Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Israeli anti-Zionist expelled from Labour amid anti-Semitism smear

The 81-year-old retired professor was expelled from Labour outright with no hearing. (TeleSUR)

According to Labour Party Marxists, the Jewish Labour Movement’s vice-chair Mike Katz accused Machover of being an “amoral historian,” although he did not contest the facts in Machover’s article.

In the article, Machover argued that in Labour, a “campaign of equating opposition to Zionism with anti-Semitism has, in fact, been carefully orchestrated with the help of the Israeli government.”

Machover also critically quoted Reinhard Heydrich, one of Hitler’s most notorious lieutenants, who he said in 1935 wrote that the Nazi “government finds itself in complete agreement with the great spiritual movement within Jewry itself, so-called Zionism.”

Sam Matthews, the Labour official who wrote expelling Machover, did not specify which part of the article he claimed was anti-Semitic.

Speaking to The Times last week, right-wing Labour lawmaker John Mann called for Labour Party Marxists to be “thrown out of the party, every single one of them.”

Mann, who has been a leading opponent of left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn, claimed that the group’s “scurrilous publication, which contains anti-Semitic material, is good only for the recycling bin.”

Misquoted

The Times report misquoted the bulletin, claiming it “discussed the ‘commonality between Zionists and Nazis’ ” – the article in fact contains no such quote.

The report also failed to mention the fact that Machover is an Israeli Jew, and falsely implied that he had quoted the Nazi official approvingly.

Machover told The Electronic Intifada that he had quoted “the great monster Heydrich” to discuss the undisputed historical links between a Zionist minority of German Jews in the 1930s and the Nazi Party.

Machover was expelled rather than suspended because the Labour bureaucracy claims he has violated party rules by writing articles for the Weekly Worker, the newspaper of the Communist Party of Great Britain.

“Membership or support for another political party” is grounds for immediate expulsion, the letter states.

Speaking to The Electronic Intifada, Machover said he was not member of either the Communist Party of Great Britain or Labour Party Marxists.

The latter group asked to use his article and he agreed. The Weekly Worker is an “open forum” which is very democratic in its publication policy, he said. He has spoken at some of the Communist Party of Great Britain’s meetings.

He told The Electronic Intifada that he also spoke at elite private school Eton College some years ago: “I went there. Am I associated with Eton? I don’t know! If people invite me to talk about Israel/Palestine, I usually respond. That’s what I do.”

Machover pointed out that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was for 10 years a columnist for the Morning Star, which is closely associated with the Communist Party of Britain – another left-wing group.

Since Corbyn – long a Palestine solidarity activist – was elected leader of the party, Labour has faced a mostly invented “anti-Semitism crisis.”

Mounting a tenacious but futile attempt to stay in control, the right wing of the party has teamed up with Israel lobby groups such as Labour Friends of Israel and the Jewish Labour Movement to smear supporters of Palestinian rights as anti-Semites.

The letter to Machover marks the first known time Labour Party officials have cited the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s “working definition” of anti-Semitism as a justification for “formal notice of investigation.”

The controversial document has been promoted by Israel lobby groups, because it alleges that “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” is an example of “anti-Semitism.”

It could also define advocating for a single, democratic state in historic Palestine, in which Jews, Muslims and Christians have full and equal rights, as anti-Semitism, because under the terms of the definition that could be construed as “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination.”
Updated since initial publication.

moshe-machover-letter-redact.pdf by Thavam on Scribd

Dozens of Syrian civilians 'killed in Russian airstrike'

Human rights monitor says nine children were among victims, who were trying to cross Euphrates river to escape fighting

Displaced Syrians on the outskirts of Raqqa this week after fleeing the city of Deir ez-Zor. Photograph: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images

Agence France-Presse in Beirut-Wednesday 4 October 2017 17.37 BST

A Russian airstrike has killed 38 civilians as they tried to cross the Euphrates river to escape fighting in eastern Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province, a monitor has said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Britain, said nine children were among those killed as they tried to cross the river aboard rafts, escaping from areas where Russian-backed regime forces are battling the Islamic State group.

The monitor, which earlier gave a toll of 20 in the strikes, said the dead included an Iraqi family.

Deir ez-Zor borders Iraq and civilians have fled into the province to escape the battles against Isis in their own country.

Two campaigns are being fought against Isis in east Deir ez-Zor, with the one on the western side of the Euphrates river, which slices diagonally across the province, led by Syrian troops and backed by their ally Russia.

The second is being fought by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, on the eastern bank of the river.

The Observatory relies on a network of sources inside Syria, and says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.

The group has reported hundreds of civilians killed in operations against Isis in Deir ez-Zor and neighbouring Raqqa province, where the SDF is fighting with US support to capture the former jihadist bastion of Raqqa city.

On Tuesday, the Observatory said a US-led coalition strike in Raqqa had killed at least 18 civilians.

The coalition says it takes all measures possible to avoid civilian casualties and that it investigates each credible allegation.

