North Korea’s Kim shares letters with Russia’s Putin, wishes victory over ‘imperialists’

SEOUL: According to Pyongyang’s condition media KCNA, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, October 12, pledging to strengthen their relationships and wishing him victory over what he called imperialist force. The letters, which commemorate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties, were sentContinue Reading

Japan fast-tracks US Tomahawk missiles purchase

Japan’s defence strategy has significantly changed as a result of its hasty acquisition of US-made Tomahawk weapons. A closer examination of the factors influencing this choice is necessary in light of dangers from China and North Korea.

Following a Pentagon conference between Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, it was announced this month that Japan had accelerate its planned learning of US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles by one time.

Over the course of 2026 and 2027, Japan intended to buy 400 Tomahawk Block V rockets at a rate of 200 per financial time. The older Tomahawk Block IV, which will be purchased in the financial times 2025 to 2026, will replace some of Japan’s weapon buying as a result of rising weapon risks from China and North Korea. By 2027, Japan intends to equip all eight of its Aegis ships with Tomahawks.

The long-serving boat weapon, which went into service in 1983, is currently being used by the Tomahawk Block IV. Its 1,600-kilometer range, ability to fire from ships and boats, hours of loitering, and datalink enable it to alter course as needed.

The Tomahawk Block V, on the other hand, has improved communication and navigation methods, you attack moving targets at sea, and a combined multi-effects weapon to attack more varied area targets.

Congress has not yet approved the expedited learning, despite Kihara’s claim that the US has expressed support for it.

By adding counterstrike capabilities, Japan hopes to improve its security capabilities through the acquisition of Tomahawk rockets.

This action follows a thorough examination of Japan’s 2023 defense white paper, which was outlined in & nbsp. The paper discusses a number of difficulties, ranging from North Korea’s missile launches to Chinese aircraft actions.

During a conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, US President Joe Biden gave his approval to the new legislation, which signaled the basic strengthening of Japan’s security capabilities in the face of an increasingly deteriorating security environment.

Security experts have also requested that the Japanese Ministry of Defense give a thorough common reason in response to the determination to hasten weapon learning. Such a move might clarify the tactical justification for Japan’s shifting defense priorities given the complexity of the political situation and the rapidly evolving defense needs.

Japan’s determination to speed up its Tomahawk weapon procurement for counterstrike capabilities has been influenced by the missile capabilities of China and North Korea and the strengthening of their strategic ties.

Bruce Klinger notes in a statement from the Heritage Foundation dated November 2022 that North Korea is testing numerous missiles with the intention of obtaining unspoken support for its violation of UN commitments. According to Klinger, the nation now routinely launches missiles and relies on UN Security Council obstructionism from China and Russia to accomplish this.

Pyongyang aims to pressure the allies into curtailing potential activities by portraying its military actions as appropriate responses to resumed US-South Korean military maneuvers, as Klinger emphasized.

Regarding nuclear weapons, Klinger claims that by the year 2017 North Korea was thought to have produced between 30 and 60 radioactive weapons, or sufficient fissile material for such weapons. Additionally, he claims that North Korea may develop an additional seven to twelve warheads each year.

According to him, North Korea may possess 200 atomic weapons by 2027. Six nuclear assessments have been carried out by the government. Pyongyang has finished getting ready for a sixth nuclear evaluation, according to declarations from Washington and Seoul.

According to Klinger, North Korea is capable of dropping nuclear weapons on target in South Korea, Japan, Guam, Hawaii, and the US mainland. According to him, it is currently creating a new generation of sophisticated portable missiles that are harder to find, target, and correct.

Additionally, Victor Cha and Katrin Fraser Katz note in an andnbsp report from April 2022 for the Center for Strategic and International Studies( CSIS ) and nnpspe that North Korea is becoming more open to taking risks in missile testing in order to strengthen its missile program because it has a favorable environment for missile tests while the US is preoccupied with the conflict in Ukraine. They also say that China and Russia are strengthening their proper alliance.

According to Cha and Katz, North Korea conducts tests in order to demonstrate military advancement and uphold fidelity within the government, as well as due to its inner circumstances and financial circumstances.

