Heavy rain hits South Korea causing power cuts and evacuations
SEOUL: The South Korean government put officials on high alert for the height of the summer monsoon season as torrential rain swept across the country on Friday (Jul 14), causing power cuts and forcing more than 100 people to evacuate their homes. Over 4,000 households have experienced power cuts inContinue Reading
Solomon Islands says China police pact not a ‘threat’
SYDNEY: Solomon Islands said on Friday (Jul 14) that its policing pact with China posed no “threat” to the Pacific, rebuking Western powers who raised fears the deal could inflame regional tensions. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare inked a raft of deals during a trip to China this week, including anContinue Reading
âLess for lessâ could mean win-win in US-Iran talks
Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken demurred about the status of indirect talks with Iran as he worked to deflect political pressures over contact with the regime regarding its nuclear activities and, reportedly, a possible release of wrongfully detained Iranian-Americans.
President Joe Biden’s administration has not denied that two senior diplomatic experts on the Middle East, Special Envoy Brett McGurk and Special Iran Envoy Rob Malley, have been in Oman conducting some form of indirect talks with Iranian officials, but Blinken made clear that there is no imminent agreement of any kind.
Nonetheless, critics in the US Congress are demanding more transparency, and are poised to take measures to constrain what may be a fragile and early-stage diplomatic initiative.
Progress by the Biden team may also have been hampered after it was announced late last month that Malley had been placed on unpaid leave while his security clearance was reviewed. Reports say the Federal Bureau of Investigation is examining the matter.
Analysis of these potentially significant talks with Iran is heavy on speculation, and light on facts. The administration does not seem willing or able to share any details of the putative talks, perhaps because they have not really produced any results, or, conversely, because officials are still hopeful and want to protect the process until both parties are ready to talk about it in public.
The Biden administration has demonstrated in multiple ways that diplomacy is vital to its worldview and its idea of statecraft. Diplomacy is not just scripted meetings in friendly capitals with like-minded officials, but it’s the hard slog of finding ways to reduce tensions and prevent open conflict with adversaries. Sometimes it’s many weeks or months before even a common vocabulary is established.
Doing diplomacy with Iran has been fraught for many decades. But it’s as hard in 2023 as it has been since the 1979 revolution and the severing of official relations. Often the parties misread what is motivating the other party, and whenever one side thinks it has the advantage, it overplays its hand and the momentum is lost. So a slow and discreet approach may be prudent.
The previous administration’s bellicose approach – “maximum pressure” – moved the starting gate back for the Biden team in several ways.
Nuclear deal pullout
Strategically, the decision by Donald Trump to withdraw from the multilateral nuclear agreement signed in 2015 – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – did nothing to advance the goal of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons capabilities. To the contrary, the undermining of internationally negotiated constraints on Iran emboldened the country and made the task of restoring limits considerably harder.
Trump’s aggressive rhetoric only agitated the regional dynamics without sustaining US deterrence, and likely contributed to Iran’s expanding ties with Russia and China. Last week, Iran became a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Eurasian security and political bloc that could become a NATO of the East.
So the posturing of Iran hawks in the US about how the Trump approach led to Iran’s economic desperation and political isolation is simply not borne out by the facts.
Using a quiet, reserved approach, the Biden team apparently did not give up on restarting a process to restore at least part of the JCPOA. They adopted a “less for less” strategy, rather than the overly ambitious and unrealistic goal to expand and strengthen the JCPOA.
Some movement in Iran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in March may have also spurred the idea along, to probe via Oman or other trusted intermediaries whether Iran was open to talks.
The tentative rapprochement between Iran and Gulf Arab states also helped Washington calculate the risks of such a diplomatic overture, given that after the JCPOA was signed in 2015, both Israel and Gulf countries felt betrayed by the deal and chastised the US.
This time, with Saudi Arabia and Iran agreeing in March to restore relations after talks brokered by China, one could anticipate less resistance from key Arab partners. Fierce opposition from Israel and Republicans in the US Congress was, however, to be expected.
