Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Giving voice to the young– missing talent for impact!

Thursday, 8 February 2018

Listening to Science in Sri Lanka over the airwaves as you travel back home after work? Well, all of us know that it is not possible to find such a program easily, if at all. With so many of our citizens out of touch for so many years, mere availability of a science program is not going to drive listeners by the droves to one program either.

Sri Lankans today are easily hooked by an astrologer and are ready to stop work if someone mentions a particular planetary alignment. No qualms however for getting paid for all the non-work times and time spent preparing for yearend tsunamis and earthquakes. There is never a personal apology for publicising nonsense and for having misled millions.

Ananthaya

However, today there is a radio program in Sinhala on Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation’s CityFM channel (89.3 or 89.6) on Monday and Wednesday from 6.30 to 7.30 p.m. – evening time for on your way back! Some, during very early days, stated that FM represents the Funeral of Media, but I have a feeling that because new-comer FM channels were minus any programs of worth and was directing with programs for a different generation and the mixing of languages with not much respect for any of the languages, was a significant factor in the labelling.

Ananthaya is coordinated by COSTI of Ministry of Science Technology and Research and for the first broadcast, the Minister of Science Technology and Research himself participated, as last year the ministry took a leadership role in celebrating the World Science Day, which falls on 10 November. The space for the program has been graciously supported by the SLBC.

The program started coinciding with the World Science Day in November. If we switch channels on the radio, this may be the only channel still discussing and contributing to improving the scientific awareness of the public. You have various experts from many institutions contributing to the discussions with each day a special topic being addressed. Ananthaya expects to cover topical issues as well as emerging sciences to get the society to move up the science literacy scale. I had the interesting experience of meeting a talented experimentalist as well as quite an articulate speaker when a debunking science myths program took place for Ananthaya.

A platform for the youth

He brought in specialised knowledge and it was obvious that his interests span many subject areas and it was quite a pleasure to note his competence in both Sinhala and English. The radio program is primarily in the Sinhala language as there is significant paucity of science broadcasts in Sinhala.

The young displaying such expertise and versatility was quite welcome and the fact was his presence enriched the program for the day significantly. The young getting their voices and ideas heard was quite welcome. We are not exactly well known for reaching out to the ‘young’ for ideas and feedback. How many times do we say that youngsters with ideas are shot down for dreaming too much? How can one progress with people who are merely passing time with precious little to offer but may be quite vociferous when their requirements are not met? Damith K. quite ably tackled the concept of pseudo knowledge systems and also was very precise in describing that the concept of western science too is erroneous.

Talent loss

It was some events that he described subsequently that really caught my attention. With talent boxed in with little or no opportunities there is a high chance of skilled youngsters disappearing from the country – a disappointed lot.

He and his team had been involved in a global competition in robotics. The competition had been to crowd source talent for techniques and ideas for the Mars mission of NASA based on humanoid robots. As per Damith, the Sri Lankan team had been placed in 70th place from 340 teams with teams from Japan coming on top.

In the first round, from 1400 team entries, they beat teams from India and Malaysia to enter the second round which was in USA. He feels that with a few more resources they really could have done better, but the experience had been very useful.

The winning teams had been literally swept off their feat to jobs in USA. What was interesting to hear was that offers for employment had come from other private sector entities in USA and today, Damith’s team, except for him, are all domiciled in USA. Now this is talent lost.

A recent news item proudly claimed that annually, on average, 10,000 young students take wing to Australia for their studies and Australia had been quite satisfied with the foreign exchange inflows from educational services. I am quite sure in the cases of most, that they are unlikely to return to serve society.

Generation X is more independent and with definite views and aspirations and serving one’s country I’m sure is not a factor in decision making. This was moving with money to get education of the young.

However difficult this scenario may be, going back to an era of foreign exchange curtailment is not an idea to entertain. It was interesting to see the open viewpoint that with direct flights to Melbourne, this year is going to be better than 2017. Now the question is better for whom?

Regaining the confidence of the population

The business plan for direct flights appears only to support an ever-worsening trend. The lesson should be when human capital and money both vanish to the outside, what steps need to be taken to get the confidence of the population back, as you cannot blame individuals for their decisions but must reason out with the internal status for the disaster quietly unfolding.

Census and statistics data reveal that more than 6500 professionals have migrated overseas over the year 2016. It is not surprising to find young students who openly aspire and plan to work overseas after studies. Parents as we know sell whatever they have to fulfil their parental obligations and to give the best in education to their children. Some youngsters say quite strongly and openly that they find that they see no future here in the country after their higher studies. We speak of education to uplift the society but it appears that the script for the act is different. Leaders and decision makers must understand these social trends if they are sincere about their role in society. I remember quite well when the Divisional Head of WIPO, who is in charge of the Global Innovation Index Report, visited Sri Lanka, the question asked from me after spending only a few hours in the island. He asked from me why our newspapers – he arrived on a Sunday to the island and had looked at what was available to him at the hotel – place so many advertisements enticing people to go abroad! Anyone with a decent commonsense understands that when a country’s human capital is in an outflow mode and especially the ones that have substance and the potential, the country is looking down the barrel of a heavily loaded gun.