Last month, it acknowledged the deaths of more than 700 civilians in its strikes in Syria and Iraq since 2014.

Russia has not acknowledged any civilian deaths from its strikes since its intervened in Syria’s war in 2015, and dismisses the Observatory’s reporting as biased.

The deaths in Deir ez-Zor on Wednesday prompted outrage from the opposition Syrian National Coalition, which described the incident as a “heinous crime”.

More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

Return to Aleppo: 'I never expected such destruction'

Many families who fled the war are now returning to formerly rebel-held eastern Aleppo to find homes, schools, mosques and churches in ruins

A Syrian boy walks amid the rubble of ruined buildings in Aleppo in July (AFP)

Jonathan Steele-Wednesday 4 October 2017

ALEPPO, Syria - Every evening, as cool returns to the streets, residents of Aleppo make their way to the city’s ancient citadel to take selfies or snaps of each other.

The nearby buildings, including the Great Omayyid Mosque, are heavily damaged or, like the vaulted souks, once the largest in the Middle East, they are in total ruin. The area was fought over for much of Syria’s war.

Return to Aleppo 'I never expected such destruction'.docx by Thavam on Scribd

New details emerge about Marilou Danley, girlfriend of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock

As questions swirl around what drove Stephen Paddock to carry out the bloodiest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, investigators are increasing their focus on his 62-year-old girlfriend, Marilou Danley. (Reuters)

By William Wan, Sandhya Somashekhar, Aaron C. Davis and Marwa Eltagouri October 4 at 1:46 PM

FBI agents spent Wednesday questioning Marilou Danley, the longtime girlfriend of the Las Vegas gunman and considered an integral key by authorities trying to understand what drove Stephen Paddock to open fire from his casino hotel room.

Paddock killed at least 58 people and injured more than 500 on the Las Vegas Strip before killing himself. Danley was in the Philippines at the time of the attack and arrived in Los Angeles late Tuesday. She was met by FBI agents at the airport and questioned Wednesday.

Matthew Lombard, a criminal defense attorney, has been hired as her lawyer, and he was with Danley at the FBI’s Los Angeles field office Wednesday afternoon, his staff said.

As investigators continue to search for a Paddock’s motive and question Danley, new details have emerged about both.

Paddock met Danley several years ago while she was working as a high-limit hostess for Club Paradise at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno, Nev., said his brother, Eric Paddock.

“They were adorable — big man, tiny woman. He loved her. He doted on her,” Eric said Tuesday in Florida.

The two often gambled side by side, he said. Authorities say that before the shooting, Paddock transferred a large amount of money — close to $100,000 — to someone in the Philippines, possibly his girlfriend. Eric Paddock said he now believes his brother may have been trying to arrange for Danley to be abroad before carrying out the massacre.

Employees at a Starbucks in Mesquite, Nev., however, described the couple’s relationship differently. A supervisor at the coffee shop told the Los Angeles Times that Paddock often berated Danley in public. The Starbucks is the only one in town and is inside the Virgin River Casino.

“It happened a lot,” Esperanza Mendoza, supervisor of the Starbucks, told the Times. He would verbally abuse her when Danley asked to use his casino card to buy food or other things inside the casino, Esperanza said.

“He would glare down at her and say — with a mean attitude — ‘You don’t need my casino card for this. I’m paying for your drink, just like I’m paying for you.’ Then she would softly say, ‘Okay’ and step back behind him. He was so rude to her in front of us.”

The girlfriend

Danley is from the Philippines, but Australian authorities have confirmed she is a citizen there.

Danley has two sisters who live in Australia, according to news outlets there and old Facebook posts by the sisters, which have been deleted in recent days.

Australian media identified the sisters as Liza Werner and Amelia Manango.

In a picture posted by Werner, Danley appears with the two women as well as Danley’s daughter. The caption reads, “Sheila and the three sisters,” according to the Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper.
The sisters did not respond to messages or calls.

But two women identified by an Australian television network as Danley’s sisters — though not by name — said Wednesday that they believe Paddock arranged Danley’s trip to the Philippines so that she would not interfere with his plans.

She was shocked to know she was leaving, the women told Seven Network Australia, their faces blurred.

“He sent her away so that he can plan what he is planning without interruptions,” one of the women said. “In that sense I thank him for sparing my sister’s life. But that won’t … compensate the [dead] people’s lives.”

Paddock at one point was a frequent gambler at the casino where Danley once worked. She was a high-limit hostess for Club Paradise, a rewards program in the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, according to her LinkedIn profile. In a statement, Atlantis officials said she has not worked for the casino for several years.

[Did Las Vegas gunman follow UT Tower shooter Charles Whitman’s playbook?]

Paddock was such a regular at the Atlantis that his entire family once took over the top floor at the casino’s expense, his brother said.

Acco

rding to court records, Danley may have been living with Paddock as early as August 2013, while she was still married to another man, Geary Danley.

