India says troops cross Kashmir border to attack as crisis escalates

Pakistan says two of its soldiers are killed and an Indian soldier captured on its side of contested territory’s border

 Indian soldiers guard a border fence at an outpost along the line of control in Suchit-Garh. Photograph: Tauseef Mustafa/AFP/Getty Images

Jon Boone in Islamabad andMichael Safi in Delhi-Thursday 29 September 2016

Elite troops have launched “surgical strikes” on Pakistan-based terrorists in the contested territory of Kashmir, India said on Thursday, in a major escalation of a deepening crisis between the nuclear-armed rivals.

The Indian army said troops conducted multiple nighttime raids across the line of control (LOC), the ceasefire line agreed in 1972 that divides the Himalayan region, to attack militants preparing to cross into Indian-controlled territory.

Pakistan said two of its soldiers had been killed in exchanges of fire, but denied India had made any targeted strikes. Pakistan later captured an Indian soldier on its side of the border, military officials from both countries said. An Indian army spokesman said the soldier had inadvertently crossed the frontier and had nothing to do with the earlier raids.

It is the first time the Indian army has publicly acknowledged that its troops have launched raids across the LOC. Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, India’s director general of military operations, said there were “significant casualties … to terrorists and those trying to shield them”.

Pakistan dismissed the Indian account as a lie. The army said two soldiers had been killed and nine injured in cross-border shelling. “The notion of a surgical strike linked to alleged terrorists’ bases is an illusion being deliberately generated by India to create false effects.” Pakistani troops had responded to unprovoked firing from India, it said.

The Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, condemned the “unprovoked and naked aggression of Indian forces”.

Senior Indian government sources said special forces had crossed on foot into Pakistan-controlled territory to strike up to eight hideouts militants were using to shelter before crossing into Indian-administered territory.

Intelligence in recent days had shown large numbers of people leaving training facilities to prepare to cross, sources said. No Indian troops were killed in the operation and no further attacks are planned, they said.

The United Nations urged both sides to exercise restraint and resolve their differences through dialogue. Stephane Dujarric, a UN spokesman, said officials were following the increase in tensions in Kashmir with great concern. UN military observers were in contact with both sides to try to obtain further information, he said.

The violence follows at least nine clashes in two months between Indian security forces in Kashmir and militants from across the ceasefire line. Violent protests and a homegrown insurgency have also raged in the disputed region since July, leading to more than 80 civilian deaths.

Indian officials said the number of incursions across the LOC, which had declined in the past five years, had surged since the beginning of the summer’s unrest. People were crossing over in teams of four and showing evidence of military training, they said.

An Indian border security force soldier near Jammu in India. Photograph: Channi Anand/AP

The raids were the first military response to an attack on an Indian army outpost in Uri, close to the LOC, on 18 September.India blamed the assault, in which 19 soldiers were killed, on Pakistan-sponsored militants. It provoked calls for India to drop its policy of so-called strategic restraint against its neighbour.

India has launched a diplomatic offensive in the aftermath of the attack, denouncing Pakistan at the UN as hosting the “Ivy League of terrorism” and voicing support for separatists in Balochistan, a restive Pakistani province.

Islamabad says India has provided no evidence the attack was the work of Pakistan-based militants or the country’s intelligence agencies, which have long been accused of links to anti-India jihadi groups.

Zahid Hussain, a Pakistani security analyst, describedThursday’s attacks as a “very serious escalation”. “We have seen firing on the line of control before, but this is much more dangerous in the context of the rising tension between the two sides,” he said. “I am not saying that this could lead to a full state confrontation, but this is how things start to get out of control.”

India last announced it had conducted cross-border strikes in June 2015, when it targeted rebel camps in Myanmar in response to an ambush that killed at least 18 Indian soldiers in the north-eastern state of Manipur. Delhi described the raid as unprecedented at the time and signalled similar tactics could be used along its western border with Pakistan.

On Wednesday, in a sign of deepening Pakistani isolation in the region, India and three other countries announced they would boycot the forthcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit, which was scheduled to be held in Islamabad in November.

The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, has also raised the possibility of Delhi altering or walking away from a major river-sharing agreement that permits Pakistan to draw water from three rivers that flow downstream from India, providing water to 65% of the country’s landmass.

Train crashes into N.J. station, killing one person and injuring 108

A New Jersey Transit commuter train crashed into Hoboken Terminal during rush hour Thursday morning, killing at one woman and injuring more than 100 at one of busiest transportation hubs in the Northeast, Gov. Chris Christie (R) said.

By Lindsey Bever, Martine Powers, Mark Berman and Faiz Siddiqui-September 29 at 2:16 PM

Christie said 108 people were hurt, including the train’s operator, who was critically injured. He said the operator was cooperating with the investigation.

“This train came at a high rate of speed into the station and crashed through all the barriers, bringing it all the way to the internal wall of the Hoboken terminal,” Christie said. He added that officials would not speculate on the cause of the crash. “We have no indication that this was anything but a tragic accident.”

