Modi’s Iran Visit: Chabahar To Provide Strategic Edge To India – Analysis

By Brig Anil Gupta (Retd.)* 

MAY 25, 2016

Source Link

Chabahar is a deep-sea port located in Sistan-Baluchistan area of Iran at the mouth of Gulf of Oman. It is a strategically located port because it provides direct access to the Indian Ocean, enabling bypassing of Strait of Hormuz, a traditional choke point that separates Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. Incidentally, 1/5th of oil consumed worldwide currently passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

Chabahar lies outside the Persian Gulf and can be easily accessed from India’s western coast. In fact, the distance from New Delhi to Mumbai is more than the distance from India’s Kandla port on western coast to Chabahar. It is located 45 nautical miles away from the port of Gwadar which is being built by China in Pakistan’s Balochistan. Gwadar is the outlet to Indian Ocean from the proposed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) termed as a “game changer” in the region by both the Chinese and the Pakistanis. Gwadar provides tremendous strategic advantage to China, not only in its pursuit of encircling India, but also in the domination of Indian Ocean an unchallenged domain of India so far.

How to Create a United Southern Asia

By Pritam Banerjee

May 25, 2016

http://thediplomat.com/2016/05/how-to-create-a-united-southern-asia/

The 12th ASEAN-India Summit during the 25th ASEAN Summit at the Myanmar International Convention Centre in Naypyitaw November 12, 2014. 

A blueprint for integrating BIMSTEC and ASEAN through a Southern Asian Multi-Sectoral Regional Agreement.

In August 2014 Prime Minister Narendra Modi made “Act East” a cornerstone of his government’s foreign policy. Since then, India has had a more focused engagement with the region, with several high profile bilateral visits and a particular focus on completing infrastructure projects. But the “Act East” Policy sorely lacks a strategic fulcrum and an end result to work towards. It is such clarity of strategic intents and end goals that makes the U.S. “pivot to Asia” and China’s “One Belt One Road (OBOR)” such powerful foreign policy tools, while India’s “Act East” suffers from suspicions of being the old “Look East” wine put in a new bottle. In other words, regional actors continue to see India as a relatively peripheral player in the region compared to the United States, China, and even Japan. India is seen as a reactive agenda taker and not a proactive agenda setter with a firm political and economic commitment

Did India Hide a Failed Supersonic Missile Test?

By Franz-Stefan Gady

May 26, 2016

http://thediplomat.com/2016/05/did-india-hide-a-failed-supersonic-missile-test/

Despite reports to the contrary, the test of an Indian ballistic missile defense system apparently was a failure.

A May 15 test of India’s indigenously designed ballistic missile defense (BMD) system was a failure, despite claims to contrary by Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO) scientists, The Hindu reports.

According to unnamed sources, the interceptor missile was never launched from the Integrated Test Range–the Indian military’s primary missile test facility–on Abdul Kalam Island, off the coast of Odisha, on May 15; the incoming nuclear-capable Dhanush ballistic missile merely fell into the Bay of Bengal, with no interception taking place.

“Post-flight analysis is going on. We do not know whether there was problem in detecting the missile, whether radars tracked it and communicated it to the interceptor,” one source told The Hindu. A similar test failed in April 2015 with the interceptor missile plunging into the Bay of Bengal a few seconds after take-off. India has been testing its BMD system repeatedly since 2007.

DRDO initially claimed that a single-stage Ashvin Advanced Defense interceptor missile took off from a mobile launcher at 11:15 a.m. local time on May 15 and successfully destroyed an Dhanush ballistic missile at endo-atmospheric altitudes of 20-40 kilometers 

Despite Setback, Taliban Will Force Greater Violence On Afghanistan

By Chayanika Saxena*

MAY 26, 2016

Source Link

Taken down in a drone attack, the rehbar (leader) of Afghan Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mansour is reported to have been eliminated on the evening of May 21, 2016. Confirming his death, official sources placed in both the US Oval office and the National Directorate of Security of Afghanistan are maintaining that Mansour was killed in the Pakistani town of Dalbandin while he was journeying back to Pakistan from Iran, ostensibly on a Pakistani passport in which he was recognized as Muhammad Wali.

It is believed that the Amir of the Afghan Taliban was in talks with Iran; having been there for close to two months, purportedly with the intention of cooperating with the authorities in Tehran in what appears to be their common fight against the ISIS. As is evidentially known, the gruesomely militant outfit- Islamic State- has managed to make inroads into the eastern provinces of Afghanistan, especially in Nangarhar, challenging not only the authority of the Afghan government, but also that of the Afghan Taliban by claiming to be the ‘true’ representative of the ‘most fidel reflection of Islamic law and governance’ . In fact, if the establishment of the vilayet (district) Khorasan of the Islamic State is anything to go by, the Afghan Taliban, which has already been under stress owing to succession wars and a tightening Pakistani noose, has been staring at its potential displacement and a probable replacement on Afghanistan’s political scene.

