Mourners carry the body of Hussein Abu Hasima, 16, shot dead by Israeli forces, during his funeral in Bureij refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, 28 July.Ashraf AmraAPA images
Israeli forces killed two Palestinians on Friday amid ongoing protests over restrictions at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
Hussein Abu Hasima, 16, became the sixth Palestinian to be killed during protests since the closure of al-Aqsa following a deadly shooting attack on police stationed outside it on 14 July.
Abu Hasima was shot by a soldier in the central Gaza Strip as youth confronted occupation forces along the boundary with Israel.
An Israeli army spokesperson claimed that its forces had fired at Palestinians who were burning tires, throwing stones towards soldiers and damaging the boundary fence.
Israeli forces are typically separated from Palestinians inside Gaza by fences and a large distance and are often in fortified positions, making it unlikely that protesting Palestinians could present a credible danger.
Seven others were reportedly injured by live fire during protests in Gaza on Friday.
Abu Hasima is the sixth Palestinian in Gaza to be killed by Israeli fire so far this year, and the 14th child killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Photos of Abu Hasima circulated on social media after his death:
Another Palestinian, 24-year-old Abdullah Ali Mahmoud Taqatqa, was slain by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank earlier in the day.
The Israeli military claimed that Taqatqa was attempting a stabbing attack at the Gush Etzion junction when he was shot and killed.
However, an eyewitness told the Ma’an News Agency, a Palestinian outlet, that Taqatqa was walking towards Bethlehem and soldiers shot at him when he was around 20 meters away from them.
The witness said “one of the soldiers approached the martyr and turned him over with his foot and shot him more than five times, I swear that he didn’t have any type of knife with him or any kind of weapon.”
The Palestine Red Crescent Society told media that soldiers prevented its paramedics from accessing Taqatqa.
No Israelis were reported injured during the incident.
Taqatqa is the third Palestinian to be killed at the junction so far this year. The junction is the gate to one of Israel’s largest settlement blocs and the site of frequent deadly encounters between Palestinians and the heavily armed soldiers guarding the settlements.
Israel alleges that the two other Palestinians shot and fatally wounded at the site this year, one of them a 15-year-old girl named Fatima Taqatqa, were attempting car ramming attacks when soldiers fired at them.
Both Abdallah Taqatqa and Fatima Taqatqa are from the nearby village of Beit Fajjar.
Undated photos said to show Abdallah Taqatqa being detained by Israeli forces during a protest in Bethlehem circulated on social media after his death:
Scores of alleged Palestinian assailants have been shot dead by Israeli forces in recent years when they posed no immediate danger to life. Amnesty International has called for several such incidents to be investigated as possible extrajudicial executions.
Also on Friday, a Palestinian was critically injured when he was shot by Israeli forces during a protest over restrictions at al-Aqsa in the town of al-Ram, north of Jerusalem.
A Palestinian who was shot in the head by soldiers during an al-Aqsa protest in the nearby village of Hizma on Monday died of his injuries on Thursday. Thousands of mourners buried Muhammad Fathi Kanaan, 25, in Hizma on Friday.
Fifty-four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire so far this year. Fourteen Israelis, most of them soldiers, and a British national have been killed by Palestinians during the same period.
Al-Aqsa
The gates to al-Aqsa were opened to all Palestinian worshippers able to access the holy site on Friday afternoon:
Etymologically, Jerusalem means ‘the foundation of peace’. But Jerusalem, one of the oldest cities in the world, has seen enough wars and violence and more will be its lot in the future, too. Clashes since July 14 in the nearly 5,000-year-old city, considered sacred by Jews, Christians and Muslims, have raised fears of a Palestinian uprising or the third Intifada.
For Israel, a grassroots Palestinian uprising in the city will be a dampener of its diplomatic efforts to gain international recognition for its illegal annexation of Jerusalem and the Arab world’s support for its controversial Gaza plan. Israel has successfully kept the Palestinian issue out of the international radar since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011. It has won new friends such as India, which was once a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause. Any violent suppression of the Palestinian uprising would only kindle a new interest in the Palestinian problem which the international community has virtually abandoned.
Early signs indicated that the third Intifada, if it had taken off the ground, would have made the previous two – in 1987 and 2000 -- appear non-events because it would be driven by people’s power and would have the potential to spread to the rest of the Arab and Islamic world. This is because the issue involved the Aqsa mosque. The world’s 1.7 billion Muslims regard this mosque as the third holiest place of worship after the two mosques in Makkah and Madina.
Besides, Jerusalem also receives the Muslims’ respect because it was their first Qiblah
A Palestinian protester told al-Jazeera television: “We are under occupation and al-Aqsa Mosque is a red-line to everyone in Jerusalem -- actually, to everyone in Palestine, and all over the Muslim world -- but much more for the people of [Jerusalem]. It’s dearer than their own lives.”