Accountant Jim Finan was sitting toward the rear of the first car when he realized the train was coming in much too fast.

“We were getting to the platform, but we were still at full speed,” Finan, 42, said. “The train didn’t slow down at all…The only thing that stopped the train is the fact that it slammed into the building.”

The scene was horrendous. People were bleeding profusely from cuts to their head, he said, and one man seemed to be holding his severed thumb in place. Others had cuts on their hands. Finan pulled off the rubber around an emergency-exit window and another man pushed the window out. They both helped two women crawl out of the train before NJ Transit workers began opening the doors.

Christie lauded the resilience of northeast residents, who have weathered a succession natural disasters and rail accidents in recent years and, most recently, a bombing in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood that injured 31.

“Regular commuters left the safety of where they were standing, to rush to the train, to help first responders evacuate injured people off the train,” Christie said of the Hoboken crash. “This region has developed a resilience that is admired by the rest of the world because of the way we’ve been tested.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo described the devastation at the afternoon news conference.

“When you see the destruction up close, the silver lining is that there’s only been one fatality so far,” 

Cuomo said. “Because the destruction is significant. And the power of train coming in is obviously devastating in its impact.”

The woman who died has not been identified. Christie said she was killed by debris created by the crash.

“I pray the number doesn’t go up,” said state Assemblyman Raj Mukherji (D), who represents Hoboken. 

“We’re just praying for those affected. And we’re praying that the death toll doesn’t increase.”

The crash, Christie said, appeared to be accidental in nature.

At about 8:45 a.m., a Pascack Valley Line train, which was traveling from Spring Valley, N.Y., crashed into Hoboken Terminal, according to New Jersey Transit.

Most of the people injured in the crash were in the first car or standing on the platform; passengers in the other cars were better able to escape, according to WABC.

New Jersey Transit said some passengers were trapped under the debris, though Christie said late Thursday morning that all of those people had been removed and transported to hospitals.

“My train just derailed and crashed into the Hoboken train station,” one passenger wrote. “Thankfully all I got was a crack to my head, please pray for the rest.”

Emergency responders flooded the area and were seen treating some people outside the station in Hoboken, a major suburb of New York City.

An official with the Jersey City Medical Center said that none of the people brought to that facility appeared to have life-threatening injuries, but he said that some of the people brought there had serious wounds.

Most of the people brought to the medical center from Hoboken were injured on the train, he said during a briefing outside the hospital. Some patients with injuries such as lacerations were quickly released from the hospital to free up space for others who were injured.

Hoboken University Medical Center officials said at a midday news conference that the facility was treating 20 patients, mostly for lacerations and bruises. All were in stable condition.

The Federal Railroad Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have dispatched investigation teams, and New Jersey’s attorney general is also investigating the crash.

The FBI office in Newark said it has been in touch with law enforcement officials and had offered its assistance in responding to the crash. The New Jersey State Police also sent troopers to the scene, which it said was being managed by the New Jersey Transit agency.

Officials, including those at the NTSB, did not immediately speculate on what caused the crash. But transportation officials, rather than law enforcement authorities, took the initial lead in the investigation, suggesting that terrorism was not immediately suspected.

At a press conference at Reagan National Airport, NTSB Vice Chairwoman Bella Dinh-Zarr said investigators will examine similarities between this and a similar crash in May 2011 involving a PATH train, among other issues.

Train 1614 struck the building on Track 5, NJ Transit said. The train came to a halt in a covered area between the station’s indoor waiting area and the platform, according to the Associated Press, which noted that a metal structure covering the area collapsed.

“It simply did not stop,” WFAN anchor John Minko, who witnessed the crash, told 1010 WINS. “It went right through the barriers and into the reception area.”

Mukherji, the assemblyman, said the crash caused “major structural damage” to the terminal; by late morning, engineers were evaluating the building’s structural integrity.

One passenger, Bhagyesh Shah, told NBC New York that he was standing near the back of the train when it started “plowing through the platform.”

“It was for a couple seconds, but it felt like an eternity,” he said.

Shah told the station that the first two cars were packed with passengers; after the crash, he said, people started breaking windows to escape.

“I saw a woman pinned under concrete,” he said. “A lot of people were bleeding; one guy was crying.”

Another passenger, Joe Breen, said the train had just passed through a tunnel and had stopped before it started up again.

“It was going, I’d speculate, 10 to 15 miles per hour into the station, and it never slowed down,” Breen told CBS News. “It rammed into the barrier and basically kept going.”

Breen said passengers who had been standing in the aisle, preparing to get off, “kind of flew back,” with some hitting their heads.

Rail service has been suspended in and out of Hoboken.

An average of 60,000 people travel every weekday through Hoboken Terminal, which is the fifth-busiest station in the New Jersey Transit system. In addition to New Jersey Transit, the station also serves trains from Metro-North, the Port Authority Trans Hudson, and the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system, along with New York Waterway ferries.

