in North Korea or in Vietnam.

See the similarity of how US treats/works with TSP.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 20 Aug 2011 07:44

Blood Sport: The Georgetown-Chinese Army basketball brawl is pretty tame compared to these five geopolitical ballgames that spilled over into off-field violence.

Klaus · Post by **Klaus** » 23 Aug 2011 09:41

US prosecutors file a motion to dismiss all charges against Strauss-Kahn.

Related report: Prosecutors say that the case collapsed because of Guinean immigrant maid's repeated lies

So is DSK being prepared in case Sarkozy's actions in Libya get him into trouble later on?

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 25 Aug 2011 08:10

Think Again: Nonviolent Resistance: Resisting the temptation to take up arms against a dictator isn't just the moral thing to do -- it's also the most effective way to win.

Come together: is the world turning centripetal?

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 26 Aug 2011 07:31

Europe and Asia in the balance: A response to Richard Rosecrance

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 26 Aug 2011 20:14

A handy summary of discussion points on china.

Video: MUNK DEBATE ON CHINA

On June 17th, 2011, the Aurea Foundation held the seventh semi-annual Munk Debate in Toronto. The participants debated the question "Does the 21st century belong to China?" Historian and author Niall Fergusson and David Daokui Li from Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing argued for the resolution. Henry Kissinger, U.S. Secretary of State from 1973 to 1977, and Fareed Zakaria, CNN Host and Editor-at-Large of TIME Magazine, spoke against the resolution.

Henry Kissinger speaks for the first time here in public.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 27 Aug 2011 16:59

(X-posted in the Libyan thread)

Suez redux.

Events in Libya are the revenge of the disastrous Anglo-French invasion of Suez and Egypt in that infamous "police action" aimed at taking the Suez Canal in collaboration with the Israelis-who barely trusted the two.The catalyst for the invasion was the nationalisation of the Suez Canal by Nasser,who needed revenue from it to build the Aswan Dam.The two nations ,Whitehall and the Quai d'Orsay,have for more than half a century been gnashing their teeth at the failure of that attempt.British PM Anthony Eden and French premier Guy Mollet conspired well in advance to take military action and "liberate" the canal,by instigating an Israeli invasion of the Sinai Peninsula,which would see the Briish and French storm in as "Peacekeepers"! The failure of the US to support this infamy was due to a reluctant Eisenhower,who was standing for re-election and id not want to be labelled as a war-monger.The "police action" as the British described their invasion allowed the Soviet Union to connduct their own "police action" in Hungary without any allied military response.

We see today the same chicanery from both Britain and France this time in Libya where the Anglo-French alliance have won an infamous victory.If the Suez Canal as a conduit for oil was the prize in 1956,then lust for the oil riches of Libya is the driving force today for the abuse of yet another miserable UN resolution,ostensibly to protect civilians.The revenge killings by the rebels going on in Triploi right now strips the fig leaf of hukan rights as an excuse for ousting the Gadhaffi regime from power ,however dictatorial it may have been.If Col.Nasser was the villain then Col. Gadhaffi is the villain today.While Col. Nasser went on to become an historic icon for the Arab masses,Col.Gadhaffi is heading for an ignominious end,to be either caught alive and face a show trial as saddam did,or be killed in his lair as he has vowed,"victory or martyrdom".

The Imperial revisionists who would like nothing better than to set the clock back to the nostalgia of the colonial era and the plunder of nations hrough military action,"expedtionary warfare" as they lovingly call it,will do well to remember that their actions of latter-day piracy comes with risk and at a perilous price to pay, as we saw just a few years ago on another September morning in New York.

PS:The tech that took out Gadhaffi.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/08 ... geid=54737

Secret Sub

She lurked unseen beneath the Mediterranean Sea in the hours leading up to NATO's initial air strikes on Gadhafi's forces. More than 500 feet long and displacing 19,000 tons of water, the U.S. Navy's secretive, nuclear-powered, guided-missile submarine USS Florida was the key to taking down Libyan government air defenses, clearing the way for the NATO strike planes.

