Carbon ambitions: Inside Cambodia’s REDD+ boom

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Additional reporting by Anton Delgado, Meng Kroypunlok, Roun Ry and SourceMaterial

When the Cambodian rainy season turns dirt roads into rutted mud, the villages tucked into rugged folds of the western Cardamom Mountains can feel far from just about everything. 

In the Areng Valley, a river-carved flatland in the range sparsely populated by villages of indigenous Chorng people, that includes any semblance of cellular reception. 

This means it’s usually best to meet in-person with Reem Souvsee, the deputy chief of the valley’s Chomnoab commune. Otherwise, Souvsee explained, she might get some reception near the roof of her house, or up the neighbouring mountains where local men go to harvest resin from trees to sell for a bit of income.

Despite that isolation, in recent months this stretch of rural communities amongst densely jungled peaks has been pulled into the centre of global debate about carbon credits – a development scheme organised under a U.N.-backed framework called REDD+.

These credits are intended to limit the emissions that cause climate change by preventing deforestation in places like Areng. They’re purchased by major polluters, including some of the world’s largest oil and gas firms, to offset their fossil fuel emissions by essentially sponsoring the protection of forests, in developing countries such as Cambodia.

Some of these credits are already coming from the mountains near Souvsee’s home, which lies within the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project. Managed by the nonprofit Wildlife Alliance in partnership with the Cambodian government, the roughly 4,453-square-kilometre project in Koh Kong province includes portions of two national parks and another officially protected area. It is the largest of four such registered carbon credit zones in Cambodia. 

Map of the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project, with its location shown in Cambodia. Photo from Wildlife Alliance.

The project has also been seen abroad as one of the flagships for the burgeoning climate finance sector. But that image took a major hit in June when the world’s leading carbon credit registry service, a U.S.-based non-profit called Verra, abruptly suspended issuing new credits for the site in response to an as-yet unreleased investigation from global advocacy group Human Rights Watch alleging rights abuses by environmental officials and rangers within the project area.

The finer mechanics of the carbon credit model are mostly unknown to locals in Areng, who were unaware of these developments. But Souvsee – a member of Cambodia’s besieged political opposition Candlelight Party and a former affiliate with the conservation activist group Mother Nature – saw reason to support the programme, which has funded local infrastructure and community development. 

“We want REDD+ to be here, but we want them to respect our rights as indigenous people,” she said. “They can help protect our forest, our culture – and they can help protect [our land] from companies too.” 

Chomnoab commune deputy commune chief Reem Sauvsee sits in uniform in the commune hall. An environmental advocate and member of the indigenous Chorng people, Sauvsee thought the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project brought important benefits to local communities. Photo by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe.

For rural forest communities such as those of Areng, the threat presented by outside companies is very real. 

Rights organisations annually rank Cambodia among the most corrupt in the world, pointing to well-documented elite networks that have granted themselves near-total control of the Kingdom’s natural resources under a sprawling political patronage system. This has seen the country’s once-vast forests and other officially protected landscapes traditionally doled out among an overlapping class of tycoons and politicians, usually to be stripped for timber and developed into agricultural plantations.

At the same time, the Cambodian government has pledged to expand carbon credit programmes across its many officially protected areas, as well as a deepening partnership with regional finance hub Singapore to bring its sprouting credits to a global market.

The Ministry of Environment has announced at least eight credit projects in the works in recent years, with two currently awaiting registration with Verra. Officials didn’t answer questions about their plans when contacted by a reporter.

Some conservationists argue the basic financial premise of REDD+ offers an alternative path forward, a means of changing the status quo for forests in Cambodia and other developing countries. They say credit sales provide a funding model that’s actually sustainable on the ground, allowing for more concerted efforts to protect nature. Project developers also assert a system that rewards states for keeping trees standing – as opposed to clear-cut for timber, mining or other development – is a much-needed step in the future of environmental protection. 

But critics say these plans still fail to defuse the key drivers of deforestation by powerful economic interests, especially in countries such as Cambodia where land rights and environmental protections wither in the face of political clout and profit-seeking. Worse, some say, the brunt of the protections brought with REDD+ often fall on some of the world’s poorest communities – often smallholder farmers who depend on forests to eke out subsistence livelihoods. 

“I think there’s been a growing disappointment with REDD+ projects,” said Professor Ida Theilade, a forestry expert with the University of Copenhagen. She’s studied Cambodia for more than 20 years and has, in the past, done consulting for carbon credit projects in other countries. “It’s very hard to find those success stories, those really big stars in the sky.”

A resident of Pralay village in the Areng Valley of Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains displays the knives and other tools he uses to harvest resin from trees in the forest. Some villagers told reporters the time and effort needed to harvest the sap was hardly worth the prices they could fetch from selling to market middlemen. Photo by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe.

The recent Verra suspension has pulled that critical spotlight squarely on the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project.

Verra stated it was investigating the situation in Southern Cardamom further, but didn’t comment beyond that. Human Rights Watch also did not disclose their report to the Globe. 

Though minimal details from the group’s study have been made public, its researchers had reportedly documented rights violations carried out against local people by public officials and conservation rangers in the development of the REDD+ project.

Even just a hint of these preliminary findings was immediately familiar to many in Cambodia. 

Though the forests under its watch remain some of the thickest in the country, Wildlife Alliance has long been accused of heavy-handed enforcement of environmental restrictions with often-impoverished local villagers. The not-yet-public Human Rights Watch report likely taps into this history.

Suwanna Gauntlett, Wildlife Alliance CEO and founder, denies abuses, saying her organisation is working to support rural livelihoods while safeguarding protected areas. She places the group’s role in Cambodia in a longer arc of conservation in the Kingdom, tracing back to the group’s earliest days in 2000 – operating in a near-lawless environment to fight land-grabbing, human-caused forest fires and widespread poaching.

“We used to be the good guys doing good stuff, and now we’re the villains,” said Gauntlett, reflecting on the spotlight cast on her group by Human Rights Watch. “I don’t know how comfortable I feel in my new role.”

Suwanna Gauntlett, founder and CEO of Wildlife Alliance, points towards Areng Valley which is within the REDD+ project in Cambodia’s Southern Cardamoms National Park. Photo by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe.