They also point out that because North Korea can buy the materials and components it needs from the international market, it no longer requires little outside assistance for its nuclear program. Additionally, they claim that because the necessary skills are less costly than those required for the US to support itself, North Korea has an edge in achieving an unpleasant victory.

Five Chinese missiles that touched down in Taiwan during military training in August 2022 served as further evidence of China’s weapon threat to Japan.

Jaganath Sankaran notes that China’s weapon capabilities are designed to reduce the expulsion of US and allied military power, concentrating heavily on crucial air and naval bases, in an article published in the peer-reviewed Asian Security journal in June 2020.

Sankaran points out that the only two stand within the unrefueled fight diameter of the Taiwan Strait for US soldiers are Japan’s Kadena and Futenma air foundations. He claims that while these bases are ideal for taking off and operating larger aircraft, they lack large defensive air shelters, which could compromise the US air power projection.

In addition to Kadena and Futenma, Sankaaran says that Chinese missile strikes could target different US bases like Misawa, Iwakuni, and Yokota in the event of a conflict in Taiwan.

Additionally, China and North Korea might cooperate to sever US partnerships in Northeast Asia. Andnbsp, Oriana Skylar Mastro and Sungmin Cho highlight the potential threat posed by North Korea’s missile capabilities as a key factor influencing Japan and South Koreas’ diplomatic approach to China in an article published in February 2022 by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies( FSI ).

According to Mastro and Cho, the increased risk of North Korean missile strikes encourages Japan and South Korea to evade alienating China in an effort to contain Pyongyang. According to them, Japan and South Korea are motivated to maintain cordial relations with China in order to keep Pyongyang in check, weakening the relationships between the US and its partners in Tokyo and Seoul as both countries seek to avoid upsetting China. This is because they are threatened by the increased risk of missile attacks from North Korea, & nbsp.

According to Mastro and Cho, North Korea’s missile capabilities are assisting in achieving this goal by more successfully posing a threat to Japan and South Korea and raising concerns among their citizens about the effectiveness of US extended punishment and missile defense.

Japan has made significant efforts to define crucial operating principles, though it is unclear how it will use its counterstrike capabilities.

James Schoff and other authors note that Japanese leaders have made a distinction between enemy base strike capability, missile prevention / interdiction capacity, & nbsp, standoff missile defense capabilities, counterattack, pre-emptive strike, rocket defense, and comprehensive air-and-missile defense in an article for the Carnegie Endowment for Regional Peace.

Schoff and others point out that these operational concepts were developed with specific restrictions in mind, stating that Japan can only take the” minimum measures unavoidably necessary” when” no other measures” of self-defense are available in the face of an” imminent illegal invasion.”

Additionally, it may be difficult for the US and Japan to maintain their long-standing empire. Yohsuke Aoki notes in a CSIS article from July 2023 that the US-Japan alliance will benefit from the acquisition of counterstrike capabilities because joint operations will improve and enhance deterrence, but for various reasons, they have not incorporated the Joint Operation Command( OPCON ) into their alliance.

Aoki points out that it is challenging to combine OPCON due to Article 9 of the Japanese constitution and strategic objectives that are distinct from those in the US. However, he claims that creating a joint operation coordination center could enhance the command-and-control ( C2 ) relationship between the two nations.

In addition, he suggests that Japan set up a permanent joint headquarters for its Self-Defense Forces( SDF ), that the US think about redistributing the warfighting commands in the Indo-Pacific, and that bilateral talks be held to objectively assess the benefits and drawbacks of an identical C2 structure.

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Gaza war to remain localized

Trends in Quantitative and Qualitative Polarization

The Unbound Global Polarization Index’s findings are evaluated by David Woo and David Goldman. These findings were possibly influenced by less combative speech coming out of Washington and senior US officials’ highly publicized trips to China over the previous two months.

Israel is the focus of military conflict threats.

In the wake of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel, David Woo examines the findings of the RIWI-Unbound Military Conflict study. He also believes that Iran’s involvement will be curtailed by the US sending the Ford carrier strike group into the Eastern Mediterranean.

In a polarizing world, purchase designs

A variety of investment options are examined by Scott Foster, David Goldman, and David Woo in relation to issues like areas, accelerating supply growth toward golden and friendshoring, as well as the competition for semiconductors and electric vehicles.

