USA
US planning two meetings of Quad nations in a year, 13 Sept 2018
The Trump Administration has said that it is planning two meetings of the Quad countries – India, Japan, Australia and the US — in a year, amid reports there is a disagreement among the members on upgrading the level of engagement.
According to reports, the US wants to enhance the level of engagement between the quadrilateral (Quad) grouping to the level of an international secretary, but the Indian side want to keep it to the joint-secretary level. "We are working and discussing planning of the next Quad session. I think two meetings a year is probably a good tempo with other working group meetings at lower level, expert level,” Alice Wells, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, said.
Asserting that the architect would benefit from substance, Wells said they want to build up the substance. “Then what do we transfer into or add to the Quad discussion whether it's maritime domain awareness, all of our countries experience in this area and need to develop it further with our partners,” she said at an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a top American think-tank. Click here to read...
India deserves to be in NSG, still not there due to China's opposition: US, 13 Sept 2018
India has not been able to secure membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) because of China's veto, a senior Trump Administration official said on Thursday, asserting that the US will continue to advocate for New Delhi's membership in the elite grouping as it meets all the criteria. India has been seeking entry into the 48-member elite nuclear club, which controls nuclear trade, but China has repeatedly stonewalled its bid.
While India, which is backed by the US and a number of western countries has garnered the support of a majority of the group's members, China has stuck to its stand that new members should sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), making India's entry difficult as the group is guided by the consensus principle. India is not a signatory to the NPT. Click here to read...
Free trade agreement with US unlikely, talks part of ‘trade package', 12 Sept 2018
India is discussing its bilateral trade issues with the US as part of a ‘trade package’ of mutual concerns and no separate trade agreement is being thought of, commerce department officials told ET. US President Donald Trump earlier this week said India is keen on a ‘trade deal’ while early this year, US ambassador to India Kenneth Juster had called for an eventual free trade agreement between the world’s two largest democracies.
A trade pact is unlikely to benefit India as tariffs on most goods are already low in the US, not leaving much scope for further reduction, officials said. Moreover, the US has been tightening non-immigrant visa norms, which is India’s key interest area. Click here to read...
First 2+2 Dialogue 'defining moment' for Indo-US relations: James Mattis, 12 Sept 2018
The "highly successful" first 2+2 Dialogue between India and the United States was a "defining moment" and the defence co-operation between the two countries is on the right track, US Defence Secretary James Mattis said here Tuesday.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held the crucial talks with Mattis and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New Delhi on September 6. "Last week I did go to India for what could only be considered highly successful consultations between the world's two largest democracies. There was no difficulties that we uncovered there in moving forward on a number of pragmatic steps to draw ourselves closer together in terms of security," Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon here. Click here to read...
Ajit Doval in US: NSA to meet Mike Pompeo, other top officials of Trump Administration, 14 Sept 2018
A week after the successful 2+2 Dialogue in New Delhi, India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is in Washington to hold meetings with top officials of the Trump Administration. Doval, who is held in high esteem by the Trump Administration, is scheduled to meet the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department on Friday. In addition to his meeting with his American counterpart John Bolton, Doval is likely to meet officials from the Department of Defence and from the think-tank community.
However, the Indian Embassy in Washington and the White House did not immediately respond to questions about Doval’s visit and his meetings. Click here to read...
Tariff negotiations with US underway: Steel Minister, 14 Sept 2018
Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh Friday said negotiations were underway with the United States (US) over 25 per cent tariff it had imposed on steel imports. US President Donald Trump had earlier imposed a 25 per cent import tariff on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium. However, the minister said there would not be any immediate impact on domestic steel exports as India sends a marginal amount of alloy of its shipment to the US. "Negotiations are still going on (with the US). There may some a sort of understanding... and the other side is that we are to go for certain steps to be taken to safeguard our interest. We will certainly take," he said at Assocham India Steel Summit - Enhancing Competitiveness & Overcoming Challenges.
Singh had earlier said that the 25 per cent tariff imposed by the US on steel import can 'indirectly' affect the domestic sector. "The US decision to impose 25 per cent tariff on steel imports will have negligible direct impact (on India's export) as India's share of US Steel imports is very small as compared to other countries but there might be an indirect impact," he had said. Click here to read...
US reviewing India's Chabahar port development, says official, 13 Sept 2018
The Trump Administration, which is determined to impose fresh set of sanctions on Iran and countries and entities engaged in business with Tehran, is currently reviewing India's development of the strategically important Chabahar port in the Islamic Republic, a senior government official has said.