Mullah Akhtar Mansoor’s Death: Implications Of Taliban Chief’s Killing – Analysis

By Abdul Basit*

MAY 26, 2016

Source Link

The elimination of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor in a US drone attack is a major setback for the insurgent movement but is unlikely to change the overall nature of the conflict in Afghanistan. Mansoor’s killing will trigger a new power struggle within the Taliban but whether prospects for peace will now improve remains an open question.

The killing of the Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor in a US drone strike is a major setback for the insurgent movement. His death comes barely a year after the disclosure of the Taliban’s founding leader Mullah Umar’s death. Mansoor has been targeted by multiple US drones in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The US considered him a major hurdle to peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. However, it is yet to be seen if his killing will have a significant impact on the Taliban’s ongoing spring offensive in Afghanistan, and whether it will improve the prospects of peace talks or undermine them further.

In July 2015 when Mansoor assumed the leadership of the Afghan Taliban, finding a political solution to the Afghan conflict looked achievable. Given his politically accommodative nature and closeness with Pakistani military establishment, the stakeholders of the Afghan conflict looked towards his appointment favourably, in hopes of reaching a political compromise. However, the developments that transpired following his appointment were concerning.

New Phase of US Drone Campaign

KILLING THE EMIR: WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE STRIKE THAT KILLED MANSOUR AND WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT PAKISTAN AND THE TALIBAN

SAMEER LALWANI

MAY 25, 2016

Source Link

Last Friday, following another uninspiring meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group, Pakistan issued a statement that more needed to be done militarily to deny Taliban military gains and bring the group back to the negotiating table. The next day, the United States announced that it had conducted a drone strike against Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, and President Obama later confirmed his death. A number of analysts and former U.S. government officials noted that the first drone strike ever in Pakistan’s Balochistan province had crossed a key threshold both in terms of location as well as the target

Soon after the strike, former U.S. Special Envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad raised two important questions: Will Pakistan start to cooperate with the United States on Afghanistan? Will this strike fragment and degrade the Taliban?

The answer to the first question of future Pakistani behavior rests in part on another that some have raised: What role — if any — did Pakistan play in the latest strike? Recent accounts remain ambiguous. If Washington managed to elicit some cooperation from Islamabad to pressure the Taliban, it could reveal some potential overlap of U.S. and Pakistani interests. If the attack was conducted without Pakistani involvement, then it suggests that despite a reduced footprint, the United States still possesses capabilities to independently disrupt organizations, coerce adversaries, and deny objectives of actors in the region. Either way, the strike against Mansour suggests a tactical achievement for the United States in Afghanistan.

Taliban Name New Leader

Mujib Mashal

May 25, 2016

Taliban Name New Leader After Confirming Predecessor Died in U.S. Strike

KABUL, Afghanistn — The Taliban broke their silence early Wednesday over the death of their leader, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, confirming in a statement that he had been killed in an American drone strike.

Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, a deputy to Mullah Mansour, was selected as the new leader of the Taliban, and Sarajuddin Haqqani and Mullah Muhammad Yaqoub were chosen as his deputies, the movement’s leadership council said in the statement. Mullah Yaqoub is the son of the previous Taliban chief, Mullah Muhammad Omar, whose death was acknowledged in July 2015.

President Obama said Monday that Mullah Mansour had been killed in a drone strike Saturday in a restive province of Pakistan.

The Taliban’s spokesmen, who publish regular updates from battlefields across Afghanistan, had remained silent since Mullah Mansour’s killing, as the movement’s leaders convened in the Pakistani city of Quetta to discuss his burial, as well as his successor.

One of their first meetings was at the home of Mawlawi Haibatullah, a figure with deep religious credentials who had been a lesser-known deputy to Mullah Mansour. Over the past year, more attention had focused on another deputy, Mr. Haqqani, who increasingly had been running the day-to-day war for the Taliban as Mullah Mansour was occupied with a campaign of quashing internal dissent and with travel abroad.

Taliban Leadership Has Gathered in Pakistani City of Quetta to Pick a New Leader

MUJIB MASHAL and TAIMOOR SHAH

May 25, 2016

Shaken, Taliban Begin Effort to Replace Dead Leader, Mullah Mansour

KABUL, Afghanistan — For the second time in less than a year, senior Taliban leaders have convened in the Pakistani city of Quetta to deliberate how to replace a dead supreme leader.