The terminal is the end of the line for New Jersey Transit’s Pascack Valley route, so trains are supposed to slow down as they enter the busy railyard; they then proceed into the station, coming to a stop before the concrete barrier at the end of the platform.

One question that will be on the minds of investigators, federal transportation officials and lawmakers: 

Whether the crash could have been prevented by positive train control, a federally-mandated technology system that is designed to prevent collisions or derailments. The technology can automatically apply the brakes to trains if they are moving too fast while traveling into a station. The NTSB’s Dinh-Zarr said investigators will look at whether the lack of positive train control was a factor.

Rail systems around the country, including New Jersey Transit, had been legally required to install the technology on their systems by last December — but they were given an eleventh-hour reprieve by Congress, which voted to extend the deadline for the life-saving technology by another three years.

This is a developing story. Stay tuned for updates.

Katherine Shaver, Ashley Halsey III and Lori Aratani contributed to this report.

Moscow Looks to Gain in Moldova’s Election Amid Anger Over Corruption

BY REID STANDISH-SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Two years ago, nearly $1 billion disappeared from Moldova’s banks in a mysterious financial scheme that sparked a political crisis that’s still burning today. The missing money amounts to roughly 12 percent of the GDP of Moldova and the fallout from the scandal could tilt the country back towards Moscow.
Since the scandal was made public in May 2015, the impact has been severe for Moldova’s Western-aligned politicians: massive protests in the streets of the capital Chisinau, five short-lived prime ministers, and sorely needed financial aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund hanging in the balance.

But the greatest damage from the high-profile theft could come on October 30, when Moldova — a tiny former Soviet country of 3.5 million sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine — votes in its presidential elections. Thebanking scandal has been a political gift for the pro-Russian Socialist Party, whose leader Igor Dodon has attracted more and more voters disappointed by Moldova’s pro-European forces and now has a good chance of winning the decisive vote this fall.

For Andrei Galbur, Moldova’s foreign minister who is also tasked with overseeing the country’s continued integration into the EU, convincing the disillusioned and geopolitically divided electorate to maintain its Westward path is his top priority. In an interview with Foreign Policy last week, Galbur said that his government needs to do a better job of selling the merits of deeper EU ties to voters. And he said that progress on prosecuting those behind the massive financial fraud is the only option for the country’s beleaguered judiciary to restore the public’s trust in Moldova’s westward-looking political movement.
“Previous governments have worn out the slogan of European integration,” said Galbur. “The fact that the banner of the EU was used to conduct shady financial deals was extremely damaging. When we took over, it was politically dangerous to even mention that we were pro-European.”

Rifts between the pro-Russia and pro-EU camps have only grown deeper since Galbur became foreign minister in January of this year under Prime Minister Pavel Filip’s government. Western investigators hired to look into the fraud traced it back to a money-laundering scheme in Moscow involving criminal elements and oligarchs with Kremlin connections. The only major arrest in the case has been pro-Western former prime minister Vladimir Filat, who wasarrested in parliament in October 2015. He was later sentenced to nine years in prison for stealing nearly $300 million, but Filat maintains the charges against him are political in nature.

Despite the high-profile conviction, the damage from the scandal has only spread further. Brussels blocked the flow of EU aid money and the IMF has resisted offering new loans due to funds from both organizations disappearing in the bank fraud. Negotiations are currently underway to restore the flow of aid to Moldova, Europe’s poorest country, but an agreement has yet to be finalized. Moreover, the appointment of Filip, who has connections to influential oligarch and politician Vladimir Plahotniuc, has so far failed to win over the public’s trust and fueled anti-corruption protests in Chisinau this winter.
“We have to be more proactive in explaining the benefits of European integration,” said Galbur. “The fraud itself, while extremely negative, did have a positive side in forcing us to show our people and Western partners that we are trying to tackle this.”

So far, those attempts have failed to persuade the electorate. The optimism felt in the country after Moldova signed an Association Agreement with the EU and gained visa-free travel to the bloc in 2014 has waned. An April 2015 poll by the Institute for Public Policy, a nonpartisan Moldovan research center, found that 50 percent of voters preferred joining the Russian-led Eurasian Union compared to the EU. In the lead-up the presidential elections, Dogon, the Socialists’ leader, is the early favorite as the voting list is finalized.

If elected, Dodon would be the country’s first president since 2009 who is not in favor of closer ties with Europe.Despite not being part of the ruling coalition, the Socialist Party holds the most seats in parliament and a potential Dodon presidency would move Moldova decisively closer to Moscow.
Russia already plays a significant role in Moldova because of the pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria, which declared independence in 1990 and was the subject of a military conflict in 1992. Russian troops have been stationed in Transnistria ever since and recently conducted military exercises on the narrow strip of territory in August.