After the Ananthaya program, I had a little discussion time with Damith and what he told me was quite troublesome. Now these are young minds with proven talent. They definitely do not carry any titles – pre and post to their names yet – and are definitely not members of professional bodies or elite gatherings.

As per Damith, Sri Lanka has only nine years to get it right. Yes – nine years only for Sri Lanka to get the act right and he made this comment quite forcefully and with conviction. I did not have much time to get behind the reasoning but hoped to one day.

Yet those ideas matter, as these youngsters are more at home with globalisation and change. They are quite savvy in this flat world. His specialty is communication engineering and robotics had been one of his interests.

Well, we know a committed well-planned decade can really deliver as shown in Deming’s time in Japan after the war and Mashelkar’s India after economic liberalisation.

Now it must be remembered that Sri Lanka came 70th in the competition and yet all their team members found jobs in USA with attractive offers from head hunting industrial entities.

One could only guess about those between the top and the 70th place. Yes, we know that the typical home-grown American STEM professional is now missing and it is overseas people who mainly fulfil demand. The world’s no. 1 economy is hungry for talent. We are only hungry for meaningless discussions and plans.

We just do not have the passion for execution and one day we will observe that the nation had been haemorrhaging for quite some time. Our passionate attachment to democracy in its present format must be light entertainment for Westminster; not that they are doing great either.

With the US President admitting that he is tweeting at times from his bed – which incidentally has plenty of potential impact – technology is winning and an incoherent social media perhaps is the modern day equivalent to Rule Britannia!

This is just one example I happened to overhear in a direct meeting. Much more is surely happening. The words still reverberate in my mind – Sri Lanka has only nine years. Listen to the young? Are we to ignore them at our peril?!

African migrants in Israel opt for jail over deportation

Israel is working to expel thousands of Eritreans and Sudanese who entered illegally or they risk being imprisoned indefinitely

African migrants standing outside the Holot detention centre, located in Israel's southern Negev desert (AFP)

Wednesday 7 February 2018

At a detention centre in Israel's Negev desert, African migrants facing deportation say they would rather be imprisoned than sent to a country they know nothing about.

"I won't go there," Abda Ishmael, a 28-year-old Eritrean, said in excellent Hebrew outside Holot, an open facility housing some 1,200 migrants and set to be shut down on 1 April as part of the government's expulsion policy.

"Guys who were here and went to Rwanda and Uganda - we saw what happened to them."

Israel is working to expel thousands of Eritreans and Sudanese who entered illegally over the years, giving them an ultimatum: leave by 1 April or risk being imprisoned indefinitely.

As the migrants could face danger or imprisonment if returned to their homelands, Israel is offering to relocate them to an unnamed third country, which aid workers say is Rwanda or Uganda.

Those who choose to leave by the end of March are being offered a cash incentive of $3,500.

The plan has drawn criticism from the United Nations' refugee agency as well as some in Israel, including Holocaust survivors who say the country has a special duty to protect migrants.

Eritreans at Holot say Rwanda and Uganda hold no prospects for them, and they'd rather be imprisoned in Israel than embark on another journey into the unknown.

'Just seeking asylum'

Ishmael, who reached Israel in 2011 after a terrifying journey from Eritrea, has heard about the fates of others sent to Rwanda or Uganda.

He said they have faced hardships in their new homes and gone on to take dangerous routes to Europe in hope of winning refugee status.

He vowed he would not voluntarily step back into the unknown.

"We know of people who were killed by (the Islamic State group), who were killed on their way to Libya, who starved and died of thirst in the desert," he said.

"These people were just seeking asylum."

To Shishay Tewelde Medihin, 24, Rwanda and Uganda are "death countries" and Israel is "risking my life".

He slammed an aid package Israel is reportedly planning to offer African countries in return for absorbing the migrants.

Read more ►

Israel begins telling African migrants to leave

Tewelde Medihin said he planned to stay "indefinitely" in Saharonim prison, where migrants are expected to be sent if they refuse to leave.

According to interior ministry figures, there are currently some 42,000 African migrants in Israel, half of them children, women or men with families, who are not facing the April deportation deadline.

Israeli officials stress that no one they classify as a refugee or asylum seeker will be deported.

But out of some 15,400 asylum requests filed, 6,600 have been processed and just 11 have received positive answers.

Another 1,000 Sudanese from Darfur have received special status preventing their deportation.

Other men whose requests have been denied could face deportation.

Migrants began entering Israel through what was then a porous Egyptian border in 2007. The border has since been strengthened, all but ending illegal crossings.

Many migrants ended up in southern Tel Aviv, where they found work as dishwashers and cooks. But their growing community angered some Israelis.

Protests

Meanwhile, thousands of Eritrean and Sudanese refugees gathered in front of Rwanda’s Embassy in Herzliya to protest the expulsion, and condemn Rwanda for accepting money for their exile.

Although Rwanda’s ambassador, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has denied ongoing reports that his government made a secret deal with Israel to accept forcefully deported migrants at $5,000 per person, the arrangement is widely believed to be a foregone conclusion.

Eritrean and Sudanese refugees gathered in front of Rwanda’s Embassy in Herzliya to protest the expulsion on 7 February (MEE)

Amid chants of “We are refugees – we are not criminals!” and “Rwanda: Shame on you!” the protesters expressed fear of being forced to leave Israel to a country known for its autocratic regime and human rights violations.