Political catastrophe for Germany’s ruling parties

Uwe Parpart discusses how Germany’s new votes in Hesse and Bavaria have dealt serious blows to the parties that make up the federal government, including the SPD led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, defeats that were generally brought on by the continuous migration crisis in the nation.

Moscow is getting ready to send new reserve soldiers to Ukraine.

According to James Davis, the Kremlin is preparing new reserve troops for the conflict in Ukraine, while Russia’s existing offensive actions are merely localized military operations intended to strengthen battle positions and prevent front-line rotations.

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Israel-Gaza distraction: an opportunity for Putin

Russia’s ally in the Russian conflict is time. In order to maintain its military presence in Ukraine for as long as feasible, Russia must lower the number of battle fatalities.

A gap in Kyiv’s arms supply and a waning commitment from the European and US administrations to support the war or give military hardware would be of great assistance to Vladimir Putin. This might be provided by a competing problems in the Middle East to divert Ukraine’s allies.

The United States has already been socially diverted by Hamas’ violent invasion of Israel from Gaza on Saturday, October 7.

Additionally, rather than going to Ukraine, the issue might send defense technology supplies to the Middle East. Whether Israel decides to try to reconquer Gaza or not will determine how significant the escape of arms is.

A conflict may also help to further soften the allies of Ukraine’s resolve to continue spending money there. It might do but because continuing hostilities in Ukraine may have less of an impact than a larger Middle Eastern conflict or China strategically attacking Taiwan.

Russia’s rival connections

The political stance taken by Russia toward the Israel-Hamas issue is not entirely clear-cut. Israel and Russia have a long history of friendship. Israel has reflected this by downplaying any criticism it has leveled at the conquest by the Ukrainians.

Lately, Russia has gotten friendlier with Iran as it has tried to purchase military hardware. However, Iran is probably the cause of the military hardware that Hamas used to overpower Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system and enter the nation, including the electrical interference technology that deactivated the border detectors and remote sentries.

The ability of Hamas to evade the interest of the skilled Israeli intelligence services is likely a result of intelligence techniques developed in Iran. Egyptian counterintelligence is probably influenced by Soviet practices because Russia has been effective in selling intelligence techniques all over the world.

Russia has much engaged in multidimensional politics, managing to keep cordial ties with rival and even warring countries in the Middle East, and it will keep doing so. It is doubtful that this will be a drawback.

Putin’s intentions made public?

Putin has a long record of remaining undetected. We take his intentions to be linguistic bluster when he makes them clear to us. Putin is actually describing his ideas to us and testing his ability to carry them out.

The annual Soviet security event, also known as the Valdai International Discussion Club, was missed by the majority of the world’s media. On October 5, Putin gave a speech there. There, he stated that his goal was to establish a new global order that would be” civilization-based approach.” This would acknowledge regional variations and shared interests among populations.

Putin was subtly emulating an American social structure that places a strong emphasis on the culture, specifically the natural environment and its inhabitants. It also echoes Jewish kibbutzim‘s tenets of justice, shared personality, community loyalty, and efforts.

This is an outright rejection of northern autonomy and a declaration of Russia’s allegiance to those in the developing earth.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the left-wing chairman of Ukraine, may be aware that Russia wants the world’s attention to remain focused on Israel and Gaza rather than the Ukraine conflict. Photo: President’s Office of Ukraine

Putin reframed the past 20 years in his speech as Russia attempting to constructively participate in assisting in the resolution of global issues, but he complained that this participation had been interpreted as submission to western expectations and norms. Putin more argued that rather than having everyone adopt Western patterns of economic exploitation and intellectual dominance, the world needed many sources of power and ways of seeing it.

He cited China and India as believable stand-ins for global perspectives and strength. According to Putin’s civilization-based strategy, his invasion of Ukraine is not an attempt by Russia to seize place. Instead, it stands for opposing NATO and the EU’s Euro-Atlantic command.

The message of freedom from colonialism, which common Ukrainians may disagree with, is at the core of Putin’s Valdai speech.

Putin remarked that NATO forces only engage with Muslim countries in the Middle East. Those who are faithful are given security, but not because of their beliefs or customs.

Ok, we can deduce that Putin supports both Jewish and Arab states and that the only people responsible for the ongoing fight between Israel and Palestine are Westerners who give one side an overriding protection guarantee.

