USA
India and US Strengthen Strategic Partnership, 3 July 2018
The recent visit of Nikki Hailey, US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, to India has once again highlighted that the deepening relations between India and US is pivotal to international peace and security. Through a series of measures, this cooperation has been enhanced further.
India signaled its intent to procure helicopters worth $3 billion, participate in a first-ever joint Tri-Service amphibious exercise, buy nearly 1000 civilian aircraft over next seven to eight years and step up oil purchases from US. But India’s readiness to sign two more bilateral military pacts lies at the top of the heap. Driven by its non-aligned orientation of the past decades, India hesitated to sign any military pact with the US. That explains why UPA government stonewalled these three agreements for a decade on the ground that it would “compromise the strategic autonomy” of India. Click here to read...
US Softens Demand that Countries Stop all Iran Oil Imports, 2 July 2018
The Trump administration is softening its earlier demand that countries like China, India and Turkey end all imports of Iranian oil by Nov. 4, as a top State Department official on Monday said the US would allow reduced oil flows, in certain cases. “We are prepared to work with countries that are reducing their imports on a case-by-case basis,” said Brian Hook, the department’s director of policy and planning.
His announcement was a delicate attempt at reassuring oil markets and allies that sanctions are not likely to hit them this fall — even if Iranian oil continues to flow around the world, as is likely the case. India, South Korea and Turkey — all allies or friends of the US — are major importers of oil from Iran and are unlikely to be able to switch suppliers entirely by November. Click here to read...
Raja Mandala: Trump, Putin and future of the West, 3 July 2018
Foreign policy establishments across the Atlantic turned apoplectic at US President Donald Trump’s encounter with Chairman Kim Jong-un and its likely consequences for America’s Asian alliances. They are now getting the vapours from the US president’s engagement with Russian leader Vladimir Putin at Helsinki later this month. They fear that Trump, with some help from Putin, would begin to dismantle the Eurasian geopolitical order America built after World War II and drive a stake through the heart of what we have come to know as “the West”.
Trump is not the first American president to sit down with a Russian counterpart. What generates such political dread within the Atlantic chancelleries are Trump’s persona and worldview. For them, Trump’s apparent love for Russia is bad enough. When combined with his denunciation of the holiest of the Western institutions — the NATO, G-7, EU and the WTO — the fears of the Atlantic establishments become a lot easier to understand. Click here to read...
No Dairy Product imports without due certification, India tells US, 3 July 2018
India has refused to wilt under US pressure for grant of market access to its dairy products and has maintained that the mandatory certification, specifying that imported dairy items were not from animals raised on feed made of bovine extracts, cannot be done away with as it was a matter of religious belief.
“Indian officials have told USTR officials that while the country was exploring how the problem arising from price caps on medical equipment could be sorted out, it could not compromise on dairy certification,” a government official told Business Line.
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-news/article24326279.ece
US-India Strategic Partnership remains robust but slight chill in Modi-Trump ties may cause temporary turbulence, 4 July 2018
In an earlier article on the second postponement of US-India 2+2 dialogue, I had posited that it does not reflect a degradation in the current state of bilateral ties. The foundational pillars of this relationship — shared values, security interests and apprehensions — remain strong and immune from political interference. Ergo, to interpret the delay (likely a scheduling issue) as indicative of a ‘setback’ or even a ‘snub’ is premature and alarmist.
That said, if dovetailing of strategic and security interests ensure stability in bilateral relations, it has to be complemented by mutual goodwill at a political level for ties to remain wrinkle-free and grow progressively closer. This is especially true of relationships that still carry traces of past baggage and even more so with respect to India, whose behaviour on the international stage is still largely determined by the memory of its colonial past. Click here to read...
Trump’s NATO Summit focus won’t include withdrawing troops from Europe, 5 July 2018
Senior administration officials said discussions of withdrawing US troops from Germany will not be included in next week’s NATO summit, despite reports that President Donald Trump has considered the move. White House officials have pushed back against those reports for the past week, since a Washington Post piece noted that the Pentagon, at Trump’s request, is analyzing the national security impact and cost savings of a large-scale withdrawal of US. forces from Europe.
About 35,000 American troops are currently stationed in Germany, a significant hub for U.S. military operations worldwide. Trump in the past has repeatedly complained about NATO allies not shouldering enough responsibility — financially and personnel-wise — for the alliance’s security operations.