Needless to say, the Arab despots shiver at the first sign of any popular uprising. Instead of their predictable silence, the Arab rulers -- some of whom maintain secret ties with Israel, though such contacts are no more secret -- reacted with the seriousness the issue deserved. They knew if the Muslims were to lose the Aqsa mosque, the region wide uprising may even destabilize their own regimes. Tough words from Turkey and behind-the-scenes diplomacy between Arab capitals, Washington and Tel Aviv helped defuse the tensions to some extent.
Israel began to relax the security measures it introduced at the Aqsa mosque compound after two Israeli policemen were killed by Palestinian gunmen on July 14. During the two weeks of protests, the Palestinians refused to pray inside the compound in protests against what they saw as attempts to bring the mosque under Israeli control. Yesterday, they celebrated when Israel removed the surveillance devices.
The clashes may be over, but it does not mean Jerusalem is all set to live in peace in keeping with its name. On the contrary, it remains a flashpoint.
Since Palestine’s partition through a lopsided United Nations Security Council resolution in 1947, Jerusalem has been a contentious issue in the Israeli-Palestine conflict. The city has been attacked 52 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, besieged 23 times, and destroyed twice – once by a brutal Babylonian emperor and later by the ruthless Romans. During the first Crusade in the 11th century, it is said that the invaders waded in blood up to their knees during their violent conquest of Jerusalem.
From 1516 to 1917, the city remained under the Ottoman Turks. With the Ottoman caliphate’s defeat in World War I, Britain occupied the entire Palestine and the same year issued the notorious Balfour Declaration, pledging a homeland for the European Jews in Palestine. This declaration, which was tantamount to one land thief giving a piece of a property he robbed to another land thief, not only laid the foundation for the creation of Israel but also for many wars between Israel and Arabs, not to mention the misery that befell the Palestinian people.
Under the UN partition plan, Jews, a majority of them being migrated European Jews, got 55 percent of the land though they comprised 30 percent of the territory’s population, while the Palestinians who made up 65 percent of the population were given 45 percent of the land. So much for the UN’s commitment to justice and fair play! In terms of the resolution, Jerusalem was to be placed under international administration.
Following wars in 1948 and 1967, Israel captured the whole of Jerusalem, but after an agreement with Jordan, the Aqsa administration came under an Islamic trust. Citing security as an excuse, Israel does not allow Palestinian males who are below the age of 40 to enter the compound. During the recent clashes, the age limit was increased to 50.
The Aqsa mosque lies on top of a rock which also contained the holiest Jewish shrine, the Wailing Wall. Both the mosque and the Wall were parts of the Temple which was built by King Solomon, who according to Muslims was a prophet of Allah. Muslims also believe that it was from the Aqsa mosque that Prophet Muhammad ascended to the presence of God. Besides, Jerusalem also receives the Muslims’ respect because it was their first Qiblah. The early Muslims, including Prophet Muhammad turned towards Jerusalem during their daily prayers, until instructions came to them to turn towards Makkah. The Quran refers to the al-Aqsa compound and its surrounding as a sanctified territory. Disregarding Muslims sentiments, hardline Jews call for the demolition of the Aqsa mosque and the adjoining Dome of the Rock Mosque, which was built by Muslim conquerors in the 7th century. They want to build the Third Temple. The Palestinians charge that Israel has started archaeological excavation in the compound area with the intention of causing the collapse the two mosques. The politically powerful Jewish hardliners made several attempts to occupy the mosque and conduct Jewish prayers. The Israeli government now allows them to visit the compound under police guard despite Palestinian protests.
The compound is in East Jerusalem which the Palestinians see as the capital of their future state. But Israel has passed legislation declaring the whole of Jerusalem as its capital. The international community has not recognised this. Even the Donald Trump administration which had earlier said it would shift the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, now appears to be backpedalling. Meanwhile, the Palestinians living in Jerusalem have become stateless. They have only resident permits and limited rights, while Israel builds illegal settlements for the Jews in East Jerusalem. As Jerusalem was being rocked by the recent clashes, details of an Israeli-Egyptian plan for independent Palestinian state emerged. The plan involves Egypt giving up part of Sinai for it to be annexed to Gaza, which will be declared an independent state. Mohammed Dahlan, an exile Palestinian leader favoured by Israel, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE, is said to be spearheading efforts to work out the deal. Most Palestinians see the plan as a move to restrict the Palestinian state only to Gaza with the West Bank being divided between Israel and Jordan. With friends such as these among themselves, do Palestinians need more enemies?