Russia’s advantages

The turmoil and tumult in Israel and Gaza benefit Russia, but it is unlikely that it was the cause. Putin need not be to blame for the increase in anxiety, but he won’t be let down if it continues over the next few weeks and months.

Russia also benefits from the distraction it provides for the upcoming US presidential election and poses to a world order already on high alert due to Ukraine, & nbsp, China, Taiwan, Serbia, and Kosovo.

Therefore, despite all of Russia’s war and nuclear losses, day is still on its side as it invades Ukraine. The conflict in Ukraine will be quickly influenced by the struggle for control of the White House, an environmentalist US Congress that continues to express concern about additional funding for Ukraine, and the US’s need to support Israel and NBP in the Middle East.

Russia will have the higher hand if the conflict in Ukraine is also raging in 2025.

Professor of knowledge and regional security at the University of Hull, Robert M. Dover.

Under a Creative Commons license, this essay has been republished from The Conversation. read the article in its entirety.

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Calls for new China debt boom miss the big picture

At a time when President Xi Jinping’s group is veering in the opposite direction, eminent Chinese analyst Yu Yongding is calling for violent financial growth.

Yu, a previous top official from the People’s Bank of China who is currently employed by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, contends that the shift in policy to” apply fiscal and monetary levers to listen to growth and value files” is the” key to success.” Fiscal and monetary expansion are appropriate if both growth and prices are slow.

According to Yu, the intensity of the headwinds affecting China calls for a strong outburst of public spending in particular to regain demand and thwart negative forces. Instead, he worries that Xi’s economic team is overly preoccupied with” supply-side” solutions like tax breaks, which may ultimately harm China. According to Yu,” supply-side economics is more important in China than in the US ,” even though several Western observers would agree.

It’s difficult to imagine that some major observers, least of all representatives of the International Monetary Fund, would agree with Yu on his proposals for fiscal and monetary expansion, aside from Nobel laureate Paul Krugman.

IMF Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas called for” aggressive actions by the regulators” on a number of fronts, not only looser fiscal policy, in his speech on Tuesday in Marrakech.

In order to prevent an increase in financial instability, to ensure that it stays localized in the real estate business and doesn’t spread out into the larger financial system, and to help rebuild household confidence, Gourinchas argued that Xi’s group if” help rebuild struggling home developers.”

The argument made here is that the largest economy in Asia needs to be stabilized through architectural changes and governmental actions. The IMF’s position does not, of course, preclude increased & nbsp, fiscal spending.

Beijing telegraphed moves to increase its budget deficit for 2023 at the same time Gourinchas spoke at an IMF occasion in Morocco, suggesting a new new stimulus may accompany Xi’s supply-side efforts to calm property markets.

According to Bloomberg, Beijing may issue additional sovereign debt totaling up to 1 trillion yuan($ 137 billion ) to fund new infrastructure projects. China’s 2023 budget deficit would increase above the 3 % cap established in March as a result.

Yu, who is concerned that Xi’s inside circle is extremely devoted to the debt-to-gross-internal-policy provisions of the Maastricht Treaty, the founding document for the European Union, may be encouraged by this development. It maintains that the debt to GDP ratio cannot be higher than 3 %.

According to Yu, the People’s Bank of China has been” juggling too many priorities ,” while Beijing has” pursued a careful financial plan.” ” Economic growth, employment, internal and external price stability, & nbsp, financial stability and even allocation of financial resources” are the terms he uses to describe them.

Yu claims that the PBOC has specifically had to react to the housing price index’s seasonal changes. According to Yu,” the PBOC pulls back the financial plan reins if the score rises quickly.” More generally, the PBOC has vowed to stick to a” precision drip – irrigation” approach rather than pursue” flood irrigation ,” which would mean flooding the economy with liquidity.

However, according to Yu, China” unquestionably” could have been experiencing” higher growth over the past ten years with a more intense economic – coverage strategy.” ” China can still obtain a more powerful coming, even though it’s too late to change the history ,” he claims,” but only if it implements carefully thought-out fiscal and monetary expansion focused on increasing powerful require and, ultimately, rise.”

Academician and top colleague Yu Yongding works at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Wikipedia image

The problem is that rather than addressing the root causes of China’s financial andNBSP problems, these plans do more to treat its symptoms.