When President Barack Obama gave the order launching the U.S.-led Operation Odyssey Dawn on March 19, Florida quickly unleashed no fewer than 100 of its 160 Tomahawk cruise missiles in a massive barrage that wiped out potentially scores of anti-aircraft guns, radars and ground-to-air missiles. It was Florida's combat debut

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 27 Aug 2011 17:28

British chicanery exposed again...this time in Guyana (Brtitish Guiana),where govt. of Indian origin Cheddi Jagan,was overthrown by Churchill through the British Secret Service MI 5.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/au ... ish-guiana;

MI5 files reveal details of 1953 coup that overthrew British Guiana's leadersDocuments released by National Archives show prime minister Winston Churchill feared the colony would turn communist

Xcpt:

Secret documents declassified on Friday by MI5 reveal in detail how in 1953 the UK under prime minister Winston Churchill overthrew the elected government of British Guiana – now Guyana – because he feared its leftwing leader and his American wife would lead the British colony into the arms of the Soviet Union.

The documents reveal how British spies kept up intense scrutiny on Cheddi Jagan and his wife Janet, who together founded the People's Progressive party (PPP) to campaign for workers' rights and independence from British rule for the sugar-producing colony in northern South America.

The UK had agreed a new constitution in the early 1950s which allowed British Guiana's political parties to participate in national elections and form a government, but maintained power in the hands of the British-appointed governor.

Christopher Andrew, MI5's official historian, said the files provide new details of the coup and "further evidence that MI5 played a more important part in British decolonisation than is often realised".

The Jagans – a US-educated former dentist and his wife, born Janet Rosenberg in Chicago – seem an unlikely threat.

But the 39 folders of files released by the National Archives are crammed full of tapped phone conversations, intercepted letters and accounts of physical surveillance over more than a decade.

In 1951, the year after the Jagans founded their party, an MI5 agent based on the nearby island of Trinidad described them as "something new in British Guiana politics".

"Both are able and intelligent and the mere fact that Janet Jagan is white, young and not unattractive in appearance lends considerable interest to her activities and those of her husband," he said.

To British authorities, the Jagans were a headache. To the Americans, they were a potential communist threat on America's doorstep.

MI5 concluded that their party was "not receiving any financial support from any communist organisation outside the country".

Nonetheless, amid worsening strikes and unrest, Britain grew unhappy with the Jagans' "disruptive antics".

After the party won a huge majority in British Guiana's 1953 election, making Cheddi Jagan prime minister, Churchill decided to act.

"We ought surely to get American support in doing all that we can to break the communist teeth in British Guiana," he wrote to his colonial secretary.

In the end, Britain acted alone, mounting a military operation codenamed Operation Windsor. Churchill dispatched a warship, HMS Superb, and brought hundreds of troops by air and sea to secure key sites.

On 9 October, Britain suspended British Guiana's constitution, fired its legislators and arrested the Jagans.

The surprise military operation went according to plan. The Trinidad-based MI5 officer noted with quiet satisfaction that "it was obvious that the PPP leaders had no idea that the constitution would be suspended or that they might be arrested".

And the spy threw in a note of thanks for the women who helped the army to march on its stomach.

"I might add in parenthesis that catering arrangements for the airborne troops during their halt in Trinidad were carried out by Mrs Beadon, wife of the commissioner of police, Mrs Rahr, my wife and Joyce Huggins … and I understand that no less than 600 large sandwiches were cut by these ladies," he wrote.

An outraged Cheddi Jagan appealed by telegram to Britain's opposition Labour party for help. Leader Clement Attlee replied curtly: "Regret impossible to intervene."

For the next three years, British Guiana was ruled under emergency powers by the British governor and appointed officials, and the Jagans were kept under house arrest and strict surveillance.

In the years that followed, MI5 softened somewhat toward Cheddi Jagan, acknowledging that he was an astute and popular politician – though the agent based in Trinidad strongly disliked Janet Jagan, whom he described as a committed communist "uncompromising in her hatreds".

By the 1960s, Britain's spies worried that the Jagans would turn to newly communist Cuba, possibly making their country a base for Latin American revolutionaries.

"If the Jagans remain in power after independence and if their activities and views remain unchanged, they will represent a threat to the stability both of British Guiana itself and of the neighbouring territories," the officer wrote.

Andrew said it was clear from previously released official documents that successive British governments "gave in to pressure from the White House to allow the CIA to use subterranean means to ensure that the first leader of independent Guyana in 1966 was not Cheddi Jagan".