Saudi-led states blockading Qatar set to meet in Bahrain on Sunday to discuss further measures
Qatar Airways Group employees stand in front of a wall bearing a portrait of Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani during a gathering to showcase support to the country and its leader, in Doha (AFP)
Sunday 30 July 2017
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain are expected to discuss imposing new economic sanctions on Qatar when they meet in the Bahraini capital Manama on Sunday, the pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper reported.
The four Arab states cut ties with Qatar on 5 June, accusing it of backing terrorist groups and cozying up to their arch-foe Iran, allegations Doha denies.
Foreign ministers of the four countries "are expected to impose sanctions that will gradually affect the Qatari economy," al-Hayat newspaper said, citing unidentified Gulf sources, without giving any further details.
Bahrain's state news agency BNA said on Saturday that King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa had hailed cooperation between the four countries in fighting terrorism.
King Hamad called for "the solidarity of all Arab countries in fighting terrorism and cutting off its financing ... for the defence of our homelands".
What's behind this crisis, of course, is Qatari sovereignty and independence to put it very simply
- Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed al-Thani, Qatari minister
Diplomatic efforts led by Kuwait and involving the United States and Turkey have failed to end the row, which has affected travel and communications between Qatar and the four countries and led to harsh verbal exchanges in the media.
Saudi Arabia has closed its land border with Qatar while all four countries have cut air and sea links with Doha, demanding the gas-exporting country take several measures to show it was changing its policies.
Turkey and Iran have stepped in to provide fresh produce, poultry and dairy products to Qatar instead of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with Oman providing alternative ports to those in the UAE.
The four Arab countries added 18 more groups and individuals they say are linked to Qatar to their terrorist lists last week.
Kuwait is leading mediation efforts in the crisis, the worst to grip the region since the 1981 creation of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.
Kuwait and Oman - GCC members along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar - have not joined the Qatar boycott.
On Friday, Qatar said it would never bow to Saudi-led demands to "outsource" its foreign policy to resolve the Gulf crisis.
Qatar has had to rely on imports from Iran and Turkey since the crisis broke out (AFP)
Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed al-Thani, who holds ministerial rank, accused Doha's adversaries in the crisis – Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt – of meddling in Qatar's internal affairs.
"What's behind this crisis, of course, is Qatari sovereignty and independence to put it very simply. It is about ... outsourcing our foreign policy so that decisions are not made in Qatar, and that is something that will never be acceptable," he told AFP.
Sheikh Saif said the Saudi-led bloc had laid down a new "ultimatum" on Tuesday by publishing a list of individuals and "terrorist" entities allegedly linked to Doha.
The blacklist contained nine organisations and nine individuals the Saudi-led bloc accuses of supporting terrorists with finances from Qatar.
This "list, it's still an ultimatum, it's still something that is stalling resolving the crisis," the official said.
However, "we have said it from the start, we are open to dialogue, we are open to negotiating ... The first step should be lifting the illegal blockade."
PHILIPPINES President Rodrigo Duterte would be committing war crimes by calling for an attack on schools in restive Mindanao, says a rights watchdog.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) slammed the president’s comments on Tuesday in the wake of his threats to call for airstrikes on schools for indigenous Lumad children on the southern island that he alleged are teaching “subversion” and “communism”.
“By calling for an attack on schools, Duterte is directing the military to commit war crimes,” HRW’s Asia Division Researcher Carlos H. Conde said in a statement.
The firebrand president’s latest tirade against the “subversive” schools came following his decision to call off peace talks with the Communist New People’s Army (NPA).
For nearly five decades, the Philippines military has battled a communist insurgency, resulting in the deaths of 40,000 people. The government says the communist rebels have used tribal areas in the Mindanao countryside as their base of operations.
“I will bomb those schools,” Duterte said during a press conference on Monday.
“I will use the Armed Forces, the Philippine Air Force … because you’re operating illegally and you’re teaching the children to rebel against government.”
Duterte made the threat minutes after his State of the Nation Address (SONA), which also saw him vow to continue his deadly war on drugs that has claimed the lives of more than 5,200 suspects, according to figures provided by the Philippines National Police (PNP). Activists claim the death toll is far higher.
Conde said due to the insurgency, indigenous-run schools have long been targets of the military and paramilitary forces, which accuse them of being NPA “training grounds”. Government security forces in Mindanao, he said, have largely escaped accountability for such abuses.
NPA guerrillas in Far South Mindanao in formation during the 46th Founding Anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Source: Edwin Espejo
“International humanitarian law – the laws of war – prohibits attacks on schools and other civilian structures unless they are being used for military purposes,” Conde said.
HRW called on Duterte to retract his threat of violence towards the schools before the military acts.
“Instead of denying Filipino children their right to safe education, Duterte should sign the Safe Schools Declaration,” Conde said.