Unlike last summer’s gatherings, where some leaders arrived in convoys of hundreds of vehicles to choose Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour as the successor to their founding leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, Taliban figures described the tone of the meetings over the past three days as decidedly low-key, and even shocked.

They described how the American drone strike that was said to have killed Mullah Mansour in Pakistan’s Baluchistan Province on Saturday also destroyed the perception that the protection they had received for years in their Pakistani havens could be permanent. Some angrily accused Pakistani intelligence agents of selling out Mullah Mansour’s location to the Americans.

Taliban spokesmen and commanders were happy to jump on the phone last summer, first to reject news of Mullah Omar’s death and then to project an image of unity behind Mullah Mansour. This time, there has been mostly silence. Several commanders and participants who could still be reached said the days of heedless cellphone communication in Baluchistan were gone — another casualty of the American drone strike that some officials said was aided by Mullah Mansour’s repeated use of a small collection of phones.

Key Reasons For Spread Of Extremism In Middle East – Interview

BY KOUROSH ZIABARI AND IRAN REVIEW 

MAY 25, 2016

Source Link

It’s said that ISIS has recently conceded significant parts of the territories it used to dominate since 2014.

Rebels and Daesh militants have been driven out of the northern parts of Syria through the combined effect of separate operations by pro-government forces and the U.S. and Russian airstrikes. Foreign Policy reportsthat at the end of 2014, ISIS ruled over around one-third of Iraq and one-third of Syria, but now, according to IHS Jane’s 360, they’ve lost 22% of that territory.

With the major losses in territory it has suffered and the diminution of its fighters, ISIS still poses a valid threat to peace and security not only in the Middle East but across the world, and it’s imperative to investigate their origins, their goals and identify the best conduits to eradicate them.

On the sidelines of the workshop “D-Goals of Preventing Violent Extremism through Education: Educating for Development, Diversity and Dialogue” on the final day of the 7th United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Global Forum and Youth Forum in Baku held from April 25-27, I had the chance to talk to a noted British political scientist who is the author and co-author of more than 40 books on international relations and religion. Jeffrey Haynes is a Professor of Politics and the Director of theCentre for the Study of Religion, Conflict and Cooperation at the London Metropolitan University. Prof. Haynes is the Chair of the International Political Science Association’s Research Committee, “Religion and Politics.” His most recent book is “Faith-based Organizations at the United Nations” published in 2014 by Palgrave Macmillan.

Chinese Maritime Expansion Poses Challenge For Region – Analysis

By Divya Kumar Soti* 

MAY 25, 2016

Source Link

Last few months have witnessed heightened activity in the Asia-Pacific as maritime geopolitics as well as occurrence of certain incidents which have further heated up the strategic environment from Indian Ocean Region (IOR) to South China Sea.

But before we proceed to examine all this, it will be beneficial to look back at the attempts made by various countries at strategic alliances over the last decade or so, to restore the balance of power and update the geopolitical equations in view of China’s rise and its attempt to break out of the maritime dilemma with a revivalist as well as a revisionist mindset.

In 2007; India, US, Japan and Australia had opened the quadrilateral security dialogue which was supposed to pave way for joint exercises, maritime patrolling and strategic cooperation. Though not much was said to keep the idea low profile and also probably because the architects were themselves not sure whether such clear cut tilts were actually sustainable in view of economic leverages China commanded at that time. Those apprehensions proved to be true when Canberra pulled out of the Quad giving more importance to Beijing’s sensitivities and its economic relations with China and all the while New Delhi remained perplexed as to the level of the engagement with such a strategic formation.

China Launches Private Investment Probe – Analysis

By Michael Lelyveld

MAY 26, 2016

http://www.eurasiareview.com/26052016-china-launches-private-investment-probe-analysis/

China’s government is now trying to reverse a slowdown in private investment as concerns rise over weakening support for economic growth.

On May 4, the cabinet-level State Council ordered a month-long investigation to see how local authorities are implementing government policies on private investment, official media said.

The inspection followed disappointing numbers on first-quarter investment and falling growth from the private sector, which provides over 60 percent of China’s gross domestic product and 80 percent of its jobs, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Total fixed-asset investment (FAI) of 8.5 trillion yuan (U.S. $1.3 trillion) rose 10.7 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

But growth, other than rural household investment, was heavily skewed toward the state-controlled sector, which increased investment by 23.3 percent. Private investment in fixed assets like buildings and machinery rose only 5.7 percent, down sharply from a 10.1-percent growth rate in 2015.

Is China Really That Dangerous?