The Chabahar port is being considered a gateway to golden opportunities for trade by India, Iran and Afghanistan with central Asian countries besides ramping up trade among the three countries in the wake of Pakistan denying transit access to New Delhi. "We are reviewing (Chabahar project) in the context, in particular of Afghanistan, and in the spirit that the idea of our sanctions are not to punish partners or to imperil partners, but to bring a price tag for Iran's malign behaviour," Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, told a Washington audience. Click here to read...
Five takeaways from Manafort’s plea deal, 15 Sept 2018
Paul Manafort flipped on Friday, agreeing to a deal with federal prosecutors that includes full cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. It was a dramatic shift for President Trump’s former campaign chairman, who just last month concluded a lengthy and dramatic trial that ended with a guilty verdict on eight charges and a deadlocked jury on 10 others.
The plea deal he agreed to on Friday puts the kibosh on what would have been a second, more explosive trial slated to start in D.C. later this month. Click here to read...
Stalled North Korea talks test Trump as dealmaker, 13 Sept 2018
President Trump is facing skepticism from inside and outside the Administration about his belief that personal relationships and presidential negotiations are the key to resolving long-running US foreign policy quagmires. That tenet of his presidency came under renewed scrutiny recently when the White House announced it has started planning a second summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Little progress on the nuclear weapons issue has been made since the initial summit in June. But much like that first meeting, Trump thinks he can negotiate a breakthrough if he gets in a room with Kim, with whom he has described having a warm relationship. “I think what Trump sees is that he alone can make progress with North Korea,” said Bruce Klingner, a former CIA division chief for Korea who is now a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “He has repeatedly touted his good relationship with Kim, though this has led to achieving no US objective yet. Click here to read...
Trump slump fuels GOP fears, 12 Sept 2018
President Trump’s approval rating has fallen in a series of recent polls, fueling concerns among Republicans that an already dire election season is turning worse at precisely the wrong time. A new CNN poll found Trump’s approval plummeted 6 points over the past month to just 36 percent, and more than half a dozen other nonpartisan surveys showed a similar downward path. In the RealClearPolitics polling average, Trump’s approval rating has dropped nearly 2.5 percentage points over the past three weeks while his disapproval has risen almost 2 points.
Pollsters and strategists say the numbers are particularly unusual because the president’s approval ratings have suffered even as the economy has thrived. Trump’s approval rating — 41 percent in the latest RealClearPolitics average — still sits close to where it has been for most of this year, but Republicans fear an even more precipitous drop could spell doom for House and Senate candidates across the country in an election season that is defined by the President. Click here to read...
RUSSIA
Secretive Russian GRU tests Trump with brazen tactics, 12 Sept 2018
Russia’s secretive military intelligence agency, the GRU, is testing the limits of Western countries with its aggressive tactics and bold operations, prompting action from the Trump Administration and some European allies as they seek to counter its behavior. The Trump Administration has sanctioned several GRU officers for launching cyberattacks and has expelled dozens of suspected Russian intelligence officers operating in the US in response to the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in England this year.
The effort to thwart the GRU is part of a broader push by the US Government to take a firm stance against Russian aggression, one that has at times been overshadowed by President Trump’s contradictory statements about Russian interference in the 2016 election and his overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Click here to read...
Several deals set in run up to Putin-Xi talks in Vladivostok,
11 Sept 2018
Several agreements have been prepared ahead of the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Tuesday, the Russian Ambassador in Beijing Andrei Denisov told TASS. "We are preparing [agreements] as we always do in these cases," said Denisov. When answering a question on what documents would be signed, Denisov said that "it is too early to talk about it." "We have a constant process of contract accumulation, added Denisov.
According to Denisov, there has never been a time that the two leaders were unhappy with the course of the talks. "I don't remember any issues that we of concern to them, left undiscussed," the diplomat pointed out, especially considering that the meeting will take half a day and will continue the following day as well. "They can continue the dialogue both at the dinner table and during negotiations, in a small circle or as part of a large delegation," he said. Denisov added that indeed, a large delegation has arrived from China, from various departments, state sectors, companies and public figures. Click here to read...