He added in a podcast for the National Archives (begins 5m 38sec in): "In most British colonies, there was a relatively friendly transfer of power to independent governments. British Guiana was a notable exception."

The Jagans remained a major force in Guyanese politics and Cheddi Jagan became prime minister again in 1961, when the batch of MI5 files ends.

After the cold war ended, Cheddi Jagan served as president of Guyana from 1992 until his death in 1997. His wife succeeded him between 1997 and 1999. She died in 2009, aged 88.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 28 Aug 2011 14:21

Even more chicanery,as this time the sordid role of a member of the Brtish Parliament,no less than a member of the House of Lords,stands exposed!

Havoc as jailed mercenary Simon Mann provides 'evidence’ of peer’s role in failed coup
Simon Mann, who led a failed coup in Equatorial Guinea, says his book will provide evidence of the financial involvement of a member of the House of Lords. Gues who?......no less than one Lord Archer,former jailbird!

Simon Mann was jailed in Africa for his part in the 2004 attempt to overthrow Equatorial Guinea's government
28 Aug 2011

As the author of such potboilers as Honour Among Thieves, Lord Archer is used to keeping his readers on tenterhooks. The disgraced former deputy chairman of the Tories could, however, be unimpressed by the cliff-hanger that Simon Mann has prepared for Cry Havoc, his book about his failed coup d’état in Equatorial Guinea.

Mann, who was jailed in Africa for his part in the 2004 attempt to overthrow the oil-rich state’s government, says his account will reveal “the financial involvement of a controversial and internationally famous member of the British House of Lords in the plot, backed up by banking records”.

Jeffrey Howard Archer has been linked with the coup in the past. Lord Archer is friends with Ely Calil, the Lebanese tycoon, who has denied Mann’s claims that he was one of the prime movers in the plot.

Documents from the bank accounts in Guernsey of two companies Mann used as vehicles for organising the coup showed a “J H Archer’’ paying $135,000 into one of the firms.

The peer, who was jailed in 2001 for perjury and perverting the course of justice, was unavailable for comment. In 2009, he said: “I am completely relaxed about it. Mr Mann has made clear that it’s nothing to do with me.’’

Related Articles
Simon Mann’s wife reveals his life of luxury at hands of 'lovely' dictator
10 Mar 2010
Ely Calil could have been a character from a Jeffrey Archer best-seller
03 Nov 2009

Mann did deny that the peer was the “J H Archer”. Intriguingly, however, that was before the mercenary was released from jail in 2009.

Rony · Post by **Rony** » 29 Aug 2011 10:12

Lilo wrote:A handy summary of discussion points on china.

Video: MUNK DEBATE ON CHINA

On June 17th, 2011, the Aurea Foundation held the seventh semi-annual Munk Debate in Toronto. The participants debated the question "Does the 21st century belong to China?" Historian and author Niall Fergusson and David Daokui Li from Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing argued for the resolution. Henry Kissinger, U.S. Secretary of State from 1973 to 1977, and Fareed Zakaria, CNN Host and Editor-at-Large of TIME Magazine, spoke against the resolution.

Henry Kissinger speaks for the first time here in public.

Nothing new which people here already don't know about the challenges China faces while it rises but Fareed Zakaria simply owns Niall Fergusson in that debate.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 30 Aug 2011 07:26

10 events from the past decade that have actually been more important than 9/11

x-post

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 30 Aug 2011 13:29

Lilo wrote:A handy summary of discussion points on china.

Video: MUNK DEBATE ON CHINA

On June 17th, 2011, the Aurea Foundation held the seventh semi-annual Munk Debate in Toronto. The participants debated the question "Does the 21st century belong to China?" Historian and author Niall Fergusson and David Daokui Li from Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing argued for the resolution. Henry Kissinger, U.S. Secretary of State from 1973 to 1977, and Fareed Zakaria, CNN Host and Editor-at-Large of TIME Magazine, spoke against the resolution.

Henry Kissinger speaks for the first time here in public.