On the ground

The Southern Cardamom REDD+ project seemed to provide a ready case study for bigger questions facing climate financing in Cambodia. So as part of a broader investigation of greenwashing conducted in partnership with the Earth Journalism Network, reporters from the Southeast Asia Globe and the U.K.-based outlet SourceMaterial, spent about a week total travelling through the Southern Cardamom zone over two separate trips. 

With regular check-ins and surveillance from local police, reporters spoke with more than 30 people in communities around the area. These interviews ranged from villagers and local officials to Wildlife Alliance employees.

What they found was – a mixed bag.

“On the whole, we’re happy with REDD+,” said Chhan Kong, 41, a fisherman and rice farmer living in the village of Teuk La’ak. “[But] the rangers can be harsh and aggressive.”

When he and others ventured into the protected area to make camp and fish – a permitted activity – Kong said they ran the risk of having their camping equipment confiscated or destroyed by rangers. 

This was a common thread in many interviews, and locals also told reporters they felt compelled to run at the sight of rangers lest they run afoul of restrictions. Those caught breaking the rules could be sent to court, villagers said.

Maybe the most notable recent incident in the REDD+ zone that the Globe heard of involved a then-62-year-old woman who was briefly detained by rangers about two years ago. Presumably on the way to their station, the rangers let her go with no further action after other community members went to advocate for her release. 

Still frightened and confused, she told reporters the rangers had picked her up for cutting a small tree near her farm. 

As with her case, the single-most common appeal was for greater communication and cooperation, especially for farmers, fisherfolk and others around the boundaries and enforcement of protected areas. A Wildlife Alliance field official who spoke with reporters said there was signage to mark these edges and showed them a detailed map, but acknowledged it wasn’t distributed to local people. 

Hoeng Pov, a Chorng community representative in Areng Valley, said even commune officials often lacked key information about the project.

“We really want to know about accountability – how much [do they earn] from selling carbon, how much do they pay for organisations who do this project and for the communities as well?” he mused to reporters. “Some organisations haven’t addressed people’s concerns, they only talk about their project. [And] after they got money from this project they haven’t let us know how the money was divided.” 

A man traverses a muddy path in Chrak Russey village in the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project area. Photo by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe.

Though questions remained, almost everyone reporters spoke with agreed on the importance of protecting the forest. 

Besides the carbon-sucking benefits that trees and other plant life provide on their own, cutting them down also has massive impacts on the climate – deforestation contributes as much as 20% to global carbon emissions. 

According to the nonprofit Global Forest Watch , Cambodia has lost about 31% of its tree cover since 2000, amounting to about 1.57 gigatons of carbon emissions. 

At the same time, its forays into carbon crediting have produced mixed results.

Of its four Verra-registered REDD+ projects, two have experienced severe deforestation. One of these is in the province of Oddar Meanchey and the other is called Tumring, located on the edge of the country’s once-vast, now-vanishing Prey Lang forest. 

Regarded as the largest lowland evergreen forest remaining in mainland Southeast Asia, even the protected areas of Prey Lang are steadily dissolving under industrial-scale logging operations. 

Tumring was developed in partnership with the South Korean government, but primarily overseen by the Cambodian Forestry Administration. The forester Theialde said satellite imagery has shown dramatic loss of tree cover at the project site, and it’s unclear if it’s actually selling credits.

Oddar Meanchey, Cambodia’s first foray into carbon crediting, has suffered a similar fate. With backing from the U.N. Development Program, the project initially found commitments from organisations such as Disney and Virgin Airlines to buy credits. But the corporate backers cancelled after it became apparent that local officials and military units had asserted their own claims to officially protected land.

Meanwhile, Cambodia’s second-largest REDD+ project – managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) at the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary in the northern province of Mondulkiri – is generally considered a success. 

Colin Moore, the Southeast Asia regional REDD+ coordinator for WCS, said revenues from the credits sold from the project have been a game-changer for the group’s work on the site.

“It’s really allowed us to scale our activities on the ground,” said Moore. “We’ve only very recently entered a world where you can do more than just fund a bare-bones conservation programme in these landscapes.”

Moore said WCS works with Everland, a company based in the U.S., to market and sell the credits from REDD+ projects to buyers around the world. Everland also does the same for the Southern Cardamom project.

A woman in Chipat village holds up a shirt distributed at a local informational meeting about the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project. These shirts are a common sight in villages around the area. Photo by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe.

When credits are sold from Keo Seima, a portion of their sales revenue goes to Everland or other fees, but the rest of the proceeds are split between WCS Cambodia and the Environment Ministry. Moore said the breakdown is 20% for the ministry, 80% for the project itself, deposited into an account managed by WCS. 

That latter pool of money goes into funding conservation projects within Keo Seima, including personnel costs and programming related to rural livelihood development, community land titling and more.

Both Moore and Wildlife Alliance declined to say how much in total funding their credit sales have made over the life of the project so far. Local media has quoted government officials stating the Environment Ministry itself has raised $11.6 million in carbon credit sales since 2016, which would be only a portion of the total revenues.

Moore said the successes of the Keo Seima and Southern Cardamom REDD+ projects were the “proof of concept” before the Cambodian government’s current push to develop more credit programmes. A boost in global interest in financing such projects since 2021 – the first year of the Paris Climate Accords commitment period – also helped drive interest, he added.

“The existing projects that were here in Cambodia had been ticking along, eking by on some small sales here and there,” Moore said. “Only after 2021 did they start to make big sales, be able to move their inventory.”

Critiques and hopes

Conservation funding aside, critics of REDD+ have not found it a convincing model to mitigate climate change. 

An extensive report from a carbon trading research centre at the University of California-Berkeley asserted last month that loose REDD+ assessments and quality control practices by Verra are leading to “over-crediting” and “exaggerated” claims about the impact of such projects. 

As a result, they said, credits sold under the promise of directly offsetting specific amounts of carbon emissions likely represent only “a small fraction of their claimed climate benefit”. The researchers also wrote that REDD+ projects focus their enforcement efforts on rural, often-impoverished forest communities while remaining unable to address large-scale deforestation caused by more powerful economic interests.

“Our overall conclusion is that REDD+ is ill-suited to the generation of carbon credits for use as offsets,” the researchers wrote, adding that the current “market system creates a race to the bottom that is hard to emerge from.” 