The declaration involves an inter-governmental commitment to the protection of students, teachers, schools and universities from violence during times of war. To date, 67 countries have signed the declaration.
During a recent meeting held at Malacañang Palace, Duterte directed the government panel negotiating with the NDF not to resume formal peace talks unless the rebels agree to stop their attacks against government troops in Mindanao.
Duterte put Mindanao under martial law for 60 days in May after the Islamic State-inspired Maute Group clashed with government security forces trying to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, an Abu Sayyaf leader who was designated the “emir” of IS in Southeast Asia.
The government is still conducting clearing operations in Marawi.
The government has also given the green light to extend martial law in Mindanao until the end of the year to fully crush terrorist groups operating on the island.
SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States flew two supersonic B-1B bombers over the Korean peninsula in a show of force on Sunday after Pyongyang's recent tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), the U.S. and South Korean Air Forces said.
North Korea said it conducted another successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday that proved its ability to strike America's mainland, drawing a sharp warning from U.S. President Donald Trump.
The B-1B flight was in direct response to the missile test and the previous July 3 launch of the "Hwansong-14" rocket, the U.S. statement said. The South Korean air force said the flight was conducted early on Sunday.
The bombers took off from a U.S. air base in Guam, and were joined by Japanese and South Korean fighter jets during the exercise, according to the statement.
"North Korea remains the most urgent threat to regional stability," Pacific Air Forces commander General Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy said in the statement.
"If called upon, we are ready to respond with rapid, lethal, and overwhelming force at a time and place of our choosing".
The U.S. has in the past used overflights of the supersonic B1-B "Lancer" bomber as a show of force in response to North Korean missile or nuclear tests.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally supervised the midnight test launch of the missile on Friday night and said it was a "stern warning" for the United States that it would not be safe from destruction if it tries to attack, the North's official KCNA news agency said.
North Korea's state television broadcast pictures of the launch, showing the missile lifting off in a fiery blast in darkness and Kim cheering with military aides.
China, the North's main ally, said it opposed North Korea's missile launches, which it said violate United Nations Security Council resolutions designed to curb Pyongyang's banned nuclear and missile programmes.
"At the same time, China hopes all parties act with caution, to prevent tensions from continuing to escalate," China's foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Trump "Very Disappointed in China"
However, Trump said he was "very disappointed in China".
In a message on Twitter, he said: "Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet..."
"...they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk. We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!" he said in a subsequent tweet.
The Hwasong-14, named after the Korean word for Mars, reached an altitude of 3,724.9 km (2,314.6 miles) and flew 998 km (620 miles)for 47 minutes and 12 seconds before landing in the waters off the Korean peninsula's east coast, KCNA said.
Western experts said calculations based on that flight data and estimates from the U.S., Japanese and South Korean militaries showed the missile could have been capable of going as far into the United States as Denver and Chicago.
David Wright of the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists wrote in a blog post that if it had flown on a standard trajectory, the missile would have had a range of 10,400 km (6,500 miles).
North Korea said on Sunday it had been forced to develop long-range missiles and nuclear weapons because of hostile intent by "American imperialist beasts" looking for another chance to invade the country.
"In case the U.S. fails to come to its own senses and continues to resort to military adventure and 'tough sanctions', the DPRK will respond with its resolute act of justice as already declared," its foreign ministry said in a statement.
DPRK is short for the North's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It did not specify what action it would take.
The missile test came a day after the U.S. Senate approved a package of sanctions on North Korea, Russia and Iran.
The foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and the United States agreed to step up pressure on Pyongyang and to push for a stronger U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution.
Reporting by James Pearson; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Sam Holmes
Asian rivals China and India are busy putting together intercontinental connectivity projects to enhance their economic and strategic power well beyond their borders, in pursuance of the goal to be the new Big Powers in the 21st Century aptly named the “Asian Century”.
China is touting its humongous One Belt One Road (OBOR) global connectivity project as a non-political and purely commercial one, based on mutual economic advantage. But sensing the “hidden” agenda in the OBOR, India has refused to fall in line and is floating its own connectivity projects to be independent of China and build its own independent international economic and strategic network.
However, both the Chinese and Indian schemes have their strengths and flaws which have to be taken note of for them to succeed and stand the test of time.
OBOR
China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative also known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), was launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping as his flagship project to make an already prosperous China a world economic, political and military power.
China has earmarked $ 1 trillion for the OBOR which is to cover 65 countries across Asia and Europe, accounting for 40% of the world’s GDP. Starting in China’s Fujian Province, the OBOR in the form of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Route, passes through the Malacca Straits, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and on to Venice. Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are part of this maritime route. The Hambantota port and the Colombo International Terminal in Sri Lanka have already been built.
