PAKISTAN : Attacks Bring Humanitarian Work to Virtual Halt
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Mar 18, PESHAWAR, Pakistan, 2010 (IPS) – Bomb attacks and threats to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have brought development work to a virtual halt in the lawless, volatile environment that is the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), located near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan.
The latest in the [...]
POLITICS: Afghanistan Spy Contract Goes Sour for Pentagon
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Pratap Chatterjee*
WASHINGTON, Mar 16 (IPS) – Mike Furlong, a top Pentagon official, is alleged to have run a covert network of contractors to supply information for drone strikes and assassinations in Afghanistan and Pakistan for the U.S. government.
The contract built upon his decade-long experience in running propaganda [...]
THE MAOIST INSURGENCY IN INDIA
Global Geopolitics Net Sites
B.RAMAN
Given below are my replies to a set of questions on the Maoist insurgency in India e-mailed to me by a journalist of a Brazilian online journal:
1 Who are the Maoists in India nowadays?
The Maoists are the cadres of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), who are fighting [...]
CHINESE DEFENCE BUDGET: SUSPICIONS OF FUDGING PERSIST
Global Geopolitics Net Sites
B.RAMAN
At a proposed total expenditure of 532.11 billion yuan ( US Dollars 78.25 billion), the Chinese defence budget presented to the National People’s Congress (NPC), the Parliament, in session in Beijing since March 5,2010, represents a 7.5 percent increase over last year’s spending. In 2009, the defence budget increased by 14.2 per [...]
SOMALIA: U.S. Should Accept Islamist Authority, Report Says
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Charles Fromm and Mohammed A. Salih
WASHINGTON, Mar 11 (IPS) – The United States should accept an ”Islamist authority” in Somalia as part of a ”constructive disengagement” strategy for the war-torn country, according to a new report released here by the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) on Wednesday. [...]
GATES’ VISIT TO DELHI: STRATEGIC COURSE-CORRECTION
Global Geopolitics Net Sites
B.RAMAN
The contours of the strategic course correction in its relations with India, Pakistan and China, which the administration of President Barack Obama has undertaken since it assumed office a year ago, became evident once again during the just-concluded two-day visit of Dr.Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, to New Delhi [...]
CHANGING THE INDIAN INTELLIGENCE CULTURE
Global Geopolitics Net Sites
B.RAMAN
In his R.N.Kao Memorial lecture delivered at the headquarters of the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) on January 19,2010, Vice-President Hamid Ansari has done well in raising in public issues such as accountability and parliamentary oversight to which the Indian intelligence community is still a stranger.
2.The concept of an [...]
LEBANON: Spy On Thy Neighbour
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
By Ray Smith
NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon, Jan 18, 2010 (IPS) – Recent inter-factional clashes in Lebanon’s Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp once more illustrated the fragile security situation in some of its Palestinian camps. Lebanese plans to take over security within the camps are rejected by the Palestinians.
The new [...]
GUARDING AGAINST SWARM ATTACKS ON NUCLEAR ESTABLISHMENTS
NTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR—PAPER NO.611
Global Geopolitics Net Sites
B.RAMAN
A swarm attack is a commando-style attack involving multiple targets and/ or multile modus operandi—-that is a mix of the use of hand-held weapons and explosives. Since the Mumbai terrorist attack of November 26 to 29,2008, which was itself a major swarm attack, there have been [...]
INDIA-PAKISTAN: NEED FOR A SUB-COMPOSITE DIALOGUE
Global Geopolitics Net Sites
B.RAMAN
The pending issues standing in the way of a thaw in Indo-Pakistan relations could be divided into the following groups:
* GROUP 1—INTERNAL SECURITY RELATED: Pakistan’s continued use of terrorism against India, inaction against the anti-India terrorist infrastructure in Pakistani territory and lack of mutual legal assistance in the [...]
MIDEAST: Israel Declares War on Peace NGOs
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler
JERUSALEM, Dec 24 (IPS) – One year after the devastating attack on Hamas in Gaza a new wave of reports castigating Israel for war crimes has emerged.
Now, Israel is fighting back with a report on the reports, picking on international NGOs such as [...]
THE INTERNAL SECURITY CZAR
Global Geopolitics Net Sites
B.RAMAN
Delivering the 22nd Intelligence Bureau Centenary Endowment Lecture at New Delhi on December 23,2009, P.Chidambaram, the Minister for Home Affairs, who inter alia is responsible for dealing with indigenous as well as externally-sponsored threats to internal security, outlined a series of measures for revamping our internal security architecture. These measures, [...]
HEADLEY’S CASE: IMPACT ON INDO-US INTELLIGENCE CO-OPERATION
Global Geopolitics Net Sites
B.RAMAN
Periodic misunderstandings and mutual bitterness in the relations between co-operating intelligence agencies are part of the game of intelligence.
2.The CIA’s penetration of the Chennai office of the Research & Analysis Wing in the 1980s to collect intelligence about India’s role in Sri Lanka, its penetration of the Intelligence Bureau [...]
ANOTHER US-CREATED MESS IN PAKISTAN
Global Geopolitics Net Sites
B.RAMAN
You can depend on the US to do it— create yet another mess in Pakistan.
2. The December 16,2009, ruling of the full-bench of the Pakistan Supreme Court declaring null and void Pervez Musharraf’s National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), which paved the way for the US-desired return of Benazir [...]
YEMEN: U.S. Urged to Increase Aid and Involvement
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (IPS) – As President Barack Obama ponders escalating Washington’s military and political investment in Afghanistan, a think tank close to his administration is urging Washington to ramp up U.S. aid and involvement in strife-torn Yemen, as well.
In a report released late last week, [...]
Perfidy In The Shadow Of Highly Touted Friendship
Posted by editors on March 13, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IDN
By Ernest Corea
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
WASHINGTON DC (IDN) – Senator George Mitchell, the Obama Administration’s special envoy for the Middle East, is expected somehow to keep the planned Palestinian-Israeli “proximity talks” process alive, despite the Government of Israel’s attempt to pull the plug on it.
Whatever [...]
Filed under Commentary, Diplomacy, Middle East, Peace, Politics, Security · Tagged with Israel, Tensions, United States