Doug Bandow

May 25, 2016 

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-skeptics/china-really-dangerous-16347?page=show

The United States dominates the globe militarily. Washington possesses the most powerful armed forces, accounts for roughly 40 percent of the globe’s military outlays, and is allied with every major industrialized state save China and Russia.

Yet the bipartisan hawks who dominate U.S. foreign policy see threats at every turn. For some, the People’s Republic of China is replacing the Soviet Union as America’s chief adversary. They view another military buildup as the only answer.

The PRC’s rise is reshaping the globe. Today, the PRC ranks second only to the United States economically. Increased financial resources have enabled Beijing to take on a much greater international role.

Of greatest concern in Washington is China’s military buildup. Indeed, a novel reportedly making the rounds at the Pentagon is Ghost Fleet, which posits a Chinese attack on Hawaii.

The Department of Defense publishes an annual review of China’s military. The latest report warns that the PRC “continued to improve key capabilities,” including ballistic and cruise missiles, aircraft and air defense, information capabilities, submarines, and amphibious and airborne assault units. The Chinese military “is also focusing on counterspace, offensive cyber operations, and electronic warfare.” Further, Beijing “continued to modernize and to restructure its ground forces to create a fully modern army.”

China, US Butt Heads Over Nuclear Talks

By Ben Lowsen

May 24, 2016

http://thediplomat.com/2016/05/china-us-butt-heads-over-nuclear-talks/

Despite U.S. pressure, China appears unwilling to expand dialogue with the United States on nuclear weapons. At a discussion at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on May 5, U.S. under secretary of state for arms control and international security, Rose Gottemoeller, pushed for more robust bilateral dialogue with China on nuclear weapons. Gottemoeller explained that China’s comprehensive program of military modernization – including nuclear modernization – necessitates deeper discussions.

Gottemoeller explained that during the Cold War, mutually assured destruction (MAD) provided strategic stability (a state of equilibrium widely viewed as the least dangerous possible among nuclear powers). In the age of potential cyber warfare, prompt global strike, and missile defense, however, MAD is inadequate. The multiplication of potentially destabilizing technologies calls for more dialogue.

The U.S. Defense Department 2010 Nuclear Posture Review tasked the U.S. government with pursuing high-level nuclear discussions with both China and Russia. Despite a number of forums for discussing such issues (e.g. the Security and Economic Dialogue and various unofficial “track 2” events), it would seem there is no dedicated, official policy forum to discuss this important topic. During his visit to China in 2011, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ suggestion of a dedicated strategic nuclear dialogue met with congenial aloofness. Gottemoeller’s words suggest that the United States is seeking such a forum, but China is resisting it.

Why Does China Want to Control the South China Sea?

By Donald K. Emmerson

May 24, 2016

http://thediplomat.com/2016/05/why-does-china-want-to-control-the-south-china-sea/

The disputes over the South China Sea are complex, and they overlap and collide in complex ways. At stake are questions of ownership, demarcation, rights of passage, and access to resources—fish, oil, and gas. The resulting imbroglio implicates all six claimants, not only China but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam as well. It is wrong to blame China alone for all that has happened in the South China Sea—nationalist moves, stalemated diplomacy, and the potential for escalation.

That said, no other claimant has come even close to matching the speed and scale of China’s efforts. In just two years, unannounced and unilateral acts of dredging and reclamation have created more than 3,200 acres of usable hard surface on the seven features that China occupies in the Spratlys. Ports, runways, buildings, and barracks have been built to accommodate military or civilian ships, planes, and personnel. Radar systems have been installed. Floating nuclear-energy platforms are envisioned.

Seen from Beijing, these are not matters of Chinese foreign policy. Under Chinese law, most of the South China Sea is part of Hainan province—in effect, a Chinese lake. In Beijing’s eyes, these vast waters and their bits of natural and artificial land are already in China’s possession and under its administration—a conviction embodied in the ban on foreigners who fish in them without China’s prior permission.

China’s Worst Disaster

By Mei Fong

May 27, 2016

http://thediplomat.com/2016/05/chinas-worst-disaster/

“It’s hard to reverse 30-plus years of ceaseless propaganda promoting the one-child family as the ideal.”

In 2008, a massive earthquake tore through central China’s Sichuan province. Over 70,000 people were killed in the quake. It was China’s worst disaster in over thirty years.

In an attempt to portray the human cost of this tragedy, I accompanied a group of poor migrant workers from Beijing to their distant Sichuan home town, an arduous journey over a distance akin to that between New York and Chicago that took three days and involved trains, boats, and motorcycles. The majority of workers returned to find death. Most heart-rending of all were the deaths of children, many of whom had been killed by the collapse of poorly built schools. Accentuating the tragedy: many children killed were only children, for the area near the earthquake’s epicenter had been a test-area for the one-child policy before Beijing had taken the experiment nationwide in 1980.