Yu is not the only person who believes that China’s issue is a lack of speedy sugar highs. Leading mainland macro hedge fund Shanghai Banxia Investment Management Center urged Xi’s team to establish a market stabilization fund on Tuesday in order to put an end to the” vicious cycle” that is undermining shares. Li Bei, the fund’s leader, is essentially looking for a return to direct business interventions of the kind used in 2015.

Li stated in a WeChat article that” the key is to split the damage property – price declines are doing to people, and their trust.”

However, these quick fixes have no effect on China’s economic system, business governance, or capital markets. Additionally, they don’t boost efficiency, advancement, or chances for change in a struggling economy.

Incentives for local governments to create more dynamic business environments, create social safety nets, which are needed to find households to invest more and keep less, or handle the world’s aging population won’t change despite loosening fiscal policy and bailing out markets andnbsp.

Stimulus alone cannot promote the shift away from tomorrow’s investment-heavy, state-owned – enterprise-led growth model and toward a demand-driven economy. It won’t increase the confidence of international buyers to place large bets on China. Additionally, it didn’t help to stabilize the unstable real estate markets that are alarmed owners.

The issue with the real estate market is the most pressing. Country Garden is implying that it won’t be able to fulfill its obligations abroad two centuries after China Evergrande Group filed for bankruptcy. One of China’s largest real estate developers, Country Garden, had an estimated debt pile of$ 116 billion as of 2023.

Despite the numerous easing measures implemented in September, the property business” showed signs of weakening again ,” according to Tu Ling, a Nomura scholar. This was particularly true of low-tier locations, which may have been squeezed even more by the relaxation of regulations in high-territ cities.

According to Zhang Wenlang, an analyst at China International Capital Corp.,” We believe that economic development may continue to be hampered by pressures along the real estate price network, such as sales, property acquisition, and building.”

Similarities to Japan’s negative mortgage crisis in the 1990s have been made due to the scope of the issue. According to Gourinchas of the IMF,” aggressive action is necessary to clean up the real estate business.”

There is a possibility that the issue will rot and get worse if that doesn’t happen, he claims.

Of all, the PBOC may contribute. However, the weak yuan & nbsp may restrict Governor Pan Gongsheng’s ability to further reduce interest rates. That implies that there will undoubtedly be some financial relaxation.

According to scholar Ding Shuang at Standard Chartered Plc,” with CPI falling to depreciation, exports contracting further, and the home business also struggling, we see opportunity for the authorities to make full use of the fiscal space under the approved budget to maintain growth.”

According to economist Thomas Gatley of Gavekal Research, problems facing Evergrande and other designers harm the Taiwanese economy as a whole,” as the recent declines in equity and offshore bond pricing attest ,” going far beyond the strain they place on the companies’ direct lenders.

According to Gatley, there are at least three causes for concern for shareholders regarding the future of Evergrande.

First, he claims that there are now more risks associated with government policy mistakes that” disrupt industry and the market.” ” Mistakes are always possible, and the precarious financial situation of developers makes it difficult to predict or control the flow of events ,” says Gatley.

Two, there is still the” potential for further damage to cover – market sentiment, which is already anxious.” Third, Gatley claims that” as engineers delay or default on payments to their manufacturers, the financial strain of house builders is spilling over onto another companies.”

By the middle of 2023, China’s listed designers jointly owed their suppliers 3.4 trillion renminbi( US$ 466 billion ) in business payables. Evergrande only is worth$ 82 billion in the US.

In short, according to Gatley,” the struggles of China’s real estate developers have now drained trillions of rmb of liquidity from the economy andnbsp, and if things get worse for developers, so will the monetary drag on associated industries.”

Therefore, economists like Yu downplay the urgent need for the supply-side rebellion.

Vitor Gaspar, chairman of financial affairs for the IMF, approached the issue from a different angle this week in Marrakech. According to Gaspar, both China and the US are getting less value for their signal investment.

According to Gaspar, the US and China’s budget deficits, which range from 6 % to 7 % of GDP over the course of the period up to 2028, are what are really driving them. However, for both of the world’s two largest markets,” growth has slowed and the medium-term leads are the weakest in some day.”

