South East Asia

Chinese Land-Grab In Bhutan And India: Timid Responses Won’t Work With Beijing – Analysis

The world is wiser with the emergence of documentary evidence that China discussed weaponizing the SARS virus since 2015, together with studying the effects of a biological strike including on the health-hospital infrastructure of the target country and put in place the propaganda to absolve itself of any blame before bombing the world with the “Wuhan Virus” in 2019. The installation of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as the Director-General of World Health Organization in July 2017 was part of the plan which paid off – terming the “Wuhan Virus” as Covid-19.

In Search of Peace for Afghanistan: Historical Perspectives

Last month’s announcement that all U.S and international troops will leave Afghanistan before September 11, 2021 has sparked intense debate over the country’s future after over four decades of near-continuous conflict. Deteriorating security conditions, uncertainty over the level of international engagement moving forward and political instability pose great risks to the fragile peace process and the prospects for a sustainable political settlement. Many analysts have compared the current moment to the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, an alarming parallel given the years of civil war and Taliban rule that followed.

Defense Officials Explain U.S. Policy, Strategy in Afghanistan

The threat of violent extremists attacking the United States or allies from Afghanistan has been greatly reduced over the past 20 years, and any remaining threat emanating from the country can be addressed without a persistent U.S. military presence there, DOD officials told the House Armed Services Committee today.

President Joe Biden announced April 14 that all U.S. troops will be out of Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, the twentieth anniversary of the attack on the United States that the al-Qaida terror group planned and trained for from safe havens in Afghanistan. That attack killed 2,977 innocent people in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania. More than 6,000 were injured.

Pakistan: No More Military Bases for US Afghan Mission

Pakistan ruled out Tuesday the possibility of again providing its military bases to the United States for future counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan after U.S. troops leave the conflict-torn neighbor by September 11.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi made the remarks to reporters in Islamabad, explaining that his government has adopted a policy that allows it to become “only partners in peace” and not join any future U.S. war.

Retrograde From Afghanistan Continues as U.S. Officials Protect Troop Numbers

The retrograde from Afghanistan is going well, but U.S. officials are being careful as the effort is still in its early stages, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said today.

U.S. Central Command officials estimate that they have completed between 6% and 12% of the retrograde process. Airlifters have flown out the equivalent of 104 C-17s worth of materials; U.S. personnel have turned over more than 1,800 pieces of equipment to the Defense Logistics Agency for destruction; and the U.S. has officially handed over one facility to the Afghan National Army.

EU Suspends China Trade Deal as Tensions Grow Over Xinjiang, Hong Kong

European and Chinese leaders are urging swift ratification of the trade deal they agreed to in December, after tensions over accusations of human rights abuses in China delayed approval of the deal by European Union lawmakers.

The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) took seven years of negotiations and was finally agreed to in principle December 30, 2020, following a virtual summit between EU and Chinese leaders. Europe said it was the most ambitious trade deal China had ever undertaken with a third party.

The ideological basis of the new Cold War is clear, and this time the Western powers look set to be on the losing side

The ideological divisions of today involve the organization of the international system of states. One side, led by the USA, UK, EU and NATO, subscribes to something it calls the “rules-based international order.” (India claims to follow this.) The other side, led by Russia and China, subscribes to “international law…The principles of this system are set out in the United Nations Charter.

The meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels and of China and Russia’s foreign ministers in Guilin brought into stark relief the ideological differences that divide the leading protagonists of the new Cold War.

Austin, Milley Discuss Progress of Retrograde From Afghanistan

American service members will move out with professionalism and dedication to fulfill the newest mission in Afghanistan, ending the U.S. presence in the country by September, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said today.

Austin and Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held their first joint press conference at the Pentagon.

US is whipping up fear of China because Washington simply cannot contemplate a world it does not dominate

According to research by Stop Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Hate, there were nearly 3,800 anti-Asian racist incidents from March 19, 2020 to February 28, 2021, not including those that have occurred the most recently.

America’s annual threat assessment has highlighted the dangers posed by China. The manufactured hysteria about Beijing’s supposed intentions reveals a country unnerved at the prospect of losing its global preeminence.