According to some reports, the outlines of the US initiative include Iran’s commitment to cap its uranium-enrichment activities short of full weapons-grade levels, to cooperate with the IAEA, and to release at least three dual-national Iranian-Americans currently in Iran’s prisons. In exchange, Iran would be given partial sanctions relief in the form of access to funds in South Korean banks.
In late June, some Middle East watchers judged that the talks had stalled, possibly over the terms of the release of prisoners.
If true, this “less for less” is more modest than what Ali Vaez and Vali Nasr recently argued in Foreign Affairs. They saw a bigger opportunity to reshape Iran’s regional role, by engaging all the states in the region, by reducing Iran’s destabilizing support for cross-border militias, and by imposing region-wide limits on nuclear enrichment activities.
Their approach is closer to the “grand bargain” that some have advocated over the years: Put all the issues on the table and see if there’s a radically different way for Iran, its neighbors, and Western powers to manage their relations and promote regional stability.
Nonetheless, the purported Biden approach does entail taking on more than one issue, in a package understanding or arrangement, to use the careful vocabulary of US officials.
I previously argued that the efforts to free wrongfully detained US citizens is premised on keeping that track free of entanglement with other contentious issues. In this case, perhaps the logic was turned on its head.
To be sure, there’s no perfect rulebook for diplomats. They have to test and probe what might work, what each party cares most about, and how to get to a win-win outcome. Whether that is a possible or likely scenario for 2023 is anyone’s guess.
This article was provided by Syndication Bureau, which holds copyright.
Malaysia state polls: Will Penang remain a Pakatan Harapan stronghold?
A high voter turnout of at least 70 per cent is crucial, said Mr Zairil, adding that Penang has done well economically.
There are more than 1.2 million registered voters in Penang. Many are working outstation and overseas.
But the opposition coalition PN has claimed it is ahead of PH in its social media campaign and as a result, could read the pulse of young voters better.
Opposition MP Muhammad Fawwaz Mohamad Jan from Islamic party PAS said many first-time voters in Penang are not chasing material wealth, adding that “a big surprise is coming in this state election”.
Mr Fawwaz was hailed as a rural legend among some village folks in the mainland of Penang after defeating Ms Nurul Izzah Anwar, daughter of Mr Anwar, to wrest control of his stronghold of Permatang Pauh.
“We were the underdogs,” said Mr Fawwaz. “I was shocked when I won because this is the stronghold of (Mr Anwar’s party) PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat).”
Mr Anwar blamed the defeat on the opposition’s religious and racial-centric political narratives.
ASEAN foreign ministers assert Five-Point Consensus remains main peace plan for Myanmar crisis
SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTE The South China Sea dispute was also discussed in the meetings. “Concerns were expressed by some ministers on the land reclamations, activities, serious incidents in the area, including actions that put the safety of all persons at risk, (and) damage to the marine environment,” the ministersContinue Reading
Supporters rally for MFP leader
Hundreds of Move Forward Party supporters yesterday gathered at a pre-designated spot near parliament to show support for MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat during yesterday’s prime ministerial vote.
The gathering area can accommodate up to about 300 people at a time, said Rujira Arin, chief of the Dusit District office.
The 710-square-metre area, set one lane of a road and some walkways of the Kiak Kai government centre, was designated by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) for MFP supporters, said deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek.
The Kiak Kai government centre is situated across the parliament complex.
Amarat Chokepamitkul, member of the MFP’s board, was seen at the gathering to observe yesterday’s vote.
The BMA also worked with the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) to ensure law and order, Ms Rachada said.
In addition, the MBP had issued an order prohibiting public gatherings within a 50-metre radius of the parliament complex, effective from 6am on Wednesday to midnight tomorrow, said Ms Rachada.
The order was signed by the MPB chief, under the 2015 Public Gatherings Act, she said.
She said traffic in the area was being rerouted to accommodate the gathering of MFP supporters, while a number of police officers were deployed in the area.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o- cha was well aware of people’s right to express their political views and observe the parliamentary process, she said.
The PM also called on MFP supporters to obey the law and refrain from vilence and conflict and emphasised the need for security officials to follow crowd control rules based on international standards, she said.
At about 3pm before the vote in parliament started, a male teenager was seen causing a commotion at the designated rally area.