The opacity built into the Communist Party’s growth model, including the explosion of off-balance-sheet borrowing via local government financing vehicles ( LGFVs ) since the late 2000s, is a major concern in China.

Lower China’s long-standing emphasis on real estate and massive infrastructure projects for growth, according to Gaspar, is the current top priority. According to Gaspar,” The concern for China is development, balance, and innovation.”

According to Gaspar,” China” has” enough coverage space” and” many options” to switch to a new development model that prioritizes domestic need over exports and investment. He cites development in the electric vehicle industry and other energy markets as examples of those options.

Encourage households to eat more and keep less must be the main focus. According to Eric Khaw, older portfolio manager at Nikko Asset Management,” China’s huge benefits imbalance is the trouble now.” The savings rate is significantly higher than the purchase price, which has been impacted by a liberal decline in investment demand, and China currently has one of the highest savings rates in the region.

This implies, according to Khaw,” that China, with its surplus discounts, will need to have higher purchase.” You can see that the overall level of personal loan is lower than that of the US, South Korea, Japan, and many other nations if you look at it.

He also notes that, based on IMF information, China’s public debt is only about 71 %. ” Relatively less than those of the US and Japan ,” to put it mildly. Therefore, in our opinion, there is a lot of room to raise the nation’s purchase rate.

According to Khaw,” more borrowing and lending will need to be done for China’s economic mediation the bigger the discounts.” Saving must either be invested domestically or borrowed internationally. China used to be able to export its extra benefits worldwide. However, politics then place restrictions on Chinese imports. Saving might be the only option available to the Chinese authorities.

Therefore, claims like Yu’s that a debt-fueled signal growth is necessary to return to 6 % only serve to continue the boom-bust period that the Xi team is trying to break. In order to win China’s financial game, fresh and disruptive policies must be taken on, rather than being reliant on tried-and-true safeguards.

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Cricket World Cup: Indian, Pakistani players’ friendship off the field

Rohit Sharma (C) of India and Babar Azam (C) of Pakistan poses for a photo ahead of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup on October 15, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia.shabby Graphics

Every time India and Pakistan square off on a baseball field, the universe sees another installment of one of sports’ most intensely contested rivalries.

And excitement is pushed to frantic heights when the two compete at a World Cup, which will take place on October 14 in Gujarat, in western India.

Since 1947, when India was divided after gaining democracy and Pakistan was established, the nuclear-armed neighbors have engaged in three war.

However, despite the icy relationships, the two teams’ football history is replete with tales of passion, respect, and camaraderie.

Shaheen Afridi of Pakistan gave Indian strong bowling Jaspreet Bumrah a present for his newborn child during india’s Asia Cup, which ended last month.

Both Bangladeshi and Indian fans were won over by the sign and the image, as was the case with the 2022 viral image of the Indian women’s cricket team players swarming to watch Bismah Maroof, the captain of Pakistan, take his child off the field. On the internet, the image broke people’s emotions.

Players of the Indian women's cricket team huddled take a photo with Pakistani skipper Bismah Maroof's baby

PCB

Long stretches of hostilities between the South Asian nations have historically had an effect on the sport, frequently preventing the team from competing against one another. Following the Kargil War in 1999, bilateral cricket relations were halted.

Following a peace initiative by the original Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee, India visited Pakistan for the first time in almost 15 years in 2003. However, following the 166-person Mumbai terror strikes in 2008, relations between the nations deteriorated once more. India attributed the problems to the radical organization Lashkar e Taiba, which is based in Pakistan.

The two great cricketers haven’t played each other in a diplomatic line since 2012. Just at International Cricket Council activities and the Asia Cup have the nations interacted with one another.

However, history demonstrates that there have always been close personal relationships between the players, going again to 1947.

On August 15, the day of the Partition, the entire world’s cricket team member Fazal Mahmood was asked to attend a camp in Pune, India.

In the midst of Hindu-Muslim unrest, he had to make the perilous trip from his hometown of Lahore, which had immediately become a part of Pakistan, to Pune.

The unrest eventually forced the tent to be disbanded, but what happened next between him and his American teammate CK Nayudu was significant.

In his book From Dusk to Dawn, Mahmood wrote,” Bowler CK Nayudu was traveling with me.”