A grievance box posted in Toap Khley village in the Areng Valley of the Cardamom Mountains. Such boxes can be found throughout the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project zone managed by the non-governmental organisation Wildlife Alliance in partnership with the Cambodian government. The conservation nonprofit said it changed the language on the box from “suggestion” to “grievance” after a meeting with Human Rights Watch. Photo by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe.

Those within the sector itself have a different view.

Everland President Joshua Tosteson freely admits the industry is imperfect but is adamant that its basic premise is a good one when done properly. He said he hadn’t read the Berkeley report in depth, but noted that he agreed with it that the Verra system allowed for a “wide variability right now in respect to how projects get set up in relation to the communities.” 

“There isn’t really like what you might call a normative standard, a quality standard for how things ought to be done,” he said, adding that applied to things such as gaining free prior and informed consent and revenue sharing with local people.

That makes it hard to properly gauge how well projects actually address the underlying social and economic reasons for forest loss, Tosteson added. 

Beyond that, he rejected the larger denunciations of the Berkeley report, ascribing some of its findings to a broader wariness of using market solutions to address deforestation or climate change issues. However, for a country such as Cambodia, he thought the financial incentive that REDD+ brought to conservation could help keep trees standing.

“The thing about REDD that I think people do not appreciate and understand is that money talks – and the fact that there has been financial success associated with forest conservation in these two places [Southern Cardamom and Keo Seima] is beginning to change the mind of the government,” he said. “It’s going to take a while, but this is definitely part of the trajectory that I think can get you to a different ethos at a national level.”

A stretch of Southern Cardamom National Park, as seen driving into Areng Valley. Photo by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe.

At Wildlife Alliance’s offices in Phnom Penh, Gauntlett and her organisation also stand by their work.

Besides using the revenues from carbon credit sales to fund protection of the REDD+ area, the group also listed a range of material investments in the rural communities of the Southern Cardamom project. 

Besides helping start “community-based eco-tourism” centres, Gauntlett also said her group had shored up land tenure for residents in the REDD+ zone by facilitating the government processing of just under 5,000 “hard” land titles – a level of official recognition of ownership often difficult to secure in Cambodia – covering nearly 12,250 parcels of private land there. She expected the Ministry of Land Management to issue an additional 7,249 titles through 2024.

Residents in Chamnar village, at the furthest northern tip of the Areng Valley in the Cardamom Mountains, with an outhouse funded through REDD+ carbon credit sales. Photo by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe.

Gauntlett also listed infrastructure developments such as about 28 kilometres of new or rehabbed roads in the project zone, 94 solar-powered water wells, 77 toilets, two schools and a bridge. Wildlife Alliance also funded 16 full university scholarships for students to study and live in Phnom Penh, she said.

Reporters were able to see much of the hard infrastructure for themselves as they traveled through the project area. In the Areng Valley, one older resident said the newly installed toilet was the first she’d ever had. 

While the Wildlife Alliance REDD+ programme officially started in 2015, Gauntlett said her organisation had first tried to establish the programme in 2008 – but was rejected by the Cambodian government.

“Finally when REDD started, it was pretty much already all done. It wasn’t a decision that came out of the blue like this,” she said. When asked why the government had initially been against it, Gauntlett was concise.

“Very simple. More money to be made through economic land concessions.”

‘An illusion’

Still, the incentives offered by climate finance will need to compete with more short-term motivations. Not everyone shares Gauntlett’s optimism that carbon credits are up to task.

The forester Theilade is among them. She mostly focuses on the vanishing Prey Lang forest and the community networks that have struggled to maintain it against powerful interests. 

She was also involved in the early 2000s with helping the Cambodian government develop its “REDD+ Roadmap”, a planning process with World Bank funding that ostensibly evolved into the Kingdom’s current strategy. 

Today, she occasionally reviews conservation proposals with carbon trading components, but she’s not working specifically with crediting schemes. 

Theilade is also not involved with Wildlife Alliance or their work in Southern Cardamom but said she’d read about the organisation’s presence there. Though she gave some credit to them, she said Cambodia’s extensive patronage system leaves no quarter for good intentions – especially where forestland is concerned.

Such an outcome for Wildlife Alliance has already happened elsewhere in the country. Last year, its partners in the Forestry Administration conspired against the conservation group with local officials and prominent tycoons to clear-cut and parcel out a smaller forest that Wildlife Alliance had preserved just outside the Phnom Penh metro. 

The conservation group had used that area, known as Phnom Tamao, as a sanctuary for rare and endangered animals. Though a rare surge of public discontent put a stop to development of the land, the forest itself was decimated. 

Chan Dy, with the Mong Reththy Group, plants a sapling in the bulldozed section of Phnom Tamao after nearly half of the forest was felled for a satellite city development. Photo by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe.

Based on global prices for carbon on the offsets market, Theilade thought there was no way for credits to compete with other land uses associated with the patronage system – especially timber logged from protected areas.

Though she gently cautioned that she didn’t want to “sound too negative” about the work being done by some conservation groups to build out such schemes, Theilade just didn’t see it as a realistic option given the political weight against conservation.

“It has to be a government deciding, or a culture deciding, that these forests are worth something to us,” she said, describing the various ecological, social and spiritual benefits that forests provide in Cambodia. “That the government is going to conserve forests for some small carbon payments, I’m afraid, is an illusion.”

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Start-ups struggle to repay loans as interest rates rise, says association representing SMEs

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GETTING OFF Money

Local start-up Igloo, which specializes in keyed smart digital hair for homes and businesses, is one company feeling the heat. & nbsp,

In order to survive the COVID-19 epidemic, the company took on two mortgages, but now it faces a new challenge: repaying them.

Anthony Chow, the CEO of the company, said,” We are fortunate that we are able to give up one of our money and we’re almost done with it.”

However, in order to get our shareholders’ support to expand its maturity date, we needed to refine the other one and placed in higher interest rates.

The company grew for approximately two years because it needed money to expand its operations.

Less Chance APPETITE FOR VENTURE CAPITALISTS

Startups typically require credit in order to survive, and one method is through funding from venture capitalists( VC ).

However, VCs are reluctant to take on more risks by investing in businesses that don’t clearly show evidence of revenue growth at a time when the recessionary bell is ringing.

In terms of the macro setting environment, rising interest rates, recessionary stress, etc., there is quite a bit of uncertainty. According to Mr. Patrick Lim, Director of the trade association Action Community for Entrepreneurship, which represents neighborhood start-ups.