“Don’t sell me to Rwanda,” pleaded Simon Gooka, 23, who came to Israel from South Sudan in 2012. “Please give us the honour of not calling us criminals. We are refugees who came to Israel for protection.”

Holding a sign stating “deportation kills,” Emmanuel Hopta, 30, who came to Israel from Eritrea in 2011, expressed shock at the government’s draconian stance.

“I came here because Israel signed the 1951 Geneva Convention for refugees and I thought they would protect me,” he told the Jerusalem Post.

'Infiltrators'

Religious and conservative politicians have portrayed the presence of Muslim and Christian Africans as a threat to Israel's Jewish character.

Calling them "infiltrators," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly called for their expulsion.

Rights groups have rallied to the migrants' cause, saying they should be recognised in Israel as refugees and arguing they will face grave dangers if they are deported.

Others argue that conditions in Rwanda and Uganda are acceptable and it is not Israel's duty to care for them.

"I'll ensure all the rights we promised them, and at the same time, I'll rehabilitate south Tel Aviv," Interior Minister Arye Deri said.

The migrants located at Holot are allowed to leave during the day.

Waiting for a bus outside the facility, a defiant Ahmad Jamal, 25, said the government's plan was a ploy by Netanyahu to divert attention from corruption probes.

"We're wise to his tricks," he said bitterly.

Ishmael asked how he could be considered an economic migrant if he cannot be deported to his country of origin because of the dangers there.

"If the government really thinks I infiltrated to become a work migrant, it should have returned me to my country of origin," he said.

Both Ishmael and Tewelde Medihin miss their home country, but say they had no choice but to flee what they describe as a dictatorship.

"If things were better there, I wouldn't stay another minute here. I miss my country, my mother, my people," Tewelde Medihin said. "I didn't want to be a refugee."

Like the other Eritreans at the centre, Jamal's route to Israel involved an arduous trek through African countries and the Sinai desert, where he and his peers were at the mercy of Bedouin smugglers.

He also said he would refuse a cash payoff and hope for the best.

"God will watch over me, nobody else does," he said. "We're not afraid of anything. We've been through much worse."

Israeli leaders celebrate extrajudicial execution

Maureen Clare Murphy Rights and Accountability 6 February 2018

In the early morning hours on Tuesday Israeli occupation forces killed a Palestinian man who they claim was involved in the shooting death of an Israeli settler in early January.

A second Palestinian was reportedly killed during confrontations with soldiers in the northern occupied West Bank on Tuesday night. The confrontations erupted as the Israeli military surrounded a house in Nablus belonging to the father of a Palestinian who Israel suspects of fatally stabbing another Israeli settler a day earlier.

Palestinian outlets identified the person slain in Nablus as Khalid Abu Tayeh:

View image on Twitter

شبكة قدس الإخبارية

✔@qudsn

الشهيد خالد أبو تايه الذي ارتقى خلال مواجهات عنيفة شهدتها مدينة نابلس مساء اليوم.

4:00 PM - Feb 6, 2018

The Palestinian Authority health ministry stated that 32 people were injured by live fire during the confrontations and six were critically wounded.

Statements by Israeli leaders and intelligence bodies indicate that the Palestinian killed during the pre-dawn hours on Tuesday may have been extrajudicially executed, according to the Palestinian Center for Human rights.

Ahmad Nasser Jarrar, 22, was shot and his body taken away by the Israeli military during the raid on Yamoun village near the city of Jenin, also in the northern West Bank.

The military had been in pursuit of Jarrar for more than a month following the 9 January slaying of Rabbi Raziel Shevach, a resident of Havat Gilad, a West Bank settlement outpost not formally authorized by the Israeli government.

Two Palestinians were previously killed by Israeli soldiers during their campaign to find Jarrar.

Pressure cooker procedure

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights stated that a large force of Israeli soldiers “accompanied [by] a bulldozer and backed by a drone and helicopter” moved into Yamoun village at 4am on Tuesday.

The force surrounded an abandoned building that was formerly used by the Palestinian Authority National Security Forces.

“Explosions and heavy shooting were heard in the area,” according to the rights group.

At around 7am Israeli media began reporting that Ahmad Nasser Jarrar was killed.

The army claimed that Jarrar was shot to death when he emerged from the surrounded building carrying an M-16 rifle.

The Israeli outlet Ynet reported that Jarrar had at first “refused to surrender,” and that the military launched a missile at the building, “following which combat engineering troops started demolishing the house with a bulldozer to pressure him to exit the structure.”

Palestinians inspect site where Israeli forces killed Ahmad Nasser Jarrar in the West Bank village of Yamoun, 6 February.
Ayman AmeenAPA images

This Israeli army tactic, in which construction equipment is employed as a weapon, is known as the “pressure cooker” procedure.

The army employed the tactic during a massive military raid on the Wadi Burqin neighborhood near Jenin that began the night of 17 January and ended the next morning.

Israel initially claimed that a Palestinian killed during that raid was Ahmad Nasser Jarrar but Palestinian sources announced that the slain man was Ahmad Ismail Jarrar, a cousin of the wanted fighter. The army seized Ahmad Ismail Jarrar’s body during the operation and has yet to return his remains to his family for burial.