Geary and Marilou Danley were married in Las Vegas in 1990. According to court records, they jointly filed for divorce on Feb. 25, 2015, and the divorce was finalized the next day. During her divorce, Marilou Danley listed a downtown Reno apartment as her address. Property records show the apartment was owned by Paddock.

Paddock invested and sold several properties in recent years as a way of making money, according to relatives and property records. Neighbors at two other properties owned by Paddock in Reno and Mesquite said Danley lived with Paddock there as well and often disappeared with him for long stretches — sometimes for months at a time — during his visits to casinos.

At one point, Danley worked for an airline based out of the San Francisco Bay area, said one longtime neighbor in Reno, where Danley and Paddock lived together in a retirement community. She later worked for Avon, the cosmetic sales company, and tried to sell their products to other residents, Elizabeth Tyee said. Danley traveled all the time, and when she was at the home she shared with Paddock in a retirement community in Reno, it was never for very long. Tyee said Danley would show up every three or four months and stay for no more than 10 days.

Key witness

Danley is considered a critical witness in trying to decipher Paddock’s motive.

While investigators have described Danley as a “person of interest,” they have not suggested that she is considered an accomplice or involved in any way. Still, given how little has emerged in Paddock’s past that could foreshadow the attack, the “best lead is through this girlfriend,” said Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.).

The women identified by Seven Network Australia as her sisters agreed.

“No one can put the puzzles together — no one except Marilou,” one of the women said. “Because Steve is not here to talk anymore. Only Marilou can maybe help.

“She probably was even more shocked than us because she is more closer to him than us. You know, to be able to find out the person you love and live with can do such a thing? And you thought you know the person yourself.”

Stephen Paddock was identified by police as the gunman in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Here's what you need to know about him. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)
Danley has a daughter and grandchildren, the women said.

Tyee and other neighbors described Danley as extremely sweet and friendly. Tyee said Danley hugged her when they saw each other. Paddock, however, was more standoffish.

This summer, Tyee saw Danley and Paddock moving a mattress and glimpsed the inside of their garage, which was completely empty. Tyee asked Danley whether they were moving, and Danley said they had bought a new house but were not moving out of Reno.

Another neighbor, Susan Page, who moved next door to the couple this summer, said she had not seen them since August. Paddock had recently bought a new silver minivan, she said, and Danley drove an SUV. On the third week of August, Paddock left the house. Soon after, Danley packed up her car as well, as if she was moving, Page said.

The gunman

More details have also emerged on Paddock, the gunman.

From 1976 to 1985, Paddock worked federal government jobs: as a letter carrier for the Postal Service, an agent for the IRS and an auditor for U.S. government’s Defense Contract Audit Agency, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

Neighbors in several states where he owned homes in retirement communities described him as surly and unfriendly.

Relatives say the roots of Paddock’s loner lifestyle may have been planted July 28, 1960. On that day, when Paddock was 7, a neighbor from across the street took him swimming. The neighbor at the time told a local newspaper that she knew authorities were coming for his father, a bank robber, and she wanted to spare the boy the trauma of seeing his father hauled away by authorities.

[Las Vegas shooter’s father was a bank robber — and on the FBI’s Most Wanted list]

From that point on, Paddock’s family was never the same.

His mother struggled to raise him and his brothers on her own. His father escaped from prison — twice — and had little more contact with them, relatives say. As they grew older, Stephen, the eldest, and the youngest brother, Eric, kept in touch, but Stephen Paddock drifted almost completely out of touch with his two other brothers, Bruce and Patrick.

Eric said that Stephen stopped talking to his brother Bruce because Bruce used to beat him up when they were kids and that Stephen stopped talking to Patrick because they’re very different people.
Even with Eric he never talked much. They created a lucrative real estate investment business together, but Stephen would only text Eric now and then.

“We didn’t talk much. We talked when there was something to talk about,” Eric Paddock said. “Steve had no help. Steve did not take help. He was a stand-alone guy.”

Choking up as he talked, Eric said, “Steve was like a dad surrogate. He took me camping. I liked my brother. He was a good guy.”

High school

Stephen Paddock went to John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in the Los Angeles suburbs, his brother said.

Judy Smith Nelson, a retired federal worker living in Las Vegas, was stunned when she first saw that she and the alleged shooter were the same age — 64. Then a friend texted her a picture from an old high school yearbook.

“I couldn’t believe it. I recognized the face. We had been classmates,” Nelson said Tuesday.

As investigators continued searching for a motive, anyone who had come into contact with Paddock over more than four decades began to wrestle with what they knew of the man and whether there had ever been clues of what would come.

[Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock was a high-stakes gambler who ‘kept to himself’ before massacre]

Former California state senator Richard Alarcon, who had gotten his start as student body president of John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in 1971, posted a note to friends on Facebook on Tuesday saying he remembered playing basketball with Paddock at a neighborhood court.

Another classmate remembered Paddock showing up at a 20-year reunion and repeatedly angling to talk to her.

Nelson, in Las Vegas, fished through an old box of keepsakes and found a 10-year reunion program that contained a one-line description that each classmate had written. Paddock’s read: “Single, accountant, has traveled to Hollywood, lives in Sepulveda [Calif.]”