The size and number of deals have decreased year over year as a dangerous resource, he continued.

” In truth, based on various market research, we have observed a more than 50 % decrease in overall deals completed for the first half of the season, as opposed to the same time last year.”

A FEW HARDER Reach Companies

Learning technology is one industry that has been particularly hard hit, according to observers.

In addition to dealing with higher prices, it is also experiencing a decrease in demand compared to the pandemic, when home-based teaching became the norm.

According to Mr. Jeff Ng, director of Asia Macro Strategy at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation( SMBC ) Asia Pacific, capital or resource-intensive industries will likely experience the greatest pressures because they require the heaviest debt financing. Real property and various investment-related industries fall under this category.

However, this might be advantageous for different industries, like economical services.

According to Mr. Ng, whenever there is a pattern, there are always some who gain from it and others who suffer. However, higher interest rates may ultimately cause economic growth to be below pattern for the time being.

Businesses running out of money, according to experts, will also have an effect on the supply chain, their enterprise partners, and their staff.

This is a disease or chain effect that could also have an impact on many other businesses and employees. On Wednesday, October 18, Mr. Ng told CNA’s Singapore Tonight that this can have an impact on usage and result in a general economic slump.

RESEARCHING FOR Styles

According to the industry association, in order to persuade owners of their impact, entrepreneurs must respond to styles more quickly.

It is doubling down on mentoring initiatives to help businesses swivel by assisting them in saving money and looking for opportunities to expand their operations in foreign markets.

At our ending, we look at how we can help the start-ups and see how they can evaluate their business model, assess their cost structure, and get through this trying time, according to Mr. Lim.

Igloo is addressing the cash shortage by cutting overhead costs, consolidating warehouses, and stretching every penny.

The company believes that streamlining supply chains will enable it to survive this challenging time and get back on track to achieve full-year success.

We want to prevent taking money as much as we may, Mr. Chow said,” as we think about our progress forth in 2024 and 2025.”

” In order for us as an organization to be in control of our own future, it is crucial that we enter a self-sustaining function, achieve positive cash flow, and achieve success.”

Following YEAR’S Good OUTLOOK

According to Mr. Lim, native start-ups can also prosper because Singapore receives a large portion of the funds now channeled into Southeast Asia, which means local businesses can prosper more successfully than competitors in nearby markets.

He continued by saying that investors are also more interested in industries like finance, agritechnology, ecology, and artificial intelligence, which encourages aspiring start-ups to consider cutting-edge trends and technologies.

Market participants think that while SMEs will need to continue tightening their belts in a challenging environment for the upcoming several months, the outlook for next year is better.

Overall, Singapore continues to experience extremely difficult and challenging development problems this year, so there are probably some ongoing problems. However, we anticipate some better circumstances next season than we did this month, Mr. Ng said.

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In Southeast Asia, Hamas-Israel conflict forces a balancing act

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Although the Hamas-Israeli issue has split the public’s opinion, it hasn’t had much of an impact on South Asian foreign policy at the moment.

Countries in the region have maintained a business-as-usual approach, reflecting the religious and cultural diversity of ASEAN, while articulating unique, dismissive posts in response to the initial strike on Israeli civilians by Hamases and the planned invasion by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu through the center of Gaza, where 1.1 million people are being urged to flee.

Thailand and the Philippines are examples of a foreign policy balancing work where the growing conflict has led to widespread criticism of assault with some facetious caveats. & nbsp,

For instance, the Philippines denounced violence” against civil populations” but acknowledged Israel’s right to self-defense in the face of external aggression, according to the UN Charter.

With Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara noting that” Thailand is not condemning any side, because we do not know the truth about the political climate between[ Palestine and Israel ], but we strongly condemn the use of violence ,” Thailand walked an even finer line.

Jewish – Thai relationships

Thailand has long been concerned about the possibility of terrorist attacks from a variety of sources, including Persian organizations seeking to targeted Israelis living in or visiting the land, under its previous totalitarian government. Bangkok is now concerned about the more than 20,000 Thai employees who are crucial to Israel’s agrarian field as well as Thai tourists also present in Israel.

Early this week, 29 Thais — who had one of the largest populations of foreign workers in the nation — were killed, and 18 were captured.

For Jewish – Thai relationships, it’s partially a supply and demand-type relationship, with Thai farm laborers seeking work in parts of the country as Israel is usually at a lack of semi-skilled agricultural labor and it is common for Thais to believe that wages abroad can be considerably higher than at home, evidenced by remittances to families at home.

However, the recent violence has brought some of the oppressive working conditions and low pay to light for many Thai staff. Israel’s present political unrest and its precarious military position may hinder trade between the two nations in the short term, and Thai people are still thinking about missing workers.

Israel is simply Thailand’s 40th-largest trading spouse, but this year, trade between the two nations increased by 1.15 % to US$ 857 million. Israel is a well-known regional arms dealer, with the Royal Thai Navy purchasing seven$ 112 million” killer” Hermes 900 drones from Israeli company Elbit Systems in 2022.

Israeli defense products, which are now widely used throughout Southeast Asia, have entered Myanmar, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Thailand has increased its purchases since 2010 to include unmanned aerial vehicles( UAVs ), Python – 4 missiles, as well as heavy weapons like the Elbit-built 155-millimeter self-propelled gun.

As much as Jewish investment, agrarian development, and economic opportunities predominate diplomatic relations, Thailand may even tread carefully given that its restless southern region, home to a majority-Muslim population, has actively supported the Arab cause as evidenced by demonstrations in Pattani in 2014 following Operation Protective Edge, which resulted in the deaths of more than 2,300 Palestinians there.

According to numerous studies, the provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat, Songkhla, and Yala in the heavy southern may host pro-Palestinian protests. & nbsp,

Following the attack on a hospital in northern Gaza, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has started to lower Thailand’s stance even more. He posted on Twitter, the social media site,” I am surprised and distressed to learn about the tragedy at al-Ahli Arab Hospital in the North of Gaza next day.”

” I offer prayers for the people of those who are grieving the loss of loved ones. There is no explanation for harming defenseless citizens in battle. Respect for international humanitarian law is required.

Philippines being optimistic

Manila, on the other hand, has demonstrated a circumspect and realistic approach as well. Israel and the Philippines have long-standing, cordial relations, and both nations have made an effort to broaden their bilateral trade, innovation and technology alliances.