In a press call with reporters on Thursday, US Representative to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said that those broader cost concerns would be a key point of the upcoming NATO summit, set to start July 11. Click here to read...
RUSSIA
Russia offers to jointly design, build Submarines, 6 July 2018
India has received a joint submarine design and construction proposal from Russia to build on the technology transfer acquired while building the nuclear fleet, and promises to drastically reduce the cost of Navy’s next-generation vessel plan.
The proposal, believed to have been discussed at the top level during the Sochi summit in May, offers an alternative to an upcoming $10 b P 75I tender for six new diesel electric submarines that the Navy requires. These are to be fitted with an Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system that significantly increases their ability to stay underwater. Click here to read...
Russia: EU prolongs economic sanctions by six months, 5 July 2018
On 5 July 2018, the Council prolonged economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy until 31 January 2019. This decision follows an update from President Macron and Chancellor Merkel to the European Council of 28-29 June 2018 on the state of implementation of the Minsk agreements, to which the sanctions are linked. The Council adopted this decision today by written procedure and, in line with the rule for all such decisions, unanimously.
The measures target the financial, energy and defence sectors, and the area of dual-use goods. They were originally introduced on 31 July 2014 for one year in response to Russia's actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine and strengthened in September 2014. Click here to read...
Senate Panel agrees with intel community that Putin was trying to help Trump, 4 July 2018
Breaking with their House Republican counterparts, the Senate Intelligence Committee said Tuesday that the intelligence community properly concluded in January of last year that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to help Donald Trump when Moscow meddled in the 2016 election. The Senate panel released a summary Tuesday of its examination of the intelligence community's January 2017 assessment, which laid out the case of Russia's election meddling and concluded that Putin was trying to help Trump win.
The Senate report said that the intelligence community's assessment of Russia's intentions were sound, which is at odds with the House Intelligence Committee Republicans' report that found "significant intelligence tradecraft failings" in the assessment of Putin's objectives. "The Committee has spent the last 16 months reviewing the sources, tradecraft and analytic work underpinning the Intelligence Community Assessment and sees no reason to dispute the conclusions," Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr said in a statement, reiterating what he had initially said in May. Click here to read...
Press review: Trump may unveil Mideast ‘deal of the century’ and pull US out of WTO, 3 July 2018
Washington vows to publish soon a new plan for the Israeli-Palestinian settlement, which has been dubbed the "deal of the century." Kommersant writes that this plan may be discussed at the Helsinki summit in mid-July between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump.
According to Trump’s Senior Adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is leading the US Government’s effort to broker a Middle East peace deal, the White House's plan will be unveiled depending on whether Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian authorities back it. In return for the peace deal, the region is expected to get economic advantages and the radical organization, Hamas, may stay in power in the Gaza Strip. According to some reports, Washington may finance some projects in exchange for the disarmament of Hamas. Click here to read...
Russian State Duma speaker to receive US congressional delegation on July, 3 July 2018
Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin will receive the US congressional delegation, which is currently on a visit to Russia, on July 3, First Deputy Speaker Alexander Zhukov told journalists on Monday. "The meeting (between Volodin and US congressional representatives - TASS) will start at 13:00," Zhukov informed.
The US delegation consists of Alabama Senator and Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee Richard Shelby, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, North Dakota Senator John Hoeven, South Dakota Senator John Thune, Kansas Senator Jerry Moran, Montana Senator Steve Daines, as well as member of the US House of Representatives from Texas Kay Granger. Click here to read...
Russian pilot accuses US special services of abduction and torture, 5 July 2018
In a letter to the Russian Human Rights ombudsman, pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko has described the details of his abduction by the US special forces and tortures that he had endured in the US prison.
Yaroshenko is currently serving a 20-year sentence in the United States after being convicted of conspiracy to smuggle illegal drugs as a result of the US DEA sting operation. The Russian citizen has always denied the charges and stated that his detention in Liberia and transportation to the US were parts of a plan to make him testify against another Russian citizen.
In the latest attempt to achieve justice Yaroshenko sent a letter to Russian Human Rights ombudsman, Tatyana Moskalkova, in which he said that during the 2011 trial he was forbidden from mentioning the abduction and torture by US special forces agents, but decided to tell about these violations now in hope for justice for himself and those who wronged him. Click here to read...