A few radicals attempted to harm me after spotting me on the coach, but CK Nayudu stopped them. He told them to stay away from me as he pulled out his wicket.

Zahar Mahmood

shabby Graphics

In India, Nayudu is regarded as a forerunner in cricket. One of Pakistan’s primary ball greats, Mahmood, went on to become a symbol of the sport in the recently formed nation as it rebuilt its team after gaining independence.

Similar heartwarming tales of friendship have emerged in later years.

The intergovernmental agreement between the nations took place in 1987 at the same time as Holi, an American event of colors. It was common practice at the time for the Muslim staff to travel to India for games.

Kiran More, a former American batsmen who played for the national team at the time, remembered the raucous celebrations.

More told the BBC last month that the Holi event was” spectacular” that time. ” The whole hotel was awash in the colors that we splattered on one another.” The lake itself turned dark. One of the best Holi always, in my opinion.

Babar Azam of Pakistan and Virat Kohli of India interact ahead of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup match between India and Pakistan at Dubai International Stadium on October 24, 2021 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

shabby Graphics

The people from Pakistan were extremely delighted, he continued. The hotel” tried to warn us and eventually fined us£ 500($ 614.3 ), which was a significant sum in 1987.” The following morning, we competed against one another as harsh rivals, and the competition resumed.

Despite the break in the tour to each nation, the friendships endure.

When renowned American spin bowling Bishan Singh Bedi visited a Sikh temple in Pakistan next year, his Pakistani baseball team colleagues flocked to see him.

Intikhab Alam, a former rival who had led Pakistan’s team in the 1970s, also sang the Louis Armstrong track When The Saints Go Marching In for Bedi.

Alam was born in India and later immigrated to Pakistan. In 2004, he made his way back to his native country and became the first stranger to lead Punjab, a private Indian cricket team.

The two officers shared songs, meals, and memories that day.

The two teams’ existing participants still get along well decades later. Virat Kohli, the former commander of the American team, and Babar Azam, a Muslim captain, frequently compliment one another and refer to each other as among the world’s best batsmen.

An overlooked emergency for the youngest children

The UNICEF’s local protein advisor for East Asia and the Pacific, Roland Kupka, strategically supports its 14-nation nutrition programs.

He previously worked as a senior nutrition advisor at UNICEF Headquarters in New York as well as an acting local protein adviser and nutrition specialist in the West and Central Africa region of the organization. In addition, & nbsp,

Sarkodie photo is shown here.

Kupka previously held positions as a study scientist and associate professor in the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health’s Department of Nutrition. & nbsp,

His job has produced more than 75 blogs over the past 20 years and has been centered on developing methods for better nutrition and diet for maternal and child health. & nbsp,

He earned his doctorate in microbiology and nutrition at Harvard University. & nbsp,

Kupka agreed to an interview with UNICEF about the type of nutrition known as spending, and that organization gave it to Asia Times.


What is wasting, asks Moumita Dastidar? What connection does it have to hunger? & nbsp,

Roland Kupka: Losing is the most fast, obvious, and potentially fatal type of malnutrition, especially in its extreme form. It is brought on by a dearth of nutrient-dense foods and frequent outbreaks of illnesses. A child’s weight is typically much & nbsp, which is lower than what is typical for their height. & nbsp,

Alarmingly, children with severe losing have a mortality rate of up to 11 times higher than that of children without it. This is due to the fact that severe wasting transforms common childhood ailments into deadly conditions. Kids who are severely underweight die from illnesses because their systems offer almost no protection against infections. & nbsp,

Nutrition can manifest itself in many different ways. Malnutrition can also result in stunting and deficiencies in particular vitamins and minerals( micronutrient deficiencies ), in addition to wasting. Fat and overweightness are also emerging as hunger types that are causing more worry.

Children may experience multiple types of hunger at once. For example, wasting and stunting frequently happen up, which has negative effects on a child’s health and growth.

MD: Worldwide, an estimated 1 million children’s lives are lost each year as a result of losing, making it one of the most serious life-threatening problems. However, it is hardly ever discussed. What causes that?

RK: You never forget meeting a baby who has this fatal form of hunger, as I have. However, wasting is still not given the consideration it merits. This is the situation, in my opinion, for a number of factors.