The diplomatic partnership, which can be traced again to when Manila welcomed Holocaust refugees in the late 1930s, is centered on personal relationships. & nbsp,

Murder by violent and rebel groups is also a common occurrence in Manila. Additionally, its National Security Council lately confirmed that two alleged Hamas operatives attempted to work in the nation in 2018 and 2022 while even attempting to join forces with nearby rebel groups.

Three Filipinos lost their lives when Hamas attacked Israel at the time of this assurance. More than 130 Filipinos were living in Gaza at the time. & nbsp,

Manila has emphasized its open support for Israel in light of this, while also denouncing the problems by Hamas on the human population. In fact, Eduardo Ao, a national security advisor, added that the Anti-Terrorism Council may make an effort to identify Hamas under the Act.

Thousands of Filipino Christians from various church organizations then expressed their support for Israel after this. But, given economic and socio-political factors, it is likely that such displays of aid will be motivated by caution and reason.

Although Manila’s support for Israel is mainly symbolic, if the conflict intensifies, it could have a significant impact on Philippine passions. In addition, & nbsp,

Israel is geographically situated at a transit andnbsp, route for trade and the movement of overseas Filipino workers ( OFWs ) in the West Asian region, despite the National Economic and Development Authority’s( NEDA ) claim that the economic effects of the ongoing conflict are negligible.

Additionally, more than 2 million OFWs will be in danger if the conflict spreads throughout the whole area. Additionally, the Philippines will need to keep a close eye on any potential safety emergencies that may occur within its borders. & nbsp,

As a result, Manila has put its security forces on higher alert since the resumption of the Israel-Hamas issue because it is possible that militant groups are trying to carry out similar problems in the nation.

Gilbert Teodoro, the secretary of defense for the Philippines, issued a warning about” ISIS sequels” that might attempt to mimic Hamas’ strike strategy. Manila is even wary of the attitudes of its Mindanao-primarily Sunni population.

In fact, more than 12,000 Muslim Filipinos demonstrated on October 16 in opposition to Israel’s defense action in Gaza. Manila will need to be cautious when handling Arab Filipinos’ sentiments in its public claims at the global stage, as the parade witnessed a wave of Israeli flags being raised. & nbsp,

As the conflict in Gaza intensifies, residents of Thailand and the Philippines have been closely monitoring news from internationally. As long as many Filipino and Vietnamese workers are still at risk, their home governments will need to consider their options pragmatically in the near future. & nbsp,

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5 hot-button issues set to figure strongly in Indonesia’s presidential, legislative elections

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THE ECOMETRY

With 270 million residents, this developing nation’s economy will still be vital in the upcoming elections. & nbsp,

According to Mr. Kevin O’Rourke, an analyst with the Jakarta-based political risk consulting firm Reformasi Information Services,” the top three concerns of the voters will remain the same, which are( eradicating ) poverty, & nbsp, job opportunity, and inflation.”

The COVID – 19 pandemic severely affected Indonesia in 2020, causing its economy to contract by 2.07 % that year. & nbsp,

However, it increased by 3.69 percent in 2021, which was a rebound. Yet last year, it saw a growth of 5.31 percent, the highest in about ten years.

However, despite having 270 million individuals, Indonesia also has approximately 26 million poor people as of March of this year. This is comparable to a poverty rate of about 9 %. & nbsp,

The largest economy in Southeast Asia has recently seen an increase in the price of grain as a result of crop loss brought on by the latest protracted dry climate. & nbsp,

Jokowi, as Mr. Widoho is more commonly known, has been monitoring Indonesian markets to make sure there is enough grain available to keep prices low.

A rise in grain prices will lead to an increase in prices. The inflation rate was 5.51 percent the previous month. It was only 1.87 percent in 2021. & nbsp,

Inflation is anticipated to be around 3 % this year, but it could be higher if the rice price situation does not improve. & nbsp,

The price of corn and other cost of living will undoubtedly be people’s top concern when they go to the polls the following year. Rice is a well-liked staple food. In addition, & nbsp,

About 204.8 million Indonesians may be eligible to vote, making the upcoming elections the largest single-day election in the world, according to the election committee. & nbsp,

Fresh voters make up more than half of the available electorate. & nbsp,

Therefore, it’s possible that prospects will talk about addressing unemployment during their campaigns. & nbsp,

According to Mr. Aditya Perdana, a political scientist from the University of Indonesia, younger voters may undoubtedly inquire about their chances of finding employment or even finding work as freelancers. & nbsp,

Indonesia’s poverty rate last year was around 5.86 percent, and it is anticipated that it will be between 5 and 5.7 percent this year. Related numbers were foreseen by Jokowi for the following month. & nbsp,

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Forest loss from rubber ‘greatly exceeds’ estimates

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Worries about the sustainability of agricultural goods in Southeast Asia are raised by a new study.

PUBLISHED: 19 October 2023 at 15: 37

Forest loss from rubber ‘greatly exceeds’ estimates
A nearby farmer in Phuket gets ready to click a rubber tree. Achadtaya Chuenniran is shown in the picture.

According to a recent research study, forest loss caused by plastic production in Southeast Asia may be two to three times greater than previously thought, highlighting the difficulties importers are facing as they struggle to find responsible supplies.

An international team of researchers warned that rising global rubber demand is putting pressure on natural forests and causing biodiversity loss, with Southeast Asia, which accounts for 90 % of global production, bearing the brunt.

In a report that was published in the medical journal Nature, the researchers claimed that, in comparison to goods like soy and palm oil, earlier data suggested that rubber was an insignificant problem when it came to deforestation.

However, high-resolution satellite data suggested that forest losses” significantly exceed” earlier estimates, which helped determine more estates run by smallholders.

Since 1993, plastic crops have destroyed more than 4 million acres of woodland, with Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia accounting for two-thirds.

More than 14 million acres of the region’s area, including the two major rubber-producing provinces in China, Yunnan and Hainan, are devoted to plastic, away from 10 million in 2020.

With some plantations built during a plastic boom 20 years ago now being put to other uses after an economic downturn in 2011, full losses may be even higher.

At the end of the following year, a law will go into effect in the European Union to forbid product importers from purchasing goods that cause forest loss.

The law was initially only applicable to soybean, beef, palm oil, lumber, coconut, and coffee; rubber was later added at the EU lawmakers’ request in December.

