3 New Messages
Digest #4564
Messages
Sun Dec 2, 2012 7:41 pm (PST) . Posted by:
"Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/d
Daily Times
December 2, 2012
China’s strategic focus, an opportunity for Asia
Farooq Yousaf
====
The past few years have witnessed the Russian-Chinese alliance reach an unprecedented level. With both states jointly opposing any sort of military interventions, it seems that a common global interest is the primary element in creating such a strong bond among the two.
With the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on the rise, China would want to maintain strong ties with the members as well as the observer states, India and Pakistan.
The progress made by China, coupled with Russia, is surely a positive sign not only for the region, but also for the world, as the concept of a uni-polar world would surely be diluted in times to come. This multi- or bi-polar power structure would not only help in averting major wars, but would also enhance the chances of Asia’s progress.
====
With global political scenarios changing at a rapid pace, China has been high on its heels in pursuit of increasing influence in the region. The amount of recent investment by Beijing on military and naval technology is more than what it used to be in the past. With the successful inauguration of its first major aircraft carrier, it seems China wants to spread its wings more than ever in order to improvise on the power vacuum that the world is currently facing due to a series of ongoing wars and conflicts.
With this magnitude of emphasis on military might, many economic experts and analysts have been proved wrong who were previously of the opinion that China would primarily focus on attaining economic rather than military influence. The international media recently laid huge emphasis on China’s pursuit of a Mega Blue Water Navy. Not only did the media portray its growing strength as a threat to the US Navy, but also raised concerns for the Indian navy. It has been said time and again that China is developing a two-pronged navy structure, one for local conflicts and the other for international operations.
Military analysts and experts around the world are of the view that the Chinese spending on the navy should not be seen as an effort to match the US; rather it should been seen as an effort to prepare itself for future local disputes, such as the dispute with Japan over the Senkaku [Diaoyu] Islands.
Playing it safe, China is also vying for strong military and strategic alliances in the region. During a recent visit to China by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Beijing pledged to strengthen military ties with Moscow in order to further already bolstering ties. Xu Qiliang, General of the People’s Liberation Army, stated that coordination on the strategic level between both the states maintains a positive and progressive outlook.
“China is willing to work with Russia to positively implement the two leaders’ important agreement and further promote pragmatic communication and cooperation so as to upgrade their military relations to a higher level,” said Xu while meeting Shoigu. He further expressed China’s desire to push increased strategic cooperation with Moscow.
The past few years have witnessed the Russian-Chinese alliance reach an unprecedented level. With both states jointly opposing any sort of military interventions, it seems that a common global interest is the primary element in creating such a strong bond among the two.
It is not only Russia that has become a major focus of Chinese foreign policy; rather Pakistan and Iran are also reaping the fruits of affordable military technology coming from China as a result of fruitful bilateral ties.
Pakistan and China can already boast of a supersonic jet, the JF-17 Thunder, a state-of-the-art modern tech airplane that was built as a result of joint efforts by experts from both the countries. Pakistan army’s Heavy Military Complex also contains many important installations that have resulted from joint Pak-China efforts.
Iran has also received a huge helping hand in terms of military development from China. Beijing has helped Tehran in areas such as conducting training of Iranian military officials, supplying raw material for missile development, along with building a factory and test range. It is also reported that China is responsible for aiding in the development of advanced conventional weapons, fighter jets and missile vessels.
Keeping its potential in perspective, it becomes mandatory for China to solve all persisting issues with India, another rising regional economic power. Both the countries have reservations on the Tibetan territory that has also resulted in a few skirmishes.
With the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on the rise, China would want to maintain strong ties with the members as well as the observer states, India and Pakistan. Although it is imminent that India and Pakistan would soon become full members of the body, it is important for both the countries to maintain a local outlook that favours regional integration rather than a pro-west bias.