Occupation forces continued to raid homes in the Jenin area in search of Ahmad Nasser Jarrar after he evaded arrest during the mid-January operation in Wadi Burqin.

The family of Ahmad Abu Ubeid mourn during the teenager’s funeral after he was killed during confrontations with Israeli forces, Jenin, 4 February.
Shadi Jarar’ahAPA images

A Palestinian teenager was killed during a subsequent raid in eastern Burqin on 3 February.

During that operation soldiers occupied rooftops and fired sound bombs and explosives, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

The army used loudspeakers to call on Ahmad Nasser Jarrar to surrender himself, threatening to demolish all houses in the neighborhood.

Palestinian youths gathered in the area of the operation and threw stones and empty bottles at the soldiers, who opened fire on them.

Ahmad Samir Mahmoud Ubeid, 18, was shot in the head and died from his injuries later that day.

Ahmad Nasser Jarrar was lauded as a hero by many Palestinians after avoiding capture by the military for several weeks.

Palestinians gathered in the streets of Burqin and celebrated the military’s failure to seize Jarrar during a raid on the village on Monday:

هتافات الشبان خلال مسيرة في بلدة برقين فرحاً بفشل الاحتلال في الوصول للمطارد #أحمد_جرار. pic.twitter.com/TDcbLbjq3b
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) 5 February 2018

شبكة قدس الإخبارية

✔@qudsn

هتافات الشبان خلال مسيرة في بلدة برقين فرحاً بفشل الاحتلال في الوصول للمطارد #أحمد_جرار.

1:18 PM - Feb 5, 2018

Israeli leaders greeted the news of Ahmad Nasser Jarrar’s death with praise of the army.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israeli forces will “reach anyone who tries to attack Israeli citizens and we will bring them to justice. The same applies to the murderers of Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal,” referring to the settler fatally stabbed on Monday.

Defense minister Avigdor Lieberman congratulated the army and police units involved, adding that “It was clear that it was only a matter of time until we hit the head of the cell that murdered Rabbi Raziel Shevach.”

He implied that Israeli forces would also kill the Palestinian suspected in Monday’s slaying: “I hope and believe that in the near future we will also extend our hand to the murderer of Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal.”

Reuven Rivlin, Israel’s president, made a similar statement: “I have no doubt that the murderer of Itamar Ben Gal and his collaborators will be pursued until we reach them.”

The Shin Bet, Israel’s secret police, made no mention of an exchange of fire in its statement on the operation that led to Ahmad Nasser Jarrar’s death. The absence of any claim that Jarrar opened fire on Israeli soldiers “indicat[es] that the operation aimed to kill Jarrar and not to arrest him,” according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

Extrajudicial death penalty

Israel has a de facto extrajudicial death penalty for Palestinians it suspects of harming Israelis. Israeli media parrot the state’s condemnation of such Palestinians without charge or trial.

Israel’s Ynet deferred to claims made by the Shin Bet by describing Jarrar as “the head of the terror cell responsible for the murder of Rabbi Raziel Shevach,” adding that Jarrar “personally took part in the shooting,” though he was never tried in any court.

The Tel Aviv daily Haaretz similarly referred to Jarrar as “head operative responsible for the January murder of Rabbi Raziel Shevach,” presenting the Shin Bet’s claims as verified fact.

Haaretz likewise described Ahmad Ismail Jarrar, killed in the 17 January raid, as “another man involved in the attack,” apparently treating the claims of the Shin Bet as facts requiring no further investigation or confirmation.

Unmanned Military Weapons: International Humanitarian Law without Human Terrain

Published

4 days ago

February 3, 2018

Dr. Nafees Ahmad

Unmanned Military Weapons (UMW) system based on Autonomous Weapons Technologies (AWT) mesmerizes doppelgängers of Terminator-style robots; deadly machines backed by convoluted artificial intelligence which is qualified of exterminating human beings devoid of being impeded by human sentiments and traditional constrictions. This image is akin to science fiction and raises challenges about the development of UMW that vanguard the international legal discourse in the contemporary circumstances.UMW is innovation,and its adherence to the core principles of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) must be ensured. It is now obligatory upon the international community to address the lego-political, moral and ethical ramifications of the development of robotic technologies that might have lethal consequences.On October 24, 2010, in a report to the UN General Assembly Human Rights Committee, Christof Heyns—a Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions—opined that UMW systems flagged “serious concerns that have been almost entirely unexamined by human rights defenders or humanitarian actors” at the anvil of IHL. Therefore, UN must constitute a panel to evaluate the legal, moral and ethical aspects of UMW that are being mushroomed in the US and deployed fortarget killings in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

In June 2010, another UN official Philip Alston requested for terminationto CIA-guided drone airstrikeson Al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives and suspects in Afghanistan and Pakistan.Alston articulated that killings ordered far from the battleground could lead to a “PlayStation”mindset. The CIA contested his findings by statingbut without confirming that it conductedthe airstrikes and military operations “within a framework of law and close government oversight.” Heyns—a South African Professor of Law—was of the view that there was a need to discuss responsibility for civilian casualties and how to ensure that the use of robots complied with IHL, and human rights standards for developing the AWT. Thus, Heyns asked the UN to take up the issue head-on by exhorting the then Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to organizea group of national representatives, philosophers, IHL experts,human rights defenders,developers and scientists to promote a debate on the legal, political, ethical, and moral implications of UMW systems. There is a fundamental question that must immediately be addressed,i.e., should lethal force ever be permitted to be fully automated and unmanned? Is it legally and morally correct to allow UMW to kill humans on the battlefields? Is it in compliance with IHL to transfer the decision from human being to machines to kill humans?