Manufacturers had provide documentation demonstrating that their goods do not originate from land that has been deforested after 2020 in order to avoid fines.

According to Antje Ahrends of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the study’s lead author, the laws may encourage consumers to purchase plastic from large suppliers with simpler supply stores.

It is challenging for traders and manufacturers to find precise plastic purchasing areas and to confirm that no forest has occurred due to the numerous stages in the plastic supply range and the dispersed nature of plastic manufacturing, she said.

According to her, groups like the Forest Stewardship Council are working to increase traceability for smallholders— who account for 85 % of the world’s production — and make sure their rubber can be sold in Europe. & nbsp,

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The plan to keep Belt and Road growing and revving

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China has vowed to advance its Belt and Road Initiative ( BRI ) through eight significant steps, including the expansion of its manufacturing industry and the introduction of higher-caliber research facilities and overseas investment projects. & nbsp,

According to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who spoke at the next Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing on Wednesday( October 18 ), China may offer more funding assistance for BRI projects based on market and company operations.

According to Xi,” China proposed the Belt and Road teamwork, but its advantages and options are for the world to share.” He claimed that innovative partnerships for US$ 92.27 billion were finalized at the CEO Conference held during the Belt and Road Forum.

The occasion commemorated the tenth anniversary of the BRI, Xi’s recognizable trade-promotion program. More than 200 BRI assistance partnerships with more than 150 nations and 30 global institutions were signed by China by June 2023.

The following are the eight steps to keep the BRI updated in the future:

1. Create a system for road connectivity and multifaceted belts.

2. Encourage a global market

3. Implement real-world collaboration to help the development of high-quality Belt and Roads

4.. 4. Encourage environmentally friendly creation

5. 5. advanced technological and scientific development

6. Help individuals through exchanges and nbsp,

7. Encourage Belt and Road assistance based on morality

8. Increase administrative development for global cooperation on the Belt and Road

Actions 2, 3, and 5 are among them, and the others are standard directives with quantifiable goals. & nbsp,

China announced that it will lift all limitations on foreign funding access in its manufacturing sector in order to support an empty global economy. According to the announcement made at the website, the nation wants to increase its overall trade in goods and service to$ 32 trillion and$ 5 trillion, both, between 2024 and 2028.

China’s commerce with emerging Asia is booming. Chris Clayton / DTN Photo

China’s industry last year was$ 6.3 trillion in products and$ 889 billion in service. According to calculations from Asia Times, the nation’s trade goals can be translated into an annual increase of 0.6 % in goods and 4 % in services between 2024 and 2028.

” In our free trade sections, we have now removed all things from the negative list for the manufacturing field. According to Bai Ming, a scientist with the Ministry of Commerce’s Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, we may then carry out the same action across the country. China welcomes foreign firms to invest in its manufacturing industry and wants to see a higher level opening up.

According to Bai, China may use resources from around the world to grow from a sizable developing nation to one that is strong. & nbsp,

Overseas companies are still not permitted to print or produce Chinese medicine in China unless they are doing so in areas that have been specifically designated as free trade zones. It was announced that these limitations would shortly been lifted.

Bill capture criticism

China has come under fire from the West over the past ten years for setting so-called” loan traps” for Belt and Road nations.

When the South Asian nation was unable to pay off its Belt and Road obligations in 2017, the Hambantota International Port, a deep water service in Sri Lanka, had its 70 % interest leased to China Merchants Port Holdings for 99 years for$ 1.12 billion. Similar incidents were even reported in Zambia, Jordan, and Laos. & nbsp,

China has also come under fire for failing to offer some nations’ design workers a secure workplace. & nbsp, Since 2016, many Belt and Road nations have slowed down their infrastructure projects related to China as this criticism grew.

Despite these setbacks, China announced on Wednesday that to support Belt and Road construction, the Export – Import Bank of China and the China Development Bank will each set up a 350 billion yuan($ 48.75 billion ) financing window.

According to the database of the Boston University Global Development Policy ( GDP ) Center, China’s Overseas Development Finance ( CODF ) reached$ 498 billion between 2008 and 2021, involving a total of 1,099 Chinese overseas development finance commitments made to 100 countries, mostly in Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America.

The GDP Center stated in a comment earlier this year that” as Chinese international development fund has decreased in overall price, so too has the regular loan commitment size ,” both in terms of economic value and the geographic footprint of funded projects. This pattern represents the new” tiny is stunning” approach to Chinese economic engagement, which places a higher priority on smaller, more focused projects.

According to some Chinese commentators, it is not China’s sin that developing nations were unable to pay off their debts.

” China had made a long-term arrangement regarding Zambia’s loan organizing program, which was suggested by the International Monetary Fund.” According to Zhang Yansheng, general researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, the plan was rejected by American creditors, which led to Zambia’s debt crisis.

Since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, he claimed, developed nations in the West have used quantitative measures to strengthen their economies, but these actions, coupled with level increases, have made developing nations’ debt burdens worse. He claimed that as these developing nations experienced recession, their debt-to-GDP numbers increased tremendously. & nbsp,

On October 18, 2023, Xi Jinping, the president of China, will speak at the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing. Image: People.com.cn

In his speech, Xi stated that China will implement 1, 000 small-scale” livelihood assistance” projects and improve its cooperation with Belt and Road nations in technical education. More will be done, he said, to guarantee the security of BRI workers and projects.

Xi added that China may contribute an extra 80 billion yuan to the Silk Road Fund. The Silk Road Fund received an additional 100 billion yuan in 2017 after being founded in 2014 with a$ 40 billion initial investment. It has so far made investments totaling$ 20 billion in 60 different tasks.

In the upcoming five years, China plans to build 100 combined laboratories with another Belt and Road parties and support fresh scientists from other nations to work on short-term projects in the nation.

With more than 30 Belt and Road nations, China has set up 53 shared facilities for agriculture, new strength, and public health as of the end of 2022. & nbsp,

To create sophisticated power power, China and Russia established a laboratory in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, in December 2021. China and Belarus set up a lab in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, in August of last year to investigate cell systems. & nbsp,

Study: Putin and Xi meet with a similar perspective on the Gaza conflict.

At & nbsp, @ jeffpao3 is Jeff Pao’s Twitter account.