“We’re all just reeling, and here I have kind of a personal connection, being that we walked the same grounds, we were from the same area,” Nelson said.

After high school, Paddock attended Cal State Northridge. He was married and divorced twice. Both ex-wives — one in the Los Angeles area, the other in the Dallas suburbs — declined to talk to reporters.

Barbara Liston in Orlando; Ally Gravina in Reno, Nev.; William Dauber in Los Angeles; and Julie Tate and Devlin Barrett in Washington contributed to this report, which has been updated.

Analysis: Russia throws North Korea lifeline to stymie regime change

A guard walks along a platform past signs, which read "Russia" (L) and "DPRK"(Democratic People's Republic of Korea), at the border crossing between Russia and North Korea in the settlement of Tumangan, North Korea July 18, 2014. REUTERS/Yuri Maltsev/Files

Andrew Osborn-OCTOBER 4, 2017

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is quietly boosting economic support for North Korea to try to stymie any U.S.-led push to oust Kim Jong Un as Moscow fears his fall would sap its regional clout and allow U.S. troops to deploy on Russia’s eastern border.

Though Moscow wants to try to improve battered U.S.-Russia relations in the increasingly slim hope of relief from Western sanctions over Ukraine, it remains strongly opposed to what it sees as Washington’s meddling in other countries’ affairs.

Russia is already angry about a build-up of U.S.-led NATO forces on its western borders in Europe and does not want any replication on its Asian flank.

Yet while Russia has an interest in protecting North Korea, which started life as a Soviet satellite state, it is not giving Pyongyang a free pass: it backed tougher United Nations sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear tests last month.

But Moscow is also playing a fraught double game, by quietly offering North Korea a slender lifeline to help insulate it from U.S.-led efforts to isolate it economically.

A Russian company began routing North Korean internet traffic this month, giving Pyongyang a second connection with the outside world besides China. Bilateral trade more than doubled to $31.4 million in the first quarter of 2017, due mainly to what Moscow said was higher oil product exports.

At least eight North Korean ships that left Russia with fuel cargoes this year have returned home despite officially declaring other destinations, a ploy U.S. officials say is often used to undermine sanctions against Pyongyang.

And Russia, which shares a short land border with North Korea, has also resisted U.S.-led efforts to repatriate tens of thousands of North Korean workers whose remittances help keep the country’s hard line leadership afloat.

“The Kremlin really believes the North Korean leadership should get additional assurances and confidence that the United States is not in the regime change business,” Andrey Kortunov, head of the Russian International Affairs Council, a think-tank close to the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Reuters.

“The prospect of regime change is a serious concern. The Kremlin understands that (U.S. President Donald) Trump is unpredictable. They felt more secure with Barack Obama that he would not take any action that would explode the situation, but with Trump they don’t know.”

Trump, who mocks North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a “rocket man” on a suicide mission, told the United Nations General Assembly last month he would “totally destroy” the country if necessary.

He has also said Kim Jong Un and his foreign minister “won’t be around much longer” if they made good on a threat to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States.

STRATEGIC BORDER

To be sure, Beijing’s economic ties to Pyongyang still dwarf Moscow’s and China remains a more powerful player in the unfolding nuclear crisis. But while Beijing is cutting back trade as it toughens its line on its neighbour’s ballistic missile and nuclear programme, Russia is increasing its support.

People familiar with elements of Kremlin thinking say that is because Russia flatly opposes regime change in North Korea.

Russian politicians have repeatedly accused the United States of plotting so-called colour revolutions across the former Soviet Union and any U.S. talk of unseating any leader for whatever reason is politically toxic in Moscow.

Russia’s joint military exercises with neighbouring Belarus last month gamed a scenario where Russian forces put down a Western-backed attempt for part of Belarus to break away.

A participant wears a badge with portraits of North Korean former leaders Kim Il-sung (L) and Kim Jong-il during a ceremony to mark the re-opening of a railway link between North Korea and Russia at the port of Rajin, North Korea September 22, 2013. Picture taken September 22, 2013. REUTERS/Yuri Maltsev/Files

With Russia due to hold a presidential election in March, politicians are again starting to fret about Western meddling.

In 2011, President Vladimir Putin accused then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of trying to stir up unrest in Russia and he has made clear that he wants the United States to leave Kim Jong Un alone.

While condemning Pyongyang for what he called provocative nuclear tests, Putin told a forum last month in the eastern Russian port of Vladivostok that he understood North Korea’s security concerns about the United States and South Korea.

Vladivostok, a strategic port city of 600,000 people and headquarters to Russia’s Pacific Fleet, is only about 100 km (60 miles) from Russia’s border with North Korea.

Russia would be fiercely opposed to any U.S. forces deploying nearby in a reunited Korea.

“(The North Koreans) know exactly how the situation developed in Iraq,” Putin told the economic forum, saying Washington had used the false pretext that Baghdad had weapons of mass destruction to destroy the country and its leadership.