AFRICA
Djibouti commissions $3.5 bln Chinese-built free trade zone: Reuters, 5 July 2018
Djibouti commissioned a $3.5 billion, Chinese-built free trade zone on Thursday, deepening ties with the Asian giant and helping the Horn of Africa nation generate more jobs for its youths. Djibouti, with a population of 876,000, already hosts Chinese, U.S. and French naval bases and it also handles roughly 95 percent of the goods imported by Ethiopia, its land-locked neighbour with 99 million people.
The new trade zone, one of several new port and trade facilities being developed by Djibouti, covers 48 square kms and was built by China’s Dalian Port Corporation. Click here to read...
Sweden supports Drought-Stricken Farmers and Herders in the Sahel: Times of Africa, 5 July 2018
Sweden, through the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), will support drought-stricken farmers and herders in the Sahel, with a focus on Burkina Faso and Mali. Channeled through the Swedish International Development Cooperation (SIDA), the $9.9 million contribution comes in response to FAO’s appeal for the Sahel as more than 4 million people in the region face increasing hardships following dry spells in 2017 that decimated farmers’ crops and livestock.
Burkina Faso and Mali are two of the six Sahel countries that are the hardest hit, with the two countries having a combined total of more than one million people struggling to have enough food over the coming months. Click here to read...
Swaziland or eSwatini? King Mswati's new name is challenged in Court: africanews, 6 July 2018
A human rights activist in Swaziland is challenging King Mswati III’s decision to change the tiny southern African nation’s name to the Kingdom of eSwatini. Africa’s last absolute monarch announced the new name in April at celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of Swazi independence from Britain.
However, activist Thulani Maseko argued in a High Court submission that the decision undermined the constitution and was a waste of money, especially in a country with the world’s highest HIV/AIDS rate. Click here to read...
Al Shabaab fighters attack Somalia Police HQ after twin bombings: africanews, 7 July 2018
At least five people were killed and 21 wounded on Saturday when militants from Somalia’s al Shabaab group set off two bombs in central Mogadishu and stormed a government building.
A Reuters witness saw a heavy exchange of gunfire outside the building, which houses the security and interior ministries and is also used by police. Smoke drifted from burning vehicles following a suicide car bombing close to the presidential palace and a second blast near the security building. Click here to read...
South Sudan rivals reach new security arrangement deal: Aljazeera, 7 July 2018
South Sudan warring sides have signed an accord on security arrangements after talks in neighbouring Sudan's capital, a step that could lead to a power-sharing deal. "All parties have agreed to withdraw military troops from urban areas as part of the security agreement," Jamal Omar, Sudanese chief of military intelligence, said at Friday's signing ceremony in Khartoum.
The agreement comes days after foes Salva Kiir, the president of South Sudan, and Riek Machar, his former vice president and now rebel leader, agreed to a permanent ceasefire, raising hopes for an end to the five-year conflict that has devastated the world's youngest country. Click here to read...
Ethiopian and Eritrean leaders meet for first time in more than two decades: allAfrica, 8 July 2018
With laughter and hugs, the leaders of longtime rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea met for the first time in nearly two decades Sunday amid a dramatic diplomatic thaw.
Ethiopia's reformist new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrived in Eritrea's capital and a live broadcast by Eritrea's state television showed President Isaias Afwerki greeting him at the airport in scenes unthinkable just months ago. Crowds danced and sang for the leaders, and Asmara's streets were hung with Ethiopian and Eritrean flags. Abiy and Afwerki then traveled across the capital in a large motorcade as people wearing T-shirts with photos of the two leaders cheered. The leaders later met one-on-one, with a smiling Abiy leaning toward Afwerki under a wall hung with their portraits. Click here to read...
Ethiopia and Eritrea agree to normalise ties, reopen embassies: Aljazeera, 9 July 2018
Ehiopia and Eritrea have agreed to restore relations following a landmark meeting between the two countries' leaders in Asmara, aimed at ending decades of diplomatic and armed strife.
The announcement on Sunday capped weeks of whirlwind change, driven by new Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who was welcomed for face-to-face talks in the Eritrean capital by President Isaias Afwerki. Click here to read...