As a result of this, many bereaved parents were rushing to hospitals mere weeks after the tragedy, desperate to reverse sterilizations they’d been forced to have under the one-child policy. They were desperate to have a replacement child before it was too late.

For some, it already was. Laborer Zhu Jianming and his wife were 50 and 45, respectively, when he had a reverse vasectomy three weeks after the death of their teenage daughter. There was no place in their village for a childless couple, they said, and they had become social pariahs.

China’s Growing Space Program

May 25, 2016

China And The Long March Into Orbit

On May 14th China carried out the 227th successful launch of a Long March rocket. This one put a Chinese remote sensing satellite into orbit. China described this as a scientific and humanitarian satellite, as it can be used to monitor crops and do land surveys. These satellites can also be used to track ships at sea. For example China is known to have three other “remote sensing” satellites in orbit, moving in formation at an altitude of 600 kilometers across the Pacific. Equipped with either radar (SAR or synthetic aperture radar) or digital cameras, these three birds can scan the ocean for ships, even though the Chinese say their purpose is purely scientific. A typical SAR can produce photo quality images at different resolutions. At medium resolution (3 meters) the radar covers an area 40x40 kilometers. Low resolution (20 meters) covers 100x100 kilometers. This three satellite Chinese posse looks suspiciously like a military ocean surveillance system. Meanwhile the Long March rocket does put a lot of commercial and non-Chinese satellites into orbit and that makes Long March a profitable operation. 

One reason for the success of the Long March is because there are many different models, some of them specialized for military use. For example in late 2015 China successfully tested the latest version of its Long March satellite launcher; Long March 6 (LM 6). This version is optimized for putting multiple small satellites in orbit on the same mission and on short notice. The test launch put twenty small scientific satellites into orbit. LM 6 is a 103 ton liquid fueled rocket that can put a ton of payload into a 700 kilometers high orbit. LM 6 can operate from a standard satellite launch facility or from a TEL (transporter erector launcher) vehicle (which is basically a slightly larger trailer similar to those used for hauling tanks). LM 6 was also designed to be made ready for launch quickly (six days or so) giving it a military capability. That means if China has to get a surveillance or communications satellite in orbit quickly, LM 6 is the solution. China is also developing small surveillance and communications satellites for such emergencies. 

China’s Growing Space Program

May 25, 2016

China And The Long March Into Orbit

On May 14th China carried out the 227th successful launch of a Long March rocket. This one put a Chinese remote sensing satellite into orbit. China described this as a scientific and humanitarian satellite, as it can be used to monitor crops and do land surveys. These satellites can also be used to track ships at sea. For example China is known to have three other “remote sensing” satellites in orbit, moving in formation at an altitude of 600 kilometers across the Pacific. Equipped with either radar (SAR or synthetic aperture radar) or digital cameras, these three birds can scan the ocean for ships, even though the Chinese say their purpose is purely scientific. A typical SAR can produce photo quality images at different resolutions. At medium resolution (3 meters) the radar covers an area 40x40 kilometers. Low resolution (20 meters) covers 100x100 kilometers. This three satellite Chinese posse looks suspiciously like a military ocean surveillance system. Meanwhile the Long March rocket does put a lot of commercial and non-Chinese satellites into orbit and that makes Long March a profitable operation.

One reason for the success of the Long March is because there are many different models, some of them specialized for military use. For example in late 2015 China successfully tested the latest version of its Long March satellite launcher; Long March 6 (LM 6). This version is optimized for putting multiple small satellites in orbit on the same mission and on short notice. The test launch put twenty small scientific satellites into orbit. LM 6 is a 103 ton liquid fueled rocket that can put a ton of payload into a 700 kilometers high orbit. LM 6 can operate from a standard satellite launch facility or from a TEL (transporter erector launcher) vehicle (which is basically a slightly larger trailer similar to those used for hauling tanks). LM 6 was also designed to be made ready for launch quickly (six days or so) giving it a military capability. That means if China has to get a surveillance or communications satellite in orbit quickly, LM 6 is the solution. China is also developing small surveillance and communications satellites for such emergencies.

Iran and Hezbollah Avoid Blaming Israel for Terrorist Commander’s Death

David DaoudAmir Toumaj

May 25, 2016

Sourc eLink

Mustafa Badreddine, the head of Hezbollah’s military operations in Syria, was recently killed in an explosion near Damascus International Airport. Although the assassination bears some signatures of an Israeli operation, the Shiite militia has blamed Sunni jihadists. Bogged down in Syria, Hezbollah and its Iranian patron have every reason to downplay Israeli responsibility, thereby lifting pressure to retaliate in kind and risk a war with the Jewish state.