The land route traverses Central Asia and Pakistan. The $ 55 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with a port at Gwadar, is already under construction.
India’s objection to OBOR
India and Japan are strongly opposing the OBOR. India’s objection stems from the fact that the CPEC passes through Gilgit-Baltistan which is part of the chunk of Kashmir which Pakistan seized from India in the 1948 India-Pakistan war. India has kept up its claim to this area despite the virtually impossibility of getting it back. India says that China has eroded its sovereignty by agreeing to build a road and rail line through Gilgit-Baltistan without seeking its consent.
However, the real reason is that India is against the strengthening of China-Pakistan ties which it considers as being inimical to India. China could use the road, railway, and the Gwadar port to destroy India’s maritime assets in collaboration with Pakistan. India receives 65% of its energy needs from West Asia through the sea route adjoining Gwadar.
India feels hemmed in by China in South Asia. It is worried that China might use the Hambantota and the Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) in Sri Lanka for military purposes. Both are funded and run by the Chinese company China Merchants Port Holdings Company (CMPort) in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. In Bangladesh, China is building a port at Payra and in Myanmar at Kyaukpyu, which could curtail India’s sway over the Bay of Bengal.
China has also made deep inroads into Nepal where the pro-China Communist Party of Nepal (UML) lead by K.P. Sharma Oli could capture power in the next parliamentary elections. A Bangladesh under the Bangladesh Nationalist Party could tilt markedly towards China unlike the present ruling party the Awami League which is adroitly balancing China and India.
Bhutan is could swing towards China if China continues to put military pressure on India in the Doklam sector. Bhutan has major grievances against India. The trade monopoly enjoyed by the latter; the country’s heavy indebtedness to India; and the unfavourable agreement with India on power generation and sale are worrisome. Bhutan could accept China’s “package deal” on the border, by which, Doklam will be given to China in exchange for China’s giving up claims in other areas.
Bhutan could do this, despite India’s considering Doklam as vital for the defence of the Siliguri Corridor, the narrow chicken neck connecting mainland India with its North Eastern states.
Since independence in 1947, India has been having a problem with China on the 3500 km long border with it. In 1962, the two countries had even gone to war in which India got badly beaten. Another war with China will be equally disastrous for India as India continues to be weaker than China militarily. It has also become economically weaker being 13 years behind China.
While China can fight a long war on account of its built-up industrial and financial strength, India has ammunition for only ten days; its army officer cadre is grossly below strength and its Air Force is short of planes.
India’s bid to rise up
Its relative weakness notwithstanding, India wants to maintain its status as the South Asian hegemon. And to be able to sustain this increasingly challenging status, India is trying to match China’s influence in the South Asian region by giving aid and offering to execute major infrastructure projects on better financial terms.
In addition to bilateral aid programs in the region, India is also involved in extra regional projects to establish its status as an international developer and as an alternative to China’s OBOR.
Within the South Asian cum East Asian region it has the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Economic and Technical Cooperation (BIMSTEC); the Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and India (BBIN) initiative, and the South Asian Sub Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) initiative. Funding for projects under these initiatives is largely from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Beyond the region
In addition, India is part of the North-South Transport Corridor (NSTC) which links India with Iran, the Central Asian countries, and Russia. When this link up is made, cargo from Mumbai can reach St.Petersberg in Russia in 25 days and not 46 as now and the cost will be lower by 30%.
India is building a port in Chabahar in Iran which will be part of the NSTC besides giving India a place in the region to match the Sino-Pakistan port at Gwadar.
Like China, India is also investing heavily in Africa, which, with an average growth rate of 5% per annum, has become a hot bed of international economic and political rivalry.
Between 1999 and 2016, India had invested $ 54 billion in Africa and Indo-African trade has gone up from $ 7 billion to $ 56 billion in the same period. India hopes to increase the total volume of Indo-African trade to $ 100 billion by 2018.
China is also a heavy investor in Africa with an investment of $ 194 billion in 2016. China-Africa trade is huge, totalling $ 75 billion in 2016. Ten million Chinese are working in African on Chinese-funded projects.
However, while Chinese projects under OBOR are underway, many of the Indian projects, especially those in the South Asian region, are still on the drawing board or under discussion. In BIMSTEC, detailed project reports are ready, but there is little action on the ground.
Animosities and fears about Indian domination make India’s smaller neighbours balk at India-funded projects and tend to delay them. On its part, India does not want to work with Pakistan at all.
India does not want to work with China either, as seen in its opposition to OBOR and the BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar) corridor project. At a meeting of BRICS think tanks in China recently ,India not only wanted praise of OBOR deleted from the final communiqué, but also suggested that BRICS projects should not be linked to OBOR and that Pakistan should not be included as an associate country.