Vostok 2018: Taking a sneak peek at Russia's biggest military drills, 12 Sept 2018
The Vostok-2018 exercise, the largest in Russia’s modern history, got underway in the Eastern Military District on September 11. The Vostok-2018 drills involve around 300,000 troops, more than 1,000 aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles, up to 80 vessels, up to 36,000 tanks, armored personnel carriers, and other vehicles. The exercise will last until September 17. According to Chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov, its main goal is to check the level of training that can be assessed only in an exercise of proper scale. Click here to read...
http://tass.com/defense/1021309
Izvestia: New warships with Kalibr missiles to beef up Russian Black Sea Fleet’s capability, 11 Sept 2018
Next year two small missile ships - the Ingushetia of Project 21631 Buyan-M and the Cyclone of Project 22800 Karakurt - will join the 41st brigade of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Defense Ministry told Izvestia. These warships are armed with Kalibr-NK high-precision cruise missiles and Oniks hypersonic anti-ship cruise missiles.
According to Russian naval expert Dmitry Boltenkov, these ships will significantly bolster the Black Sea Fleet’s capability. "This is a serious and qualitative reinforcement in the southwestern strategic direction," he told the paper. "The small missile ships of the Buyan-M and Krarakurt projects are good combat platforms. They will be able to operate both in the Black and the Mediterranean Seas." Click here to read...
Kommersant: Russia’s Far East, China unveil brand-new cooperation program, 13 Sept 2018
Russia and China have revised their shared approach to developing the Far Eastern Region. A new program signed by the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and China’s Ministry of Commerce, following the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, focuses on attracting Chinese investment to Russia, Kommersant writes.
The current program for 2018-2024 differs fundamentally from the previous one adopted in 2009, which had prioritized the development of the Far East, Eastern Siberia and Northeast China as one macro-region. However, many of the projects enshrined in that plan have not been implemented. Click here to read...
Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Japan seeks Kurils rather than peace treaty, 13 Sept 2018
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on Japan to sign a peace treaty with Russia by the end of this year without any pre-conditions. By doing so, he actually placed Tokyo in a difficult position where it is the one having to justify itself as to why it finds this offer unacceptable and why a peace deal should envisage, in one way or another, Russia’s possible abandonment of the southern Kuril Islands, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes.
Valery Kistanov, Director of the Center for Japanese Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Far Eastern Studies, described Putin’s proposal as sensational. "So far, no one else has come up with such tight deadlines for signing a peace treaty with Japan. Whether or not this initiative is feasible is another story though. I believe it is unlikely to be put into effect not only before the end of this year but in the foreseeable future as well," he stressed. Click here to read...
Russia's huge war games aren't actually that strong a message to the West, 13 Sept 2018
They are the most massive war games in Russia since the height of the cold war. And the Vostok-2018 exercises, now underway in Russia's Far East, demonstrate an unprecedented level of Sino-Russian geo-political unity.
The exercises, kicked off this week by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at a summit in Vladivostok, have led some Russian commentators to suggest hopefully — echoed, fearfully, by some in the West — that the two giants might be edging toward a full-blown military alliance. The war games include Chinese troops working with Russians, and a small contingent of Mongolians, in a multi-nation war scenario. Click here to read...
Russia to bring trade turnover with India to $30 bn in coming years, deputy PM says, 14 Sept 2018
Russia and India are on track to bring the trade turnover to $30 bn in coming years, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said at a meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Moscow. "Over the past years bilateral trade has reached solid growth rates, which if maintained will help us hit the target of $30 bln in coming years," Borisov said. However, that is a modest result compared with Russia-China trade turnover that is going to "breach the $100 bln level in 2018," he added.
According to deputy PM, major efforts are necessary for a breakthrough in the area. Click here to read...
AFRICA
Burundi under fire for expelling UN Human Rights Team: VOA, 11 September 2018
Burundi's ambassador in Geneva struggled to explain to the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday why his government had thrown out a UN team that the council, with Burundi's backing, had sent to investigate human rights abuses in the country.
Deputy Human Rights Commissioner Kate Gilmore told the council that her office could not deliver a promised report on human rights in Burundi because the government had not cooperated with the team members, who were deployed in March and then were told that their visas were canceled in April. Click here to read...
Global hunger levels rising due to extreme weather, UN warns: The Guardian, 11 September 2018
Global hunger has reverted to levels last seen a decade ago, wiping out progress on improving people’s access to food and leaving one in nine people undernourished last year, with extreme weather a leading cause, the UN has warned.
Hunger afflicted 821 million people last year, the third annual rise since 2015, with most regions of Africa and much of South America showing worsening signs of food shortages and malnutrition. More than half a billion of the world’s hungry live in Asia. Click here to read...