The full debate can be viewed here:

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/300307-1

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 01 Sep 2011 09:11

Crisis Convergence: Why the global economic crash, the rise of the Tea Party, the Arab Spring, and China’s coming fall are all connected.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 02 Sep 2011 23:37

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/09/ ... .html?_r=1
Chinese Tycoon Says Controversy Could Kill Iceland Deal

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese tycoon whose plans to buy a large patch of land in Iceland have led to suspicions he is a stalking horse for Chinese expansionism said on Friday Beijing itself may force him to halt the deal because of the furor it has caused. Huang Nubo, a 55-year-old poetry-writing millionaire and former Chinese government official, reached a deal for 1 billion crowns ($8.8 million) to buy the 300 sq km (115 sq miles) Grimsstadir farm, where he plans to build a golf course, hotel and outdoor recreation area.
The planned project is the first major investment by a Chinese company in the North Atlantic island nation, but its strategic location has raised security concerns. "The government may say: 'Please do not go, do not make trouble," Huang told Reuters in an interview, referring to an application from his company to the Chinese government to approve the deal. Maybe they will think: 'Do not arouse any unhappiness for Sino-Iceland relations.' Then I will just give it up."

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 09 Sep 2011 08:23

The top ten economic worries to choose from -- and unemployment's only mid-pack.

Klaus · Post by **Klaus** » 12 Sep 2011 03:00

Former French president Chirac and then prime minister Villepin were given briefcases full of cash by African leaders, notably to finance election campaigns.

Bourgi, a lawyer with a network of African contacts who advised both men before changing camps in 2005 to aid now President Nicolas Sarkozy, said he "took part in handing over several briefcases to Jacques Chirac in person, at Paris city hall" when the future president was mayor in the 1980s and 1990s.

"There was never less than five million francs (more than 750,000 euros). It could go up to 15 million," Bourgi said, giving a detailed account of how Chirac would offer him beer while allegedly putting away the bundles of cash.

"I remember the first handing over of funds in Villepin's presence. The money came from Marshal Mobutu (Sese Seko), president of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo)."

"It was in 1995. He had given me 10 million francs that Jacques Foccart gave to Chirac," Bourgi said, referring to his predecessor, who was president Charles de Gaulle's pointman for Africa and then briefly also for Chirac.

Bourgi claimed the money handed over amounted to "several million francs a year. More during elections."

"In the run-up to the 2002 presidential campaign (won by Chirac), Villepin asked me outright 'what steps to take'."

Bourgi said five African leaders came to Villepin's office: Senegal's Abdoulaye Wade, Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaore, Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo and Congo-Brazzaville's Denis Sassou Nguesso and Gabon's Omar Bongo.

There, they handed over around 10 million dollars for the 2002 campaign, he alleged.

Senegal "categorically denies" the claims, a presidential office spokesman told AFP, while Gbagbo's former number two, Mamadou Koulibaly, confirmed that "there was a transfer of money" from Abidjan to Paris in 2002.

"Robert Bourgi is perfectly right," he told AFP, adding that the sum was "around two billion West African CFA francs (around three million euros) brought from Abidjan to Paris in a suitcase."

"I told the president (Gbagbo) that we're a poor country and we shouldn't have to pay to finance elections for politicians in rich countries," Koulibaly lamented.

Villepin has also been an ardent Iraq war supporter, it is quite possible that we could be looking at the actual man behind the Libyan fiasco too. It is upto smart forces to use the rifts and differences between Villepin and Sarkozy to their advantage.

Gurus here might have more keen observations about this.

Christopher Sidor · Post by **Christopher Sidor** » 14 Sep 2011 04:14

^^^^^
And we thought that Mr Rao, our former PM, was the lowest that a politician could stoop too.

Politicians are the same every. Nothing special about our politicians. They are the same horrid breed, everywhere.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 14 Sep 2011 11:38

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 54314.html

In the line of fire: A date with despots at Britain's arms fair
As London invites dictators to the world's biggest weapons expo, Tom Peck finds out how easy it is to assemble a hi-tech arsenal

Samudragupta · Post by **Samudragupta** » 15 Sep 2011 11:08

.....deleted.....

Rony · Post by **Rony** » 15 Sep 2011 23:55

Russia, N. Korea To Hold Joint Military Exercises

Russia and North Korea will stage their first joint military exercises next year after agreeing to expand their ties during Kim Jong-Il's visit to Russia last month, a general said on Sept. 13.

The decision to stage the unprecedented search-and-rescue naval operations was reached during a late-August visit to Pyongyang by Russia's Eastern Military District commander Igor Muginov, Interfax reported.