Announcing Badreddine’s assassination on Thursday, Hezbollah media outletsinitially blamed Israel. And in Tehran, Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and minister of defense who now heads the armed forces’ think tank, the Center for Strategic Defense Research, said Friday, “The Zionists will receive the necessary answer at the right time.” When Hezbollah issued the results of its investigation into Badreddine’s assassination on Saturday, however, it claimed he was killed by artillery fire from unnamed Sunni jihadists. But attributing blame to the “takfiris” rather than the Israelis should be taken with a grain of salt.

Profiling Muslims Is Bad. So Is Ignoring Radical Islam.

The West and its allies aren't paying enough attention to Salafi jihadism.

Robert G. Rabil

May 25, 2016

Source Link

In a thought-provoking article penned in concerned words, one of the finest retired generals in the U.S. Army, Gen. David Petraeus, underscored his anxiety about “inflammatory political discourse that has become far too common both at home and abroad against Muslims and Islam.” He believes that, given the great danger of Islamist extremism, politicians “who toy with anti-Muslim bigotry must consider the effects of their rhetoric.” He asserts that demonizing a religious faith and its adherents is both contrary to fundamental American values and corrosive to U.S. national security interests. He emphasizes that statements of blanket discrimination against Islam directly undermine the United States’ ability to defeat Islamist extremists by alienating and undermining its Muslim allies. General Petraeus lays out his concern and arguments so as to inform the national debate about the stark reality of terrorism and the importance of the choice the country will make in electing the future commander-in-chief.

I fully agree with General Petraeus’s concern and broad arguments. Profiling Muslims, discriminating against Islam or lumping Muslims as radicals or terrorists is indeed abominable, contrary to American values and damaging to the war against Islamist extremism and/or terrorism. This attitude, however, should absolve neither radical Muslims who justify their violence on the basis of certain events in Islamic history or on Islam’s holy scriptures, nor Muslim regimes or rulers who encourage or promote certain variants of radical or fundamentalist Islam for domestic purposes.

U.S. Says Its Strikes Are Hitting More Significant ISIS Targets

By ERIC SCHMITT

MAY 25, 2016 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/26/us/politics/us-strikes-isis-targets.html?_r=0

A Navy air crew after a mission over Iraq last year. Credit Adam Ferguson for The New York Times 

WASHINGTON — Nearly two years into the American-led air war against the Islamic State, military officials say they have corrected the poor intelligence collection and clumsy process for identifying targets that initially plagued the campaign, and are now hitting targets like oil rigs and secret cash coffers that finance the terrorist group’s war machine.

The destruction in recent months of these targets, deep behind enemy lines — which commanders previously avoided for fear of causing civilian casualties — has seriously damaged the Islamic State’s ability to pay its fighters, govern and attract new recruits, military officials say.

“We’re hitting them where it hurts a lot more than we were in the past,” Lt. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the air war commander, said in one of two recent telephone interviews from his headquarters in Qatar. “Every bomb now has a greater impact.”

Satellite Imagery Shows ISIS Destroyed Russian Attack Helicopters During Attack on Key Air Base in Syria

May 24, 2016

Syria conflict: IS ‘destroyed helicopters’ at T4 base

New satellite imagery appears to reveal extensive damage to a strategically significant airbase in central Syria used by Russian forces after an attack by so-called Islamic State (IS).

Four helicopters and 20 lorries were destroyed in a series of fires inside the T4 base last week, the images from intelligence company Stratfor suggest.

The cause of the fires is unconfirmed.

A pro-Kremlin website said the helicopters had been “used by both Russian and Syrian air forces”. 

Russia has not officially commented on the incident.

A Russian opposition website quoted Syrian sources as saying “a large fire in the Syrian part of the T4 airbase spread to the fleet of vehicles, and after a fuel tank exploded four Russian helicopters nearby went up in flames”.

“The cause of the fire is being established,” it added. 

A serious loss, by Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent

Regardless of what triggered the fire that destroyed four Russian attack helicopters at their central Syrian base, this is the most serious loss for the Russians so far in their engagement against IS. 

House passes policy bill for intelligence agencies

Julian Hattem and Cristina Marcos

May 25, 2016

House passes policy bill for intelligence agencies

The House easily passed legislation on Tuesday to authorize intelligence agency activities for the next year with provisions to prevent officials from manipulating reports on combating terrorism.

The annual policy bill, which passed 371-35, with one lawmaker voting “present,” outlines directives across the 16 U.S. federal intelligence agencies.