Although it would be wrong to state that the Chinese navy would be able to match the US contingent in the near future, yet the fact that the former is going on a steady path of naval development is also a reality. The progress made by China, coupled with Russia, is surely a positive sign not only for the region, but also for the world, as the concept of a uni-polar world would surely be diluted in times to come. This multi- or bi-polar power structure would not only help in averting major wars, but would also enhance the chances of Asia’s progress.
The writer is working as a research analyst, programme consultant and editor at the Centre for Research and Security Studies, Islamabad along with pursuing his Higher Studies in Public Policy and Conflict from the prestigious Willy Brandt School of Public Policy — Germany.
==============================
Stop NATO e-mail list home page with archives and search engine:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
Stop NATO website and articles:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.co
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==============================
Daily Times
December 2, 2012
China’s strategic focus, an opportunity for Asia
Farooq Yousaf
====
The past few years have witnessed the Russian-Chinese alliance reach an unprecedented level. With both states jointly opposing any sort of military interventions, it seems that a common global interest is the primary element in creating such a strong bond among the two.
With the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on the rise, China would want to maintain strong ties with the members as well as the observer states, India and Pakistan.
The progress made by China, coupled with Russia, is surely a positive sign not only for the region, but also for the world, as the concept of a uni-polar world would surely be diluted in times to come. This multi- or bi-polar power structure would not only help in averting major wars, but would also enhance the chances of Asia’s progress.
====
With global political scenarios changing at a rapid pace, China has been high on its heels in pursuit of increasing influence in the region. The amount of recent investment by Beijing on military and naval technology is more than what it used to be in the past. With the successful inauguration of its first major aircraft carrier, it seems China wants to spread its wings more than ever in order to improvise on the power vacuum that the world is currently facing due to a series of ongoing wars and conflicts.
With this magnitude of emphasis on military might, many economic experts and analysts have been proved wrong who were previously of the opinion that China would primarily focus on attaining economic rather than military influence. The international media recently laid huge emphasis on China’s pursuit of a Mega Blue Water Navy. Not only did the media portray its growing strength as a threat to the US Navy, but also raised concerns for the Indian navy. It has been said time and again that China is developing a two-pronged navy structure, one for local conflicts and the other for international operations.
Military analysts and experts around the world are of the view that the Chinese spending on the navy should not be seen as an effort to match the US; rather it should been seen as an effort to prepare itself for future local disputes, such as the dispute with Japan over the Senkaku [Diaoyu] Islands.
Playing it safe, China is also vying for strong military and strategic alliances in the region. During a recent visit to China by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Beijing pledged to strengthen military ties with Moscow in order to further already bolstering ties. Xu Qiliang, General of the People’s Liberation Army, stated that coordination on the strategic level between both the states maintains a positive and progressive outlook.
“China is willing to work with Russia to positively implement the two leaders’ important agreement and further promote pragmatic communication and cooperation so as to upgrade their military relations to a higher level,” said Xu while meeting Shoigu. He further expressed China’s desire to push increased strategic cooperation with Moscow.
The past few years have witnessed the Russian-Chinese alliance reach an unprecedented level. With both states jointly opposing any sort of military interventions, it seems that a common global interest is the primary element in creating such a strong bond among the two.
It is not only Russia that has become a major focus of Chinese foreign policy; rather Pakistan and Iran are also reaping the fruits of affordable military technology coming from China as a result of fruitful bilateral ties.
Pakistan and China can already boast of a supersonic jet, the JF-17 Thunder, a state-of-the-art modern tech airplane that was built as a result of joint efforts by experts from both the countries. Pakistan army’s Heavy Military Complex also contains many important installations that have resulted from joint Pak-China efforts.
Iran has also received a huge helping hand in terms of military development from China. Beijing has helped Tehran in areas such as conducting training of Iranian military officials, supplying raw material for missile development, along with building a factory and test range. It is also reported that China is responsible for aiding in the development of advanced conventional weapons, fighter jets and missile vessels.