"The idea is to hold the joint rescue maneuvers next year," Muginov said in reference to a Japanese press report suggesting that the exercises could begin later this year.

Muginov's visit to Pyongyang for talks with one of the Stalinist state's top army commanders came less than a week after Kim held rare talks in Siberia with President Dmitry Medvedev that focused on trade and economic assistance.

North Korea rarely stages joint maneuvers with other nations, and Russia's involvement will be watched closely by the United States and South Korea, which conduct regular war games in the region.

The Russia general didn't say how many ships will take part in the drills or disclose exactly when the exercises might begin.

Samudragupta · Post by **Samudragupta** » 16 Sep 2011 23:10

Americans are seriously trying to Europeanize the Central Asia...the Northern Distribution network is only one such move where coutries as south as Afghanistan will be tied with the northern and western countries through trade and transportation....Its clear they are trying to change the strategic allignment of Afghanistan from the South-East to North-West...

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 16 Sep 2011 23:55

I thought there was CAR thread. I could not locate it, so I am posting this here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cleo-pask ... ?ref=india

The author of the blog is an Associate Fellow of Chatham House { formerly Royal Institute of International Affairs}. So this is what they are thinking, huh?

As with parents all over the world, Central Asians are currently sending their kids to whatever schools are available and affordable in the hope that the education, including a second language, will give them more opportunities. Low cost English schools would prove tremendously popular, and open Central Asia up to the world in ways nothing else can.

While sending over legions of grade three teaches from Dubuque might not be practical, there is a closer and more appropriate alternative. India graduates large numbers of highly qualified English-speaking teachers every year. Apart from their educational skills, many are culturally attuned to local conditions, with historic links to the region.

With funding from foundations, and a staff and administration from India, it would be possible to quickly set up a network of affordable English language schools across Central Asia. One would also expect that, as English catches on, private English medium schools for the elite would also prosper, as would eventual links with English-speaking universities around the world.

The result would be more cohesion and stability for the region, and a population that is better equipped to engage with the opportunities the English-speaking world -- from the US, to India, to the UK, to Australia, to South Africa -- has to offer. So, what are we waiting for?

1) Good way to teach, "Indian English"

2) Good employment opportunities for the brave Indians.
3) Good opportunities for some Indians to see new land and culture.
4) Good opportunity to spread "Indicness" around.
5) Last but not least, if West is going to spend the money, who are we

It is after all peace mission

I recommend the West to pay good Life Term, Long Term, Short term disability insurance as benefits to these brave Indian teachers.

Christopher Sidor · Post by **Christopher Sidor** » 17 Sep 2011 20:09

Marten wrote:
Christopher Sidor wrote:^^^^^
And we thought that Mr Rao, our former PM, was the lowest that a politician could stoop too.

Politicians are the same every. Nothing special about our politicians. They are the same horrid breed, everywhere.
PVNR? Could you please enlighten us?

During PVNR tenure many rumors and some blatant lies, were norm, especially how certain people bribed or bought a particular eastern Indian political party's votes on eve of crucial parliament vote. This was similar to the recent vote trust where BJP parliamentarians were sought to be bribed. Off course it was a sting by our very own Jinnah admirer, the so called Lahu Purush of BJP.

Or consider the allegation by certain individuals that about 1 corer was paid to PVNR personally in a particular suitcase, with the suitcase being paraded in front of the press as proof that 1 corer can be fit in a suitcase.

There were also certain rumors during PVNR tenure that Rajiv Gandhi's murder was actually a contract killing and not a political vendetta, carried out by some deranged a**hole sitting in some jungle of Lanka.

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 17 Sep 2011 21:09

Marten wrote:
Christopher Sidor wrote:^^^^^
And we thought that Mr Rao, our former PM, was the lowest that a politician could stoop too.

Politicians are the same every. Nothing special about our politicians. They are the same horrid breed, everywhere.
PVNR? Could you please enlighten us?

I posted a few quotes from a report "From When bribery became official in India rediff.com, Sep 14, 2011" here:
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 7#p1163277

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 18 Sep 2011 16:25

ISLAMABAD: The ambassador of Tajikistan, Zubaidin Zubaidov, has told reporters that his country and Pakistan were ready to start work on the Dushanbe-Chitral highway.

Speaking to the media at the embassy here, he rejected some demands that the road should be built through the Ghizer district of Gilgit-Baltistan.