The measure was drafted in the wake of allegations that officials within the Pentagon’s Central Command had manipulated analysis to present an overly rosy view of the U.S.’s fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which threatens to develop into a major controversy for the Obama administration.

As a result of those concerns, Tuesday’s bill aims to prevent meddling with intelligence reports, and makes it easier for whistleblowers to bring their concerns to Capitol Hill.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) warned that more needs to be done to combat the terrorist group.

“Regrettably, we have not prevented ISIL from establishing a safe haven. And the group has become skilled at hiding from Western intelligence services,” Nunes said, using an alternate acronym for ISIS.

Inside The EU: A Beginner's Guide To Brussels

from The Conversation

-- this post authored by Patricia Hogwood, University of Westminster

There is confusion about how the European Union operates - particularly among those who see it as undemocratic. The EU is made up of a balanced set of governance institutions that works in similar ways to a national government. But it also has to link up with the people making the decisions in national governments across its member states.

So what are the institutions of the European Union and what do they do? Here is a brief look at how it all works.

Representing the member states

The interests of EU member states are served by two separate institutions: the Council of the European Union (which represents the government of each country and is also sometimes known as the Council of Ministers) and the European Parliament (which represents the people of each country).

Together, these two bodies pass EU laws. These are binding on all 28 member states.

Time To End The ‘Hasbara’: Palestinian Media And Search For Common Story – OpEd

BY RAMZY BAROUD 

MAY 26, 2016

Source Link

Merely being in the company of hundreds of Palestinian journalists and other media professionals from all over the world has been an uplifting experience. For many years, Palestinian media has been on the defensive, unable to articulate a coherent message, torn between factions and desperately trying to fend off the Israeli media campaign, along with its falsifications and unending propaganda or ‘hasbara’.

It is still too early to claim any kind of paradigm shift, but the second Tawasol Conference in Istanbul, which took place 18 to 19 May, served as an opportunity to consider the vastly changing media landscape, and to highlight the challenges and the opportunities facing Palestinians in their uphill battle.

Not only are Palestinians expected to demolish many years of Israeli disinformation, predicated on a make-believe historical discourse that has been sold to the world as fact, but also to construct their own lucid narrative that is free from the whims of factions and personal gains.

It will not be easy, of course.

Status Report on the War in Somalia

May 26, 2016

Somalia: One Thing Everyone Can Agree On

In the south Kenyan peacekeepers reported multiple encounters with al Shabaab in the last week which resulted in over 80 dead Islamic terrorists and nearly twenty casualties (mostly wounded) among the soldiers. Kenyan troops have been patrolling the Somali side of the border, in cooperation with anti-terrorist local militias, since 2011. This has reduced but not eliminated al Shabaab and Somali bandit activity in Kenya. 

The 22,000 peacekeepers, along with about as many Somali soldiers and pro-government local militias, have al Shabaab on the run in the rest of the country. But actually destroying the Islamic terrorist organization has proved more difficult. The widespread corruption and unemployment (largely caused by the corruption) provide a steady supply of angry young men willing to “defend Islam”, improve their economic prospects and engage in some traditional mayhem. Despite the increasing likelihood of an early death al Shabaab leaders have adapted. They operate in smaller units, no longer congregate in large groups for any purpose and try to establish cells (small groups of Islamic terrorists) in cities to carry out high-profile (lots of media coverage) attacks. 

To help counter this the United States has quietly sent in more UAVs and electronic monitoring aircraft to help locate the more dispersed al Shabaab members. The American UAVs will still use missiles to attack any senior leaders they locate but otherwise the Americans are just providing information for the peacekeepers and other security forces to act on. 

Pentagon Playing the Long Game in the South China Sea, Carter Says

By Bradley Peniston 

May 25, 2016 

NEWPORT, R.I.— The U.S. military’s effort to keep the Asia-Pacific region stable and secure in the face of a rising China is akin to the 50-year Cold War standoff with the Soviet Union, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Wednesday. Chinese and U.S. actions and reactions in the South China Sea are just one part of a grand pattern in an era he predicted will end when China changes internally.

Bradley Peniston is deputy editor of Defense One. A national-security journalist for almost 20 years, he helped launch Military.com, served as managing editor of Defense News, and was editor of Armed Forces Journal. He has written two books about the U.S. Navy, including No Higher Honor: Saving the ... Full Bio It’s “going to be a long campaign of firmness, and gentle but strong pushback for probably quite a number of years,” Carter told sailors at the Naval War College on Wednesday. “Our Asia rebalance isn’t ‘try it out for a little while.’ It’s a long-term kind of thing.”