Keeping its potential in perspective, it becomes mandatory for China to solve all persisting issues with India, another rising regional economic power. Both the countries have reservations on the Tibetan territory that has also resulted in a few skirmishes.
With the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on the rise, China would want to maintain strong ties with the members as well as the observer states, India and Pakistan. Although it is imminent that India and Pakistan would soon become full members of the body, it is important for both the countries to maintain a local outlook that favours regional integration rather than a pro-west bias.
Although it would be wrong to state that the Chinese navy would be able to match the US contingent in the near future, yet the fact that the former is going on a steady path of naval development is also a reality. The progress made by China, coupled with Russia, is surely a positive sign not only for the region, but also for the world, as the concept of a uni-polar world would surely be diluted in times to come. This multi- or bi-polar power structure would not only help in averting major wars, but would also enhance the chances of Asia’s progress.
The writer is working as a research analyst, programme consultant and editor at the Centre for Research and Security Studies, Islamabad along with pursuing his Higher Studies in Public Policy and Conflict from the prestigious Willy Brandt School of Public Policy — Germany.
==============================
Stop NATO e-mail list home page with archives and search engine:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
Stop NATO website and articles:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.co
To subscribe for individual e-mails or the daily digest, unsubscribe, and otherwise change subscription status:
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups
==============================
Sun Dec 2, 2012 7:44 pm (PST) . Posted by:
"Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_12
Voice of Russia
December 3, 2012
What implications could have Patriot missile deployment on Turkish-Syrian border?
Yekaterina Kudashkina
Audio at URL above
Gennady Yevstafyev, independent analyst and retired Lieutenant General of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, about possible implications of the Patriot missile deployment on the Turkish-Syrian border.
Sir, what do we need to make out of the demand made by Turkey to deploy Patriot missiles on the border with Syria? What implications could that have?
Well, it is very difficult to predict what is going to happen. But in my personal opinion the Syrian tragedy is entering the final stage and now we are at the crossroads. Either we, I mean the international community, make a deal and we will find a peaceful solution or there will be further bloodshed and foreign intervention, and the growth of terrorist groups, and invasion into the Syrian territory. And in the long run the dismantlement of Syria as a unitary state.
So, Turkey, which started to play this game, I think made a principal strategic mistake. Instead of making a deal and keeping its prestige and influence in the area, it has chosen to play the game of a leader of Islamic forces and it has come under Sunni pressure and decided that it would be better served if Syria is dismantled, dismembered – and it is playing this game.
Unfortunately, Turkey is not really independent in playing this game. It is playing this game under the pressure of Saudi Arabia and the Sunni states of the Persian Gulf, under the pressure of the American political elite, the present elite, which despite all that has happened decided to go on with the Arab Spring till the very end. And it is playing this game because it is not that easy inside Turkey for Erdogan because the initial success of his Islamization of the country was short-lived. And now there are rather mighty forces which are working against him and in the long run they will overcome his Islamization.
Of course now he has finished the Ergenekon and put the military under arrest and so on. But the Nurjular movement, Fethullah Gulen, Kemalist Youth Organization, Kurdish organizations – they are working very hard to undermine his regime. And Turkey is in bad need of symbolic support from the Western side, and especially from the Europeans. And the stationing of Patriots there is one of the really impressive manifestations of this kind of political support.
Now, usually it is given on the temporary basis by the Dutch and the Germans, but they are not going to station these Patriot detachments there forever. The question is – is it a first step in the stationing of American anti-aircraft missile systems? If it is, the first step which is covered by these two nations of the NATO alliance – then we have to expect very bad developments in the area of the Middle Ease and in terms of handling the Iranian situation.
If it is a purely symbolic gesture which would be temporary and they would remove it after some time, and it will play its role in the support of Western countries which have exhausted all kinds of support for Turkey, they don’t have anything else to show – then it is another thing.