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National Data Sharing Policy Discussion panel: Data is the new currency, yes, but…

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Palnellists advise concentrating on the information required for andnbsp targets.Industry & amp, regulator engagement key & nbsp, provided to ensure access to the right data and the appropriate dataFor businesses looking to maximize the value of information in decision-making, adopting information insights can be a game-changer. Malaysia has been actively growing…Continue Reading

Analysis: Indonesia kicks off election season today to pick new president, legislators next February – here’s what to expect

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JAKARTA: On Thursday, October 19, Indonesia formally launched its election process. Registration is available for candidates interested in participating in a number of elections, including the race to elect the nation’s next president. On February 14, 2024, more than 204 million Indonesians did cast their ballots as the third-largest democracyContinue Reading

Korat fossil came from ‘ancient alligator’

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In contrast to species found in the US and China, Nakhon Ratchasima has recently undiscovered types.

18 October 2023 at 20:03 PUBLISHED

Korat fossil came from ‘ancient alligator’
Alligator munensis, a species that was found in Nakhon Ratchasima, is known to have fossilized bone fragments in its possession. Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment ( image )

According to the Department of Mineral Resources, an eel coal discovered in Nakhon Ratchasima in 2005 has been identified as being of a different species than those found in the United States and China.

A native of the Non Sung area discovered the fossilized bones, which are made up of a skull, two incisors, and five other fragments. He alerted the department.

Under two meters of shallow sediment, the legs were discovered.

The bones, which have been carbon-dated to roughly 230, 000 years ago — commonly referred to as the Pleistocene period — were then identified by the department with the assistance of a group of German researchers. & nbsp,

The bones were compared by the experts to known specimens of Alligator jasmine, which are widespread in China, and endemic to the United States.

They came to the conclusion that the eel from which the bones originated was probably a different local types.

The team’s findings were recently published in Scientific Reports, a peer-reviewed blog associated with Nature, according to Thitiphan Chuchanchot, assistant commander of the Department of Mineral Resources.

According to Mr. Thitiphan, the bones were discovered in the Mun River valley, so we gave the animal the name Alligator munensis, a guide to the location of its initial discovery.

Alligators are currently only found in the United States and China, where they run the risk of going extinct, according to Kantapon Suraprasit, a researcher with the Centre of Excellence for the Morphology of Earth Surface and Advanced Geohazards in Southeast Asia( MESA CE ).

It is unknown how the two types diverged from their shared father, but some experts think they must have both descended from the same species, an old alligator species that again roamed the Yangtze and Mekong-Chao Phraya river basins.

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Civilization and its enemies: a letter to a Chinese friend

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I had the privilege of writing the entry for Professor Wen Yang’s book The Logical of Chinese Civilization next year. China Daily published an abridged version of & nbsp. How has Foreign society survived for 5,000 years while all other societies in Western Asia and Europe vanished? & nbsp,

Professor Wen contends that while the West also reflects the traits of its hunter-gatherer grandparents, China developed a sedentary lifestyle thousands of years ago. & nbsp,

I noticed that China” assimilated individuals representing six main and 300 small language groups.” China united its diverse peoples through a common method of characters and downstream infrastructure, while native spoken languages, religion, and culture flourished. This is in contrast to Europe, which required its people to convert to Christianity in order to enter Western civilization. & nbsp,

But absorption occasionally failed. The Han dynasty was in danger from the wandering Xiongnu in the third century BCE. In order to deal with north nomad, the Han Dynasty tried a variety of strategies, including paying tribute to the warriors and marrying Chinese ladies to Xiongnu monarchs and encouraging the adoption of Taiwanese culture. These strategies included offensive and defensive wars. & nbsp,

The Han Dynasty was unfortunately forced to battle the Xiongnu. General Wei Qing’s troops did not overcome a sizable Xiongnu power until 124 BCE. The risk of the barbarians persisted. The Mongol and Manchu warriors conquered all of China more than a thousand years after.

Chinese culture was so resilient that it eventually assimilated the savage invaders, though not without great suffering and loss. All of the major systems used in the Industrial Revolution in Europe were created by the Tang and Song empires. Why did China never experience the Industrial Revolution, researchers wonder. The solution may be that barbarian invaders disrupted China to the point where its advances were unable to develop.

The threat of barbarians still exists despite China’s spectacular military prowess and unmatched economic growth. I’ve heard Chinese scholars claim that the United States purposefully incubated jihadists to destroy China during numerous trips to China over the past ten years. Although I don’t think the US intentionally did this, China undoubtedly suffered as a result of British mistakes in the so-called Global War on Terror. & nbsp,

In a file photo, East Turkestan Islamic Movement( ETIM) Ethnic Uighur soldiers are seen flying their flag. Photo: Facebook

In order to have the Sunni uprising against the American-sponsored Shi’ite majority government in Iraq, the Bush administration gave General David Petraeus a blank check in 2008. Past Sunni military officers received salaries from Petraeus totaling US$ 16 million per month.

The foundation of ISIS was afterwards formed by a large number of Sunni soldiers who were funded and armed by the US. According to an a & nbsp report released by the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012, America’s support for Sunni jihadists in Syria encouraged the rise of ISIS.

Uighurs fighting in Syria take aim at China, according to a report by The & nbsp on the Associated Press in 2017. According to the AP statement:

Since 2013, dozens of Uighurs, a Muslim majority from northern China who speak Turkic, have traveled to Syria to station with the Turkistan Islamic Party and fight alongside al-Qaida, taking important part in numerous wars. As the six-year issue comes to an end, Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces are currently engaged in combat with Uighur combatants.

However, China’s worst worries might start with the end of the war in Syria.

Ali, who would only give his first name out of concern for retaliation against his family back home, said,” We didn’t worry how the battle went or who Assad was.” We only intended to return to China after learning how to use the arms.

The same anti-civilizational warfare that taught jihadists to kill Chinese includes Hamas.

During trips to China, I had the opportunity to hear the opinions of eminent Chinese scholars and military managers as a panel member of an Israeli foundation that was involved with Israel-China relationships. A persistent worry has been the possibility of warfare spreading to Southeast Asia. The Chinese scientists emphasized that China has close ties to numerous Arab nations and a Muslim community that supports the cause of the Palestinians. & nbsp,

I don’t intend to give China advice on how to do diplomacy because China has its own grounds for remaining impartial on Israeli-Palestinian problems. Nevertheless, some aspects of the issue might not be fully understood.