Denting China’s image
India and Japan are also on a campaign to expose China’s “hidden agenda” in pressing countries to join the OBOR. They say that the smaller and poor countries will become heavily indebted to China and will soon have to surrender control over the assets created under OBOR. This has already happened in Hambantota in Sri Lanka partially.
Another allegation is that China builds assets abroad mainly to benefit itself and not the host country. China could also use its economic (even military) power to twist the arms of recalcitrant or defaulting recipient countries. A fear generated by Japan is the use of substandard material in construction.
China’s president dons camouflage fatigues for hour-long parade marking 90th anniversary of People’s Liberation Army
Xi Jinping delivers a speech during a military parade to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of China’s People’s Liberation Army. Photograph: AP
Soldiers of China’s People’s Liberation Army at the military parade to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the army at Zhurihe military training base in Inner Mongolia, China. Photograph: China Daily/Reuters
China’s president dons camouflage fatigues for hour-long parade marking 90th anniversary of People’s Liberation Army
Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has presided over a spectacular display of military and political might, ordering members of his 2.3 million-strong armed forces to “unswervingly follow the absolute leadership of the Communist party of China”.
Xi donned camouflage fatigues for the hour-long Sunday morning parade, which marked the 90th anniversary of the creation of China’s People’s Liberation Army, on 1 August 1927.
The procession took place at a sand-swept, 1,000 sq kilometre camp that state media described as China’s answer to the United States’ Fort Irwin national training centre in the Mojave desert.
Foreign journalists were not invited to witness proceedings at the Zhurihe military training base, 400km north-west of Beijing in Inner Mongolia.
But China’s party-run media said about 12,000 troops, more than 100 types of aircraft and 600 pieces of military hardware were put on display at the sprawling desert camp.
The weapons systems on show reportedly included J-15 fighter jets, the J-20 stealth fighter, “type 99” battle tanks, Red Arrow anti-tank missiles and H-6K bombers.
The parade concluded with China showing off a new generation of intercontinental missile – the Dongfeng-31AG – which, with a range of about 11,000km, are capable of striking most parts of the US.
As their commander-in-chief rode past on top of an open-backed jeep, thousands of rifle-toting troops bellowed: “Serve the people! Follow the party! Fight to win!”
On the surface, Sunday’s parade was a tub-thumping display of China’s increasingly sophisticated military prowess. “A strong army is the backbone of a strong country,” boasted one commentator narrating a live television broadcast of the event.
But with a key Communist party summit marking the end of Xi’s first term in power on the horizon it was also an intensely political showcase of his apparently unassailable position at the top of China’s one-party system.
“All comrades, commanders and soldiers of the PLA: You must unswervingly follow the absolute leadership of the Communist party of China, listen to the directions set by the party and follow its command. Wherever the party points, you shall march,” Xi declared, in a brief but emphatic address that followed the parade.
Willy Lam, a politics expert from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the demonstration of strength was aimed partly at international rivals including India, with which China is currently engaged in an acrimonious border dispute, and the United States.
Above all, though, it was about bolstering Xi’s image as China’s top dog. “In Chinese tradition, power grows out of the barrel of the gun: whoever has control over the military and the police will be the supreme leader,” Lam said.
“So this is a show of force by Xi Jinping … aimed at warning his political enemies and also the other factions in the party that he is firmly in control. He is the big boss and he will have a free hand in making personnel arrangements at the 19th party congress.”
Television commentators and military officials reinforced the sense that the parade was as much about politics as it was military affairs. “The soldiers are in the right place, at the right time and they are ready to do whatever the central military commission – led by president Xi Jinping – asks them to do,” senior colonel Zhou Bo, from China’s Ministry of National Defence told state broadcaster CGTN.
Ren Guoqiang, a defence ministry spokesman, told reporters the rally “fully demonstrates that soldiers firmly support, and are loyal and respectful of the Chinese Communist party’s central committee, with comrade Xi as its core”.
Ren claimed China’s military had been transformed in the almost five years since Xi took power, in November 2012, “like a phoenix rising from the ashes”.
China will host its 19th Communist party congress this autumn, a twice-a-decade conclave at which some of the most senior positions in Chinese politics will be distributed.
As Xi prepares for the event, which marks the midpoint of his anticipated 10-years in office, some believe he is seeking to promote himself as the third great leader of post-revolution China, after its founder, Chairman Mao and Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China’s breathtaking economic boom. Posters being sold in some Chinese shops feature a politically-charged hologram that morphs from Mao’s portrait to that of Deng and, finally, Xi.