Ethiopia embarks on $43 mn road infrastructure project: allAfrica, 12 September 2018
Ethiopia, Africa's fastest growing economy, is set to embark on its infrastructure journey, to improve the transport and network connection to boost trade. The second most populated country is touted to lead the continent in the infrastructure project that will catapult the country's global economic outlook based on the creation of business and investment opportunities. Better infrastructure has lured investors into economies and created employment opportunities as well.
The Addis Ababa City Roads Authority is on the verge of completing the signing of road designing and construction contracts with six constructors and five consultancy companies. The agreement is believed to be in the region of $43 million (Birr 1.2 billion). Authority's Director General Moges Tibebu stated that the Government forecasts to complete the project within two years. Click here to read...
South Sudan's President, Rebel Leader Sign Peace Deal: Reuters, 12 September 2018
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir signed a peace agreement with rebel factions in the Ethiopian capital on Wednesday to end a civil war that has killed at least 50,000 people, displaced 2 mn and held up the country's progress since it gained independence seven years ago. South Sudan plunged into warfare two years after independence from Sudan in 2011, when a political dispute between Kiir and then vice president Riek Machar erupted into armed confrontation.
A previous peace deal signed in 2015 fell apart a year later, after clashes broke out between government forces and rebels. Machar, leader of the main rebel group the SPLM-IO, and other insurgent factions signed the new agreement with the Juba government after assurances that a power-sharing accord would be honored. The deal, mediated by Sudan, reinstates Machar to his former role as vice president. Click here to read...
Ethiopia-Eritrea border opens for first time in 20 years: Al Jazeera, 12 September 2018
Ethiopian and Eritrean troops will withdraw from the border as the rapprochement between the one-time enemies continues in rapid fashion. The announcement was made on Tuesday shortly after the countries officially opened the border following two decades of tensions.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed - in comments carried by the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate – said, "to ease the tense atmosphere that existed in border areas, Ethiopian defence forces will return to various camps to recover and obtain additional training. The same will be done on the Eritrean side". Click here to read...
Islamic Development Bank freezes Somalia project: VOA, 12 September 2018
The Islamic Development Bank has suspended a multimillion-dollar project in Somalia due to accusations of corruption and mismanagement.
Started in October 2016, the Dryland Development Project was being conducted in three rural villages to help pastoralists build resilience to drought, give them access to health and education services, and develop livestock and crops. The project was set to cost $5 mn overall, and since February 2017, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) had transferred about $1.5 million to an account at Somalia's central bank in three installments. Click here to read...
South Sudan's main rebel group accuses government of violating ceasefire: Reuters, 15 September 2018
South Sudan’s main rebel force SPLM-IO has accused government forces of attacking their defensive positions a day after both sides signed a peace deal, while the UN mission said one of its peacekeepers was shot and wounded by a government soldier.
President Salva Kiir signed a peace agreement with rebel factions in the Ethiopian capital on Wednesday to end a civil war that has killed at least 50,000 people, displaced some three million and held up the country’s progress since it gained independence seven years ago. “The regime’s forces heavily stormed our position at Mundu in Lainya county,” said Lam Paul Gabriel, the rebels’ deputy military spokesman, in a statement seen by Reuters on Saturday. Click here to read...
Rwanda frees 2,000 people including opposition figure: BBC News, 15 September 2018
Victoire Ingabire, of the FDU-Inkingi party, has been serving a 15-year jail term for threatening state security and "belittling" the 1994 genocide. She has been a leading critic of President Paul Kagame and says her trial was politically motivated. Mr Kagame has won praise for reforming Rwanda's economy but has also been accused of human rights abuses. He won re-election for a third time last year with 98.8% of the vote, in an election observers said was a sham. In parliamentary elections earlier in September though, two opposition candidates from the Democratic Green Party won seats for the first time. Click here to read...
Cholera toll climbs to 28 in Zimbabwe, 16 September 2018
The death toll in Zimbabwe’s cholera outbreak has risen to 28, state media said yesterday, as the health minister announced new antibiotics were being used after the disease strain was found to be resistant to some drugs.
The cholera outbreak, first detected in a township outside the capital Harare earlier this month, prompted the Government to declare an emergency in the city after at least 3,000 cases were reported. “Although I cannot say we have contained the disease as yet, we are moving swiftly in all provinces of the country,” health minister Obadiah Moyo told the state-owned Sunday Mail. “We have moved into the second line of antibiotics, which is azithromycin, after the first line of antibiotics — ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone — have become resistant to the disease.” Click here to read...