He said from Tajikistan’s border to Chitral’s Boroghil valley, the distance was hardly 20 km while that to Ghizer it was around 400 km. He said for his government, the road through Chitral was the most suitable one.

He said both the countries were waiting for a go-ahead signal from the government of Afghanistan and as soon as Kabul gives approval to the project, work on the highway would be started.

The ambassador said that by building the highway, his country would get direct access to the Gwadar port.

Afghan government’s ‘go-ahead signal’ awaited on Chitral – Dushanbe road: Tajik envoy

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 20 Sep 2011 06:42

The Myth of the Middle Class: The world's most pandered-to demographic is no more economically productive or civic-minded than anyone else.

Asia's Rising Energy and Resource Nationalism: Implications for the United States, China, and the Asia-Pacific Region

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 23 Sep 2011 18:25

Sarko in trouble,as his "best man",who controls the lukury group LVMH,is up the creek for alleged "kickbacks in arms deals"!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 59445.html

Rony · Post by **Rony** » 25 Sep 2011 15:38

Libyan Scenario for Central Asia?

Agnimitra · Post by **Agnimitra** » 05 Oct 2011 20:47

Why 2012 will shake up Asia and the world

Northeast Asia, the area of the world with the greatest concentration of economic and military power, is on the verge of a regional transformation. And the United States, preoccupied with the Middle East, hobbled by a stalled and stagnating economy and with one eye on the 2012 election season, will be the odd man out.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 06 Oct 2011 05:43

Balance-of-power dynamics in East Asia

The Geopolitics of Energy in the 21st Century: Part 1

The Geopolitics of Energy in the 21st Century: Part 2

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 08 Oct 2011 14:52

Moscow's men in Istanbul? (What we need to do in Karachi with the "D Co." !)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 67374.html

Russian hit squad accused of murdering Chechen dissidents in Istanbul

Special Report: Startling evidence reveals how agents may have been sent to take out the Kremlin-backed regime's enemies on foreign soil. Shaun Walker reports in Turkey

Turkish police think a hit squad working for the Russian government was behind the assassination of three Chechens in Istanbul three weeks ago.

The victims – including Berg-Khadzh Musayev, a high-ranking member of Russia's Caucasus Emirate terrorist movement – were shot in broad daylight on 16 September in a scruffy suburb on the European side of Istanbul.

The assassinations bring the number of Chechens killed in the Turkish city to six in three years. They fit into a pattern of killings in cities across the world targeting Chechens who have opposed the Kremlin-backed regime of Ramzan Kadyrov.

Turkish police suspected the hand of Russian special forces in the previous killings in Istanbul, but the murderers were so professional that they left no trace behind. This time, however, the killers came within a whisker of being caught, leaving clues that seem to point to a hit organised within Russia, carefully planned, and carried out by a number of professional agents.

...

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 08 Oct 2011 15:16

More details on the hit.Check the link for ther gory details in full.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 67375.html

From independence struggle to jihad.

......The Kremlin fought two brutal wars to keep Chechnya under Moscow's control after the break-up of the Soviet Union. The republic's current head, Ramzan Kadyrov, is a former rebel who has been lavishly funded by the Kremlin to rebuild Grozny. Mr Kadyrov opening a skyscraper complex this week to mark his 35th birthday, an event unthinkable a decade ago.

But the leader has also come in for criticism for his dictatorial style, burgeoning personality cult, and alleged rights abuses.

Over the past decade, the bulk of the Chechen rebel cause has morphed from a largely secular movement demanding Chechen independence to more overtly Islamic rhetoric that links the rebels to global jihad movements and seeks to set up an Islamic emirate covering the North Caucasus.

They lost international sympathy thanks to events such as the Nord-Ost theatre siege in 2002 and the Beslan school siege in 2004. In the past two years, their leader, Doku Umarov, has claimed responsibility for a twin suicide bomb attack on the Moscow metro and a suicide bomber at Domodedovo Airport in the capital.

Mr Kadyrov has claimed that the insurgency is funded by Western security services, though analysts say its money comes from international jihad groups and local corruption.

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 08 Oct 2011 17:56

Complex but superbly executed and obviously outstanding evasion/exfiltration. Except for the loose end of passport/USB Stick, although the latter may be intentional.