Lam said he suspected Xi’s ambitions went even further: “He wants to position himself as the Mao Zedong of the 21st century … He wants to be the Communist party’s second biggest star – its second most important leader – even going beyond Deng Xiaoping.” Additional reporting by Wang Zhen
The US government ruled Mikhail Lesin’s death an accident, but multiple intelligence and law enforcement officials suspect it was a Russian hit. The government is withholding information so today BuzzFeed News has filed a lawsuit to pry the records loose. Mikhail Lesin in Moscow in 2002.Alexander Natruskin / Reuters-Mikhail Lesin in 2000.AFP / Getty Images
By Jason Leopold(BuzzFeed News Reporter)Ken Bensinger(BuzzFeed News Reporter)Anthony Cormier(BuzzFeed News Reporter)Heidi Blake(BuzzFeed News Investigations Editor)Alex Campbell(BuzzFeed News Deputy Investigations Editor, UK)Tom Warren(Investigations Correspondent)Jane Bradley(Investigations Correspondent)Richard Holmes(Investigations Reporter)-Posted on
Vladimir Putin’s former media czar was murdered in Washington, DC, on the eve of a planned meeting with the US Justice Department, according to two FBI agents whose assertions cast new doubts on the US government’s official explanation of his death.
Mikhail Lesin’s battered body was discovered in his Dupont Circle hotel room on the morning of Nov. 5, 2015, with blunt-force injuries to the head, neck, and torso. After an almost yearlong "comprehensive investigation," a federal prosecutor announced last October that Lesin died alone in his room due to a series of drunken falls “after days of excessive consumption of alcohol.” His death was ruled an "accident," and prosecutors closed the case.
But the two FBI agents — as well as a third agent and a serving US intelligence officer — said Lesin was actually bludgeoned to death. None of these officials were directly involved in the government’s investigation, but they said they learned about it from colleagues who were.
“Lesin was beaten to death,” one of the FBI agents said. “I would implore you to say as much. There seems to be an effort here to cover up that fact for reasons I can't get into.”
He continued: “What I can tell you is that there isn’t a single person inside the bureau who believes this guy got drunk, fell down, and died. Everyone thinks he was whacked and that Putin or the Kremlin were behind it.”
In another previously unreported revelation, the two FBI agents said it was the Department of Justice that paid for the hotel room where Lesin died. DOJ officials had invited the Russian to Washington to interview him about the inner workings of RT, the Kremlin-funded network that Lesin founded, they said.
But Lesin never made it to the interview. He died the night before it was scheduled to take place.
Last month, a two-year investigation by BuzzFeed News revealed explosive evidence pointing to Russia in 14 suspicious deaths on British soil that the UK government had largely ignored. Four high-ranking US intelligence officials confirmed that those deaths had been linked to Russian security services or mafia gangs, two groups that sometimes work in tandem, by “intelligence gathered in the field and analysed” by US spies and handed to Britain’s security services. But the UK police publicly declared that none of the 14 incidents involved foul play. As a result, the public has been kept in the dark about what national security officials have long suspected: Russian assassins may have murdered in the UK with impunity.
Some American officials now fear the threat has hit home. Lesin’s death raised “concerns” that the Kremlin would start “doing here what they do with some regularity in London,” said a former high-level national security official who recently left government. Altogether, 18 current and former intelligence, law enforcement, and other federal officials told BuzzFeed News that they question the official story of how Lesin died.
The FBI, which assisted with the investigation, and the Department of Justice declined to comment. The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said it had nothing to add beyond its statement last year calling Lesin’s death an accident. The DC medical examiner’s office said it is barred by law from releasing details of the autopsy, so would not comment beyond the US Attorney’s statement and a brief summary of its own findings that it released in March. A spokesperson for the DC Metropolitan Police — which led the investigation, deploying homicide detectives — told BuzzFeed News that “we have no evidence to suggest this death involved foul play. However, we will certainly reinvestigate should additional evidence be brought to light."
Urgent questions remain about Lesin’s death. The government is withholding the FBI’s investigative file, which includes critical evidence ranging from surveillance tapes to witness interviews. So today, BuzzFeed News filed a lawsuit to pry that information loose.
A BuzzFeed News reporter submitted requests under the Freedom of Information Act for the FBI’s and the Department of Justice’s complete records of the investigation in 2016. But recently the FBI said that if it can release any documents, it may take as long as two more years for it to do so. The suit, filed in US District Court in Washington, DC, aims to speed up that process.
Lesin, the son of a military construction worker, rose to become one of Russia’s most powerful and influential media officials. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he ran a wildly successful advertising agency and developed the ad campaign that helped Boris Yeltsin win the presidency in 1996. Lesin went on to serve as Yeltsin’s press minister. Vladimir Putin kept him on during his first term as president, and Lesin muzzled anti-Putin critics by helping to consolidate control over the country’s mass media under the Kremlin. The move earned Lesin, a stocky man with a large head, a nickname: “The Bulldozer.”