Relations with the Kremlin loom large over Moldovan politics. In addition to Transnistria, Russia is Moldova’s largest energy supplier and a major export market — two points of leverage Moscow has sought to exploit as Chisinau has moved West. Russia banned the import of Moldovan wine in 2013 on sanitation grounds, but the move was widely seen as retaliation for the pro-Western government moving closer to the EU. The wine ban was followed by another round of economically damaging moves by Russia in 2014, when Moscow retaliated against Western sanctions levied due to its annexation of Crimea with measures of its own against EU food products. Agriculture-dependent Moldova, which had just joined the European collective market, was among the hardest hit.

In his time as foreign minister, Galbur has aimed to salvage relations with Moscow without sacrificing closer ties with Europe. Based on the several meetings he’s had with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov since January, Galbur says that he remains cautiously optimistic on a settlement with Transnistria and easing the economic impact of Russian bans. The Moldovan diplomat, however, is quick to note that progress will be slow.

“We want to engage with Russia and be constructive and pragmatic, but we’re not naive,” said Galbur. “It’s important for Moscow to know that we aren’t going to flirt with them, we won’t give something away to establish good relations again.”

But diplomacy may have little impact in swaying voters ahead of the election in October. While Dodon appears to have channeled the country’s discontent so far, a series of pro-Western politicians with strong credentials on reform are likely to contend with the socialist. Lawyer and activist Andrei Nastase has built a reputation railing against the country’s judiciary and Maya Sandu, a Harvard-educated economist and former education minister, has formed her own political party and garnered support around her message of curbing state corruption and the influence of oligarchs in politics.

An April poll from the International Republican Institute found that 83 percent of the country thinks Moldova is moving in the wrong direction, with concerns over a lack of reforms and corruption topping the list of concerns.

“It is our responsibility to be able to communicate with our own people,” said Galbur. “This is a country project, which will take a significant amount of time.”

FP‘s digital intern Noah Buyon contributed research to this report. 

Photo Credit: Andrei Mardari/Kommersant Photo via Getty Images

UK trained hundreds of guards working on Bahrain’s death row: Report

Anti-death penalty charity report also highlights links with other repressive regimes, including EU-funded project in Egypt

Bahraini police leave after dispersing protestors during clashes in the village of Shahrakkan, south of Manama on 5 April, 2016 (AFP)

Thursday 29 September 2016

A report by Reprieve, an anti-death penalty charity, has accused the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office of funding training for hundreds of prison guards working at Bahrain’s death row jail.

The group also claims that at least one innocent man faces imminent execution after being tortured into making a false confession.

A press release by Reprieve said: “Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas (NI-CO), a state-owned Belfast business, received almost a million pounds in UK taxpayer money last year for work with Bahrain’s interior ministry.

"In 2015 more than a dozen NI-CO experts worked with Bahrain’s prison staff at jails where systematic torture took place, and trained as many as 400 guards who work at Jau, which holds prisoners awaiting execution.

“NI-CO is embedded in Bahrain’s internal security apparatus, raising concerns about conflicts of interest.

"A victim could be abused by NI-CO trained police, tortured in prison by NI-CO trained guards, and then have their torture allegation investigated and dismissed by the NI-CO trained ombudsman".

Harriet McCulloch, deputy director of Reprieve’s death penalty team, said: “UK money is complicit in covering up torture in Bahrain. The Foreign Office needs to come clean about what it has paid NI-CO to do with a repressive regime like Bahrain”.

The report also highlighted NI-CO’s work with other repressive regimes, such as a €9m project in Egypt funded by the EU.

Reprieve has called on NI-CO to stop working with Bahrain’s Interior Ministry until the Gulf country “ratifies international laws against torture and allows independent UN inspections”.

Afghanistan: Informal Colony of India

The so called unity government in Afghanistan is said to have lost confidence and legitimacy. Two month ago, more than 15,000 Afghan army soldiers and officers deserted due to the non-payment of their three months salaries from the Defence Ministry. In Aruzgan province, the same policy was repeated.

by Musa Khan Jalalzai

( September 28, 2016, Islamabad, Sri Lanka Guardian) In an increasing globalized world, secret agencies have become an ever more important weapon of the state. The impact of globalization on intelligence cooperation between Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, in the so called war against terrorism is rendered problematic by divergent conceptions of its nature and contradictory expectations. The recent developments in information technology as well as new wave of terrorism in South Asia are the main factors impelling regional states to increase intelligence cooperation on law enforcement level. In fact, intelligence sharing and interoperability of information system has been the biggest challenges facing India, Pakistan and Afghanistan due to their reservations on sharing national secrets. Contemporary theory on the concept of information age spotlight some challenges in the information sharing process.

The function of intelligence is a structure to process and analyze information and purvey to the policy makers. In South Asia, intelligence function is divided on ethnic and linguistic bases, which created misunderstanding and led policy makers on wrong directions. The involvement of Indian, Afghan and Pakistani intelligence agencies in the ongoing proxy war prompted the emergence of several ethno-terrorist organization that pose serious challenges to the national security of the three states. To counter these violent groups, multilateral intelligence cooperation can be a new light while this way of cooperation gives nations courage to tackle their national security challenges. The emergence of ISIS and Taliban and their suicide attacks against military and civilian installations forced Pakistan and Afghanistan to consider and develop new working relationship, but unfortunately, the changing foreign policy approach of the Afghan unity government vanished all efforts.