“The internal logic” of China and its society will eventually dictate a change, “but that’s almost academic at this point because their leadership is way on the other side of that equation right now,” he said.

What the US government really thinks about encryption

By Sara Sorcher, Staff writer Joshua Eaton, Correspondent 

May 25, 2016 

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A PATH TO CLARITY The encryption debate can't be simplified to a Silicon Valley v. Washington fight over your privacy. Even though FBI concerns about "going dark" in its pursuit of criminals and terrorists have captured the headlines, the Obama administration is still deeply divided.

The national debate over the growing use of encryption on consumer devices is often framed in stark terms: Silicon Valley versus Washington in a bicoastal battle over privacy.

It’s easy to see why. FBI Director James Comey grabs headlines every time he says that law enforcement efforts are hindered by strong security features commonly used in popular apps and smartphones. His concerns took center stage in the Justice Department’s recent legal campaign to force Apple to help unlock an iPhone used by the gunman in the Islamic State-inspired San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attack.

How social tools can reshape the organization

Survey McKinsey Global Institute 

May 2016 

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Not all social technologies bring equal benefits. In a new survey, respondents say the most valuable tools make it easier for employees to collaborate—and could even transform the way organizations work. 

While social technologies have become ubiquitous in business, not all tools—or the benefits companies see from their use—are created equal. Indeed, results from the latest McKinsey Global Survey on social tools suggest that a new generation of tools is enabling employees to collaborate in improved and innovative ways.1 Respondents say improved internal communication is the feature of social tools that has most benefited their businesses. They also expect that, in the coming years, enabling better communication will be one of the ways these tools could bring about fundamental changes at their organizations.

The results also suggest that social tools play a critical role in how technology overall can encourage organizational change. We asked executives about their companies’ use of social tools, digital technologies, and big data in 18 different business processes; the clear consensus is that using social begets better use of these other technologies. When organizations digitize a process’s work flow (which happens most often with customer-facing processes), respondents say that using social tools in that same process has enabled their companies’ overall digital efforts. What’s more, some executives report greater benefits—decreased costs and increased productivity, for example—if they digitize and use social tools in a given process. Several benefits are greater still if the company uses data collected from social interactions among employees and with customers.

A new generation of social tools

U.S. Nuclear Force Still Using 1970s Vintage Computers and 8-Inch Floppy Disks

May 26, 2016

US nuclear arsenal controlled by 1970s computers with 8in floppy disks

The US military’s nuclear arsenal is controlled by computers built in the 1970s that still use 8in floppy disks.

A report into the state of the US government, released by congressional investigators, has revealed that the country is spending around $60m to maintain museum-ready computers, which many do not even know how to operate any more, as their creators retire.

The Defense Department’s Strategic Automated Command and Control System (DDSACCS), which is used to send and receive emergency action messages to US nuclear forces, runs on a 1970s IBM computing platform. It still uses 8in floppy disks to store data.

We’re not even talking the more modern 3.5in floppy disk that millennials might only know as the save icon. We’re talking the OG 8in floppy, which was a large floppy square with a magnetic disk inside it. They became commercially available in 1971, but were replaced by the 5¼in floppy in 1976, and by the more familiar hard plastic 3.5in floppy in 1982.

Shockingly, the US Government Accountability Office said: “Replacement parts for the system are difficult to find because they are now obsolete.”

The Pentagon said it was instigating a full replacement of the ancient machines and while the entire upgrade will take longer, the crucial floppy disks should be gone by the end of next year.

GRADING DEFENSE REFORM

LOREN DEJONGE SCHULMAN AND SHAWN BRIMLEY

MAY 25, 2016

http://warontherocks.com/2016/05/grading-defense-reform/

A month ago, Agenda SecDef called on the defense community to avoid defense reform for reform’s sake, and focus reform efforts on the Pentagon’s core mission: to generate military forces that can fight and win America’s wars. Since that time, reform proponents on the Hill, in the Department of Defense, and in our world of think tanks have flooded the zone with thousands of pages of their best proposals. To apply the words of our top defense leaders, these ideas range from concepts “to give Americans greater confidence that the Department of Defense is spending their tax dollars efficiently and effectively” to, respectfully, “micromanagement” (fighting words in today’s national security debate).

While there is convergence on many themes between House, Senate, and administration reform efforts, there are still significant differences, and, as Justin Johnson points out, widely varying senses of urgency and scope. But rarely mentioned is the fact that the host of new organizations, wiring diagrams, reports to Congress, staff drawdowns, and authorities under consideration will likely be the responsibility of a new secretary of defense and civilian leadership team to oversee and implement.