“They know all that and see the possession of nuclear weapons and missile technology as their only form of self-defence. Do you think they’re going to give that up?”

Analysts say Russia’s view is that North Korea’s transformation into a nuclear state, though incomplete, is permanent and irreversible and the best the West can hope for is for Pyongyang to freeze elements of its programme.

NOTHING PERSONAL

Kortunov, the think-tank chief close to the Russian Foreign Ministry, said he did not think the Kremlin’s defence of Kim Jong Un was based on any personal affection or support for North Korea’s leadership, likening Moscow’s pragmatic backing to that it has given Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

Moscow’s position was motivated by a belief the status quo made Russia a powerful geopolitical player in the crisis because of its close ties to Pyongyang, Kortunov said, just as Russia’s support for Assad has gifted it greater Middle East clout.

He said Moscow knew it would lose regional leverage if Kim Jong Un fell, much as its Middle East influence was threatened when Islamist militants looked like they might overthrow Assad in 2015.

“It’s a very delicate balancing act,” said Kortunov.

“On the one hand, Russia doesn’t want to deviate from the line of its partners and mostly from China’s position on North Korea which is getting tougher. But on the other hand, politicians in Moscow understand that the current situation and level of interaction between Moscow and Pyongyang puts Russia in a league of its own compared to China.”

If the United States were to remove Kim Jong Un by force, he said Russia could face a refugee and humanitarian crisis on its border, while the weapons and technology Pyongyang is developing could fall into even more dangerous non-state hands.

So despite Russia giving lukewarm backing to tighter sanctions on Pyongyang, Putin wants to help its economy grow and is advocating bringing it into joint projects with other countries in the region.

“We need to gradually integrate North Korea into regional cooperation,” Putin told the Vladivostok summit last month.

China puts more boots at Doklam

Worry remains: Kupup in Sikkim, the closest point to the Doklam plateau.

Conclave of Indian Army Commanders next week to discuss military preparedness

Dinakar Peri

A conclave of Army Commanders next week is set to discuss military preparedness along the China border, amid indications that the Chinese may have beefed up their presence near the Doklam standoff site since the disengagement more than a month ago.

According to sources in the Indian security establishment, the Chinese have 1,500 to 1,700 troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) stationed a few hundred metres afrom the standoff site on their side.

New bunkers found

In the locality, Indian surveillance has also detected new bunkers. The sources said road construction stores that were moved to the area during the Doklam standoff also remain in the area, and some road re-laying has been done on the Chinese side not very far from the standoff point.

At least a couple of official sources admitted that they were uncomfortable about the Chinese presence and activities on the plateau. “It is not status quo ante,” an official said. “Ideally, they should withdraw the troops and equipment,” he said.

Defence Ministry officials here claimed that there were only some 300 Chinese soldiers in the area. “There has been no change in the levels (of deployment) since the end of the standoff. Since then, the Chinese troops have only pulled back 300-400 metres,” a senior Army officer said.

The nearest PLA base is at Yatung which has a battalion headquarters with at least 600 soldiers, and is 12-13 km away.

Tanks deployed

Meanwhile, Army sources confirmed that the biannual Army Commanders conference, scheduled to be held from October 9 to 14, would be discussing the Chinese posturing and military preparedness along the border.

The Indian Army has carried out its own readjustments in the India-China-Bhutan trijunction, with forward deployment of T-72 tanks and BrahMos missiles among other equipment.

The two Armies were engaged in a standoff at Doklam near the trijunction since June 16 after Indian soldiers prevented the Chinese from building a road in the disputed territory. After prolonged diplomatic negotiations, the two sides announced disengagement on August 28 ending the 73-day standoff.

Officials said the present posturing by the PLA could be in the context of the crucial Chinese Communist Party Congress scheduled in two weeks. “It is more of a messaging by the PLA for the party. They may pull back after that,” the MoD official said.

“They would not want to wait till winter. It will be difficult to sustain for them,” the official added.

The Dalai Lama has no time to lose

by N.S.Venkataraman- Oct 3, 2017

( October 3, 2017, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) The recent Doklam episode, where China tried to show it’s muscle power in it’s border with Bhutan and India resisted it and finally China gave up it’s war cry, clearly indicate that China is now vulnerable.

State of Chinese economy :

In the past ,China has built capacity at feverish pitch registering steady growth in production and GDP which exceeded 7.5% at one stage.
China’s economy has grown by leaps and bounds in the last two decades and the present capacity build up in industries and infrastructure in China is much more than what China needs. In the case of some products and chemicals, the capacity build up in China is not only more than what China needs but also more than what the world needs.

However, China’s debt has now surpassed 304% of it’s GDP and debt fuelled consumer demand account for 71% of China’s economic growth .With inability to market the products produced in China in domestic and world market due to over capacity build up, China’s GDP has slowed down to 6.7% in 2016 from 6.9% in 2015 and is likely to drop down to around 6.2% in 2017.