Especially unpleasant this is on the eve of the planned visit of our president to Turkey. Frankly speaking, I’m annoyed by this because it is an unfriendly gesture on the part of Western alliance on the possible visit of Mr. Putin to Turkey with the state visit. But maybe I exaggerate certain things, but it is a very unpleasant announcement and it will not change the overall military-political situation around Syria. It is a purely symbolic political gesture because the military meaning of this temporary stationing is negligible.
So, in this sense I hope that it is as I predict a temporary gesture and I wish they are not going to develop into the long-term policy.
What kind of missile is the Patriot?
Patriot is an anti-missile and anti-aircraft system which they were supposed to station in Poland. But now they don’t station it in Poland, though Poland has been compensated by stationing aircraft. But this Patriot missile is supposed to be stationed in Romania and Bulgaria. So, we have a development which somehow in the long run will create sort of a shield around the southern Black Sea area. And I’m not sure it is only for the purpose of intercepting Iranian missiles. [Patriots have been stationed in Poland since May of 2010. The U.S. will station longer-range Standard Missile-3, and not Patriot, interceptors in Romania and Poland - RR]
And what about their range?
They are not of a long range, they are intercepting within the range of 60 to 150 miles, not more than that. And they are not a very sophisticated weapon. But the problem is, after you station this you make people believe this is nothing dangerous and then you substitute this with the more sophisticated and more effective weapons as a part of modernization of armed forces.
I can’t understand why there is such a concentration of anti-missile defense in the area of the Middle East. You have fantastic forces located in Israel. You have plans to locate them in Bulgaria, Romania. You are planning to locate something in Poland. Then, you are now trying to involve Turkey in the system. So, what is the final purpose of this? Because it is very hard to believe that Syria is presenting a threat or military risk from this point of view.
==============================
Stop NATO e-mail list home page with archives and search engine:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
Stop NATO website and articles:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.co
To subscribe for individual e-mails or the daily digest, unsubscribe, and otherwise change subscription status:
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups
==============================
Voice of Russia
December 3, 2012
What implications could have Patriot missile deployment on Turkish-Syrian border?
Yekaterina Kudashkina
Audio at URL above
Gennady Yevstafyev, independent analyst and retired Lieutenant General of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, about possible implications of the Patriot missile deployment on the Turkish-Syrian border.
Sir, what do we need to make out of the demand made by Turkey to deploy Patriot missiles on the border with Syria? What implications could that have?
Well, it is very difficult to predict what is going to happen. But in my personal opinion the Syrian tragedy is entering the final stage and now we are at the crossroads. Either we, I mean the international community, make a deal and we will find a peaceful solution or there will be further bloodshed and foreign intervention, and the growth of terrorist groups, and invasion into the Syrian territory. And in the long run the dismantlement of Syria as a unitary state.
So, Turkey, which started to play this game, I think made a principal strategic mistake. Instead of making a deal and keeping its prestige and influence in the area, it has chosen to play the game of a leader of Islamic forces and it has come under Sunni pressure and decided that it would be better served if Syria is dismantled, dismembered – and it is playing this game.
Unfortunately, Turkey is not really independent in playing this game. It is playing this game under the pressure of Saudi Arabia and the Sunni states of the Persian Gulf, under the pressure of the American political elite, the present elite, which despite all that has happened decided to go on with the Arab Spring till the very end. And it is playing this game because it is not that easy inside Turkey for Erdogan because the initial success of his Islamization of the country was short-lived. And now there are rather mighty forces which are working against him and in the long run they will overcome his Islamization.
Of course now he has finished the Ergenekon and put the military under arrest and so on. But the Nurjular movement, Fethullah Gulen, Kemalist Youth Organization, Kurdish organizations – they are working very hard to undermine his regime. And Turkey is in bad need of symbolic support from the Western side, and especially from the Europeans. And the stationing of Patriots there is one of the really impressive manifestations of this kind of political support.
Now, usually it is given on the temporary basis by the Dutch and the Germans, but they are not going to station these Patriot detachments there forever. The question is – is it a first step in the stationing of American anti-aircraft missile systems? If it is, the first step which is covered by these two nations of the NATO alliance – then we have to expect very bad developments in the area of the Middle Ease and in terms of handling the Iranian situation.