Israel’s treatment of Hamas over the past few years has been modeled after the Han dynasty in its original attempts to appease the Xiongnu. Israel urged Qatar to give Hamas$ 40 million per month in incentives. According to reports, the mind of Mossad visited Qatar in 2020 to advocate for such grants. Israel opened the Gaza borders to 20,000 Arabs working in Israel over the course of the previous year in an effort to improve financial problems. & nbsp,

The Netanyahu government believed it had all strategic bases covered and that it could bribe Hamas to remain on the sidelines as it negotiated diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, as I stated in an & nbsp, October 11 essay & ndrp for the American website Law & amp, Liberty. It lulled itself into a careless cloud that obscured the ancient world’s recalcitrant elements that opposed the Abraham Accords’ modernizing impulse.

That is where the” knowledge loss” began, allowing tens of thousands of Hamas jihadists to invade Israel and kill more than 1,300 people, including hundreds of children and teens. Israel’s tragedy reports are not a tool of American propaganda. The majority of them are known to us thanks to video posted online by Hamas, which aims to frighten both Israelis and the rest of the world.

According to Professor Wen’s theory, Hamas is a holdover from the pre-civilizational, wandering earth that won’t accept assimilation. A two-state option is not what Hamas wants. According to its contract, Israel must be destroyed and an Islamic state should be established in its place. This is not a typical cultural issue that can be resolved by dividing the issue in half. & nbsp,

According to Hamas’ Charter,” The Islamic Resistance Movement is a recognized Palestinian movement, whose loyalty is to Allah, and which practices Islam.” Israel will be and may continue to exist until Islam destroys it, just as it destroyed another before it ,” it adds, attempting to raise the banner of Allah over every square inch of Palestine.

As alarms sounded behind and Hamas rocket attacks were launched from the Gaza Strip, smoke billowed over private Jewish areas. NDTV Screengrab picture

According to remark in guancha.cn, per capita income in the West Bank, where Israel continues to be the supreme power, is twice that of Gaza, which Hamas annexed in 2007 after Israel withdrew from the region on its own. Its arbitrary massacre of defenseless civilians, including children, is eerily similar to ISIS ‘ tactics.

No state has the right to survive if it allows a neighbor to off thousands of its citizens. Israel has no other option but to exterminate Hamas. In order to win sympathy from the rest of the world, Hamas tries to increase the number of casualties among its own civilizational people, as I explained in the remark for guancha.cn that was cited. Hamas asserts that it is battling Zionist” occupation.” nbsp

In actuality, Israel gave the Palestine Authority control of Gaza after formally ending its occupation in 2005. In 2007, Hamas deposed the Palestine Authority administration. More than 20,000 rockets have been fired at Israeli civilian goals since then by islamist terrorists. These were a lot of rudimentary products. & nbsp,

Some returned to the densely populated Gaza Strip, as I noted in my opinion from 2022, and killed a lot more Arabs than Israelis. One of many instances of criminal rockets killing Gazans more than Israelis was the loss of a hospital in Gaza on October 17.

Because Hamas uses Gazan civilians as human shields, Israeli actions in self defense will eventually result in human deaths. This will stoke Arab sentiment throughout much of the earth. The optimistic public stance of China is not unexpected. However, China should carefully consider where its interests in the Gaza fight lie.

China is worried about the free flow of oil from the Persian Gulf, which supplied 54 % of China’s oil imports in 2022, in the short term. With imports to Saudi Arabia almost tripling between 2018 and 2023, China’s business success in the Persian Gulf has matched its political accomplishments. Iran is the primary supplier of arms to Hamas and aids in the ongoing issue. China may undoubtedly advise Iran to prevent increase.

However, China’s involvement in the fight goes beyond just power security. China’s export to the Global South, which have doubled since 2019 and now outnumber those to developed industry, have a significant impact on its financial future. & nbsp,

China is bringing digital and physical infrastructure to billions of people who are currently at the periphery of the global economy, integrating them quickly into global markets, as I stated in my 2020 book: & nbsp, You Will Be Assimilated: China’s Plan to Sino-Form the World and in many subsequent articles. & nbsp,

China exports investment and technology to support the attempts of young people in the Global South as its local labour force shrinks. China wants to double its infrastructure-driven development model around the world, which is both an economical and a hegemonic essential.

China is a global modernizing army. China’s reputation in the Global South, where the general public has a favorable view of China, has improved thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative. However, this will not take place without criticism. Anti-modern tendencies from pre-civilizational parts in society still exist and represent the biggest barrier to China’s aspirations. & nbsp,

Numerous Chinese citizens have been killed in terrorist attacks by Hamas-like jihadists in Pakistan, and according to press reports and nbsp, security concerns are impeding Chinese investment in the$ 65 billion nation. & nbsp,

Anti-civilizational aspects around the world will take center and look for new target if Hamas survives the current conflict with Israel. Israel is currently at the center of society. The underlying interest of China is for the warriors to be driven out of Gaza.

The path of least resistance suggests a global split along professional – and anti-American lines. Israel became an American friend following the 1967 War as a result of Cold War planning. & nbsp,

But, it is not a creature of the United States. Israel made a concerted effort to stay out of the Ukraine War and keep cordial ties with both Russia and China. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared he may travel to China in June. & nbsp,

China's President Xi Jinping and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: AFP
Later in 2018, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, and President Xi Jinping of China met. Asia Times Data / AFP image

America is forced to support an alliance that has been brutally attacked in the current crisis, and its critics are aligning themselves against it. That will only result in more conflict and subsequent issue escalation. & nbsp,

For the time being, Iran is unlikely to get involved, but it will make an effort to gird Israel in the future. Israel is prepared to use its numerous atomic weapons if its survival is in jeopardy. Although I don’t think a world war is imminent, the escalation of tensions between Israel and the rest of the world could result in an impending disaster.

China may hope that Israel is successful in eradicating the barbarians who pose a short-term threat to Israel’s existence and, over the long term, to civilization itself if it wants stability in the area and the development of civilization. & nbsp,

David P. Goldman, a deputy editor for Asia Times, serves on the SIGNAL ( Sino-Israel Government Network and Academic Leadership ) Advisory Board.

This article’s opinions are his own and do not always reflect those of any organizations to which he is affiliated.

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