China’s dependence on world market :

In the above scenario, China is now dependent on the world market to sustain it’s growth and protect it’s economy from passing into crisis stage due to massive under utilization of capacity built up in China at heavy cost , China cannot afford to go for any conflict with any country or antagonize the world opinion, that would affect the prospects for marketing it’s products and services across the world.

Such conditions now faced by China explain as to why it backed out from risking military conflict with India over Doklam issue. This also explains as to why China is not ready to provide open support to North Korea in it’s present conflict with South Korea, Japan and USA.

It is well known that China is the only major trade partner for North Korea and most of North Korea’s supply needs are met by China, though it is not known as to what is the level of trade deficit between China and North Korea. Obviously, North Korea enjoys sort of protectorate status in it’s relations with China and is an important ally for China in it’s plan for long term global domination. Even as President Trump threatened to wipe out North Korea (which appears to be a rhetoric ) , China is careful and has exercised great caution not to antagonize USA by taking any stand in support of North Korea.

Further, in recent times, China has been inevitably integrating itself with the world market and global economy by investing in several countries in the world by way of overseas acquisition of projects and technical research collaboration. Therefore, China cannot have it’s own way in any issue unmindful of others and it has no alternative other than seeking and ensuring cooperation with all regions.

Time now to advance Tibet’s cause :

In other words, China is now vulnerable to international pressure and cannot ignore the world opinion anymore. It has to shed it’s image as a bully and this is what the Chinese government is now trying to do with great efforts.

In this scenario, it is necessary that the world should be reminded about the Chinese occupation of Tibet and how China forcibly entered Tibet, mercilessly put down the freedom fighters in Tibet and drove them out of the country. World should be strongly told that China now occupying Tibet is immoral and unethical and China is an aggressor as far as Tibet is concerned.

here are some unacceptable arguments that United Kingdom recognized Tibet as an integral part of China and India too has done this. This does not provide legitimacy for China’s occupation of Tibet. Who are United Kingdom and India to recognize Tibet as part of China and what authority they have to do so ? It is the opinion of the Tibetans that should matter in asserting Tibet’s independence and the rights of Tibetans have to be recognized .

No time to lose :

His Holiness The Dalai Lama commands great respect amongst cross section of people everywhere and it is largely recognized that he represents the voice of peace, wisdom and civilization. The Dalai Lama, inspite of his age, is active and should become more “aggressive” and open in voicing the need for winning freedom back for Tibet.

Considering the Dalai Lama’s advanced age and the present climate where China is vulnerable to international pressure and China desperately needs the goodwill across countries to sell it’s products and support it’s economy, there is unlikely to be a more conducive time to take the fight for the liberation of Tibet to a greater and ultimate height.

As a towering leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama need to utilize his moral strength and gather the world opinion in favour of Tibetan cause, so that China will be left with no alternative other than taking note of it and bowing to the world opinion and come to negotiating table with Tibetan leaders.

The Dalai Lama has no time to lose.

The Deported

Europe is expelling thousands of Africans. To one Malian deportee, that looks like a recipe for revolution.

BAMAKO, Mali — It was in Paris, but it wasn’t glamorous work.

BY TY MCCORMICK- OCT. 4, 2017

Amadou Coulibaly spent his nights swabbing a mop over acres of dimly lit office space as France’s corporate workforce slept. Each dawn, he bedded down with a dozen other Malian immigrants, who rested in shifts in a barren, one-room flat they shared in Paris’s 15th arrondissement. But Coulibaly slept soundly in the surety of his purpose.

Born to a poor family in Bamako, Mali’s congested riverside capital, he dropped out of university in order to support his aging parents. He watched as his wealthier, politically connected classmates graduated into plush government posts. They drove cars and worked in air-conditioned offices while he scratched out a living hawking kola nuts by the side of the road. By the time he had children of his own, all paths to prosperity seemed to have closed but one: the one that led abroad.

Almost a quarter of Mali’s roughly 18 million nationals are thought to live outside the country, mainly in Europe and other African countries. An estimated 120,000 live in France, sending back remittances that exceed France’s development aid to its former colonial possession, according to a favored talking point among Malian officials.

In France, Coulibaly earned about $600 a month, sending half of it home to his wife and children. It put food on the table and paid for school fees. “I didn’t want my children to have to stop their education like I did. That’s the reason I left,” said Coulibaly, whose unwrinkled complexion belies his 59 years. His children now have desks in air-conditioned offices of their own. One daughter is an accountant, and one is a doctor; he has three younger children still in school.

Coulibaly counts himself lucky to have made it to France but resents the manner in which he left it. One day in 2007, he was on his way to the train station when a police officer asked for his papers.

Having applied and been rejected for a resident card, he was whisked away to detention. Thirty-two days later, he was put on a flight to Bamako, one of 5,947 Malians whose expulsion from Europe between 2002 and 2013 offered a preview of the coming immigration crackdown.