The recent violent bray of the Afghan and Indian leaders about the terrorist infiltration from Pakistan before and after the Uri attacks, received no positive response in print and electronic media in South Asia, due to their own sponsorship of various terrorist and extremist outfits. The three heads hydra (RAW, RAMA, NDS) has now become out of control and biting every section of Afghan society, supporting insurgents, warlords, TTP, and exporting terrorism across the borders. India is basically operating in Afghanistan through RAW, IB, RAMA, NDS, and Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) but most of the times the country has failed to assess internal adversaries in the country. It funds propaganda machines in the country, which continue to ignite the fire of ethnicity and sectarianism in Afghanistan.

Major portion of funds it has allocated to the intelligence operations is being spent on recruiting young soldiers for jihad in Baluchistan. The unity government intelligence agencies are following the same streak. However, if we look at the performance and deficiencies of the Afghan unity government, we will find some harsh realities. The irony is that the ANA commanders, members of parliament, police commanders, and intelligence agencies purvey arms and ammunition to Taliban, ISIS and transport suicide bombers to their destination in their luxurious vehicles day and night. Afghans are absolutely exhausted with the long term insecurity, unemployment and interference of foreign agencies in the internal affairs of their country. Politicians and parliamentarians recently raised the question of government support to the ISIS and Taliban groups in their debates. Military and intellectual circles have also raised the question of Indian intelligence sponsorship of terrorism across the border. The country channels huge funds to some ethnic groups and war criminals to turn Afghanistan into its formal or informal colony in order to control foreign and domestic policies of the country.

India does not stop here; the country has planned to use Afghanistan against China and Pakistan by establishing a commando force to disrupt the Pak-China economic corridor. This overt and covert war will not succeed as the ISI’s “S” branch is in full control of the networks of extremist organizations within India but the fact of the matter is that ISI is facing numerous challenges in its own country. The ISI’s sphere of influence and its source of information have badly shrunk due to some of its wrongly designed strategies in its own country. The interference of India in Afghanistan is too irksome for Pakistan as the country has often asked Afghanistan to restrain Indian intelligence from using its soil against Pakistan, and also accused India of fuelling insurgency in Baluchistan. Pakistani officials understand that Indian intelligence agencies are operating through a network of Indian diplomatic mission dotting Southern and Eastern parts of Afghanistan where training camps of Baloch insurgent are located. India denied the accusations and said it helps to stabilize Afghanistan. The blame game further exacerbated when Baluchistan’s Police Chief Muhammad Amlish criticized RAW and NDS for their terrorist activities in the province. The blame-game between Pakistan, India and Afghanistan created the atmosphere of distrust. Afghan say Islamabad is putting the onus on their country.

The so called unity government in Afghanistan is said to have lost confidence and legitimacy. Two month ago, more than 15,000 Afghan army soldiers and officers deserted due to the non-payment of their three months salaries from the Defence Ministry. In Aruzgan province, the same policy was repeated. 

Consequently, the police and military commanders sold more than 150 military check posts and weapons at the hands of Taliban and received million dollars and gifts. Recently, internal security and defence committees of the Afghan parliament summoned the NDS chief and Interior Minister to explain the causes of deteriorating security situation in the country. No one is safe in the failing state; everyone is trying to leave the country. Businessmen are on the run while women and children are being incarcerated by Taliban and Daesh forces and use them as a human shield against the ANA. Corruption is rampant and justice is expansive. Nepotism and warlordism is all times high while 70% of the state and government affairs are being run online because most of the Minister and officials live abroad or use face book to monitor the situation. Police and military commanders facilitate Taliban and Daesh fighter in attacks against the army and police convoys. On 03 July 2016, Tolonews reported the investigation of 10 important Police commander over the attack that targeted a convoy of police recruits in Kabul.

The writer is author of Fixing the EU Intelligence Crisis. Viwes expressed in this article are author’s own.

South Asia’s new power configurations

September 28, 2016, 8:27 pm 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during a joint press conference with Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal following a meeting in New Delhi - AFP

Accordingly, the big powers could very well be finding these times very challenging. Gone are the relative certainties of the Cold War years. Gone are the days when the world political order could be perceived in stark black and white terms. As in the case of India, most major powers are obliged to be guided by a policy of economic pragmatism because the 'economy is the thing' today. To cap it all, the growth models of the past could be called in question. For example, old style socialism would no longer work. The same goes for the market economy approach to growth, which does not make provision for social welfarism.

Developments in Kashmir, including a recent attack on an Indian military base that claimed some 18 Indian security personnel, are aggravating tensions between India and Pakistan but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed a viewpoint that could go some distance in deescalating these bilateral strains. Addressing a gathering in India, Modi said that if at all there has to be competition of any sort between India and Pakistan it should centre on who could eliminate poverty and underdevelopment first.