Second, many families’ total living standards have improved as a result of the region’s rapid economic growth in recent decades. However, some vulnerable households and nbsp do not gain from these overall advancements. Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic’s consequences have exacerbated poverty and inequality.

It’s also a common misconception that wasting only happens in dire situations like problems, drought, and floods. However, only about 25 % of kids worldwide who have severe wasting reside in such settings. The youngest girls and boys and nbsp are most affected by severe waste in the poorest and most overlooked areas, which are in rural and urban areas away from the media devices.

However, there are many stigmas associated with malnutrition, including losing, in some communities. Due to social sorrow, families may be hesitant to ask for assistance, which can make the situation of children in need of treatment worse.

Lastly, youth wasting’s magnitude and effects are not always understood. As a result, some waste children are not diagnosed in their areas or at medical facilities.

MD: There are 4.9 million babies with waste in East Asia and the Pacific only. How can parents and other caregivers stop their kids from wasting away? & nbsp,

RK: It’s crucial to keep in mind that wasting prevention is far preferable to cure. & nbsp,

These are just a few of the many issues parents can do to stop their kids from wasting away:

Make sure pregnant women have nutrient-rich nutrition and antenatal care services. These are essential for the healthy growth and development of the fetus, and they lessen the possibility that the child will be born with a low birth weight, which raises the risk of wasting.

Make sure kids are breastfed exclusively for the first six month and keep doing so until they are at least two years old.

To meet their nutrient needs, & nbsp offers nutritious and diverse first foods with various textures and tastes, such as fruits, vegetables, and animal-source foods( eggs, fish, dairy ). & nbsp,

To avoid food-borne illnesses, which can result in nutrition, maintain good health practices when handling and preparing meals. Wash your hands, apples, and vegetables carefully.

Find out routine health care, such as prompt disease treatment, yearly vaccinations, and growth monitoring.

Treatment for severe forms of waste is essential if prevention is unsuccessful. & nbsp,

MD: Is wasting treatable at house? When do you believe relatives should go to the doctor?

RK: For children, serious waste poses a life-threatening condition. Children with severe spending need to get medical help right away. Fortunately, the majority of kids with extreme wasting can receive medication, health care, and psychosocial support while being treated as outpatients.

A qualified health professional who can care for the child until they recover is required to administer this therapy. Before being transferred to continue receiving health and nutritional care as outpatients, some children with severe losing and who are exceedingly ill will need to spend a brief amount of time in the hospital. & nbsp,

MD: How does UNICEF aid in preventing child waste?

RK: The idea of preventing waste comes first in all of our interactions with partners and governments. First detection and treatment are crucial when elimination has failed.

Nearly all of East Asia and the Pacific region are home to UNICEF, which collaborates closely with governments to establish policies and initiatives for the first detection and treatment of spending. We have been able to establish services for the early detection and treatment of childhood waste as crucial primary healthcare providers in 11 nations so far in collaboration with partners.

Additionally, we have been urging nations to develop ready-to-use therapeutic food( RUTF ), the primary life-saving treatment for children with wasting. Some nations produce regional RUTF domestically, such as by substituting fish powder for milk. Different nations are now doing the same.

The fact that frontline employees and partners occasionally lack the knowledge and skills necessary to address spending is one of the difficulties we face. The Care for Children with Wasting in East Asia and the Pacific e-learning program has just been made available for free to anyone interested in learning more about how to treat youth spending. & nbsp,

MD: How may we educate others about wasting? & nbsp,

RK: To better understand and combat waste, we can combine advocacy, education, and community involvement. & nbsp,

In order to give health care providers the knowledge and skills they need to properly manage wasting, we can work with them and educate them. & nbsp,

Childhood wasting is a life-threatening condition that is just andnbsp not talked about enough, and the media has an important role to play in bringing it to light. You can assist us in reaching more people as internet partners, particularly parents and caregivers, to assist them in preventing and seeking care for wasting in children. & nbsp,

Last but not least, we must involve and teach parents and communities in order to prevent or treat it quickly, particularly for children who are more susceptible to severe wasting, related illnesses, and fatalities. & nbsp,

In other words, we are equipped with the knowledge to stop and treat waste. We must then strive for a world in which no child experiences this life-threatening problem. & nbsp,

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