As Europe grapples with a refugee crisis that saw the number of asylum-seekers jump 122 percent in 2015 to 1.3 million (the previous high was 700,000 in 1992, the year after the Soviet Union collapsed), it has sought to accelerate the deportation of failed asylum-seekers and migrants who arrive without proper documentation.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, has recommended using “all leverage and incentives” at the EU’s disposal to “ensure that third countries fulfil their international obligation to take back their own nationals residing irregularly in Europe.” Less than 40 percent of failed asylum-seekers were actually deported in 2013, the commission noted in its 2015 “European Agenda on Migration.”

As part of a broader makeover of its immigration policies, which includes spending nearly $2 billion on development and stabilization programs in Africa aimed at countering the “root causes” of migration, the EU is leaning hard on countries to take their citizens back. In 2016, the bloc deported more than 175,000 people, according to the EU border agency Frontex. But in places like Mali, where only a tiny percentage of young people can expect to find work in the formal sector, and where migration is often seen as a rite of passage, the pushback has been fierce. “You will have revolution and destruction if you start sending people back,” said Coulibaly, who is now living in Bamako with his family.

“You will have revolution and destruction if you start sending people back.”

That is nearly what the Malian government got in December, when it signed a joint communiqué pledging to work with the EU to expedite the return of migrants living there illegally. Protests rocked the capital, and the government was forced to deny that it had ever agreed to help European countries identify and deport Malian nationals. (Baréma Bocoum, a special assistant to Mali’s minister of foreign affairs, declined to comment on the status of that agreement, citing “controversy” and the “sensitivity” of the subject.)

“The fact that the government has denied the EU deal shows how important migration is to the economy,” said Sabane Touré, an analyst at the Bamako-based Coalition for African Debt and Development Alternatives. “If you take the money from migration out of the economy, it will be nothing.”

European officials maintain that Mali is already obligated under international law to take back migrants and failed asylum-seekers. The December communiqué was just aimed at speeding up the process, they say. The Malian government has been reluctant to help European governments identify its nationals — a requirement for their legal return — and often dragged its feet on issuing them travel documents. And when European countries have tried to work around this problem by issuing their own travel documents, diplomatic spates have ensued. In January, the Malian government returned two African migrants deported from France, claiming that it could not verify they were Malians.

Advocates of so-called “take-back” agreements have argued that they could be sweetened with promises of expanded channels for legal migration. But European governments have shown little willingness to take in additional African workers at a time when populist and nativist sentiments are already on the rise. And there is no guarantee that giving African governments a set number of European work visas to distribute will be enough to offset the overwhelming public opposition to deportation agreements.

In Mali, migration is as much a cultural issue as an economic one. The country has a proud tradition of venturing abroad that dates back to the Middle Ages, when caravan traders carrying gold and salt turned cities like Gao and Timbuktu into storied commercial hubs. Those same caravan routes are now used by smugglers; remittances are the new gold. Venturing abroad in many Malian communities, particularly in the south, is seen as an honor verging on an obligation.

Even the criminal syndicates, some of them with links to al Qaeda, that ferry migrants north are viewed as a necessary evil. “The passeur who helped me, was he a bad guy?” said Coulibaly, using the preferred term for smuggler in Mali. “I was able to send my children to school because of him. My daughter went to medical school.”

Coulibaly is now the vice president of an association that supports Malian migrants who have been expelled from Europe. He helps recent deportees get back on their feet and advocates for migrants’ rights. He also lobbies the Malian government not to cooperate with European governments seeking to expel migrant workers like him. In his view, no amount of legal migration or development aid from Europe could ever make up for the remittances that come in from Malians abroad, many of whom migrated through informal channels.

“One migrant can support more than 20 people at home,” he said. “They are the ones paying for homes, for schools, for hospitals. Aid from Europe can’t pay for all this. Without migration, there will be no development.”

Contaminated alcohol in Indonesia is killing hundreds of people each year

IF YOU walk around nightlife spots in Indonesia like Jalan Legian in Bali, you’ll see the signs. They offer you “vodka and coke” for as little as IDR15,000 (US$1.10); free spirit-based cocktails for ladies; or 2-for-1 promotions on mixed drinks.

How is this possible in a country where the tax on alcohol is currently set at 150 percent? It isn’t.

And the “vodka”, “gin” or “whisky” on the advertisements will almost certainly be arak. In its most basic form, arak is a traditional liquor made from coconut palm, sugarcane or rice, which has been enjoyed in Indonesia for centuries.

SEE ALSO: Indonesia: Australian wines may require halal certification – minister

But many visitors to the archipelago don’t realise that arak has been linked to a spate of alcohol-related incidents in recent years, some of which have resulted in the deaths of Indonesians and tourists alike due to methanol poisoning.

Methanol is naturally produced during the fermentation process in alcoholic drinks and presents as a colorless and odorless liquid. But as little as 30ml of methanol can kill you. In most distilling processes, the alcohol product is heated and the methanol is burned off, making the resulting liquor safe to drink.

In recent years, due to the increasing demand for cheap drinks; the high tax making real alcohol unavailable to many; and the willingness of local businesses to lower costs, this process has been increasingly eschewed, meaning that methanol is often still present in the finished bottle of arak.