Clearly, the Indian Premier is not responding positively to the vociferous calls coming from hard line quarters in India that the latter should deal with Pakistan militarily over current bilateral tensions. If his comments are anything to go by, then, the Indian Prime Minister is perceptually far outclassing those who take it upon themselves to advise him. To begin with, wars between the sides have not brought any substantial benefits to either party in the past. Besides, it is economic considerations that matter most to the developing world currently and none other. If a developing country loses the war against want it loses everything. And the opportunities are numerous for economic self- advancement in the present world economic order. India has established the judiciousness of putting economics above politics and this should be seen by the developing countries as the way to go.

Hopefully, the Indian Prime Minister’s sound common sense would prevail over the 'call for blood'. The situations in the Middle East, Syria and Iraq, for instance, are proof that war is a non-option in the resolution of national and international disputes. The losses from another Indo-Pakistani war would far outweigh any perceived gains. The two sides would do well to overlook any short term political gains from another armed confrontation.

Current developments in the inter-state politics of South Asia, clearly underscore the growing unimportance of Cold War type defence and political alignments. As this is being written, Russia has considered it useful to conduct joint military exercises with Pakistan. Taking exception to this arrangement, India has reportedly told Russia, an old Cold War ally, to choose between it and Pakistan. Elaborating on this development, Indian officials were quoted as saying that, 'The challenge before us is to keep the India-Russia relationship stable in a loosening great power universe.'

Nothing more insightful could have been stated in this context. At one time, the Russia-India partnership, expressed most cogently in the 'The Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation' of 1971, was seen as inviolable and there to stay. But it was born of cold War compulsions all of which are, of course, not present today. Accordingly, India is obliged to question its relevance and to amend its parameters, if necessary. Currently, this necessity could grow out of ground realities in international economics and not so much out of international politics. The 'great power universe is indeed loosening' and an emerging economy's foreign policy outlook may need to change, accordingly.

Seen from this viewpoint, it should not come as a surprise if the US is proving to be of greater importance to India than Russia at present, although India would be naïve to discount the obvious significance of Russia as a foremost military, economic and political power.

As a 'business friendly' government, the Modi administration would find a natural ally in the US, the world's number one economic power, but the challenge, as mentioned, would be for India to balance its ties with the US with those that it has forged with Russia. However, a strong tilt towards the US in current Indian foreign policy should also be expected when the perceived challenge to India's regional predominance emanating from China is taken into consideration. India's need to counterbalance China in Asia is prompted by the close ties Pakistan has had with China, originating in Pakistan's need to offset India's perceived power.

Nevertheless, international economic, political and military developments are in a state of tremendous flux and it would not be in the interests of a power of the stature of India to cultivate close relations with the US at the expense of other foremost powers, such as, Russia. Accordingly, India would consider it of the utmost importance to finely balance its relations between the US and Russia.

However, military exercises between Pakistan and Russia are something India would find difficult to stomach, considering the close, multifaceted ties India has been enjoying with Russia over the decades. Given the current rather intense tensions between India and Pakistan, a perceived strategic tie-up between Russia and Pakistan is a development that India is likely to view with some concern. Hence, the statement that Russia needs to choose between India and Pakistan.

Accordingly, the big powers could very well be finding these times very challenging. Gone are the relative certainties of the Cold War years. Gone are the days when the world political order could be perceived in stark black and white terms. As in the case of India, most major powers are obliged to be guided by a policy of economic pragmatism because the 'economy is the thing' today. To cap it all, the growth models of the past could be called in question. For example, old style socialism would no longer work. The same goes for the market economy approach to growth, which does not make provision for social welfarism.

So, these are times of deep uncertainty, in economic and political terms, and to the extent to which the times are unstable, to the same extent could the world be considered as witnessing a degree of global 'disorder'. In the final analysis, states and peoples need to survive and to this end they would tend to form alliances and blocs that could best serve this need, with no preconceptions.

Months ago, Russia would not have viewed Pakistan as a close military or defence ally but it is compelled to view things differently now because India is in the process of forging close relations with the US. This situation is compounded by the fact that Russia is locked in a Cold War type power struggle with the US in Syria and parts of Eastern Europe. Accordingly, power, security and survival are emerging, perhaps as never before, as prime factors in the forging of big power regional alliances.

Singapore: Teen blogger Amos Yee jailed six weeks over religious insults

Singapore teen blogger Amos Yee, center, speaks to reporters while leaving the Subordinate Courts after being released on bail, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Singapore. Pic: AP

29th September 2016 

A SINGAPORE court sentenced controversial teenager Amos Yee with six weeks’ jail on Thursday for “wounding the religious feelings of Christians and Muslims”.

After pleading guilty to the charge, the 17-year-old was also ordered to pay a S$2,000 fine for failing to turn up at a police station to give his statement despite being given two notices,Channel News Asia reported.

“(Yee) is not lacking in his mental capacity to make rational choices in the way he conducts himself,” Principal District Judge Ong Hian Sun was quoted as saying, adding that he “deliberately elected to do harm by using offensive and insulting words and profane gestures to hurt the feelings of Christians and Muslims”.