International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) released a document on November 19, 2012,called Losing Humanity: The Case against KillerRobots, wherein a ban on the production and use of UMW was advocated. Subsequently, US Department of Defence (DoD) circulated a Directive 3000.09 wherein DoD adumbrated its policies on the development and use of UMW. On April 9, 2013, Heyns askedfor a moratorium on the development of UMW until an acceptable legal framework is developed. However, the UN, IHRC,andDoD differed on the solution,andthey together commenced from the hypothesis that UMW would broach challenges of compliance to IHL. Therefore, the core principles of IHL such as principles of distinction and proportionality are insufficient to address the troubles raised by the UMW which require a more planned,controlledand coordinated legal regime to be emplaced to ensure the legality and morality of the use of UMW.There are also questions about the existing principles of command responsibility which are not adequate to provide the adherence of UMW with the IHL principles.

Unmanned Military Weapons?

Aroboticist Noel Sharkeydefines an unmanned machine as one that “carries out a preprogrammed sequence of operations or moves in a well-defined environment.” In contrast, anautonomous machine operates in an amorphous environment. It is de rigueurto distinguish between weapons that are developed and designed as automated and unmanned weapons and weapons that are trulyautonomous. The term “autonomy” can be challenging to define as it alludes to highly intelligent robotsthat are capable of individual decision-making. The reality looks a lot less like science fiction,and more like everyday robotics.Inquintessence, what makes a machine autonomous is its environment of operation rather than its internal procedures. The DoD espouses a comprehensive definition of UMW whereunder “a weapon system once that is activated, can select and engage targets devoid of further intervention by a human hand. It includes human-controlled UMW systems that are designed to allow human operators to supersede theoperation of the weapon structure but can chooseand securetargets without further participationafter activation. The DoD definition’s essential requirement is that once activated; it can “select and engage targets” without further human input. Human Rights Watch (HRW) adopts an identical definition “any robot that can select and engage targets without human input, even if there is a human oversight, will qualify as a fully autonomous robot.” Thus, these definitions encapsulate the distinguishing nature of UMW that humans are not indispensable for the targeting decision-making process. In essence, there is a difference of predictability between UMW automatic weaponry. An automatic weapon system is wholly predictable except a breakdown. However, the UMW can only be anticipated as a sequence of similar results. It is crucial to have the determination of distinction to appreciate the capability of UMW of having compliance with IHL norms.

The emergence of UMW can develop in two different directions: as the expansionofhuman soldiers or as the replacement of humans in the battleground by unmanned proxies.In other words, the distinction is between UMW that expand or replace our soldiers and those automatic war machines that could be potential soldiers. Currently, the dominant perception is that robots will be deployed only to supplement andbroaden our soldier’s engagement in thehostilities. In this context, UMW system isappreciatedas weapons that keep humans away from combat. Primarily, the UMW is the latesttechnological advancement that originated from the traditional archery. In the same way, the diagnostic responses to the potential introduction of UMW are notunusual. However, any introduction of new weapons is challenged by some as unethical or illegal.However, the idea that UMW will replace our soldiers is gaining currency in the years ahead. The UMW system is more than an extension of humans when they have the potential to decideto kill without human engagement in the hostilities. However, the deployment of drones could be castigated for a multitude of reasons, but their competence of compliance with the principles of IHL is indisputablebecause humans are involved in the targeting process.Whereas the UMW would take human operators out of the decision-making architecturethat has been contemplated under the IHL regime. It is an acceptable war doctrine that human beings have been maintaining distance from war through technology and weapons development since antiquity. But visualizing battle without humans has not yet been imagined and removing human soldiers from the war process would be a paradigmatic shift in the event of UMW system development.

The Future of UMW

Currently, the UMW is not in action entirely,but it has been growing gradually at a pace that has not been seen before. Several weapons systems are attaining full autonomous abilities. International experts like Werner JA Dahm in his piece “Killer Drones Are Science Fiction” published in The Wall Street Journal on February 15, 2012, stated that the deployment of UMW is predestined and impending in the future. He further contends that the technology required for “fully autonomous military strikes” is already present. The development of UMW would augment vertically and horizontally with aspects of operations such as take-off and navigation, and lead to full autonomy over time.With the technological advancements, more and more sophisticated sensing and computational systems will becarried out.The increased tempo of warfare and pressures to minimize casualties will also create demand forUMW. Several weapons systems include semi-autonomous capabilities already, and the level of automation in weapons systems is progressively increasing.