The resulting figures make for uncomfortable reading. According to a report by the Centre for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS), “Nationwide, 487 people died from illegal alcohol poisoning between 2013 and 2016 – a 226 percent increase over figures from 2008 to 2012.”

The only real way to guard against methanol poisoning is to either stick to beer or drink duty-free spirits imported from abroad. Source: Shutterstock

There have also been reported deaths of tourists not only in Bali, but also on the Gili Islands in Lombok and in Bukit Lawang in North Sumatra, making methanol poisoning a countrywide issue in Indonesia.

The official figures should also be considered conservative estimates, as many local and tourist deaths are often misdiagnosed and attributed to alcohol poisoning. One of the main problems comes when an individual seeks treatment for methanol poisoning and is then often incorrectly treated for excessive alcohol consumption.

To add to the confusion, there have even been reports (perhaps due to Indonesia’s contentious relationship with alcohol) of deaths being blamed on demons or as punishment for ingesting “forbidden” drinks.

So what is the Indonesian government doing about the problem?

Not much.

If anything, methanol poisoning has become even more widespread thanks to the new law that was passed in 2015 that prohibited alcohol being sold in the majority of mini markets across Indonesia. This was the brainchild of the then trade minister Rachmat Gobel, who claimed that alcohol was corrupting Indonesian youth.

Unfortunately, in making alcohol more difficult to purchase, the law has also made it more dangerous, something that was foreseen by the former governor of Jakarta, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, who expressed concern that “the ban could encourage the illegal sale of alcoholic beverages in the city”.

SEE ALSO: Indonesia: Govt moves for redenomination of currency

His prophecy was absolutely right as Indonesians, unable to purchase alcoholic drinks in mini markets, have had to turn to unlicensed “bottle shops”. The alcohol sold in these shops, which is often known as “miras oplosan”, is not regulated and could therefore contain lethal amounts of methanol.

In their report, the Centre for Indonesian Policy Studies echoed the conclusion that the ban has been a complete failure: “Our research in six Indonesian cities confirmed that, instead of curbing the desire for intoxication, prohibition facilitates the growth of black markets, a case especially evident in areas with partial prohibition that limits the distribution of alcohol to particular zones.”

Where the Indonesian government has failed to tackle the problems surrounding bootleg liquor however, two families of the victims of methanol poisoning have started campaigns to educate tourists about the dangers.

The first of these is LIAM – Lifesaving Initiatives About Methanol which was founded by Lhani Davies when her son Liam, an Australian national, died after drinking vodka that contained methanol on the island of Gili Trawangan in 2013.

The charitable fund now works to train medical staff in Indonesia on how to recognise methanol poisoning and treat victims, and also campaigns to warn tourists about fake alcohol.

Another initiative is the CHEZ – Save a Life Campaign which was started by the Emmons family from the United Kingdom. The campaign was founded in memory of their daughter and sister Cheznye Emmons who died in 2013 after drinking contaminated gin in Bukit Lawang in Sumatra.

The family spreads awareness of the risks of drinking illicit alcohol through their charity events, poster campaign and Facebook page.

Arak fabrication in Flores, Indonesia by distillation of palm juice in a unique pot still. Source: Peter Verreussel / Shutterstock

These campaigns are now gaining traction with tourists to Bali, but methanol poisoning still kills on a regular basis across Indonesia due to the continued lack of awareness of both victims and medical staff.

For individuals with suspected methanol poisoning, it is imperative to seek medical attention immediately, crucially in a facility that is able to provide haemodialysis, which will remove methanol from the system.

Many consumers, however, don’t realise that they have been the victims of methanol poisoning before it is too late. There is no way to detect methanol in drinks by taste or smell alone, and the initial symptoms often look similar to those of a hangover.

Headaches, abdominal pain, sensitivity to light, nausea and loss of appetite are common initially, but one of the key differentiating symptoms of methanol poisoning is blurred vision, caused as the methanol begins to attack the nervous system.

The timing is also critical, as the symptoms of methanol poisoning typically take 12-24 hours to manifest, and if consumers have been drinking over a long period then they may often be asleep or still intoxicated.

SEE ALSO: Indonesia: Elderly Christian woman whipped under Sharia law for selling alcohol

So how can visitors avoid methanol poisoning in Indonesia?

Unfortunately, due to the lack of government action in clamping down on illicit alcohol manufacturers, consumers are pretty much on their own. The only real way to guard against methanol poisoning is to either stick to beer or drink duty-free spirits imported from abroad.

Another important factor, like it or not, is the realisation that it would be impossible for Indonesian bars and clubs to make a profit on selling IDR15,000 (US$1.10) drinks if they use imported, licensed spirits. It’s bad news for backpackers on a budget, but if you want to avoid fake alcohol that could kill you, then the old adage applies.

If the price looks too good to be true, it probably is.

**This piece was originally published on our sister website Travel Wire Asia.