The teen, seemingly an MFP supporter, smashed a poster erected in the gathering area, prompting a man to assault him.
In the end, the teen was rescued by Ngoentra Khamsaen ,44, who said what happened was a misunderstanding.
Seized boat adds twist to Germanâs killing
Police think it was meant to dump body
PATTAYA: Police have seized a speedboat belonging to a prime suspect in the murder of a German property broker, as they believe he might have intended to use it to dump the victim’s dismembered body at sea.
Investigators from the Nong Prue police station took the 18-foot speedboat from a house on Phra Tamnak Soi 5 in Pattaya on Wednesday night.
The boat was owned by Olaf Thorsten Brinkmann, 52, one of four suspects arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder of Hans Peter Walter Mack, 62. The boat was kept at the house of a German friend who alerted police after learning about the arrest of his compatriot, said a police source.
His friend told investigators that Mr Brinkmann had sought help on July 8 to tow his speedboat from Nong Krabok Soi 4 to the Chokchai Garden Home housing estate in Nong Prue.
On July 9, the friend told Mr Brinkmann that he would tow the boat to the Ocean Marina pier in Pattaya. But because it had no registration documents, the boat could not be moored there. He then brought the boat to Phra Tamnak Soi 5.
Surveillance video at a fishing supplies shop showed Mr Brinkmann and another suspect, Shahrukh Karim Uddin, buying some gear there. Mr Uddin, 27, a Pakistani with Thai nationality, was arrested in Kanchanaburi on Wednesday afternoon after trying to flee across the border to Myanmar.
Police believe the two men were planning to go to sea and dump Mack’s body overboard to destroy evidence. However, the dismembered body of the victim was found hidden in a freezer at a rented house in tambon Nong Prue on Monday night — six days after the German man went missing.
Officers who searched the house found the freezer containing the body, along with an electric saw, ropes, food seals and bottles of drinking water, soda and beer. The victim’s body had been dismembered, with the head, torso and limbs separated and put into bags inside the 1.5-metre-long freezer.
Mr Brinkmann and Mr Udin were among the four suspects arrested for the murder. Also in custody are two other German women: Petra Christl Grundgreif, 54, and Nicole Frevel, 52. Ms Frevel, who is disabled, rented the house where the body of the German businessman was found.
Mr Uddin was taken to Nong Prue police station on Wednesday night after his arrest in Kanchanaburi, and placed in a cell next to Mr Brinkmann.
His parents and his elder brother arrived at the police station to see Mr Uddin. The tearful parents were seen hugging their son.
Mr Uddin’s parents, who run a frozen seafood business in Phuket, told reporters that they knew Ms Grundgreif, a land broker, as she had approached them two years ago about jointly investing in the seafood business.
The German woman wanted the couple to supply products to her in Pattaya. However, they were reluctant to comply with her request that they send products to her first before receiving any payment.
They said they had no contact with the woman since the negotiations failed. However, they later learned that their son had contacted the woman about investing in a property business.
The parents said they tried to persuade him not to do business with the woman, but to no avail. Mr Uddin later told them he received money from a land sale in Phuket from the woman. After that, the parents said they had not paid attention to their son’s business.
How Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder in Canada fuelled tensions with India
Getty ImagesA prominent Sikh leader was brazenly murdered last month outside a temple in British Columbia (BC), Canada. The death has outraged his supporters and intensified global tensions between Sikh separatists and the Indian government.
On a mid-June summer evening in the busy parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in the city of Surrey, Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in his truck by two masked gunmen.
A month later, the unsolved killing continues to reverberate, in Canada and across borders. Hundreds of Sikh separatists took to the streets in Toronto, along with a handful others in cities like London, Melbourne and San Francisco, just last weekend to protest the Indian government, which they believe is responsible for his death.
The Indian government has not commented on such allegations.
The outrage following the 45-year-old’s killing has brought to light a long-standing issue of some groups demanding a separate homeland for Sikhs, who are a religious minority that make up about 2% of India’s population.
The movement was at its peak in the 1980s in the state of Punjab, which witnessed several violent attacks and deaths. It lost steam after armed forces ran special operations against the movement – but supporters in the diaspora community continued their calls for a separate state, which have intensified in recent years.