Recently, the South Korean military has posted an immobile sentinel robot in the Korean Demilitarized (KDZ) which can detect and select the military objects. Such a robot can respond with lethal or non-lethal force by the attending situation on the ground. However, the final decision about targeting must be of human beings and not of robots as robots would decide without human intervention. Nevertheless, the robot is competent to select and engage targets without human application, but its location in the KDZ makes it uncalled for the robot to differentiate between civilian and military objects. However, arobot treats any person as a hostile combatant who crosses the pre-demarcated line. The Aegis-class cruisers of the US Navy currently has the Phalanx Close-In Weapons Systems (PC-inWS) which are autonomously capable of performing its searches, detection, evaluation, tracking and killing assessment functions. The PC-inWS has been designed in four types: (1) semi-automatic, where humans command the firing decision; (2) automatic special, where humans decide targets, but the software determines how to execute them; (3) automatic, where humans supervise the system, but it operates without their input; and (4) casualty, where the systems does whatever is necessary to save the ship.

Thus, the UK has been testing a new semi-autonomous aircraft called Taranis and BAE Systems—the Designer—hailed it as an “autonomous and unmanned stealthaircraft” capable of autonomous aviation. However, humans have been retained for the time being,but they are likely to be replaced gradually. The X-47B—a semi-autonomous drone—the US has been developing that will take off and land without human deployment. The developer assertsthat it is a mechanism that “takes off, lands and aviates a preprogrammed mission, and then returns to base with a mouse click administered by its mission operator. The mission operator supervisesthe machine’s operation but does not actively involve in flying it via remote control as is the situation for other unmanned weapons systems currently in operation.The current development of X-47B does not envision autonomous target selection but would be capable of semi-autonomous flight. The development of UMW has been integratedinto all roadmaps of the US forces since 2004.The US Air Force’s Flight Plan proposesthat by the year 2025 completelyautonomous and unmanned flight systems will be a reality. Sharkey claims to have read certain robotics development projects from more than 50 countries including Canada which ispresently engaged in developing UMW systems.The US Air Force Major Michael A. Guetlin states that “[it] is not a matter of ‘will’ we employ [autonomous weapons]; it is a matter of ‘when’ we employ them.”

UMW System Advantages

Some tactical and operational factors promote the development of lethal UMW systems. The UMW systems are cheaper to operate than human-operated weapons and are capable of performing continuously, without the need for rest.Gordon Johnson, a member of the now-defunct Pentagon’s Joint Forces Command, highlighted the benefits of UMW: “They don’t get hungry. They are not afraid. They do not forget commands and directives. They do not worry if the guy next to them has just been hit or targeted. Will UMW do a better job than humans? Of course, Yes.Human operators are susceptible to fatigue and exhaustion.Though it can be possible to broaden mission times for humans of up to 72 hours with performance enhancers, eventually a human needs rest. The UMW is capable of performing for as long as their batteries sustain them. As battery and recharging technologyadvances, the possible mission and target time for UMW will continue to increase. A smaller number of humans are required for the operation of UMW systems. It may soon be possible for a single operator to manage a swarm of semi-autonomous drones, or for a single human commander to assign mission parameters to UMW, and monitor them from a secure distance. Therefore, it will allow for a distancing of the human warfighter and the battle space and expands the battle space. Consequently, the combatwill be able to be conducted over a much larger area than before. UMW has the capability of processing battleground information in a faster and efficient manner than human operators. UMW could be installed with a multitude of sensory technologies like infrared and thermal vision, high definition cameras and state-of-the-art acoustic sensors that would enhance UMW’s superiority over sensory capabilities of humans.

There are vulnerabilities with the modern remotely guided vehicles due to the possibility that would interfere with enemy satellites, radar systems or radio frequencies. However, the UMW systems assuage these anxieties as they would be capable of performing without perennial contact with base camp.At present, remotely piloted systems have a delay time of about1.5 Seconds,
restrictingtheirefficacyin a greatertempo battlespace. Thus, the impugned delay would make it impracticalfor a remotely piloted system to combatin aerialwarfare, which UMW aeronautical capabilities would make achievable. The proponents of UMW advocatethat UMW may, in fact,bemore adept at adhering to the principles of IHL than the soldiers logic and emotions. The UMW systems might be capable of performingmore conservatively because they would not lunge forpreservation instinct. Therefore, robotic sensors would be better well-equipped to make battleground observations and surveillancethan human combatants. The UMW would be designed without emotions that are bound to cloud sense of judgment of human soldiers, but UMW would be free from all the psychological infirmities and frailties of scenario fulfillment; the experiencesand occurrencesof human beings which they use as new information to fit their pre-existing belief patterns and combat orientation.

