“HISTORY IS NO BLIND GODESS AND IT DOES NOT EXCUSE BLINDNESS IN OTHERS”
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The Other Resource Curse
Islamist extremists attacked a gas plant in the Sahara on Jan.16, taking hostage scores of foreigners working at the facility. The ensuing four-day siege of the plant ended when the Algerian army launched an assault against the militants, who were headed by a former leader of al-Qaeda’s North African wing. The raid in Algeria, which led to the deaths of some 40 hostages, underscores how vulnerable energy sites are to terrorists. Other recent attacks:
1. Pakistan
Militants abducted a policeman and two watchmen guarding the Uch Gas field in Baluchistan on June 10, 2011. The police officer and one of the watchmen were found dead later that day; the status of the other watchman is still unknown.
2. Ethiopia
In april 2007, gunmen from the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front raided an oil field run by a Chinese company. They killed 74 people, including nine Chinese workers, and held seven Chinese as hostages.
3. Saudi Arabia
A 2006 al-Qaeda assault on the Abqaiq oil-processing facility, one of the world’s biggest, was repulsed, and at least two security guards and two terrorists were killed. The scare led to spike of $2 a barrel in global crude prices.
Coutrsy: Time, Feb.4,2013
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China ropes in English-speaking ‘third force’ in PLA exercises
Bracing for a possible future showdown with the US forces in Asia, the Chinese People's Liberation Army has introduced English commands in military drills to get its troops acquainted with commands of the "rival third party forces".
Pilots of the PLA Air Force on a routine training recently were caught off guard by chatter in English over their radio, the Chinese-military-run PLA Daily said in a report.
By the time they had figured out that they had to confront a third party, their field command - an early-warning plane - had already been shot down, the Daily reported.
The "third party" was a surprise scenario added to the drill to strengthen the air force's real combat response capability, it said.
Analysts said the inclusion of an English-speaking third party in PLA drills was aimed at sending a message that the Chinese military is preparing for possible intervention by the US if China clashes militarily with neighbouring countries over territorial disputes, the Hong Kong based South China Morning Post said in a report.
English chatter figured in the drill took place early last month. As a battle between the PLA air force and its pseudo opponent, the "blue army", reached its climax, the PLA pilots suddenly heard in English over the radio: "Target on a radial 180.60" followed by "Roger," the Daily report said.
"The 'third party force' was another surprise scenario we provisionally added to the drill with the aim of making our training more like real combat," the daily quoted drill director Jing Jianfeng as saying.
Courtesy: Indian express dated Feb. 04, 2013.
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China poised to take control of strategic port in Baluchistan
China is poised to take over operational control of a strategic deep-water Pakistani seaport that could serve as a vital economic hub for Beijing and perhaps a key military outpost, according to officials.
The construction of the port, in the former fishing village of Gwadar in troubled Baluchistan province, was largely funded by China at a cost of around $200 million. It has been a commercial failure since it opened in 2007, because Pakistan never completed the road network to link the port to the rest of the country.
Chinese control of the port would give it a foothold in one of the world's most strategic areas and could unsettle officials in Washington, who have been concerned about Beijing's expanding regional influence.
The port on the Arabian Sea occupies a strategic location between South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It lies near the Strait of Hormuz, gateway for about 20 percent of the world's oil.
China's interest is driven by concerns about energy security as it seeks to fuel its booming economy. It wants a place to anchor pipelines to secure oil and gas supplies from the Gulf. Beijing also believes that helping develop Pakistan will boost economic activity in its far western province of Xinjiang and dampen a simmering, low-intensity rebellion there.
Some experts view Gwadar as the westernmost link in the "string of pearls," a line of ports from China to the Gulf that could facilitate expansion of the Chinese Navy in the Indian Ocean. That has sparked concern in both the U.S. and India.
Pakistan's Cabinet agreed Wednesday to a proposal for a company owned by the Chinese government, China Overseas Port Holdings Limited, to purchase control of the port from Singapore's PSA International Pte Ltd., which won a bid in 2007 to operate the port for 40 years. The transaction has not yet occurred, a spokesman for Pakistan's Ministry of Ports and Shipping, Mohammed Raza, said Friday.
The construction of the port, in the former fishing village of Gwadar in troubled Baluchistan province, was largely funded by China at a cost of around $200 million. It has been a commercial failure since it opened in 2007, because Pakistan never completed the road network to link the port to the rest of the country.
Chinese control of the port would give it a foothold in one of the world's most strategic areas and could unsettle officials in Washington, who have been concerned about Beijing's expanding regional influence.
The port on the Arabian Sea occupies a strategic location between South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It lies near the Strait of Hormuz, gateway for about 20 percent of the world's oil.
China's interest is driven by concerns about energy security as it seeks to fuel its booming economy. It wants a place to anchor pipelines to secure oil and gas supplies from the Gulf. Beijing also believes that helping develop Pakistan will boost economic activity in its far western province of Xinjiang and dampen a simmering, low-intensity rebellion there.
Some experts view Gwadar as the westernmost link in the "string of pearls," a line of ports from China to the Gulf that could facilitate expansion of the Chinese Navy in the Indian Ocean. That has sparked concern in both the U.S. and India.
Pakistan's Cabinet agreed Wednesday to a proposal for a company owned by the Chinese government, China Overseas Port Holdings Limited, to purchase control of the port from Singapore's PSA International Pte Ltd., which won a bid in 2007 to operate the port for 40 years. The transaction has not yet occurred, a spokesman for Pakistan's Ministry of Ports and Shipping, Mohammed Raza, said Friday.
Courtesy: Indian Express dated Feb. 02, 2013.
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CAN OF WORMS - A register of reports and views from the Pakistan press
The revelation made by a former ISI head about the Kargil war was the talking point of Pakistani media this week. The revelation came in an article in The Nation by Lt Gen (retd) Shahid Aziz, who headed the analysis wing of the Pakistan army's spy agency in 1999, when Kargil happened. It asks questions about the decision taken and secrecy maintained by then army chief, General Pervez Musharraf to escalate a local skirmish into a full-scale military operation.
Aziz wrote: "An unsound military plan based on invalid assumptions, launched with little preparation and in total disregard to the regional and international environment, was bound to fail. That may well have been the reason for its secrecy... The question then arises why was it undertaken? Were there motives other than those proclaimed, or was it only a blunder... It certainly wasn't a defensive manoeuvre. There were no indications of an Indian attack... To say that occupying empty spaces along the Line of Control was not a violation of any agreement and came under the purview of the local commander is astounding. This area was with the Indians as a result of [the] Simla Agreement, and there had been no major violation of the LoC since 1971."
Courtesy:Indian Express dated Feb. 2, 2013.
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BULLETS
1. 30% of U.S. military commanders who have been relived of duty in the past eight years because of sex related offences, including adultery, harassment and improper relationship – Courtesy : Time, Feb. 4, 2013.
2. President Barrack Obama took the oath of office on Jan. 21 with bible used by Abraham Lincoln in 1861 and on that belonged to Martin Luther king Jr.
– Courtesy : Time, Feb. 4, 2013.
3. Chinese hackers infiltrate New York Times computers-
I.E. Feb. 1, 2013.
4. “He (Dawood Gilani alias David Coleman) commits crime cooperates and then gets rewarded for the cooperation.
---Judge Leinenweber summed up in concluding the Trial of David Coleman.
Compiled & published by Adv. Shri Bal Desai, Secretary General, Forum for Integrated National Security (FINS) at 30/1, Parekh Mahal, L. J. Road, Raja Badhe chowk, Mahim(W), Mumbai-16.
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