The judge, who described Yee’s remarks as “contemptuous” and “irreverent”, said his conduct should “not be tolerated” as it undermined religious harmony in the city-state.

Judge Ong also said he hoped the punishment would serve as a deterrent for Yee from committing such offenses. He said the sentence was not overly harsh.

SEE ALSO: The court’s quagmire: How to deal with Amos Yee?

“Hopefully we will not have (Yee) appearing again in this court for the same offence in the future,” the judge said.

In July last year, Yee was jailed for four weeks after being convicted for the same offence. After repeatedly breaching bail conditions, he spent a total of 50 days behind bars in Singapore.

The maximum sentence for intending to wound religious feelings is three years and a fine for each charge or both, while failing to show up at a police station was punishable by one month jail, or a fine of up to S$1,500 per charge or both.

According to the Straits Times, Yee admitted putting a photo and two videos online, between April 17 and May 19, with the “intention of wounding Muslim feelings”.

SEE ALSO: Amos Yee manipulates mainstream media with molestation allegations 

Yee’s guilty plea had brought the end to his month-long trial. He had represented himself in court

He was initially faced with eight charges, which he denied. Two of them were for failing to turn up at a police station and six for wounding religious feelings, the Straits Times reported. However, Yee pleaded guilty to two charges on Aug 23.

Following the sentence, Reuters quoted deputy director of Human Right Watch’s Asia division, Phil Robertson, as denouncing the government’s action against Yee.

SEE ALSO: Singapore teen Amos Yee charged for YouTube video attacking Lee, Christianity
“By prosecuting Amos Yee for his comments, no matter how outrageous they may have been, Singapore has unfortunately doubled down on a strategy that clearly violates freedom of expression,” Robertson said.

“For a country that prides itself on efficiency, Singapore should re-examine its approach, because every time the authorities go after him, it just adds to his online audience who are interested to find out the latest thing,” he said.

Global warming to breach 2C limit by 2050 unless tougher action - study

A village woman carries firewood as others rest under a tree after they migrated due to shortage of water on the outskirts of Sami town in Gujarat August 6, 2012. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood/Files

By Alister Doyle | OSLO- Thu Sep 29, 2016

Global warming is on track to breach a 2 degrees Celsius threshold by 2050 unless governments at least double their efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions, scientists said on Thursday.

Plans by almost 200 governments to cut greenhouse gases are far too weak to match targets set in a Paris Agreement on climate change last December for a drastic shift from fossil fuels towards greener energies, they said.

"We've really got a problem," Robert Watson, a British-American scientist who was among the seven authors of the study and is a former head of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told Reuters.

The Paris Agreement sets a goal of limiting a rise in average world temperatures to "well below" 2C above pre-industrial times, while pursuing a tougher 1.5 Celsius (2.7F) limit.

"If indeed these governments are serious about trying to hit the 2C mark they really have to double or triple the effort of the current pledges made in Paris," Watson said.

The study, by Watson and other senior scientists, said the 2C limit "could be reached by 2050, even if pledges (in Paris) are fully implemented."

According to the U.N. Environment Programme, world greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, are now about 54 billion tonnes a year and should be cut to 42 billion by 2030 to get on track to stay below 2C.

Current pledges under the Paris Agreement will keep emissions flat at around 54 billion tonnes in 2030, it says. That is 11 billion tonnes less than an estimated 65 billion without the promises but 14 billion above the 42 billion track.

"I think the 1.5 degree pathway is clearly not achievable. We'll pass it probably in the early 2030s," Watson said.

Global warming is projected to cause more heatwaves, droughts, downpours and rising sea levels. Average world temperatures this year are set for record highs, about 1C above pre-industrial times.

The Paris Agreement is set to be ratified by India on Sunday and perhaps by some European Union nations in coming days, pushing it over a threshold needed to enter into force. [nL3N1C1089]

It needs backing from 55 nations accounting for 55 percent of world emissions to enter into force. So far 61 nations accounting for 47.8 percent of emissions have ratified, led by China and the United States, according to U.N. data.

(Reporting By Alister Doyle; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

One in 10 children has 'Aids defence'

A 10th of children have a "monkey-like" immune system that stops them developing Aids, a study suggests.

By James Gallagher-29 September 2016

The study, in Science Translational Medicine, found the children's immune systems were "keeping calm", which prevented them being wiped out.

An untreated HIV infection will kill 60% of children within two and a half years, but the equivalent infection in monkeys is not fatal.

The findings could lead to new immune-based therapies for HIV infection.

The virus eventually wipes out the immune system, leaving the body vulnerable to other infections, what is known as acquired human immunodeficiency syndrome (Aids).

The researchers analysed the blood of 170 children from South Africa who had HIV, had never had antiretroviral therapy and yet had not developed Aids.

Tests showed they had tens of thousands of human immunodeficiency viruses in every millilitre of their blood.