If it is a purely symbolic gesture which would be temporary and they would remove it after some time, and it will play its role in the support of Western countries which have exhausted all kinds of support for Turkey, they don’t have anything else to show – then it is another thing.
Especially unpleasant this is on the eve of the planned visit of our president to Turkey. Frankly speaking, I’m annoyed by this because it is an unfriendly gesture on the part of Western alliance on the possible visit of Mr. Putin to Turkey with the state visit. But maybe I exaggerate certain things, but it is a very unpleasant announcement and it will not change the overall military-political situation around Syria. It is a purely symbolic political gesture because the military meaning of this temporary stationing is negligible.
So, in this sense I hope that it is as I predict a temporary gesture and I wish they are not going to develop into the long-term policy.
What kind of missile is the Patriot?
Patriot is an anti-missile and anti-aircraft system which they were supposed to station in Poland. But now they don’t station it in Poland, though Poland has been compensated by stationing aircraft. But this Patriot missile is supposed to be stationed in Romania and Bulgaria. So, we have a development which somehow in the long run will create sort of a shield around the southern Black Sea area. And I’m not sure it is only for the purpose of intercepting Iranian missiles. [Patriots have been stationed in Poland since May of 2010. The U.S. will station longer-range Standard Missile-3, and not Patriot, interceptors in Romania and Poland - RR]
And what about their range?
They are not of a long range, they are intercepting within the range of 60 to 150 miles, not more than that. And they are not a very sophisticated weapon. But the problem is, after you station this you make people believe this is nothing dangerous and then you substitute this with the more sophisticated and more effective weapons as a part of modernization of armed forces.
I can’t understand why there is such a concentration of anti-missile defense in the area of the Middle East. You have fantastic forces located in Israel. You have plans to locate them in Bulgaria, Romania. You are planning to locate something in Poland. Then, you are now trying to involve Turkey in the system. So, what is the final purpose of this? Because it is very hard to believe that Syria is presenting a threat or military risk from this point of view.
==============================
Stop NATO e-mail list home page with archives and search engine:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
Stop NATO website and articles:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.co
To subscribe for individual e-mails or the daily digest, unsubscribe, and otherwise change subscription status:
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups
==============================
Sun Dec 2, 2012 7:53 pm (PST) . Posted by:
"Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff
http://www.civil.ge/eng/
Civil Georgia
December 2, 2012
Soros, Saakashvili Tour Public Service Hall
Tbilisi: After meeting PM Bidzina Ivanishvili a day earlier, billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros met President Saakashvili in Tbilisi December 2.
President Saakashvili and George Soros visited the Public Service Hall, one-stop shops where citizen can get multiple services from various state agencies under the single roof which has been one of the staples of President Saakashvili’s modernization and reform agenda.
“The guest together with the President toured the service areas [of the Public Service Hall].Mikheil Saakashvili and George Soros received services at Just Café [an area where citizens can sip coffee while getting help from Public Service Hall employees to fill in official forms for various documents]. The guest also took a symbolic [Georgian] passport,” the President’s administration said in a press release
Civil Georgia
December 2, 2012
Soros, Saakashvili Tour Public Service Hall
Tbilisi: After meeting PM Bidzina Ivanishvili a day earlier, billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros met President Saakashvili in Tbilisi December 2.
President Saakashvili and George Soros visited the Public Service Hall, one-stop shops where citizen can get multiple services from various state agencies under the single roof which has been one of the staples of President Saakashvili’s modernization and reform agenda.
“The guest together with the President toured the service areas [of the Public Service Hall].Mikheil Saakashvili and George Soros received services at Just Café [an area where citizens can sip coffee while getting help from Public Service Hall employees to fill in official forms for various documents]. The guest also took a symbolic [Georgian] passport,” the President’s administration said in a press release