No Wrap-Up

It is, indeed, a reality now that UMW systems are here to stay as inalienable war machinery of the modern world and it is destined to be vertically and horizontally gradational in their advancement. The deployment of UMW systems posesa multitude of challenges including adhering to the IHL principles of distinction and proportionality. In IHL, principles, and standards have been defined for human soldiers and technology might never be able to substitute human beings in entirety. Making a distinction between civilian and combatants needs computational processing capability that has not been accomplished as of now. With the requisite technology development, the definition of civilian may not be adequately specific for UMW software. Therefore, the idiosyncratic and circumstantial nature of proportionality entails an assessment of dynamics that might not be workable for the machines. Further, there are ethical and moral challenges emanate from the UMW systems such as should the decision to kill a human being be assigned to a drone or robot? Having vigorously assessed the potentialchallenges of adherence to the IHL principles, we must not attribute UMW systems a higher standard than human management of warfare. However, there are umpteen instances of war crimes, indiscriminate attacks, crimes against humanity, and disproportionate use of force by the human soldiers in the human history. The introduction of UMW system is flgrantly bound to lead to the moral detachment and unethical expansion of battle space. But UMW has to peregrinate a long way before matching the human mind and human sense of justice. The UMW system is not necessary for making the distinction and calculating proportionality if measured against the human input.Nevertheless, human soldiers would be there in the loop as a goofproof when UMW system is first deployed in the battlefields; their engagement would fade away with the time. With the diminishing of human engagement, the complications confronted by the UMW in adhering to the principles of IHL would be unprecedentedly prominent necessitating the comprehensive lego-institutional analysis to re-conceiving the human terrain of International Humanitarian Law.

Are Americans as ‘Ugly’ as Ever?

"The Ugly American" remains relevant, 60 years after it changed the way the United States saw itself in the world.

Four Grotesque Male Heads. (Wenzel Hollar/Mulvane Art Museum at Washburn University)

BY DANIEL RUNDE-

FEBRUARY 1, 2018, 11:51 AM
The commonly used phrase “ugly American” has come to depict an overseas American who is too loud, too ostentatious, or too arrogant (or all three). The popular expression emerged from the title of a novel published 60 years ago. It caused a sensation, the way that few books have in U.S. history.

The novel is a series of linked vignettes about Americans working overseas in the fictional Southeast Asian country of Sarkhan, at the center of American and Soviet competition in the late 1950s. In the text, the titular ugly American is actually a kind, practical, wealthy engineer who is humble, speaks the local language, and works with people in their villages solving local problems — the exact opposite of what the term has come to mean.

The book, by William Lederer and Eugene Burdick, was a national best seller and sold more than 4 million copies. Then Senator John F. Kennedy sent copies of the book to all of his colleagues. At the time, it seemed as though almost all of America’s educated set had read the novel. Today, few people under the age of 60 actually have, yet its message still resonates.

The Ugly American is easily the Silent Spring of U.S. diplomatic and foreign assistance policy.

It was also an indictment of American counterinsurgency tactics and U.S. public diplomacy efforts. At the time of its publication, several significant American political figures, including Republican Vice President Richard Nixon and Democratic Senator William Fulbright, denounced it.

The novel, however, is credited with spurring a massive reorganization of America’s economic and diplomatic engagement with developing countries then emerging from European colonialism. Kennedy set about taking a series of sweeping steps in 1961: He set up the Alliance for Progress in Latin America, added to U.S. Army special forces (the Green Berets), proposed the reorganization of foreign assistance through the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act, and created the Peace Corps.

The thinly veiled, fictional accounts of Americans in Asia remain disturbing. Foreign Service officers lacking proper language skills, an ambassador focused on making the rounds at cocktail parties instead of talking to potential leaders outside the capital city, a military attaché being seduced by a Chinese communist spy thus undermining U.S. negotiating capabilities at a critical moment, and U.S. foreign aid redistributed by the Soviets are a small part of the indictment of the late 1950s U.S. foreign policy.

“What about learning to speak a foreign language?” a small wiry girl asked…. “Now, just a minute” Joe said … “How many people do you think we could round up in this country who can speak Cambodian or Japanese or even German? Well, not very many. I don’t parlez vousvery well myself, but I’ve always made out pretty well in foreign countries. And besides, it’s better to make the Asians learn English. Helps them, too.”

The Ugly American also describes the minority of successful role models that the authors find: an American Catholic priest who organizes an anticommunist paramilitary force, the eponymous ugly American volunteer engineer, an air force officer, an army officer, and a creative ambassador.

For example, Colonel Hillandale, of the Air Force, modelled after the real-life Colonel Edward Lansdale, speaks Tagaglog in the Philippines, eats the local food, and learns the local culture. He ventures into unfriendly territory and wins over the locals with his language skills, his appreciation of everything Filipino, and his ability to play Filipino music. Max Boot’s new book, The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam, chronicles the real Lansdale’s life and impact.

The predominate bumbling and insensitive Americans, however, undermine the successful role models throughout the novel.

Reviews and critiques of the book after 1989 look upon its strong anti-communist message as naive and outdated. Certainly, there are parts of the book that give one the same feeling as watching the original 1984 version of the film Red Dawn — set in an alternative timeline in which the Soviets have invaded the United States.

The novel moved the American public because it spoke to America’s deepest fears about overseas threats. The authors wrote the book because they believed that the stakes were high. It was a best seller because the American people believed that communism was a threat and that they actually were engaged in a struggle to not only win the hearts and minds of people abroad, but also that if the United States did not succeed in its objectives around the world, it would end up fighting at home.

In truth, the book prompted many constructive changes. In the epilogue, the authors call for a “small force of well-trained, well-chosen, hard-working, and dedicated professionals…. They must be more expert in [a country’s] problems than are the natives.” The Peace Corps, and certainly the U.S. Agency for International Development, reflected this approach.