During Putin’s second term, Lesin was named senior presidential adviser and rose to the top of Putin’s propaganda machine when he conceived and founded Russia Today, which he once described as a news channel to counter Western spin disseminated by news networks such as CNN and the BBC. Later renamed RT, the state-owned media channel broadcasts in the US on cable and via the internet.
Lesin’s career in government ended in 2009 when Dmitry Medvedev took over Russia’s presidency.
Over the next three years, Lesin traveled the world and spent lavishly. He owned a yacht — reportedly valued at $40 million — that he named Serenity, and property records show that companies he’s associated with spent at least $28 million on luxury real estate, purchasing sprawling estates in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and Brentwood for himself; his daughter, Ekaterina Lesina; an RT bureau chief; and his son, Anton Lessine, an up-and-coming Hollywood producer. Multiple sources said Lesin helped finance his son’s films, such as Dirty Grandpa starring Robert De Niro, and Fury starring Brad Pitt.
Neither Lessine nor Lesina, who are based in the US, returned multiple calls and emails seeking comment.
When Putin was elected to a third term in 2012, Lesin returned to Moscow, took over state-owned Gazprom Media, and acquired the conglomerate ProfMedia in what was seen by opposition critics as another effort by the Kremlin to crack down on independent voices in the media.
Lesin abruptly resigned from Gazprom in December 2014.
At that point, his activities became more murky. Intelligence and law enforcement sources said Lesin had a falling out with Putin’s close confidants and then went into hiding abroad. But five sources told BuzzFeed News he was forced out of Gazprom after US Senator Roger Wicker got wind of Lesin’s US spending spree and wrote to the Department of Justice demanding it investigate. The Justice Department, in turn, referred the matter to the FBI.
Lesin “was feeling good until that letter came out,” said the US intelligence officer. But “Putin decided to cut him loose as a potential liability. Once Putin ditched him, once he lost his protection, Lesin’s partners and competitors started going after him.”
A second US intelligence official said Lesin was hiding out in the Swiss Alps during the summer of 2015, fearful that he would be killed.
Lesin “was running out of options of where to live and hide,” the second intelligence official said. “At this point he was a defector. He contacted the Justice Department and the FBI through a third party. He was worried about his kids and their safety so he wanted to cooperate.”
The three FBI agents who claim Lesin was beaten to death said they were told by colleagues who were assisting Metropolitan Police detectives with the investigation. Two of the agents said they were told that the FBI has obtained evidence and conducted witness interviews that indicate that Lesin was murdered. Neither agent would describe the evidence or give details about who the witnesses were, or what exactly they said. The third said that a colleague working on the case told him in January that Lesin was beaten to death.
The intelligence officer would not say how he knew Lesin was bludgeoned but said that the weapon was a baseball bat. Another source — with direct knowledge of the autopsy performed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Washington, DC — offered new information about Lesin’s injuries: He had fractured ribs, a detail that has not been previously reported.
One of the FBI agents said that he learned Lesin was put up by the Justice Department at the Dupont Circle Hotel — a midrange hotel out of keeping with Lesin’s extravagant lifestyle — during an informal “water cooler talk” with a “case agent” working on the investigation. Lesin, he was told, “was going to talk about the inner workings of RT — basically, how the propaganda machine works. DOJ was investigating RT. These are the types of meetings we have with people when we want to recruit them as informants.”
Does he believe Lesin was murdered over RT? “Whether it was over RT, money, pissing off Putin or a combo or all of it, I don’t know,” he answered. “But falling down drunk? Come on. That’s bullshit.”.
The second FBI agent said he learned that the Justice Department had put Lesin up at the hotel from a DOJ official on the case. The DOJ “was investigating something with RT,” he recalled being told, and investigators planned to ask Lesin “how the station operated — how it was run and how the Kremlin used it.”
The Dupont Circle Hotel declined to provide any information about Lesin, citing its policy of protecting guests’ privacy.
BuzzFeed News filed suit today to compel the swift release of investigative records and other documents about Lesin because American intelligence agencies have said that Russia interfered in the US presidential election, ties to Russia are at the heart of the investigations underway involving President Donald Trump’s campaign, and we have revealed that US intelligence officials suspect Russian involvement in 14 deaths on the territory of one of America’s closest allies, Great Britain. ●
its controversial Gaza plan. Israel has successfully kept the Palestinian issue out of the international radar since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011. It has won new friends such as India, which was once a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause. Any violent suppression of the Palestinian uprising would only kindle a new interest in the Palestinian problem which the international community has virtually abandoned. 
Qatar has had to rely on imports from Iran and Turkey since the crisis broke out (AFP)