India has strongly opposed the Khalistan movement. All mainstream political parties, including in Punjab, have denounced violence and separatism.
Mr Nijjar was a prominent Sikh leader in BC and a vocal backer of a separate Khalistani state. Supporters of his have said that he was a target of threats in the past because of his activism.
India said he was a terrorist and led a militant separatist group – accusations his supporters call “unfounded”.
Canadian investigators said they have yet to establish a motive for his murder or identify any suspects, but they have categorised the killing as a “targeted incident”.
Canada is home to the largest Sikh diaspora outside the state of Punjab. On 8 July, hundreds protested Mr Nijjar’s death in Toronto outside India’s High Consulate building. They were met with a smaller counter protest in support of the Indian government.
The two sides shouted at each other through barricades for several hours, and one pro-Khalistan demonstrator was arrested after attempting to breach the fence.
Even before the weekend, concerns had been raised about the protest.
Some posters for the Toronto event featured the words “Kill India” and labelled Indian diplomats in Canada as “killers”, leading the outraged Indian government to summon the Canadian envoy.
Balpreet Singh, the spokesperson for the World Sikh Organisation of Canada, said he believes the Khalistan movement has been somewhat dormant and largely peaceful in recent decades, though it has seen a revival, particularly among youth who did not live through the violence of the 1980s.
But even with this revival, there is a sense that people in Punjab have largely “moved on” from the idea of a separate state for Sikhs, said Gurpreet Singh, a BC-based journalist and radio host who has interviewed Mr Nijjar in the past.
“What we are seeing in Canada is a vocal minority of the Sikh community that is supporting Khalistan,” he said.
Mr Nijjar is the third prominent Sikh figure to have died suddenly in recent months.
In the UK, Avtar Singh Khanda, who was said to be the head of the Khalistan Liberation Force, died in Birmingham in June under what has been described as “mysterious circumstances” that some believe could be related to poisoning.
Paramjit Singh Panjwar, who was designated a terrorist by India, was shot dead in May in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Mr Singh, with the World Sikh Organisation, said Mr Nijjar had been the target of threats, and that he had warned members of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service as early as last summer that there was likely an assassination plot against the Sikh leader.
He said Mr Nijjar had been planning a non-binding referendum scheduled for September in Surrey on the question of an independent Sikh state, part of a global series of votes aimed at measuring consensus on the formation of Khalistan.
A similar referendum had taken place last year the city of Brampton, Ontario last year, which is home to around 160,000 Sikhs.
Results of the vote have not yet been released, but he said the turnout – an estimated 100,000 people – was met with anger from the Indian government.
“This was devastating to the Indian narrative that (Khalistan) is a fringe or extremist movement,” he said.
Following the referendum, India’s Ministry of External Affairs warned of a “sharp increase in incidents of hate crimes, sectarian violence and anti-India activities in Canada”, though it did not reference any specific incidents or make mention of the referendum.
There are differing narratives on the Khalistan movement in India, as well as the deaths of proponents like Mr Nijjar.
Some Indian commentators have pointed to internal rivalries between Sikh organisations in Canada as the reason behind Mr Nijjar’s death.
They have also accused Khalistan supporters in Canada of vandalising Hindu temples with “anti-India” graffiti and of attacking the offices of the Indian High Commission in Ottawa during a protest in March.
But Sikhs and some national security experts in Canada have accused the Indian government of spreading misinformation through its media to malign the Sikh community and supporters of a separate Khalistani state. India has denied this.
Canada’s national security adviser to the prime minister has previously accused India of being one of the top sources of foreign interference in Canada.
India, for its part, has argued that the rise of the Sikh separatist movement in Canada has interfered in India’s domestic affairs.
Despite this, both countries have long-standing diplomatic and trade ties and are in the advanced stage of talks to sign a landmark free-trade agreement. It is not clear whether the recent diplomatic tensions will have an impact on the deal.
Balpreet Singh said he believes Canada needs to take a stronger stance against foreign interference by India, arguing that it has mainly targeted the Sikh community.
But he added that Canada has also provided a place where many Sikhs who are supporters of the Khalistani movement can speak openly, and that the community remains defiant in the face of Mr Nijjar’s death.