Imagine an updated Ugly American, which one could set in a fragile state like Afghanistan, or amid the growing economic competition in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. The novel painted a picture that spurred improvements. But there still remain gaps between what the United States is doing and what it could do to shape the outside world.

Today, although the United States has more foreign language speakers than it once did, it still lags behind in some critical languages. International development has come a long way since the 1950s, but in fragile and conflict-affected areas, the U.S. government could do a better job of working collectively across development, diplomacy, and defense. While the United States was able to weather communism, it has had less success against geopolitical competitors that reap the benefits of the post-World War II liberal, rules-based order without full willingness to participate in it (China and Russia, for example).

Although the world has changed radically over the past 70 years, the United States still needs to remain involved, train specialized professionals for global engagement, and adapt to shifting circumstances.

RSF decries Olympics opening ceremony ban on Reuters

February 6, 2018

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to rescind its decision to ban Reuters from covering the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea, because it published embargoed photos. RSF regards the ban as disproportionate.

Last week, Reuters released photos of a rehearsal for the opening ceremony while they were “under embargo” (banned from publication before a specific date). The London-based news agency quickly acknowledged that they were sent by mistake and asked clients not to publish them.

The IOC nonetheless decided that Reuters will not get media passes for the opening ceremony on 9 February. According to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, the IOC has also decided to “enforce strong penalties on media companies and their reporters who disobey embargoes of the opening and closing ceremonies.”

The IOC press office said the ban imposed on Reuters was in line with penalties imposed in previous cases of embargo violations but it declined to specify what sanctions would be imposed if other media outlets violated embargoes.

“These retaliatory measures targeting all media are disproportionate and unjustified,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “Journalists must respect professional rules but the right to censor assumed by the IOC is dangerous and shocking, as are the threats of reprisals against all journalists.”

Ram uses Martin Luther King’s anticapitalist sermon to sell pickup trucks

By Michelle Garcia Updated Feb 5, 2018

Martin Luther King Jr.’s words rang out on televisions across the country Sunday night — in an ad to sell pickup trucks.

In a Super Bowl spot for Ram Trucks, King’s “Drum Major Instinct” sermon plays over shots of people hard at work: a teacher instructing children, soldiers marching, volunteers handing out food, and a family chopping wood. The message from Ram is that the trucks are built to serve. King says:

“If you want to be important — wonderful. If you want to be recognized —wonderful. If you want to be great — wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness. And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”

Though his message about service remains mighty, King’s speech came 50 years ago to the day on Sunday, at a point near the end of his life when King focused even more vocally on economic justice, dignity at work, and the destructive forces of systemic poverty.

In fact, economic inequality was just one of the facets of capitalism that King openly took issue with. His February 4, 1968, sermon was, in part, an examination and takedown of “a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first,” when it comes to monetary possessions. In other words, King was not a fan of this instinct. Take, for instance, an excerpt from this same speech about advertising itself (emphasis my own):

And so we see it everywhere, this quest for recognition. And we join things, overjoin really, that we think that we will find that recognition in.

Now the presence of this instinct explains why we are so often taken by advertisers. You know, those gentlemen of massive verbal persuasion. And they have a way of saying things to you that kind of gets you into buying. In order to be a man of distinction, you must drink this whiskey. In order to make your neighbors envious, you must drive this type of car. In order to be lovely to love you must wear this kind of lipstick or this kind of perfume. And you know, before you know it, you’re just buying that stuff. That’s the way the advertisers do it.

This sermon literally also discourages people from spending too much money on their cars. Yes, it really does.

King’s sermons, which are not in the public domain, are notoriously difficult to republish or reuse. The King family estate sued USA Today and CBS for republishing or broadcasting his “I Have a Dream” speech in its entirety. A planned King biopic with Steven Spielberg on tap to direct has the right to use his speeches, meaning the 2014 film Selma had to paraphrase and circumvent use of King’s words. The nonprofit King Center, run by King’s daughter Bernice King, announced Sunday night it had nothing to do with granting Ram Trucks the rights to the speech. Slate’s April Glaser reports, however, that Eric D. Tidwell, the managing director of Intellectual Properties Management, Inc., which manages licensing for the estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., approved the commercial. Ram later issued a statement saying it was honored to work with the King estate on the ad.

That King’s words were used in an advertisement for pickup trucks, during a tentpole capitalistic event marking the tail-end of an NFL season in which racial protest was a key element, is an irony that cannot be understated. All the more jarring is the presumption that King’s words act here as a symbol of unity. Yet over the years King’s work, which had once divided people, now symbolizes what racial protest “should” look like.

As P.R. Lockhart pointed out for Vox this week, the protests of King’s civil rights era are now juxtaposed with football players taking a knee during the national anthem; in 2018, King’s protests are now considered the “right” approach, while the players’ protests against racial injustice are considered inappropriate to modern critics.

Never mind the fact that during the civil rights era, 60 percent of Americans sneered at the March on Washington, where King gave his most famous speech, now taught in America’s classrooms every January.

There’s no doubt Ram Trucks aimed to bring together audiences (and potential customers) with a figure whose words, decades after his death, have stood the test of time to represent equality, unity, and yes, service. But as we approach the 50-year mark of King’s assassination during a modern era of hard conversations around race, gender, and class privilege, King’s words will undoubtedly ring true to those who truly listen.