This would normally send their immune system into overdrive, trying to fight the infection, or simply make them seriously ill, but neither had happened.

Keep calm and carry on

Prof Philip Goulder, one of the researchers from the University of Oxford, told the BBC: "Essentially, their immune system is ignoring the virus as far as possible.

"Waging war against the virus is in most cases the wrong thing to do."

Counter-intuitively, not attacking the virus seems to save the immune system.

HIV kills white blood cells - the warriors of the immune system.

And when the body's defences go into overdrive, even more of them can be killed by chronic levels of inflammation.

Prof Goulder said: "One of the things that comes out of this study is that HIV disease is not so much to do with HIV, but with the immune response to it."

For scientists, the way the 10% of children cope with the virus has striking similarities to the way more than 40 non-human primate species cope with simian immunodeficiency virus or SIV.

They have had hundreds of thousands of years to evolve ways to tackle the infection.

"Natural selection has worked in these cases, and the mechanism is very similar to the one in these kids that don't progress," Prof Goulder said.

War or peace?

This defence against Aids is almost unique to children.

Adult humans' immune systems tend to go all-out to finish off the virus in a campaign that nearly always ends in failure.

Children have a relatively tolerant immune system, which becomes more aggressive in adulthood - chickenpox, for example, is far more severe in adults due to the way the immune system reacts.

But this does mean that as the protected children age and their immune system matures, there is a risk of them developing Aids.

Some do, some remain Aids-free.

Dr Ann Chahroudi and Dr Guido Silvestri, from Emory University in the US, said the study may have found the "very earliest signs of coevolution of HIV in humans".

In a commentary, they added: "It is not known whether it would be clinically safe for these newly identified HIV infected paediatric non-progressors to remain off-therapy.

"This assessment is further complicated by the fact that prevention of HIV transmission to sexual partners becomes relevant in adolescence."

People with HIV can have normal life-expectancy if they have access to antiretroviral drugs.

But their super-heated immune system never returns to normal, and they face greater risks of cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia.

Prof Goulder believes these findings in children could ultimately help rebalance the immune system in all HIV patients.

He told the BBC: "We may be identifying an entirely new pathway by studying kids that in the longer term could be translated to new treatments for all HIV infected people."

Follow James on Twitter.

WORKER RIGHTS VIOLATIONS RAMPANT IN JAFFNA, SRI LANKA

( Jaffna July 2015 : A worker renovating Jaffna Fort poses for a photographs while working  ©s.deshapriya)

28/09/2016

The 2009 end of Sri Lanka’s civil war was an opportunity for workers to return to the security and protections of the formal economy, which had been destabilized by 26 years of violence. However, a new Solidarity Center survey finds that peace has yet to bring the hoped-for economic gains to workers in Jaffna, the capital of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. The survey’s findings on working conditions are especially important because the exploitation of workers is not only a setback for healthy industrial relations in Sri Lanka’s economy, but has the potential to aggravate social tensions and interfere with the ongoing process of peacebuilding.

“The bulk of the workers in Jaffna are in low-paid jobs with minimal labor standards, social protection and security of tenure, which are not conducive to creating sustainable livelihoods,” according to the summary.

“A key element to address conflict is equal treatment under the law,” says Tim Ryan, Asia regional program director at the Solidarity Center, who presented the survey’s findings during a recent discussion of the report at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in Washington, D.C.

According to Ryan, the survey seeks to provide economic data on workers in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka that go beyond employment statistics. “Are they finding ways to both protect their rights under the law? Are laws and standards being equitably enforced?”

Workers Rights Laws Not Enforced

Despite worker-friendly Sri Lankan legislation like the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), an  employer-funded government social security that has existed for decades, the Solidarity Center’s survey shows a majority of workers—76 percent—do not have the labor rights they are legally guaranteed due to a lack of enforcement. Of that percentage, only 22 percent of female respondents and 46 percent of male respondents say they receive what they are owed by the EPF.

The gendered difference in access to social protections is only one example of a trend persistent throughout the survey’s results, which suggests that female workers are disproportionately disadvantaged under the current conditions. A large wage gap exists between male and female respondents, including between employees doing identical work. The rate of female unemployment is nearly double that of male unemployment. And more than 80 percent of female respondents say they are unaware of their right to overtime benefits, compared with 49 percent of male respondents.

More such initiatives are needed. Although Sri Lanka is a member of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the survey confirms that more progress is needed to move the country toward the goals outlined in the ILO’s agenda for decent work. While ongoing tension and inequalities in Sri Lankan politics complicate the protection of worker rights through legislation, workers’ organizations like trade unions can help hold employers accountable to their employees and bring Sri Lanka in line with the standards of the international community.

Solidarity Net/ Originally posted on   September 7, 2016 / By Lily Frankel

Read the full report here as a PDF:sri-lanka-workers-in-postwar-jaffna-8-16

SRI-LANKA.Workers-in-Postwar-Jaffna.8.16.pdf by Thavam Ratna on Scribd