“There is no one telling us we can’t talk about Khalistan here,” he said. “If you try to tell us we can’t talk about our sovereignty, we will do the very opposite.”
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18 February 2014
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Thammasat student council condemns PM vote
The Thammasat University Student Council issued a statement condemning Thursday’s vote for a new prime minister, saying that members of parliament and senators who voted against the will of the people or abstained from voting were disgraceful.
The council’s Standing Committee on Politics and Democracy Promotion made the condemnation following the vote in a joint sitting of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limjaroenrat failed in his bid to become the country’s 30th prime minister after he was unable to secure the required endorsement of half of the parliamentarians. The MFP had won the May 14 general election with 151 House seats.
The final tally was 324 in favour, 182 against and 199 abstentions among the 705 members attending the meeting. Mr Pita, who was the sole nominee for the post, needed 375 votes from the combined 749 House and Senate seats. A senator had resigned on Wednesday, a day before the vote took place.
The MFP leader received 311 votes in favour from MPs and 148 against, with 39 abstentions. He received just 13 votes in favour from senators, 34 against and 159 abstentions.
The university council’s committee said the MPs and senators who voted against and abstaned had acted against the people’s will, as expressed through the May 14 general election. The MFP had won the election with 151 House seats, and its leader received the people’s mandate to be the next prime minister.
“Your action is disgusting and disgraceful to the constitutional monarchy system and the country’s political history. You ignore your roles as being representatives of Thai people who are duty-bound to perform tasks for the benefits of the nation and people’s well-being,” said the standing committee, which criticised MPs and senators who voted against Mr Pita and those who abstained their votes.
The committee called on MPs and appointed senators to respect people’s votes.
“Children in the nation development era will lead the country for prosperity but senators will lead the county to disaster,” read the statement.
Many MFP supporters expressed disappointment with Thursday’s vote but said the results were not unexpected. They urged appointed senators to respect their votes.
Supporters sit at the government complex in the Kiakkai area as they eagerly wait for the result of the prime ministerial voting on Thursday. (Photo: Pattarapong Chatpatarasill)
Prior to the joint sitting, hundreds of MFP supporters gathered at a designated spot near the parliament to show their support for the MFP leader.
The gathering area can accommodate up to about 300 people at a time, said Rujira Arin, chief of the Dusit District office.
The 710-square-metre area, set one lane of a road and some walkways of the Kiak Kai government centre, was designated by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) for MFP supporters, said deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek.
The Kiak Kai government centre is situated across the parliament complex.
Amarat Chokepamitkul, member of the MFP’s board, was seen at the gathering to observe Thursday’s vote.
The BMA also worked with the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) to ensure law and order, Ms Rachada said.
In addition, the MBP had issued an order prohibiting public gatherings within a 50-metre radius of the parliament complex, effective from 6am on Wednesday to midnight Friday, said Ms Rachada.
The order was signed by the MPB chief, under the 2015 Public Gatherings Act, she said.
She said traffic in the area was being rerouted to accommodate the gathering of MFP supporters, while several police officers were deployed in the area.
Move Forward Party MPs show up at a gathering venue outside parliament to thank people for their support to party leader Pita Limjaroenrat on Thursday’s voting for a prime minister. (Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
Caretaker Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was aware of people’s right to express their political views and observe the parliamentary process, she said.
Gen Prayut also called on MFP supporters to obey the law and refrain from violence and conflict and emphasised the need for security officials to follow crowd control rules based on international standards, she said.
Just before the start of the parliamentary vote at around 3pm, a male teenager caused a commotion at the designated rally area. The teenager, seemingly an MFP supporter, smashed a poster in the gathering area, leading to an assault by another individual. The teenager was eventually rescued by Ngoentra Khamsaen, 44, who stated that it was a misunderstanding.
Singapore’s economy grew 0.7% in Q2, faster than 0.4% in previous quarter: Advance estimates
The construction sector grew by 6.6 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, extending the 6.9 per cent growth in the first quarter. Growth was supported by expansions in both public and private sector construction output. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted basis, the sector expanded by 2.6 per cent in theContinue Reading